Excerpt from Inauguration of the New Hall of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania: March 18, 1884

The new hall of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania is situated at the southwest corner of Thirteenth and Locust Streets, Philadelphia.

The main portion of the building was erected by the late John Hare Powel, in 1832, for a residence. It was purchased in 1836 by Gen. Robert Patterson, who resided there until his death in 1881. The house stands twenty feet back from the building line on Locust Street. It is sixty feet front and forty deep, and, as originally planned, had wings of twenty feet each on the east and west, giving it a frontage of one hundred feet, extending westward from Thirteenth Street. The grounds of the mansion were bounded on the west by Juniper Street, and on the south by Wynkoop Street. In November, 1882, a portion of this lot (95 feet on Locust Street, by 120 on Thirteenth), including nearly all of that occupied by the building and its wings, was offered to the Society for $50, 000. An examination of the property showed that it was admirably suited to the wants of the Society. It was substantially built, its proportions were grand, and its close proximity to the Philadelphia Library and the Library of the College of Physicians rendered its situation (central in all respects) a most desirable one for the objects of the Society. The refusal of the property until the first of February was obtained, and an appeal was at once made to the friends of the Society to enable it to make the purchase. So favorably was this proposal received that the Council felt justified in obtaining the refusal of thirty additional feet.

About the Publisher

Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com

This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.