Extending some 130 miles in a generally southeasterly direction from its source at Tuscarora Springs in the anthracite coal region of Schuylkill County to its point of confluence with the Delaware River in Philadelphia, the Schuylkill River has played a central role in shaping the character and aspirations of Philadelphia and the regional hinterland through which it

flows. The train on the front of this post card is crossing the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia, just before the river joins the Delware River. The river’s watershed of about two thousand square miles lies entirely within the state of Pennsylvania. Native inhabitants had been camping and fishing on the banks of the Schuylkill for as much as fourteen thousand years before the first Europeans arrived. The area was first settled by the Unalachtigo who settled in bands along the rivers and creeks of southeastern Pennsylvania. They referred to the river as Ganshowahanna, meaning “Falling Water” or Manayunk, which meant “where we drink.” A navigator, Arendt Corrsen of the Dutch West India Company, gave the river its modern name in 1628, when he became the first European to navigate it. Many streams flowed into the Schuylkill, including the Wissahickon, Plymouth, Sandy Run, Skippack, Pennypack, and Perkiomen Creeks, prompting the construction of dams and mills to produce grain, lumber, oil, paper, and powder and enhance trade. The presence of natural rapids, however, presented obstacles to boats. After several failed attempts in the 1780s and 1790s to fund improvements that would make the rapid-filled Schuylkill navigable, Philadelphia businessmen finally convinced the Pennsylvania legislature in 1815 to approve the charter of the Schuylkill Navigation Company to construct a slack water navigation system of canals, dams, and pools between Philadelphia and Pottsville to the northwest in Schuylkill County. The system opened to navigation in 1824, and with an extension to Port Carbon four years later it generated the shipment of newly discovered riches of anthracite coal. Although supporters of the new system envisioned it primarily as a means of securing the flow of natural products to Philadelphia, especially grain (which local businessmen feared might otherwise be sent to Baltimore by way of the Susquehanna River), coal quickly dominated the business. The information present above was taken from this website: https://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/essays/schuylkill-river/ I also published a post card regarding the Schuylkill River on February 16, 2022 then on November 15, 2023 and again on September 23, 2014.

The post card was published by the Post Card Distributing Company out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was only in existence from 1911 to 1919. Their logo was a backside view of the statue of William Penn, the founder of Philadelphia.