Ben Franklin retraces his Philly steps 300 years later
Young Ben Franklin (played by local actor Benjamin Snyder) carries his “puffy rolls” through the streets of Philadelphia Oct. 6, 2023, 300 years after he first entered the city. Photo by Jim Murphy, author of Real Philly History, Real Fast.
Ben Franklin and William Penn never met. They missed each other by about 20 years. But between the two of them, “Penn and Ben” created the fastest growing city in America, and the largest and most important one by 1776.
Young Ben reappeared in the person of actor Benjamin Snyder, a senior at Lower Merion High School, Oct. 6, 2023, near the Independence Seaport Museum’s docks, recreating the 17-year-old-Franklin’s original entry 300 years ago.
As he wrote in his autobiography, Ben landed about 8 a.m. on a Sunday morning at the Market Street Wharf.
Like the real Ben, Snyder carried “three great puffy rolls” as he walked around his newfound city. They were unlike anything Ben had seen in Boston. “I was surprised at the quantity, but took it,” he said in “The Autobiography & Other Writings” of Benjamin Franklin. “And having no room in my pockets, walked off with a roll under each arm, and eating the other.”
Once here in Philly, Ben improved everything he touched. This included getting the street near the Jersey Market paved with stone between the market and the bricked foot pavement, so people did not have to wade in mud.
Later, bothered by both mud and dust, he found “a poor, industrious man” willing to sweep the pavement twice a week. At his suggestion, other businesses near him soon agreed to pay for the service, too. Eventually Franklin asked the Assembly to pave the streets. That idea passed shortly after he went to England … with the added improvement of street lighting, too.
Tip: If you haven’t read Franklin’s Autobiography, I urge you to do so. You’ll be amazed at how much this one amazing man accomplished, and the beneficial effects he had on Philadelphia and the world.
Sources:
Franklin, Benjamin, “The Autobiography & Other Writings,” New York: Bantom Dell, 1982.
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