Pennovation History Happy Hour (Event Recap)

On December 6, PennPraxis hosted a History Happy Hour at the Pennovation Center with a bleacher-full of researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Organized in partnership with the Center's co-working manager Benjamin's Desk, the event brought together tenants of the Grays Ferry campus, helping to build a campus identity around the innovations that have been developed on the site for centuries and continue today. Since 2016, PennPraxis has been engaged with the University of Pennsylvania Facilities and Real Estate Services (FRES) to craft and implement a historical research and interpretation strategy for the 23-acre Pennovation Works campus. The site is Penn's newest hub for research and development, and is located just across the Schuylkill River from the main university campus, between the Grays Ferry Avenue bridge and the neighborhood of Forgotten Bottom. As the Pennovation Works campus develops its own culture as the place "where ideas go to work," PennPraxis is working with FRES and other on-site partners to link the legacy of innovation on this site to the collaborative invention happening there today.

Historically, the site was home to the Harrison Brothers paint company, whose refinements of the paint production process resulted in ready-mixed paints that eventually coated everything from private homes to the Woolworth Building. The company was based on the Pennovation site from 1865 to 1917, when it was acquired by the DuPont Company, which spent the next several decades producing and perfecting its trademark fabrics and finishes on the site. The company's Duco lacquer was created in 1923 and reduced the car production process from more than a week to mere hours, and other products tested on site included the Teflon finish, Reach toothbrush, and other staples of modern life. Both of these companies developed so many distinct products in this location that at least 11 patents are believed to be associated with research conducted on the Pennovation Works site in the 19th and 20th centuries. Today, the Pennovation Works campus is home to a new generation of innovators, researching everything from drones to working dogs. Based on the faculty, students, staff, and entrepreneurs who attended the Happy Hour, it is clear that history continues to be made in this place.