Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Portrait Gallery in the Second Bank of the US

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  The Second National Bank was chartered in 1816 to handle all fiscal transactions for the U.S. Government. It was a private corporation with public duties. 20% of the capital was owned by the government and the other 80% by private investors. The bank’s charter lasted for 20 years. Andrew Jackson, who was president from 1829 – 1837, ran on an anti national bank platform and refused to renew the charter. The bank’s holdings were then transferred to state banks.

  The building, modeled after the Parthenon, is now part of Independence National Historical Park and houses a large collection of portraits of notable people from the 1700s and 1800s. The portraits are beautiful but all in all the museum is pretty dull. It’s free so it’s still worth a quick visit.

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  The accessible entrance is on the west side of the building and goes to the basement level which has been renovated and has a few exhibits. The door is automatic with a pushbutton but it may stick and be hard to open. An elevator accesses the first floor where the portrait gallery is located.

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   We parked along Dock Street which is about 1/2 - 3/4 of a mile from the historic district where all of the museums and landmarks are located. Dock Street is much wider than most of the other streets and we always found an open parking space. The spaces are not marked so a ticket from the kiosk – payable by cash, credit card or phone app - is good for any size vehicle. Parking is limited to 3 hours however we were informed by a friendly local man that a disabled placard would get us an extra hour for free. This was confirmed later by a parking officer. Almost all of the sidewalks and curb cuts are in good condition and the terrain is fairly level. Gallery  39.94885, -75.14836

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