We're bidding farewell to the most beautiful month of the year in just a couple short days, and meanwhile sending my prayers for those being affected by Hurricane Melissa. I never saw a weather radar map which colored a storm black until this, that was really bizarre.
For this week's quest, I have a confession. I've never actually been inside of this building, which is why I don't have any pictures of the interior to share. But you can see lots of pictures at the various sources I've linked at the bottom, and it's most certainly on my list of places to see in Philadelphia "someday". (I have a lot of things scheduled in that very nebulous timeframe.) I got the marker a few years back, when my mother and my BFF Andrea and I took a double-decker bus tour around the city to see different locations, and today I'm going to tell you about what goes on inside.
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| The marker stands outside of the RMT at 1113 Market Street |
Philadelphia, as you probably know, was one of the three original counties in Penn's Woods that was laid out by William Penn himself. As you very likely also know, the city of Philadelphia and the county of Philadelphia are literally the same thing, but the city's layout was crafted not by Penn, but rather by people working for him. At that time, in the late 1600s, the muddy streets were filled with people trying to sell things - farmers with their crops, hunters with their game, fishermen with their catch of the day, and so forth. These Penn representatives thought it would be a smart idea to round up all these street vendors and put them together in one place along the Delaware River, at the foot of what was then called High Street. This was known as the Jersey Market, since a lot of said vendors came over from New Jersey.
Over the next century and change, as Philadelphia grew and became more populated, public markets became more of a thing. High Street was renamed as Market Street for obvious reasons, and by around 1850, the collective of food selling sheds stretched six blocks. This was around the time that the public dropped their liking of open-air marketplaces, preferring more sheltered and indoor locations. (A perfect example of that would be the Lancaster Central Market, the world's oldest continually operating farmer's market, which has stood in the same place since 1730.) They also took issue with the fact that the market sheds, known as shambles, created problems for streetcars. These new-fangled devices were transporting more and more passengers along Philadelphia's streets every year, but the shambles were somewhat in the way. In 1859, the shambles were dismantled and replaced by two new markets, the Farmers' Market and the Franklin Market, which could be found at the intersection of 12th and Market Streets. These two markets, along with the nearby Butchers' Market, eventually became what we now call the Reading Terminal & Market.
First, however, there had to be a terminal. Also, what did the city of Reading have to do with anything?
Well, it was in 1890 that the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company purchased the 1100 block of Market Street, with plans to construct a new terminal for their railway. This was the block where the Farmers' and Franklin Markets stood, and the merchants basically said "No, we are not moving." I'm not really sure why, but somehow, their refusal was accepted by the railroad company. Instead of forcing the markets to close and relocate, the P&RR instead entered a compromise with the merchants. The company would build their terminal on the spot in question, as planned - but on the very ground floor, beneath the train shed and railroad tracks, there would be a new market, the Reading Terminal & Market. It opened for business on February 22, 1893, and has been in operation ever since.
The official website of the RTM has a description of how it looked. "The stalls were laid out in a grid pattern with twelve aisles running east-west and four wider avenues running north-south. Sawdust was spread on the floor to absorb spills and moisture rising from the vast cold storage facility in the basement." This cold storage facility was said to be the biggest in the city, consisting of 52 separate rooms offering half a million cubic feet of space, and each room had its own individual temperature setting depending on what was kept there. The interior of the market was also much better lit than might have been expected, with a series of electric lamps making sure that everyone could see.
The merchants offered a particular advantage to Philadelphians in the form of free delivery service. They employed an army of young boys, who would carry smaller orders to customers in town, though nothing the kids couldn't handle. Some merchants had their own trucks, with which they would manage the bigger deliveries, and there was a parcel post department to ship orders across the country, and even up to Canada and down to Mexico. By 1913, the RTM was home to a hundred farmers and 250 food dealers.
The advent of refrigerated trucks following World War I made home delivery an even better prospect. Housewives beyond the city limits could also place grocery orders, which were filled at the Market and then put on an appropriate train and taken to her local station, where it waited for her to collect it. As the Depression arrived and World War II changed everything, while larger-scale farmers supported the war effort, local small farmers became the backbone of the RTM and accepted tickets from the ration books. Both the RTM and the railroad above it struggled, but managed to survive the Depression. The P&RR dropped the 'P' from its name, becoming the Reading Railroad of Monopoly fame.
Other mass difficulties still plagued the RTM, however. When the Reading Railroad struggled in the 1960s, like many other railroads did, they didn't have much to offer the Market. The giant cold-storage facility had to be shut down to cut costs, and the vendors became responsible for providing their own cold storage. The RR finally shut down for good in 1976, but was replaced by the Reading Company. This was effectively a real estate business, and they eventually were in a position to revitalize the struggling Market in the 1980s. By that time, the building was in dire need of repair, the RTM was struggling to remain open, and the plans for a nearby convention center threatened its very existence.
Fortunately, the Market had plenty of friends to help it survive. The Reading Company improved the building and brought in new vendors, including Amish farmers and bakers, and historic preservationists joined forces with the merchants and their customers to try to preserve it. With the Reading Terminal no longer functioning as an actual terminal, the RTM was rescued when the Pennsylvania Convention Center Authority purchased the building. That's right - the very thing that people thought was going to destroy the RTM turned out to be what saved it. The former terminal became part of the new convention center, and both it and the Market were given fresh life through improved infrastructure and redecoration.
Today, the upper floors of the terminal, which were once used as offices for the P&RR, have been converted into meeting rooms and ballroom facilities. Other parts of the terminal now house more than 200 rooms of the Marriott Hotel, which is connected to them by a skywalk. The former train shed is the convention center's Grand Hall and ballroom, thus preserving its architectural beauty and integrity while giving it a new purpose for the city. A number of movies have even shot scenes in the former terminal, most notably the historical adventure National Treasure.
As for the Market, it has been operated by an independent non-profit entity since 1994. It now boasts more than 80 merchants selling local produce, meats and seafood, eggs, and dairy products, but also handcrafted items, clothing, books, flowers, and jewelry. The multiple businesses offer places to eat on the premises as well as to buy food to take home. Amish bakers sell pretzels and other baked goods Monday through Saturday (they do not work on the Sabbath, per their religion), and locals and tourists alike find it a fantastic place to shop. It's actually the third-most popular tourist destination in the whole of Philadelphia, coming in just behind the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. It also has its own mascot, Philbert the Pig, who is depicted in a statue crafted by sculptor Eric Berg. Philbert is actually a piggy bank of sorts, and donations dropped into his holdings are passed on to The Food Trust, a local non-profit aimed at providing healthier and more nutritious options for Philadelphians in need.
On a final note, I found something that tickled my fancy when I was researching this post - the unofficial RTM scavenger hunt. Start at Sparrow's Gourmet Snacks, where anyone participating must buy a ticket (or buy them online at the link and present your email upon arrival). The ticket includes popcorn! Visit the link to read the rules and some more details. Now I know what I'll be doing when I finally get to visit the Market.
Sources and Further Reading:
Official website of Reading Terminal Market
O'Neil, David K. Reading Terminal Market: An Illustrated History. Camino Books Inc., 2004.
Reading Terminal Market at VisitPhilly.com
Except where indicated, all writing and photography on this blog is the intellectual property of Laura Klotz. This blog is written with permission of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. I am not employed by the PHMC. All rights reserved.
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