Stenton

Stenton, one of the finest examples of early eighteenth-century architecture in America, was built in 1723-1730 by James Logan (1674-1751) who came to Philadelphia in1699 as William Penn's secretary. Although born in what is now Northern Ireland, Logan named his house for his father’s birthplace in Scotland. 

Logan was one of the most powerful and wealthy men in colonial America. He was largely responsible for managing William Penn’s interests after the proprietor returned to England in 1701, and he served in a number of other important official capacities, including mayor of Philadelphia (1722-1723), chief justice of Pennsylvania (1731-1739), and acting governor (1736-1738). He was a highly successful negotiator with Native Americans and oversaw the infamous Walking Treaty/Walking Purchase of 1737, whereby the Lenape agreed to cede to the Penns all the land that a man could traverse in a day and a half. The fast-running Edward Marshall covered 70 miles in that time, leading to the transfer of more than 1,200,000 acres. 

Logan profited personally from the fur trade and land investment, assembling a 511-acre plantation north of the city. Here he worked the land with indentured and enslaved servants and built this house, which in style is quite conservative. A modestly decorated four-square brick box with a hipped roof, Stenton resembles English houses built forty years earlier.

Logan was a bibliophile and polymathic scientist like Benjamin Franklin, whom he mentored. His personal library has been called the largest and best collection in America at that time. While he advised Franklin’s Library Company of Philadelphia in making acquisitions, he also attempted to establish another, public library with his own books. However, his plan for a “Loganian” library was thwarted by ambiguities in his will, and his 3,953 volumes went to the Library Company.

Logan published papers on several scientific topics, including the motion of the moon, celestial navigation, and lenses. His most important contributions were in botany; he presented his plant fertilization research in Experimenta et Meletemata de Plantarum Generatione, Experiments and Considerations on the Generation of Plants. (London: C. Davis, 1747).  He also wrote on ethics and philology, and translated several Latin classics, including Cicero’s Cato Major, or His Discourse on Old Age, which was published by Franklin in 1744. 

Stenton remained in the hands of the Logan family until 1910, when it was acquired by the City of Philadelphia.