THE WAY WE WERE: PHILADELPHIA CITY GUIDE

Philadelphia Tour map

Philadelphia Volumes

¶ Pennsylvania Guide

¶ Philadelphia City Guide

A true tour-guide, almost half of the pages of the city guide are devoted to tours, both walking and driving, of Phildelphia and the surrounding historical sites. Each tour includes a fairly detailed map of the route, as can be seen to the left. An "industrial tour" maybe an odd route to take for modern day travellers, but at the time Philadelphians were justifiably proud of their manufacturing and industry, including some which are nowhere to be found in the new millenium:

Philadelphia Art Museum & Old Fairmount Water Works

Workers at the Stetson Hat Company

"Although the city takes a large proportion of the country's production of hides, few of them are from animals slaughtered in Philadelphia." Its supply of meat and other products comes mainly from the packing houses of the Middle West and the Southwest. There was a time when the central city was packed with abattoirs. Now, however, excepting two large slaughterhouses on Gray's Ferry Avenue and one at Third Street and Girard Avenue, all are far from the city center."

The corner of Third and Girard today is in one of the hottest real estate markets of the area, with developments and new housing being constructed, along with retail establishments. A modern description of the area would talk of the increasing artist and young professional population of the neighborhood, the slaughter houses and breweries of days past are long since gone. The Stetson hat company for instance, has relocated, not surprisingly, to Texas. Much of the manufacturing and professional work has left the city for the suburbs or overseas.

This volume is available as a free online e-book, downloadable from the Internet Archive: View the e-book here.

Philadelphia: A Guide to the Nation's Birthplace
Compiled by the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania - F.158.18.F42 - First published 1937