In 1831, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania authorized the erection of a facility to be called the prison of the city and county of Philadelphia.[5] In published reports of the Board of Inspectors, it was listed as the Philadelphia County Prison, but was generally referred to by its location, which was about a mile south of the line of the city proper,[2] in what was then Moyamensing Township, as the Moyamensing Prison, and as the New County Prison in some architectural plans.[6]
Moyamensing Prison originally comprised three separate facilities. The County Prison was the first to be built, founded in 1832 and finished in 1835. One of the additions to its north was what was originally called the “debtor's apartment”, or Debtor's Wing, and later the “apartment for females” (prison for females), founded in 1835 and finished in 1836. West of that was the structure originally called the “vagrant's apartment”, before also being called “apartment for females”, founded in 1837 and finished in 1838. Though originally attached to about 16 acres (6.5ha) of land, the prison itself occupied a space of 310 feet (94m) in front by 525 feet (160m) in depth, and its additions to the north of 150 feet (46m) in front.[2] Eventually the complex was relegated to little more than its footprint.
The facade of the prison consisted of a central building of 53 feet (16m) in width, with receding wings on either side of 50 feet (15m), flanked by massive octagonal towers. Beyond these towers, receding wing-walls were continued to the extremities of the front, and terminated with embattled bastions.
The center building was three stories in height, diminishing at each story in regular offsets, capped with projecting belts. The corners were finished with circular warder towers of 5feet 4inches (1.63m) in diameter, commencing at 10 feet (3.0m) below the top of the front wall, and extending 5 feet (1.5m) above it; these towers projected three-fourths of their circumference over the corners of the building, and were crowned with embattled parapets, supported by corbels. The front wall and both the flanks were also finished with battlements, pierced with embrasures, forming an embattled screen between the towers.
Gate of EntranceWindows
The wings were two stories in height and contained the gates of the entrance, each of which was 10 feet (3.0m) wide and 17 feet (5.2m) high. These wings were pierced with slip windows, and finished with embattled parapets, in the same manner as the center building.
The octagonal towers which flanked the wings, and the bastions on the extreme angles of the front, were likewise crowned with pierced battlements corresponding with the rest of the design. The bastions projected 2 feet (0.61m) from the wing walls, and measured, on each face, 15 feet (4.6m) in width at the base, and 13 feet (4.0m) at the top.
The center building was surmounted by an embattled octagonal tower, which rose to the height of 77 feet (23m) from the ground.
The interior was disposed of in two general divisions, one for untried prisoners and the other for male convicts; the female convicts being confined in a building on the adjoining lot, which will subsequently be described.
The main prison contained 408 separate cells, built in two blocks of three stories in height, extending from each wing at right angles with the principal front. The cells opened into a corridor of 20 feet (6.1m) in width, occupying the center of each block and extending the whole length and height of the building. The second and third stories were approached utilizing granite stairways leading to galleries, supported by cast iron brackets. A clerk's office was situated at the head of each corridor, from which every cell door may be seen throughout the whole range.
Each cell was 9 feet (2.7m) wide, 13 feet (4.0m) long, and 9 feet (2.7m) high, arched with bricks, and floored with oak planks. The cells were all furnished with separate hydrants, water closets, flues for ventilation, flues for the admission of fresh air, and flues for admitting warm air, generated by furnaces placed in the cellar of the building. The hydrants and water closets were supplied from the works at Fairmount.
The furnaces were constructed at each end, and in the center of each block, and the warm air was conveyed along passages of 3 feet (0.91m) in width, under the pavement of the corridor. The smoke flues were formed in these passages, the bottom and sides of them being composed of bricks, and the top of cast iron plates; these flues extended horizontally from the main furnaces at each end, to the center, where they rose perpendicularly to the top of the building; an ascending current was produced in the vertical portion of each flue by means of small furnaces constructed in the center, and which were also made to impart heat to the cells adjacent to them; forming an active current in the horizontal flues to convey heat along the whole range in sufficient quantities to keep all the cells of an agreeable temperature.
Cell Door with Open Metal Lattice Door
Each cell had a wooden door on the outside face of the wall, and an iron one on the inside; both doors were secured to a cast iron casing or frame, which extended through the whole thickness of the wall.
The kitchen, bakehouse, laundry, and bathhouses were situated in a separate building, occupying a space of 43 by 72 feet (13 by 22m), in the yard between the two blocks of cells; they were approached from both divisions of the prison, by means of covered passages. The kitchen was furnished with a steam boiler, and four cast-iron reservoirs, of 80 US gallons (300L; 67impgal) each, in which all the boiling from prisoners was done by steam.
The apartment for females was situated on an adjoining enclosure, of 150 by 340 feet (46 by 104m), entered by a gateway from the yard of the main prison. The building measured 43 by 282 feet (13 by 86m) and consisted of two stories in height, embracing 100 separate cells of 8 by 12 feet (2.4 by 3.7m), a suite of rooms for an infirmary of 20 by 51 feet (6.1 by 15.5m), and two rooms for a keeper, each 20 by 20 feet (6.1 by 6.1m). The arrangements for hydrants, water closets, warming and ventilation, were similar to those described above.
The principal entrance to this portion of the establishment was from what was then Eleventh (now Reed) Street; it consisted of a gateway of 9 feet (2.7m) in width, placed in the middle of a projecting center of 50 feet (15m), composed of brown sandstone, finished in the Egyptian style of architecture. The whole western front was built of the same material and in the same style.
Debtor’s Wing, 1965
The Debtor's Apartment, or Debtor’s Wing, was situated on Passyunk Avenue, north of the main prison, and east of the female apartment. The interior featured two stories on a raised basement, with a central longitudinal corridor floor plan with flanking prison cells. Measuring 50feet 1⁄2inch (15.253m) by 86feet 2inches (26.26m), the exterior was composed of brown sandstone, in the Egyptian style of architecture. The façade consisted of a recessed three-bay portico, supported by two columns, and was proportioned from those of a temple on the Isle d'Elephantine in Egypt. The windows were crowned with the massy bead and cavetto cornice peculiar to the style, and the top of the building was finished in the same manner. A winged globe was carved in the cavetto of the main cornice, and a similar ornament is introduced over the door.[2][7][8][6]
The prison complex was demolished in 1968, and the front portico of the Debtor’s Wing is in the possession of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.[7] Today, all that is left is a low heavy masonry stone wall remaining on the site along Reed Street where the Acme Market shopping center sits today.[1][9] The wall remnants were designated for inclusion in the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places in January 2019.[10]
Famous prisoners
Tom Hyer, reigning American bare knuckle heavyweight champion, was briefly held at Moyamensing while waiting for a requisition from the Governor of Maryland prosecuting him for an illegal but well-attended and highly publicized prize fight against Irish boxer Yankee Sullivan on February 7, 1849.[11]
On July 1, 1849, when Edgar Allan Poe was in Philadelphia, he drank, became drunk and hallucinatory, and made a suicide attempt. He was detained for public drunkenness and incarcerated for one night in Moyamensing Prison.[12] No records exist which support this story other than Poe's own account of it.
While imprisoned here in 1855, abolitionistPassmore Williamson became a focus of the press, as northern publications spread his story throughout the country. Friends comfortably furnished his cell, and he received letters and several hundred visitors including both Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman.
One of America's first serial killers, H. H. Holmes, was incarcerated at Moyamensing Prison in 1895. While there, he wrote a memoir called Holmes' Own Story which included his Moyamensing Prison diary.[13] He also wrote a confession to twenty-seven murders that was publicized in The Philadelphia Inquirer.[14] Holmes was hanged at the prison on May 7, 1896.[15] Holmes's neck did not snap immediately; he instead died slowly, twitching over fifteen minutes before being pronounced dead twenty minutes after the trap was sprung.[16]
Further reading
Crighton, J.D. (January 2017). Holmes' Own Story: Confessed 27 Murders - Lied then Died. Murrieta, California: Aerobear Classics, an imprint of Aerobear Press. ISBN978-1946100016.
Related Research Articles
The Château de Vincennes is a former fortress and royal residence next to the town of Vincennes, on the eastern edge of Paris, alongside the Bois de Vincennes. It was largely built between 1361 and 1369, and was a preferred residence, after the Palais de la Cité, of French kings in the 14th to 16th century. It is particularly known for its "donjon" or keep, a fortified central tower, the tallest in Europe, built in the 14th century, and for the chapel, Sainte-Chapelle de Vincennes, begun in 1379 but not completed until 1552, which is an exceptional example of Flamboyant Gothic architecture. Because of its fortifications, the château was often used as a royal sanctuary in times of trouble, and later as a prison and military headquarters. The chapel was listed as an historic monument in 1853, and the keep was listed in 1913. Most of the building is now open to the public.
Oxford Castle is a large, partly ruined medieval castle on the western side of central Oxford in Oxfordshire, England. Most of the original moated, wooden motte and bailey castle was replaced in stone in the late 12th or early 13th century and the castle played an important role in the conflict of the Anarchy. In the 14th century the military value of the castle diminished and the site became used primarily for county administration and as a prison. The surviving rectangular St George's Tower is now believed to pre-date the remainder of the castle and be a watch tower associated with the original Saxon west gate of the city.
Southwest Center City (SWCC), also known as Graduate Hospital, is a neighborhood that is located in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, bordering Center City Philadelphia. The neighborhood is bordered on the north by South Street, on the south by Washington Avenue, on the west by the Schuylkill River, and on the east by Broad Street.
Southwark was originally the Southwark District, a colonial-era municipality in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States. Today, it is a neighborhood in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Because of its location south of the early Philadelphia, the name was adopted in allusion to the borough of Southwark in the county of London, England, just south of the city of London.
Moyamensing is an area of Philadelphia established as a Moyamensing Township during British colonial rule on the fast land of the Neck, lying between Passyunk and Wicaco. It was incorporated into Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States and today encompasses several neighborhoods along the Moyamensing Avenue corridor in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia.
The architecture of Philadelphia is a mix of historic and modern styles that reflect the city's history. The first European settlements appeared within the present day borders of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the 17th century with most structures being built from logs. By the 18th century, brick structures had become common. Georgian and later Federal style buildings dominated much of the cityscape. In the first half of the 19th century, Greek revival appeared and flourished with architects such as William Strickland, John Haviland, and Thomas U. Walter. In the second half of the 19th century, Victorian architecture became popular with the city's most notable Victorian architect being Frank Furness.
The Beresford is a cooperative apartment building at 211 Central Park West, between 81st and 82nd Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. It was constructed in 1929 and was designed by architect Emery Roth. The Beresford is 22 stories tall and is topped by octagonal towers on its northeast, southwest, and southeast corners. The building is a contributing property to the Central Park West Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places–listed district, and is a New York City designated landmark.
The St. James is a luxury residential skyscraper in Washington Square West, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The 498 feet (152 m), 45-story high-rise stands along Walnut Street and Washington Square and is the 15th tallest building in Philadelphia.
The Marshalsea (1373–1842) was a notorious prison in Southwark, just south of the River Thames. Although it housed a variety of prisoners—including men accused of crimes at sea and political figures charged with sedition—it became known, in particular, for its incarceration of the poorest of London's debtors. Over half of England's prisoners in the 18th century were in jail because of debt.
The Old York Gaol is a former colonial prison at Lindsay Road and Main Street in York, Maine. Its oldest portion dating to about 1720, it is one of the oldest prison buildings in the United States, and one of the oldest public buildings in the state of Maine. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968. It is owned by the Museums of Old York and is open for tours between May and October.
Tulip Hill is a plantation house located about one mile from Galesville in Anne Arundel County in the Province of Maryland. Built between 1755 and 1756, it is a particularly fine example of an early Georgian mansion, and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1970 for its architecture.
The Debtors' Prison is a historic debtors' prison in Accomac, Virginia. Constructed in 1783 as a house for the Accomack County jailer, it is the oldest public structure in the county. It was converted to use as a debtors' prison in 1824, which purpose it served until 1849. The prison was added to the Virginia Landmarks Register and the National Register of Historic Places in 1976; along with structures in Worsham and Tappahannock, both in Virginia as well, it is one of only three debtors' prisons in the country on the National Register.
The Marquette Branch Prison (MBP) is located in Marquette, Michigan on the south shore of Lake Superior. The prison, which opened in 1889, is a facility of the Michigan Department of Corrections that holds about 1,100 inmates in maximum and minimum-security housing. The inmate population consists of adult males, aged eighteen and older. The prison was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as State House of Correction and Branch Prison on November 23, 1977.
Holmesburg Prison, given the nickname "The Terrordome," was a prison operated by the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Department of Prisons (PDP) from 1896 to 1995. The facility is located at 8215 Torresdale Avenue in the Holmesburg section of Philadelphia. It was decommissioned in 1995 when it closed. As of today, the structure still stands and is occasionally used for prisoner overflow and work programs.
Lower Moyamensing is a neighborhood in South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, situated just south of the East Passyunk Crossing neighborhood and north of the stadium area. It is bounded by Snyder Avenue to the north, Oregon Avenue to the south, South 7th Street to the east, and South Broad Street to the west. Sub-divided by 10th Street, it can be separated into LoMo East and LoMo West. The neighborhood was once part of Moyamensing Township before becoming part of Philadelphia in 1854. Lower Moyamensing is known for its 19th century row homes, factory buildings, and variety of restaurants. South Philadelphia High School is located in Lower Moyamensing, at the corner of Broad and Jackson Streets.
United States Penitentiary, Alcatraz Island, also known simply as Alcatraz or The Rock, was a maximum security federal prison on Alcatraz Island, 1.25 miles off the coast of San Francisco, California, United States. The site of a fort since the 1850s, the main prison building was built in 1910–12 as a U.S. Army military prison.
The DeWitt County Courthouse is a government building in Clinton, the county seat of DeWitt County, Illinois, United States. Completed in 1986, it is the fourth courthouse in the history of DeWitt County.
York Debtor's Prison is a former debtor's prison and Grade I Listed building located in York, North Yorkshire. Since 1952 it has been part of the York Castle Museum.
The Beaux-Arts Apartments are a pair of apartment towers on 307 and 310 East 44th Street in the East Midtown and Turtle Bay neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City. Designed by Raymond Hood and Kenneth Murchison, the Beaux-Arts Apartments were constructed between 1929 and 1930. The complex was originally designed with 640 apartments.
1 2 3 Moyamensing Prison data from the Philadelphia Architects and Buildings (PAB) project of the Athenaeum of Philadelphia; Local ID Numbers: WTU*001*014, WTU*001*013, WTU*001*012, WTU*001*011, WTU*001*010, WTU*001*009, WTU*001*008, WTU*001*007, WTU*001*006, WTU*001*005, WTU*001*004, WTU*001*003
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
