First (left) panel
An East Prospect of the City of Philadelphia, taken by George Heap/c. 1715-1782/ from the Jersey Shore, under the Direction of Nicholas Scull /1687-1761/ Surveyor General of the Province of Pennsylvania (1754) engraved by Gerard Vandergucht. The view of the city, printed in London from four copper plates, measures nearly seven feet in length when prints are assembled and portrays the riverfront from below South Street to Callowhill Street on the notrh. Insert at the left, neat Windmill Island depicts the fortifications called the Battery which was below the Swedish church in the vicinity of the present Federal Street.
second panel from left
The steeples in the center are those of the State House on Chestnut Street; Christ Church near Market streed; the Academy (a slender lower steeple) on Arch Street at Fourth; the Presbyterian Church, also on Arch Street at Third; and the German Reformed Church on Race Street neat Fourth. The Court House and Great Meeting House are visible in the center of Market Street.
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA
(Panorama continues on the next two pages)
third panel from left
Improvements in transportation facilitated Franklin's expansion of the postal service, Until Joseph Borden, Jr., and his partners started their stage line in 1755 between Philadelphia and New York, there was no regular service between the cities. The first lap of the journey was by stageboat which left the warf at the Crooked Billet on Chestnut Street and sailed to Bordentown, New Jersey. An overland stage continued the journey to Perth Amboy, whence passengers were transported by water to New York. When the weather cooperated the trip took three days; the cost was three pence pre mile. A rival line was soon started by John Butler. His stage left from the Sign of
fourth (right) panel>
the Death of the Fox on Strawberry Alley and treveled by way of Trenton to New York. In 1766 another stage called the Flying Machine made the trip to New York in two days. The remarkable feat was accomplished in a "stage wagon" with seats suspended on springs. It ran twice a week and cost only two pence a mile, putting all rivals at a definate disadvantage.
An improved network of transportation and communication during the century's middle years also meant a concomitant growth in trade. By midcentury the most frequently used highway in America was the great Philadelphia Wagon Road that led out from the city to Lancaster. Over it mo