Milestones in Historic Preservation in Philadelphia

The Preservation Alliance is assembling a list of milestone events in the history of historic preservation in Philadelphia. The following are some of the highlights we’ve discovered. If you know of others, please send them to advocacy@preservationalliance.com.

1813 – A public outcry ensues when the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania proposes selling the former State House, now known as Independence Hall.

1818 – The City of Philadelphia takes possession of what is now known as Independence Hall.

1856 – Carpenter’s Company of the City and County of Philadelphia renovates its hall at 3rd and Chestnut Streets, declaring it would “preserve, as much as possible, every feature in said Hall as it now exists indicative of its original finish.”

1867 – A former home of William Penn, the Slate Roof House on 2nd Street north of Walnut Street, is demolished despite efforts to preserve it as a house museum.

1883 – Thanks to the efforts of John Fanning Watson, Letitia Street House is purchased and moved to Fairmount Park. At the time, the building was wrongly believed to have been built for William Penn.

1899 – The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchases Stenton Mansion to be operated as a house museum.

1900 – The Site and Relic Society of Germantown, now the Germantown Historical Society, is founded.

1917 – Members of the Germantown Historical Society form the Women’s Club of Germantown to acquire the Johnson House.

1921 – A court order requires the proposed Benjamin Franklin Bridge be moved south to prevent demolition of St. George’s United Methodist Church.

1929 – St. Clements Church is moved 40 feet west to preserve the church and enable 20th Street to be widened.

1930 – The City Planning Commission rejects architect Paul Cret’s 1924 proposal to demolish all but the tower of City Hall.

1930 – Hatfield House is moved from Nicetown to its current location in Fairmount Park.

1931 – Frances Wister helps found the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks to save the Powel House. The group would later acquire the Physick House and Grumblethorpe.

1942 – The Independence Hall Association is formed to spearhead the creation of Independence National Historic Park.

1944 – Upsala Foundation is formed to save Upsala in Germantown.

1950s – Best known for creating the Historic American Building Survey (HABS) in 1933, Charles F. Peterson later serves as chief architect of Independence National Historic Park, where he helped save the Free Quaker Meetinghouse by moving it.

1955 – The Philadelphia Historical Commission is founded.

1956 – Margaret Tinkcom is appointed to lead the Philadelphia Historical Commission, a position she held until 1974.

1956 – Planning begins for the preservation of colonial-era buildings as part of the redevelopment of Society Hill.

1957 – The Elfreth’s Alley Association, founded in 1934 by a group of concerned residents and other volunteers, successfully blocks a plan to demolish part of Elfreth’s Alley for I-95.

1981 – Hundreds of residents march around the Lit Brothers department store at 8th and Market Streets protesting and eventually successfully preventing its demolition.

1982 – Rhoda Richards helps found the Rittenhouse Preservation Coalition to stop a high-rise proposal that would have demolished two historic houses. That group later expanded into the city-wide Preservation Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, which was a predecessor to the Alliance.