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Pillar of the Community
United States
3253 Posts |
This is a view looking south and west from the corner of Front and Vine Streets. Or from what was a corner; Front St. to the south and Vine St. to the right have been obliterated by an on-ramp to I-95. On the west side of Front near this corner, though, was once located a workshop. The artisan who occupied it may have had this view, minus the Benjamin Frankin Bridge, which was built about a century after his death, but perhaps he could have seen the tall ships arriving to port on the Delaware River below. Who was he, and what was he making here?  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
9104 Posts |
Paul Revere, silversmith?
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
^ that was my first thought. But he was from Boston?
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
3253 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4897 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
97 Posts |
David Rittenhouse, for whom Rittenhouse Square is named?
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Valued Member
United States
97 Posts |
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Valued Member
United States
97 Posts |
Oops. And I moved here from Maine, with a stop in Boston on the way.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3253 Posts |
The Ben Franklin House, and his nearby printshop, are a well-preserved tourist site on Market Street. Not sure where Mint Director David Rittenhouse lived (hmm... maybe future quiz?), but Rittenhouse Square is at 18th and Walnut.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1888 Posts |
Perhaps that was the site of the basement workshop where the first silver coins were made privately because the gov't. at the time could not come up with the required funds for purchasing silver.
Just a WAG. . . < I can smell philly from my backyard >
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3253 Posts |
Darn... That basement was going to be the site of my next quiz. Maybe I'll just post a picture of the place in a non-quiz format.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2797 Posts |
Was that the former location of Murray, Draper, Fairman, and Company, a banknote engraving firm that employed a youngster named Christian Gobrecht? |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3253 Posts |
Very close! The artisan in question also had a banknote engraving operation, that may originally incorporated at this address. When he sold it in 1810, it became the firm of Murray, Draper, Fairman &Co. When he was working at this location, though, his product was going seven blocks west, to the original US Mint.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2797 Posts |
Could it be John Reich, asst. chief engraver at the U.S. Mint in Philly. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3253 Posts |
It was actually John Reich's boss, the man who drive Reich to quit after ten years without getting a raise or promotion. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2797 Posts |
Quote:It was actually John Reich's boss, the man who drive Reich to quit after ten years without getting a raise or promotion. You mean that jerk Robert Scot, the first chief engraver at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia? He was a bit jealous of John Reich's talent. |
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Replies: 16 / Views: 2,373 |
Posted 03/01/2012 10:49 pm
