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Blue Bell Hill (Pennsylvania)

Neighborhoods in Philadelphia

Blue Bell Hill is a small neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The neighborhood is home to multiple historic buildings including RittenhouseTown Historic District and Thomas Mansion. Blue Bell Park is located in this neighborhood.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Blue Bell Hill (Pennsylvania) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors).

Blue Bell Hill (Pennsylvania)
Wissahickon Avenue, Philadelphia

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

Latitude Longitude
N 40.035277777778 ° E -75.192777777778 °
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Address

Wissahickon Avenue 6300
19119 Philadelphia
Pennsylvania, United States
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Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge
Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge

The original Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge was a prestressed concrete girder bridge in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, designed by Belgian Engineer Gustave Magnel and built by the City of Philadelphia. Completed and fully opened to traffic in 1951, this three-span bridge carried Walnut Lane over Lincoln Drive and Monoshone Creek. It was the first major prestressed concrete beam bridge designed and built in the United States when completed. The form of the bridge was simple, and it looked similar to many highway bridges carrying traffic on US highways today. The bridge deck was supported by thirteen concrete girders, each spanning 160 feet (49 m). These girders were prestressed by post-tensioning four wire cables embedded in the concrete. Although this type of construction had been used in Europe for quite some time, the Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge was innovative in the United States and led to the successful application of this technology in this country. The material-saving bridge cost about $700,000 to construct, about 30 percent cheaper than a regular concrete arch design. The fascia (external) beams of the main span exhibited longitudinal cracks in about 1957. The other girders exhibited no cracks. Through the years, the cracks in the fascia beams were repaired and monitored. However, in 1989, the Pennsylvania Depart of Transportation made the decision to replace the bridge superstructure. Because of the historical significance of the structure, the decision was controversial. However, the replacement structure (the new Walnut Lane Memorial Bridge) comprises prestressed concrete girders and is similar in appearance to the original. The new bridge was completed in 1990. A bronze plaque on the bridge's abutment reads: A second plaque reads: "Outstanding Civil Engineering Achievement / Designated May 1978"

Mom Rinker's Rock

Mom Rinker's Rock is a scenic outlook in Wissahickon Valley Park along the Wissahickon Creek in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located on a ridge on the eastern side of the park just a little north of the Walnut Lane Bridge, close by the statue dedicated to Toleration. The name of the outlook is derived from legendary stories about an event that supposedly occurred during or after the American Revolutionary War Battle of Germantown; the stories tell of American spies taking advantage of the rugged terrain of the Wissahickon valley to retrieve information from an informant named Molly Rinker (nicknamed "Mom Rinker"), who allegedly perched atop a rock overlooking the valley to drop balls of yarn which contained messages about British troop movements during the occupation of Philadelphia. Other stories speak of a witch named Mom Rinkle who had little to do with the Revolutionary War. History allows that the American General John Armstrong, compelled by the rough terrain to abandon a cannon in the valley, did express his contempt for the "horrendous hills of the Wissahickon" over which Mom Rinker's Rock stands today. Here on May 15, 1847, the evening of a new moon, the American novelist, journalist, playwright, social activist, and labour organizer George Lippard was married to his frail young wife. Years afterward in 1883, a statue dedicated to Toleration was erected, a marble statue of a man in simple Quaker clothing; the nine-foot eight-inch statue has but the single word “Toleration” carved into its four-foot three-inch base. The statue was created by late 19th-century sculptor Herman Kirn, and brought to the site by landowner John Welsh, reported to have purchased the statue at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Welsh, a former Fairmount Park Commissioner and U.S. Ambassador to Britain, donated his land to the Park prior to his death in 1886.