The Slate Roof House was a mansion that stood on 2nd Street north of Walnut Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from about 1687 until its demolition in 1867. Built for Barbadian Quaker merchant Samuel Carpenter, the house occupied a small hill overlooking the Delaware River. It was built of brick in the Jacobean style with its façade featuring two projecting wings that flanked a recessed central entrance. The house was notable for its large size as well for its slate roof, which was a rarity in early Philadelphia.
For two years (1699-1701), during his second visit to America, William Penn rented the house for use as a city residence while maintaining his country house at Pennsbury Manor in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It was at the Slate Roof House that he wrote and issued his "Charter of Privileges," a progressive framework for Pennsylvania’s government that became the model for the United States Constitution and is still the basis of free governments all over the world.
James Logan, the secretary of the Proprietary after Penn returned to England, later lived in the Slate Roof House. He administered the colony of Pennsylvania from there between 1701 and 1704.
In later years, the house was the temporary abode of John Adams, John Hancock, and many other distinguished members of the First Continental Congress, and also of Baron Johann de Kalb, who fell, fighting for American independence, at the Battle of Camden. It was the death site for General Charles Lee and for General John Forbes, second in command, and afterwards successor to General Edward Braddock.
The Slate Roof House was altered for commercial use in the 18th century and became dilapidated during the 1800s. Despite protests from historians, the house was razed in 1867. It was replaced by a large Victorian commercial structure that stood until 1976.
In 1982, an urban courtyard called Welcome Park was built on the site, managed by Independence National Historical Park. The park features William Penn’s plan of the city of Philadelphia laid out in slate and marble, as well as a bronze model of the house. A miniature version of the statue of Penn by Alexander Milne Calder that crowns Philadelphia City Hall stands on a pedestal in the center. The park also features a timeline of Penn’s life on the enclosing wall. Welcome Park was named after Penn's ship, Welcome, which brought Penn and over one hundred passengers, mostly Quakers, to America in 1682. [1]
The National Park Service proposed renovation of the park in a 2024 preliminary draft that included removal of the Penn statue. [2] The renovation plan is under review. [3]
The park is adjacent to the Thomas Bond House.
Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the English county of Buckinghamshire. The county is part of the Southeast Pennsylvania region of the state.
Falls Township is a suburban Philadelphia township in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 34,300 at the 2010 census. Portions of Fairless Hills and Levittown, Pennsylvania, are located in the township. Portions of Falls Township are called Morrisville and Yardley, due to the location of the Morrisville Post Office outside the Borough of Morrisville in Falls Township. As originally chartered in 1692, the villages of Morrisville and Tullytown were part of Falls Township. Morrisville was granted borough status in 1804. Tullytown was established as a borough in 1891.
Springfield Township, or simply Springfield, is a township in Delaware County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 25,070 at the 2020 census. Springfield is a suburb of Philadelphia, located about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the city. It became famous due to the American Animated TV Sitcom "The Simpsons"
Hannah Margaret Penn was an Anglo-American governor. The second wife of Pennsylvania founder William Penn, she effectively administered the Province of Pennsylvania for six years after her husband suffered a series of strokes, and then for another eight years after her husband's death. She served as acting proprietor from 1712 until her death in 1726.
The Welsh Tract, also called the Welsh Barony, was a portion of the Province of Pennsylvania, a British colony in North America, settled largely by Welsh-speaking Quakers in the late 17th century. The region is located to the west of Philadelphia. The original settlers, led by John Roberts, negotiated with William Penn in 1684 to constitute the Tract as a separate county whose local government would use the Welsh language. The Barony was never formally created, but the many Welsh settlers gave their communities Welsh names that survive today. A more successful attempt at setting up a Gwladfa occurred two centuries later, in the Chubut Province of Patagonia, Argentina.
The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn, who received the land through a grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania was derived from "Penn's Woods", referring to William Penn's father Admiral Sir William Penn.
William Allen was a wealthy merchant, attorney and chief justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, and mayor of Philadelphia during the colonial era. At the time of the American Revolution, Allen was one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in Philadelphia. A Loyalist, Allen agreed that the colonies should seek to redress their grievances with British Parliament through constitutional means, and he disapproved of the movement toward independence.
Old City is a neighborhood in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, near the Delaware River waterfront. It is home to Independence National Historical Park, a dense section of historic landmarks including Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell, the First Bank of the United States, the Second Bank of the United States, and Carpenters' Hall. It also includes historic streets such as Elfreth's Alley, dating back to 1703.
Pennsbury Manor is the colonial estate of William Penn, founder and proprietor of the Colony of Pennsylvania, who lived there from 1699 to 1701. He left it and returned to England in 1701, where he died penniless in 1718. Following his departure and financial woes, the estate fell into numerous hands and disrepair. Since 1939, a reconstructed manor has stood on the original property.
Penn Treaty Park is a small park on the western bank of the Delaware River, in the Fishtown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located on Beach Street, near its intersection with Delaware Avenue.
Thomas Penn was an English landowner and mercer who was the chief proprietor of Pennsylvania from 1746 to 1775. He was one of 17 children of William Penn, the founder of the colonial-era Province of Pennsylvania in British America. In 1737, Thomas Penn negotiated the Walking Purchase, a contested land cession treaty he negotiated with Lenape chief Lappawinsoe that transferred control over 1,200,000 acres (4,860 km2) of territory in the present-day Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania regions of Pennsylvania and a portion of West Jersey in colonial New Jersey from the Lenape tribe to the Province of Pennsylvania.
Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) Park is a park located along the Delaware River in the southernmost point of South Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, comprising some 348 acres (1.41 km2), about 125 acres (0.51 km2) of buildings, roadways, pathways for walking, landscaped architecture, and a variety of picnic and recreation areas placed within about 77 acres (310,000 m2) of natural lands including ponds and lagoons.
The Arch Street Meeting House, at 320 Arch Street at the corner of 4th Street in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is a Meeting House of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). Built to reflect Friends' testimonies of simplicity and equality, this building is little changed after more than two centuries of continuous use.
William Penn was an English writer, religious thinker, and influential Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonial era. Penn, an advocate of democracy and religious freedom, was known for his amicable relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans who had resided in present-day Pennsylvania prior to European settlements in the state.
Samuel Carpenter was a Deputy Governor of colonial Pennsylvania. He signed the historic document "The Declaration of Fealty, Christian Belief and Test" dated 10 September 1695; the original is in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. Samuel was also called the "First Treasurer" of Pennsylvania, and was a partner and friend of proprietor William Penn.
The Fallsington Historic District is a historic district in Fallsington, Pennsylvania.
Richardson Brognard Okie Jr. (1875–1945) was an American architect. He is noted for his Colonial-Revival houses and his sensitive restorations of historic buildings.
Letitia Street House is a modest eighteenth-century house in West Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. It was built along the Delaware riverfront about 1713, and relocated to its current site in 1883. The house was once celebrated as the city residence of Pennsylvania's founder, William Penn (1644–1718); however, later historical research determined that he never lived there.
The Thomas Bond House is located at 129 South Second Street in Old City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Originally built in 1769, as the home of Dr. Thomas Bond, it has since been restored into a bed and breakfast.
Griffith Jones was the fourth mayor of Philadelphia, serving from October 3, 1704, to October 2, 1705.