Beschreibung:

Small archive of manuscript documents relating to the repair of the drawbridge at the "Lower End of Front Street."
Philadelphia: v.d. [but 17 May to 27 September 1714]. Together, 11 documents, most written and signed by Morris, two inscribed and signed within the text by Dickinson, many signed by the recipients of payment. 13 pp. in total, various sizes (305 x 258 mm and smaller). Most receipted and docketed on verso. Condition : old folds occasional slight loss to folds, some browning. The drawbridge over Dock Creek which led the way from Front Street via a causeway to Society Hill was first built in about 1682 and allowed access for vessels from the Delaware River up Dock Creek as far as Third Street. By 1704, the bridge was already being described in official reports as "insufficient and dangerous to man and beast” and two years later it was carried away by storm waters. Anthony Morris served as the Mayor of Philadelphia in 1703-1704 and was described by Penn as "one of the most sufficient as well as diligent magistrates." With his famed brewery located just above the bridge, Morris, along with Jonathan Dickinson (whose house ran along side it as well), apparently sponsored the construction on behalf of the city. The present group of documents gives the names of the men employed in 1714, as well as some details of the type and prices of materials. The two main items are an undated document docketed "John Walkers Estimate of Bridge & Peers of Causey over the Dock." Walker apparently gave an initial quote of £40/13s, but settled with Dickinson and Morris on a final price of £30. The second principal document in this group is a copy of the interim accounts and bill that were submitted to the City, docketed "Anthony Morris his Charge angst. The City for work done at Dock Bridge and Cawsey". The smaller requests for payment are as follows: 17-19 May: to James Wall for 20¼ cords of wood; 14 June: to "the bearer, Jno. Right's Negro" for 5 cords wood; 18 June: to Margaret Tomlins (or Tomline) "due to her husband for fettling & Laying wood to mend the Bridge"; 10 July: to John Rakestraw "for work done"; 12 July: to John Snowden for 6 cords wood; 23 July: to Edward Eglington "for Timber"; 30 July: to John Cock for 8 ¼ cord wood; 25 August: to John Snowden for 12 ½ cord wood; 27 September: to John Cox (or Cock) for 13 cords of eight-foot lengths of wood ("excepting as Small matter that was not its full length" i.e. some planks were shorter than 8 foot). Despite this work in 1714, the bridge and its causeway remained unfinished as of 1716. It is, however, pictured and identified (along with Morris's brewery and Dickinson's large house) on the famed Peter Cooper oil painting South East Prospect located at the Library Company.