Edwin J. Cummings Family and Steam Coal House

"CUMMINGS COAL"


Take a look inside this structure here on Hidden City Philadelphia.

This photo, taken a block south and dated 1901, shows "CUMMINGS COAL" emblazoned on the railroad viaduct overpass. Unfortunately it is too far away to see the structures.


Here is the location in a photo dated 8/15/1894. The buildings are different (all of them gone at this point), suggesting this remaining structure was built later.

PhillyHistory.org. Philadelphia Department of Records. 8 April 2008. <http://www.phillyhistory.org>.

400 block of 13th Street, near Callowhill [map]

Piedmont

"Piedmont" in angled script. You can also faintly make out the outline of a pack of cigarettes just next to and slightly above the "5¢" at the right. There appears to be have been another sign either over or under this sign. There are other words below the main sign, but they have mostly weathered away.

Piedmont was one of the most popular cigarette brands around 1910, no doubt bolstered by the practice of inserting baseball cards in the packs. This helps date the sign to that era.

Very difficult to distinguish, but the script, colors,“5¢”, and general overall layout are consistent with this wall ad in Hartford:




Older photo, via Flickr, taken 18 August 1995 by xnedski .

Poplar at St John Neumann Way [map]