401-403 East Girard Avenue, Philadelphia PA 19125
© Stuart Paul Dixon,
Workshop of the
World (Oliver Evans Press, 1990).
The brown stuccoed facade of
the Brotherhood Mission at 401-403 East Girard Avenue
hides the building's association with Fishtown's home
carpet weaving heritage as completely as it sheaths its
exterior fabric. Three stories high when it was built
about 1870, the portion of the structure at 401 East
Girard has been shortened to two stories. Decorative
cornice work hidden by aluminum on the 403 Girard portion
of the building probably topped the vanished third story
at 401 Girard. Evidence on the building's west elevation
facing Columbia Avenue suggests that a two-story rear
addition with three upper bays was joined to the 401 East
Girard section. This rear addition was probably the site
of carpet weaving in the late 1800s.
In 1877, William J. Crowe purchased the property at 401
East Girard Avenue from John Volkmar, a local developer
and speculator. Crowe installed three hand-powered looms
in the building and was producing 1,500 yards of ingrain
carpet per month by 1880. 1
Although such
output was modest in comparison with the output of the
larger carpet mills, this method of small,
residential-scale manufacturing was typical of
Philadelphia's textile-related industries. This tradition
continued well into the early 1900s. When the Fishtown
Civic Association produced an oral history of the
community in 1982, many of the long-time residents who
were interviewed reminisced about playing among the
cotton bales behind "Crow's carpet
place."
By 1883, Crowe was listed in city directories as a carpet
dealer, and he soon purchased another retail store in
Philadelphia. In 1891, he had 10 men working four carpet
hand looms in the rear rooms at 401-403 East Girard, and
four other persons working in his front salesrooms. By
this time he had also acquired a third shop, this one on
North Front Street, six blocks west of East
Girard. 2
In 1911 William
J. Crowe's son and heir, Benjamin, sold the East Girard
Avenue buildings to the Brotherhood Mission.
1 Lorin Blodget,
Census
of Philadelphia Manufactures (Philadelphia, 1880), p. 46.
2 Kensington;
A City Within A City. An Historical and Industrial
Overview (Philadelphia, 1891), pp.
139-40.
Update May
2007 (by
Torben Jenk with information from
"The
'Acres of Diamonds' Man" by Prof. Joseph C. Carter
and the Brotherhood Mission website).
Still used by
the Brotherhood Mission Ministries and including
three buildings, 401-405 East Girard Avenue. From
1908 to the 1940s, the Mission served immigrant men
coming to Philadelphia in search of work and ultimately
living out “The American Dream." The Mission
provided men the basic necessities of life: food,
shelter, and, clothing. From 1946 to 1979, the focus of
the Mission broadened under the leadership of Ade Yeske,
who was the Superintendent of Brotherhood Mission
Ministries and was instrumental in starting programs and
camps for inner city children. During the 1980s,
drug use reached epidemic proportions and Brotherhood
Mission Ministries refocused its mission to help homeless
men with substance abuse problems and mental illness.
Substance abuse and mental illness have long been
recognized as major contributing factors in homelessness.
Although providing housing support for persons with these
problems is often the most difficult task of all shelter
services and recovery programs, this is the very
population that Brotherhood Mission Ministries has served
for decades. Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the
Brotherhood Mission provides daily services to
approximately 75 to 100 homeless men in need of safe
shelter for the night, nutritious meals, a hot shower,
and clean clothes. They also offer an intense 18-month
addiction recovery program.
Founded by Dr. Russell Conwell, the celebrated pastor of
Grace Baptist Church, author of forty books, founder
of Samaritan Hospital (now Temple University Hospital),
Temple University and Temple Brotherhood Psycho
Therapeutic Institute… now known as Brotherhood
Mission Ministries. His famous lecture, "Acres of
Diamonds," made him America's most celebrated orator. By
the end of his life in 1925, he had delivered the lecture
more than 6,000 times. It was heard by millions from
pulpits and public platforms, and by radio. Conwell
encouraged everyone to “do what you can with what
you have where you are today."