December 12, 2022
Thom Carroll/for PhillyVoice
Since 1946, more than 2,500 blue and gold historical markers have been placed at significant locations across Pennsylvania. Philadelphia has more than 300 historical markers.
Philadelphia has more than 300 historical markers spread throughout the city, each recognizing a significant person, place or event that shaped Pennsylvania's development.
Eleven new markers will soon be coming to the city after the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission approved 36 new markers across the state.
The new markers were selected from 91 applications, bringing the state's total number of markers to more than 2,500 since the program's inception in 1946.
A complete online database of Pennsylvania historical markers allows you to locate specific figures by county and category, which can range from Native Americans and settlers to politics, athletes, entertainers, artists, factories and businesses.
Below are the new Philadelphia markers, with links for additional background. Exact locations and installation dates were not immediately available for all of them.
Charles Brockden Brown (1771–1810)
Brown was an early American novelist, editor and historian, sometimes called the "Father of the American Novel." He was born into a Quaker family and set most of his fiction in the Philadelphia area. His work gave lurid descriptions of the city’s yellow fever plagues of the 1790s and examined the violence colonists brought against the Lenape people. Brown became an inspiration for later Philadelphia-based Gothic writers, including George Lippard and Edgar Allan Poe. He took firm stands for the abolition of slavery and in defense of women’s equality.
Edward Lee Morgan (1938–1972)
Lee Morgan was a jazz trumpeter, composer and activist. He attended Jules E. Mastbaum Area Vocational Technical High School in Philadelphia and became immersed in the jazz scene through his participation in jam sessions at Music City. During his career, Morgan played with the Dizzy Gillespie Big Band and worked with towering figures such as John Coltrane and Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers. He's best known for his contributions to hardbop and for his most celebrated album, "The Sidewinder."
Francis Daniel Pastorius (1651–1720)
Pastorius was the founder of Germantown, creating the first permanent German American settlement in America. A teacher, lawyer, poet and public official, he drafted the first protest against slavery in America in 1688. He also served in local office several times during his life. The Francis Daniel Pastorius Homestead is at 25 E. High St.
Hakim's Bookstore
Hakim's Bookstore opened in West Philadelphia in the 1950's and emerged as a cultural and political hub for Black activists in the city. The store was an important center for organization in the Black community during the civil rights movement. The store is at 210 S 52nd St.
Hillary Koprowski, M.D. (1916–2013)
Koprowski was an influential Polish American virologist, immunologist and director of the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, where he led the organization's medical research efforts from 1957 and 1991. Koprowski's contributions to medicine included work on monoclonal antibodies and the development of the rabies vaccine. He also created an early polio vaccine. His accomplishments are recognized by the U.S. National Institutes of Health and other health organizations in the U.S. and abroad.
John G. Johnson (1841–1917)
Johnson earned the nickname "America's Best Lawyer," practicing from 1862 to 1884. Among his clients were U.S. Steel, Standard Oil, DuPont, JP Morgan and other corporations. Johnson's personal art collection was passed on to the city and became one of the founding collections for the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Local 8, Industrial Workers of the World
Local 8 of the Industrial Workers of the World represented dockworkers in Philadelphia during the early part of the 20th century, setting an important tone for organized labor in the U.S. Ben Fletcher, the leader of Local 8, helped it become a formidable union that prided itself on being Black-led and multiracial, with ranks that included Irish Americans and European immigrants. The union's legacy on behalf of racial and ethnic equality improved workers' pay, hiring practices and cultural acceptance.
Mount Pleasant
Mount Pleasant in East Fairmount Park is regarded as one of the greatest examples of Georgian-style architecture. The estate, built between 1762 and 1765, was originally a plantation where enslaved African Americans worked. Ownership of Mount Pleasant passed through the hands of numerous notable figures, including Benedict Arnold, Baron von Steuben and Benjamin Franklin’s great nephew, Jonathan Williams. The historic mansion is at 3800 Mt Pleasant Drive.
Samuel V. Merrick (1801–1870)
Merrick was a notable industrialist during the early years of the Industrial Revolution. He built Philadelphia's Southwark Foundry, one of the most advanced manufacturing plants of its kind in the U.S., and cofounded the Franklin Institute. He also was the first president of the Pennsylvania Railroad from 1847 to 1849, as well as other railroads in the region. He was a founding member of the American Philosophical Society from 1833 until his death.
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, founded by William Penn, was originally seated in a courthouse at the corner of Second and Market streets in Philadelphia. It is the highest court in Pennsylvania and the oldest appellate court in North America. The court moved to Independence Hall, housing all three branches of the colonial government, before relocating to Lancaster and later Harrisburg.
The Trial of Hester Vaughn
Hester Vaughn, an immigrant housekeeper who settled in Philadelphia, was accused of infanticide in 1868 after her child died just days after birth. She was sentenced by an all-male jury, but received a pardon from the governor of Pennsylvania with help from advocates including Susan B. Anthony and the Workingwoman's Association. The newspaper The Revolution organized a meeting in her defense in New York. Vaughn was deported to her native England, but her case set a precedent for women to receive a jury of their peers and paved the way for other breakthroughs in the justice system.
A number of state historical markers also were approved in Philly's suburbs.
Battle of Edge Hill, Abington Township, Montgomery County
Sometimes overshadowed by other battles in the American Revolution, the Battle of Edge Hill served as the final conflict with the British before the the Valley Forge encampment. On December 7, 1777, Gen. William Howe pushed British and Hessian forces away from Philadelphia to fight on Edge Hill Heights, less than 15 miles north of Center City.
Caroline Burnhman Kilgore (1838–1909), Springfield Township, Delaware County
Kilgore was the first woman admitted to the bar in Pennsylvania and became one of the state's leading women in the law. She was the first to practice in a Pennsylvania court in the Orphans' Courts in the 1880's and was among the first women to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. She dedicated much of her life to the suffragist cause.
Dr. Chevalier Jackson (1865–1958), Schwenksville Borough, Montgomery County
Jackson graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1886 and became a leading expert in laryngology, bronchology and the removal of accidentally swallowed objects. The Pittsburgh native pushed for Congress to pass the Federal Caustic Poison Act of 1927, which required the placement of warning labels on poisonous products. Jackson's collection of more than 2,300 inhaled or swallowed items can be seen at the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia.
Edward Piszek (1916–2004), Springfield Township, Montgomery County
A businessman who thrived as a marketer, Piszek co-founded Mrs. Paul's Kitchens, which became a national leader in frozen "heat-and-eat" convenience seafoods. He was an advocate of Polish American heritage and a philanthropist efforts who helped establish the Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial in Philadelphia. He also led an antituberculosis campaign in Poland in the late 1960s.
Highlands, Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County
The Highlands, a late-Georgian-style country estate, was commissioned by wealthy Quaker lawyer Anthony Morris. The 44-acre property at 7001 Sheaff Lane features a formal garden and surrounding stone walls. It also has a bank barn, springhouse, greenhouse, smokehouse and Gothic Revival gardener's cottage. Today, the Highlands hosts weddings and other events.
Women of Idenlea, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County
Dr. Hannah E. Longshore was the first woman physician in Pennsylvania. She lived together with her sister, Dr. Jane V. Myers and her daughter, Lucretia Mott Longshore Blankenburg, at the Idenlea estate on the Main Line. The three women were prominent advocates for women’s rights and suffrage and the advancement of women in professional life, as well as other causes such the abolition of slavery and government reform.
