Sugar Refining in Old City

Philadelphia was a lucrative early American hub of the sugar refining industry. The accessibility of Philadelphia by water attracted international sugar trade. Due to the likelihood of goods coming into contact with sea water during the trip overseas, sugar producers sent their raw product in barrels to be refined. By 1870 there were at least 15 sugar refineries in Philadelphia.

Aside from the refinery on Church St (last weeks post), some other early refineries were right in our backyard. G.L. Broom established a sugar refinery at 13 Bread St in the 1850's. The Columbia Refinery sat at 221 Vine St (now Mariner's Court). Ficken & Williams was just to the northwest at 5th & Willow St. Harrison & Newhall bought the Pennington Refinery at 409 Race St. and expanded it.

Additional refineries were located in S. Philadelphia and Fishtown neighborhoods, especially close to the river. In fact, some of the biggest sugar refineries in the world were located in Philadelphia in the late 19th and early 20th century. At one time, sugar refining ranked first of all manufacturing industries of Philadelphia, in terms of gross value of its product.

The finished product that early refineries sold would have been a loaf or lump of sugar rather then the granulated form that we are familiar with today. People at home would need to break and smash and sift sugar for baking and household use.

The Pennsylvania Sugar Refinery moved from 5th & Girard St. to the Delaware River waterfront in the 1880's, expanding into the largest in the city over the years. When the firm was finally purchased in the 1940s by the National Sugar Refining Company (aka, Jack Frost Sugar), it was the last standing independent sugar producer in the US. The facility, nicknamed the "Sugar House" finally closed in 1984. It was torn down in 1997 to be replaced by The SugarHouse (now Rivers) Casino.