The first cotton goods printed from engraved cylinders in the United States were produced near Germantown in 1809 by Thorp, Siddall & Co., from cylinders brought from England.
The first experimental railroad track in the United States was constructed by Somerville, a Scotch millwright, for Thomas Leiper of Philadelphia, and laid down in the yard of the Bull’s Head Tavern, on Second Street above Callowhill, in the Northern Liberties. It was sixty-four feet in length. The test was made July 31, 1809, and was so successful that Leiper had a railroad constructed at his quarries on Crum Creek, in Delaware County, September, 1809. This was the first practical railroad built in the United States.
First institution in the United States chartered to do a trust business was the “Pennsylvania Company for Insurances on Lives and Granting Annuities.” Application for charter made January, 1810; refused by the House of Representatives, but finally granted March 10, 1812.
The first chemical society in America was the “Columbian Chemical Society,” formed in Philadelphia in 1811.
The first soup society in America was the “Northern Soup Society,” on Fourth Street above Brown, formed January, 1817.
The “Academy of Natural Sciences” was the first of its kind in the United States. It was organized January 25, 1812, by John Speakman, Jacob Gilliams, and four others. The society was incorporated by the Pennsylvania Legislature, March 24, 1817.
The first lithograph published in the United States was a portrait of Rev. Abner Kneeland, by Bass Otis, in 1818.
John Farr, a chemist of Philadelphia, in 1818 introduced into this country the manufacture of Seidlitz powders. He associated with him in business Abram Kunzi, and as Farr & Kunzi, located on Arch Street near Twelfth, they manufactured the first quinine in the United States. This firm, by various steps, has become a part of the Powers-Weightman-Rosengarten Company.
First savings bank, the “Philadelphia Saving Fund Society,” commenced business December 2, 1816. Chartered February 25, 1819.
The first church in the world for seamen was erected in Philadelphia about 1820, under the leadership of Rev. Robert Eastburn. It was known as the “Mariner’s Bethel.”