Unique

Wood Street Steps

The last of William Penn's public stairways to the Delaware

Penn wanted the Delaware open to everyone, so when wealthy riverfront owners resisted he required public stairways down to the wharves. Eleven once ran between Water and Front Streets; the granite Wood Street Steps, the northernmost, are the only set left. They sit between 323 and 325 North Front Street, in the shadow of the Ben Franklin Bridge, and were approved for the city’s historic register in 1986.

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