Boathouse Row is a

historic site A historic site or heritage site is an official location where pieces of political, military, cultural, or social history have been preserved due to their cultural heritage value. Historic sites are usually protected by law, and many have been re ...

which is located in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, on the east bank of the

Schuylkill River The Schuylkill River ( , ) is a river in eastern Pennsylvania. It flows for U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map(). accessed April 1, 2011. from Pottsville, Pennsylvania, Pottsville ...

just north of the

Fairmount Water Works The Fairmount Water Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was Philadelphia's second municipal waterworks. Designed in 1812 by Frederick Graff and originally finished in 1815, it operated until 1909, winning praise for its design and becoming a p ...

and the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) is an List of art museums#North America, art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at ...

. It consists of a row of fifteen

boathouse A boathouse (or a boat house) is a building especially designed for the storage of boats, normally smaller craft for sports or leisure use. describing the facilities These are typically located on open water, such as on a river. Often the boats ...

s housing social and rowing clubs and their racing

shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...

s. Each of the boathouses has its own history, and all have addresses on both Boathouse Row and

Kelly Drive A kelly drive is a type of well drilling device on an oil or gas drilling rig that employs a section of pipe with a polygonal (three-, four-, six-, or eight-sided) or Rotating spline, splined outer surface, which passes through the matching pol ...

, named after Philadelphia oarsman John B. Kelly Jr. Boathouses #2 through #14 are part of a group known as the

Schuylkill Navy The Schuylkill Navy is an association of amateur rowing (sport), rowing clubs of Philadelphia. Founded in 1858, it is the oldest amateur athletic governing body in the United States. The member clubs are all on the Schuylkill River where it flows ...

, which encompasses several other boathouses along the river. Boathouse #1 is Lloyd Hall and is the only public boathouse facility on the Row. Boathouse #15 houses the Sedgeley Club, which operates the Turtle Rock Lighthouse. The boathouses are all at least a century old, and some were built more than 150 years ago.

History and importance

Boathouse Row hosts several major

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

regatta Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wa ...

s, including the Philadelphia Scholastic Rowing Association's Manny Flick regatta series, the Stotesbury Cup Regatta, the Navy Day Regatta, the Independence Day Regatta, and the Head of the Schuylkill Regatta. The boathouses are seen as centers of the rowing community around the United States. Rowers from the boathouses compete at every level, including local clubs, high schools, colleges, summer racing programs, and international-level athletics. In 1979, lights designed by architectural lighting designer Ray Grenald were installed to outline each of the boathouses, giving them a nightly Christmas-like gingerbread house appearance and reflecting in the Schuylkill River. He proposed the lights after hearing talk of destroying the decaying Victorian boathouses. Lights on the buildings at night would serve to make them more noticed and appreciated. In 2005, after two refurbishings, the houses were outfitted with computerized

LED A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor device that emits light when current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy in the form of photons. The color of the light (corresp ...

s that can light up in various colors, depending on the event or season. Boathouse Row is a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

and was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1987. Local universities including Drexel, Penn,

Philadelphia University Thomas Jefferson University is a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Established in its earliest form in 1824, the university officially combined with Philadelphia University in 2017. The university is ...

and La Salle row out of houses on Boathouse Row.

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

and Saint Joseph's row out of other boathouses along the Schuylkill that are not part of the Row.

Early 19th-century beginnings

The history of Boathouse Row begins with the construction of the Fairmount Dam and the adjacent water works. The Dam was built in 1821 to keep brackish tidal waters from entering the city's water supply through the Fairmount Water Works, which had been completed in 1815. The

Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was a mining and transportation company headquartered in Mauch Chunk, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The company operated from 1818 until its dissolution in 1964 and played an early and influential role in ...

would become heavily involved in the improvements. The dam initially submerged the rapids, and later developments transformed the stretch of the Schuylkill between the dam and

East Falls East Falls (also The Falls, formerly the Falls of Schuylkill) is a neighborhood in Lower Northwest, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It lies on the east bank of the "Falls of the Schuylkill," cataracts submerged in 1822 by the Schu ...

from a tidal river into a slack water river resembling a very long freshwater lake. The placid man-made surface was ideal for

ice skating Ice skating is the Human-powered transport, self-propulsion and gliding of a person across an ice surface, using metal-bladed ice skates. People skate for various reasons, including recreation (fun), exercise, competitive sports, and commuting. ...

in winter and rowing in summer. In 1835, the first regatta took place between the Blue Devils and the Imps Barge clubs. The excitement from the race sparked the formation of several barge clubs, many of them short-lived.

The frame boathouses

A secondary effect of taming the Schuylkill was that the calm water provided a breeding ground for mosquitoes, which drove wealthy residents from their riverside mansions. The abandoned estates were bought by the City of Philadelphia. In 1844, the city purchased the Lemon Hill Estate. The leaseholder of Lemon Hill operated a

beer garden A beer garden (German: ''Biergarten'') is an outdoor area in which beer and food are served, typically at shared tables shaded by trees. Beer gardens originated in Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital city, in the 19th century, and remain co ...

and allowed rowing and barge clubs to build frame structure boathouses on the Estate's property along the Schuylkill. In 1855, the city founded

Fairmount Park Fairmount Park is the largest municipal park in Philadelphia and the historic name for a group of parks located throughout the city. Fairmount Park consists of two park sections named East Park and West Park, divided by the Schuylkill River, w ...

by converting the Lemon Hill Estate, upon which the frame boathouses were built, into a public park. At the same time, some of the established clubs wanted to regulate the sport of rowing to prevent unscrupulous practices and fixed races. As a result, in 1858, the

was founded, which eventually transformed the professional sport of rowing into an amateur sport. In 1859, the city condemned the boathouses along the Schuylkill.

Boathouses of 1860

Although the city condemned the frame boathouses, it passed an ordinance in 1860 to permit construction of three new boathouses for Pacific Barge Club, the clubs of the

, and the Philadelphia Skating Club. After 1860, without city approval, several clubs constructed one-story boathouses similar to the frame structures that the city had previously condemned and removed, but these newer boathouses were built with brick and stone. In 1868, following an expansion of

, the city ordered the removal of all of the one-story brick and stone boathouses except for buildings belonging to the Philadelphia Skating Club (# 14 Boathouse Row), Pacific Barge Club (# 2-3 Boathouse Row), and Bachelors Barge Club ( #6).

Post–Civil War boathouses

Between 1869 and 1871, Pennsylvania Barge Club and Crescent Boat Club erected a double boathouse at # 4 and # 5 Boathouse Row. In 1871, the Fairmount Park commission allowed the University Barge Club and the Philadelphia Barge Club to build a double boathouse at # 7-8 Boathouse Row. In 1873, Malta Boat Club and

Vesper Boat Club The Vesper Boat Club is an amateur rowing club located at #10 Boathouse Row in the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1865 as the Washington Barge Club, the club's name was changed to Vesper Boat Club in 1870. ...

built a double boathouse at # 9 and # 10 Boathouse Row. In 1874,

College Boat Club The College Boat Club of the University of Pennsylvania is the rowing program for University of Pennsylvania Rowing, which is located in the Burk-Bergman Boathouse at #11 Boathouse Row on the historic Boathouse Row of Philadelphia, Pennsylvani ...

built the boathouse at # 11 Boathouse Row. In 1878, West Philadelphia Boat Club built # 12 Boathouse Row. Five years later, in 1883, Undine Barge Club constructed # 13 Boathouse Row. In 1892, with Crescent's permission, Pennsylvania Barge Club tore down and replaced their half of the double boathouse at # 4 Boathouse Row. In 1894, Bachelors Barge Club replaced its 1860 building at # 6 Boathouse Row. In 1902, the Sedgeley Club was allowed to build # 15 Boathouse Row. In 1904, Fairmount Rowing Association demolished the stone building built by Pacific Barge Club at # 2 Boathouse Row and replaced the 1860 structure with a new brick structure, leaving # 3 and # 14 Boathouse Row as the only remaining boathouses dating from 1860.

Photo gallery

Historic Landmark Boathouses in 1972

File:Sedgeley72.png, Sedgeley Club,
# 15 Kelly Drive (1902) File:Philadelphia Girls Rowing Club, 1972.png, Philadelphia Girls' Club,
# 14 Kelly Drive (1860) File:UndineBargeClub.jpg, Undine Barge Club,
# 13 Kelly Drive (1883) File:PennAC72.png, Penn AC Rowing Assoc.,
# 12 Kelly Drive (1878) File:College72.png,

Burk-Bergman Boathouse,
# 11 Kelly Drive (1874) File:Vesper72.png,

,
# 10 Kelly Drive (1873) File:Malta72.png, Malta Boat Club,
# 9 Kelly Drive (1873) File:University72.png, University Barge Club,
# 7-8 Kelly Drive (1871) File:Bachelors72.png, Bachelors Barge Club,
# 6 Kelly Drive (1894) File:Crescent72.png, Crescent Boat Club,
# 5 Kelly Drive (1871) File:Pennsylvania Barge Club.png, Pennsylvania Barge Club,
# 4 Kelly Drive (1892) File:Fairmount72.png, Fairmount Rowing Assoc.,
# 2-3 Kelly Drive (1904)

Miscellaneous images

File:Boathouse Row 1876.png, Artist's rendition of the Row (c. 1860-71) File:Fairmount Falls, by Chase, W. M. (William M.), 1818 - 9-1905-crop-.png, The Row with Lemon Hill in background (c. 1860-71) File:River scene from Old Park, by Cremer, James, 1821-1893-crop-.png, Boathouse Row (c. 1873-74), from left to right: # 14; # 9- 10; and # 7-8 after one-story structures were removed File:North from Reservoir, by Cremer, James, 1821-1893-crop-.png, Boathouse Row from the Water Works (c. 1873-74) File:Bird's-eye view from Lemon Hill Observatory, E. Fairmount Park, by Cremer, James, 1821-1893-crop-.png, Boathouse Row from Lemon Hill (c. 1873-74) File:Boathouse row, by George & William H. Rau-cropped.png, Boathouse Row (c. 1874-77), from left to right: # 14; #11; # 9- 10; # 7-8, # 6; # 4- 5; and # 2-3 just after #11 was built and before #12 Image:Wfm philly boathouse row.jpg, Declassified

KH-11 The KH-11 KENNEN (later renamed CRYSTAL,p.199-200 then Evolved Enhanced CRYSTAL System, and codenamed 1010 and Key Hole) is a type of reconnaissance satellite first launched by the American National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) in December 19 ...

spy satellite image of the Row

References

External links

The Schuylkill Navy's website
with links to each of the Boathouse Row websites

*
Boathouse Row
on wikimapia.org {{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Historic American Buildings Survey in Philadelphia History of rowing Sports in Philadelphia National Historic Landmarks in Pennsylvania Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Schuylkill River East Fairmount Park Fairmount, Philadelphia