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moyamensing prison

from charles bukowski, edgar allan poe posted in literature

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moyamensing prison
passyunk avenue and reed street
philadelphia, pennsylvania 19147

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posted by prof_improbable #

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Now an Acme supermarket, this location was the site of the famous Moyamensing Prison.

The prison had many notable guests. In 1944, Charles Bukowski spent 17 days here for suspicion of draft evasion. He was later exempted from service for "failing to meet medical standards" after a physical and psychological evaluation.

On July 1, 1849, when Edgar Allan Poe was in Philadelphia, he drank, became drunk and hallucinatory, and made a suicide attempt. He was detained for public drunkenness and incarcerated for one night.

The prison was destroyed in 1968. Today, all that is left is a low heavy masonry stone wall remaining from the prison of the 1830s on the site along Reed Street.

j.c. wild, 1838, u.s. public domain