Major Tools Help Solve a Minor Mystery

As a lifelong Philadelphian, I thought I knew every street, alley, nook, and cranny in my city. It turns out I was wrong. Here’s how I made that discovery:

Way back in February of 2020, the Othmer Library picked up a large donation from the Leatex Chemical Company at its then-location at 2722 North Hancock Street in Philadelphia’s West Kensington neighborhood. The Leatex Chemical Company (its name a portmanteau of “leather” and “textile”) was shutting its doors for good but had a slew of very interesting, very “in-scope” books, chemical company reports, newsletters, advertisements, and other items that it offered to the Othmer Library. The donation also included objects acquired by our museum, including a wear tester that was on display in our recent exhibition, BOLD: Color from Test Tube to Textile.

Some of the Leatex items were considered “grey literature,” which are materials that are not formally published through commercial or academic channels; in our case, this would include something that a lead pipe manufacturer or a chemical plant self-publishes.

As a cataloger here at the Othmer Library, I got my hands on just about everything and anything I could catalog from this donation. One item piqued my interest: Lead Lined, Tin Lined, Brass Lined and Copper Lined Pipe and Fittings… by Tatham & Bros.

What seems like an ordinary catalog about pipes and pipe fittings turned out to be . . . well, honestly, it was an ordinary catalog about pipes and pipe fittings. But! It was authored and published by a company named Tatham & Brothers, located in Philadelphia. I am very interested in the history of Philadelphia, but I had never heard of Tatham & Brothers before, and I wanted to see where it was based and what is located there now. I started by searching for Tatham & Brothers on Google, which brought me to a page from the Library of Congress that lists an address of 15 Minor Street, Philadelphia. I was stumped. There is no Minor Street in Philly. Could its name have changed at some point?

This seemed like the most probable explanation, so I headed over to the Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network’s website and used the interactive map viewer to scour old maps. I started with the 1875 map, as it was the most aesthetically pleasing and one that I had previously worked with for a personal genealogical project.

I searched a few Philly neighborhoods, including Old City (where the Science History Institute is located, near Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell), Kensington, and Port Richmond. I chose these neighborhoods because, during my personal research, I learned that Old City historically had a good number of publishers in the area; the other two were home to many factories in a city once known as the “Workshop of the World.” While perusing the 1875 Philadelphia Atlas, I spotted 15 Minor Street, right across from Independence Hall in Old City! How awesome!

Minor Street was located between 5th and 6th Streets and Chestnut and Market Streets in 1875.

But wait, there’s a little building with Tatham & Bros. listed at 5th and Locust.

And wait, there they are again. Tatham & Brothers appears to have had property on an island in the middle of the Delaware River.

What an amazing find! Minor Street is today part of a lovely green space known as Independence Mall. After some quick, sidebar research, I suspect that Minor Street (which, according to the City of Philadelphia’s Department of Records, was renamed Ludlow Street in 1897) was demolished and paved over during the creation of Independence Mall.

The mystery had been solved, the itch was scratched, and now I know where Minor Street was and what happened to it. This small, informal research project reminds us that sometimes such mysteries cannot be solved by one tool alone—sometimes you need to use a wide variety of tools created and offered by other institutions. I used atlases and maps from Greater Philadelphia GeoHistory Network, Library of Congress collections, and the Philadelphia Historic Street Index from the city’s Department of Records. This assortment of tools allowed me to step back in time and find a long-forgotten street and lead works company.

Before I fell down yet another historical rabbit hole, I decided to leave my discoveries there and finish cataloging the item—the original task that I set out to complete a few hours prior. This one item is also a fantastic reminder that so many of our collection’s unsuspecting grey literature published in the Philadelphia area is right around the corner. You just have to dig a little deeper (or watch your step)! Next time I’m over by Independence Hall, I’ll be thinking about Tatham & Brothers and all their lead, tin, brass, and copper-lined pipes.

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