THE FIRST TRAIN ON THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD
Philadelphia holds an important place in the construction of high-grade machine tools. She has great rolling mills, foundries, and machine shops, and one of the most famous bridge-building establishments in the world. Her people smile at being called slow; in fourteen weeks a Philadelphia concern made from pig iron a steel bridge a quarter of a mile long, carried it halfway around the world, and set it up over a river in Africa.
Shipbuilding in Philadelphia began with the founding of the colony. It was the first American city to build ships and was also the home of the steamboat. The first boat to be propelled by steam was built by John Fitch in Philadelphia in 1786. This was more than twenty years before Robert Fulton had his first steamboat on the Hudson River. Robert Fulton, who was a Pennsylvanian by birth, also lived at one time in Philadelphia. Shipbuilding, to-day, is one of the city's great industries.
A PRESENT-DAY LOCOMOTIVE
The art of printing has been practiced in Philadelphia since the very beginning of its history. William Bradford, one of the first colonists, published an almanac for the year 1687. This was the first work printed in Philadelphia. Benjamin Franklin entered the printing business in Philadelphia in 1723, and six years later published the Pennsylvania Gazette. This was the second newspaper printed in the colony, the first being the American Weekly Mercury, the first edition of which was printed in Philadelphia in 1719. Both of these papers were very small and would appear very odd alongside of the daily papers of to-day. The first complete edition of the Bible printed in the United States was published by Christopher Saur in Germantown, which is now a part of Philadelphia, in 1743. Philadelphia ranks first among the cities of the United States in the publication of scientific books and law books. One of the large publishing houses of the city now uses over a million dollars' worth of paper each year. It is interesting to know that when the Revolutionary War began there were forty paper mills in and near Philadelphia. At that time, and for many years after, it was the great literary center of the country.
IN FAIRMOUNT PARK
When William Penn founded his Quaker town in the wilderness, he made little provision for parks, as at that time the town was so small and was so surrounded by forests that no parks were needed. But Philadelphia now possesses the largest park in the United States. This is known as Fairmount Park, which covers over three thousand acres of land. Splendid paths and driveways give access to every section of this park. On all sides one sees beautiful landscape gardening, fine old trees, and picturesque streams and bridges. Here is a great open amphitheater where concerts are given during the summer months; here are athletic fields, playgrounds, race courses, and splendid stretches of water for rowing; and here also for many years were located the immense waterworks which pumped the city's water supply from the Schuylkill River.
