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  • Historical Maps 1982

    Historical Maps 1982 < Previous > Back to Historical Map List < Next > 1982 - Manayunk Canal (Part 2) Source: URL: Free Library of Philadelphia https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/48042 Full Name: Manayunk Canal, 1982, Map 2 Visit the source URL to use zoom features, find additional formats, or download a high quality image.

  • Historical Maps 1855

    Historical Maps 1855 < Previous > Back to Historical Map List < Next > 1855 - Consolidated City of Phila Source: URL: Free Library of Philadelphia https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/11728 Full Name: New Map of the Consolidated City of Philadelphia, 1855, Map Visit the source URL to use zoom features, find additional formats, or download a high quality image.

  • rev-leverington-cemetery

    Memorials of the 21st Ward < Back to Memorials List Revolutionary Soldiers Memorial (Leverington Cemetery) Address: 6075 Ridge Ave, Philadelphia, PA 19128, USA Visitors: The Revolutionary Soldiers Memorial is located within the Leverington Cemetery. While the cemetery is private property, access to it is available to the public during daylight hours only. Access to this memorial must be done on foot via a gravel path and across the cemetery grounds (grass). This could be a difficult route for anyone unsure of foot, and quite onerous for a wheelchair even in the best of weather conditions. Dogs are permitted in the cemetery but must be leashed and picked up after. Please be mindful of others in the cemetery 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 .

  • RMWHS | RARHD | Georgian and Colonial Architecture

    9c89da16-ca78-44e6-a7d2-0d24c5906b7d Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District Georgian and Colonial Architecture The Georgian style was the dominant architectural style of the English colonies from the early eighteenth century to about 1780, but forms of the style persisted in some areas to as late as 1830. Although the style derives its name from England’s King George, the buildings in this style in Roxborough probably owe as much to Germany as to Britain, and therefore may be more appropriately referred to as simply Colonial in style. Georgian or Colonial style houses were typically side-gabled, two-story boxes with windows and doors arranged in strict symmetry. Additions were often constructed to the sides or rears as new needs arose. Georgian houses in northwest Philadelphia were typically constructed of Wissahickon schist. Relatively simple buildings, they were typically ornamented with molded cornices, door surrounds, and, in the early years, with pent eaves. The buildings typically featured shed or pedimented dormers. The Georgian vernacular farmhouse at 900 Northwestern Avenue is one of the oldest surviving buildings in Roxborough (Figure 17). The ancient farmhouse stands with an early barn on a rural lot at the northern edge of Roxborough, providing an impression of township during its bucolic, farming days. The house has been dated to 1690 and the barn to 1700 by one local historian. While dates for the buildings have not yet been thoroughly documented, they more likely are situated in the 1720s, when Hans George John owned the property.57 The whitewashed stone house with shake roof, which sits very low to the ground, includes many of the features of early German Colonial buildings in southeastern Pennsylvania: pent eaves, shed and gabled dormers, large chimneys, and multi-paned windows. The tall stone barn with steeply pitched roof is typical of early German-American construction. The twin house at 7549 and 7551 Ridge Avenue is an excellent example of a Georgian vernacular building (Figure 18). It is a symmetrical, side-gabled, two-story, stone building set low to the ground with a steeply pitched roof. Although the buildings include informal date stones on the front facades reading 1717 and 1784, it appears that the building was not constructed as early as 1717, but was actually constructed at some point after 1764. While marketing the 179¼-acre property, which was roughly bounded by Ridge Road and the Wissahickon Creek and the current lines of Shawmont and Wigard Avenues, for sale in 1764, John Malcolm advertised it as: A Valuable Plantation, in Roxborough Township, about nine miles from Philadelphia, containing 180 Acres, 100 of which is well wooded, the rest clear, and under Fence, with a good Log-house, Barn and Stable, 6 acres watered meadow, and more may be made, a Well of excellent Water by the Door, an Orchard of the best Newtown Pippins. The Situation is exceedingly high, commands an extensive Prospect. 58 Malcolm made no mention of the two-story stone house on Ridge Road in his 1764 advertisement offering the property for sale, but only mentioned a log house, barn, and stable. Malcolm sold the property in 1764 to Andrew Crawford. The property was held by members of the Crawford family during the later eighteenth century, when the existing two-story, stone, twin building was likely constructed.59 Describe your image Several other significant eighteenth-century buildings stand along Ridge Avenue in Roxborough including the twin houses at 6633 and 6635 Ridge Avenue, the twin houses at 7616-18 Ridge Avenue, the buildings at 6835 Ridge Avenue and 7625 Ridge Avenue. All are two-story, side-gable, stone buildings with dormers. The vernacular stone building at 7701 Ridge Avenue is an unusual survivor; dating to about 1790, the small, side-gable, stone building has 2-½ stories with half-height windows at the top floor, a fenestration style that would become prevalent in the middle third of the nineteenth century. 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 57 Jim Duffin kindly provided his research into the property, which concludes that the house was likely built by Hans George John in the 1720s, not the 1690s, as others have claimed. 58 Pennsylvania Gazette, 1 March 1764, p. 3. 59 The 180-acre property was sold by the Pennsylvania Land Company to John Malcolm in 1763 (Deed Book H-19-202); from John Malcolm to Andrew Crawford in 1764 (Deed Book H-19-213). It passed by will to Hugh Crawford and then to Ann, Mary, Jane, and Hugh Crawford Jr. by will in 1783. Top of page

  • RMWHS | RARHD | Ridge Road

    c03e0f0b-21ea-4b0e-8e9c-b06dcf4ae808 Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District Ridge Road In 1686, before Europeans settled Roxborough, Mary Farmar, the widow of Major Jasper Farmar, discovered large deposits of lime on her 5,000-acre estate in Plymouth Township, Montgomery County. In 1687, the residents of Plymouth Township petitioned the Court of the Quarter Sessions to lay out a roadway from Philadelphia to the Township to transport the lime, which was valuable as a building material, especially in a city where brick construction would become predominant. The residents of Plymouth Township again petitioned the Court of the Quarter Sessions “to grant them a common Cartway or Road to extend from Wissahickon Mills [where the Wissahickon flowed into the Schuylkill] up into the Perkioming Creek” [in Collegeville] in March 1706. That same year, surveyor Thomas Fairman certified that he had laid out the road as ordered by the Court. In June 1706, the Court directed Fairman to survey the road leading from the City of Philadelphia at 6th and Sassafras (Arch) Streets to Wissahickon Mills so that it could be confirmed. In 1707, Fairman reported to the Court that he had surveyed the road, which had existed but had not been confirmed. In 1709, the road was extended from Collegeville west to Manatawny (Pottstown). Ridge Avenue was known by many names during its first century including the Great Road, King’s Road, Wissahiccon Road, Plymouth Road, Manatawny Road, and Reading Road. Describe your image At several points during the eighteenth century, in 1723, 1753, 1786, and 1797, the route of the Ridge Road from the western bank of the Wissahickon to the top of the ridge, where Ridge, Righter, and Hermit intersect today, was shifted to ease travel up the steep hill. By the end of the eighteenth century, this section of the Ridge Road was established on its current line (Figure 9). 20 Describe your image To help orient travelers, milestones marking the distance from the City of Philadelphia were placed along Ridge Road in the middle of the eighteenth century. On 12 August 1768, Jacob Hiltzheimer noted in his diary that he “Went up the Wissahockon Road to set milestones.” 21 A Plan of the City of Philadelphia and Environs Surveyed by John Hills of 1808 identifies the locations of some of the milestones along Ridge Road. The Milestone 6 was located immediately west of the bridge across the Wissahickon. Milestone 7 was located near the intersection with Rittenhouse Lane, now Walnut Lane. Milestone 8 was located near the current intersection on Ridge Avenue and Gates Street. Milestones 9, 10, and 11 were not depicted on the map, but would have been located west of Domino Lane, at Port Royal Avenue, and at the Montgomery County line, respectively. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the milestones on Ridge Road were used like addresses. For example, in 1837, the National Gazette advertised a farm for rent “on the Ridge road, near the eight mile stone… The location of this property is on the most elevated part of Roxborough, and for salubrity and fertility cannot be excelled by any in the vicinity of the city.” 22 In 1841, John Parker and David Millar offered a $2 reward for “a brown COW, some white on her forehead with large horns,” which had strayed away “in Roxborough township, Ridge Road, near the seven mile stone.” 23 Ridge Road was an important trade route, providing access to the interior of Pennsylvania and beyond. Freight was hauled in Conestoga wagons (Figure 10). James Logan, secretary to William Penn, appears to have coined the term Conestoga wagon in 1717. Logan ran freight wagons between Philadelphia and the Conestoga Valley in Lancaster County. In 1787, Benjamin Rush described the Conestoga wagon as "a large strong waggon covered with linen cloth is an essential part of the furniture of a German farm. It is pulled by four or five large horses of a particular breed, and will carry 2000 to 3000 pounds." The Conestoga wagon’s curved shape prevented cargo from shifting as it traversed rough terrain. The large, broad wheels allowed the wagon to maneuver in ruts and mud. Rush noted that, during the fall harvest season, "on the road between Philadelphia and the Valley you'll see 50 to 100 [Conestoga wagons] a day." Wagon traffic was significant. More than 10,000 wagons made the trip to Philadelphia annually by 1775. Convoys sometimes included as many as 100 wagons on a single train. As historian David McCullough has noted: the crowds and noise [in the center of eighteenth-century Philadelphia] seemed overwhelming … on market days, Wednesdays and Saturdays, when German-speaking country people came rolling into town in huge farm wagons loaded with produce, live chickens, pigs, and cattle. The “thundering of coaches, chariots, chaises, wagons, drays, and the whole fraternity of noise almost continually assails our ears,” complained a visiting physician. [Continental Congress] delegate Stephen Hopkins from Rhode Island counted one day seventy farm wagons on Market Street. 24 Describe your image As the population expanded westward, Conestoga wagons leaving Philadelphia took one of three main routes: over the Appalachian Mountains to Pittsburgh where the freight was then shipped downriver into the Ohio Valley; along the National Road connecting Baltimore and Frederick, Maryland with Wheeling, West Virginia and eventually to Vandalia, Illinois by 1852; and down the Great Wagon Road through the valley of Virginia into North Carolina. Wagoners with horse-drawn Conestoga wagons carried supplies and finished goods westward on three-to four-week journeys and returned with flour, whiskey, tobacco, and other products. In addition to the long-distance trade, wagoners moved cargo locally and regionally, hauling agricultural products, lumber and other building materials, and various other goods. Shipping companies, like Philadelphia’s Inland Transportation Office, hauled “Goods, Mdze. &c., by waggons to … Pittsburgh, Wheeling, Lancaster, and all other parts of the Western Country” (Figure 11). 25 As one witness reminisced: When Conestoga wagons roamed the highways of Pennsylvania before freight trains appeared, Ridge road was the direct route to and from that astonishingly fat region, the Schuylkill Valley. From Berks, Lebanon, and Montgomery poured an endless string of Conestogas, hauled by great horses -- often four to a team. Down that valley poured the output of America’s first iron works. At certain seasons Ridge road was white with lime wagons from the kilns about Bridgeport. Indeed, a great part of the city’s bread and butter flowed down the Ridge. 26 Describe your image Inns and taverns along Ridge Road provided food and shelter for travelers. The first, the Leverington Hotel, was erected in 1731 at what is now the southeast corner of Ridge Ave. and Leverington Street. It was demolished by real estate mogul Albert M. Greenfield in 1925. 27 Located at the top of the steep hill at the eastern edge of the ridge, where Ridge, Hermit, and Righter intersect today, the Plough Tavern was constructed in 1746. After housing travelers on the Ridge Road, the building was used for many purposes including as an almshouse and church. It was abandoned in 1925 and demolished in 1937. 28 The Sorrel Horse Tavern, located on Ridge Road above Port Royal, was erected in 1785. When it sold in 1867, the “valuable hotel property, known as the ‘Old Sorrel Horse Tavern’” was described as “a 2½-story stone house, 4 rooms and a large hall on the first floor, 4 rooms on second floor, and 3 rooms on third floor; a large stone barn, stabling and shedding sufficient to accommodate 30 to 40 horses, ice house, and 3 wells of never-failing water.” 29 In 1878, the Sorrel Horse Inn was described as “once famous, but now empty.” 30 The tavern was used by the Roxborough Passenger Railway Company, but eventually demolished. During the eighteenth century, Ridge Road was poorly maintained and passage could be difficult, as is evidenced by this account by the Duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt: On the twentieth of April [1795] Mr. Guillemard, Caleb Lownes, and myself, set out on horseback from Philadelphia, through Ridge Road, on our way to Norris Town. This road, like all the public roads in Pennsylvania, is very bad, for provision is brought to that city from all parts in large and heavy laden wagons. The constant passage of these wagons destroys the roads, especially near the town, where several of them meet. Ridge Road is almost impassible. 31 In response to the poor travel conditions, the Ridge Turnpike Company was founded to improve Ridge Road (Figure 12). Chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 30 March 1811, the company was authorized to sell 1,500 shares of stock at $50 per share and to build a macadamized road, not less than 40 feet, nor more than 60 feet in width, from the intersection of 10th and Vine Streets at the edge of the City of Philadelphia to the bridge over the Perkiomen in Montgomery County. The Company was also responsible for all of the road’s maintenance and repairs. 32 Construction of the 23½-mile road was completed in 1816 at a cost of $7,500 per mile. The Ridge Turnpike was never profitable, in part because of the competition of the nearby Germantown Turnpike, which also led to the Perkiomen Bridge, and in part because teamsters avoided the steep grade up the ridge to the west of the bridge over the Wissahickon. In 1825, the Ridge Turnpike Company collected about $10,000 in tolls, but faced about $10,000 in expenses. That year, the company paid no dividends and carried about $140,000 in debt. 33 The numbers of Conestoga wagons in the United States increased year after year until the 1830s, when canals began competing with them for freight hauling. In the east, railroads replaced Conestoga wagons and canals by the 1850s. However, the prairie schooner, a lightweight, flat variant of the Conestoga wagon, carried pioneer settlers from Missouri to the West Coast. And the Conestoga wagon remained in use on farms in Pennsylvania well into the twentieth century (Figure 13). 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 20 See Joseph S. Miles and William H. Cooper, A Historical Sketch of Roxborough, Manayunk, Wissahickon (Philadelphia: G. Fein & Co., 1940). P. 17-19. 21 Joshua L. Bailey Jr., “Old Milestones about Philadelphia, Illustrated,” Bulletin of the Friends’ Historical Society of Philadelphia, vol. 9, no. 2, November 1919, p. 46-62; Jacob Cox Parsons, ed., Extracts from the Diary of Jacob Hiltzheimer: Of Philadelphia. 1765-1798 (Philadelphia: Wm. F. Fell & Co., 1893), p. 15. 22 The National Gazette, 2 February 1837, p. 3. 23 Public Ledger, 27 September 1841, p. 3. 24 David McCullough, American History E-book Set (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011), n.p. 25 See, for example, advertisements for the Inland Transportation Office, National Gazette, 27 December 1823, p. 2; National Gazette, 9 January 1824, p. 3. 26 Inquirer, 9 April 1929, p. 10. 27 “Northwest Expect Realty Boom Soon,” Inquirer, 19 July 1925, p. 55. 28 “Famed Inn Must Go,” Inquirer, 25 October 1937, p. 17. 29 Inquirer, 30 October 1867, p. 8. 30 “An Old Tony Weller: The Tales He Tells of the Coaching Days of Yore, The Times, 3 May 1878, p. 1. 31 Duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt, Travels through the United States of North America, the Country of the Iroquois, and Upper Canada, in the Years 1795, 1796, and 1797, with an Authentic Account of Lower Canada (London, 1797), vol. 1, p. 2-3. 32 “Ridge Avenue Passenger Railway Company v. City of Philadelphia,” July 15, 1897, The Atlantic Reporter 37 (May 5-August 25, 1897): 910. 33 Donald C. Jackson, “Turnpikes in Southeastern Pennsylvania,” in Judith A. McGaw, ed., Early American Technology: Making and Doing Things From the Colonial Era to 1850 (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1994), p. 232-233. Top of page

  • RMWHS | MSMHD | Significance of Manayunk

    ebe23022-30e2-4180-ba72-cae936393e05 Main Street Manayunk Historic District Significance of Manayunk Manayunk played a significant role in the development of Philadelphia as a major industrial and commercial center in the 19th century. During this period of industrial development, manufacturing shifted from small cottage industry to large plants which mass produced goods. Large scale manufacturing depended upon waterpower to run machinery, and access to water transportation, for raw materials and finished goods. Describe your image The Manayunk Canal, the only intact portion of the Schuylkill Canal System remaining, represents an important period in the development of transportation systems in the United States. Manayunk developed in direct response to the transportation and waterpower opportunities provided by construction of the canal. The physical development of Manayunk paralleled the growth of other 19th century mill towns, particularly Rochdale, Pennsylvania, and Lowell, Massachusetts, with the location of mills adjacent to the water source, and residential and commercial development in close proximity. However, unlike these communities Manayunk was not a company owned and operated town -- industry was able to diversify more easily in response to changing market conditions -- and the town continued to grow in the late nineteenth and early 20th centuries. Describe your image As well as the canal and lock structures, many architecturally significant buildings remain, representing all phases of Manayunk's development There are several 3-5 story stone mill buildings dating from the 1850s, together with many groups of stucco and stone, mill worker row houses of the same era. The late 19th century commercial development is exemplified by several brick commercial and warehouse buildings. 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

  • Historical Maps 1861

    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.

  • RMWHS | Details on Historic Banner Images

    Roxborough Manayunk Wissahickon Historical Society strives to preserve and promote local history, art, and culture. Learn about the historic images used on the RMWHS website. RMWHS Website Images The changing images in the RMWHS website have generated questions -- Who is in that photo? What building is that? When was the photo taken and where? And the most common question: How can I stop the images from changing so I can study them better? To address the questions, the individual images have been provided below with some details and a few links to help you discover more about the Roxborough Manayunk Wissahickon area. If you have more questions about the images, contact us . Likewise, if you can identify any of the faces in the group shots, please contact us . Shawmont Station is the oldest surviving passenger train station in America. Built in the 18 20s , the building became a train station a decade later and was in use until 1991 and was whistle stop until 1995. In 2008, Shawmont was placed on Philadelphia's Register of Historic Places, as the oldest passenger railroad station in America. Owned by SEPTA, the unused building fell further into disrepair until January 2023 when $1.2M of structural renovations began. For more see the Shawmont Station historic profile in our Local Landmarks section. Valley Green Inn , built in 1850, is one of the most recognizable buildings in the area as photos of it grace many local interest and travel sites. Originally it was named Edward Rinker's Temperance Tavern after the man who built it in 1850. Today, Valley Green is one of the last remaining roadhouses and taverns that had once dotted the banks of the Wissahickon in the 19th Century. Pencoyd Iron Works 1884 - This photo was donated by the family of George Maurice Miller (Miller is standing on far left in a short hat with beard and mustache). Born in 1864, Miller graduated from Lehigh University at the age of 16 in 1880. He was approximately 20 years old in this photograph. Miller was said to have been a very hard worker. On November 14, 1900, he purchased the building near the intersection of Ridge, Righter & Hermit from the Adams family to live in. The house had formerly served as a City Poor House. This image of the Schuylkill Bridge was taken during construction in May 1925. It is one image in a series currently on display in the RMWHS Archive. Other photos in the series include the stripping beam forms, removing the centers, the underside of the bridge, and a group shot of the construction crew and other team members. The crew shot is a particular favorite of visitors to the Archive for the clarity of the image, range of expressions, and the playfulness of one prankster in the group. The Rag Girls at Hamilton Paper Mill were responsible for sorting old clothing, sailcloth, ropes and other bits of discarded fibrous materials that were used in the production of paper. The sorting of these "rags" directly determined the type and quality of paper that was made in any given batch. It was a dirty and sometimes dangerous job as the materials sorted could carry germs, disease, and pests. Can you identify anyone in this photo? If so, please let us know. This Restaurant was located at 4147-49 Main Street Manayunk which became the New Umbria Baptist Church following the church's move from Umbria to Main Street several decades ago. While the brick front was refaced with white stucco long ago, the distinct arched window and door openings remain to this day as does the keystone accent featured at the top of each rounded arch. The Roxborough Reservoir Preserve (formerly Upper Roxborough Water Reservoir) on Port Royal and Lare provided this most tranquil view in March 2020. The 35-acre water basin was created in the 1880s to supply water to the growing Roxborough population but today is a nature preserve and part of our city's park system. A trail circles the preserve and is enjoyed regularly by walkers, bikers, birdwatchers, and photographers alike. To learn more about the history and the transformation, see the RDC's 2019 news story: Roxborough Reservoir Preserve is One of Philadelphia’s Hidden Gems . This image of the Main Street Market in Manayunk is dated to the 1920s as was determined by the bags of salt located behind the clerk. This particular brand only used that label in the early 1920s. Little else is known about this market, the clerk, or the reason he posed for the photo. Like the image below, the section shown here accounts for less than 1/4 of the original photograph. It was cropped tightly on the clerk and counter to allow us to show the detail of the scan. The full-size scan allowed archivists to study the products on the shelves and estimate the date the image was taken. Chas. E. Lentz Garage was located at 6655 Ridge Avenue. This image is only a small part of the original photo and accounts for about 1/4th of the overall image. The full photo shows cars parked along Ridge Ave on the left. And to the right, much of the house is visible. However, like the photo above, the the drastic cropping of the original image was necessary to highlight the details. In fact, the scan of this image is such a high quality, the bolts on the wheels are visible when it is viewed at full size. The William Levering School was built as a one room school house in 1748 and named for the man who donated the land. The first school was built of logs and was used not only for a school, but also for a church and political meetings. The school expanded and was rebuilt a number of times, but William Levering School was finally closed in 2013, after 265 years of educating the children of our community. Can you identify anyone in this photo? If so, please let us know. We appreciate your feedback. Contact us.

  • RMWHS | RARHD | Queen Anne Architecture

    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

  • RMWHS | Cemetery Records

    The RMWHS Archive contains: books, photos, slides, negatives, maps, flyers, poster, pamphlets, genealogies, vinyl recordings, deeds, scrapbooks, newspapers, school year books, manuscripts, cemetery records, and much more. Cemetery Records RMWHS currently has: Leverington Cemetery thousands of transcribed burial records tombstone records map (below) Roxborough Baptist Church original burial books for various years map (in Archive) If you would like to request a burial look-up, contact us . Note: RMWHS is not computerized. All resources must be searched through manually and it can be a slow process. If visiting the area, please contact us as far in advance as possible if you plan to pick up research info. We are open by appointment only so please keep that in mind when traveling to our area. Appointments and calls with our Archivist can be requested online . RESEARCH TIPS: Always check www.findagrave.com . This information is posted by volunteers and is free to access. This is a good starting point but cemeteries, churches, and historical societies have additional more info. Be sure to try variations of the surname spelling and cast a wide net -- if the name is William Smith, try W Smith as you may otherwise miss Willie or Wm. Also try spelling various on the surname or a *asterisk as a wildcard to get wider results. Keep looking even if you think you have it all. Funeral homes & undertakers logs, coroner reports, doctors notes, there are often more death event documents that could be found if you keep digging and they could hold valuable you're looking for such as next of kin, home addresses, obit placement, memberships, veteran status, and more. Leverington Cemetery Map

  • Historical Maps 1847

    Historical Maps 1847 < Previous > Back to Historical Map List < Next > 1847 - Phila & 10 Miles Around Source: URL: Free Library of Philadelphia https://libwww.freelibrary.org/digital/item/42118 Full Name: Map of the Circuit of Ten Miles Around the City of Philadelphia, 1847, Map Visit the source URL to use zoom features, find additional formats, or download a high quality image.

  • RMWHS | RMWHS in the News

    News articles and interviews about or informed by the Roxborough Manayunk Wissahickon Historical Society and/or it's members. RMWHS In the News If you are aware of a newspaper, magazine, website, or other source that has written about, quoted, or mentioned RMWHS, please let us know. 2023-11-12 -- Roxborough Manayunk Wissahickon Historical Society switching things up with Nov. 15 online ‘Show and Tell’ 2023-04-21 -- Pa. State House honors Sylvia Myers 2023-02-17 -- SEPTA begins work on Shawmont Station restoration 2022-07-29 -- Community invited to help shape RMWHS Image Collection 2021-02-07 -- RMWHS celebrates Black History Month with a spotlight on artist Claude Clark 2020-12-13 -- R MWHS Launches New Website 2020-11-17 -- RMWHS looks ahead into the digital age 2020-02-24 -- Natural Selections: Manayunk and Manatawna: Our Lenape Place Names 2019-09-10 -- Get the picture with special session of Roxborough Manayunk Historical Society 2018-11-17 -- New sign dedicated at Leverington Cemetery in Roxborough 2018-03-14 -- Roxborough Manayunk Wissahickon Historical Society dedicated to preserving the past 2017-11-15 -- NATURAL SELECTIONS: Proposed city council bill — ‘more than just a moratorium’ for Roxborough area 2017-09-20 -- Roxborough Manayunk Wissahickon Historical Society presentation to focus on Schuylkill Navigation 2017-06-28 -- Annual Roxborough Independent Day Parade to step off Tuesday 2017-05-18 -- Roxborough Manayunk Wissahickon Historical Society speaker to discuss new Museum of the American Revolution 2017-04-18 -- Filmmaker to share history documentary with Roxborough Manayunk Wissahickon Historical Society 2016-06-03 -- NATURAL SELECTIONS: Plymouth Meeting struggles with possible loss of piece of history 2015-11-13 -- NATURAL SELECTIONS: Save the Shawmont Station 2015-07-02 -- A Tribute to Samuel Lawson, Founder of the Local Independence Day Parade of Churches and Sunday Schools 2015-05-22 -- NATURAL SELECTIONS: Why is Ridge Avenue there? 2015-04-14 -- Historical Society to discuss Upper Roxborough 2015-03-11 -- Upcoming historical society meeting discusses Civil War 2014-11-07 -- Talking historical homes at the next RMWHS meeting 2014-09-02 -- Talking about Lincoln's relationship 2014-08-19 -- Historical Society receive articles on Mt Vernon Church 2014-07-03 -- A Tribute to Samuel Lawson, Founder of the Local Independence Day Parade of Churches and Sunday Schools 2014-04-16 -- Discussing the famous inventors of Our Town 2014-04-15 -- Save Our History 2014-03-27 -- Historical Society showcases vintage WWI & WWII posters 2012-12-11 -- Judgement on the Bunting House to come by week's end 2012-11-02 -- Spirits abound in Hermit's Glen 2012-09-26 -- UPDATED: Bunting House receives 30-day reprieve from demolition, negotiations on future still continue 2012-09-24 -- UPDATED: Residents want historic building saved from wrecking ball 2012-06-29 -- A history of Our Town's parade 2011-09-01 -- RMWHS releases new book ‘Roxborough’ (Arcadia Press) 2010-09-21 -- Vintage baseball 2010-09-21 -- No namby pamby players: vintage ballists recreate old time baseball 2010-08-13 -- A treasure trove of memories 2010-02-03 -- Thinking first and then acting out : Manayunk-raised artist Claude Clark 2009-11-17 -- A celebration of thanksgiving and history 2009-04-22 -- RMWHS hosts tour of Founders Hall at Girard College 2009-03-18 -- Roxborough Manayunk Wissahickon Historical Society receives a real gem 2009-02-25 -- Celebrating 150 years of God & service 2009-02-18 -- Now accepting applications for ‘Mr. Nick Award ’ to honor RMWHS’ Nicholas G. Myers 2009-02-11 -- Knowledge is for all time essay contest 2008-11-12 -- Historical Society meeting talks sports 2008-07-09 -- A new sign commemorates 1777 Woods Barn massacre 2008-07-06 -- Shawmont Train Station now a city landmark (Register of Historic Places) 2008-03-26 -- 'Liberty or Death' at the RMWHS 2008-02-20 -- 'Knowledge is for all time': Mr. Nick Myers award essay contest returns 2008-01-09 -- Landmark 22 foot Garner Mural moves out 2007-12-05 -- Celebrating 100 years of linking lives 2007-11-21 -- Historical society makes history (RMWHS 40th Anniversary) 2007-11-21 -- David Young speaking at society anniversary meeting 2007-07-04 -- Remembering Wood's Barn : A Revolutionary War Tragedy 2005-11-09 -- A new and improved archive room for RMWHS 2005-07-06 -- Fourth of July is a tradition in Roxborough. 2004-04-21 -- Beauty found at reservoir 2003-05-07 -- Professional musician has done it all 2003-05-01 -- Another disease epidemic is recalled 2003-04-18 -- Young man makes movie on 21st Ward 2001-10-10 -- The Civil War sentinel has returned to cemetery post

  • RMWHS | RARHD | Gothic Revival Architecture

    900b2961-dce5-49a4-8644-344cdeebb707 Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District Gothic Revival Architecture The picturesque Gothic Revival style was popularized by landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing’s Cottage Residences, first published in 1842 and reprinted in many editions in the mid and late nineteenth century. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, American architecture styles, including Georgian, Adam, Federal, and Greek Revival, were predicated on Classical forms and vocabulary. In the early nineteenth century, as industry grew, rural areas transitioned into suburbs, a middle class emerged, and the field of architecture was professionalized in the United States. Those architects proposed a new architectural vocabulary appropriate for housing in suburban environments. In 1837, architect Andrew Jackson Davis (1803-92) published Rural Residences, in which he drew from British sources to champion the Gothic Revival style for domestic architecture for the first time in America. Rural Residences was influential, but the Gothic Revival style for American domestic architecture was catapulted into collective national consciousness by landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing (1815-52), a friend and collaborator with Davis, who published A Treatise of the Theory and Practice of Landscape Gardening (1841), followed by Cottage Residences (1842), and The Architecture of Country Houses (1850). In his books, Downing popularized the modest-sized, inexpensive detached cottage in a suburban or rural setting. Downing’s pattern books provided multiple design suggestions for this type of dwelling, ranging from a small suburban cottage to a villa in the Italian style. By the mid-1840s, the picturesque Gothic or Gothic Revival style of architecture began to increase in popularity for residences, largely due to Downing’s pattern books. Downing’s Cottage Residences is considered “one of the most widely used books in American architectural literature.”80 Downing’s The Architecture of Country Houses, a companion to Cottage Residences, has been called a “seminal” book in American architecture. According to the National Historic Landmark nomination for the Rotch House, a Gothic Revival house in New Bedford, Massachusetts designed by Davis in 1845, “the publication and eventual dissemination and popularity of Downing’s Country Houses became a watershed event in the evolution of American domestic architecture, and today cultural historians recognize the book’s significant consequences for the shaping of popular taste in the pre-Civil War period.”81 While his books included many details of house and landscape designs, Downing provided the designs as suggestions, which a builder could adapt to the site and the needs of the homeowner. Downing’s books, in collaboration with Davis, who provided many of the architectural designs and illustrations, inspired the design of numerous cottage residences in rural and suburban settings, leading to an era characterized by these types of Victorian cottage residences. A rural, rather than urban, setting was considered important to the Gothic Revival style, as the building was intended to be compatible with the natural landscape, not situated on a narrow urban lot.82 The primary distinguishing characteristic of the Gothic Revival style is the centered cross gable roof with decorated barge boards. Other characteristics include finials, steeply pitched roofs, pointed arch lancet windows extending into the gables, and open entry and full-width porches with flattened, pointed Gothic arches. One of the best examples of the Gothic Revival style in Roxborough is the Amos Barnes House at 559 Righter Street, at the intersection of Ridge, Righter, and Hermit. Constructed of Wissahickon schist about 1856, the Barnes House effectively represents the Gothic Revival style with Victorian Cottage elements, as reflected in the center cross gable decorative barge board at the roofline. Originally, the building had a full-width front porch and lancet window at the gable (Figure 29). Other excellent examples of the Gothic Revival style on Ridge Avenue include the houses at 5508 Ridge Avenue, which includes the centered cross gable, arched gable windows, and full-width front porch; and 8029 Ridge Avenue, which includes the centered cross gable, lancet windows, and a highly ornamented, full-width, front porch. The building at 8029 Ridge Avenue is unique in that it is clad in wood shiplap siding rather than masonry. Also, rather than decorative bargeboards, it has bracketed cornices, linking it to the Italianate style as well. 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 80 Adolf K.Placzek, “Preface to the Dover Edition,” in Andrew Jackson Downing, Victorian Cottage Residences (New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1981), p. iii. 81 Peggi Medeiros and William E. Krattinger, National Historic Landmark Nomination for William J. Rotch Gothic Cottage, designated February 17, 2006, p. 9. 82 Leland M. Roth, A Concise History of American Architecture (New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1979), p. 100-103; Virginia & Lee. McAlester, A Field Guide to American Houses (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), p. 200. Top of page

  • RMWHS | RARHD | Native Americans

    eb2be089-e03b-49a2-bf71-97f30136b8df Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District Native Americans Prior to the European settlement, Native Americans from the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Nation inhabited the area that the settlers named Roxborough. A Native American trail predating William Penn and his establishment of Pennsylvania, known as the Perkiomen Path, ran along the line of what is today Ridge Avenue. The Perkiomen Path connected the area around the confluence of the Schuylkill and Delaware Rivers where Penn later established Philadelphia with the Native American village at Manatawny, now Pottstown, and lands farther to the west. Like Ridge Avenue, the trail ran up from the Falls of the Schuylkill, along the ridge rising between the valleys of the Schuylkill River and the Wissahickon Creek, and into what is now Montgomery County. 2 Through his surveyor Thomas Holme, William Penn purchased the land between the Schuylkill River and Pennypack Creek, including the area that would become Roxborough, from a group of Lenni Lenape leaders in July 1684 (Figure 4). Although Swedes and other Europeans had settled in the Delaware Valley in the mid seventeenth century, it does not appear that any Europeans had established permanent settlements in the Roxborough area prior to the 1684 purchase. 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 2 Paul A. W. Wallace, Indian Paths of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1965; reprinted, 1998), p. 127-128. Top of page

  • RMWHS | MSMHD | Map

    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

  • RMWHS | RARHD | Early Roxborough

    e2fdb1c2-e111-4669-a416-3309a17b7819 Ridge Ave Roxborough Historic District Early Roxborough Roxborough was officially recognized as a township by 1706, but it remained sparsely populated throughout the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, as the following chart shows. 34 Describe your image Until significant transportation and industrials advances in the 1820s, Roxborough remained a linear village with pockets of development located on and very near Ridge Road. The only significant developments off Ridge Road were several mills, which, by necessity, were located along the watercourses, the Wissahickon and its tributaries. Very few people lived to the west of Ridge Road, on the steep slopes down to the Schuylkill. Most Roxborough residents made their livings in agriculture, milling, selling stone, timber, and other building materials, or providing services to the wagoners and others who travelled along Ridge Road. As noted earlier, at least three taverns serving travelers stood on Ridge Road by the end of the eighteenth century, the Leverington Hotel of 1731 (Figure 14), the Plough Tavern of 1746, and the Sorrel Horse Tavern of 1785. Describe your image Although Ridge Road is and has been Roxborough’s primary thoroughfare since its establishment in the first years of the European settlement of the area, other roads were laid out and opened in the eighteenth century, especially to access mills on the Wissahickon. Typically, these roads were first laid out informally, and then later formally surveyed and opened by the Court of the Quarter Sessions, after they had been in use for a while. Most of the early secondary roads in Roxborough ran east from Ridge Road to mills along the Wissahickon and then on into Germantown, the nearest population center. No roads were officially opened from Ridge Road west to the Schuylkill until the early nineteenth century. School House Lane, which marked the southeastern boundary of Roxborough and still runs on its original line from Ridge Road to Germantown Road, was constructed about 1702, but not officially opened until September 1765.35 School House Lane and Ridge Road are the only two roads in Roxborough depicted on the Scull & Heap Map of Philadelphia and Parts Adjacent of about 1750 (Figure 8). Township Line Road, now known as Wissahickon Avenue, which marks the boundary between Roxborough and Germantown, was officially opened on the east side of the Wissahickon Creek in December 1763.36 The extension of Township Line Road on the west side of the Creek, in what is now called Andorra, from Wise’s Mill to Ridge Road, was officially opened four years later, in September 1767.37 A road on the line of Roxborough Avenue in Roxborough and Kitchen’s Lane and Carpenter Lane in Mt. Airy ran from Ridge Road, across the Wissahickon, and on to Germantown Road as early as 1761.38 Gorgas Mill Road (now Gorgas Lane and W. Mt. Airy Avenue), which ran east off Ridge Road, across the Wissahickon, and up to Township Line Road (now Wissahickon Avenue), was opened in December 1764.39 Rittenhouse Lane, which connected Ridge Road to the Rittenhouse Paper Mill, partially along the current line of Walnut Lane, was officially opened in December 1767.40 Shawmont Road (now Avenue), from Ridge Road to Wise’s Mill, was opened in June 1786.41 Although probably laid out about 1738, Spruce Mill Road, now known as Thomas Mill Road in Chestnut Hill, was officially opened from Ridge Road to Germantown Road in June 1793.42 That same month, Manatawna Road was opened, running east from Ridge Road.43 The roads that crossed the Wissahickon Creek at dams and small bridges were often swept away during flooding.44 Early tax rolls for Roxborough Township provide unique insights into the wealth, occupations, and numbers of the residents. The rolls for the 1769 proprietary tax list 91 taxpayers for Roxborough Township, 40 of which were landowners. The taxpayers include only one woman, Elizabeth Levering. The landowners owned an average of 68.9 acres. William Levering was the largest landholder, with 250 acres. The smallest holding was but one acre. Of the 91 taxpayers listed in 1769, 26 were associated with occupations, including four grain millers, two paper millers, two millers, two butchers, two coopers, two tanners, two weavers, and one of each of the following: flour miller, ferryman, taylor, innholder, cordwainer, smith, ropemaker, sadler, stonecutter, and hatter. Most of the remaining taxpayers were presumably farmers. The 91 taxpayers owned 119 horses and 148 head of cattle, but several persons owned neither horses nor cows. Only eight servants were listed among the 91 households. The 1774 provincial tax rolls list 105 taxpayers in Roxborough Township, 14 more than five years earlier. The 1774 rolls list very few occupations, but they do include a joiner, an occupation not noted in 1769. The 1779 effective supply tax rolls list 106 taxpayers in Roxborough Township.45 Real estate and other advertisements offer insights into eighteenth-century life in Roxborough. For example, the plantation of Jacob Cook was auctioned in June 1763 to pay his creditors. It was located “in Roxborough Township, Philadelphia County, about eight Miles from the City, on the great Road leading to Plymouth, and about one Mile from Schuylkill.” The property included: upwards of 14 Acres of Upland and Meadow, … a Dwelling-house, two Stables, a Smoke-house, Coopers Shop, an exceeding good Stone Vault, and a Well of excellent Water, also a Run of Water, with a never-failing Spring, a young bearing Orchard, with Apple, Peach, Quince, Cherry and Pear Trees, a good Flower and Kitchen Garden paled in, and a young Nursery of Apple and Pear Trees; about one Half the Premises Woodland; it is in good Repair, and well fenced in, pleasantly seated on high Ground, and very suitable for a Gentleman’s Country Seat, or a Store. The same advertisement offered for sale “a Mare, a Cow, two Hogs, a Plow and Harrow, a Cart and Gears, and sundry Implements of Husbandry.”46 Most households in eighteenth-century Roxborough were largely self-sufficient, raising their own food and selling or trading excess production with neighbors or in Germantown and Philadelphia. A similar advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1755 announced the sale of recently deceased Henry Shellenberg’s dwelling house and mill in the Township of Roxborough. In addition to the buildings and property, Shellenberg’s heirs offered for sale household furnishings, “two guns,” horses, cows, sheep, swine, various miller’s tools and supplies, “a young likely Negro man, a likely young Negro woman, [and] two or three Dutch mens times of servitude.”47 Slave and indentured labor worked the mills and fields in Roxborough. Two years earlier, in 1753, Benjamin Levering of Roxborough Township offered a 20-shilling reward and expenses for the return of a “Dutch servant lad, named Michael Haun, a taylor by trade, about nineteen years of age,” who had “run away.”48 Indentured servants were not the only ones fleeing in eighteenth-century Roxborough. In 1783, Jacob Amos gave public notice “that my wife Elizabeth has eloped from me, therefore I forwarn all persons from lending her or letting her have any thing on my account, as I will not pay any debts for her from the date hereof.”49 In 1758, Isaac Cook offered a 40-shilling reward for the return of stolen goods and an additional 40 shillings for apprehending the thief. He explained that, during the night of 30 June 1758, his house “was broke open, and robbed” of numerous items including garments, bed linens, table linens, a pair of gloves, and a large pewter teapot with feet.50 A real estate advertisement published in 1788 offered a large property in Roxbourough, “on the road leading from Philadelphia to Reading, about 9 miles from the city, containing 248 acres and 137 perches.” The advertisement is especially interesting because it provided several suggestions for the development of the property, providing a glimpse into the commercial activities in Roxborough. The advertisement highlighted the parcel’s proximity to Germantown as well as Plymouth Meeting’s “sundry lime-kilns”; suggested that the timber on the property was valuable and, if the timber was harvested, the cleared land would be excellent for farming; noted that the “Wissahickon Creek, running through this tract, affords an excellent mill-seat; its being situate on a road leading into one of the best wheat countries on the continent”; and even promoted the notion of shipping the processed wheat to market down the Schuylkill, which ran along the western edge of the property.51 An advertisement in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754 pointed to another industry in Roxborough. It announced that John Stanaland, stone cutter, had removed from his freestone quarry in Roxborough to a shop in Philadelphia, where “all persons may be supplied with various kinds of freestone work … both in regard to cutting and setting; such as steps for doors, window cases, door cases, battlements, pediments, &c.” The advertisement noted that, despite Stanaland’s departure for the city, Edward Harding continued to operate the quarry in Roxborough.52 With a small population, few institutions were established in eighteenth-century Roxborough. On 1 April 1748, William and Hannah Levering donated to the township a parcel of land on the west side of Ridge Avenue, south of the current Monastery Avenue, for the construction of Roxborough’s first school building.53 A one-story stone school building, known as the Roxborough School, was erected on the site that year. An 1895 newspaper article on the history of the school explained: This structure being the only public building in the vicinity, met all of the demands of the place for fifty years, not only for school purposes, but also for public meetings, elections and religious services. In it the Baptist people of Roxborough held services from 1754 until October 24, 1790, the Roxborough Baptist Church having been organized in the school house on August 23, 1789. In 1776 an enthusiastic patriotic meeting was held there to secure volunteers for the American Army. 54 The school building was enlarged with a second story for an additional classroom and a wing for the school master in the 1790s (Figure 15).55 The first church in Roxborough, the Roxborough Baptist Church, was officially organized by 32 residents in August 1789. The group had met informally for religious services at the Roxborough School since 1754. In October 1789, the church was officially received into the Philadelphia Baptist Association. Nathan and Sarah Levering donated a parcel of land for a church building on the east side of Ridge Road, about 500 feet north of the school, and a small church building was erected. The church building burned down on 17 January 1830 and a new church was erected by September of that year (Figure 16).56 The second Roxborough Baptist Church was replaced by a third church building in 1870. The third church building burned in 1876 and was replaced by the fourth, which still stands today, but has been significantly altered. Describe your image The Plan of the City of Philadelphia and Environs by John Hills, a detailed map of Philadelphia County 10 miles out from the city’s center, indicates that Roxborough remained sparsely settled in 1808. Only three roads, unnamed on the map, ran west from Ridge Road toward the Schuylkill River; they were Green Lane, Hipples Lane (now Fountain Street), and Ship Lane (now Port Royal Avenue). No development or roads were shown along the Schuylkill River in what is now Manayunk. The Roxborough School, Baptist Church, Sorrel Horse Inn, a few unnamed mills, a few property owners, and a soap stone quarry along the Schuylkill at the county line were called out on the 1808 map. No neighborhood names were called out on the map. 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 34 Road Docket, June 1706, vol. 2, p. 31. Population data taken from Jones, The Levering Family, Appendix A, 189; and John Daly and Allen Weinberg, Genealogy of Philadelphia County Subdivisions (Philadelphia: City of Philadelphia, Department of Records, 1966), p. 94. 35 School House Lane, Germantown Road to Ridge Road, September 1765, Road Dockets, vol. 3, p. 337. 36 Township Line Road (Wissahickon Avenue), December 1763, Road Dockets, vol. 3, p. 312. 37 Township Line Road from Ridge Road to Wise’s Mill, September 1767, Road Dockets, vol. 3, p. 378. 38 Kitchen’s Lane (Roxborough Avenue), Ridge Road to Cresheim Road or Germantown Road, December 1761, Road Dockets, vol. 3, p. 278. 39 Gorgas Mill Road (Gorgas Lane and W. Mt. Airy Avenue), Ridge Road to Wissahickon Avenue, December 1764, Road Dockets, vol. 3, p. 333. 40 Rittenhouse Lane (Walnut Lane) from Ridge Road, December 1767, Road Dockets, vol. 3, p. 389. 41 Shawmont Avenue, Ridge Road to Wise’s Mill, June 1786, Road Dockets, vol. 4, p. 175. 42 Spruce Mill Road (Thomas Mill Road), Ridge Road to Germantown Road, Road Dockets, June 1793, vol. 4, p. 303. 43 Manatawna Avenue from Ridge Road, June 1793, Road Dockets, vol. 4, p. 301. 44 Thomas’ Mill Road, Livezey Mill Road, and Rittenhouse Road are located within present day Wissahickon Park. Joseph D. Bicknell, “The Wissahickon in History, Story and Song,” paper read before the City History Society of Philadelphia, October 10, 1906, in Philadelphia History: Consisting of Papers Read before the City History Society of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: City History Society, 1917), 6. 45 William Henry Egle, ed., Proprietary, Supply, and State Tax Lists of the City and County of Philadelphia for the Years 1769, 1774, and 1779 (Harrisburg: State Printer of Pennsylvania, 1897). 46 The Pennsylvania Gazette, 9 June 1763, p. 1. 47 The Pennsylvania Gazette, 17 April 1755, p. 3. 48 The Pennsylvania Gazette, 30 August 1753, p. 3. 49 The Independent Gazetteer, 19 April 1783, p. 4. 50 The Pennsylvania Gazette, 6 July 1758, p. 3. 51 The Pennsylvania Gazette, 29 October 1788, p. 1. 52 The Pennsylvania Gazette, 23 May 1754, p. 2. 53 William and Hannah Levering and Andrew and Elizabeth Wood donated two additional parcels for the school’s use on 30 March 1771. 54 “Levering School and Its History,” Inquirer, 3 February 1895, p. 7. 55 See Franklin Davenport Edmunds, The Public School Buildings of the City of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: 1913), p. 5-7; “The New Levering School,” The Times, 28 July 1895, p. 4; “News and Gossip of the Schools,” Inquirer, 8 March 1896, p. 7. The school was renamed the Levering School in 1847. The school building was badly damaged by a tornado on 12 April 1856 and replaced with a new school building in 1857. That building was in turn replaced in 1895. A large annex to the 1895 school building was constructed in 1929. 56 Rev. David Spencer, The Early Baptists of Philadelphia (Philadelphia: William Sychelmoore, 1877), p. 147-148; “A Century and a Decade of Life for Roxborough Baptist Congregation,” The Times, 24 August 1899, p. 2. The 1830 church building was enlarged in 1846. A new church building was begun in 1868 and completed in 1870. It was lost to a fire in 1873. A new church building was completed in 1878. Top of page

  • RMWHS | MSMHD | Schuylkill Navigation Company

    0692a89b-d1a7-4821-a817-38c373e30e1a Main Street Manayunk Historic District Schuylkill Navigation Company The Schuylkill Canal was not a continuous canal, but a series of waterways constructed to bypass unnavigated sections of the river. The Schuylkill navigation system covered a distance of 108 miles; 62 miles by canal and 46 miles by slack water navigation created by dams in the river. The system included 92 locks to overcome a 9,588' difference in elevation. Locks were typically 75' to 80' long and 8' to 17' wide. By 1828, the Schuylkill Canal provided safe passage the length of the river. In the early years, there was no effective competition to the canal and rates were high. As a result of this monopoly, the State Legislature authorized construction of the Reading Railroad. Describe your image On January 13, 1842, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was opened to Pottsville in direct competition to the canal and by 1844, it carried more coal than the canal. To meet the railroad competition, the canal was enlarged, and costs were lowered. Tonnage increased as a result and the period 1850-1860 marked the Golden Age of the Canal. During this period, the canal showed the greatest profit and carried the greatest tonnage, peaking at 1.7 million tons. Rail transportation assumed increasing importance during the Civil War; after the war, railroads continued to grow, and canal transportation declined. On June 23, 1870, the Reading Railroad signed an agreement to lease the canal and from this time on commercial use of the canal virtually ceased. 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

  • Historical Maps 1843

    Historical Maps 1843 < Previous > Back to Historical Map List < Next > 1843 - Phila County Source: URL: Library of Congress, Geography and Map Division https://www.loc.gov/resource/g3824p.la000784b/ Full Name: A map of the county of Philadelphia : from actual survey Visit the source URL to use zoom features, find additional formats, or download a high quality image.

  • korean-vietnam-hattal-taylor

    Memorials of the 21st Ward < Back to Memorials List Korean & Vietnam War 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 .

  • Historical Maps 1862

    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.

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