Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIII.djvu/407

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PHILADELPHIA 393 ington. The United States arsenal at Frank- ford is devoted to the manufacture of fixed am- munition, all the cartridges for the army being made here. The grounds cover 62 acres, are beautifully situated and laid out, and are well kept. On Gray's Ferry road, near the naval asy- lum, is another United States arsenal, devoted to the manufacture of army clothing. There are five small public squares in the original city : Logan square, at 18th and Kace streets ; Frank- lin square, at 6th and Race streets ; Indepen- dence square, fronting on Walnut street in the rear of Independence hall ; Washington square, at 6th and Walnut streets, diagonally opposite Independence square ; and Rittenhouse square, at 18th and Walnut streets. These are laid out as parks and shaded with trees. Franklin square contains a large fountain. On what was formerly Penn square, at Broad and Mar- ket streets, the new city hall is in course of construction. It is to be 470 ft. from E. to W. and 486 ft. from N. to S., containing 520 rooms, and covering an area, exclusive of the courtyard, of nearly 4 acres. It is to consist of four stories, together 100 ft. high. From the N. front will rise a tower surmounted by a dome, the apex of which will be nearly 300 ft. above the pavement. The exterior walls are to be of white marble, and those facing the courtyard of light blue marble. The cost will be about $7,000,000. There are about half a dozen other small parks in different sections of the city. The great park of Philadelphia, and one of the largest in the world, is Fair- Main Exhibition Building. mount park, embracing 2,740 acres. It extends along both banks of the Schuylkill for more than 7m., and along both banks of the Wissa- hickon for more than 6 m., commencing at Fairmount, an elevation on the Schuylkill, from which the park derives its name, about 1 m. above the original city, and extending to ^ Fine Art Gallery. Chestnut hill on the Wissahickon, a total dis- tance of nearly 14 m. It possesses much natu- ral beauty, being well wooded and having a great variety of surface. The park was estab- lished mainly for the purpose of securing a supply of pure water for the city by prevent- ing the occupation and contamination of the streams by factories. In the S. W. portion of this park, W. of the Schuylkill river, is to be held from May 10 to Nov. 10, 1876, the in- ternational exhibition m celebration of the centennial anniversary of American indepen- dence. The buildings, now in course of erec- tion, consist of the main exhibition building, the art gallery, the machi- nery building, horticul- tural building, and agri- cultural building. The art gallery and the hor- ticultural building are intended to be perma- nent ; the others are temporary. The main building is 1,880 ft. long from E. to W. and 464 ft. wide, covering 20 acres. It is for the most part of one story, the main cornice on the outside being 45 ft. above the ground, and the interior height 70 ft. At the cen- tres of the sides are projections 416 ft. long,