Vine Street Expressway

[radiocolin]

I'm looking for photos of Vine Street prior to the second half of the Vine (676) being built.

Such as 18th and Vine where the expressway once ended, preparations for the second half, and construction photos of either half of the expressway.

I can't find much in this vein in the photos on Phillyhistory.org.

[desolate]

I have some. I'll have to find them.

[MikePenn]

future off ramp from 95

[radiocolin]

Which way is that looking?

[jbk]

These are east of Broad, most from the 1950s

[jbk]

West of Broad, most from the 1950s, except the last two:

[amberstreet]

I remember a bar at or around 6 th and vine? Blackbeard was supose to have drank there. mid 80s? it disappeared

[radiocolin]

So Vine was already widened way before the actual building of the expressway, they just hadn't depressed it yet

[Dayman]

Look how clean it was.

[niel]

Wow, I had no idea Vine was so wide. No wonder they put the expressway there. Strange that you'd have such a broad street there & then only a few blocks away Spring Garden, another wide thoroughfare.

[radiocolin]

Wow, I had no idea Vine was so wide. No wonder they put the expressway there. Strange that you'd have such a broad street there & then only a few blocks away Spring Garden, another wide thoroughfare.

I believe Vine was widened right around the time these photos were taken, in preparation for the eastern end of the expressway. Cue 30 years of arguing about Chinatown and DEISes.

[Moonraker]

Recall that Dr. Franklin recalled the Fire of London, and his plan for the City was to have wide streets for the responding fire companies and parks such as the five in Center City. Center Square became City Hall. I'll bet the Roman HS and Hannaman Hospital archives have good views of Vine Street over time.

Looking through the Temple Photo archive, it looks like Vine Street was widened in the late 40's. The creation of the Schuylkill Expressway, about 1954-56, created the depression for the Vine Street Expressway.

I recall St. Hedwigs being where Park Towne Place sits, then being relocated to 24th & Brown, replacing a movie theater.

This looks like the 22nd Street off ramp, as viewed from the Franklin Institute. http://diamond.temple.edu:81/search~...T=D&19,19,,0,0


This is a 1957 photo looking west from 18th Street. http://diamond.temple.edu:81/search~...T=D&23%2C23%2C

This 1940 shot gives an idea of the width in the 1400 block. http://diamond.temple.edu:81/search~...eet&85,85,,0,0

This is the text from a 1942 photo: Photos show a section of Vine Street that will be made over into a two-way boulevard approach to the Delaware River Bridge. The State Highway Department has ordered the city to begin condemnation of property as the first step in the project. The program calls for a boulevard from the bridge to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Between the bridge and a point west of Fifteenth Street the boulevard will have ten lanes, and from west of Fifteenth Street to the Parkway, it will be six lanes wide. The strech with ten lanes will be 160 feet wide, while the six lane sector will be 100 feet wide.

[lewblum]

I believe Vine was widened right around the time these photos were taken, in preparation for the eastern end of the expressway. Cue 30 years of arguing about Chinatown and DEISes.

yeah, if you see in this picture, the building on the right has a blank party wall facing directly onto Vine St - the scars of its neighbor being torn down.

for the widening i believe the northern right-of-way line was not changed.
all of the additional ROW was taken from the south of the original Vine St.
when you drive along the eastbound local lanes you'll notice that they directly abut Winter St in some cases.

[desolate]

Vine Street is a great highway that removes thousands of cars from using the local crossroads.

It is a shame that due to Chinatown, the highway causes a great deal of damage at the northern end of Franklin Square.


One day when the roadway is due for rehab that can rearrange the interchange to get back blocks of the city.

[billy ross]

Recall that Dr. Franklin recalled the Fire of London, and his plan for the City was to have wide streets for the responding fire companies and parks such as the five in Center City. Center Square became City Hall. I'll bet the Roman HS and Hannaman Hospital archives have good views of Vine Street over time.

Looking through the Temple Photo archive, it looks like Vine Street was widened in the late 40's. The creation of the Schuylkill Expressway, about 1954-56, created the depression for the Vine Street Expressway.

I recall St. Hedwigs being where Park Towne Place sits, then being relocated to 24th & Brown, replacing a movie theater.

This looks like the 22nd Street off ramp, as viewed from the Franklin Institute. http://diamond.temple.edu:81/search~...T=D&19,19,,0,0


This is a 1957 photo looking west from 18th Street. http://diamond.temple.edu:81/search~...T=D&23%2C23%2C

This 1940 shot gives an idea of the width in the 1400 block. http://diamond.temple.edu:81/search~...eet&85,85,,0,0

This is the text from a 1942 photo: Photos show a section of Vine Street that will be made over into a two-way boulevard approach to the Delaware River Bridge. The State Highway Department has ordered the city to begin condemnation of property as the first step in the project. The program calls for a boulevard from the bridge to the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. Between the bridge and a point west of Fifteenth Street the boulevard will have ten lanes, and from west of Fifteenth Street to the Parkway, it will be six lanes wide. The strech with ten lanes will be 160 feet wide, while the six lane sector will be 100 feet wide.

Centre Square. Noah Webster didn't standardize American spelling until about 1820, long after the Walnut Street Theatre and Centre Square were named. To change the spelling ex post facto would be incorrect.

[Dayman]

Recall that Dr. Franklin recalled the Fire of London, and his plan for the City was to have wide streets for the responding fire companies and parks such as the five in Center City.

*Billy Penn designed the city.

[Moonraker]

The concept for Philadelphia may have been envisioned by Penn, but he was focused on the rest of the state until he was thrown in debtor's prison. Franklin was 12 the year Penn died. Philadelphia was just reaching west of Broad Street. Franklin had the power to establish the fire requirments, practices and policies implemented by the Fire Department and in the "Planning Code". Again, the mistakes of the Londond design, drove the Philadelphia design. Wide Streets for the fire equipment, parks for people to seek refuge. Franklin started the Fairmount Park land acquisition as a water shed for clean water and water to fight fires, which was the biggest risk to a congested urban population.


Volunteer firefighting in decline
Philadelphia Pictures

[nanyika]

The concept for Philadelphia may have been envisioned by Penn, but he was focused on the rest of the state until he was thrown in debtor's prison. Franklin was 12 the year Penn died. Philadelphia was just reaching west of Broad Street. Franklin had the power to establish the fire requirments, practices and policies implemented by the Fire Department and in the "Planning Code". Again, the mistakes of the Londond design, drove the Philadelphia design. Wide Streets for the fire equipment, parks for people to seek refuge. Franklin started the Fairmount Park land acquisition as a water shed for clean water and water to fight fires, which was the biggest risk to a congested urban population.

Moonraker, your version of Philadelphia history needs some polishing. The plan of the city, of course, was worked out by Penn and his surveyor, Thomas Holme, in 1683. The width of the streets were set quite early. Penn certainly did recall the fire of London, since he was a young man at the time. I know of no evidence, however, that Penn particularly concerned himself with the planning of Philadelphia in the period after he was thrown into debtors' prison at age 62 in England. He was plagued by financial problems and poor health, his enthusiasm for his Pennsylvania colony flagged, and he never returned to Philadelphia again.

Philadelphia was not "just reaching Broad Street" at the time that Penn died, in 1718. There were certainly a handful of farms west of Broad, but very few buildings of the town had been constructed beyond 4th St. i am unsure what "power" you are referring to that Franklin supposedly had to determine and regulate city policies. There was no "Fire Department" in his day, though Franklin did found a volunteer company. And how was Franklin responsible for Fairmount Park? The first city acquisition of land along the Schuylkill, the hill of Fairmount, took place cc. 1812 -- 22 years after Franklin's death. In Franklin's time, water to fight fires generally came from the Delaware River.

[Moonraker]

Greetings Nanyika, Thank you for the correction, which raised a question. Assuming my recollection that the initial village-borrough of Philadelphia ran from Spring Garden to South Streets, was that the extent of the survey sponsored by Penn, or was it meant to be replicated past those boundaries?
Also, were the 5 squares part of that initial survey?

[desolate]

Greetings Nanyika, Thank you for the correction, which raised a question. Assuming my recollection that the initial village-borrough of Philadelphia ran from Spring Garden to South Streets, was that the extent of the survey sponsored by Penn, or was it meant to be replicated past those boundaries?
Also, were the 5 squares part of that initial survey?

Logan, Franklin, Washington, Rittenhouse, and City Hall.