The public schools in the city are supported by taxation, and governed by a board of education, composed of controllers, one for each sect-ion, appointed by the common pleas courts, and school directors, in the different sections, elected by the citizens annually; and are charged with the supervision of the schools in their respective districts, the appointment of teachers, the finances, etc. The board has the general supervision of the whole system. The schools are graded and classified, as primary, secondary, eonsoli. dated, and grammar schools, distributed over the city; and a high school for boys, of a collegiate character, and a normal school for girls. • Dec. 31, 1879, the city was divided into 31 sections, with school buildings iu each section; there were 2,070 schools, counting as a school the body of pupils under one permanent teacher, 77 male, and 1993 female teachers, with an average monthly salary of $157.25 for the former, and of $44.31 for the latter. The number of pupils registered was 166,931, of which number 104,197 belonged to the schools at the beginning of the year; 62,764 were admitted during the year; 46,037 left during the year; and 103,567 remained at the end of the year: the aver age attendance was 92,381, equal to 89 per cent of the number remaining at the close of the year. The monthly cost of each pupil on the average attendance was $1.40; there were paid for teachers' salaries, $1,004,185.05; for lots, houses, and betterments, $143, 193.57; for books, stationery', fuel, and contingencies, $322,423.94; for school purposes, $1,469,807.56. The school property was valued at $5,933,300. Evening schools are conducted during the autumn and winter months. The Girard college (q.v.) is one of the finest architectural works in the country. The university of Pennsylvania (q.v.) is the outgrowth and successor of the college of Philadelphia, founded chiefly through the influence of Dr. Benjamin Franklin and Dr. William Smith. Besides the medical department of the university of Pennsylvania, there are in Philadelphia the Jefferson medical college, the woman's medical college, the Hahnemann medical college, the col lege of physicians, the college of pharmacy, and two dental colleges. As intermediate, the Polytechnic college may be mentioned, and as strictly scientific, the academy of nat ural sciences, with a library of 30,000 vols., and fine collections; the Wagner institute (free lectures) and the Franklin institute. The American philosophical society was founded in 1763 by the union of two societies, one of which was the Junto. The zoolog ical society originated the zoological gardens; the horticultural society, founded in 1829, which has a large hall on Broad street, and the Philadelphia society for promoting agri culture, founded in 1785, deserve mention as being the oldest institutions of the kind in the United States.' Collegiate and academical institutions under religious control are numerous: the Haverford college, and Swarthmore college belong respectively to the orthodox and Hicksite Friends, the theological seminary of St. Charles Bon.omeo (Roman Catholic) at Overhrook, the Protestant Episcopal divinity school, and the Luthe ran theolog:c 1 seminary are the most important. Art has a noble temple in the surerb structure of tie Byzantine order, which graces the west side of Broad street. The interierl is very rich ia ornamentation; it copious collection of sculptures, and paintings, is found in its spacious galleries, many of which are called after the pioneers of American art; it is the oldest academy of art in the country, having been organized in 1803. The school of design for women, founded in 1850, accomplishes much good. Time libraries of Phil adelphia are the apprentices', which is the only free library in the city, although the Philadelphia is substantially so, the atheneum, mercantile, Friends' (two), law, South wark, Ridgway, and that of the historical society of Pennsylvania. The second and last are very valuable and number 170,000 volumes. The Ridgway library is a splendid structure on s. Broad street. The various collections of books in the city, besides the libraries named, are 3.700, and said to aggregate 2,985,770 volumes. Philadelphia is singularly rich in charitable institutions of every kind; their enumeration here is impos sible, but they embrace 24 hospitals, 12 dispensaries, 20 asylums and homes of a miscel laneous character, 18 home.; for the..aged, several for the young, 4 for the blind, and 8 reformatory. establishments; 10 asatiations furnish the poor in winter with soup, and 2 with fuel; 11 societies contemplate the promotion of industry by the supply of work, and 11 the alleviation of distress by friendly aid. Charitable orders are very numerous in Philadelphia. Among them the masons count 72 lodges, the odd fellows 135 lodges and 32 encampments, the American mechanics, 44 councils.
The number of religious congregations in Philadelphia is about 600, of which about' 500 have places of worship. The Baptists have 66, the Lutherans 30, the Methodists 97, the Presbyterians 101, the Protestant Episcopal church 95, the Roman Catholics 43, and the lIebrews 10. As conspicuous for architectural merits may be instanced the Roman Catholic cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, Logan square; St. Mark's Protestant Epis copal church, Locust street; the West Arch street Presbyterian church; the Beth-Eden Baptist church, Broad, above Spruce street; the Arch street Methodist church, Arch and Broad streets; and the Rodef-Sholem s3nagogue, in the Saracenic style, Broad and Mount Vernon streets. The oldest churches in the city are the hei, begun 1608 and dedicated in 1700; originally connected with the Lutheran church in Sweden, but for 50 years past, with the Protestant Episcopal church; Trinity church, Oxford, built in 1714; St. James's, Kingsessing, 1762-63; but the most interesting church is Christ church, 2d street, above Market street, occupying the site of a frame building, erected in 1695, and twice enlarged until it gave place to the present structure, the western portion of which was finished in 1731, the eastern in 1745, tower and steeple in 1754. The bells were cast in London, and are the first chime of bells used in the United States. Queen Anne pre sented sonic of the communion plate, still in use, in 1708. The lieutenant-governor and officers worshiped here; Benjamin Franklin had a pew, and John Penn was buried here hi 1795. Washington and Adams worshiped there. The remains of bishop White and Robert Morris, of revolutionary fame, lie in the crypt of the school-house. In the bury ing-ground belonging to that church, 5th and Arch streets, arc buried Peyton Randolph, president of the first continental congress, maj.gen. Charles Lee, Benjamin Franklin, and Deborah, Ids wife. St. Peter's church-yard is the resting-place of commodore Stephen Decatur, while David Rittenhouse, astronomer, and one of the signers of the declaration of independence, sleeps in the church-yard of the old Pine street Presbyterian church. The whole number of cemeteries and burying-grounds iu Philadelphia is 45. The first is Laurel hill, picturesquely beautiful.
The Schuylkill is spanned by 13 bridges, 7 of which are built in solid material, and 6 of wood. The South street bridge, 2,419 ft. long, is of stone and iron; the same materi als are used in the Chestnut street bridge. The Callowhill street, 2,730 ft. long, includ ing approaches, is a feat of engineering skill, and has an upper and a lower passage-way; it crosses the river at an elevation of 50 ft. above tide-water, and throws a span of 140 ft. over the track of the Pennsylvania railroad. The river span is 318 ft., and the upper bridge is 32 ft. higher than the lower; but the Girard bridge is the handsomest in the city. It has 5 spans, measures 1000 ft. in length by 100 ft. in width; its carriage-way is G7 ft., and the sidewalks 16. ft..wide, It cost $1,404,445. There are 19 lines of ho•se-cars, with an invested capital of about $13,000,000, and about 250 m. of road; small stcarhboats rim on the Schuylkill, and 7 ferries connect the city with points in New Jersey. The railroads connecting the city e. and w. are the Pennsylvania and the Bound Brook roads, the eastern termini of both being New York; the first-named road, the Philadelphia and Erie, the Reading and North Pennsylvania railroads connect it with the central and northern portions of the state; the southern connection is by means of the Philadelphia, and Baltimore; suburban connections are had by the Ger mantown and Norristown, and the Westchester and Philadelphia railroads; communica tion with the seaboard is had by the Camden and Atlantic, to Atlantic city, by the Cam den, Mount Holly, and Pemberton, to Long Branch. and by the West Jersey to Cape May. There are other branches of the Pennsylvania railroad for Long Branch and Amboy. For military purposes Philadelphia constitutes one division of two brigades of the 20 divi sions of the national guard of Pennsylvania, and captains 5 armories. Clubs of various descriptions, social and sporting, are Among the social clubs the Philadel phia, union league, and reform clubs are conspicuous; the union league house has the finest building; it is in the French renaissance style. Amusement and recreation have d superb temple in the American academy of music, Broad and Locust streets, a building iii brick and brown stone, plain withont, but elegantly fitted within, with a seating capacity for 2,900. The leading theaters are the Walnut, Arch, and Chestnut; the latter his been recently rebuilt and refurnished. The Young Men's Christian associ ation has a building of imposing architecture at 15th and Chestnut streets.