The Woodlands

This project was built as an interactive map guide to the beautiful Woodlands Cemetery at:

4000 Woodland Avenue,
Philadelphia, PA, 19104

Click on grave markers to learn about the people who occupy the plots. Be sure to allow the browser to know your location to see where you are in the cemetary (how to share location in Chrome on iPhone).

Created by Michael Geise

This physician was the first curator of the U.S. Army Medical Museum (now the National Museum of Health and Medicine) and an influential surgeon during the Civil War. After Brinton received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College in 1853, he worked as the chair of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania until 1861. At the beginning of the Civil War, Lincoln requested that Brinton serve as a brigadier surgeon of volunteers. He saw action in the battles of Fort Donaldson, Fort Henry, and Shiloh.

In the summer of 1862, Brinton began working in the office of the surgeon general in Washington, D.C., where he was asked to prepare The Surgical History of the Rebellion. This collection of surgical specimens from field surgeons during the war became the foundation of the U.S. Army Medical Museum. He was also a pioneer in the use of photography in medicine, recognizing the superior accuracy of photographed wounds to artist drawings for the purposes of teaching. This work led Brinton to become a leading authority on gunshot wounds. After the Civil War, he returned to Philadelphia's Jefferson Medical College and also chaired the committee on the Mutter Museum at the College of Physicians.

Eyre's work as an prominent American architect continues to mark Philadelphia's landscape today. Eyre spent his early childhood in Italy, but returned to the United States at age eleven. As a young man, he completed one year of study at MIT and by 1877, he was working in the architecture firm of James Peacock Sims. At Sims' death in 1882, Eyre began practicing independently.

It was not until 1911 that he formed another partnership, this time with John Gilbert McIlvaine. Much of Eyre's work was influenced by English residential architecture and he is best known for his numerous private house designs, including many in the Rittenhouse Square neighborhood. He also collaborated with other architects on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway (1900-1902) and the University of Pennsylvania Museum (1893). He served as a professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania from 1890-94. House & Garden Magazine, which he founded and edited, served as a forum for the residential designs of the Philadelphia architectural community.

Born and educated in Hartford, Connecticut, Grew came to Philadelphia in 1834. An ardent abolitionist, she worked with Lucretia Mott in the Female Anti-Slavery Society. As a delegate to the World's Anti-Slavery Convention in London in 1840, Grew was excused from the floor for demanding to speak.

Grew dedicated herself to the pursuit of women's rights, defying societal norms and her father's wishes. She was President of the Pennsylvania Woman Suffrage Association, and eventually became a Unitarian preacher. John Greenleaf Whittier commemorated her achievements in one of his poems, with the line: "The way to make the world anew is just to grow - a Mary Grew!"

Gross was the foremost surgeon in Philadelphia for much of the 19th century. He graduated from Jefferson Medical College in 1828 and moved to Easton, Ohio in 1830 to establish a private practice. During the same period, he taught at the Medical College of Ohio and then at the Louisville Medical Institute. When he returned to Philadelphia in 1856, he was appointed professor of surgery at his alma mater.

At Jefferson Medical College he published some of his most influential work, including System of Surgery (1859), which became one of the great surgical treatises of its day, and Manual of Military Surgery (1861), which was the standard operating manual for Civil War surgeons. Gross also founded the American Medical Association and the American Surgical Association while serving at Jefferson. He is depicted as the central figure in Thomas Eakins' painting "The Gross Clinic."

Renowned for her illustrations of children in magazines and books, Jessie Wilcox Smith only began drawing at the age of twenty. She had trained to become a kindergarten teacher but soon found that she was not suited to the job. One day she happened to attend a cousin's art lesson and discovered both a talent for and an interest in drawing. She left teaching and enrolled at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1885, where she studied under Thomas Eakins.

In 1894, she enrolled in classes at the Drexel Institute taught by illustrator Howard Pyle. With Pyle's help and with the support of fellow aspiring artists, Violet Oakley and Elizabeth Shippen Green, Smith grew to be a prolific contributor to American magazines and books and one of the most popular graphic artists in the United States. Over the length of her career, she created covers for Harper's, Collier's, Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, and Women's Home Companion. She illustrated over 40 books, including, perhaps most famously, Charles Kingsley's The Water-Babies (1916), the original paintings of which are now held by the Library of Congress.

Francis Martin Drexel became a titan of international finance, but was born in Austria's Tyrol region and began his career as an artist. At the age of 25, Drexel immigrated to America in the pursuit of greater artistic opportunity. Shortly after his arrival in Philadelphia, Drexel's paintings were exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

He travelled to South America, where he painted portraits of Bolivar and other leaders of newly independent republics. Drexel's experiences in South America and his fluency in German and Spanish eventually drew him into the world of international banking. In 1838, he opened the Drexel Bank on South Third Street in Philadelphia. This bank helped to finance the Mexican-American War by floating $49 million in war loans in 1846. Drexel trained two of his sons (Francis A. and Anthony J.) in the ways of banking, and the two eventually took the helm of Drexel and Company.

Evans began his dental career in Philadelphia and pioneered the use of gold as cavity fillings. He exhibited his achievements at the Franklin Institute and received the first gold medal issued for such work. Evans' other dental accomplishments include introducing nitrous oxide as an anesthetic to Europe and the first use of vulcanite rubber as a base for dentures. Evans moved to Paris in 1848, and became dentist and confidante to Napoleon III and various other members of European royal families.

His patients enlisted Evans' talents in areas ranging from royal match-making to transmitting unofficial correspondence between kings. In fact, Evans assumed an active role in European deliberations on the American Civil War and is considered to have been "largely responsible for convincing Napoleon III not to recognize the Confederacy." Evans also clothed the Army of the Potomac during the first winter of the Civil War.

In Europe, he introduced the American ambulance to the French Army - a significant contribution to the French effort in the Franco-Prussian War. Meanwhile, Evans' Parisian real estate investments made him fabulously wealthy. When the Second Empire fell, he saved the French Empress Eugénie from angry Parisian mobs, smuggling her by carriage to England. Evans was married to Agnes Doyle, the daughter of John Doyle (Philadelphia). Agnes died in Paris, but Evans brought her back to Philadelphia for burial in The Woodlands Cemetery. At his death in 1897, Evans' left his estate to the University of Pennsylvania to found a Dental School and funds for a 90-foot granite obelisk to mark the Evans family tomb. The monument was designed by the Wilson Brothers of Philadelphia, but not completed until 1917. It has been classified as the tallest funerary monument in America.

This statesman was an important figure in the Japanese democratic movement of the 19th century. Baba was educated at Yukichi Fukuzawa's private school (later Keio University) and received a degree from Temple Law School in England. When he returned to Japan in 1878, he embarked on a political career, which included founding the Kokuyukai Society and becoming a leader in the Jiyuto, or Liberal, Party with Taisuke Itagaki. Baba eventually left the party, but by that time he had been labeled a radical and was forbidden to speak publicly. In 1885, he was arrested on a charge of illegally purchasing explosives and spent several months in detention. When he was acquitted in 1886, he moved to the United States, eventually settling in Philadelphia. Baba continued his political activism, publishing a pamphlet in 1888 entitled "The Political Condition of Japan, showing the Despotism and Incompetency of the Cabinet and the Aims of the Popular Parties." He died that same year in Philadelphia.

An author, explorer, and amateur boxer, Biddle Sr. was the son of two prominent Philadelphia families, the Drexels and the Biddles. These families' large fortunes provided Biddle with a comfortable childhood and an excellent education in Europe. When he returned to Philadelphia in 1891, he became a reporter for the Philadelphia Public Ledger, writing articles related to sporting events in the city. Biddle was particularly proud of his reputation as an athlete and as one of the best amateur boxers in Philadelphia. He frequently invited professional boxers to his house for boxing matches followed by dinner with the family.

When he joined the Marine Corps as a captain in 1917, he convinced Headquarters to make boxing a part of the new recruits' training. He also traveled widely and wrote articles about his adventures for numerous magazines. Biddle's published books reflect his eclectic tastes. Do or Die (1937) is a handbook on combat methods; The Froggy Fairy Book (1896) is an illustrated set of fairytales, and The Madeira Islands (1896) is a guidebook and history of Biddle's travels to the islands. The Disney musical The Happiest Millionaire (1967) is based on Biddle's life, with Fred MacMurray cast in the lead role.

This author and journalist was one of the first American female correspondents to work abroad. Brewster began her career by writing poetry as a young woman. Despite her brother's disapproval, she started publishing short stories under the pseudonym Enna Duval in 1845. Throughout her career, she published over 50 of these stories, which encouraged women to become economically independent through hard work, morality, and social responsibility. Brewster never married, and after her parents' death, she became estranged from her brother over the control of her inheritance.

Starting in 1857, she spent 15 months in Switzerland and Italy, and when she returned to the U.S., she supported herself by writing and teaching music and French. In the 1860s, she abandoned her pseudonym and published two novels based on her experiences traveling around Europe. Brewster moved to Rome in 1868 and began writing for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin and the Newark Courier. For the following 19 years, she wrote articles on political, religious, artistic, and scientific events in Rome for 12 American papers including the New York World and the Chicago Daily News. She also established a weekly salon attended by artists, musicians, and writers, including Frank Liszt and Sarah Jane Lippincott. She died in Siena, Italy in 1892.

William Bucknell grew up in Marcus Hook and learned the wood carving trade in Philadelphia. He carefully saved his earnings and invested in real estate, railroads, and the construction of utilities in growing East Coast cities. His keen business sense helped him become a very wealthy businessman and a generous philanthropist. He regularly tithed ten percent of his wealth to religious and educational institutions and was a charter donor to fund the establishment of the University of Lewisburg in central Pennsylvania in 1846. In 1881 when the institution was in a critical financial state, Bucknell supported their needs with a contribution of $50,000. Subsequent gifts that helped improve the university's facilities caused the board of trustees to rename the institution Bucknell University in 1886 in his honor.

William Bullitt's extensive experience with European politics made him an important U.S. diplomat. After working at the State Department, Bullitt began his diplomatic career as a member of the U.S. World War I peace delegation in Paris. In 1919, he led a secret mission to negotiate the end of the civil war in the Soviet Union. Although he met with Lenin, the terms of the negotiation were bogged down by political wrangling between European heads of state. In the 1920s, he developed a friendship with Sigmund Freud, and in 1931, Bullitt completed Thomas Woodrow Wilson: 28th President, a Psychological Study in consultation with Freud.

His controversial characterization of Wilson led Bullitt's friends to convince him to delay publication until 1967. Bullitt was also a supporter and friend of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and he was instrumental in opening formal diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and the United States under Roosevelt's administration. Bullitt was immediately appointed ambassador to the Soviet Union in 1933. He also became ambassador to France in 1936, a post which he left in 1940 upon the German invasion of the country. During World War II, Bullitt increasingly disagreed with Roosevelt's foreign policy and left the U.S. to fight with the French Free Forces where he participated in the liberation of Paris. After WWII, he retired from diplomatic service and spent much of his time living in France.

Anne Moen Bullitt, the daughter of William Bullitt and Louise Bryant, was born in Paris in 1924 and spent much of her childhood traveling with her father on his diplomatic missions. As a Philadelphia socialite, she gathered an extensive collection of vintage haute couture and a succession of four husbands. One husband helped launch her into a horse racing career. Eventually she became the first woman breeder and trainer of thoroughbred horses in Ireland, where she lived for more than forty years at Palmerston, a 700-acre estate purchased by her father.

This granddaughter of John Bartram was an accomplished botanist and artist. Scottish horticulturalist Alexander Gordon wrote of Ann Carr that "her knowledge of American plants is most extensive, not surpassed, if equaled, by any one in the United States." Ann, with her husband Robert Carr (1778-1866), owned and operated Bartram's Garden from 1813 to 1850. They introduced the poinsettia to the gardening world in 1829. Robert Carr was a prominent printer, with projects including Alexander Wilson's American Ornithology. He also served as an Army officer during the War of 1812. In 1850, after bitter financial difficulties, the Carrs were forced to sell their garden property at public auction, where it was purchased by Andrew M. Eastwick. Bartram's Garden today is a city-owned historic site on the banks of the Schuylkill River about 15 blocks south of The Woodlands.

After this businessman from a prominent Quaker family established his wealth through a lucrative business partnership in the mercantile company of Cresson, Wistar & Company, he spent the rest of his life giving his fortune away to philanthropic causes. Cresson particularly supported creating a colony in Liberia for former slaves, and he gave several gifts to foundations to buy land at Bassa Cove, Liberia for this colony. He also made donations to local institutions: the University of Pennsylvania to endow a fine arts professorship; the City of Philadelphia to plant trees, and to the Franklin Institute to create the Elliott Cresson medal for discoveries in the arts and sciences. In addition to this generosity during his lifetime, Cresson left over $125,000 to Philadelphia charities at his death in 1854.

In 1838, Dreer started a nursery in Hamilton's greenhouse at The Woodlands and established a successful gardening store on Chestnut Street. By 1873, Dreer's business had expanded to such an extent that he needed more nursery space. He bought 115 acres of land along the Delaware River in Riverton, New Jersey, for a new nursery. The business eventually expanded to 295 acres with a water garden and 14 greenhouses with palms, ferns, bamboo, irises, and hybrid waterlilies. Dreer's son, William, continued to run the business after his father's death.

Although Eakins is recognized today as one of America's foremost realist painters, his career was punctuated by controversy due to his interest in anatomy. As a child, he displayed a precocious artistic talent, which his parents encouraged him to pursue. In 1862, he enrolled in the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and began attending anatomy lectures at Philadelphia's Jefferson Medical College to further his study of the human figure. In 1866, Eakins moved to Paris to study at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. When he returned to Philadelphia, he began work as a portrait artist and taught at the Academy. In 1875, he paintedThe Gross Clinic, showing famed surgeon Dr. Samuel Gross (also interred at The Woodlands) presiding over surgery in a crowded amphitheater at Jefferson Medical College. Although Eakins intended the painting for a general exhibition at the 1876 Centennial Exposition, it was deemed too disturbing and was displayed instead in a less prominent location in the U.S. Army Post among surgical tools and weapons. In 1882, he became director of the Academy and introduced one of the most progressive courses of study in the country. His insistence that both male and female students study the nude human figure tested the bounds of propriety and eventually led to his forced resignation in 1886. Eakins continued painting until his death in 1916.

This locomotive developer became a millionaire when he was commissioned by Czar Nicholas to build the locomotives and rolling stock for a railroad connecting Moscow to St. Petersburg. He later became president of the City Bank of Philadelphia. An accomplished inventor, Eastwick devised the steam shovel and the "equalizing beam," which is used universally on all locomotives. His purchase of John Bartram's Garden preserved it from the industrial sprawl threatening to overtake the lower Schuylkill River (although the mansion Eastwick built on land near Bartram's farmhouse no longer stands.)

The work of this painter includes portraits of many wealthy families from New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Pennsylvania from the first half of the 19th century. Eddy's father taught him copper engraving at age fifteen as part of the family printing business. The engravings he completed before he turned twenty are his earliest known works. Little is known about his training as a painter, but we do know that he moved to New York City in 1826 to work as a portraitist and miniaturist. There he gained prominence as an artist. In the 1830s he moved to New Jersey, where he continued to paint portraits, particularly of the children of wealthy families. In 1841 he moved to Baltimore. While continuing to paint, Eddy also invented a precursor to the typewriter. In 1850 he moved to Philadelphia, where he remained until his death in 1868.

Felton was a railroad manager who became famous for preventing an assassination attempt against President-elect Lincoln in 1861. After putting himself through Harvard, Felton embarked on a career in engineering. Felton worked initially at several railroads in Boston. In 1851, he moved to Philadelphia to take over the presidency of the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad. Within a few years, he had turned the mismanaged and financially unstable business into one of the most profitable railroads in the country. In 1861, Felton, with the help of an investigator from Chicago named Allan Pinkerton, learned of a plot to assassinate Lincoln by blowing up the railroad during the President's inaugural trip from Philadelphia to Washington, DC. Felton and Pinkerton were able to secret Lincoln into Washington overnight without tipping off the would-be assassins. Felton's work at the railroad also helped to deliver troops and supplies to key sites for the Union Army during the Civil War.

This lawyer was also a prolific author of works on constitutional law, slavery, currency, and agriculture. After being admitted to the bar at the age of twenty, Fisher set up a law practice in Philadelphia. At the same time, he began farming a plantation in Maryland and publishing newspaper articles and pamphlets, largely voicing his views on important political issues of the day. Although he was never very successful as a lawyer or a farmer, Fisher is remembered today for his meticulously detailed diary, which has survived as a rich resource for all facets of Philadelphia history from 1834 to 1871.

This Scottish-born architect established a firm with Andrew Palles and was a one-time partner with Frank Furness and George Hewitt. In Philadelphia, he is best known for designing the Union League building on South Broad Street in 1863. He also served as the acting supervising architect during part of the construction of the United States Treasury building in Washington, D.C. Fraser later helped to found the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

One of the most prominent art dealers in the nation, Haseltine handled some of Thomas Eakins' early works. Both "The Gross Clinic" and "The Agnew Clinic" were first exhibited at Haseltine Art Galleries on Chestnut Street. Haseltine was also very active in the community, as a Trustee of the Presbyterian Hospital, a Union League member, and a longtime member of the Second Presbyterian Church at 21st and Walnut Streets. When the Civil War broke out, Haseltine formed the "Keystone Battery," of which he was elected First Lieutenant. His personal interests included painting, travel, and genealogy. Haseltine reportedly collected over 70,000 names in his genealogy of the Haseltine family.

Although Hayden studied medicine and occasionally worked as a surgeon, his true passion was geology. As a young man, he became acquainted with the New York state paleontologist, James Hall, who encouraged Hayden to pursue his interest in geology. Hayden completed multiple explorations of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers and the Black Hills and began publishing his research on these little-known areas of the United States. During the Civil War, he set aside his interest in geology to work as a surgeon for the Union Army. In 1865, he became a professor of geology at the University of Pennsylvania, and in 1872, he left this post to work for the United States Geological Survey. His work was influential in preserving an area of southern Wyoming, Montana, and Idaho as public land, which later became Yellowstone National Park. Hayden also has 44 different species named after him, ranging from a living moth to an extinct dinosaur. Hayden Hall (the former Dental Hall, later the Fine Arts Building, and now home of the Geology Department and the Engineering School of the University of Pennsylvania) was named in his honor.

Charles Barton Keen's work as an architect focused on designing country houses in the rapidly growing suburbs of American cities. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1889 and first worked as a draftsman in the office of the Philadelphia architect Frank Miles Day. After a brief partnership with Frank Mead from 1894 to 1901, he worked independently, designing his own versions of the colonial revival country house. By 1893, Keen was working with R.L. Burton and the Woodmere Land Association on Long Island, New York. He designed Burton's residence, stables, and playhouse, as well as the railroad stations, stores, and other residences for the suburban development created by the Association. In Philadelphia, Keen's work included residences in the new suburban developments of Pelham, Overbrook, Ogontz Park and Glenside. Others are scattered throughout the Main Line. His commissions extended from Maine to Florida. One of his best-known estate complexes is Reynolda, built for R. J. Reynolds, founder of Reynolds Tobacco Company in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Longacre was an American engraver who served at the U.S. Mint for 25 years. He began his career as an apprentice to a bookseller where he learned the art of engraving for printed works. In 1834, Longacre and James Herring published a series of biographies of famous Americans called the National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans, which included Longacre's engraved portraits. This publication went through numerous print runs and made Longacre's engraving famous. In 1844, he replaced Christian Gobrecht as chief engraver at the U.S. Mint. His most famous designs for American currency include the Liberty Head for the 1849 gold $1 and $20 and the Indian Head cent. Longacre served at the Mint until his death in 1869.

Mitchell was a physician who also became well-known as a poet and novelist. After graduating from Jefferson Medical College in 1850, he took over his father's medical practice and began writing poetry. During the Civil War, he worked as a surgeon at the Turner's Lane Hospital with William Williams Keen. His first short story, "The Case of George Dedlow," appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1866 and dealt with the psychological effects of war on a Union soldier. As Mitchell's medical career advanced, he became a professor at the Philadelphia Polyclinic and College for Graduates in Medicine. He worked for over forty years at the Philadelphia Orthopedic Hospital and Infirmary for Nervous Diseases. Under his direction the Infirmary became a center for the treatment of nervous disorders. Mitchell's contributions to medical publications included over 150 papers on diverse topics in neurology, pharmacology, physiology, and toxicology, including the effects of snake venom and opium on the brain. His fiction consists of historical romances set during the American Revolution and the Civil War. Mitchell frequently used his own experiences of war to write his novels, including Roland Blake which is set in an army hospital in Philadelphia. Mitchell's most famous poem, "Ode on a Lycian Tomb," was written following the death of his daughter, Maria, who is also buried in the family plot.

This undertaker, who directed the funerals of Presidents Harrison, Taylor, and John Quincy Adams, was one of the founders of The Woodlands Cemetery. As a young man, Moore learned the cabinet-making trade, which included constructing coffins. He soon recognized that keeping ready-made coffins on hand would be more profitable than constructing coffins one at a time in response to individual deaths. His realization led him to go into business independently, helping to create the profession of undertaker. Over the course of his 58-year career, he directed the funerals of Philadelphia's most prominent citizens. In 1840, Moore became one of the original incorporators of the Woodlands Cemetery Company and served as funeral director for internments at the cemetery. By 1868, Moore had commissioned architect John Kutts to create the Gothic design for a large monument on his intended gravesite. This monument, which includes statues representing Charity and Mercy, among other virtues, was intended as an advertisement for the cemetery and his business. Moore lived for more than a decade after this monument was in place.

This Scottish architect immigrated to Philadelphia in 1873, where he joined the architectural firm of Addison Hutton in 1877. His most notable work with the Hutton firm was the Venetian Gothic townhouse at the southwest corner of Walnut and 22nd Streets. After the firm dissolved, Ord became involved with the Scottish architect John McArthur, Jr., in the design and construction of Philadelphia's City Hall. After McArthur's death in 1890, Ord ran the construction project until 1893. He subsequently opened his own practice at 3202 Arch Street. Ord was an active member of the St. Andrews Society, the T-Square Club, and the American Institute of Architects.

Portrait painter Rembrandt Peale, son of Charles Willson Peale, is renowned for his versatility and talents in the areas of both oil painting and lithography. His lithographic reproduction of his 1795 oil portrait of George Washington was awarded a silver medal by the Franklin Institute in 1827 as the "best specimen of lithography to be executed in the United States." Peale painted many portraits of Washington, of which Washington, the Patriae Pater of 1824 was purchased for the U.S. Capitol in 1834. Peale prepared a popular lecture on "Washington and His Portraits" that was first delivered at Philadelphia's Historical Society of Pennsylvania in 1854. He repeated the talk in communities along the east coast over a period of five years, bringing him many commissions for small-scale replicas of his Washington portraits. Peale also painted portraits of President Jefferson and Dolly Madison, wife of James Madison and other well-known Americans. Peale opened a museum in Baltimore in 1814 that featured exhibits of mastodon fossils and natural history similar to his father's Philadelphia Museum, but he added a gallery of portraits of famous Americans.

Price was a lawyer, real estate law reformer, and prominent civic leader in Philadelphia. In 1822, he was admitted to the bar and began to specialize in real estate law. At the same time, he became involved in reform of the municipal government and was elected to the state senate in 1854. One of his first initiatives in Harrisburg was to secure the passage of the "Consolidation Act" which created the present city of Philadelphia by incorporating much of the city's surrounding territory under one government. Price was also the leading founder of the Woodlands Cemetery, with the intent of protecting the core of the Hamilton estate as open space by converting it to a rural cemetery. He continued his efforts for civic improvement with the establishment of Fairmount Park in 1867. His grandson, Eli Kirk Price, II (1860-1933) was also an important civic leader in Philadelphia. During his years as the president of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1926-1933, he supervised the museum's relocation from Memorial Hall to its present location along the Parkway. He also served on the boards of several institutions, including the University of Pennsylvania and The Woodlands Cemetery Company. Today, the Price family continues its long association with The Woodlands.

As organist of the Church of the Holy Trinity on Rittenhouse Square, Redner composed the music for the Christmas carol "O Little Town of Bethlehem." Rector Phillips Brooks wrote a poem inspired by his recent trip to the Holy Land and gave it to Redner to create a musical composition for the verses. Redner's carol was sung for the first time on the Sunday before Christmas in 1868. Redner worked as a real estate agent in an office on Walnut Street and during his lifetime served four Philadelphia churches as an organist, but 19 years were devoted to musical activities at Holy Trinity Church.

This inventor and manufacturer made important improvements to cast-iron railcar wheels, which enabled him to establish the most successful car wheel works in the United States. Whitney gained his expertise in metalwork in his father's blacksmith shop. After working in various machine shops, Whitney was placed in charge of building railroad cars for the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad in 1830. It was through this work that Whitney developed his life-long interest in railroads. Although he left this field to work as a canal commissioner for the state of New York in 1839, Whitney continued to experiment with the manufacturing of railroad equipment and was granted a patent for a locomotive steam engine in 1840. At the end of his term as canal commissioner, Whitney entered into a partnership with Matthias Baldwin, a pioneering locomotive builder. The two men set up their factory in Philadelphia, and by 1846, their joint business was so sound that Whitney felt able to resign and pursue his interest in improving cast-iron car wheels. From 1847 to 1848, he obtained three patents for the design and manufacturing of these car wheels and organized the firm of Asa Whitney & Sons in Philadelphia. The Whitney works became the largest cast-iron wheel works in the U.S., thanks to Whitney's patents. Whitney was also interested in railroad track development and in 1860, he was elected president of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad. He expanded this railroad's reach to the anthracite coal mines in west Pennsylvania, preparing the way to secure all of the coal trade from the Schuylkill region.

Wood began his work in the diverse fields of botany, physiology, pharmacology, therapy, and neurology at a young age. At 19, he published his first scientific paper, a botanical report to the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, and at 21, he graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. After serving as an Acting Assistant Surgeon in the Northern Army during the Civil War, Wood returned to Philadelphia to practice medicine and to teach at his alma mater. He was made chair of botany in the Auxiliary Faculty of Medicine and became a Clinical Professor at the School of Medicine in 1875. His Treatise on Therapeutics, first published in 1874, originated the idea of pharmacology as a distinct subject in the teaching of medicine and was adopted by most leading medical schools of the period. In 1889, Thomas Eakins painted his portrait, which is now at the Detroit Institute of Arts.

Fisher was a nurse who was born in England and moved to Philadelphia in 1884 to found the School of Nursing at the Blockley Almshouse and Hospital. As a young woman she studied at the Nightingale Training School at St. Thomas Hospital in England and then served in several British hospitals before her move to the United States. Once in Philadelphia she undertook the reform of Blockley Almshouse, which later became Philadelphia General Hospital, and is now part of the University of Pennsylvania medical campus. Blockley was the first institution built on land sold from the Hamilton estate, and Fisher established a School of Nursing there to combat the unhealthy, disorderly conditions of the hospital. In the four short years that Fisher worked at Blockley, she transformed the hospital and established a new generation of nurses to care for Philadelphia's citizens. Fisher's legacy continues through the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania. In 1991 Penn's Center for the Study of the History of Nursing installed a memorial to Fisher on her grave.

Souder was one of scores of women who volunteered as nurses following the Battle of Gettysburg. Rather than taking her usual summer vacation by the sea with her family, Souder joined her friends and traveled to Gettysburg in July 1863 to care for the thousands of Confederate and Union soldiers injured in the battle. A year after her experiences in the field hospitals, Souder published Leaves from the Battle of Gettysburg, which included letters written to her friends and family in the days following the battle. This book remains an important resource for studying women's experiences of the Civil War. In 1995, the 28th Pennsylvania Association erected a monument to Souder on her grave at The Woodlands.