Duke Riley’s memorial to King Laird atop a CITGO tank on Petty’s Island (2009)

Two essays on PhilaPlace also wade into the little known histories of the Delaware River islands. Brand new this week is Chris Dougherty’s From Wetland to Urban Land: A Social and Environmental History of Philadelphia’s Tidal Islands. Dougherty writes:

Despite their marginal quality for most of the 18th century, these “drowned lands” [of the Delaware River] took on greater significance as Philadelphia developed into a densely populated industrial and maritime center… Residences were strewn indiscriminately among the industries and workers in the yards or subsidiary industries were rarely out of earshot of the pulse and clamor of shipbuilding on the Delaware.

From Hog Island’s shipyards to Smith Island’s saloon, Dougherty examines the marshy islands’ industrial transformations and the people who worked, lived, and played there.  And of course he doesn’t overlook the lore of the origins of our beloved hoagie—arguably Hog Island’s most enduring legacy…

In Soupy Island: Fresh Air and Hot Soup at a Delaware River Playground, Amanda Zellner digs into the historical record of the Sanitarium Association of Philadelphia to tell the story of “Soupy Island,” a summer refuge for city kids founded in 1877 on Windmill Island and later relocated to the shores of Red Bank, New Jersey. Zellner writes, “Year after year, the Sanitarium’s steamboats transported thousands of children [to Soupy Island]… The steamboats left from several locations over the years, including ports near Port Richmond and Queen Village.”  In 1889, the Sanitarium Association reported that 103,516 people visited the resort and “board members proudly boasted about a system so efficient that 1,000 people could be served a pint of soup and three crackers in 30 minutes.” Here’s one of Soupy Island’s happy campers in 1939:

Both Dougherty’s and Zellner’s essays also feature a slew of amazing historical photographs like these drawn from the Philadelphia Record Photo Morgue collection.  Here’s a  sampling (click on each image to enlarge):

Construction of the Petty’s Island Bridge, ca. 1935.

Brush cut for survey line, Hog Island, 1917.

Shipway# 1 from river front, Hog Island, 1917.

Coast Guard loads six-ton “superbomb”on to a ship at Hog Island, 1945.

Workers in the snow at Hog Island’s  Wharf Road Sewer and Water treatment, 1917.

“River view of the Sanitarium Park, with the landing on the left.”  From the Annual Report of the Sanitarium Association of Philadelphia, 1894.

Children aboard steamship, “The Elizabeth Monroe Smith,” headed down the Delaware River to the Sanitarium (Soupy Island) in Red Bank, NJ. 1939.

“Waiting for lunch.”  Children at sanitarium playground stand in line outside the kitchen to wait for lunch, 1898.

Boys in swim trunks at Soupy Island Sanitarium, 1939.

Boy  posing with a lifesaver from the steamship Elizabeth Monroe Smith, en route to Soupy Island, 1939.

According to the Record, Bella was one of the many South Philadelphians of the era living in the unsafe, unsanitary, slum housing of Philadelphia. Bella’s hopes were to move into the city’s proposed Old Swedes/ Southwark low-rent housing project to be built in her neighborhood.  Over the next few weeks I continued searching through newspaper articles, public records, pamphlets, reports, census data, and city directories hoping to find what became of Bella and her house along Washington Avenue. In the process, I discovered a dramatic  story of  heated feuding between political factions, ethnic groups, religious organizations, and the citizens of Southwark, over what would become of the 18 acres of land bound between Catharine Street, Delaware Avenue, Washington Avenue, and 2nd Street.   You can read the full story of the Old Swedes Housing Project on PhilaPlace.org.

The following text and photos are excerpted from the Philadelphia Record’s May 23, 1939 article about the life and conditions of the Iveson family.

The Ivesons Will Soon Be Moving From Their Bandbox: Homes of 383 Families to Be Razed for 18-Acre South Philadelphia $5,500,000 Low-Rent Project

OCCUPYING the nearer of this pair of bandbox houses (three rooms, one over the other) are Mrs. Bella Iveson, 30, a recent widow; her three children and mother. The house (on Washington Ave. near Front st.) and almost 400 other structures- 335 dwellings (housing 383 families), of which 245 are unsafe and unsanitary- are to be demolished to make way for Philadelphia Housing Authority’s $5,500,00 low-rental housing project in the area bounded roughly by Catharine and 2nd sts. and Washington and Delaware aves. With most of the 1600 residents, Mrs. Iveson, who has spent most of her life in the neighborhood welcomes the project, hopes to be one of its new tenants. It is designed to furnish 950 families (3800 persons) with modern housing. It will be open, under present plans, to families with less than $1000 annual income.

BATHING in Iveson home (no bathroom and only one water tap-cold, in kitchen) calls for tin tub and bucket of water heated on gas stove or coal range (which aided by small pot-bellied stove upstairs must heat the house, there being no furnace. Joan, 5 (goes to kindergarten, had to have tonsils out), huddled in the tub on a recent chilly morning, close to the range, while ablutions are carried on under draft breaking towel. Only alternative is to get shower (cost, one cent) at nearby settlement house and run home fast to avoid possible pneumonia on wintry days.

MAN of house is Freddie, 7, first grade pupil at George Washington Public School, picks wood to take home for the range. He fathers nails, selling them for couple pennies to junk men. Plays in street or lot rather than nearby Shot Tower Playground, because older boys “won’t let you play on the things,” Goes to movies once a week (four-hour show for 10 cents).

LIVING here is “too expensive” considering lack of comforts and environmental influences, say Mrs. Iveson as she pours formula for baby (Rose Marie, 4 months old) in kitchen which serves for everything but sleeping. The house is 70 years old, built of brick, looks out on freight trains on Washington ave., on debris covered lot on which two similar dwellings were pulled down recently before they fell down, on hodge-podge of crazy board fences. Mrs. Iveson pays $10 monthly rent. Coal, gas, electricity, food, clothing and incidentals run $50 more a month.

WASH is hung in dank, checkerboard-sized yard where sun has to struggle to enter. At rear is only toilet on property. Mrs. Iveson (worked once as sales girl in 5-and-10 cent store) is keeping family on money from husband’s insurance. Husband (Fred, 44, a pipefitter who once made “good money,” late a seaman) was killed a month ago in automobile accident. Insurance was $900, of which $600 was spent for burial and lot. She has $180 left. If no income source develops she’ll have to apply for relief.

ALL FIVE sleep in the same room on the second floor. In winter, even with little stove going full blast, they shiver under the covers, They burn about half ton of coal a month. In summer ice is picked up when dumped from refrigerator cars on Delaware ave. Top room (used for storing) is tiny, frigid in winter, insufferable in summer. Children go to bed at 8 P.M., Mrs. Iveson at 11. She’s up again at 7 A.M. and the youngsters an hour later. Nights punctuated by horns shrieking from the river, puffing engines crashing freight cars against on another from the  tracks.

FOR LUNCH at kitchen table ($2.50 new, with four chairs – “you can get bargains if you look sharp”), the Ivesons and her mother, Mrs. Mary Wyruchowski, have home-made vegetable soups (25 cents for about three quarts of it), bread (day-old at 6 cents loaf), left over meat loaf. One advantage of neighborhood is food is cheap and good, says Mrs. Iveson. She shops at Dock st. (for produce and fish in large quantity) and in 4^th st, curb market below South St. Has but few recreations. Walks in nearby Old Swedes’ Church graveyard, visits next door with sister and brother-in-law, Douglas V. Howard, who just makes a living breeding pedigreed spaniels and terriers.

CLOTHING can be picked up cheap along 4^th st. But fitting and quality haphazard and Jobian patience a requisite. Mrs. Iveson paid 35 cents for the dress she has on, the same for silk slip, 69 cents for her shoes. She buys trousers for Freddie at 35 cents, shirts 25 cents, other things in proportion. Shopping’s one of her few pleasure and she has to do a lot of it, particularly for food. That’s because of Freddie’s appetite. For dinner one day he ate three boiled eggs, eight slices of bread and butter, a large meat pie and half of a 10-inch coconut pie.

Amanda Zellner has been a student historian for PhilaPlace through  Drexel University’s co-op program since June 2009.