Name/Title
The WissahickonEntry/Object ID
2013.34.1.100Description
The Edwin C. Jellett Series of Scrapbooks, Volume 1- The Wissahickon
Page 100 contains a printed page entitled: "Excursions on the Schuylkill were popular in the Eighties". The heading at the top of the page is captioned: "Fourty Year of Progress". Also at the top of the page are two illustrations. The top-most illustration is of a "ticket office" at the Girard Avenue landing where passengers boarded the steamship for river excursions. The bottom illustration depicts a steamboat (the Undine) with a paddle wheel navigating the Schulylkill. The text of the article mentions that steamboat excursions on the Schuylkill River were a favorite form of entertainment with Philadelphians predating trolley cars and automobiles. These excursions bagan at the Fairmount Dam and ran to Riverside Park at the mouth of Wissahickon Creek, stopping along the way at designated points. Initially, these boats were operated by the Fairmount Steamboat Company, but later were operated by private owners. The fleet was enlarged in 1876 at the time of the Centennial Exposition with four larger boats added (accomodating 1200 passengers each - three or four times the capacity of the older craft). In 1897, one of the smaller boats was swept over Fairmount Dam and several passengers drowned, thereby "discouraging" the interest of the public in these excursions. The advent of "trolley parties" to amusement parks on the city outskirts reduced patronage on the excursions, thereby making them unprofitable.Collection
GHS Scrapbook Collection