At the time, most sugar plantations were located in the Caribbean, where enslaved Africans worked under brutal conditions to harvest tough sugar cane stalks with sharp blades. The type of sugar consumed and refined in early Philadelphia was extracted from s ugar cane, a plant that grows only in tropical and subtropical zones. Philadelphia’s early dominance as a principal seaport gave the city ready access to sugar. Philadelphians who purchased single- and double-refined sugar loaves used sugar nippers, like those pictured here, to cut small pieces of sugar from the loaf. It s legacy briefly revived in 2010 with the naming of the SugarHouse Casino, but only until rebranding changed the name to Rivers Casino Philadelphia in 2019.
After acquisition by the National Sugar Refining Company in 1947, the Penn Sugar refinery closed in 1984. The rise of national sugar conglomerates and increasing production of sugar extracted from sugar beets proved to be insurmountable challenges, however. Although the city lost its dominance of the industry to New York by the end of the eighteenth century, local s ugar refining continued to expand, particularly under the Pennsylvania Sugar Refining Company (“Penn Sugar”).
Philadelphia, the Place that Loves You Backį ueled by extensive trade with sugar islands in the Caribbean, Philadelphia became a leading center of sugar refining in colonial America.
