Digging I-95 In 2016: New Archaeological Discoveries From The Philadelphia Waterfront

DOCUMENT Citation Only Thomas Kutys.

Recent archaeological excavations conducted for PennDOT under Interstate 95 in the Fishtown section of Philadelphia have produced a number of artifacts related to the volunteer fire companies that once existed in the neighborhood. Between 1736 and 1857, over 150 volunteer companies came into existence across the city, and two of those were once situated within the current project area. With the creation of the paid Philadelphia Fire Department in 1871, the era of the volunteer companies passed...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Chester Cunanan.

This project focuses on the 3D recreation of the various stages of the Dyottville Glass Works located between Gunner’s Run and the Delaware River. The Dyottville Glass Works began in the early 19th century and eventually produced a large variety of well-known bottles, flasks and other items that were widely used. Working from a variety of illustrations, photographs and paintings, along with point cloud scans of the original foundations, we have created an interactive platform that lets users...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Ingrid Wuebber.

Dyottville has a strong association with its colorful founder, Dr. Thomas W. Dyott, but glassmaking began on the site before him and continued for much longer after him. This presentation will trace the history of the Dyottville Glass Works as it grew from John Hewson Jr.'s single furnace to the large factory complex of Henry B. Benners and his brothers.

DOCUMENT Citation Only Rebecca L White. Meta F Janowitz.

The Remmey family is known for the distinctive blue decorated salt-glazed stoneware they produced at potteries in New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia during the 18th and 19th centuries. From the 1870s through 1910 the Remmeys manufactured fire brick and chemical stoneware at their large pottery in the Kensington section of Philadelphia. Excavations in advance of construction for the I-95 project in Philadelphia exposed an isolated stoneware waster dump associated with the Remmey manufacturing...

DOCUMENT Citation Only George Cress.

This presentation focuses on the results of archaeological excavation at Dyottville and Henry Benner’s Glass Factory, both located at the confluence of Gunner’s Run and the Delaware River.  The Dyottville glassworks began as the Kensington Glass Works in the late 18th century and continued into the early 20th century producing many well- known glass bottles, flasks, and other glassware distributed widely throughout the country in the 19th century.  The portion of the factory complex that...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Catherine Spohn. Douglas B. Mooney.

The I-95 GIR Improvement Project is one of the largest transportation related undertakings in Pennsylvania, and the project area winds its way through some of the most historically significant neighborhoods along the city’s Delaware River waterfront. From an archaeological standpoint, the project area encompasses an extremely complex series of sub-surface environments and developmental contexts, within which an astonishing quantity and variety of cultural deposits and features continue to...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Mary C. Mills.

Today as you walk beside the Delaware River in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, you will find no evidence of the glass furnaces that stood along its banks from the 1770s to the 1920s. However, excavations are yielding an extraordinary assemblage of flint (lead) glass tableware, lighting devices, and other objects like those made at Union Cut and Plain Flint Glass Works, a little-known factory located between the project area and the Delaware River. Between 1826 and 1842 Union successfully...