This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Type | Social club |
---|---|
23-1171350 | |
Headquarters | 140 South Broad Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
Coordinates | 39°56′59″N75°9′53.37″W / 39.94972°N 75.1648250°W |
Website | www |
Union League of Philadelphia | |
Built | 1864–65 |
Architect | John Fraser Horace Trumbauer |
Architectural style | Second Empire, Beaux Arts |
NRHP reference No. | 79002331 [1] |
Added to NRHP | June 22, 1979 |
The Union League of Philadelphia is a private club founded in 1862 by the Old Philadelphians as a patriotic society to support the policies of Abraham Lincoln. As of 2022, the club has over 4,000 members. [2] Its main building was built in 1865 and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Union League clubs, which are legally separate but share similar histories and maintain reciprocal links with one another, are also located in Manhattan, Chicago, Brooklyn, and New Haven, Connecticut.
Since its founding, it has supported the U.S. Armed Forces in all conflicts. Initially, the club was exclusive to white men, but it started accepting Black members in 1972 and women in the 1980s. The club's Center City, Philadelphia building, a Second Empire-style structure, was completed in 1865 and later expanded in 1910 and 1911. Over the years, the club has acquired several properties, including golf clubs, and established the Legacy Foundation for public education in 2019. A politically conservative club, it has faced criticism for awarding figures such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis with a gold medal.
The Union League of Philadelphia was founded on November 22, 1862, as a patriotic society to support the Union and the policies of President Abraham Lincoln. [3] It laid the philosophical foundation for other Union Leagues that were later developed during the American Civil War. The Union League has supported the United States Armed Forces in all conflicts since. Its motto is "Amor Patriae Ducit" or "Love of Country Leads." Today, it is the oldest of the remaining loyalty leagues. [2]
Like most 19th and early 20th-century clubs, the Union League of Philadelphia was only open to white men. However, in 1972, the club admitted William Thaddeus Coleman Jr. as its first Black member. The following decade, in 1983, it admitted its first female member: Mary Roebling. [4]
The club's Center City Philadelphia building, a Second Empire-style structure with a brick and brownstone façade was designed by John Fraser and completed in May 1865. [5] The opening was originally scheduled for March of that year, with President Lincoln in attendance, but was delayed due to wartime construction supply shortages. Christopher Stuart Patterson, formerly the Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, was the 13th President of the Union League in 1897 and 1898. [6] [7] In 1905, Philadelphia architect and Union League member Horace Trumbauer won a design competition to build major additions to the building. The Beaux Arts-style additions, completed in 1910 and 1911, expanded the length of the building to an entire city block. [8] The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The club has a Heritage Center to store and display its extensive collection of Civil War-related documents and objects. It also maintains a large library for members. [9]
In 2010, the Union League elected Joan Carter, its first female president. [10]
In 2014, the club purchased the Torresdale-Frankford Country Club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and renamed it the Union League Golf Club at Torresdale.
In 2017, the club purchased the Sand Barrens Golf Club in Swainton, New Jersey, and renamed it the Union League National Golf Club.
The club has been giving out scholarships and public education on Philadelphia and the American Civil War since the 1940s. In 2019, it combined these efforts by founding the Legacy Foundation with the goal of "inspiring more educated, engaged, and responsible citizens." [2] [11]
In 2021, the club purchased the Ace Club and Conference Center (formerly the Chubb Insurance Conference Center) in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania, and renamed it the Union League Golf Club at Liberty Hill.
In 2022, the Union League celebrated its 160th anniversary through 160 Acts of Patriotism in and around Philadelphia benefitting several local community-based organizations. The organization is considered to be politically conservative. It drew criticism from some prominent members for giving a gold medal, the same award it gave to Lincoln, to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in 2022. Other recipients of the award include George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, and Donald Rumsfeld. The club has awarded other figures in American politics and law, including Jeff Sessions, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito. [12] [2]
Members of the Philadelphia Union League included Cyrus McCormick, Robert Todd Lincoln, Adolph E. Borie, Daniel Burnham, William D. Boyce, [13] Charles D. Barney, [14] and George J. Smith. [15]
WHYY-TV is a television station licensed to Wilmington, Delaware, United States, serving as the primary PBS member station for the Philadelphia area. It is owned by WHYY, Inc., alongside NPR member station WHYY-FM 90.9. WHYY-TV and WHYY-FM share studios and offices on Independence Mall in Center City, Philadelphia, with an additional office in Wilmington; through a channel sharing agreement with WMCN-TV, the two stations transmit using WHYY-TV's spectrum from an antenna in Philadelphia's Roxborough section.
Lincoln University (LU) is a public state-related historically black university (HBCU) near Oxford, Pennsylvania. Founded as the private Ashmun Institute in 1854, it has been a public institution since 1972 and is the second HBCU in the state, after Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. Lincoln is also recognized as the first college-degree granting HBCU in the country. Its main campus is located on 422 acres near the town of Oxford in southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. The university has a second location in the University City area of Philadelphia. Lincoln University provides undergraduate and graduate coursework to approximately 2,000 students. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.
Roosevelt Boulevard, officially named the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Boulevard and often referred to, chiefly by local Philadelphians, simply as "the Boulevard," is a major traffic artery through North and Northeast Philadelphia. The road begins at Interstate 76 in Fairmount Park, running as a freeway also known as the Roosevelt Boulevard Extension or the Roosevelt Expressway through North Philadelphia, then transitioning into a twelve-lane boulevard that forms the spine of Northeast Philadelphia to its end at the city line.
The Racquet Club of Philadelphia (RCOP) is a private social club and athletic club in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It has facilities for squash, real tennis, and racquets. The club is ranked in the Top 20 Athletic Clubs on the Platinum Club of America list.
The Union Leagues were quasi-secretive men's clubs established separately, starting in 1862, and continuing throughout the Civil War (1861–1865). The oldest Union League of America council member, an organization originally called "The League of Union Men", was formed in June 1862 in Pekin, Illinois. Four months later, on November 22, 1862, the Union League of Philadelphia, the first of the elite eastern Leagues and the second oldest ULA council member, was established.
The Wagner Free Institute of Science is a natural history museum at 1700 West Montgomery Avenue in north Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, it is a rare surviving example of a Victorian era scientific society, with a museum, research center, library, and educational facilities. Its buildings, developed between 1859 and 1901, present the collections of founder William Wagner in the style of the period, and have been designated a National Historic Landmark for their architecture and state of preservation.
Torresdale, also formerly known as Torrisdale, is a neighborhood in the Far Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Torresdale is located along the Delaware River between Holmesburg and Bensalem Township in neighboring Bucks County.
Edwin Henry Fitler was an American businessman and politician from Pennsylvania. He founded Edwin H. Fitler & Company, the largest cordage manufacturer in the United States at the time, and served as a Republican Presidential Elector for Pennsylvania in 1876 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1887 to 1891.
Horace Trumbauer was a prominent American architect of the Gilded Age, known for designing residential manors for the wealthy. Later in his career he also designed hotels, office buildings, and much of the campus of Duke University.
The Union League Club is a private social club in New York City that was founded in 1863 in affiliation with the Union League. Its fourth and current clubhouse is located at 38 East 37th Street on the corner of Park Avenue, in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan. It was designed by Benjamin Wistar Morris and opened on February 2, 1931. The building was designated a New York City landmark on October 25, 2011. The club is considered one of the most prestigious in New York City.
The Franklin Residences is a historic apartment building located at 834 Chestnut Street in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It opened on January 14, 1925, as the Benjamin Franklin Hotel and was named after United States Founding Father Benjamin Franklin.
Abraham Lincoln High School, a public school located in the Mayfair section of Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its main entrance is located at Ryan and Rowland Avenues. The principal is Jack Nelson.
West Philadelphia High School is a secondary school located in the West Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the intersection of 49th Street and Chestnut Street.
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.
During the American Civil War, Philadelphia was an important source of troops, money, weapons, medical care, and supplies for the Union.
Wissahickon is a neighborhood in the section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Wissahickon is located adjacent to the neighborhoods of Roxborough and Manayunk, and it is bounded by the Wissahickon Valley Park, Ridge Avenue, Hermit Street, and Henry Avenue. The name of the neighborhood is derived from the Lenni Lenape word wisameckham, for "catfish creek", a reference to the fish that were once plentiful in the Wissahickon Creek.
Philadelphia Club was founded in 1834 and is located at 13th and Walnut Streets in Center City Philadelphia. It is the oldest city club in the United States and one of the oldest gentlemen's clubs. Notable members have included George Meade, Owen Wister, and many members of the Du Pont and Biddle families.
Maria Quiñones-Sánchez is an American politician and political activist who served as a member of the Philadelphia City Council representing the 7th district. The district includes the neighborhoods of Castor Gardens, Fairhill, Feltonville, Frankford, Harrowgate, Hunting Park, Juniata, Kensington, Oxford Circle and Wissinoming. A registered Democrat, she served in this position from 2008 to 2022.
John Gribbel was an American businessman, industrialist and philanthropist. He is best remembered for his donation of the Glenriddell Manuscripts to the National Library of Scotland.
The Philadelphia Liberty Loans Parade was a parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on September 28, 1918, organized to promote government bonds that helped pay for the needs of Allied troops in World War I. More than 200,000 Philadelphians attended the parade, which led to one of the largest outbreaks of the Spanish flu in the United States. It has since been declared the deadliest parade in American history.
Notes
Bibliography