Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP)

"Let the avenue to this house be rendered difficult and gloomy by mountains and morasses. Let the doors be of iron, and let the grating, occasioned by opening and shutting them, be increased by an echo that shall deeply pierce the soul."

                                                                                                                       --- Dr. Benjamin Rush, Quaker reformer, 1787

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    Eastern State Penitentiary was a former Quaker prison in  Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which operational from 1829 until 1971. 

    It located on 2027 Fairmount Avenue between Corinthian Avenue and North 22nd Street in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia.

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    By 1913, Eastern State officially abandoned the solitary system and operated as a congregate prison until it closed in 1970.

    In 1971, Eastern State was briefly used to house city inmates after a riot at Holmesburg Prison.

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    During the time, ESP was the largest and most expensive public structure ever constructed, quickly becoming a model for more than 300 prisons worldwide. 

    It was known for the unique wagon wheel design, as well as the notorious criminals who had been helded here, such as bank robber Willie Sutton and Al Capone.

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    This old prison was significance because it was the first to establish the policy of separate confinement, emphasizing principles of reform rather than punishmen. 

    It is currently a U.S. National Historic Landmark, and is open to the public as a museum for tours seven days a week, twelve months a year 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

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