Newkirk Viaduct Monument

The Newkirk Viaduct Monument (also, Newkirk Monument) is a 15-foot (4.6 m) white marble obelisk in the West Philadelphia neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Installed in 1839, it is inscribed with the names of 51 railroad builders and executives, among other information.

Newkirk Viaduct Monument
2018 photo
39.9400°N 75.2063°W / 39.9400; -75.2063
LocationWest Philadelphia
DesignerThomas Ustick Walter
Typeobelisk
Materialwhite marble
Width5 feet (1.5 m)
Height14 feet (4.3 m)
Completion date1839
Dedicated toMatthew Newkirk
Moved from original location sometime after 1927.[1] Moved to current location in 2016.[2]

Designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, a future Architect of the Capitol, the monument was erected by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad to mark its completion of a bridge across the Schuylkill River and the first railroad line south from Philadelphia. The monument, which originally sat about 700 feet (210 m) from the riverbank, was moved sometime after 1927 about 600 feet (180 m) further inland, where it sat for decades by the main line that became Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. In 2016, it was moved to its present location, about 100 feet (30 m) from the river's edge at the north end of the Bartram's Mile section of the Schuylkill River Trail.

History

The monument commemorates the 1838 completion of the Newkirk Viaduct, also called the Gray's Ferry Bridge, over the Schuylkill River. The bridge completed the first direct rail line between Philadelphia and Baltimore, Maryland — tracks that closely paralleled the King's Highway, the main land route to the southern states.

On August 14, 1838, the PW&B board of directors decided to name the bridge after company president Matthew Newkirk (1794–1868), a Philadelphia business and civic leader, and to commission a monument at its west end. (Earlier in the year, the company gave Newkirk a silver plate worth $1,000 ($27,481 today[3]) to reward him for arranging the merger of four railroads that together built the Philadelphia-Baltimore line.)[4]

Designed by Thomas Ustick Walter,[5] who would go on to design the dome of the U.S. Capitol, the white marble monument consists of seven pieces of carved stone held together simply by weight and friction — not reinforced, for example, with metal pins. The uppermost piece, a 7-foot (2.1 m) obelisk, weighs about 6,000 pounds (2,700 kg), while the 5-foot (1.5 m) base and other pieces weigh a rough total of 12,000 pounds (5,400 kg).[2] The obelisk and base are inscribed with the names of 51 men,[6] including senior officials of the four railroads and various employees who helped build the bridge and rail line.[7][8]

The monument was installed along the western approach to the bridge and surrounded by a low iron fence.[7] An 1895 account describes its location as "on a high bank in the angle formed by the junction of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad and the Chester Branch of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway just below the western end of the Gray's Ferry Bridge."[9] It sat about 700 feet (210 m) from the Schuylkill River, at 39.93975 north latitude, 75.20830 west longitude.[10]

In 1872, the PW&B built a new mainline west of the Viaduct. It leased its old line to the Philadelphia and Reading Railway, which built a small railyard, surrounding the monument.[1]

After a half-century, the monument had fallen into obscurity, except perhaps to vandals. "Surrounding the structure is an iron fence to protect it from vandalism, but it has, nevertheless, been a frequent target for irresponsible hoodlums," the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote in 1896.[11] In 1900, the Philadelphia Record wrote of the monument: "On account of its inaccessibility and the dense foliage, it is scarcely ever seen."[12]

Ca. 1930 move

By January 1926, the Pennsylvania Railroad was making plans to move the monument "because of the additional yard facilities which are required at that point. The understanding is that it will be placed on the present site of the Gray's Ferry Station. The engineering department of the Pennsylvania Railroad has the matter in charge."[13]

A May 1927 aerial photo shows it still in its original location.[14] But presently, it was moved to the site of the now-demolished station, along the 1872 mainline, just northeast of the 49th Street Bridge, at 39.939492 north latitude, 75.210633 west longitude.[10][1][15] It seems to have been moved by September 1930, when a reader asked the Inquirer about "a monument beside the Pennsylvania Railroad near the first overhead crossing which is located about Forty-Eighth or Fiftieth Street".[16] (In 1939, a retired Pennsylvania Railroad employee—perhaps having forgotten the actual year of the move—told the Delaware County Daily Times that the monument had been moved in late 1917 to make way for the "Hog Island Railroad"—formally, the 60th Street Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad—and that three of Newkirk's daughters had been asked their permission for the move.[17])

For the next eight decades, the monument sat all but abandoned, in disrepair, and nearly forgotten, though it was visible to passengers traveling Amtrak's Northeast Corridor or SEPTA Regional Rail trains on the Airport Line and the Wilmington/Newark Line.[8]

2016 move

In 2013, interest in the Newkirk Monument was rekindled by a pair of articles[1][18] written by Bradley Peniston for Hidden City Philadelphia, a local organization about the built environment. The articles explored the monument's significance and suggested it be moved to a more visible site. Over the next few years, the idea was embraced and brought to fruition by a host of public and private entities, including Amtrak, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, Schuylkill River Development Corporation, landscape architects Andropogon Associates, planners PennPraxis, conservators Materials Conservation, and movers with the George Young Company. On November 17–18, 2016, the monument was moved to a new concrete pad along the under-construction "Bartram's Mile" section of the Schuylkill River Trail.[2]

  • 1856 Drawing
    1856 Drawing
  • In 2009
    In 2009
  • Monument as seen from tracks in 2009
    Monument as seen from tracks in 2009

Inscription

As transcribed by Wilson, the four sides of the monument and its base are inscribed as follows:[9]

Eastern face
Western face
Northern face
Southern face
Obelisk
PHILADELPHIA WILMINGTON AND BALTIMORE RAILROAD COMPANY

President
MATTHEW NEWKIRK

Vice President
JACOB J COHEN JR

Directors
Philadelphia. Matthew Newkirk, John Hemphill, John Connel,[19] Wm. D. Lewis. Wilmington. James Canby, James Price, David C. Wilson, James A. Bayard, William Chandler. Baltimore. J.J. Cohen Jr., Chas. F. Mayer, John McKim Jr.,[20] James Swan, W.A. Patterson. Delaware. Thomas Smith. Chester. Solicitor, Samuel Edwards.

Secretary,
JAMES WILSON WALLACE, WILLIAM P. BROBSON, Ass't.

Treasurer,
ALLAN THOMSON. AUBRY H. SMITH,[21] Ass't.

BALTIMORE AND PORT DEPOSIT RAILROAD COMPANY

President
LEWIS BRANTZ

Directors
Philadelphia. Matthew Newkirk. New York. Roswell L. Colt. Maryland. Chas. F. Mayer, J.J. Cohen Jr.,[22] John B. Howell, C.W. Karthouse, Fred'k Dawson, Henry Thomson, John C. Morton.

Secretary and Treasurer,
CHARLES H WINDER.

Engineer,
BENJAMIN H LATROBE.

Assistant Engineer,

HENRY R HAZELHURST.[23]

DELAWARE AND MARYLAND RAILROAD COMPANY.

President,
MATTHEW NEWKIRK.

Directors:
Wilmington. James Canby, James Price, Edward Tatnell,[24] Henry Whitely, Wm. Chandler, David Wilson, Mahlon Betts. Elkton. James Sewall, Josh. Richardson, Greenb'y Purnell, Secretary, Wm. P. Brobson. Treasurer, Allan Thomson.

Engineer,
WILLIAM STRICKLAND.

Assistant Engineer,

JAMES P. STABLER.

WILMINGTON AND SUSQUEHANNA RAILROAD COMPANY.

President,
JAMES CANBY.

Directors
Philadelphia. Matthew Newkirk, John Hemphill, Stephen Baldwin, Samuel Jaudon. Elkton. James Sewall. Baltimore. J.J. Cohen Jr. Wilmington, David C. Wilson, James Price, William Chandler, Edward Tatnell,[24] Joseph C. Gilpin, Mahlon Betts, Henry Whitely, Jas. A. Bayard.

Secretary,
WILLIAM P BROBSON.

Treasurer,
ALLAN THOMSON.

Engineer,
WILLIAM STRICKLAND.

Assistant Engineer,

JC TRAUTWINE.
Base

THE PHILADELPHIA WILMINGTON AND BALTIMORE RAILROAD COMPANY

Formed A.D. 1838 by the Union
of the several charters obtained from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware.
Work commenced July 4, 1835.
Completed December 25, 1838.
Cost $4,000,000.

Railroad Contractors:
William Slater, John Ahern,
Beers & Hyde, Kennedy Lonergan

Superintendents:

Charles Lombaert, George Craig, Alfred Crawford[25]

NEWKIRK VIADUCT

Samuel H. Kneass, Engineer.
Alexander and Charles Provost, Stone Masons.
Uziel H. French, Bridge Carpenter.

NEWKIRK VIADUCT

Commenced July 4, 1837.
Completed December 25, 1838.
S.H. Kneass, Engineer.
Railroad from Philadelphia to Wilmington.

Herman J. Lombaert, Asst. Eng'r.[26]

Wilson's transcription contains several errors; for example, it misspells the last names of Henry Hazlehurst, Edward Tatnall,[18] and Charles and Alexander Provest.

References
  1. Peniston, Bradley (March 13, 2013). "Who Moved The Newkirk Viaduct Monument?". Hidden City Philadelphia. Retrieved March 15, 2013.
  2. Maule, Bradley (December 6, 2016). "A Moving Monument". Hidden City Daily. Philadelphia: Hidden City Philadelphia.
  3. 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  4. "1838 (June 2004 Edition)" (PDF). PRR CHRONOLOGY. The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. June 2004. p. 2. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  5. Newkirk Viaduct data from the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings (PAB) project of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia
  6. Peniston, Bradley (July 9, 2014). "The Monument Men". Hidden City Daily. Retrieved January 26, 2018.
  7. Dare, Charles P. (1856). Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore railroad guide: containing a description of the scenery, rivers, towns, villages, and objects of interest along the line of road; including historical sketches, legends. Vol. 1. Fitzgibbon & Van Ness. p. 115.
  8. Baer, Christopher (2002-05-08). "Do You Wanna Know More?". Philadelphia Weekly. Archived from the original on 2012-02-22. Retrieved 2009-06-06.
  9. Wilson, William Bender (1895). History of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company with Plan of Organization, Portraits of Officials and Biographical Sketches. Vol. 1. Philadelphia: Henry T. Coates & Company. pp. 296–299. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  10. "Where Did the Newkirk Monument Originally Stand?". Friends of the Newkirk Monument. 2015-09-04. Archived from the original on February 9, 2019. Retrieved 2018-01-26.
  11. "Forgotten Monuments of this City". Philadelphia Inquirer. 23 February 1896. p. 25. Retrieved 28 March 2022.
  12. "City's Fine New Bridge". Philadelphia. Philadelphia Record. August 12, 1900. p. 15. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
  13. "23 Jan 1926, Page 6 - The News Journal at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  14. "Van Sciver Schuylkill Plant". Hagley Digital Archives. 1927-07-05. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  15. "BridgeReports.com | 49TH STREET over AMTRAK(NY-WASH BRANCH), Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania". bridgereports.com. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  16. "Penna Railroad Monument". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1930-09-17. p. 12. Retrieved 2022-04-30.
  17. "Newkirk Shaft at Grays Ferry / Delaware County Daily Times". Newspapers.com. 10 Apr 1939. p. 8. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
  18. A corrected version is given in this article: Peniston, Bradley (July 9, 2014). "The Monument Men". hiddencityphila.org. Philadelphia: Hidden City Philadelphia.
  19. The spelling of the last name seems to be in error; it should be "Connell". Minor, D. K.; Schaeffer, George C., eds. (January 21, 1837). "Wilmington and Susquehanna Railroad Company". New York. American Railroad Journal and Advocate for Internal Improvements. p. 34. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  20. "Jr John McKim b. 28 Mar 1766 Baltimore, Independent Cities, Maryland, USA d. 16 Jan 1842: JHBL Genealogy". latrobefamily.com.
  21. Misspelled; it is spelled "Aubrey". Annual Report of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Rail Road, 1838–40. Philadelphia: Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Rail Road Company. 1838–40.
  22. Cohen briefly served as B&PD president in 1838 after Brantz died. On Feb. 20, after the railroad mergers, he became PW&B vice president. "1838 (June 2004 Edition)" (PDF). PRR CHRONOLOGY. The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. June 2004. p. 2. Retrieved 23 July 2013.
  23. The last name is misspelled. It is "Hazlehurst". JHBL Family Genealogy
  24. [sic] His last name was spelled "Tatnall"."Records of Vice President Henry Tatnall, 1897-1940 (bulk 1909-1940)". Hagley Museum and Library - Manuscripts and Archives Department. Worldcat. Retrieved October 1, 2013.
  25. Appointed Superintendent of Transportation for the Baltimore and Port Deposite on Jan. 26, 1837."1837 (June 2004 Edition)" (PDF). PRR CHRONOLOGY. The Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society. June 2004. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  26. Son of superintendent Charles Lombaert. Later the assistant to Pennsylvania Railroad chief engineer Herman Haupt and ultimately a vice president of the PRR.
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