Delaware Avenue, Philadelphia, 1900s

In full color

Sometimes I come across a photograph and I can not ignore it. This is one of those cases.

Other than what the original caption indicates, there isn't much information available: “Delaware Ave. [Avenue], foot of Market St. [Street], Philadelphia, Pa.”

The photo was taken probably between 1900 and 1910s.

Print available

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I like to examine the details, looking for clues that could lead me to more information. In this case, I couldn’t find much, but I did notice that the wagon on the right side has “Bassett's Ice Cream” written on it. A quick search later and I found out that the company still exists. It was founded in 1861, “when the early batches of ice cream were churned by mule power”.

In 1892, so a few years before the photo was taken, they moved their production and retail store to the new Reading Terminal Market.

The Free Library of Philadelphia has a photograph of Market Street taken in 1906 from a different angle. The construction of the Market Street subway was well under way. The work in progress can be seen at the right. At the end of the street is the entrance to the "Pennsylvania R.R. Ferries."

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What’s your favorite thing about these old photos? Let me know down below. I love the details so much. It’s amazing to think that these people had no idea that they would be seen by millions, so many years later, through a screen.

Courtesy of Library of Congress

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