Description

Before the museum here got its namesake for the radio mogul, A. Atwater Kent, it was the longtime home of the Franklin Institute. Founded in 1823 by Samuel Vaughn Merrick, the institute was designated to be a school for engineering (originally called 'mechanics') and quickly became one of the leading facilities for research and study of science and industry. The building was designed by famed architect John Haviland, who built a building inspired by the Greek-Revival style. It was opened three years later in 1826, where it would serve as the institute's home for the next 109 years. Two years after the Franklin Institute moved into its new home in 1933, the 1935 City Planning Commission considered demolishing the vacant building to be used for parking spaces, but that idea was soon dropped in favor of plan that would incorporate the building as part of Philadelphia's civic service as a history museum. The former Mayor S. Davis Wilson and Frances Wistar, president of the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks, approached radio innovator, A. Atwater Kent to invest in transforming the building into Philadelphia's newest history museum about the city. Today the museum continues that purpose with exhibits and artifacts that take a deeper look at the city.