Through Curious Philly, a reader asked about the tower that looms high above a South Philly playground. We've got some answers.
It’s impossible to overlook Spark’s Shot Tower on Front and Carpenter Streets, one of South Philly’s landmarks for more than 200 years, protruding from a park in Queen Village near the Delaware River.
However, it’s also impossible to discern from outside what it was used for back in the day. A plain brickwork tower, it could have been a smokestack, could have been a barbican. Its mere shape reveals little more than being a silent witness from early industrial times., The Inquirer’s forum for questions about the city and region. A reader was wondering if it is still there.
Here’s what we found out about Spark’s Shot Tower, according to Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, which manages the site today.Have something you’re wondering about the Philly region? Submit your Curious Philly question here.To start off with, a site visit has doubtlessly shown: The shot tower is still there. More precisely, it’s been there for 215 years. Built by John Bishop, a plumber, in 1808, it was part of a factory where Bishop’s company, John Bishop & Co.
, and its height, 142 feet, was key to its initial use. The shot was produced by pouring molten lead through a colander. Dropping from a short distance, it would form a teardrop shape, as gravity pulled it down. But dropping from a structure this high, the lead cooled and shaped pristine globes. A pool of water at the bottom cooled them, before they were polished and bagged for their destructive purpose, not just in the War of 1812, but also in the Mexican and Civil Wars.
The actual shot tower isn’t accessible to the public, despite being featured on postcards, paintings, and photographs for more than 200 years.
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