NOT ALL BONES CONSIDERED

NOT BIOGRAPHICAL BYTES FROM BALA

I did not have time to complete the Biographical Bytes from Bala podcast about Billionaire's Row. I will release the segment on Ralph & Suzanne Roberts in a day or two.

This is what I have been working on. The first draft of an "Ultimate Baseball Tour" I am giving 6 times during MLB All-Star Week. Then I had to spruce up a talk for Fort Mifflin that I had not given in a couple of years.

Much of my time has gone into preparing Laurel Hill's first columbarium tour. I've selected nearly 40 people for inclusion and have only started to scratch the surface.

Come out and join me Sunday, April 19, at 1pm. We gather at the funeral home and walk up the steps for what will be a primarily indoor tour of 20th and 21st century Laurel Hill occupants.

NOT ALL BONES CONSIDERED

NOT BIOGRAPHICAL BYTES FROM BALA

I did not have time to complete the Biographical Bytes from Bala podcast about Billionaire's Row. I will release the segment on Ralph & Suzanne Roberts in a day or two.

This is what I have been working on. The first draft of an "Ultimate Baseball Tour" I am giving 6 times during MLB All-Star Week. Then I had to spruce up a talk for Fort Mifflin that I had not given in a couple of years.

Much of my time has gone into preparing Laurel Hill's first columbarium tour. I've selected nearly 40 people for inclusion and have only started to scratch the surface.

Come out and join me Sunday, April 19, at 1pm. We gather at the funeral home and walk up the steps for what will be a primarily indoor tour of 20th and 21st century Laurel Hill occupants.

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #085, part 5

Samuel Perkins was the driving force behind getting the job done at City Hall. He established a close relationship with architect John McArthur, Jr., and sculptor Alexander Milne Calder, who honored him with a series of playful cats tucked away in the south entrance vestibule.

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #085-4

John Christian Bullitt was a native Kentuckian who was pro-slavery, but who made his career as a Philadelphia lawyer. His constitutional knowledge and skills led to him rewriting the City's Charter, which immediately became known as The Bullitt Bill. He also helped clear Fitz John Porter of his court martial charges 15 years after the fact. His statue has stood at the northwest corner of City Hall for more than a century.

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #085, Part 3 for April 4

Like sculptor Alexander Milne Calder, Architect John McArthur, Jr., was a Scottish immigrant. He specialized in huge buildings that were meant to last a long time, which explains his selection as architect for Philadelphia's city hall, which when finished was the largest building in the Western Hemisphere. Calder honored him by having him model for the visage of "science" in the eastern portico. He is naked.

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #085, part 2 for April 3, 2026

Matthias Baldwin was always good with his hands. He started as a jeweler, but progressed to bookbinding before he built one of the first steam engines in the nation. When the Age of Steam emerged, Baldwin became the foremost manufacturer of reliable locomotives that were also works of art.

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #085, part 1 for April 2, 2026

I have already talked about the 250 statues inside Philadelphia's City Hall back in ABC:LHS #018, part 1. But including Billy Penn on top, eight named statues also grace the building's outside, including two Civil War generals, a martyred US president, a civil rights hero, a merchant king, and two others. Industrialist / capitalist / philanthropist Matthias Baldwin and John Christian Bullitt, the lawyer who rewrote the city's charter are at Laurel Hill East. Hear their stories, plus two other fascinating character studies, in this month's episode.

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #085 for April 2026

Philadelphia's City Hall doubles as an art gallery and sculpture garden. More than 250 of Alexander Milne Calder's statues grace the massive walls of the building. But at ground level on the plaza outside the building there are seven more statues, two of them equestrian.

Matthias William Baldwin was a precision jeweler turned locomotive manufacturer who gave away most of his wealth. His factory manufactured 75,000 railroad engines before it closed down.

John McArthur, Jr., was a Scottish architect who specialized in massive buildings. City Hall in its time was the largest building in the Western Hemisphere.

William Bullitt was a transplanted southern lawyer who believed in both slavery and secession, yet he was chosen to rewrite the city's constitution in the 1870s.

Samuel Perkins was the Director of the Public Buildings who ruled over the proceedings with an iron fist and was rewarded with a private joke in the south entry portico.