Farmer’s Market – Franklin Market / 12th Street Market Philadelphia – 1859, 1864

Farmer's Market Philadelphia - circa 1863 - Franklin Market under construction (left)

There have been a tradition of markets on the site of the Reading Terminal Building since 1859 with first the Farmer’s Market and then adjoining Franklin Market aka 12th Street Market 1864 – between 11th and 12th Street on Market Street Philadelphia. 

Wikipedia Commons

Franklin Market, Farmer's Market / 12th Street Markets 1860-1870

"View from the southwest of two market houses located on Market Street between 11th and 12th Streets: the Farmers' Market, the largest of several market houses constructed in 1859 after market sheds and stalls were cleared from Market Street, and the adjoining Franklin Market (also known as the Twelfth Street Market) constructed ca. 1864. Street scene includes a variety of wagons and carriages."

PhilaGeoHistory-map 1875

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Gould and Co - Ninth and Market - Philadelphia - 1875

North Side Market Street Philadelphia - Ninth to Eighth Street - 1875

1867 Advertisement




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Philadelphia Born Photographer Frank La Roche 1853 - 1936

Yesler's Wharf Seattle - 1889

Seattle Waterfront - 1898

Philadelphia Wharves – circa 1800 – Callow Hill to Market

http://books.google.com/books?id=WBrZej7Vt94C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=true

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Philadelphia Wharves – circa 1800 – Market to South St.

http://books.google.com/books?id=WBrZej7Vt94C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=true

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Edward the Confessor Church - 8th and York - Philadelphia

Architect: GeorgeAshdown Audsley who also designed Saint Joan of Arc School in Harrowgate and the Wanamaker Organ

U.S.S. Olympia Out of Mothballs - 1957

Chestnut and Letitia Streets - 113 Chestnut St - Philadelphia

Photo circa 1935 by Stanley Elmore Stady, 1895-1978

Source:

View of Delaware River and Waterfront – Circa 1935 

113 Chestnut Street - 1959

Chestnut and Letitia Streets - 2005

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Monsignor Dennis Dougherty - Thomas Eakins Portrait - 1902

Monsignor Dennis Dougherty - Thomas Eakins - 1902

I saw this portrait above many years ago at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I do not know if it was on loan or part of the permanent collection. I cannot as yet find a full color reproduction.

The Revenge of Thomas Eakins

Thomas Eakins - circa 1875

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Pennsylvania R.R. Ferries Building - Market Street and Delaware Avenue - Philadelphia

Temple University Libraries, Urban Archives, circa 1899

Temple University Libraries, Urban Archives, circa 1899

Temple University Libraries, Urban Archives, circa 1899

Library of Congress - Circa 1900

Circa 1920s

Circa 1899

Philadelphia Geo Maps 1895

Philadelphia Geo Maps 1910

Philadelphia Geo Maps 1942

Doing some research and magnification of old photos I started to look for the name of the architect of old Pennsylvania Railroad R.R. Ferries Terminal building built around 1899 or so it would seem to me.  I also searched for some interior photos hoping for some grand lost architectural gem from the so-called Gilded Age at the turn of the Twentieth Century.

Looking further at the photos of what I thought was some lost cast iron façade of a lost grand building, I decided that cast iron may be involved, but more likely a lumber and tin covered façade, facing to a bunch of old piers and docks may be the likely answer to the old ferry terminal.

Maybe it was a temporary measure.  Maybe the envisioned new building never got built. I do not know at this time without further research.  I am guessing that the Hollywood like temporary sets of the Columbian Exposition, the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, was the inspiration of the ferry terminal in transition and in connection with the widening of Delaware Avenue along with other port improvements never got past a quick façade stage of transitional building. More research needed.

Below the photos above for your inspection are three port maps 1895, 1910 and 1942 to show how four ferry docks eventually got reshaped into five docks and maybe the reason for a temporary façade in the late 1890s.

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