The southern end of Philadelphia was largely marsh until it was filled as a part of the project to create a site for the Sesquicentennial Exposition in 1926. The most important cluster of buildings is in the former U.S. Naval Yard that occupied League Island. This has been adapted as a business park with numerous companies occupying the former erecting sheds and shops where the navy built many of its great warships. It is worth a visit, if only for the smart salute of the sailor guarding the gates. Its array of post–Civil War buildings from the commandant's house to the adaptively reused machine shops and warehouses is notable as well.
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