Roxborough
Manayunk
Wissahickon
Historical
Society

Local Landmarks Additional landmarks will be added as they are completed. If you have images you'd share or would like to help us create a profile for this section, please contact us. RMWHS welcomes volunteers. Shawmont Station Shawmont Station is the oldest surviving passenger station in America and the oldest building owned by any railroad, in the World. It was a schedule stop until 1991 and then a whistle stop until 1995. Structural restoration began in 2023. Read More Leverington Cemetery Since the first recorded burial in 1703, more than 12,000 souls have been laid to rest on this land during the last 320 years. The residents of Leverington Cemetery include some of the first settlers of the area, Revolutionary soldiers massacred at Woods' Barn as well as soldiers from every war since, and the generations of people who played a part in building the communities around it. Read More Bethany Lutheran Cemetery The cemetery opened in 1847 and was a part of the churchyard for the first Bethany German Lutheran Church (Bethanien Kirche) which was erected here in 1850. After a fire destroyed the wood church, a new one was built nearby and this land was used exclusively for burials which continued here until 1955. The cemetery holds an untold number of early German immigrants and at least 9 Civil War soldiers. Read More

Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District Intro and Nomination Form Read More Boundary and Description Read More Statement of Significance Read More Native Americans Read More Patent Holders and Early Settlers Read More Ridge Road Read More Early Roxborough Read More Georgian and Colonial Architecture Read More During the Revolutionary War Read More Federal Architecture Read More Development of Manayunk Read More Greek Revival Architecture Read More Early 19th Century Read More Gothic Revival Architecture Read More Italianate Architecture Read More During and After the Civil War Read More Second Empire Architecture Read More Queen Anne Architecture Read More Turn of the Century Read More Conclusion and Bibliography Read More

cdf5e0e2-93bd-4999-8428-e83a218be741 Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District During and After the Civil War During the Civil War, manufacturing generally and textile manufacturing specifically flourished in Manayunk and throughout Philadelphia, creating great wealth and effecting great change. “In Philadelphia, which was perhaps the largest center of manufacturing in the country, 58 new factories were erected in 1862, 57 in 1863, and 65 in 1864; and the building inspectors reported that those erected in the last-named year were generally very large.”84 In Manayunk, for example, Sevill Schofield’s carpet and yarn mill, which made blankets for the Union Army during the Civil War, employed 32 and was capitalized at $15,000 in 1860, but, by 1870, employed 314 and was capitalized at $200,000.85 As industrial Manayunk burgeoned, the managerial class, which ran the mills, pushed up the ridge into Roxborough, building their residences beyond the dirt and noise of the factories and the crowded rowhouses of the millworkers. As the mills expanded, traffic between the city and northwest Philadelphia increased. The section of Ridge Road running through North Philadelphia, just outside the downtown, began to be called Ridge Avenue in the 1850s. By the 1860s, the name Ridge Avenue began to be used in Roxborough. An advertisement in the Inquirer in July 1861 for “Country Boarding at Roxborough … for the Summer, in a private family, on Ridge avenue, above the sixth mile stone” may be the first use of the name in print to refer to the section of the road in Roxborough.86 The Ridge Avenue passenger railway line was started in 1858 and became fully operational the next year. It ran from Arch Street at N. 2nd Street to Manayunk by way of Ridge Avenue. The Ridge Avenue Passenger Railway Company was on formed 8 March 1872 by the consolidation of the Girard College Passenger Railway Company, which was incorporated in 1858, and the Ridge Avenue & Manayunk Passenger Railway Company, which was incorporated in 1859. Under a proviso in the charter of the Ridge Avenue Passenger Railway Company of 1872, the railway company purchased the Ridge Turnpike Company for $15,000. Subsequently, the Court of Quarter Sessions freed the turnpike from toll, signifying that the thoroughfare was transitioning from a country road into a city street.87 The Roxborough Passenger Railway Company was chartered on 15 April 1869, granting it the right to construct a trolley system from the Wissahickon Station on the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad line to the Sorrel Horse Tavern north of Port Royal or Ship Lane. Train travel to northwest Philadelphia increased as well. In 1847, 69,443 passengers passed through the Wissahickon and Manayunk stations of the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad. By 1860, the annual ridership at the two stations had jumped to 211,883. By 1870, the annual ridership had more than doubled during the ensuing decade, climbing to 455,542.88 Describe your image On 9 April 1873, the state legislature chartered the Manayunk & Roxborough Incline Plane and Railway Company, authorizing it to construct and operate a standard streetcar line powered by “horse or dummy engine” on Ridge Avenue from the Wissahickon to Barren Hill in Montgomery County. The new company was also authorized to construct and operate “an inclined plane from any point on Levering Street, in Manayunk, to extend to the top of the hill in Roxborough … and to run and haul cars by a stationary steam engine up and down said inclined plane.”89 The novel inclined plane proposal was celebrated. “This will be something new for this city, it being the first road of its kind that has ever been built here. … At first undoubtedly the timid ones will be afraid to patronize the new road, but after they have learned that the inclined planes in the western part of the State have been in operation for a long time without a single accident … they will ride up and down in the queerly shaped cars with the same feeling of comfort and security that they now experience in a street car.”90 Despite the enthusiasm for the novel technology, only the standard streetcar line on Ridge Avenue was constructed. The inclined plane up Levering Street from Manayunk to Roxborough was never built. Describe your image On 14 April 1868, the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania approved a measure to take much of the land bounding the Wissahickon Creek in Philadelphia as an addition to Fairmount Park to ensure the protection of the purity of the water and the preservation of the beauty of its scenery. Over the next several decades, the Fairmount Park Commission acquired more than 2,000 acres of land in the creek valley and systematically demolished most of the industrial facilities as it returned the Wissahickon Valley to its natural appearance. In the 1930s, the Works Project Administration, a New Deal agency, demolished the remaining mill buildings, removing the last traces of what had been one of the most industrialized landscapes of eighteenth-century America and constructing rustic buildings for recreational uses.91 At about the same time the City began acquiring the valley of the Wissahickon Creek to protect the Schuylkill River’s water quality, it also began construction of a reservoir system in upper Roxborough. By the end of the 1850s, the Philadelphia Water Department determined that the northwestern section of the city, including Roxborough, Manayunk, and Chestnut Hill, would need to be served by its own water works. The high ground in this area was far above the reach of existing reservoirs in the city, which supplied water by gravity. Wells in populated areas were becoming unpalatable and in many cases unhealthy. “Manayunk and Roxborough [contain] a population numbering about twelve thousand,” Henry P.M. Birkinbine, chief engineer of the Philadelphia Water Department, wrote in a report to City Councils on 8 September 1859. “Of these, at least three thousand are operatives employed in the different factories. This part of the city is much in need of a supply of water for culinary, manufacturing and sanitary purposes, and for protection against fire, as the property in the manufactories is of great value, and now almost entirely without protection against fire…. From the dense population of parts of the district, the wells have become so contaminated, that the water in but few of them is now fit for culinary purposes. The necessity of a supply for manufacturing and mechanical purposes is evident.” Birkinbine proposed a water works along the Schuylkill, with a pumping station above the Flat Rock Dam at Shawmont and reservoirs located higher up the steep banks of the river, which would provide water by gravity through distribution mains in the streets. This system would serve not only the immediate vicinity, but other areas of the city as well. Construction began on these works after the end of the Civil War, with the pumping station at Shawmont completed in 1869. The steam-powered pumps forced water uphill into a reservoir (about 366 feet above city datum) located at present-day Eva and Dearnley Streets in Roxborough. To increase the capacity of the Roxborough Works and allow water to flow by gravity to a larger part of the city, the pumping station on the Schuylkill was expanded in the 1890s, and a much larger reservoir was built higher up the ridge (the Upper Reservoir, about 414 feet above city datum), along Port Royal Avenue about a block from Ridge Avenue. In the first decade of the twentieth century, the City constructed slow-sand filter plants at the Lower and Upper Roxborough Reservoirs. Once it went into operation citywide in 1909, the filtration system greatly reduced the incidence of waterborne diseases such as typhoid fever, which had been transmitted by the untreated (and sometimes sewage-tainted) river water. By the 1940s, rapid-sand filters began to supplant slow-sand filters as the technology of choice for water purification systems. By the early 1960s, filtration plants elsewhere in the city had been updated with this new technology as well as other automation features. More efficient and powerful electric pumps also meant that water could be delivered to the highest parts of the city from other pumping stations and reservoirs. “Unsuited to the needs of a modern city, the [Roxborough] water works were rapidly becoming obsolete and their capacity was too limited to meet future community growth,” stated the 1962 annual report of the Water Department. That year, the pumping station and two filter plants were closed down, and the upper reservoir was drained of its 147 million gallons. Today, underground storage basins at the Upper and Lower Roxborough sites are now filled by the pumps of the Queen Lane plant.92 Describe your image The City Atlas of Philadelphia by G.M. Hopkins clearly shows that Leverington had emerged as an identifiable suburban residential district by 1875 (Figure 33).93 West of Ridge Road, between Levering Street at the south, Leverington Avenue at the north, and Manayunk Avenue at the west, a highly developed suburban neighborhood of large detached and semi-detached houses was nearly built out by 1875. East of Ridge, large suburban houses were depicted on the 1875 map on Leverington and other streets. Smaller suburban houses, primarily twins, were evident on Dupont, Monastery, Roxborough, and other streets extending east from Ridge. In 1875, large estates including those of Dr. William Camac and J.V. Merrick occupied southernmost tip of the ridge in the Wissahickon neighborhood, mirroring the grand estates across the valley, on the southern bank of the Wissahickon along School House Lane. Little had changed in the remainder of Roxborough, which persisted as a linear village along Ridge Road surrounded by farmers’ fields. The 1875 map depicted the Wissahickon & Barren Hill Horse Railway running the length of Ridge Road out into Montgomery County, with a horse car barn west of Port Royal or Ship Lane, at the former Sorrel Horse Tavern. The population of the 21st Ward grew considerably in the late nineteenth century, from 13,861 in 1870; to 18,699 in 1880; to 26,900 in 1890; to 32,168 in 1900.94 In the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s, much of the remaining open land adjacent to Manayunk in the Wissahickon and Leverington sections of Roxborough, south of Fountain Street was subdivided and built upon, primarily for residential use. For example, by 1885, large single and twin Second Empire houses lined Sumac and Rochele in the Wissahickon neighborhood, provided elegant housing for managers associated with Manayunk’s textile mills and the Pencoyd Iron Works, which was located across the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County, but linked to Roxborough by bridges. However, large pockets of open land remained south of Fountain, especially to the east of Ridge Avenue. Commercial and institutional buildings were primarily located on Ridge Avenue. To the north of Fountain Street, Roxborough remained a linear village along Ridge Avenue with zones of denser development around Shawmont Avenue and Manatawna Avenue. Away from Ridge Avenue, north of Fountain Street, the land continued to be farmed as it had for nearly 200 years. During the decades after the Civil War, numerous religious and other institutions were established in the Leverington and Wissahickon neighborhoods of Roxborough to support the growing population. The Central Methodist Episcopal Church was established on Green Lane west of Ridge Avenue in 1870. The Leverington Presbyterian Church was established in 1878 and consecrated its first church building at Leverington and Ridge in 1880. The Wissahickon Methodist Episcopal Church was founded in 1882; the congregation consecrated its church building at Terrace and Salaignac Streets in 1883.95 The Wissahickon Baptist Church, on Terrace near Dawson, was established in 1884 at a mission chapel. The church building was erected in 1889.96 St. Stephens Episcopal Church at the corner of Terrace and Hermit was established in 1886 from a mission that was formed in 1871. The Talmage Reformed Church at Pechin and Rector was formed in 1889. Wissahickon Presbyterian Church at the intersection of Ridge and Manayunk was organized in 1892 and the church building was completed in 1894. The Galilee Baptist Church, an African-American congregation, incorporated in 1899 and constructed a church building to designs by architects Kennedy & Kelsey at the corner of Roxborough Avenue and Mitchell Street in 1901.97 During this period, only one church was established to the north, in the sparsely populated rural section of Roxborough; the Manatawna Baptist Church on Ridge Avenue was established in 1872.98 In addition to churches, several religious-based social service agencies were established in the southern sections of Roxborough during the late nineteenth century. St. Timothy’s Working Men’s Club and Institute was founded in 1872 to provide social and educational opportunities for working men. The club’s building, located at the intersection of Ridge Avenue, Terrace Street, and Vassar Street, was designed by architect Charles M. Burns Jr. and completed in 1877 (Figure 34). It included a library with reading and billiard rooms. The club hosted baseball and cricket teams and offered free night classes in mechanical drawing, engineering, and chemistry. The club ceased operations in 1912 owing to declining membership. The Roxborough Home for Women was established in 1887 on East Leverington to provide housing and support for Protestant women. The Memorial Hospital and House of Mercy of Saint Timothy's Church, Roxborough opened in 1890. By 1896, the name was changed to St. Timothy's Memorial Hospital and House of Mercy, Roxborough and, in 1920 to the Memorial Hospital, Roxborough. Located at Ridge Avenue and James Street, the hospital was built on land and with funds donated by J. Vaughan Merrick. The hospital was under the control of St. Timothy's Protestant Episcopal Church until 1920.99 Describe your image As George W. and Walter S. Bromley’s Atlas of the City of Philadelphia of 1895 shows, Manayunk and Lower Roxborough, south of Fountain Street, continued to be densely developed during the later nineteenth century as a suburban residential district for people employed in Manayunk and downtown Philadelphia. Commercial activity in Roxborough was primarily confined to Ridge Avenue. Away from Ridge Avenue, Upper Roxborough as well as the eastern reaches of Lower Roxborough along the Wissahickon, which were inaccessible to commuters, remained open land.100 Describe your image In the late nineteenth century, Henry Houston, a wealthy businessman and real estate investor with connections to the Pennsylvania Railroad, began to acquire large tracts of open land in Upper Roxborough.101 Houston also held large tracts of land in Germantown, Mt. Airy, and Chestnut Hill and had built the Philadelphia, Germantown & Chestnut Hill Railroad (now the Chestnut Hill West line) in the 1880s to provide easy access to the land west of Germantown Avenue for suburban development.102 About 1890, Houston and others began promoting a suburban commuter rail line in Roxborough to open the rural land for suburban development. In July 1891, William F. Dixon, a paper manufacturer, City Councilman, and 21st Ward powerbroker was granted a charter for the Roxborough Railroad Company, which authorized it to build a line 10 miles long from the Philadelphia, Germantown & Chestnut Hill Railroad line at Chelten Avenue and Pulaski Street in Germantown, across the Wissahickon, through the eastern and northern reaches of Roxborough, and into Montgomery County, where it would connect with the Trenton cut-off (Figure 35).103 As Dixon explained, the railroad was intended to “open up a territory of the city which is now virtually isolated, and one which is badly in need of railroad facilities.”104 Survey work and negotiations for the right-of-way were initiated in the summer of 1891. In 1892, the Pennsylvania Railroad, which also operated the Philadelphia, Germantown & Chestnut Hill Railroad, agreed to manage the Roxborough line. The railroad project, however, hit several snags including property owners who “demanded exorbitant prices” for their land. Evidencing the troubles, the police were called to prevent the railroad from breaking ground in 1893.105 The project languished. In 1910, the Pennsylvania Railroad abandoned the Roxborough Railroad project because “it was finally determined that the costs of the right of way would be far in excess” of $80,000, the amount the railroad had agreed to pay in 1892. Charles E. Pugh, the First Vice President of the Pennsylvania Railroad, explained to Philadelphia’s Mayor John Reyburn that “the advent of electricity has made the trolley car the proper medium for doing this character of work, and the facilities of the steam railroads, already very crowded, should be depended upon for taking care of long distance travel.”106 This information has been posted by RMWHS with the permission of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Sections: 1 Intro and Nomination Form 2 Boundary and Description 3 Statement of Significance 4 Native Americans 5 Patent Holders and Early Settlers 6 Ridge Road 7 Early Roxborough 8 Georgian and Colonial Architecture 9 During the Revolutionary War 10 Federal Architecture 11 Development of Manayunk 12 Greek Revival Architecture 13 Early 19th Century 14 Gothic Revival Architecture 15 Italianate Architecture 16 During and After the Civil War 17 Second Empire Architecture 18 Queen Anne Architecture 19 Turn of the Century 20 Conclusion and Bibliography 84 Emerson Fite, Social and Industrial Conditions in the North during the Civil War (New York: The MacMillan Company, 1910), p. 94-95. 85 Cited in Table 8.1 in Philip Scranton, Proprietary Capitalism: The Textile Manufacture at Philadelphia, 1800-1885 (Cambridge: Cambridge University press, 1883), p. 296-297. 86 Inquirer, 13 July 1861, p. 5. 87 “A Defiant Corporation,” Inquirer, 12 June 1888, p. 2; “The Ridge Line Leased,” The Times, 1 July 1892, p. 1; “The Ridge Line Leased,” The Times, 19 August 1892, p. 1. 88 Cited in Table 2-2 in Jeffrey P. Roberts, “Railroads and Downtown: Philadelphia, 1830-1900,” in William W. Cutler III and Howard Gillette Jr., eds., The Divided Metropolis: Social and Spatial Dimensions of Philadelphia, 1800-1975 (Westport, Ct.: Greenwood Press, 1980), p. 41. 89 Laws of the General Assembly of the State of Pennsylvania Passed at the Session of 1873 (Harrisburg: Benjamin Singerly, 1873), p. 883-884. 90 “Proposed New Railway from Manayunk to Roxborough,” Inquirer, 25 April 1874, p. 2. See also “New Passenger Railway,” Inquirer 12 August 1873, p. 2; Inquirer, 4 January 1875, p. 6; Inquirer, 9 September 1893, p. 2. 91 David R. Contosta and Carol Franklin, Metropolitan Paradise: The Struggle for Nature in the City Philadelphia's Wissahickon Valley, 1620-2020 (Philadelphia: Saint Joseph's University Press, 2010). 92 Adapted from Adam Levine, “Watershed History: Roxborough Water Works,” Watersheds Blog, Philadelphia Water Department, 19 May 2011. 93 G. M. Hopkins, City Atlas of Philadelphia, Vol. 2, Wards 21 and 28, 1875. 94 In 1867, the former Penn Township portion of the 21Ward, with School House Lane as the dividing line, was split off to form the 28th Ward. Act of 14 March 1867, §1, P.L. 460. Population numbers from: John Daly and Allen Weinberg, Genealogy of Philadelphia County Subdivisions (Philadelphia: City of Philadelphia, Department of Records, 1966), p. 100. 95 “Wissahickon M.E. Church,” Inquirer, 30 October 1883, p. 2. 96 Inquirer, 11 January 1889, p. 7. 97 “Baptist Church Can Incorporate,” The Times, 29 December 1899, p. 3; “The Latest News in Real Estate,” Inquirer, 24 November 1900, p. 15; “New Church to Cost $13,000,” The Times, 3 December 1900, p. 11. 98 Inquirer, 18 May 1872, p. 2. 99 “A Generous Gift,” The Times, 19 March 1890, p. 6; “The Merricks’ Munificent Gift,” Inquirer, 12 June 1890, p. 5. 100 George W. & Walter S. Bromley, Civil Engineers, Atlas of the City of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: G.W. Bromley and Co., 1895), plates 32-34. 100 George W. & Walter S. Bromley, Civil Engineers, Atlas of the City of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: G.W. Bromley and Co., 1895), plates 32-34. 101 On Henry Houston, see J.M. Duffin, A Guide to the Henry Howard Houston Estate Papers, 1698-1989 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, The University Archives and Records Center, 1989). 102 The Philadelphia, Germantown & Chestnut Hill Railroad was incorporated on 2 January 1883 and 6.75-mile line between Germantown Junction and Chestnut Hill was constructed in 1883 and 1884. 103 “William Dixon’s Railroad,” Inquirer, 18 July 1891, p. 3; “Surveys for a New Road,” Times, 23 July 1891, p.4; “The New Trenton Cut-Off,” Inquirer, 10 September 1891, p. 4; “Roxborough’s Railroad Extension,” Inquirer, 11 September 1891, p. 8; “Roxborough’s New Railroad,” Inquirer, 29 October 1891, p. 4. 104 “Councils’ Committee at Work: The Roxborough Railroad Seeking a Route,” Times 11 September 1891, p. 6. 105 “A Railroad Checked,” Inquirer, 17 May 1893, p. 2. 106 “Roxborough Line Will Not Be Built,” Inquirer, 25 June 1910, p. 7. Top of page

Historical Maps 1854 < Previous > Back to Historical Map List < Next > 1854 - Consolidated Phila Wards Source: URL: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3824p.ct008335 Full Name: An outline of the newly consolidated city, showing the boundaries of the wards : according to the act passed by the Legislature, Jany. 31st, 1854 Visit the source URL to use zoom features, find additional formats, or download a high quality image.

2cd924c3-529b-4ccb-9cf2-96ff92f7418a Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District Greek Revival Architecture The Greek Revival style of architecture was the dominant style for American domestic architecture between about 1825 and 1850. Archaeological investigations of the Classical World including Ancient Greece in the early nineteenth century as well as Greece’s war for independence (1821 to 1830) aroused interest in Greek architectural forms in the United States. Americans associated the forms with their new democracy. Philadelphia was the first city in the United States to adopt the Greek Revival style, as evidenced by Benjamin Latrobe’s Bank of Pennsylvania of 1801 and William Strickland’s Bank of the United States of 1818. Pattern books and carpenter’s guides by Asher Benjamin, Minard Lafever and others spread the style. Greek Revival buildings typically have gabled or hipped roofs of shallower pitches than their predecessors, broad cornices, and entry or full-width porches supported by classical columns. The Valentine Keely House at 8144 Ridge Avenue is the most stylistically pure Greek Revival building in Roxborough (Figure 24). Built in 1844, the symmetrical, five-bay Valentine Keely House has a portico supported by Doric columns, a hipped roof with a shallow pitch, and half-height third-floor windows separated by a string course from the façade below to give the appearance of a classical entablature. Advances in roofing technology in the early nineteenth century, especially the development of metal roofs, allowed for roofs with shallower pitches. Earlier cedar shake roofs required a steep pitch to effectively shed water. With the shallower pitched metal roofs, rooftop dormers gave way to half-height third-floor windows, creating more usable space in garrets. The half-height third-floor windows became a hallmark of houses constructed in rural areas around Philadelphia in the decades leading up to the Civil War. Describe your image Numerous examples of Greek Revival houses with half-height third-floor windows can be found along and around Ridge Avenue. The houses are usually three or five bays wide and often have open, full-width front porches. They are built of Wissahickon schist, which is either left uncovered or finished with smooth stucco. They often have double, gable-end chimneys. Good examples can be found at 5635 Ridge Avenue and 7101 Ridge Avenue (Figure 25). Describe your image This information has been posted by RMWHS with the permission of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Sections: 1 Intro and Nomination Form 2 Boundary and Description 3 Statement of Significance 4 Native Americans 5 Patent Holders and Early Settlers 6 Ridge Road 7 Early Roxborough 8 Georgian and Colonial Architecture 9 During the Revolutionary War 10 Federal Architecture 11 Development of Manayunk 12 Greek Revival Architecture 13 Early 19th Century 14 Gothic Revival Architecture 15 Italianate Architecture 16 During and After the Civil War 17 Second Empire Architecture 18 Queen Anne Architecture 19 Turn of the Century 20 Conclusion and Bibliography Top of page

We share the names of those whose personal histories have touched the lives our members, friends, and communities, so that their lives may be remembered, honored, and celebrated. Those honored below have been recorded in the Archive's In Memoriam book and have become a part of our permanent history. We thank those who have made an In Memoriam donation to RMWHS -- either financial or of historic items and local memorabilia -- for their generosity. The individuals honored are listed here and are recorded in the In Memoriam remembrance book in the RMWHS Archive. You do not need to be a RMWHS member to be honored or to donate. Donations of any amount are accepted. RMWHS is a 501(c)(3) public charity. Funds generated from In Memoriam donations will be put toward preservation, restoration, and/or beautification projects in our neighborhoods. This may include our local cemeteries and war memorials. We thank you for your generosity. Contact us if you wish to honor someone by making an In Memoriam donation . In Memoriam Remember - Honor - Celebrate Received in 2025 John Charles Manton Received in 2024 John Davis Received in 2023 Gertrude J. Frishmuth Miriam McCurdy Mary Longaker Keely Everhart Bert Laudenslager* Jim Poupard* Received in 2022 Jack Fasy Robert & Edith Yarnall* Received in 2021 Paul Walter Russell Ripka Jo Cauffman* Helen Wong Frank & Mary Trimborn Nick Gilbert* Ted Lada* Mary Ann & William Buchanan Received in 2020 Robert & Edith Yarnall* Harry A. Olson* Wendy Weight *RMWHS Member

Historical Maps 1862 < Previous > Back to Historical Map List < Next > 1862 - Atlas of Phila (NW) Source: URL: Free Library of Philadelphia https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/12334 Full Name: Atlas of the City of Philadelphia, 1862, Section 20 [Northwest] Visit the source URL to use zoom features, find additional formats, or download a high quality image.

Memorials of the 21st Ward < Back to Memorials List WWI & WWII Memorial (Hattal-Taylor VFW) Address: 376 Lyceum Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19128, USA Visitors: This memorial is located outside the Hattal-Taylor VFW and can clearly be seen from the sidewalk and street. If you wish to gain closer access, contact Hattal-Taylor. The images below are not to be reproduced or used without prior written authorization of RMWHS - contact us .

ac9cfc6e-1300-43dd-bd97-f4aa9fbc7ea4 Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District Statement of Significance The Ridge Avenue Roxborough Thematic Historic District satisfies four Criteria for Designation (a, c, d, and j) as delineated in Section 14-1004(4) of the Philadelphia Code, the City’s historic preservation ordinance. Paraphrasing the Criteria, the Ridge Avenue Roxborough Thematic Historic District: (a) Has significant character, interest and value as part of the development, heritage and cultural characteristics of the City, Commonwealth and Nation and is associated with the lives of persons significant in the past; (c) Reflects the environment in an era characterized by distinctive architectural styles; (d) Embodies distinguishing characteristics of architectural styles and engineering specimens; and, (j) Exemplifies the cultural, political, economic, social and historical heritage of the community. The period of significance of the Ridge Avenue Roxborough Thematic Historic District spans from 1681, when William Penn began conveying land to the original purchasers, to 1908, the dawn of the automobile age, when the completion of the Walnut Lane Bridge opened the southeastern section of Roxborough to new forms of residential development. From 1681 to 1839, Roxborough persisted as a linear village along Ridge Road with an economy based on agriculture, milling, and providing services to travelers. From 1839 to 1908, Roxborough slowly transitioned from a linear village surrounded by large tracts of open land to a suburban community of homes for managers, business people, and artisans who traveled by foot and on omnibuses, trolleys, and trains to jobs in Manayunk and beyond. This information has been posted by RMWHS with the permission of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Sections: 1 Intro and Nomination Form 2 Boundary and Description 3 Statement of Significance 4 Native Americans 5 Patent Holders and Early Settlers 6 Ridge Road 7 Early Roxborough 8 Georgian and Colonial Architecture 9 During the Revolutionary War 10 Federal Architecture 11 Development of Manayunk 12 Greek Revival Architecture 13 Early 19th Century 14 Gothic Revival Architecture 15 Italianate Architecture 16 During and After the Civil War 17 Second Empire Architecture 18 Queen Anne Architecture 19 Turn of the Century 20 Conclusion and Bibliography Top of page

Historical Maps 1861 < Previous > Back to Historical Map List < Next > 1861-1865 - Civil War Military Source: URL: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3824p.cw0358100 Full Name: Military map of Philadelphia 1861-1865 Visit the source URL to use zoom features, find additional formats, or download a high quality image.

7d8c98b4-f576-44c6-9419-0207810462ac Main Street Manayunk Historic District Map Note: RMWHS has divided the original maps into smaller sections so that viewers can of the original map, RMWHS had divided it into smaller sections to allow viewers to open full screen and permit details to be legible. Describe your image Section A: Flat Rock Dam, Lock Keeper's House, Upper Lock (Click to open full screen) Describe your image Section B: Upper End of Flat Rock Road & the Fountain Street Bridge (Click to open full screen) Describe your image Section C: Leverington Street & Green Lane Bridges, Upper Main Street (Click to open full screen) Describe your image Section D: Cotton & Lock Street Bridges, Lower Main Street (Click to open full screen) Describe your image This information has been posted by RMWHS with the permission of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Sections: 1 Intro and Nomination Form 2 Description 3 Significance of Manayunk 4 The Schuylkill Canal 5 Schuylkill Navigation Company 6 Manayunk Canal 7 Economic Development 8 Manayunk Social Development 9 The Industry of Venice Island 10 Main Street Manayunk 11 Bibliography 12 Boundary Details 13 Map Top of page

Memorials of the 21st Ward < Back to Memorials List Wissahickon War Memorial (Sumac St & Rochelle Ave) Address: Rochelle Ave & Sumac St, Philadelphia, PA 19128, USA Visitors: The Wissahickon War Memorial and grounds are situated on the corner of Rochelle and Sumac and open to the public. There is a gate each street to gain access -- the gate on Sumac Street leads to a ramp up and into the memorial while the gate on Rochelle Ave has a few steps to get up. (See photos below.) The ramp, steps, and all paths are flag stone and care should be taken. Dogs are not permitted except for working service dogs. Please be mindful of others who are there to mourn or pay their respects. The images below are not to be reproduced or used without prior written authorization of RMWHS - contact us .

afd11fc1-1d3a-44bc-b939-0a24ff0d7af5 Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District Queen Anne Architecture The Queen Anne style was the dominant style of domestic building in the United States from about 1880 to 1900; and persisted with decreasing popularity through the first decade of the twentieth century. The style was named and popularized by a group of nineteenth-century English architects led by Richard Norman Shaw. The name is rather inappropriate, for the historical precedents used by Shaw and his followers had little to do with Queen Anne or the formal Renaissance architecture that was dominant during her reign between 1702 and 1714. Instead, they borrowed heavily from late medieval models of the preceding Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. The half-timbered Watts-Sherman House built in Newport Rhode Island in 1874 is generally considered to be the first American example of the style. A few high-style examples followed in the 1870s and, by the 1880s, the style was being spread throughout the country by pattern books and one of the first architectural magazines, The American Architect and Building News. Large-scale manufacture of pre-cut architectural details and the expanding railroad network by which they were shipped aided in the growth and popularization of the style. 108 Queen Anne buildings are generally comprised of multiple, intersecting volumes, resulting in more complex forms than their predecessors. These asymmetrical, complex forms are created by combining various volumes including cross gables, engaged towers and turrets, steeply pitched roofs with irregular shapes, and bay windows. Queen Anne buildings often include decorative brick or stonework, ornate gable detailing, shaped slate or wood shingle patterning, large porches with complex woodwork, multi-paned windows with clear and colored glass. The twin buildings at 6222 and 6224 Ridge Avenue, which date to about 1885, are excellent examples of the Queen Anne style as applied to semidetached buildings and have some detailing that might be better classified as the Stick style, a variant or close relative to Queen Anne (Figure 37). The three-story buildings are stone at the first floor, and fish-scale shingles at the second floor and mansard. The shingles create a vibrant pattern of light and shadow. The dormers in the mansard have highly unusual hoods or crowns supported by large brackets. The cornice is also supported by brackets and features fish scales. The second-floor windows are double hungs with small and large panes in the upper sash. The porch has turned posts with arched latticework panels between them. Other buildings in the saw-tooth row of twins also have Queen Anne features, but none characterize the Queen Anne style with the exuberance of those at 6222 and 6224 Ridge Avenue. Describe your image The house at 5535 Ridge Avenue, with its corner turret topped by a conical cap and finial, is another good example of the Queen Anne style. In addition to the turret, the mansard roof, bracketed dormers, and wrap-around porch all characterize the style. The house at 6904 Ridge Avenue is likewise an example of the Queen Anne style, owing to its turret, oversized dormer, and wrap-around porch. This information has been posted by RMWHS with the permission of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Sections: 1 Intro and Nomination Form 2 Boundary and Description 3 Statement of Significance 4 Native Americans 5 Patent Holders and Early Settlers 6 Ridge Road 7 Early Roxborough 8 Georgian and Colonial Architecture 9 During the Revolutionary War 10 Federal Architecture 11 Development of Manayunk 12 Greek Revival Architecture 13 Early 19th Century 14 Gothic Revival Architecture 15 Italianate Architecture 16 During and After the Civil War 17 Second Empire Architecture 18 Queen Anne Architecture 19 Turn of the Century 20 Conclusion and Bibliography 108 Drawn from Virginia & Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), p. 262-268. Top of page

Memorials of the 21st Ward < Back to Memorials List Shawmont Roll of Honor Memorial (Shawmont & Nixon) Address: Shawmont Ave & Nixon St, Philadelphia, PA 19128, USA Visitors: The Roll of Honor sits roadside and is easily accessible to anyone. Dogs are permitted, but must be kept on a leash at all times and picked up after per city law. The images below are not to be reproduced or used without prior written authorization of RMWHS - contact us .

Historical Maps 1869 < Previous > Back to Historical Map List < Next > 1869 - Survey of Wissahickon Source: URL: Free Library of Philadelphia https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/65525 Full Name: Map of the Survey of Wissahickon Creek from its Mouth to Paul's Mill Road Defining Boundaries of Land Appropriated by the Commissioners of Fairmount Park, ca. 1869, Map Visit the source URL to use zoom features, find additional formats, or download a high quality image.

Historical Maps 1862 < Previous > Back to Historical Map List < Next > 1862 - Atlas of Phila (Manayunk) Source: URL: Free Library of Philadelphia https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/12336 Full Name: Atlas of the City of Philadelphia, 1862, Section 22 [Manayunk] Visit the source URL to use zoom features, find additional formats, or download a high quality image.

Status: Structural improvements began in 2023 Shawmont Station 7700 Nixon Street, Philadelphia, PA, USA Owner: SEPTA Status: Structural improvements began in 2023 Visitors to the station are urged to be cautious. Access to the property is not permitted and parking is not available below Shawmont Ave. If you do visit, park on Shawmont Ave and walk down -- but be careful crossing the tracks as this is a working train line. History The following timeline was created by John Johnstone, Historian, Shawmont Station Advocate, RMWHS member. __________________ 1825 - Nathan Nathans, Center City Philadelphia lawyer, purchases land bordering Schuylkill Navigation Company's Towpath, along the Schuylkill River at a Sheriff's Sale, in Roxborough Township, above the Flat Rock Dam, formerly owned by the Criedlands. 1826 - After returning from England, Architect, William Strickland writes his "Reports on Canals, Railways, Roads, and Other Subjects", made to the Pennsylvania Society for the Promotion of Internal Improvement. The Schuylkill Navigation Company completes laying their Schuylkill Turnpike between Domino Lane in Roxborough and Montgomery County, previously known as The Pebble Road. Nathan Nathans builds his vacation home on a small section of land between the Schuylkill Turnpike and Towpath, close to the Schuylkill River. 1827 - The Schuylkill Navigation Company maps it entire system between Schuylkill County PA, and Philadelphia, including prior land purchases for their towpath, as well as mapping their turnpike roads and bordering buildings. Visible on map is Nathan Nathans' country home. 1830 - Nathan Nathans sells his land and vacation home to John Wise, local Miller, but remains legal executor of Mr. Wise's estate. 1832 - The Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad operate Philadelphia's first passenger train between 9th& Green Streets, Philadelphia, and Germantown, utilizing Mathias Baldwin's steam locomotive, "Old Ironsides". 1833 - Architect William Strickland and Engineer Henry Campbell design the Norristown branch of the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad and construction begins. 1834 - Horse-drawn passenger trains operate from 9th and Green Streets to Manayunk on a set of single tracks, while tracks are laid northwest to Norristown. Nathan Nathans sues the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Norristown Railroad, for damages associated with laying tracks in front of John Wise's house. 1835 - The Norristown Branch is completed, and passenger trains make their way to Norristown. Nathan Nathans loses lawsuit to Railroad, and John Wises' house and property are sold to Henry Croskey, local Lumber Merchant and Passenger Railway Enthusiast. Mr. Croskey creates a runoff stream leading to the Schuylkill River on his property during his lumbering process and names it "Green Tree Run". He also builds an access road between the Ridge Turnpike in Upper Roxborough and the Schuylkill Turnpike and names it "Green Tree Lane". He names his newly acquired house by the Railroad, "Green Tree Station", which he facilitates for passenger service and freight service for his lumbering business, while using the Schuylkill Navigation Company for lumber transport as well. At Green Tree Station, Mr. Croskey houses Schuylkill Navigation Company workers overnight, who load large shipments of lumber onto barges, making it a "mixed use" building. 1836 - Engineer, Henry Campbell designs and sells steam Engines to the Railroad for the Norristown Branch. Freight branches are extended to the Plymouth Limekilns from Conshohocken and to a King of Prussia Quarry from Norristown. Campbell's poorly designed engines easily de-rail on grades and sharp curves. Mathias Baldwin produces more engines for the railroad, and steam engines fully replace horses on the Railroad. The Norristown Branch becomes double-tracked to facilitate high traffic. 1837-1840 - Henry Croskey continues to purchase nearby land for his lumbering business and builds his new homestead on a hill above Green Tree Station. He is noted to have made vast improvements to the area and to have facilitated the Railroad, Turnpike and Waterway, consistent with Pennsylvania's Internal Improvement plan. Both the Coleman and Crawford stagecoach companies start transporting passengers from the Ridge Turnpike to Railroad stations on the Norristown Branch. 1842 - The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad open passenger and freight service between Broad and Cherry Streets, in Philadelphia and Pottsville, PA, with a branch to Port Richmond, on the Delaware River, for coal transport. Their Main line runs along the West Bank of Schuylkill River, opposite to the Norristown Branch of Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad. 1843 - The Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad combine freight and passenger services with the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad, with mutual access to the Delaware River docks at the foot of Noble Street, from the 9th and Green Street terminus. Henry Croskey opens a second business at the Railroad dock, utilizing the Railroad for lumber transport between Green Tree Station and the Delaware River. The Schuylkill Navigation Company loses revenue to the Railroads, which run from the Coal Regions in five hours, as opposed to the Navigation Company, taking six days. 1850 - A freshet causes flooding from the Schuylkill River and the Flat Rock Bridge below the Flat Rock Dam, between Lower Merion and the Schuylkill Turnpike, is destroyed. To facilitate travel close to the two points, a ferry is operated upstream between Rose Glen Station in Gladwyne, and Green Tree Station. 1853 - Henry Croskey moves to Rittenhouse Square in Philadelphia, though his lumbering business is maintained in Roxborough. Mr. Croskey becomes a leader in planning for intercity, public rail transportation. 1857 - Henry Croskey sells Green Tree Station and grounds of approximately seven by ten perches, to the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad, for one dollar. He also sells his estate above Green Tree Station to Thomas Shaw, inventor, who would invent several permanent improvements for the Railroads. The University of Pennsylvania begins having boat races on the Schuylkill River, between Green Tree Station and Spring Mill, through to the early Twentieth Century. The Railroad builds a freight station across the tracks. 1870 - The wealthy Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, who permanently leases the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad, absorb a financially troubled Schuylkill Navigation Company. Green Tree Station receives several upgrades to include a tin, fireproof roof with remodeled chimneys, an addition to house a permanent Station resident, its central doorway & stairway are removed and replaced with a bay window, housing a telegraph. Windows facing its platform are converted into doorways, one of which for a waiting room. Scored concrete is painted white and its passenger platform roof replaced. 1873 - With the Pennsylvania Railroad having a station in nearby Chester County, also named "Green Tree", Green Tree Station in Philadelphia County, is changed to "Shawmont", named after nearby resident and inventor, Thomas Shaw. 1874 - Henry Croskey opens and is President of the horse-drawn Ridge Avenue Railway, operating from North Philadelphia into Roxborough and Barren Hill, which eventually becomes electrified in 1884 - The Pennsylvania Railroad opens their Schuylkill Branch for service, which parallels the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad's Norristown Branch and Main Line, between Manayunk & Pottsville, PA, with through service to Wilkes Barre. They also open their own Shawmont Station, 300 feet north of the Philadelphia & Reading's. 1894 - Thomas Shaw develops an inclined railway to travel between Manayunk and Roxborough, but it never materializes. 1909 - The Brendel Family moves into Shawmont Station as permanent tenants/station masters. 1916 - The last freight barge travels down the locks of the Schuylkill River, though the locks remain open for recreational use. 1921 - The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad close passenger operations on the West Side of the Schuylkill River, below Bridgeport, and use that section exclusively for freight. The Norristown Branch is used for all local and express passenger trains between Philadelphia's Reading Terminal and Reading/Pottsville/Williamsport Lancaster/Harrisburg/Gettysburg/Shippensburg. The ferry between Rose Glen Station and Shawmont Station is closed. 1929 - The shutters on the windows of Shawmont Station are removed and put into storage. Scored concrete on front façade is replaced with flat concrete. 1940 - All locks along the Schuylkill River are closed. No recreational boating is permitted between Shawmont and East Falls. 1950 - The Reading Railroad cuts back passenger service from Williamsport to Shamokin. 1960 - The Pennsylvania Railroad cuts back passenger service from Norristown to Manayunk. Their circa 1884 Shawmont Station is removed, though that line continues to carry freight. 1963 - The Reading Railroad cuts passenger service to Shamokin and Harrisburg. Other than local commuter trains, the only express trains travelling Reading's Norristown Branch are to Reading and Pottsville. 1972 - Though Hurricane Agnes causes flooding along much of the Schuylkill River, Shawmont Station is spared. 1974 - Shawmont Station receives its last paint job. 1976 - Conrail takes over the Reading Railroad's passenger operations. 1979 - SEPTA takes over Conrail's passenger operations and the Norristown Branch becomes the R6 line. SEPTA extends Pennsylvania Railroad's Schuylkill Branch ¾ mile to Ivy Ridge from Manayunk and tracks North of that completely close for freight service, following abandonment by Conrail. Abandoned tracks above Port Royal Avenue in Shawmont are paved over into a bike path to Valley Forge. 1981 - SEPTA cuts back passenger service from Pottsville to Norristown. 1986 - SEPTA cuts back Pennsylvania Railroad's Schuylkill Branch from Ivy Ridge to Cynwyd and a new Ivy Ridge Station is put on the R6 Norristown Branch, one mile south of Shawmont. 1991 - Shawmont Station is no longer a scheduled stop, but a whistlestop. Its waiting room is closed. 1995 - Shawmont Station is no longer a whistle stop but remains occupied. 2008 - Through the work of Historian John Johnston and Preservation Architect William Breard, Shawmont Station is placed on Philadelphia's Register of Historic Places, as the oldest passenger railroad station in America. The effort required the personal collection of documents and materials from across the state. 2013 - The last of the Brendel's descendants, move out of Shawmont Station, after occupying the Station for 104 years. SEPTA decides to have the Station restored and submits historical railroad documents to John Johnstone. 2014 - Research and documents show that Shawmont Station, originated as an 1826 country house, and is not only the oldest passenger railroad station in America, but also the oldest building owned by any railroad, in the World. *2021 - SEPTA calls for bids for the restoration work needed at Shawmont. *2023 - The $1.26M structural rehab to shore up the building began on January 18 by Contractor Donald E. Resinger. *Updates added by Georgie Gould Gallery of Photos Restoration Photos by Amanda Robinson, SEPTA Project Manager Additional Items 1884-08-20 Philadelphia Inquirer 2008-02-23 Phila Daily News 1885-06-19 The Times

393e91fa-fd1f-4e7d-808f-7377809b3f8a Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District Development of Manayunk As the John Hills map shows, the land in Roxborough Township along the Schuylkill River was virtually uninhabited in 1808. Almost all development in Roxborough at the time was located along Ridge Road and around the several mills on the Wissahickon Creek. Manayunk had not yet been established in the first decade of the nineteenth century. However, with the discovery of anthracite coal in 1790 in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 80 miles upstream on the Schuylkill River, and the subsequent discovery of a method for igniting anthracite coal in 1808, development of the Schulkill bank in Roxborough progressed quickly in the early nineteenth century. In 1810, the Flat Rock Bridge was constructed at the base on Domino Lane across the Schuylkill River to Montgomery County.61 Domino Lane, which ran down from Ridge Road, was officially confirmed in 1819.62 In 1815, the Manayunk & Flat Rock Turnpike Company was chartered to build a roadway along the Schuylkill from Ridge Road west of the Wissahickon Creek to the Flat Rock Bridge, thereby opening Manayunk for development. Most significantly, in 1815, the Pennsylvania Legislature chartered the Schuylkill Navigation Company to build a system of canals, dams, and slackwater pools along the Schuylkill River from Philadelphia to the coal mining region at Pottsville, Pennsylvania. The company built 120 locks and the first ever canal tunnel. The Flat Rock Dam in Roxborough, a part of the canal system, was completed in 1819 and not only facilitated transportation on the river, but also served as a significant source of water power for mills. Despite several financial and technological setbacks, the canal system between Philadelphia’s Fairmount Water Works and Reading became navigable in 1824. The first boatload of coal arrived in Philadelphia in 1825. An extension of the canal to Port Carbon, at the mouth of Mill Creek in Schuylkill County, completed in 1828, made the Schuylkill River Pennsylvania’s most efficient mode of transportation for anthracite coal for the following decade and a half. By the early 1840s, some 500,000 tons of anthracite coal was being transported annually to Philadelphia using the Schuylkill River (Figure 21). Taking advantage of the water power furnished by the Flat Rock Dam, John Towers built the first mill in Manayunk in 1819, the year the dam was completed. Charles Hagner built a second mill in 1820. Two mills were erected 1821 and five more in 1822. Almost overnight, the mill village of Manayunk emerged along the east bank of the Schuylkill in Roxborough Township. From 1817 to 1824, the population of Manayunk grew from 60 to nearly 800 people, and by the late 1820s the community had become known alternately as the “Lowell of Pennsylvania” and the “Manchester of America.” In 1827, engraver C.G. Childs noted the rapid development of Manayunk, reporting that: The thriving little village [of Manayunk] is situated on the banks of the river and of the canal, at the distance about six miles from Philadelphia. It derives its name from the aboriginal title of the Schuylkill, and owes its origin to the improvements which have been made upon that stream. Within the last twelve years, the spot which it covers was singularly wild and secluded. High and barren rocks overhung the river, crowned by thickets which were scarcely broken; and the broad projecting cliff, which gave for a time the name Flat Rock to the early settlement, remained nearly inaccessible, as when it was the chosen encamping ground of the Indian hunter. Manayunk is now [in 1827] the scene of active and extended business. It contains sixteen manufactories, five of which give motion to sixteen thousand spindles, and to two hundred and fifty power looms,— two schools, a neat and capacious place of worship, four taverns, and about two hundred tenements, which accommodate some fifteen hundred inhabitants. 63 Describe your image Following on the heels of the development of the canal system and the concomitant water power system that ran the mills, a second early nineteenth-century technological breakthrough advanced the development of Manayunk. In 1832, the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad initiated train service between 9th and Green Streets in Philadelphia and the center of Germantown, one of the first train lines in the country. By the fall of 1834, the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad had constructed a branch into Manayunk. Horses pulled the first trains into Manayunk, owing to a lack of available steam engines. By the spring of 1835, the Manayunk line had been extended to Norristown along the east bank of the Schuylkill River. The trains not only transported raw materials and finished goods to and from the mills of Manayunk, but also significantly reduced the travel time between Roxborough Township and the City of Philadelphia, portending the suburban development that began in the middle on the nineteenth century (Figure 23). During the 1830s and 40s, textile manufacturers built mills in Manayunk and the Falls of Schuylkill at a feverish pace.64 In the short term, Roxborough Township remained primarily rural even while the land around the Manayunk mills was quickly and intensively developed for industrial, residential, and commercial uses. Evidencing its growth, Manayunk was erected as a borough in Roxborough Township on 11 June 1840. The official boundaries of Manayunk did not correspond with established streets, but would roughly correspond to the current lines of Hermit Street at the south, Pechin Street at the east, Parker Avenue at the north, and the Schuylkill River at the west. On 31 March 1847, Manayunk Borough was separated from Roxborough Township. In 1830, Roxborough Township including Manayunk had a population of 3,334. By 1840, it had grown to 5,797. In 1850, after Manayunk was separated from Roxborough, Manayunk had a population of 6,158, while Roxborough’s was only 2,660, even though Roxborough was geographically much larger (Figure 22).65 Describe your image Describe your image This information has been posted by RMWHS with the permission of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Sections: 1 Intro and Nomination Form 2 Boundary and Description 3 Statement of Significance 4 Native Americans 5 Patent Holders and Early Settlers 6 Ridge Road 7 Early Roxborough 8 Georgian and Colonial Architecture 9 During the Revolutionary War 10 Federal Architecture 11 Development of Manayunk 12 Greek Revival Architecture 13 Early 19th Century 14 Gothic Revival Architecture 15 Italianate Architecture 16 During and After the Civil War 17 Second Empire Architecture 18 Queen Anne Architecture 19 Turn of the Century 20 Conclusion and Bibliography 61 The Flat Rock Bridge was washed away in a freshet in 1850 and not rebuilt. “Some Quaint Old Bridges,” The Times, 7 June 1896, p. 20. 62 Domino Lane, Ridge Road to Schuylkill River, 24 June 1819, Road Dockets, vol. 8, p. 96. 63 Views of Philadelphia and Its Vicinity Engraved from Original Drawings (Philadelphia: C.G. Childs, 1827), n.p. 64 Cynthia J. Shelton, The Mills of Manayunk, Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1986. 65 John Daly and Allen Weinberg, Genealogy of Philadelphia County Subdivisions (Philadelphia: City of Philadelphia, Department of Records, 1966), p. 6, 7, 94. Top of page

0c66d294-f32d-4281-b999-89b4759f758d Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District Early 19th Century Despite the explosive growth in Manayunk in the first half of the nineteenth century, Roxborough remained during these decades a linear village along Ridge Road with an economy based largely on agriculture and milling. However, many Roxborough farms were diversifying, supplementing their incomes with stone quarrying, lumbering, and other commercial activities. Real estate advertisements offer a window into activities in Roxborough. In 1836, a 40-acre property near the six-mile stone on Ridge Road was offered for sale. It included a three-story stone house, a stone barn with stabling for four horses and 12 cows, a grain house, cart house, poultry house, hog house, corn house, two apple orchards, and a “kitchen garden, well set with Strawberries, Raspberries, &c. [from which] 170 quarts have been picked in one day.” The property included several acres of timber and “quarries of excellent turnpike stone.”66 In 1839, “a valuable small farm,” a 57.5-acre property on “the Philadelphia and Norristown turnpike road” at the western edge of Roxborough Township, was offered for sale. It included a stone dwelling, “a good large barn with stabling sufficient for eight cows and four horses,” an apple orchard, three springs, and land “in a good state of cultivation and all under good fence.” The property also included “3 acres of good young thriving timber” and “a good Stone Shop, formerly occupied as a Weaver Shop.”67 Also in 1839, a 33-acre farm, “situate on the Ridge Turnpike Road, in Roxborough township, nearly opposite the Sorrel Horse Tavern,” was offered at public sale. The advertisement declared that the “land is in a good state of cultivation and has a body of valuable timber.”68 Hinting at changes, an 1844 advertisement offered a 22-acre farm in Roxborough Township “on a public road leading from Ridge pike to Flat Rock Bridge and Manayunk,” that, in addition to the usual stone house, barn, and spring house, included “a stream of water running through the Farm, sufficient for steam machinery.”69 At about the same time that the farm was advertised with a water source sufficient for steam machinery, omnibus lines connecting Roxborough and the City of Philadelphia with reliable, relatively inexpensive, daily transportation were initiated.70 A line was established in 1840 with omnibus service every day but Sunday leaving Amy’s Hotel in Roxborough at 8:30 a.m. and returning to Roxborough from the Black Bear Inn on S. 5th Street near Market Street at 3:30 p.m. The fare was 20 cents (Figure 26).71 A line was established in 1842 with omnibus service leaving the Sorrel Horse Inn in Roxborough for the City of Philadelphia via Wissahickon, Falls of Schuylkill, and Laurel Hill at 6:30 a.m. and returning to Roxborough from the Merchants’ Exchange at 3rd and Walnut Streets at 1:45 p.m. The fare to Roxborough was 25 cents.72 While the first of the two omnibus lines was named the Farmers’ Line, its primary customers would not have been farmers, who carted their fruits, vegetables, and meats to market in wagons. Instead, the riders would have been a new breed of Roxborough residents who had frequent and sometimes daily business in the city. While the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad had facilitated commuting from Manayunk and the lowest reaches of Ridge Road to the City of Philadelphia as early as the mid 1830s, the omnibus lines of the early 1840s opened up all of Roxborough to commuting.73 Describe your image The introduction of the omnibus lines on Ridge Road in the early 1840s indicated that Roxborough, which had been a farming and milling community for nearly 150 years, was transitioning. As early as 1839, the beginnings of suburbanization were evident in Roxborough. That year, Charles Jones and T. Mason Mitchell advertised development lots for sale on Green Lane, just off Ridge Road, that were measured in square feet, not acres. The 50-foot wide lots, which were between 150 and 250 feet deep, were promoted as having attractive views, a healthful environment, convenient to the railroad and turnpike, and in the proximity of several churches and the Village of Manayunk. The advertisement promised: “The Lots will, when built upon, be sufficiently large for handsome gardens attached to each. This, on viewing the neighborhood, will prove a desirable and safe investment to many persons, either for summer or permanent residences.”74 The advertisement made no mention of barns, meadows, fruit trees, spring houses, or other farm accoutrements. The development lots on Green Lane were intended for commuters, who walked to Manayunk or took the train or omnibus to the city. They may have been the first suburban housing lots laid out in Roxborough Township. Although the omnibus lines and suburban house lots portended changes coming to Roxborough, Charles Ellet’s Map of the County of Philadelphia from Actual Survey of 1843 indicates that Roxborough remained a linear village running along Ridge Road (Figure 27). The map clearly shows that, outside of densely developed Manayunk, Roxborough Township was sparsely populated with few roads running east and west off the main spine. The Ellet map of 1843 identifies the main commercial and institutional sites in Roxborough. It depicts four inns, all on Ridge Road: the Leverington Hotel near Green Lane, Roxborough Hotel at Gorgas Lane, Buttonwood Tavern at Livezey’s Mill Lane, and Sorrel Horse Tavern above Ship Lane. The 1843 map depicts three manufacturing facilities associated with the textile industry: the Gorgas Cotton Factory on Gorgas Lane at the Wissahickon Creek; Haley's Dye Works on Gorgas Lane; and Rees' Print Works on Eliza's Lane. The map calls out five mills along or near the Wissahickon: Wise’s Mill and Livezey’s Mill on the upper Wissahickon; a spice mill and the Rittenhouse Paper Mill at the confluence of the Wissahickon with Paper Mill Run; and Robinson's (misspelling of Robeson’s) Mill on the Wissahickon at the crossing of the Ridge Road. The map notes the Roxborough Poorhouse in the Old Plow Tavern on Ridge Road below Shur's Lane. It calls out the Baptist Church as well as the German Reformed Church at Ship Lane. The German or Dutch Reformed Church was founded in 1835 and transitioned to the Roxborough Presbyterian Church in 1854. The map identified a schoolhouse at the intersection of Wise’s Mill Road and Livezey’s Mill Lane. The school, known as the Heiss or Yellow School House, was established in 1812. The map called out the hall of the Roxborough Masonic Lodge, No. 135, located on Ridge Road at Shur's Lane. The fraternal organization had been founded in 1813.75 An 1851 inventory of tax-exempt property in Philadelphia County listed all such properties in Roxborough, again portraying the rural area as sparsely populated. The 1851 inventory included the Roxborough Baptist Church and Burial Ground, Dutch Reformed Burial Ground, Lutheran Church, a volunteer fire brigade called the Good Intent Engine Company, the poorhouse or almshouse, three schoolhouses, and two tollhouses associated with the Ridge Road Turnpike.76 Like Ellet’s map of 1843, John Levering’s Plan of the Township of Roxborough of 1848 depicts Roxborough as a linear village along Ridge Avenue, but also shows the very beginnings of suburban development along Green Lane as well as High Street (Lyceum Avenue).77 Houses on relatively small lots on a grid of streets first appear in Roxborough on the 1848 map. Suburban development was occurring along Ridge Avenue as well, especially in the lower section near the Wissahickon railroad station and other transportation options. For example, in 1850, a real estate advertisement offering a property at the corner of Ridge and Hermit Lane (now 559 Righter Street) extolled its easy access to transportation. “The situation is high and healthy, with a daily communication to and from the city, by Stages passing the door, or by Omnibuses connecting the Railroad at Wissahickon Railroad Bridge, and half a mile therefrom, and within half a mile of the Manayunk Steamboat Landing, affording an hourly conveyance to of from the city—thereby making it a desirable private Country Residence, or for a man of business, whose location is in the city.”78 While men of business may have commuted to Manayunk for managerial positions in the mills as early as the early 1840s, by 1850, men of business were living in Roxborough and commuting to the business center in the heart of Philadelphia. Describe your image As Roxborough began its transition in the 1840s from a farming and milling community to a suburb for the industrial area flourishing at nearby Manayunk, several institutions were established to support the growing population. In 1841, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Roxborough Lodge, No. 66, was established. The fraternal organization erected a hall at the northwest corner of Ridge and Lyceum. The Roxborough Lyceum, an educational organization that housed a consortium of libraries, was chartered in 1854 and erected a building on Ridge across from the Odd Fellows Hall in 1856. The Lyceum became the Roxborough Branch of the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1896. The German Lutheran Church was established in 1845 at Pechin and Martin Streets, on the boundary of Manayunk and Roxborough. The current church at the site dates to 1902. The Ridge Avenue Methodist Church was established in 1847. The first Methodist services were held in Yellow School House, before a church building was erected at Ridge and Shawmont. St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church was established in 1859 and a large church complex on Ridge near Shur's Lane was begun in 1862, when the sanctuary cornerstone was laid. The Church was consecrated 1863 and a tower added in 1871. The church was enlarged and a parish building constructed in 1874. The church was enlarged again in 1885 (Figure 32). Farther to the north, St. Alban's Episcopal Church was established in 1859 and a church building was erected on Fairthorne, just off Ridge, in 1861. In 1854, the City and County of Philadelphia were consolidated, ending more than a century and a half of independent government in Roxborough Township and incorporating the emerging suburb into the City of Philadelphia. With the consolidation, the newly annexed portions of Philadelphia were divided into wards. Roxborough comprised part of the 21st Ward, which included Roxborough, Manayunk, and Penn Township (East Falls and Allegheny West). In 1860, the 21st Ward had a population of 17,159. Samuel Smedley’s Atlas of the City of Philadelphia of 1862 shows that during the decade leading up to the Civil War, Leverington had emerged as a neighborhood in its own right within Roxborough, with twelve blocks of suburban development bounded by Ridge, Krams, Manayunk, and Martin on the west side of Ridge and more subdivision and construction along Leverington on the east Ridge (Figure 28).79 Describe your image This information has been posted by RMWHS with the permission of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Sections: 1 Intro and Nomination Form 2 Boundary and Description 3 Statement of Significance 4 Native Americans 5 Patent Holders and Early Settlers 6 Ridge Road 7 Early Roxborough 8 Georgian and Colonial Architecture 9 During the Revolutionary War 10 Federal Architecture 11 Development of Manayunk 12 Greek Revival Architecture 13 Early 19th Century 14 Gothic Revival Architecture 15 Italianate Architecture 16 During and After the Civil War 17 Second Empire Architecture 18 Queen Anne Architecture 19 Turn of the Century 20 Conclusion and Bibliography 66 Public Ledger, 3 December 1836, p. 3. 67 Public Ledger, 19 January 1839, p. 4. 68 Public Ledger, 30 October 1839, p. 4. 69 Public Ledger, 24 December 1844, p. 4. 70 Stagecoaches had traveled Ridge Road since the eighteenth century. For example, in 1834, a stagecoach line ran regular service between the City of Philadelphia and Norristown, leaving the City at 3:00 p.m. daily and arriving in Norristown “early the same evening,” and leaving Norristown for the City at 7:00 a.m. An announcement of the line noted that “Passengers will be taken up and set down in any part of Philadelphia or Norristown.” Philadelphia As It Is (Philadelphia: P.J. Gray, 1834), p. 125. 71 Public Ledger, 14 November 1840, p. 3. 72 Public Ledger, 7 July 1842, p. 3. 73 Competing with the Philadelphia, Germantown & Norristown Railroad for commuters to Manayunk, J.W. Funck offered a combination rail and boat service to Manayunk as early as 1848. He operated railroad passenger cars from 3rd and Willow Streets to Fairmount, where passengers connected with a steamboat to Laurel Hill and Manayunk. The service ran at 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. and then every 30 minutes from 1:30 p.m. through the afternoon. See Public Ledger, 21 June 1848, p. 4. 74 Public Ledger, 24 April 1839, p. 1. 75 Horace H. Platten and William Lawton, The History of the Roxborough Masonic Lodge, No. 135 (Philadelphia: The Centennial Committee of the Roxborough Masonic Lodge, No. 135, 1913). 76 Elihud Tarr, Memorial of the Commissioners of the County of Philadelphia to the Legislature upon the Subject of the Laws Exempting Certain Property from Taxation, Together with a Schedule of Exempt Property (Philadelphia: The County Commissioners, 1851). 77 John Levering, Plan of the Township of Roxborough with the property holders' names &c. Manayunk, published by M. Dripps, 1848. 78 Public Ledger, 26 July 1850, p. 4. 79 Samuel L. Smedley, Atlas of the City of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1862). Top of page

0bde0beb-8c39-44b3-9265-153294e93123 Main Street Manayunk Historic District Economic Development The development of Manayunk as a significant regional and industrial center was due to construction of the Manayunk Canal. While Manayunk continued to flourish as a manufacturing center into the 1930s, it is the 19th century industrial development, which is of historic significance. Before the canal was opened in 1819, industry located in Manayunk because of the access to water; pre-canal industries included grist mills, glass and paper, iron rolling and wood screw production. Industries were typically small scale, serving a local market. After completion of the canal, Manayunk quickly expanded as a center of diverse small scale industrial production including cotton, drugs, oak grinding, and the manufacturing of hat bodies and paper. The construction of the canal brought three potential benefits for industry: 1. The availability of coal for industrial production. 2. The availability of waterpower. 3. Transportation of raw materials and finished goods. Realizing the value of the newly available waterpower, the Schuylkill Navigation Company began marketing this valuable industrial commodity. The first waterpower was sold to Captain John Towers on April 10, 1819, and he proceeded to construct the first mill in Manayunk, on land formerly part of the Levering estate. In 1820, Charles Hagner constructed the second mill, between Green Lane and Leverington Street, for the preparation of Oil and grinding of drugs, and subsequently other mills were constructed. During the 1820s, the scale of industrial production magnified, and operations increasingly focused on cotton textile production. By 1828, 10 mills were in operation with 6 homes under construction. A commentator described Manayunk in 1828 as follows: "I rode over to a new village called Manayunk, lying about 4 miles above me on the left bank of the Schuylkill, it is flourishing and increasing in dwelling houses and mills. I visited the largest cotton factory, belonging to Mr. Boris and Mr. Jerome Keating. These gentlemen have a 4-story stone building, 200' long, containing 4,500 spindles and one hundred and twenty power looms, all worked by about 200 persons. " Many of the area’s first factories combined assembly line production with forms of cottage industry. Because a large portion of Manayunk labor force was unskilled, there was substantial technological innovation. In. contrast, competing textile centers such as Kensington, with it skilled hand weavers, were slow to adopt mechanization. Mechanization led to increased labor organization and some of the unions were organized in Manayunk in the 1830s. The national depression of the late 1870s ended the early diverse phase of industrial growth and reinforced cotton textile manufacturing as the dominant industry of Manayunk. The scale of production continued to increase, many of the first mill structures were demolished and redeveloped as larger multi-story structures to accommodate new industrial processes. Describe your image With the commencement of the Civil War, cotton from the South became unavailable resulting in the closing of many mills. Surviving mill owners switched to wool to supply the needs of the Union Army. After the war, wool and wool blend textiles continued to be an important aspect of Manayunk industry while cotton industries declined. Because of competition from mills in the South, industrial specialization prevailed with factories linking their output to a few steps in the production process, selling their materials to other factories. By the end of the century, Manayunk factories were producing standard cotton and wool fabrics, as well as carpet yarns, silks, "shoddy" blends, hosiery, dress goods, cashmere, jeans, and other articles. Despite this diversification, the first generation of mill owners such as Ripka and Schofield, who prospered before the Civil War, continued to define the structure of Manayunk industry. After the war, the rate of industrial expansion declined, and the new mills were generally less profitable. While textile and textile related production continued to be important through the 1920s, the manufacture of paper, soap, chemicals increased in importance until the Depression. Today, although no longer a regionally significant location for industrial activity, Manayunk remains a relatively satisfactory location for existing industries. Factors contributing to the area’s longevity include easy access to the interstate highway system, a stable community, availability of water, and physical isolation from the deteriorated sections of the City. This information has been posted by RMWHS with the permission of the Philadelphia Historical Commission. Sections: 1 Intro and Nomination Form 2 Description 3 Significance of Manayunk 4 The Schuylkill Canal 5 Schuylkill Navigation Company 6 Manayunk Canal 7 Economic Development 8 Manayunk Social Development 9 The Industry of Venice Island 10 Main Street Manayunk 11 Bibliography 12 Boundary Details 13 Map Top of page