Southern facade along York Street. Built before 1869, the two- and one-story building to the right was used as a Hollow Ware Foundry. The three-story building was built after 1880.
Fox Foundry, c.1890
2627 York Street, Philadelphia PA 19125
(northwest corner of East Thompson Street, back to East Boston Street)
© Carmen A. Weber, Irving
Kosmin, and Muriel Kirkpatrick, Workshop of the World (Oliver
Evans Press, 1990).
The small brick buildings on
the northwest corner of York and Thompson Streets
probably were probably constructed by the A. Hallman
Stove Company in the 1890s. 1
However, in 1875
James P. Davis had a hollowware foundry on this
site. 2
Samuel Cline
operated the Richmond Iron Foundry on the same property
in the 1880s, with one cupola and 32 employees.
3
In the twentieth
century, the Kappler and Fox Company ran the
foundry. 4
The two story
brick building on the corner still has a painted sign
stating "Fox Foundry" as well as a metal medallion over
the door proclaiming "Fox." Metal working industries also
once occupied much of the surrounding blocks in the early
twentieth century. The large William Cramp and Sons
Shipyard had brass foundries to the south and east of the
Fox Foundry and one building of the Lowry Top and Body
Company (later the Joseph P. Cattie Galvanizing and
Tinning Works) still stands on the corner of Letterly and
Gaul Streets.
1 Hexamer General Survey #363 (?), "Whiling
Manufactory, Hasse & Pratt."
2 G. M.
Hopkins, City
Atlas of Philadelphia by Wards, (Philadelphia, 1875).
3 Lorin Blodget,
Census
of Manufactures of Philadelphia (Philadelphia); and, George
W. Bromley, Atlas of the City of Philadelphia,
(Philadelphia, 1887)
4 George W.
Bromley, Atlas
of the City of Philadelphia, (Philadelphia, 1910);
and, Atlas
of the City of Philadelphia (Central), South Street to
Lehigh Avenue, (Philadelphia, 1922).
Update May
2007 (by
Torben Jenk):
The building survives largely unimproved since foundry
operations ceased here in the 1970s. Now run by Jim
Medaris and his cousin, the third generation owners who
subcontract their foundry operations within the US and
overseas. The company continues to sell various plumbing
parts, including castings of area drains unique to
Philadelphia. Their grandfather worked in the stove
business around Second and Race streets in the early 20th
century before moving up to York Street. He didn't mark
his castings, not wanting to deal with complaints from
customers, so their castings remain anonymous unlike the
familiar "Adams" and "Creswell."
Bounded by Hagert, Letterly, Gaul and Almond Streets, the
former Cattie Galvanizing has been taken over by
Voight & Schweitzer
who offer an
online demonstration of the hot dip galvanizing
process.
See
also:
Hexamer General Surveys #796 (1874), "Hasse
& Pratt's Steam Whiting Works"; "Pratt &
McKenzie's Putty Manufactory."
Hexamer General Survey #1409 (1880), "Pratt
& MacKenzie's, Standard White Lead, Color &
Putty Works"; "Wm. S. Pratt's, Steam Whiting
Works."