Federal Detention Center Project, 7th and Arch Streets

Between 1995 and 1998, archaeologists with Louis Berger Group, Inc. conducted archaeological investigations in advance of the construction of the Federal Detention Center, located across the street from the African American Museum. This project was completed on behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons, and involved not only intensive archaeological excavations of a series of house lots that formerly stood on this site, but also the compilation of detailed historical background information related to the people and commercial enterprises that occupied these lots between 1682 and the present. The report of findings below is one that was specifically created for distribution to a wider, non-professional audience and is an excellent example of the type of more public-friendly archaeological site reports that have started to be produced in recent years.

Overview of the Federal Detention Center excavations.

Archaeologists working in one of the re-discovered historic basements.

18th century shoe buckles recovered from the site.

Additional Resources

• Buried Beneath Philadelphia [pdf]
• Cultural Resource Group [website]