WELCOME PARK:

THE STORY OF A STORIED PHILADELPHIA PLACE

By Harry Kyriakodis

Many Philadelphians know that Welcome Park was once the location of "The Slate Roof House," where
William Penn lived during his second stay in Philadelphia. This short history of that plot of ground is a
necessary prologue to a separate account on one of Philadelphia's two Indian reservations, both allegedly
established long ago and now quite forgotten. One of these places was a spot adjacent to where
Welcome Park came to be.
***

Welcome Park is the only place in the original part Philadelphia that is dedicated to commemorating the
life and contributions of William Penn. Located on the east side of Second Street by Sansom Walkway,
this open area presents a recreation of Thomas Holme's famous 1682 map of Philadelphia, with the city's
street grid laid in marble. A miniature version of the statue of Penn that crowns Philadelphia's City Hall
stands on a large pedestal in the middle of the square. Penn's plans and promotions for Philadelphia are
illustrated on a wall enclosing the park, as is a timeline of Penn's life. His farewell address to the city is
on the back of the pedestal.
The plaza was emplaced by the Friends of Independence National Historical Park in 1982 to celebrate
the 300th anniversary of William Penn's founding of Pennsylvania. Designed by the renowned
architectural firm Venturi, Rauch and Scott Brown, the park was named after Welcome, the ship that first
brought William Penn to America in 1682. But Welcome Park was also meant to "welcome" visitors to
Independence National Historical Park and Philadelphia generally.
But why chose this particular spot for a memorial to William Penn and his work? Well, this was once the
location of "The Slate Roof House," the large dwelling in which Penn resided during his second visit to
America, 1699 to 1701. The mansion was erected as early as 1687 on Second Street between Chestnut
and Walnut Streets. It was built by James Porteus, one of the founders of the Carpenters' Company of
Philadelphia.
The owner was Samuel Carpenter (1649-1714), a Quaker merchant from Barbados. Carpenter was a
friend and partner of William Penn, as well as a deputy Governor of colonial Pennsylvania and later its
Treasurer. Upon arriving in the nascent city, Carpenter acquired a lot along the Delaware River and
constructed the first wharf built in Philadelphia. "Carpenter's Wharf" was expanded over the years and
was joined by numerous adjacent warehouses. Samuel Carpenter had also built a small house near his
wharf, but sought a more stately residence after becoming wealthy due to his business activities.

An image of the Slate Roof House by illustrator William L. Breton,

who painted several watercolors of the dwelling in the 1830s.
Situated on high ground near the heart of the colonial city, the Slate Roof House commanded a fine view
of the Delaware River. It occupied the southeast corner of Second and Sansom Street (formerly Gothic
Street and before that, Norris Alley). The most splendid house in Philadelphia, it received its moniker due
to the rarity of slate roofs in early Philadelphia. The building featured a facade of two projecting corner
rooms that flanked a recessed central entryway. A fine garden extended eastwards nearly to Front Street
and southwards nearly to Walnut Street. City Tavern was later built just about across the street on the
west side of Second Street.
William Penn rented the mansion for 80 pounds a year as a city residence while maintaining his country
house at Pennsbury Manor, well north of Philadelphia. He lived in the Slate Roof House with his second
wife, Hannah Callowhill, and his daughter Letitia. Penn's son John, nicknamed "the American," was born
there on January 29, 1700. It was in the Slate Roof House that William Penn, as Proprietor of
Pennsylvania, penned the regulations for city and state government. And it was there that he
promulgated the Charter of Privileges, which guaranteed civil and religious liberty to the inhabitants of
"Penn's Woods."
The house had a luminous existence during the 18th century. Penn's secretary, James Logan, lived in
the Slate Roof House from 1701 to 1704 and administered the colony of Pennsylvania from there.
William Trent, the founder of Trenton, New Jersey, owned the house from 1704 to 1709. British General
John Forbes, second in command and afterwards successor to General Edward Braddock in the French
and Indian War, died in the house in 1759. As a boarding house, the place served as the temporary
abode of John Adams, John Hancock, and many other members of the First Continental Congress. Both
John Dickinson and Caesar Rodney, two other famous men of the American Revolution, owned the
property for a while around that time.
 The decrepit Slate Roof House, just before being demolished in 1867.
Besides a boarding house, the Slate Roof House had several other uses over time, including a boarding
school, an inn, and a used clothing shop. But slowly yet surely, the building became dilapidated by the
mid-19th century. The house lost all traces of its former elegance as the neighborhood turned
commercial over time. The slate roof that was its distinguishing feature had long disappeared, replaced
on the ancient rafters by wooden shingles. Meanwhile, the surrounding garden had long been filled in
with ramshackle wooden storefronts, as was the house's recessed front entrance.
John Fanning Watson, the Philadelphia historian and annalist, sought to preserve the browbeaten
building as far back as 1830. In his Annals of Philadelphia, and Pennsylvania, in the Olden Time, he
wrote:
Such a house should be rescued from its present
forlorn neglect; it ought to be bought and
consecrated to some lasting memorial of its former
character by restoring its bastions and salient
angles, &c. It would be to the credit of such
Societies as the Historical and Penn Association,
&c., to club their means to preserve it for their
chambers, &c., as long as themselves and the city
may endure!
His plea was unsuccessful; the Slate Roof House was torn
down in 1867. Just before its demolition, the following was
printed in the Friends' Intelligencer, vol. 23 (1867), page 651:
The old house, one of the only two still standing in
which William Penn ever set foot in Philadelphia, "is
tottering to its fall." It has long since outlived its
usefulness, and it has stood in the way of the
progress of the locality in which it stands, and
whether rightfully or wrongfully, reverently or
irreverently, its doom is sealed, and it must, within a
few weeks, come down to make way for the
nineteenth century...
At least Welcome Park contains a bronze model of the house at its appropriate spot on the miniature
street city grid.
The Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
immediately built the Commercial Exchange
Building on the site. This structure burned down a
year after its completion, but it was rebuilt in 1870
and used by the Chamber of Commerce for some
thirty years.
In 1901, the brick and brownstone French Empire
edifice was sold to the Keystone Telephone
Company and became known as the Keystone
Telephone Building. The company opened its first
exchange there on January 1, 1902, and later
installed a huge fireproof vault on the premises to
house critical telephone switching equipment.
Bell Telephone Company eventually came to own
the building before selling it in 1944. The
structure was abandoned in 1961 and demolished
in 1977-1978. Welcome Park was laid out a few
years later.

***
This is all well and good, but here's the most
interesting part: The southeastern edge of Right
by Welcome Park is allegedly the location of a
former Indian reservation!
The stories of Philadelphia's two reputed Native American sites will be told in two separate narratives, but
suffice it to say that the Indian camp ground at one time next to today's Welcome Park was set aside in
1755 by John Penn (1729-1795), grandson of William Penn. Serving on the Pennsylvania Provincial
Council at the time, the young Penn did not reside in the Slate Roof House, as it was too expensive for
him to maintain—despite his political position. John Penn actually lived in a modest house at what today
would be 145 South Second Street, immediately south of the mansion.
It was part of the backyard of this small house that Penn granted to a delegation of the Iroquois, also
known as the Six Nations of Indians, for their exclusive use and perpetual ownership. He did this in
appreciation of their friendliness and support for the British crown during the French and Indian War.
Although Penn was acting as Proprietary Governor of Pennsylvania at the time, his legal right to make
such a grant is doubtful.
Whatever the case, the plot of land in question was variously reported as "twelve by sixteen" or "fifteen by
forty-seven" feet. A bit of this ground may still fall within the southeastern portion of Welcome Park, but
most of the site has been covered, fairly recently, by a modern structure. More on all this in a separate
piece: "The Wampum Lot: A Legendary Indian Camp Ground in Old City Philadelphia." Another article
will follow on the first so-called Indian reservation in Philadelphia: "Marble Court: A Forgotten Indian
Camp Ground in Center City Philadelphia?"

1875 Philadelphia Atlas (G. M. Hopkins) 1962 Land Use Map