the bulletin of the pennsylvania postal history...
TRANSCRIPT
PENNSYLVANIA POSTAL
WE ARE NOW PUBLISHING IN COLOR!
To celebrate the event, I plan to include a most colorful cover on the cover of each issue this year. The cover below is what I believe is the most colorful cover in my collection.
The index for this issue is on the back cover.
More on the Craig Finley envelope may be found on page 27.
Printed by Craig Finley & Co. to celebrate the National Export Exhibition
which took place from September 14, 1899 to November 30, 1899
5 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
The Civil War History of Arsenal, Pennsylvania
By Daniel M. Telep (# 392)
Because Pittsburgh was the steel capital of the Union and an important war manufacturing
center, the prize for the Confederates would be the capture of the Allegheny Arsenal located
adjacent to the city in the village called Arsenal. “In the Summer of 1863, the people in this
vicinity were greatly frightened by a rumor that the Army of General Robert E. Lee was about to
invade Western Pennsylvania, in which case all knew that the objective point would be
Pittsburgh.”1
General Lee had sent scouts into the Juniata Valley, Mechanicsburg, and Morgantown, West
Virginia to reconnoiter. He had surveyed the area as a young Army engineer in 1835 and went as
far as Cleveland and Pelee Island in Canada. So we could speculate that he passed through
Pittsburgh early in his military career and knew about the Federal Arsenal located there.
Major General Brooks, commanding the Pittsburgh Region, contacted Secretary of War
Stanton advising him “…that the city of Pittsburgh was in imminent danger and that he would
take immediately steps to defend it against impending invasion.”2
Fortunately for Pittsburghers, Lee’s army turned northeast and moved toward Chambersburg
and Gettysburg! Figure 1 shows mail from the Allegheny Arsenal, postmarked Pittsburgh, PA,
January 30, to Wooster, Ohio, with a fancy oak leaf cancel.
Figure 1
Figure 2 illustrates a product made and stored in the Arsenal. A 1907 photo postcard, Figure
3, shows the Allegheny Arsenal, established in 1814 on 36 acres bordering the Allegheny River
east of downtown Pittsburgh, then closed in 1905. The United States government purchased the
property in April of 1814 from William B. Foster, the father of Stephen C. Foster, Pittsburgh’s
famous song writer.
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 6
Figure 2 Figure 3
The Allegheny Arsenal employed 1200 people and contained ammunition, infantry and
cavalry equipment, caissons, gun cartridges, and canons like the one pictured, all manufactured
there. “The saddest page in the Arsenal’s history is the story of the explosion in September of
1862, in which seventy young women lost their lives.”3 You can read a complete history of the
Allegheny Arsenal, including the explosion and subsequent investigation 1862, in James
Wudarczyk’s book “Pittsburgh’s Forgotten Allegheny Arsenal.”4 James Wudarczyk’s book is
the definitive work on this important history.
Arsenal, Pennsylvania, did have a post office that opened on March 17, 1851, and then
closed shortly after the war on October 23, 1868. Figure 4 has usage of the Arsenal postmark
on March 1, 1861 to Washington, PA. The writer discusses a new church and a national Fast
Day with her cousin. The need for prayer for the nation was heightened as the Confederacy
was formed on February 4, 1861. After the war, when the Arsenal post office closed, it became
a Pittsburgh Railway Station, renamed Arsenal Station on July 1, 1902.
Figure 4
7 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
Figure 5 shows not only the Arsenal Station postmark, but the use of the less usual spelling
of Pittsburg between 1895 and 1911.
Figure 5
The 1865 cover in Figure 6 is a fascinating item sent from Arsenal, PA to a deployed
surgeon with the 80th Ohio Volunteer Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 15th Corps of
General Sherman’s Army. It entered Divisional mails in Savanah, GA on March 15th, 1865,
and was forwarded from there to attempted delivery and receipt in Goldsboro, NC, on April 4,
1865. The striking feature and romance of this item is that it sports a Confederate Savannah
cancelation mark on a Union cover! I have not seen another like it.
Figure 6
Additional 1865 covers from the same correspondence, Figure 7 and Figure 8, are also sent
from Arsenal to the same surgeon late in the war, March 29 and April 9, 1865. These three
examples remind us of the challenge of a letter reaching a recipient in the highly mobile
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 8
Army commanded by General Sherman. The April 9th date is of course the very day of General
Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House.
Figure 7
Figure 8
Turning from the examination of postal history of the Allegheny Arsenal in Arsenal, PA,
may I introduce another off-shoot study from my original Civil War concentration? When
Union forces captured a Confederate city and continued to occupy it, such as is illustrated in
Figure 5 from Savanah, GA in March 1865, a new chapter in philatelic study opens. I have
coined the term ‘Re-Federalization’ and have written about the transition from Confederate
postal operations back to Union again. See the article in the September 2019 issue of the
American Philatelic Society’s “The American Philatelist” for a discussion of this subject, an
overlooked philatelic area.
9 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
Have you considered examining the history behind your collections? Hopefully this article
will challenge you to share your stories in an article for our membership to enjoy.
References:
(1) Pittsburg and Her People by John Newman Boucher, published 1908 by The Lewis
Publishing Company, pp.181-183
(2) Ibid.
(3) Ibid,
(4) Pittsburgh’s Forgotten Allegheny Arsenal, published 1999 by Closson Press, 1935
Sampson Dr., Apollo, PA, 15613
………………………………………
Figure 1 Figure 2
Perhaps more interesting is one about “The World’s Greatest Highway” with eight folded
pages of scenes along our turnpike, which from text inside, connection must date from around
1950, since it mentions the Delaware river to the New Jersey Turnpike will be started in 1952.
Front and back are shown in Figures 3 and 4. Quite comical is the page with the then terminus
Valley Forge interchange surrounded by farms. This postcard brought back memories of a
1955 trip through the seven single-lane tunnels.
Figure 3 Figure 4
(Continued on page 21)
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 10
The Philadelphia Merchants’ Exchange
By Gus Spector (# 396)
The murmur of the crowd subsided as the meeting of the Philadelphia Board of Brokers was
called to order within the tightly packed confines of the Merchants’ Coffee House. Located at
Second Street near Walnut, the air, suffused with the heavy scent of pipe tobacco, had an
electrically charged vitality. Chairs rattled and squeaked against heavy oaken floorboards, as
everyone settled into place and finally quieted down. Tonight’s meeting was of great import to
this group of outstanding Philadelphia merchants, since they were to vote upon a venture that
might possibly change the course of the city’s economic history. Organized in 1790, the Board
of Brokers met regularly at what was originally called the City Tavern, and later renamed the
Merchants’ Coffee House. Since Philadelphia’s stock brokerage had developed into a separate
business, the association had need of larger, more private quarters.
After many hours of bickering, cat-calling, and gentlemanly swearing, the die was cast. A
triangular shaped property, not part of William Penn’s original grid layout, located between
Third, Walnut, and Dock Streets, was available. This was to become the Merchants’
Exchange.
William Strickland (1788-1854), a disciple of the eminent architect Benjamin Henry
Latrobe, was appointed as chief designer of the Exchange building. In his youth, Strickland, a
long-time resident of Philadelphia, was a landscape painter, illustrator for periodicals,
engraver, and theatrical scene painter. His interest in Greek Revival stemmed from his
ponderings upon the architectural patterns found in the 18th century tome of Stuart and Revett,
The Antiquities of Athens. Thus, when asked to plan the Exchange building, his drawings
reflected the Greek Revival mode, which was the most popular design of the times. The
semicircular marble façade with its tall, imposing, fluted Corinthian columns located at the rear
of the building was Strickland’s ingenious touch, since it adapted to the flow of the irregular,
triangular shape of the property. The front of the building exhibited a distinctively different
Greek Revival theme, replete with its marble façade and elaborate ornamentation.1
Historian John Fanning Watson noted:
In digging for the foundation of the new Exchange, to build which they took down
several brick houses, they came beneath their foundations to the remains of numerous
tan vats, in sound condition; saw the traces of a run or brook leading into Dock creek…
An old stone was found with an inscription of a name and date, which has been worked
into the walls in the cellar of the Exchange, and may be seen.2
The opening of the building was a great success. At the time of its dedication in 1834
numerous celebratory galas continued unendingly for a week. The Philadelphia Board of
Brokers took possession of the Exchange in 1834.
A contemporary description of the building’s interior revealed
The Post Office is upon the first floor, occupying about two-fifths of the whole ground.
On Walnut Street side, there are many splendid offices, for Insurances, and other
purposes. The Reading-Room… is directly over the post office department. The
splendid Rotunda, is upon the same floor, in the east end of the edifice; it is most
beautifully ornamented, with designs, by the distinguished Italian painter, Monachesi.
11 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
The floor is inlaid, in beautiful Mosaic work, upon which rest four elegant, marble
columns, superbly wrought. Above, in the splendid CUPOLA, from which, is a
delightful View, of the commercial operations of the city, upon the river Delaware.
From the Rotunda, the spectator passes to a handsome BALCONY, formed by a semi-
circle of Corinthian pillars, fronting Dock Street, where the great western rail road
passes this commercial portion of the city. The rest of the building is occupied by
brokers, the board of trade, chamber of commerce, and various other apartments.3
Figure 1, taken from Scharf and Westcott’s History of Philadelphia, verifies the location of
early Philadelphia post offices. As can readily be seen, in 1834 the site of the post office was
listed at the brand new “Philadelphia Exchange, north side, on Dock Street”.4
Figure 1
Although it would like to have been deemed as such, the early government post office was
not the only postal institution associated with the mails in the vicinity of the Exchange
building. Steven Roth’s article in The Penny Post spoke of the Merchants’ Exchange as being
“the hub of many Philadelphia local posts”. In particular, the Chestnut Street Line, a horse-
drawn omnibus running along Chestnut Street and passing by the Dock Street side of the
Exchange building may have constituted an early local post, although there exists only one
example of a Chestnut Street Line adhesive.5
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 12
Figure 2 is an early undated postcard view of the Exchange and the Dock Street area. By
this time the electrified trolley had supplanted the horse-drawn omnibus.
Figure 2
In 1845 D. O. Blood’s City Despatch, located at 48 South Third Street (pre-1854 address),
was formed by Daniel Otis Blood and Walter H. Blood, the successors to the Philadelphia
Despatch Post. Both the Philadelphia Despatch Post and Blood’s had as their adhesive design
a mail messenger striding above the Merchants’ Exchange Building, giving the implied
impression that Blood’s Despatch was superior to that of the government post office. Their
circular, seen in Figure 3, states:
Your attention is invited to the prompt, cheap and convenient method of conveying
Letters, Papers, and Small Parcels to the Post-office, and from one part of the City and
Districts to another…
The circular also mentioned that Blood’s had its own mail boxes readily recognizable by its
name emblazoned in large letters.
The corner card for Enoch Durar’s Exchange Coffee House (Figure 4) stated its address to
be at the corner of Third and Dock Streets. According to McElroy’s Philadelphia Directory
for 1845, the coffee house was actually physically located within the Exchange building. The
cover bears a 3c adhesive postmarked in 1860. The letter is addressed to Charlemagne Tower,
Esquire, an influential lawyer, Civil War officer, and mining magnate from Pottsville,
Pennsylvania. The lantern tower of the Merchants’ Exchange building can be visualized in the
upper left corner of the cover’s illustration. Strickland utilized the Greek Choragic Monument
of Lysicrates as inspiration for the lantern tower. In 1831 a local Philadelphia newspaper,
referring to the tower, exclaimed that “Philadelphia is truly the Athens of American”.6
13 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
Figure 3
Figure 4
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 14
Jones’ Exchange Hotel (Figure 5) was located at 77 Dock Street (pre-1854 address). The 3c
imperforate adhesive has an indistinct Philadelphia cancellation. The cameo corner card states
that Jones’ Hotel was located opposite the Exchange and Post Office.
Figure 5
In 1875 the Board of Brokers changed its name to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. The
Exchange remained at its present location until July 1876, and was then moved to a building on
Third Street, below Chestnut. From 1888 until 1902 the Exchange was housed within the
Drexel Building at Fifth and Chestnut Streets, and thereafter returned to the Merchants’
Exchange Building. In 1913 it moved again to 1411 Walnut Street.7 In 1949 the Exchange
merged with the Baltimore Stock Exchange and was renamed the Philadelphia-Baltimore
Stock Exchange. In 1969, the exchange acquired the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange. In 2007 it
was purchased by NASDAQ for $652 million.8
By the 1940’s the Exchange building had deteriorated and was sorely in need of repair,
becoming home to a multitude of sundry businesses. Storefronts -and even a small gas station-
were added to the ground floor. In preparation for the 1976 Bicentennial, the Olde City area,
including the Exchange, were “cleaned up”.
The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2001. It remains the oldest
existing stock exchange building in the United States. Several years ago this author had the
privilege of visiting the building’s interior, which now consists mainly of refurbished
government office space, classrooms, and a research library. It is closed to the public and is
utilized as the headquarters of the Independence National Historical Park.
References:
1- William Strickland (architect), Wikipedia
2- Watson, John F. Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania In the Olde Time, Whiting
and Thomas, Philadelphia. Volume I, p. 348.
3- Bowen, Daniel, A History of Philadelphia, Daniel Bowen (printer and publisher),
Philadelphia, 1839, pp. 81-82.
15 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
4- Scharf, J. Thomas, and Westcott, Thompson, History of Philadelphia 1609-1884. L. H.
Everts & Co., Philadelphia., 1884. Volume III, p. 1810.
5- Roth, Steven M., A Report of Some Short-Lived Local Posts of Philadelphia.
Introduction: The Posts, in The Penny Post, October 1993, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 8-10.
6- Philadelphia: A Guide to the Nation’s Birthplace. Pennsylvania Historical
Commission. The Telegraph Press, Harrisburg, Pa., 1937, p. 127.
7- Ibid, p. 127.
Steve Swain illustrates postcards associated with fourteen Pennsylvania teacher’s colleges
in Normal School Deltiology. Hopefully it will encourage those members who collect
postcards to submit PA related articles, especially colorful ones.
A single letter written by Dr. Joseph K. Swift to William Mathers in 1831 prompted Phil
Russell to visit the Geology Dept. of Lafayette College to photograph several species donated
by Swift to their collection. It’s all detailed by Phil in Dr. Swift’s Mineral Collection.
Finally, my one page article Craig Finley & Co. National Export Exposition Advertising
Envelopes amplifies on my most colorful cover shown on the cover of this issue and provided
me with an opportunity to show another example in my collection. As explained, there were
three variants of this advertising envelope.
My thanks to all who contributed to the issue and hope you enjoy reading it. More
importantly, I hope it encourages you to contribute to future issues.
As indicated in previous issues, Steve and I are still searching for my replacement as editor.
Please contact Steve or me if you are interested. As I head into my 88th year of life, albeit in
reasonably good health for that age, one never knows when problems can arise. My preference
is an orderly transition rather than a catastrophic one.
Look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our Annual Meeting in Bellefonte on
June 20, 2020. Please consider submitting an exhibit for the show. A prospectus is available
from Don Heller or me (see page 2).
Have a safe, pleasant and productive remainder of winter. Thus far, global warming has
blessed us here in the Philadelphia area with reasonably mild weather. Prior to completing
these comments on Jan. 12, I spent an hour or so cleaning flower beds while the temperature
was in the low 60’s!
Norm
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 16
Normal School Deltiology
By Steve Swain (# 590)
A normal school is the historical term for an institution created to train high school graduates to
be teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum, in other words, to instill
and reinforce particular norms within students. Normal schools in the United States and
Canada trained teachers for primary schools, while in continental Europe the equivalent colleges
educated teachers for primary, secondary and tertiary schools.
One of the first normal schools was the École Normale Supérieure (“Normal Superior School”),
established in Paris in 1794. Later, it became affiliated with the University of Paris. The first
public normal school in the United States was founded in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1839.
Beginning in 1859 in Millersville, Pennsylvania had fourteen normal schools, all of which have
since been reorganized and affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania system.
College and university advertising covers, many of the corner card variety, are collecting
interests of mine. I recently added to my collection several covers for normal schools, some of
which had quite attractive designs. While pursuing those acquisitions, I had the opportunity to
view postcards with various images of Pennsylvania normal schools mailed from students to family
members back home. Most images are campus buildings, but some had photographs of dining
halls, gymnasiums, and other views providing a glimpse of campus life. The images on the cards
were either “real photo” images or colorized photographs. Students could purchase these postcards
at the campus book store or local drug stores.
Presented in this article are postcards associated with the fourteen Pennsylvania normal schools,
including the date the school opened, and name changes, with dates. The last name is the current
name of the institution. (Site: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm%3A978-1-4039-7910-
0%2F1.pdf)
The postage rate at the time these cards were mailed was one cent. Depending on the year
mailed, the cards (if postally used) are franked with a one-cent Franklin, Scott 300 or 331 or 552,
or a one-cent Washington, Scott 405.
Millersville State Normal School (second district). Opened 1859; State Teachers College (1927);
State College (1959); Millersville University of Pennsylvania (1983).
Edinboro (Northwestern) State Normal School (twelfth district). Opened 1861; State Teachers
College (1926); State College (1960); Edinboro University of Pennsylvania (1983).
Mansfield State Normal School (fifth district). Opened 1862; State Teachers College (1927);
State College (1960); Mansfield University of Pennsylvania (1983).
February 2020 Whole No. 222 Vol. 48, No. 1
PENNSYLVANIA POSTAL
PENNSYLVANIA POSTAL HISTORY
The Philadelphia Merchants’ Exchange
Craig Finley & Co. National Export Exposition Advertising Envelopes
(a) Cover Page.pdf
By Daniel M. Telep (# 392)
(g) page 6.pdf
(h) page 7.pdf
(i) page 8.pdf
(j) page 9.pdf
(k) page 10.pdf
(l) page 11.pdf
(m) page 12.pdf
(n) page 13.pdf
(o) page 14.pdf
(p) page 15.pdf
(q) page 16.pdf
(r) page 17.pdf
(z-7) Back cover.pdf
WE ARE NOW PUBLISHING IN COLOR!
To celebrate the event, I plan to include a most colorful cover on the cover of each issue this year. The cover below is what I believe is the most colorful cover in my collection.
The index for this issue is on the back cover.
More on the Craig Finley envelope may be found on page 27.
Printed by Craig Finley & Co. to celebrate the National Export Exhibition
which took place from September 14, 1899 to November 30, 1899
5 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
The Civil War History of Arsenal, Pennsylvania
By Daniel M. Telep (# 392)
Because Pittsburgh was the steel capital of the Union and an important war manufacturing
center, the prize for the Confederates would be the capture of the Allegheny Arsenal located
adjacent to the city in the village called Arsenal. “In the Summer of 1863, the people in this
vicinity were greatly frightened by a rumor that the Army of General Robert E. Lee was about to
invade Western Pennsylvania, in which case all knew that the objective point would be
Pittsburgh.”1
General Lee had sent scouts into the Juniata Valley, Mechanicsburg, and Morgantown, West
Virginia to reconnoiter. He had surveyed the area as a young Army engineer in 1835 and went as
far as Cleveland and Pelee Island in Canada. So we could speculate that he passed through
Pittsburgh early in his military career and knew about the Federal Arsenal located there.
Major General Brooks, commanding the Pittsburgh Region, contacted Secretary of War
Stanton advising him “…that the city of Pittsburgh was in imminent danger and that he would
take immediately steps to defend it against impending invasion.”2
Fortunately for Pittsburghers, Lee’s army turned northeast and moved toward Chambersburg
and Gettysburg! Figure 1 shows mail from the Allegheny Arsenal, postmarked Pittsburgh, PA,
January 30, to Wooster, Ohio, with a fancy oak leaf cancel.
Figure 1
Figure 2 illustrates a product made and stored in the Arsenal. A 1907 photo postcard, Figure
3, shows the Allegheny Arsenal, established in 1814 on 36 acres bordering the Allegheny River
east of downtown Pittsburgh, then closed in 1905. The United States government purchased the
property in April of 1814 from William B. Foster, the father of Stephen C. Foster, Pittsburgh’s
famous song writer.
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 6
Figure 2 Figure 3
The Allegheny Arsenal employed 1200 people and contained ammunition, infantry and
cavalry equipment, caissons, gun cartridges, and canons like the one pictured, all manufactured
there. “The saddest page in the Arsenal’s history is the story of the explosion in September of
1862, in which seventy young women lost their lives.”3 You can read a complete history of the
Allegheny Arsenal, including the explosion and subsequent investigation 1862, in James
Wudarczyk’s book “Pittsburgh’s Forgotten Allegheny Arsenal.”4 James Wudarczyk’s book is
the definitive work on this important history.
Arsenal, Pennsylvania, did have a post office that opened on March 17, 1851, and then
closed shortly after the war on October 23, 1868. Figure 4 has usage of the Arsenal postmark
on March 1, 1861 to Washington, PA. The writer discusses a new church and a national Fast
Day with her cousin. The need for prayer for the nation was heightened as the Confederacy
was formed on February 4, 1861. After the war, when the Arsenal post office closed, it became
a Pittsburgh Railway Station, renamed Arsenal Station on July 1, 1902.
Figure 4
7 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
Figure 5 shows not only the Arsenal Station postmark, but the use of the less usual spelling
of Pittsburg between 1895 and 1911.
Figure 5
The 1865 cover in Figure 6 is a fascinating item sent from Arsenal, PA to a deployed
surgeon with the 80th Ohio Volunteer Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, 15th Corps of
General Sherman’s Army. It entered Divisional mails in Savanah, GA on March 15th, 1865,
and was forwarded from there to attempted delivery and receipt in Goldsboro, NC, on April 4,
1865. The striking feature and romance of this item is that it sports a Confederate Savannah
cancelation mark on a Union cover! I have not seen another like it.
Figure 6
Additional 1865 covers from the same correspondence, Figure 7 and Figure 8, are also sent
from Arsenal to the same surgeon late in the war, March 29 and April 9, 1865. These three
examples remind us of the challenge of a letter reaching a recipient in the highly mobile
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 8
Army commanded by General Sherman. The April 9th date is of course the very day of General
Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House.
Figure 7
Figure 8
Turning from the examination of postal history of the Allegheny Arsenal in Arsenal, PA,
may I introduce another off-shoot study from my original Civil War concentration? When
Union forces captured a Confederate city and continued to occupy it, such as is illustrated in
Figure 5 from Savanah, GA in March 1865, a new chapter in philatelic study opens. I have
coined the term ‘Re-Federalization’ and have written about the transition from Confederate
postal operations back to Union again. See the article in the September 2019 issue of the
American Philatelic Society’s “The American Philatelist” for a discussion of this subject, an
overlooked philatelic area.
9 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
Have you considered examining the history behind your collections? Hopefully this article
will challenge you to share your stories in an article for our membership to enjoy.
References:
(1) Pittsburg and Her People by John Newman Boucher, published 1908 by The Lewis
Publishing Company, pp.181-183
(2) Ibid.
(3) Ibid,
(4) Pittsburgh’s Forgotten Allegheny Arsenal, published 1999 by Closson Press, 1935
Sampson Dr., Apollo, PA, 15613
………………………………………
Figure 1 Figure 2
Perhaps more interesting is one about “The World’s Greatest Highway” with eight folded
pages of scenes along our turnpike, which from text inside, connection must date from around
1950, since it mentions the Delaware river to the New Jersey Turnpike will be started in 1952.
Front and back are shown in Figures 3 and 4. Quite comical is the page with the then terminus
Valley Forge interchange surrounded by farms. This postcard brought back memories of a
1955 trip through the seven single-lane tunnels.
Figure 3 Figure 4
(Continued on page 21)
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 10
The Philadelphia Merchants’ Exchange
By Gus Spector (# 396)
The murmur of the crowd subsided as the meeting of the Philadelphia Board of Brokers was
called to order within the tightly packed confines of the Merchants’ Coffee House. Located at
Second Street near Walnut, the air, suffused with the heavy scent of pipe tobacco, had an
electrically charged vitality. Chairs rattled and squeaked against heavy oaken floorboards, as
everyone settled into place and finally quieted down. Tonight’s meeting was of great import to
this group of outstanding Philadelphia merchants, since they were to vote upon a venture that
might possibly change the course of the city’s economic history. Organized in 1790, the Board
of Brokers met regularly at what was originally called the City Tavern, and later renamed the
Merchants’ Coffee House. Since Philadelphia’s stock brokerage had developed into a separate
business, the association had need of larger, more private quarters.
After many hours of bickering, cat-calling, and gentlemanly swearing, the die was cast. A
triangular shaped property, not part of William Penn’s original grid layout, located between
Third, Walnut, and Dock Streets, was available. This was to become the Merchants’
Exchange.
William Strickland (1788-1854), a disciple of the eminent architect Benjamin Henry
Latrobe, was appointed as chief designer of the Exchange building. In his youth, Strickland, a
long-time resident of Philadelphia, was a landscape painter, illustrator for periodicals,
engraver, and theatrical scene painter. His interest in Greek Revival stemmed from his
ponderings upon the architectural patterns found in the 18th century tome of Stuart and Revett,
The Antiquities of Athens. Thus, when asked to plan the Exchange building, his drawings
reflected the Greek Revival mode, which was the most popular design of the times. The
semicircular marble façade with its tall, imposing, fluted Corinthian columns located at the rear
of the building was Strickland’s ingenious touch, since it adapted to the flow of the irregular,
triangular shape of the property. The front of the building exhibited a distinctively different
Greek Revival theme, replete with its marble façade and elaborate ornamentation.1
Historian John Fanning Watson noted:
In digging for the foundation of the new Exchange, to build which they took down
several brick houses, they came beneath their foundations to the remains of numerous
tan vats, in sound condition; saw the traces of a run or brook leading into Dock creek…
An old stone was found with an inscription of a name and date, which has been worked
into the walls in the cellar of the Exchange, and may be seen.2
The opening of the building was a great success. At the time of its dedication in 1834
numerous celebratory galas continued unendingly for a week. The Philadelphia Board of
Brokers took possession of the Exchange in 1834.
A contemporary description of the building’s interior revealed
The Post Office is upon the first floor, occupying about two-fifths of the whole ground.
On Walnut Street side, there are many splendid offices, for Insurances, and other
purposes. The Reading-Room… is directly over the post office department. The
splendid Rotunda, is upon the same floor, in the east end of the edifice; it is most
beautifully ornamented, with designs, by the distinguished Italian painter, Monachesi.
11 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
The floor is inlaid, in beautiful Mosaic work, upon which rest four elegant, marble
columns, superbly wrought. Above, in the splendid CUPOLA, from which, is a
delightful View, of the commercial operations of the city, upon the river Delaware.
From the Rotunda, the spectator passes to a handsome BALCONY, formed by a semi-
circle of Corinthian pillars, fronting Dock Street, where the great western rail road
passes this commercial portion of the city. The rest of the building is occupied by
brokers, the board of trade, chamber of commerce, and various other apartments.3
Figure 1, taken from Scharf and Westcott’s History of Philadelphia, verifies the location of
early Philadelphia post offices. As can readily be seen, in 1834 the site of the post office was
listed at the brand new “Philadelphia Exchange, north side, on Dock Street”.4
Figure 1
Although it would like to have been deemed as such, the early government post office was
not the only postal institution associated with the mails in the vicinity of the Exchange
building. Steven Roth’s article in The Penny Post spoke of the Merchants’ Exchange as being
“the hub of many Philadelphia local posts”. In particular, the Chestnut Street Line, a horse-
drawn omnibus running along Chestnut Street and passing by the Dock Street side of the
Exchange building may have constituted an early local post, although there exists only one
example of a Chestnut Street Line adhesive.5
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 12
Figure 2 is an early undated postcard view of the Exchange and the Dock Street area. By
this time the electrified trolley had supplanted the horse-drawn omnibus.
Figure 2
In 1845 D. O. Blood’s City Despatch, located at 48 South Third Street (pre-1854 address),
was formed by Daniel Otis Blood and Walter H. Blood, the successors to the Philadelphia
Despatch Post. Both the Philadelphia Despatch Post and Blood’s had as their adhesive design
a mail messenger striding above the Merchants’ Exchange Building, giving the implied
impression that Blood’s Despatch was superior to that of the government post office. Their
circular, seen in Figure 3, states:
Your attention is invited to the prompt, cheap and convenient method of conveying
Letters, Papers, and Small Parcels to the Post-office, and from one part of the City and
Districts to another…
The circular also mentioned that Blood’s had its own mail boxes readily recognizable by its
name emblazoned in large letters.
The corner card for Enoch Durar’s Exchange Coffee House (Figure 4) stated its address to
be at the corner of Third and Dock Streets. According to McElroy’s Philadelphia Directory
for 1845, the coffee house was actually physically located within the Exchange building. The
cover bears a 3c adhesive postmarked in 1860. The letter is addressed to Charlemagne Tower,
Esquire, an influential lawyer, Civil War officer, and mining magnate from Pottsville,
Pennsylvania. The lantern tower of the Merchants’ Exchange building can be visualized in the
upper left corner of the cover’s illustration. Strickland utilized the Greek Choragic Monument
of Lysicrates as inspiration for the lantern tower. In 1831 a local Philadelphia newspaper,
referring to the tower, exclaimed that “Philadelphia is truly the Athens of American”.6
13 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
Figure 3
Figure 4
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 14
Jones’ Exchange Hotel (Figure 5) was located at 77 Dock Street (pre-1854 address). The 3c
imperforate adhesive has an indistinct Philadelphia cancellation. The cameo corner card states
that Jones’ Hotel was located opposite the Exchange and Post Office.
Figure 5
In 1875 the Board of Brokers changed its name to the Philadelphia Stock Exchange. The
Exchange remained at its present location until July 1876, and was then moved to a building on
Third Street, below Chestnut. From 1888 until 1902 the Exchange was housed within the
Drexel Building at Fifth and Chestnut Streets, and thereafter returned to the Merchants’
Exchange Building. In 1913 it moved again to 1411 Walnut Street.7 In 1949 the Exchange
merged with the Baltimore Stock Exchange and was renamed the Philadelphia-Baltimore
Stock Exchange. In 1969, the exchange acquired the Pittsburgh Stock Exchange. In 2007 it
was purchased by NASDAQ for $652 million.8
By the 1940’s the Exchange building had deteriorated and was sorely in need of repair,
becoming home to a multitude of sundry businesses. Storefronts -and even a small gas station-
were added to the ground floor. In preparation for the 1976 Bicentennial, the Olde City area,
including the Exchange, were “cleaned up”.
The building was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2001. It remains the oldest
existing stock exchange building in the United States. Several years ago this author had the
privilege of visiting the building’s interior, which now consists mainly of refurbished
government office space, classrooms, and a research library. It is closed to the public and is
utilized as the headquarters of the Independence National Historical Park.
References:
1- William Strickland (architect), Wikipedia
2- Watson, John F. Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania In the Olde Time, Whiting
and Thomas, Philadelphia. Volume I, p. 348.
3- Bowen, Daniel, A History of Philadelphia, Daniel Bowen (printer and publisher),
Philadelphia, 1839, pp. 81-82.
15 HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020
4- Scharf, J. Thomas, and Westcott, Thompson, History of Philadelphia 1609-1884. L. H.
Everts & Co., Philadelphia., 1884. Volume III, p. 1810.
5- Roth, Steven M., A Report of Some Short-Lived Local Posts of Philadelphia.
Introduction: The Posts, in The Penny Post, October 1993, Vol. 3, No. 4, pp. 8-10.
6- Philadelphia: A Guide to the Nation’s Birthplace. Pennsylvania Historical
Commission. The Telegraph Press, Harrisburg, Pa., 1937, p. 127.
7- Ibid, p. 127.
Steve Swain illustrates postcards associated with fourteen Pennsylvania teacher’s colleges
in Normal School Deltiology. Hopefully it will encourage those members who collect
postcards to submit PA related articles, especially colorful ones.
A single letter written by Dr. Joseph K. Swift to William Mathers in 1831 prompted Phil
Russell to visit the Geology Dept. of Lafayette College to photograph several species donated
by Swift to their collection. It’s all detailed by Phil in Dr. Swift’s Mineral Collection.
Finally, my one page article Craig Finley & Co. National Export Exposition Advertising
Envelopes amplifies on my most colorful cover shown on the cover of this issue and provided
me with an opportunity to show another example in my collection. As explained, there were
three variants of this advertising envelope.
My thanks to all who contributed to the issue and hope you enjoy reading it. More
importantly, I hope it encourages you to contribute to future issues.
As indicated in previous issues, Steve and I are still searching for my replacement as editor.
Please contact Steve or me if you are interested. As I head into my 88th year of life, albeit in
reasonably good health for that age, one never knows when problems can arise. My preference
is an orderly transition rather than a catastrophic one.
Look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at our Annual Meeting in Bellefonte on
June 20, 2020. Please consider submitting an exhibit for the show. A prospectus is available
from Don Heller or me (see page 2).
Have a safe, pleasant and productive remainder of winter. Thus far, global warming has
blessed us here in the Philadelphia area with reasonably mild weather. Prior to completing
these comments on Jan. 12, I spent an hour or so cleaning flower beds while the temperature
was in the low 60’s!
Norm
HISTORIAN Vol. 48, No. 1 (Whole No. 222) February 2020 16
Normal School Deltiology
By Steve Swain (# 590)
A normal school is the historical term for an institution created to train high school graduates to
be teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum, in other words, to instill
and reinforce particular norms within students. Normal schools in the United States and
Canada trained teachers for primary schools, while in continental Europe the equivalent colleges
educated teachers for primary, secondary and tertiary schools.
One of the first normal schools was the École Normale Supérieure (“Normal Superior School”),
established in Paris in 1794. Later, it became affiliated with the University of Paris. The first
public normal school in the United States was founded in Lexington, Massachusetts, in 1839.
Beginning in 1859 in Millersville, Pennsylvania had fourteen normal schools, all of which have
since been reorganized and affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania system.
College and university advertising covers, many of the corner card variety, are collecting
interests of mine. I recently added to my collection several covers for normal schools, some of
which had quite attractive designs. While pursuing those acquisitions, I had the opportunity to
view postcards with various images of Pennsylvania normal schools mailed from students to family
members back home. Most images are campus buildings, but some had photographs of dining
halls, gymnasiums, and other views providing a glimpse of campus life. The images on the cards
were either “real photo” images or colorized photographs. Students could purchase these postcards
at the campus book store or local drug stores.
Presented in this article are postcards associated with the fourteen Pennsylvania normal schools,
including the date the school opened, and name changes, with dates. The last name is the current
name of the institution. (Site: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/bbm%3A978-1-4039-7910-
0%2F1.pdf)
The postage rate at the time these cards were mailed was one cent. Depending on the year
mailed, the cards (if postally used) are franked with a one-cent Franklin, Scott 300 or 331 or 552,
or a one-cent Washington, Scott 405.
Millersville State Normal School (second district). Opened 1859; State Teachers College (1927);
State College (1959); Millersville University of Pennsylvania (1983).
Edinboro (Northwestern) State Normal School (twelfth district). Opened 1861; State Teachers
College (1926); State College (1960); Edinboro University of Pennsylvania (1983).
Mansfield State Normal School (fifth district). Opened 1862; State Teachers College (1927);
State College (1960); Mansfield University of Pennsylvania (1983).
February 2020 Whole No. 222 Vol. 48, No. 1
PENNSYLVANIA POSTAL
PENNSYLVANIA POSTAL HISTORY
The Philadelphia Merchants’ Exchange
Craig Finley & Co. National Export Exposition Advertising Envelopes
(a) Cover Page.pdf
By Daniel M. Telep (# 392)
(g) page 6.pdf
(h) page 7.pdf
(i) page 8.pdf
(j) page 9.pdf
(k) page 10.pdf
(l) page 11.pdf
(m) page 12.pdf
(n) page 13.pdf
(o) page 14.pdf
(p) page 15.pdf
(q) page 16.pdf
(r) page 17.pdf
(z-7) Back cover.pdf