Newkirk Viaduct Monument
The Newkirk Viaduct Monument is a 15-foot white marble obelisk in the West Philadelphia neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Installed in 1839, it is inscribed with the names of 51 railroad builders and executives, among other information.
Designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, a future Architect of the Capitol, the monument was erected by the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad to mark its completion of a bridge across the Schuylkill River and the first railroad line south from Philadelphia. The monument, which originally sat about 700 feet from the riverbank, was moved sometime after 1927 about 600 feet further inland, where it sat for decades by the main line that became Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. In 2016, it was moved to its present location, about 100 feet from the river's edge at the north end of the Bartram's Mile section of the Schuylkill River Trail.
History
The monument commemorates the 1838 completion of the Newkirk Viaduct, also called the Gray's Ferry Bridge, over the Schuylkill River. The bridge completed the first direct rail line between Philadelphia and Baltimore, Maryland — tracks that closely paralleled the King's Highway, the main land route to the southern states.On Aug. 14, 1838, the PW&B board of directors decided to name the bridge after company president Matthew Newkirk, a Philadelphia business and civic leader, and to commission a monument at its west end.
Designed by Thomas Ustick Walter, who would go on to design the dome of the U.S. Capitol, the white marble monument consists of seven pieces of carved stone held together simply by weight and friction — not reinforced, for example, with metal pins. The uppermost piece, a 7-foot obelisk, weighs about 6,000 pounds, while the 5-foot base and other pieces weigh a rough total of 12,000 pounds. The obelisk and base are inscribed with the names of 51 men, including senior officials of the four railroads and various employees who helped build the bridge and rail line.
The monument was installed along the western approach to the bridge and surrounded by a low iron fence. An 1895 account describes its location as "on a high bank in the angle formed by the junction of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad and the Chester Branch of the Philadelphia and Reading Railway just below the western end of the Gray's Ferry Bridge." It sat about 700 feet from the Schuylkill River, at 39.93975 north latitude, 75.20830 west longitude.
In 1872, the PW&B built a new mainline west of the Viaduct, and leased its old line to the Reading Railroad, which expanded the old track to a small railyard. In 1900, an article about the Viaduct's replacement noted the monument, and said, "On account of its inaccessibility and the dense foliage, it is scarcely ever seen."
The monument was moved, at some point after 1927, to a spot along the 1872 mainline. It was placed at 39.939492 north latitude, 75.210633 west longitude, on the site of the demolished Gray's Ferry Station, just northeast of the 49th Street Bridge. For more than eight decades, it sat all but abandoned, in disrepair, and nearly forgotten, though it was visible to passengers traveling Amtrak's Northeast Corridor or SEPTA Regional Rail trains on the Airport Line and the Wilmington/Newark Line.
2016 move
In 2013, interest in the Newkirk Monument was rekindled by a pair of articles written by Bradley Peniston for Hidden City Philadelphia, a local organization about the built environment. The articles explored the monument's significance and suggested it be moved to a more visible site. Over the next few years, the idea was embraced and brought to fruition by a host of public and private entities, including Amtrak, Philadelphia Parks & Recreation, Schuylkill River Development Corporation, landscape architects Andropogon Associates, planners PennPraxis, conservators Materials Conservation, and movers with the George Young Company. On November 17–18, 2016, the monument was moved to a new concrete pad along the under-construction "Bartram's Mile" section of the Schuylkill River Trail.Inscription
As transcribed by Wilson, the four sides of the monument and its base are inscribed as follows:| Obelisk | Obelisk | Obelisk | Obelisk |
President MATTHEW NEWKIRK Vice President JACOB J COHEN JR Directors Philadelphia. Matthew Newkirk, John Hemphill, John Connel, Wm. D. Lewis. Wilmington. James Canby, James Price, David C. Wilson, James A. Bayard, William Chandler. Baltimore. J.J. Cohen Jr., Chas. F. Mayer, John McKim Jr., James Swan, W.A. Patterson. Delaware. Thomas Smith. Chester. Solicitor, Samuel Edwards. Secretary, JAMES WILSON WALLACE, WILLIAM P. BROBSON, Ass't. Treasurer, ALLAN THOMSON. AUBRY H. SMITH, Ass't. | BALTIMORE AND PORT DEPOSIT RAILROAD COMPANY President LEWIS BRANTZ Directors Philadelphia. Matthew Newkirk. New York. Roswell L. Colt. Maryland. Chas. F. Mayer, J.J. Cohen Jr., John B. Howell, C.W. Karthouse, Fred'k Dawson, Henry Thomson, John C. Morton. Secretary and Treasurer, CHARLES H WINDER. Engineer, BENJAMIN H LATROBE. Assistant Engineer, HENRY R HAZELHURST. | DELAWARE AND MARYLAND RAILROAD COMPANY. President, MATTHEW NEWKIRK. Directors: Wilmington. James Canby, James Price, Edward Tatnell, Henry Whitely, Wm. Chandler, David Wilson, Mahlon Betts. Elkton. James Sewall, Josh. Richardson, Greenb'y Purnell, Secretary, Wm. P. Brobson. Treasurer, Allan Thomson. Engineer, WILLIAM STRICKLAND. Assistant Engineer, JAMES P. STABLER. | WILMINGTON AND SUSQUEHANNA RAILROAD COMPANY. President, JAMES CANBY. Directors Philadelphia. Matthew Newkirk, John Hemphill, Stephen Baldwin, Samuel Jaudon. Elkton. James Sewall. Baltimore. J.J. Cohen Jr. Wilmington, David C. Wilson, James Price, William Chandler, Edward Tatnell, Joseph C. Gilpin, Mahlon Betts, Henry Whitely, Jas. A. Bayard. Secretary, WILLIAM P BROBSON. Treasurer, ALLAN THOMSON. Engineer, WILLIAM STRICKLAND. Assistant Engineer, JC TRAUTWINE. |
| Base | Base | Base | Base |
THE PHILADELPHIA WILMINGTON AND BALTIMORE RAILROAD COMPANY Formed A.D. 1838 by the Union of the several charters obtained from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware. Work commenced July 4, 1835. Completed December 25, 1838. Cost $4,000,000. | Railroad Contractors: William Slater, John Ahern, Beers & Hyde, Kennedy Lonergan Superintendents: Charles Lombaert, George Craig, Alfred Crawford | NEWKIRK VIADUCT Samuel H. Kneass, Engineer. Alexander and Charles Provost, Stone Masons. Uziel H. French, Bridge Carpenter. | NEWKIRK VIADUCT Commenced July 4, 1837. Completed December 25, 1838. S.H. Kneass, Engineer. Railroad from Philadelphia to Wilmington. Herman J. Lombaert, Asst. Eng'r. |
Wilson's transcription contains several errors; for example, it misspells the last names of Henry Hazlehurst and Edward Tatnall.