Hours: 10 am – 5 pm
Cost: Adults: $12, Students:
$8
This
weeks tour of Eastern State Penitentiary was not only a museum
lesson, but a lesson in prison and reform history as well. Our tour
guide, Toby, was extremely knowledgeable about its history and
current reform practices giving Eastern State relevance in today's
world. Our tour lasted about an hour and a half and yet we only went
through a fraction of the space and it made me think - is it
necessary to preserve the entire crumbling structure when they might
be able instead to keep just a part of it while still being able to
educate and also make space for something else?
Similar
to Eastern State's story, Moyamensing Prison (New County Prison)
opened just a few years after Eastern State in 1835, was located at
10th and Reed streets in South Philadelphia, and housed
some very famous prisoners, among them were Edgar Allan Poe and
“America's first Serial Killer” H. H. Holmes was executed here.
The Debtors' Prison was an architectural wonder, built in the
Egyptian Revivalist style, of which there are not many. They both
were shut down within ten years of each other as well, the difference
is that Moyamensing sat abandoned only five years after shutting
down, while Eastern State lie dormant for decades and it was decided
that it would be preserved. Toby mentioned that after Eastern State
closed, one of the plans for the site was to sell it to a developer
and while this never came to fruition, it is the exact fate of the
Moyamensing Prison site. Today, in the place of this once formidable
structure stands a Senior Center, an Acme, and a Wells Fargo Bank,
all that is left is a low stone wall around the back of the shopping
center and an historic marker in front.
I
have a very sentimental attachment to Moyamensing Prison, even though
I have never set eyes on it, it is where I do most of my grocery
shopping and while I sometimes wish very much that the structure was
standing because looking at photographs doesn't do it justice, I
realize that it would have been taking up valuable city real estate
and having a grocery store there now is certainly quite convenient
for many of the neighborhood residents, more convenient than say
having a crumbling historic prison. I appreciate that the city
erected an historical marker reminding the community of this
monumental structure's existence, and it's rumored that the famous
Egyptian Revival facade of the Debtors' Prison was placed in storage
at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D. C. If the rumors are
true, perhaps I'll be able to see at least a part of the great
building which once stood in the place of my local supermarket.
Either way, I'm glad the space is being used by the South Philly
community.
As
far as Eastern State relationship with their community goes, I've
heard that the residents of the area get free admission to the day
tours. If it's true, I can guess at many different reasons for it.
For one, it is a way to kind of give back to the community by
educating them on the history of their shared community and to
promote community unity, pride and get residents involved more. Or it
could be their way of making up for the things that the neighbors
might not like so much, like the spooky characters and crowded
sidewalks of visitors waiting to get into the “Terror Behind the
Walls” during October. Perhaps its a bit of both.
Moyamensing Debtors' Prison
