Old City 1

Site Page

Old City 1

The Old City 1 Site was located to the south of a private bus depot south of Callowhill Street. The site location consists of an isolated area constrained by Callowhill Street to the north, the north and southbound lanes of I-95 to the east and west (respectively), and an entrance ramp to I-95 North forming the southern boundary.

The Old City 1 Site encompasses roughly the southern third of this area. The northern third of the tested site area sloped steeply down to the south; the remaining southern two-thirds were approximately 10 feet below the current ground level of the neighborhoods to the west. The I-95 on-ramp was at the same elevation as the southern portion of the site. The severe disturbance to the terrain was the result of the elevated I-95 roadway construction.

Archaeological efforts at the Old City 1 Site began with the excavation of two test trenches in order to ascertain the presence or absence of any intact backyard/A-horizon soils. As the testable area of the site (i.e., not steeply sloped) was approximately 10 feet lower than the landforms to the east and west, such intact soils were not expected. Indeed, excavations here uncovered the lowest basement foundations to mid-nineteenth-century residences that once lined Centennial Avenue, basement and subbasement foundations from late-nineteenth-century warehouses, and five historic shafts that predate all of the building foundation remains.

Four of the historic shafts were round brick privies; the fifth was a well. The brick shaft of the well was machine excavated due to extreme depth, reaching around 17 feet below grade before encountering the water table. No intact deposits were documented. Conversely, the four privies all contained intact and highly informative deposits. All four contained approximately 5 feet of privy fill materials. At roughly 10 feet below current ground surface, these shafts represent the truncated remains of privies that may have once been at least 12–15 feet in depth. The horizons left intact at the bases of these privies were primary deposits dating to the earliest use of the privies. Eighteenth-century ceramics—such as white salt-glazed stoneware, tin-glazed earthernware (Delft), scratch blue salt-glazed stoneware, painted creamware, and locally made Philadelphia slipware (redware)—were recovered in large numbers. The artifacts found in these privies represent some of the oldest historic deposits found during the I-95 excavations. The privies also mark a changeover in common privy form from the Kensington-Fishtown area to Northern Liberties, and from there to Old City. At sites farther north, such as Gunner’s Run, the earlier privies are those constructed from barrels or wooden boxes; circular brick shafts are usually late-nineteenth-century constructions to the north, while wooden forms are rare in the south of the I-95 study area. As AECOM’s efforts continue southward towards Center City, it appears that circular brick privies are more common. It will be interesting to see if there’s a similar shift back to the wooden forms as AECOM progresses south past Center City along the riverfront towards the Philadelphia Navy Yard.