Historic Philadelphia

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Andrew Hamilton, whose slick work in a
New York court in 1735 established freedom
of the press as a concept of British law, drew
the plan for the Pennsylvania State House
in 1732. It would one day be known as
Independence Hall.
COURTESY OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
ELEVATION OF THE STATE HOUSE ATTRIBUTED TO ANDREW
HAMILTON (ACCESSION #BC47-H18).
HISTORIC PHILADELPHIA
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sinfulness. The first indication of a theater was
in 1723, when “a Player who had Strowled
hither to act as a Comedian” set up some kind
of stage “without the verge of the City.” It
would be standard practice for years to house
entertainment across Cedar Street (now South
Street) and thus outside city jurisdiction.
Mayor James Logan lamented “How grievous
this proves to the sober people of the place,”
but since Governor Keith was a regular at the
shows, they were unlikely to be outlawed. In
1724, the first thing close to being a theater
building appeared, “The New Booth on
Society Hill,” featuring, according to
advertisements, “your old friend Pickle
Herring” (an Elizabethan clown name.)
William Penn’s will left his Pennsylvania
holdings to his sons by Hannah. John, then
eighteen, got half. The other half was divided
among Thomas, fifteen; Richard, twelve; and
Dennis, eleven. Billy, from the first marriage,
was granted the family’s Irish lands and the
title of Proprietor of Pennsylvania. He had
already inherited his mother’s extensive
properties. Billy’s two sons, and his sister,
Letitia, each were bequeathed ten thousand
acres in Pennsylvania.
Billy contested the will, claiming that all of
Pennsylvania and Delaware should be his.
Billy died in 1720, at age forty. His son
Springett, nineteen, continued the suit. The
case dragged on until 1726, when it was ruled
that Penn’s will stood as written. Hannah
Penn died a week later.
BUILDING A STATE HOUSE
The Provincial Assembly had decided in
1729 that the Courthouse at Second and
Market was getting crowded, and voted to
build a State House, appropriating two
thousand pounds for the project. Andrew
Hamilton, a lawyer, who was speaker of the
house, drew up a plan. So did Dr. John
Kearsley, who had designed Christ Church.
Hamilton’s prospective son-in-law, William
Allen, who founded Allentown and Mount
Airy, quietly began buying land on the edge of
the built-up part of town, on Chestnut Street
between Fifth and Sixth. When ground was
broken in 1732, Kearsley raised a ruckus over
both the design and the location. The
assembly debated for several days, and gave
the nod to Hamilton. Then, to the builder’s
annoyance, the legislators began making
changes in the plan. It voted that two office
wings should be added to the building.
Hamilton had the alterations under way in
summer of 1733, when the construction
workers, under Edmund Wooley, a master