Corrupt and Contented Philadelphia

Philadelphia was founded on ideals; brotherly love, fair dealing, the belief that a well-designed city could produce well-behaved citizens. It didn't quite work out that way.

This stroll covers about two miles of Center City and takes you through five stops where Philadelphia's darker instincts left their mark: a prison built on Quaker optimism that descended into madness, a city hall that doubled as a corruption machine for thirty years, a medical museum whose specimens arrived by methods best not examined too closely, a gilded park where the men who quietly ran the country went home at night, and a patch of South Philadelphia sidewalk where America's most notorious serial killer met his end.

The city you're walking through today was shaped as much by what went wrong here as by what went right. This tour is about what went wrong; and how thoroughly, and how cheerfully, Philadelphia looked the other way.