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Building
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| Franklin Institute, engraving by Charles Burton, 1832. |
The Atwater Kent Museum of Philadelphia (AKMP) occupies the building that first housed the Franklin Institute. The institute was founded
in 1823 by Samuel Vaughn Merrick to be a school for "mechanics", today called engineers.
Merrick turned to John Haviland, one of the country's
foremost architects, to design a home for the school. The building in the Greek-Revival style opened for students in 1826. In 1978 the
building was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The façade, loosely based upon drawings of an ancient Greek monument,
remains largely unchanged. The main entrance, set in a marble surround, is approached by marble stairs that are flanked by faux-grained
cast iron lamps. Other examples of Haviland's work in Philadelphia include Hamilton Hall at the University of the Arts at Broad and Pine
streets and Eastern State Penitentiary in the city's Fairmount section.
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| Franklin Institute lecture hall, first floor, 1922. |
For 109 years the building served the needs of the Franklin Institute as the organization became one of the leading research and teaching
facilities for science and industry in the United States. In 1837 one of the first government-funded weather observing networks was
established in Pennsylvania as a joint venture of the Franklin Institute and the American Philosophical Society. In the early 1900s
the first public demonstrations of the transcontinental telephone and Eastman Kodak's color motion pictures occurred in the building.
In 1933 the Franklin Institute moved to its current site in Philadelphia on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.
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| A. Atwater Kent, Jr., and Frances Wistar, c. 1940. |
In 1935 the City Planning Commission considered tearing the building down and using the space for a parking lot. Henry Ford, the
automobile manufacturer, offered to move the façade to his museum, Greenfield Village, near Detroit, MI. In 1936 the newly elected
Mayor S. Davis Wilson and Frances Wistar, president of the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks, asked inventor and
radio pioneer A. Atwater Kent to purchase the building and create a history museum for the City of Philadelphia. Wilson
and Wistar were joined in their efforts by the president of the University of Pennsylvania, the director of the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania and the president of the Franklin Institute. Kent agreed, and in 1938 the building was purchased and given to the city
with three conditions. It was to be dedicated to the history of Philadelphia, named for Kent and be free to the public. (In 1994 a City
Ordinance allowed the museum to charge an admission fee.) On April 19, 1941, the Atwater Kent Museum was formally dedicated
in ceremonies attended by the mayor and over 100 city officials. In addition to exhibition spaces the museum building includes three
collection storage areas and offices for museum staff.
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Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company
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| Unisparker, Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company, c. 1925. |
The origin of the Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company dates to 1896, when a young A. Atwater Kent dropped out of Worcester Technical
Institute in Massachusetts to start his own business in his father's machine shop. Kent manufactured and sold small electrical items.
In 1902 Kent traveled to Philadelphia on a business trip and decided upon the city as the site of his new company. The Atwater Kent
Manufacturing Works opened in a rented loft at 48 North Sixth Street. It manufactured electrical products including batteries and
inter-communicating telephones. In 1906 Kent developed an ignition system for automobiles that integrated a series of weak sparks
into a single hot spark. The Unisparker, as it was called, soon became the industry standard. The product's success caused the company
to move to a larger facility in the Germantown section of the city in 1912. By the late 1910s Kent's company was exclusively making
electrical parts for automobiles. During World War I, U.S. government contracts were awarded to the company to produce optical gun sights
and fuse setters.
In 1921 the company received an order for 10,000 headsets. Kent realized that with some retooling his company would be in a position
to capture part of the growing market for radios. In 1922 Kent produced his first radio components and in 1923 his first complete
radios. By 1924 the company had outgrown its Stenton Avenue campus and moved to a new $2 million plant on Wissahickon Avenue. This plant,
constructed in sections, would eventually cover 32 acres. In 1925 the Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company became the largest maker of radios
in the nation. Supporting the manufacture of radios was the "Atwater Kent Hour," a program broadcast throughout the country in the mid-1920s.
The show featured top entertainment and became one of the most popular and acclaimed regular radio programs of the era. In 1929 the company
reached its peak performance with over 12,000 employees manufacturing nearly one million radio sets. The plant itself was an
architectural sensation and received hundreds of visitors annually.
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| Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company, Wissahickon Avenue, c. 1930. |
At this time Kent downplayed the table models for which the company was known and focused on more expensive cabinet models. But he had
misjudged the buying public. By 1931 the country was in the midst of the Great Depression. Because of the general economy and competition
from other manufacturers, the average cost of a radio had been reduced from a high of $128 in 1929 to $78. Those companies that concentrated
on more affordable models, such as Philco, soon captured the market. With declining sales the Atwater Kent Manufacturing Company closed in
1936. When he died in 1949, Kent held 93 patents for improvements in automobile ignition systems and electronics.
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| A. Atwater Kent, Sr., painting by Frederick Roscher, 1933. |
A. Atwater Kent was born in Vermont in 1873. He married Mabel Lucas Kent, with whom he had had four children: A. Atwater Kent, Jr., Elizabeth
Kent Van Alen, Virginia Kent Catherwood and J. Prentiss Kent. A. Atwater Kent, Jr., served as president of the Atwater Kent Museum Board of
Trustees from 1938 to 1983. His son, A. Atwater Kent III, continues as a member of the Board of Trustees.
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Atwater Kent Radio Website Links
- The ultimate Atwater Kent Radio site, this page covers everything from makes and models to advertisements. It includes a biography of
A. Atwater Kent, Sr. web2.iadfw.net/vanew/
- Showcasing an extensive private collection of antique radios, transistor radios and phonographs, the site includes a great links
page. www.radiophile.com
- The website for the Western Historic Radio Museum in Virginia City, Nevada, is visually engaging and includes historical
information about broadcasting. www.radioblvd.com
- Featuring everything from links to the official "Bob and Ray" website to sound clips, this site is a clearinghouse of radio program information.
www.old-time.com
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