The controversial Philadelphia 76ers arena plan brought renewed attention to both Market East and Chinatown after the proposal was unveiled in 2022. The historic significance of this area became a hot topic with community groups highlighting the damage the plan posed to Philadelphia’s cultural landscape and architectural history. It is easy to see how the arena would have ruined one of the most vibrant Chinatowns in the northeast. Less easy to capture, but no less significant, is how the plan threatened the buildings wedged between the proposed arena and the Convention Center. The AJ Holman and Company building at 1222-26 Arch Street is one such building. A nativist turned Democrat turned Republican in the tumultuous mid-19th century, Andrew Holman’s biography and his company’s history speaks to Philadelphia’s complicated history related to racial justice and equality. Appreciating the historical significance of the Holman Building adds further evidence as to why Center City developers should prioritize protecting the city’s historic buildings as they consider alternative plans to revitalize Market East, especially as the 76ers plan has been shelved and the neighborhood faces significant store closures like that of Macy’s in the Wanamaker building.

Philadelphia’s unique position in the 19th century as the “Athens of America” brought young bookbinder Andrew J. Holman to the city from Salem, Massachusetts in 1837. Philadelphia had a large, influential community of publishers throughout the 19th century. Historian Paul Kahan, author of the newly released book, Philadelphia: A History, noted that the region’s resources, especially its forests and anthracite deposits, made Philadelphia, “the place to be” for publishing in the 1800s. Kahan wrote, “Philadelphia in this period is Los Angeles and New York combined. It’s the place where magazines and newspapers and the things people read around the United States were being produced.” Luckily for Holman, he made early connections with the Harding family, especially Jesper Harding, then the publisher of the Philadelphia Inquirer and one of the largest Bible publishers in the city.

A little more than a decade after arriving in the city, Holman, then in his early 30s, joined in the rough and tumble politics of the Philadelphia region. By 1848, he became commissioner of Kensington, then not a part of the city, but on its outskirts until the consolidation of 1854. He was soon embroiled in a controversy over how he handled the contract for the Kensington Water Works, successfully defending the local company he hired to do work on the system that supplied water to Philadelphia in the 1850s and 1860s.

Defending his reputation in the press over this contract did not make Holman gun shy about participating in Philly’s bruising politics. Over the late 1840s to mid-1860s, Holman served in a variety of political roles across three major parties. In August 1849, about five years after the violent anti-immigration and anti-Catholic riots in Kensington, Holman served on the credential committee of the Native American Party, an anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic party. The brewing controversy over slavery caused Holman to change parties not long after his work for the Native American platform. In November 1850, Holman and his friend, publisher William W. Harding, attended a major rally in support of the Fugitive Slave Law at the Chinese Museum at 9th Street between Chestnut and Walnut Streets. This law, part of the Compromise of 1850, required citizens of northern states to return escaped enslaved people to their enslavers. Speakers at the event, including party vice president and then-mayor George M. Dallas, denounced abolitionists and claimed the enforcement of the fugitive slave law would “vindicate the supremacy and sovereignty of the law.” Holman and Harding both included their names in a pamphlet of support of this event. By 1855, Holman had risen to be president of the Democratic Citizens of the 19th Ward, a new organization established following the 1854 consolidation of Philadelphia that drew Kensington into the city. A few years later, Holman successfully ran as a Democrat for Common Council.

While it was unusual for Native American Party members to become Democrats, frequent changes to political identity were common in the 1800s. Parties then, “were not at all stable. We’re living through a period now where the parties are as homogenous as they’ve ever been. But that was not the case in the 19th century,” explained Kahan. It was common for people to change parties many times over their life as parties rose and fell.

To wit, Holman’s identity as a Democrat would not last long. At the onset of the Civil War, he broke with many in his party to side with the federal cause. In July 1861, Holman praised Pennsylvanians who had rallied to defend the Union, specifically highlighting those from Philadelphia who had marched to Baltimore to quell secessionist activities there, an action Holman said, “reflect credit upon the great city” and testified to Philadelphia’s troop’s “proficiency and excellent behavior.” Holman’s family put their money where their mouth was as two of his sons, Ebenezer and Jesper, joined the military. Ebenezer served in the 19th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry. Over the course of the war, Jesper rose to the rank of major in the 2nd Pennsylvania Artillery. He was wounded twice while leading charges against the Petersburg defenses, injuries that led to his premature death in 1881. Holman also became involved in raising bounties to induce city residents to serve, leading a rally the 19th Ward in March 1864 to raise support for the cause and avoid the imposition of a draft. In case his sentiments were not already clear, Holman made his separation from the Democrats permanent when he endorsed Abraham Lincoln and the Union Party ticket in the 1864 election.

With this last change, Holman’s involvement in formal ward politics fell, but he remained active in civic life. In the years after the war, Holman became involved with the Second and Third Street Railway (STSR), rising to its board of directors. Incorporated in 1858, the STSR ran routes from Bridesburg to Southwark via Kensington and Center City. By 1874, a railway guide in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania highlighted STSR as the “only direct line to Frankford without change of cars.” Kahan highlighted the importance of this work as railways “knit the city and the outlining communities together” while also forming “a really important part of the city’s identity” as a manufacturer and operator of rail transportation. This work on the railway not only benefited Holman financially, but also satisfied his desire to be involved in public life.

Building a bigger publishing business also matched these goals. In 1872, Holman founded AJ Holman and Company, a publishing house focused mostly on Bible production. Four years later, Holman participated in the Centennial Exposition of 1876. This massive undertaking celebrated not only the 100 year-anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, but also Philadelphia’s position as a nationwide leader in the country’s cultural, scientific, and commercial life. A guide to the event praised Holman and other publishers for the “artistic effect” of their exhibit with cases built with “enameled iron locks, hinges, and door handles.” As further testimony, the Centennial Photographic Company took a picture of the Holman exhibit for its collection, a photograph currently preserved by the Print and Picture Collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia.

Holman followed the success of his company’s show at the Centennial with rapid expansion. In 1878, Harding sold his Bible and album publishing company to Holman. Then, in October 1880, Holman purchased the building on Arch Street from the estate of John B. Myers, an auctioneer and former vice president of the Union League. Holman hired the Wilson Brothers, the engineering firm that had worked on the Philadelphia Times Building, the Reading Terminal train shed, and other large projects.

Unfortunately, tragedy colored these triumphs and Holman’s efforts to leave a legacy for his children. His wife, Ellen, died in 1877. Four of his sons died over the 1880s, with two, Ebenezer and J. Nathaniel, dying months apart in 1887. In 1891, Holman began suffering from heart trouble. He died on October 14, 1891 while reading a newspaper at his home at 1424 Arch Street, less than two blocks from the AJ Holman and Company building. The Philadelphia Inquirer, no longer owned by the Hardings, commented that given his illness, “no serious tears were felt for him either by his physician or family.” Holman is buried with his wife and children in a plot in Laurel Hill Cemetery East, none too far from other prominent Philadelphia families of the 19th century.

For its part, the Holman publishing house continued on well past its founder’s death. The company stayed family-owned until the early 1960s when it was sold to the J.B. Lippincott Company, another prominent Philadelphia firm. By 1979, the Holman company was sold again and moved to Tennessee where it was merged with other publishers and continues to produce Bibles.

---

---