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- Tags: Progressive Era
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Before and After
Octavia Hill Association requests the public to invest in their stock and buy homes in poorer sections of Philadelphia to refurbish. The goal set forth by Octavia Hill in this article is to Americanize the immigrants in Philadelphia and give them…
Americanizing the foreign born through friendly rent collectors
This article describes the work and goals of the "friendly rent collectors" of the Octavia Hill Association in Philadelphia. These women go to the houses of immigrants to collect rent and in doing so inspect the properties and tenants giving them…
Hector McIntosh Playground, 1908
This booklet published by the Octavia Hill Association depicts images of Hector McIntosh Playground, at Front and League Streets in the Southwark neighborhood of South Philadelphia, a small playground owned by the Association, a housing reform…
Smedley Butler Destroying Kegs of Beer
Philadelphia received help from the federal government twice in the 1920s to combat its Prohibition-fueled crime problem. The first intervention involved the appointment of General Smedley Butler (1881-1940), shown here in 1924 destroying a barrel of…
Before and After
The OHA shows how they improved living conditions in Philadelphia, and they asked people to invest in their company stock
Callowhill Nationalities
Map of a Philadelphia neighborhood showing the different immigrant communities who lived there.
Casa Ravello
Overview of immigrant home projects throughout the course of several years, including one project that had a "demoralizing effect on O.H.A. [Octavia Hill Association]." This list chronicled the organization's efforts to improve housing conditions for…
Filthy Surface Sewage
"Filthy Surface Sewage in Which Children Play" - this Octavia Hill Association photo shows the unsanitary conditions that working-class, immigrant families faced. Their crowded tenements often lacked basic utilities such as plumbing and had no clean,…
Friendly Rent Collectors
Newspaper ad from the Octavia Hill Association showing that Philadelphians could Americanize the foreign-born through friendly rent collectors.