Item Info
Media Type: Photographic Prints
Source: Print and Picture Collection
Notes:
The McPherson Square Branch opened in the repurposed Webster Mansion on July 5, 1898. The mansion was torn down in 1915; the new building, erected on the same site in 1917, became the 19th Andrew Carnegie-funded Free Library branch.
This photograph was taken by the Works Progress Administration's Museum Extension Project, ca. 1940. The three-quarter perspective allows for a better view of the projecting portico entrance and the central dome than do the head-on earlier photographs. Also visible in this photograph is the statue dedicated to local resident Charles Allen Smith, the second American killed at Vera Cruz (WWI) in 1914. It was erected in the park, near the library, by the Allied Monument Committee of Philadelphia in 1917.
Set in McPherson Square Park, the McPherson Square Branch serves the neighborhoods of Kensington, McPherson Square, and Kensington & Allegheny. It is located near the Allegheny El station.
Creation Year: ca. 1940
Geocode Latitude: Geocode Longitude:-75.119972
Geocode Latitude:39.994181
Creator Name: United States. Works Progress Administration of Pennsylvania - Photographer