Monday, February 25, 2008

NO, THEY DON'T MAKE THE CREAM CHEESE IN THE BOWELS OF CITY HALL: Local history buff Ron Avery has prepared a list of 84 things he's heard Philadelphia tour guides claim that are flat-out wrong, including:
  • Trees were planted along streets so illiterate people would know the name of streets. So Pine Street was lined with pine trees etc.
  • The Declaration was read first in German because 60 percent of Pa. was German and then read a second time in English.
  • Ben Franklin had 80 illegitimate children all in Sweden.
  • The garden behind the Second National Bank was where wives waited because they weren’t allowed inside the bank.
  • Ben Franklin weighed 300 pounds when he died and had syphilis.

There are three items on that list of which I've been mistaken, and about which I am glad to be corrected. (Two involve the same location.)

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