Historical Society of Montgomery County

Transcription

BULLETIN
JO/^f/9&
HISTORICAL SOCIETY
MONTCOMERY COUNTY
PENNSYLVANIA
Jvoj^msTowjv
2£mery
PUBLISHED BY THE SOCIETY
AT IT5 R00M5 18 EAST PENN STREET
NORRISTOWN.PA.
APRIL,
VOLUME
1944
IV
NUMBER
PRICE 50 CENTS
2
Historical Society of Montsomery County
OFFICERS
Kirkb Bryan, Esq., President
S. Cameron Corson, First Vice-President
Charles HArper Smith, Second Vice-President
George K. Brecht, Esq., Third Vice-President
Nancy C. Cresson, Recording Secretary
Helen E. Richards, Corresponding Secretary
Annie B. Molony, Financial Secretary
Lyman a. Kratz, Treasurer
Katharine Preston, Acting Librarian
DIRECTORS
Kirke Bryan, Esq.
Mrs. H. H. Francine
H. H. Ganser
Nancy ,P. Highley
Foster C. Hillegass
Mrs. a. Conrad Jones
David Todd Jones
Hon. Harold G. Knight
Lyman A. Kratz
Douglas Macfarlan, M.D.
Katharine Preston
Charles Harper Smith
Franklin A. Stickler
Mrs. Franklin B. Wildman, Jr.
Norris D. Wright
ôhii Winter
John Hall
/(3^ d/ QSp
<>f>v=S.T*..'fcMW«.^-\'»\'b
.
ATHENSVILLE (NOi
(Enlarged from John Levei
Part of
Leverings
Map of
LowerMerion
1851
IDMORE) IN 1851
\Iap of Lower MeHon)
THE BULLETIN
of the
Historical Society of Montgomery County
Published Semi-Annually—October and April
Volume IV
April, 1944
Number 2
CONTENTS
Early Recollections of Ardmore
Josiah S. Pearce
63
Some Facts About Plymouth Township
Public Schools
George K. Brecht, Esq. 137
Reports
152
Publication Committee
Mrs. Andrew Y. Drysdale
Hannah Gerhard
Anita L. Eyster
Charles R. Barker, Chairman
61
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS
OF ARDMORE
BY JOSIAH S. PEARCE
Reprinted, hy permission, from the
''ARDMORE CHRONICLE"
1906-07
The Historical Society op Montgomery County
Norristown, Pa.
1944
63
"Early Recollections of Ardmore" originally appeared in the "Ardmore Chronicle/' being published as a continued article from April 14,
1906, to March 30, 1907, inclusive. In more recent years, it has been
re-published in the "Ardmore Chronicle," with some added material,
but has never appeared in book or pamphlet form.
Josiah Sibley Pearce, author of "Early Recollections," was born at
Humphreyville, now Bryn Mawx, November 10, 1841, and spent most of
his life in Ardmore (formerly Athensville), where he died, June 19,
1915. He was the son of Joseph T. Pearce and Rebecca Sibley, his wife.
The elder Pearce was auctioneer, cabinet-maker and first postmaster of
the first post oflice (significantly called "Cabinet") on the site of Ard
more. Old residents well remember the jocular vein in which he con
ducted his vendues; the son inherited this sense of humor, which, it is
related, oft enlivened the otherwise somber precincts of undertakers*
conventions, and which, as the reader will note, is lacking in few of the
following pages. No extended reference to Josiah S. Pearce is required
here; he was one of Ardmore's best-known citizens, was the president,
for fifteen years, of its Trust Company, was a member of the legislature
of Pennsylvania, a Civil War veteran and a prominent Mason. An ap
preciative account of his life, by Mr. Luther C. Parsons, will be found
in Volume I of the BULLETIN.
The Historical Society of Montgomery County has owned for many
years a file of the "Ardmore Chronicle" which includes a complete set
of the issues containing "Early Recollections," and has recently become
the possessor, also, of a two-volume, typed transcript of the entire
article, fully indexed, and illustrated with original photographs, maps,
etc. (See List of Accessions, page 155.)
So, with the courteous permission of the "Ardmore Chronicle," the
BULLETIN now presents to its readers the first instalment of "Early
Recollections," which will be followed by further instalments as promptly
as conditions of publication permit.
The Publication Committee
64
Early Recollections of Ardmore
By JOSIAH S. Pearce
At the earnest and repeated solicitation of a number of
friends who are or have been residents of Ardmore, and after
very serious consideration on the part of the writer, this
article, with possibly a number of others which may follow it,
is written, not as "The Early History of Ardmore," as an
nounced in the editorial columns of the Chronicle one week
ago, nor as a correct chronicle of the growth of Ardmore from
the proverbial "straggling village," with its smithy, its gro
cery and the country tavern, to a thriving village of nearly
five thousand people.
The writing will be more in the nature of a series of rem
iniscences of men and things associated with the growth of
the village and its vicinity, with occasional, or possibly fre
quent reference, as occasion demands, to the life and work of
some of the people who live or have lived in what is now
Ardmore during the last half century or more.
The writer's apology for presuming to be at all fitted for
the task assumed may be found in the fact that with but four
exceptions there is no person now living in Ardmore who has
continuously resided in the village a greater length of time
than himself. And right here he encounters his first dilemma.
The reader will naturally ask—Who are the four? Why does
he not name them? Surely this is local history. The only ac
ceptable answer to these pertinent inquiries is that the quar
tette are all ladies, and we all know how danger always lurks
in coupling dates with the lives of ladies of any age.
With the exception of a trifle over three years spent in the
Army of the Potomac from 1862 to 1865, the writer has resided
in what is now Ardmore, and what was originally Athensville
since the year 1842. At this writing he is unable to call to
65
06
BULLOTIN OF HISTOEICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMBEY COUNTY
mind any other man who has been continuously resident in the
little village for so long a time.
There are a number of residents of.our present prosperous
suburb who are older in years and abler in practice than the
writer, who could much more acceptably perform the duty
assumed by him; but these have all become residents since the
date given, and therefore cannot be permitted to detract from
the "distinction" falling to the "oldest inhabitant," even in
writing reminiscences. Consequently there will be but few
readers of the articles going to make up this series who, while
being in a position to criticise their form, and purpose, or even
the desirability of such form of correspondence, will be able
to either attest their accuracy or question their authenticity.
In the dates given in the articles which will appear from
week to week for some months accuracy will be secured as far
as possible, but our readers will, we trust, not be hypercritical,
either-in regard to dates or the correct spelling of names when
we call to their minds the fact that during the greater portion
of the time covered by these articles no records of any kind
were kept, for the reason that under the old form of township
government no place for either, making or keeping recotds,
excepting such as are kept at the county seat, was provided.
Consequently births, marriages, deaths and all misfortunes
of a like character went unrecorded. Even the church (for
during nearly all the time about which we shall write there
was but one church in the village) kept very meagre-and
imperfect records, and they related only to those connected
with the church or congi'egation. It is said that a recent pastor
of this old congregation of St. Paul's was, soon after accepting
the pastorate, somewhat embarrassed, and even shocked, when
an applicant for an extract from the church record became
profane in presence of his Reverence on account of their
inaccuracy.
The story goes that the seeker after information desired
to know just the number of times he had been saved. .When
told by the pastor that his name appeared five times in thedist
of converts he replied: "Parson, you're short in your count,
and your records are no good. It's six at least."
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF ARDMORE
67
In the enforced absence of any records it is manifest that
much that will be written will be from memory, and conse
quently much must be forgotten that should enter into our
story to make it complete,-and very much that is remembered
omitted for obvious reasons. No effort will be made to trench
upon ground heretofore occupied by any of the great historians
who have heretofore written up the village, the township, the
county and themselves, usually with special emphasis on the
latter.
As already stated, we shall not attempt a history, but will
endeavor to tell of the days when our handsomest residential
section were farms, when our beautifully macadamized roads
were simple lanes of mud, when tallow candles, burning fluid
and kerosene furnished our light, and old-fashioned wood or
coal stoves or open fireplaces supplied our substitute for heat.
When we walked to and from the city without a thought that
we should live to be able to ride there in 14 minutes, when
there was no water supply other than wells, and no telegraph,
no telephone, no electric light, power or heat. When we could
not have understood had we been assured how man could talk
with man across the then unexplored continent, or how, with
only God's pure air as a transmitter, we could talk across the
sea. How the scythe and the sickle, the grain cradle and the
flail, should in our generation be supplanted by the mowing,
reaping, harvesting and threshing implements and machinery
of the present. Nor would it have been possible to explain to
the children of the forties how their children, when fifty years
had rolled away, would be carried by a power then unknown
wheresoever they would in horseless carriages. When steam,
that mighty servant whose power had but just begun to be
known, should during the three score and ten years possible
to their existence be harnessed to every tool or implement
then operated by either horse or man. All of these things and
more have come to pass in the wonderful years of which we
shall write, and, while some may ask what these great dis
coveries and inventions have to do with "reminiscences" of
Ardmore, we will answer that, while they have possibly had
little to do with the village, the village has had much to do
gg
BULLETIN OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
with all of them. In her growth Ardmore is abreast of the
times, and while in the forties the little hamlet was, with all
the world, in ignorance of what was in the future for the
world and the hamlet, the Ardmore of today takes rank with
the foremost of her class and, in taking that place, adopts and
accepts all that goes with it. With scarcely an exception, every
wonder to which we have referred, and they have all been
wonders, is in the service and employ of the people of the now
exceptionally prosperous village.
In writing of the old, we will be obliged to write some
what of the new, both as regards places and people, so that in
many cases as we will tell of the changes in both, generation
following generation will bring our story down to date. This,
whilst not reminiscent, is necessary for the purpose of descrip
tion, and will, we trust, not be subjected to a too rigid criticism
by those who read.
If the articles which follow, and which we shall endeavor
to make as interesting as a dry subject will permit, prove of
interest to the readers of the "Chronicle," it will be all and
more than we anticipate.
The work attending the recital, as h^ been said, has not
been sought, or hurriedly or willingly entered into, but if it
shall in a measure constitute a compliance with the many
requests made in such flattering terms, the writer will be more
than compensated for his initial eifort.
One of the difficulties presenting itself in writing of Ard
more is to determine about what to write, the "what" in the
matter being used rather in the sense of the words "how
much." Ardmore, as is well known, has not, never has had,
and possibly never will have, any specific lines of boundary,
and for the purpose of our articles such distinctions will not
be required, as we shall feel at liberty, and in fact fully justi
fied, in extending the scope of our subject, even to the extent
of trespassing beyond the lines of the township and county.
Lying as it does, so close to the line of Delaware County,
Ardmore has gradually but permanently overstepped her
county restrictions and contributed very materially to. the
development and enrichment of the township of Haverford,
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OP ARDMORE
00
just as the villages of Haverford and Bryn Mawr have grown
over the county line, the first forming the village of Preston
and the latter the nameless settlement south and west of old
White Hall, known a few years ago as Garrigues's Brick Yard.
It will not therefore unfavorably affect our reminiscences if all
these lines are ignored.
In Buck's "History of Montgomery County" he says, in
speaking of Athensville: "In 1858 there were 28 houses in this
village"; therefore we will not be expected to write much for
the reader, when there was not much to write about.
The road leading from Montgomery avenue, in the old
times, and even yet, known as "The Old Road," to the inter
section of Linwood avenue, formerly called Church road,
and the rechristened portion of Linwood avenue, now known
as Argyle road, was originally considered to be the eastern
boundary of the village of Athensville. There were very few
houses east of this road prior to the date given by Mr. Buck.
The Louis Wister farm, the Owen Jones farm, the William
G. Lesher farm, the farms of Josiah and Jane Knox, the fine
old homestead of Mrs. Mary Jones, mother of Owen Jones
(later known to everybody as "the Colonel"), and the Jacob
Phillips property, the westernmost end of which is now orna
mented with the tower of the Springfield Water Company,
while the remaining portion of the property has been beau
tifully improved by Mr. Joshua L. Bailey, constituted all the
property holdings east of and abutting on this boundary line.
The Wister farm contained originally 170 acres, and is
today comparatively unchanged in appearance in all the time
covered by our recollections, although it has appreciated in
price from $90 per acre to over $2,000 in the same period.
In 1850, it was the property of John Wister (Louis's
father). It lies on both sides of Montgomery avenue, extending
from the Owen Jones property to Anderson's lane. About the
year 1858 the fine old stone mansion, one of the finest in the
country at that time, which had been built many years, but
perfectly preserved, was destroyed by fire, nearly all the con
tents being saved, and the present residence of Mr. G. M. Chichester, whose wife is a daughter of Mr. Wister, was erected
70
BULLETIN OF. HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
on almost exactly the old site. The old barn was saved from
the flames, and stands yet in the same place;^ The death of Mr.
Wister, which occurred .quite recently, removed from our
midst a.man who had devoted almost all of a long life' to
maintaining this old, place; in the same condition in which it
came to him. No part of the original tract was sold or offered
for sale during Mr. Wister's" lifetime, and no buildings built
upon it during the same period other than the erection of the
fine residence which took the place of the old mansion of our
earliest recollections. Even the farm buildings remain as
we knew them fifty years ago, With the exception of the build
ing of a frame extension to the barn and an addition or two
to the ricks which occupy the front of the beautiful property.
Mr. Wister has many times been the recipient of unasked
advice on the propriety of moving the barn and its attachments
and accessories to the rear of his beautiful old home, and we
who knew him best require no information as to the very
comprehendable reply which he had always ready for the
givers, of such advice.
Many who will read this will recall pleasant memories of
Louis Wister., Honest to a.fault, fearless of any and every
thing on earth, frank .and outspoken at all times, and con
cerning everything,' peculiar in. some things, but faithful in
all things. His ponies, his poultry, his pigeons, his squirrels,
his at times peculiarities of dress or any other of his hobbies
all tended to attract to him a. profound respect, even though
some of his idiosyncrasies were not' less than amusing, while
his bluif, hearty and cordial, manner added to his exceptional
popularity. He was a most, earnest Republican in politics, but
could never be induced to accept office of any kind. During the
War of the Rebellion he was more than aggressive, and it was
then said of him that his arguments upholding his proclivities
were not infrequently punctuated with words which he never
taught his children.
The portion of this tract fronting on Anderson's lane,
opposite the home of the late Edward Glenn, was known, and
1 This bam 'was struck by lightning:, and burned, July 5, 1913.—Ed.
"
fJI
is at this time known, as Wister's Woods.-• It was the most
e^rtensive tract of woodland in the vicinity of Ardmore, and
was Mr. Wister's game preserves, and as such was most
carefully guarded by the cwner. The death of a rabbit or
squirrel in this wood, or even the report of a fowling piece,
incurred Mr. Wister's positive wrath, an expression of which
no gunner had the temerity to encounter.
The Owen Jones property,• only a small portion of which
abuts on our village boundary, extending from there to
Wynnewood station, is now the residence of Robert Toland,
Esq., there being no lineal descendant of the Jones family
now living.
...
Mrs. Mary Roberts Jones was a sister of the late George
B. Roberts. She died several years ago, and their four chil
dren, Anne, Emily, Owen Glendower and J. Aubrey, all'died
unmarried. The late J. Aubrey was the last to die, and is
remembered by many of the later residents of Ardmore. •
The old homestead has been greatly improved in appear
ance and convenience since the days of the Thirty-fifth "Con
gress, of which Mr. Jones was a member. When the Fifth
Congressional District was composed of Montgomery County
and a few suburban wards of Philadelphia. The fine old man
sion at that time, and in later years, was honored by such
guests as President Buchanan, Governors Bigler and Pollock,
the Woods, of Conshohocken, Judge Smyser and Colonel James
Boyd, of Norristown, besides others distinguished in politics
and the legal world, Mr." Jones "being at that-time a member of
the bar of both Philadelphia and Montgomery Counties.
The manor or farm was known, and had been known for
the previous half century, as Wynnewood, the old titles run
ning back to the days when it was a portion of the Wynne
plantation,^ and being the wooded portion, was known as
'2 The Jones family took title, hot from the Wynne, but from the
Owen, family. In 1707, Evan Owen, son of the original settler, Robert
Owen, sold 450 acres to his brother-in-law, Jonathan Jones (see Phila.
Deed Book E4, vol. 7, p. 40) whose mother was Mary Wynne, wife of
72
Wynne's wood. The transition to Wynnewood is quite natural.
The'station was not established until some time after the
opening- of the new line of railroad, but when it was decided
upon the name followed very naturally, the old school-house
on the property already bearing the name.
The Jones tract and the Wister tract were contiguous, and
the owners were always the closest of friends. They differed
only in politics, and then not seriously.
About twenty years ago the entrance or driveway to the
Jones mansion was by a lane crossing the railroad at grade
just west of Wynnewood schoolhouse, with a rear or farm
entrance off the old road near the location of the present
imposing main entrance, west of the old Penn House. The
grade crossing entrance was abandoned when the portion of
the property fronting on Lancaster Pike was sold, within a
comparatively recent time.
This portion of the property was the birthplace of the
Merion Cricket Club, in the early seventies, their first games
being played here. In 1880 this ground was abandoned, the
Club purchasing the field at the end of Cricket avenue, in
Delaware County, from Dr. John B. Biddle. Cricket avenue
took its name from this purchase. The phenomenal growth
of the Club, and its subsequent removal to Haverford, after a
sojourn at Ardmore for about ten years, the story of its suc
cesses, its disasters and its position today, at the very head
of the list of wealthy and aristocratic social organizations of
the county, would prove most interesting were we permitted to
write it, but we are reminded that all of this is not Ardmore
history. In reality the Club passed through Ardmore in its
triumphal march from Wynnewood to Haverford, and we find
justification in thus digressing in the fact that, in addition
to having it stop with us for a short time, many of the best
Dr. Edward Jones. Jonathan Jones was the gn'cat-^'andfather of Colonel
Owen Jones.
The Wynne plantation was not in Lower Merion, but in Blockley,
and has given its name to Wynnefield.—Ed.
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OP AROMORE
of Ardmore's people are honored with membership in the
organization.
We have referred but briefly to Colonel Owen Jones, the
owner of the tract about which we have written so much, but
will promise to speak more at length of him in connection
with his extensive holdings of property in the very heart of
the village.
Of the William G. Lesher farm there is not a building or
even a fence remaining that thirty years ago helped to make
it an attractive, productive and profitable farm. It extended
from St. Paul's Lutheran Church, on Lancaster pike, eastward
to about opposite the lake on the Bailey property, and then of
about the same width southwestwardly almost to the Dela
ware County line, embracing all of both sides of Linwood
avenue, with the exception of the small plot then the property
of the Lutheran Church and cemetery, and the small Saunders
place. A portion of this farm has since been added to the
Lutheran cemetery.
The farm buildings on the original place were situated at
what is now the junction of Argyle road and Linwood avenue,
the quaint old two-and-a-half story farm-house standing on
almost the exact spot now occupied by the beautiful residence
of William H. Gibbons, Esq., while the large stone barn and
other farm buildings stood very near to the place now occupied
by the home of Mr. William T. Reynolds.
The site of the old spring house is still and -will forever con
tinue to be marked by the bubbling spring of the same delicious
water that many times quenched the thirst of those who, as
boys, drank of it with the writer, but who have nearly passed
to the great beyond. The spring is now a beautiful grotto
and constitutes an attractive feature of the Reynolds's very
pretty home.
The family of the late William G. Lesher, whose death
occurred but a short time ago, reside on a portion of this, their
grandfather's, farm in a handsome residence built by their
father about sixteen years ago. The original tract of seventyseven acres was purchased in 1846 by Mr. Lesher from Jane
K. Pogue, and from the time of its purchase to within a few
74
years of his death, which occurred in 1876, he farmed and
trucked the place very profitably. A few years prior to his
death he retired from the business and leased the place, having
bought the property on Lancaster pike opposite Wyoming
avenue, now owned by his daughter. Miss Kate Lesher, to
which he removed and where he continued to reside until his
death. The late Crawford Barr was a tenant of the farm for
some time. In 1887, Mr. Lesher, Jr., as executor of his father's
estate, sold the farm in two parts. The part lying northeast
of the Church road, containing about forty-five acres, he
sold to Mr. Joshua L. Bailey, who has substantially and beau
tifully improved it. The remaining portion, of over thirtyacres, he sold to the Ardmore Real Estate Association, who
laid out Linwood and Athens avenues and divided the property
into forty lots, all of which have been sold with the exception
of one acre. The Ardmore Real Estate Association was com
posed of Messrs. Richard Hamilton, William G. Lesher, Henry
Blithe and Walter W. Hood, each of whom contributed to the
improvement of the tract by building homes for themselves at
once, in what has since become one of the finest residential
sections in the country. Mr. Hamilton still owns and resides
in his improvement. Mr. Lesher's family occupies his late
home. Mr. Blithe continues as the owner of the property now
leased to Mr. Utley B. Wedge, while the Hood improvements
have been purchased by Mr. W. H. Gibbons, Mrs. Clora E.
Bahlstrom and Mr. Jacob Myers.
The Club House property, now owned by Mr. Henry Ep-
plesheimer, Jr., was also a portion of the original Lesher tract.
No buildings were erected upon it until within a few years,
when the Philadelphia Cycle and Field Club bought the lot
and erected the club house, which Mr. Epplesheimer has
altered into a very comfortable home. The Cycle and Field
Club has disbanded. While resident in the turnpike property
before mentioned Mr. Lesher bought the lot on the corner of
Lancaster and Ardmore avenues and built thereon a large
brick store for his only son, which the younger man conducted
up until almost the time of his death. The store was added to
and improved several times until it assumed the proportions
WILLIAM G. LESHER HOUSE
SHOWING DEMOLITION, ABOUT 1891-3
(from a photograph owned by Miss Kate Clevenger)
^5
and did the business of a department store. A very short time
prior to Mr. Lesher's death he sold the property to E. A.
Bowker Company, who conduct it as a grocery, meat and
provision store,. having abandoned the department feature
some time since. Of the junior Mr. Lesher we will write more
fully as our story continues.
In the Knox farms, originally containing over 200 acres
(one is now owned by Mr. Charles C. Knox and the other,
somewhat smaller, is the property of Mrs. Edmund Green, who
are the only surviving children of Josiah and Sabina Knox),
a half-century has wrought but little change. These farms
may be said to be just beyond the southeastern limits of Ard-
more. The Knox family is one of the oldest in Lower Merion,
and they appear to have all been farmers, owning farms of
such magnitude that the old titles refer to them, as was com
mon in the original grants, as plantations.
The present residence of Mr. Charles C. Knox and a much
smaller one which preceded it in history were the residences
of Josiah Knox. He was a very plain, scrupulously honest and
exasperatingly industrious farmer, invariably raising better
crops than his neighbors, and harvesting them earlier. This
could not be accomplished without the closest attention to
detail, and it was said of him that no matter what the job
was, Josiah was always on hand. He died in 1869. The smaller
farm was known as the Jane Knox farm. She later removed
from it to Bryn Mawr, where she died several years ago. This
farm was leased by Mr. John H. Smith, who is now a resident
of the village, for thirty-one years, during'which time he paid
in rent over $25,000. He was born on this farm over seventyfive years ago and was reared by the Knox family. His boy
hood, added to his tenancy, constitutes him as resident on the
farms for over half a century. He was seventy-five years of
age on February 16, 1906, and claims to be the youngest old
man in the county. He is working for the township, doing a
full day's work every day.
These farms are not unlike the Wister place, in that they
are today as they were over fifty years ago. Very little of
either of them has been sold, and, whilst all around them the
7g
BULLETIN OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY
farms have in many instances become almost villages in
themselves, the Knox farms have thus far been proof against
the inroads of village extension. The Knox family were all
Democrats in politics, which conviction is still exemplified in
the only survivor bearing the family name. They were not
officeholders in the olden time, and the' survivor is scrupu
lously preserving the family record. The family were all
Lutherans, having been identified with the old church ad
joining these farms for generations.
The old graveyard of this church contains many graves
marked to the memory of a Knox. The name has, however,
almost run its course in the village or its vicinity, and unless
all indications are at fault a heretofore large and influential
family will be left without a descendant in Lower Merion in
a few years.^
The present lovely old home of Dr. Macfarlan, on the
Church road, adjoining and almost a part of the Owen Jones
properties, was the home of Mrs. Mary Jones (the elder) in
the fifties. It has been one of the few well-kept and perfectly
preserved of all the countryside in Lower Merion. While there
have been few additions to it in .the nature of buildings, those
already there, which were built nearly a century ago, consti
tute a permanent improvement which it would be difficult to
improve upon so long as the place is used as a substantial
country residence.
To those who knew it fifty years ago it cannot fail to recall
the always present evidences of that genuine open-hearted
Quaker hospitality and goodness which characterized and
made altogether lovable one of the best old ladies who has ever
or will ever be identified with our local history. Her interest in
and solicitude for the boys who attended Wynnewood School
and annoyed her in many ways, for which her kindness was
always administered as chastisement, is a most pleasant mem3 By the wills of Charles C. Knox, who died March 14, 1937, and his
sister, Mrs. Margaret C. Green, who died February 17, 1932, the family
homestead was bequeathed in trust as a home for aged persons, and is
now the Knox Home.—Ed.
KNOX HOMESTEAD IN 1913
DR. SMITH HOUSE IN 1911
(after its removal from Tuimpike)
(photographs by Charles R. Barker)
77
cry in the minds of the few who, with the writer, recall her
loveliness and the charming charitableness to the mischievous.
She died in 1876 at the home of her only daughter, Mrs.
Naomi Morris, on the Gulf road, west of Rosemont, at a ripe
old age, the property descending to her only surviving grand
son, J. Aubrey Jones, last of Col. Owen Jones's family to die.
The little place referred to as the Jacob Phillips property
included all the land lying on the northeast side of Lancaster
avenue, between Church road and the property of Eliza Kugler, near the pretty little lake upon the Bailey property. Upon
the death of Jacob and Sarah Phillips the property descended
to their only child Amanda (during the sixties), who shortly
thereafter became the wife of Robert R. Dickie.
After the death of both Mr. and Mrs. Dickie the property
was sold by the heirs to the Water Company, who retained so
much of it as they desired for the purpose for which it is now
in use, disposing of all the remainder to Mr. Bailey, who so
changed and improved not only the old dwelling house, but the
entire property, as to render it almost unrecognizable as the
old Phillips place of our boyhood.
The dwelling was entirely remodelled during Mrs. Dickie's
lifetime, but has since been materially improved by Mr, Bailey.
For years the old house was used as a boarding house, man
aged by Mrs. Phillips, being among the first houses in or near
to the village, where teachers in the public school and other
homeless wanderers could find a home with home comforts,
which included in Mrs. Phillips's house an abundance to eat.
Later Mr. Dickie carried on the business of a butcher in a
building which stood close to the turnpike near to and west of
the old dwelling, having one of the best "routes" through the
country, then so common; but this was long before the days of
meat markets and provision stores in Athensville. The route
and Mr. Dickie's business were victims of Ardmore's progress.
The property lying almost directly south of the village,
now owned by William H. Button, Esq., upon which a score of
houses are now in process of erection, was owned, in the early
days of our story, by Samuel Saunders, who has been dead for
many years.
7g
He occupied the house and, with his wife and two daugh
ters, managed the little farm, which contained in the year
1850 about 26 acres. The quaint old house and the equally
quaint old barn stood well back from the road leading from
the old Lutheran Church to Cobb's Creek. The house was re
modeled and improved in appearance several years ago, but
the barn remained unchanged .until a comparatively recent
date. Now both have been torn down to make place for the
extensive although somewhat delayed improvement being
made by Mr. Sutton.
The old place more than once attained unenviable notoriety
as a manufactory for counterfeit "coins of the realm," a quan
tity of which were quite recently unearthed in the old garden
while excavations were in progress for the houses now being
erected on the property, which, it will be remembered, was
the subject of all sorts of stories by all sorts of "space writers"
for both the local and Philadelphia newspapers. The writer
well remembers the excitement aroused in the little village
when United States marshals and their deputies, to the num
ber of half a dozen, arrived and, hiring a hay wagon from a
nearby farmer, of whom there was at that time no scarcity in
the neighborhood, proceeded to make the arrest, after first
surrounding the house. Saunders was found at home, and as
soon as he was secured his strong boxes were broken open,
the buildings all carefully searched, and all his tools, metals
ând dies were, with him, loaded into the wagon, which was
driven, first to Norristown, and from there to Philadelphia,
where he was given a preliminary hearing. He was speedily
tried, convicted and sentenced to a term in the United States
prison at Sing Sing, N. Y.
But few coins were found at the time, notwithstanding the
search for this evidence of guilt was continued for several suc
ceeding days, which is accounted for by the discovery recentlj'"
made, which unearthed at least a peck of well-executed imita
tions of half dollar pieces, and which may, and in all proba
bility will, be followed by later discoveries as other portions of
the old garden are uncovered.
Saunders was the owner of other properties in addition to
79
the one at Athensville. One of these was in Haddington, on the
south side of the Haverford road, near what is now Sixtythird street, and the other was in Marple Township, Delaware
County. He made frequent trips between these places and his
home, and it was thought that the Delaware County place
would most certainly supply additional damaging evidence at
his trial, but such was not the case, no work having been done
at either place, so far as the officers were able to discover.
He died at his Athensville home in the year 1861, after a
prolonged and acute period of suffering, his body being in
terred in the old Friends' Burial Ground, in Haverford.
All his family are deceased, his only surviving daughter,
Gulielma, having died only a few years ago, when the property
was sold in two or three parts, one of which is now being
improved, as before noted.
A story of the attempted escape of Saunders from the pen
itentiary through an ingenious scheme was extensively circu
lated shortly after his incarceration, which was believed by
many to be true, but by equally as many given no credence. As
an "early recollection" the story may be given for what it is
worth.
It was that his sentence to hard labor was being executed
by him in employment in the carpenter or wood-working shop
of the prison, where he was compelled to assist in the manu
facture of cases or boxes to be used in the shipping of rifles;
that after these boxes were filled Saunders nailed the lids on
very securely; that he used mock nails, or really only the nail
heads, on a particular box, in which some air holes had been
left, thus giving to the box an appearance of being securely
fastened, exactly similar to all the others of the shipment; that
he then got into it, fastening the lid from the inside; that the
box, with others, was carted some distance and loaded on a
boat, but, unfortunately for him, it was stood on its end, with
Saunders's head down..
He was therefore obliged to reveal his condition, and was
taken back to the prison, presumably right end up, where he
continued serving his sentence, but was pardoned before his
term expired. Whether the story was true or false, Saunders
8Q
never denied it, but appeared rather to be pleased at the
notoriety it gave him.
Adjoining the rear of the Lesher property on the west, was
the farm now owned by S. Clarence Wells, a grandson of the
owner of fifty years ago, Mrs. Barbara Rogers, whose death
occurred on the old homestead in 1862. Her husband, Eli
Rogers, predeceased his wife several years. The old mansion
has been preserved and not materially changed in all these
years. At the time of and prior to Mrs. Rogers's death it was
an ideal country home, the attractiveness of which was greatly
enhanced by the fact that Mrs. Rogers had four or five grown
daughters, all of whom lived at home. One son, Charles, died
a comparatively young man. All the daughters married, with
the exception of the eldest. Miss Susan, and all are now, and
have for some time been, deceased.
The entrance to the place, which contained originally, about
twelve acres, was by leaving the turnpike at what was then
Mud Lane—now Cricket avenue—and Sheldon lane, to a pri
vate road, on or about the same bed as is now the bed of Spring
avenue, to the corner of the Rogers property, and then across
the intervening fields to the house. Mud Lane and the private
road were each sixteen and one-half feet wide, and in many
places of almost the same depth in muddy weather. The laying
out of Athens avenue and the improvement of the entire place
by Mr. Wells have made of the,old farm one of the most desir
able sites for suburban improvement to be found anywhere in
the neighborhood.
The old house yet remains, but its beauty and attractive
ness are gone, being eclipsed by the improvements all about it,
and the death of all those who in years agone as occupants
and guests "ornamented ye house by frequenting it."
The private road before referred to as leading to the cor
ner of the Rogers property extended a short distance further
up the hill, to What was in the fifties the Bevan property,
now owned by Mrs. Edmund Green. The Bevans were rela
tives of the Fiss family, who owned this and a number, of
other small properties in the neighborhood, included in which
was a curiously-constructed little house next to the Beyan
gj
house called, for some unexplained reason, "The Salt Box."
Another house stood quite close to this one of odd construction,
which was for years the home of George McConaghy, Sr., a
man well known then and until comparatively a short time
ago to almost every person in the village. Our early recollec
tions of the Bevans are among the most vivid of which we shall
write. There were two brothers — Benjamin and George —
descendants of the Fiss family, as already stated. Both were
bachelors, and an Aunt Mary (but always known as Polly)
Fiss was "their housekeeper. After the death of the old lady,
about 1854, George, the younger of the brothers, became insane
and was possessed of a desire or rather a determination to
preach, which he did, to the terror and disquiet of the neigh
borhood within a radius of over half a mile from his pulpit,
which he had himself constructed in the open air against the
end of the little barn on their property. His audience was the
growing vegetables in the truck patch, and he called the bean
poles his standing committees.
The entire end of the barn, to the very peak, he had pro
fusely and not altogether inartistically decorated with decid
edly unintelligible hieroglyphics done in whitewash.
He never left home, but preached every night, and, too
frequently, all night, in a voice so loud that his words were
readily distinguishable at the Red Lion Hotel.
The neighborhood endured the annoyance for some months,
when he was, with some difficulty, removed to the State
Asylum for the Insane, at Harrisburg (that being the nearest
institution of the kind at that time) where he lived to be
nearly ninety years of age, dying about the year 1887. Ben
jamin removed to West Philadelphia and married soon after
the removal of his brother broke up their veritable bachelors'
hall. He died a few years prior to the death of his brother,
leaving a family.
The Fiss property, as has been said, was composed of
several small pieces, at least two of which belonged to William
Fiss. The larger of these tracts was known as Fiss's woods,
which was sold by William Fiss's daughter, Mrs. Ann Clark, to
Charles Stark in 1883. In 1899 Stark sold this, with an ad-
82
joining lot, to G. C. & J. F. Bowker, who laid out Walnut ave
nue and extended Simpson road, thereby dividing the property
into desirable building lots, which have nearly all been built
upon and sold and the neighborhood beautifully improved by
the erection of a number of very pretty dwellings. The last of
the Fiss generation to which we have referred died during the
late fifties.
.']
During the time of the Fiss occupancy of their holdings in
the village, "Billy," as everybody knew him, lived with his
family in an odd little one-story house, afterward always called
by the undignified name of "Fiss's shanty," which was built
near the western edge of the woods before referred to in what
is now the grove in the rear of the Bowker houses, on the
southeast side of Walnut avenue. Later this shanty was occu
pied for years, or until about the year 1898, by "Paddy" Masterson and his family. "Paddy" will be remembered by many
who will read this as a typical Irishman, possessing all the good
qualities and one or two of the bad ones frequently accredited
to his nationality.
In certain conditions "Paddy" believed himself to be a
musician, both vocal and instrumental, his musicales (?)
always being held out of doors and at night, so that his vespers,
together with Bevan's preaching, although their places of ren
dition were 200 yards distant from each other, constituted an
out-of-doors Torrey and Alexander entertainment for over
half the village.
The number of properties in this vicinity which were orig
inally owned by this Fiss family has occasioned the use of the
family name so frequently in our story. In many of the old
titles are to be found the names ctf John, Joseph, William,
Samuel, Thomas, Benjamin, Mary, Sarah, Ann, etc., no de
scendant of any of whom being at this time a resident of the
village, and no next of kin living nearby. The house now known
as "the old Sheldon house," standing close to the tracks of the
Ardmore and Llanerch street railway, which is now occupied
by an indefinite number of colored families, and is, with its
surrounding ash heaps, unanimously voted the village dis
grace, was in the late forties a well-kept, comfortable home.
83
owned and occupied by Tobias Smith and a large family, very
few, if any, of whom are now living. The place originally con
tained six acres, lying between Sheldon lane and the present
extension of Simpson road, or, until recently. Maple avenue.
The house and a few attachments built in the rear of it was
used by Mr. Smith as a manufactory of sausage and scrapple
and other pork products for several years, the hogs being
slaughtered, "worked up," and the meat smoked in the little
buildings referred to, "Tobey Smith's" brand of hams and
bacon then holding the place in the Philadelphia markets that
Armour's and Swift's products have now usurped.
Then, as now, the Smith family was a numerous one, and
certain rather undignified prefixes to Christian names were in
common use to distinguish the John's and the Isaacs from each
other. Among the Johns there was John, always called "Jack";
another was "Milk John," he being a dealer in that commodity,
and "Wood John," who lived some distance out of the village,
but was a frequent visitor on account of his business, which
was selling and delivering cord-wood. "Rube's John" was
another, being a son of Reuben. Then there was "Old John,"
"Colored John," etc., but we are speaking now of the Smiths
who were then residents of the village who had been christened
Isaac. Of these there were two, one of whom was the eldest son
of Tobias and the other a son of Levi.
Tobias's son was "Ikey," or "Toby Ike," or "Little Ike,"
according to preference, while the other, on account of his
"figure," was everywhere known as "Big Ike."
Both of these men are well remembered by many present
residents of the village, and both deserve in the village history
more than the reference we have made of them, for the reason
that both enlisted in the service of the country early in 1861
and won for themselves splendid records in the ranks, "Toby"
Isaac being a member of Murphy's distinguished Twentyninth Pennsylvania Regiment, while "Big" Isaac was a mem
ber of Company B, First Pennsylvania Cavalry, recruited in
the township by Captain, later Colonel, Owen Jones. Both
served the term of their enlistment and returned to their
homes with impaired health. Both are long since dead. "Big"
g4
Isaac died unmarried; the other was twice married and left a
large family.
The Fiss property, through a division made prior to the
times of which we write, became the property of Tobias Smith,
Eli Rogers and Dr. James Anderson; some members of the
family also sharing in the partition. We have referred to the
latter, as also to the Smith and Rogers places. The original
Charles Stark property was the portion bought by Dr. James
Anderson at that time, and was by him sold to George Blithe
in 1839. After a residence upon it for twenty-two years, or in
1861, Mr. Blithe sold it to Charles Stark and removed to Jacob
Sibley's property, on the corner of Lancaster avenue and
Church road, now the residence of Mr. Thomas J. Sibley. Mr. Stark occupied the property until his death, which
occurred only a short time since. He tore down the old yellow
stone house which had been built during the Fiss ownership,
and which had served Mr. Blithe as a home for so many years,
and built almost on the site of the old house the one now stand
ing at the corner of Athens and Cricket avenues.
Mr. Charles Stark was one of our best citizens; quiet, un
ostentatious, scrupulously honest and very industrious. He and
his only brother, Christian, who is also among the number of
those recently deceased in the village, made for themselves an
enviable reputation as proprietors and operators of a summer
boarding house which spread far beyond the limits of the
village.
Both the men were bachelors, and both excellent cooks.
Their "unexcelled cuisine" meant an abundance of the best of
everjrthing good to eat, cooked in the very best manner, with
cleanliness as a specialty, and reasonable rates as an assurance
of a full house at all times.
During the winter they followed the business of pork
butchering, with the same success as attended their summer
vocation. In this work many will recall the services rendered
these brothers of Joseph Archer, who might very properly be
called their out-of-doors agent. He is also among the recent
dead. His name must be written here for the reason that he
was a private soldier in Battery I.of the Second Regiment
Pennsylvania Artillery
g5
(the writer's regiment), serving
almost three years in the Army^ of the Potomac.
Mr. Charles Stark's birthday celebrations began at this old
place in 1861, and were annually observed up to the time of his
death. These occasions were, as many of us remember, some
what unique, and constituted a diversion not alone for the
household, but as well for the entire neighborhood of his home.
Both these men were remarkable in thiat they took not the
slightest interest in politics, society or current events. While,
however, they were too retiring in disposition to suit the
majority of their friends, their readiness to extend the helping
hand was well known to many a needy applicant, but no
charity was ever bestowed by them unless a promise was given
by the recipient that no housetop publication was to follow.
The farm known in recent years as the Owen Jones Farms
(he having been the last owner of the place prior to its being
divided into building lots), and which was bounded by Lan
caster pike, the private road now Cricket avenue and Sheldon
lane, the County Line road arid Ardmore avenue, containing a
trifle over fifty-four acres, and which is now covered by over
100 houses and other buildings, was sold March 4, 1844, by
Thomas Whiteman, later of Roxborough, Philadelphia, to
Joseph Hunt, who continued as its owner and farmer for
exactly ten years, when he sold it to William Maag, a brother
of the wife of the senior William G. Lesher. Mr. Maag never
occupied the farm, but rented it to William Thompson, Dennis
Gallagher and others for several years, or until November,
1866, when he sold it as a whole to Colonel Owen Jones, who
continued to lease it for a short time, when he divided it into
lots, and opened up the whole tract for building purposes. Mud
lane, which had a width of but sixteen and one-half feet, was
widened to its present width as far as the abandoned trolley
station,-* and from there extended on to the County Line. The
4 The first terminal of the Ardmore & Llanerch Street Railway
(Company stood at Cricket avenue and Sheldon lane for some time after
it was abandoned as a station. It was removed in 1911 to County Line
road, where it again became a station.—Ed.
80 - BULLETIN OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
new avenue was not then given a name which appeared to be
acceptable, but became Cricket avenue when the Merion
Cricket Club removed from its birthplace at Wynnewood and
purchased from the Dr. John B. Biddle Estate the tract of four
or more acres at the southern end of the new avenue, upon
which they erected a small club house, near to the present
location of St. Mary's Laundry. When the Cricket Club pur
chased its present magnificent field at Haverford all of the
tract above referred to was sold through the Bryn Mawr Trust
Company, with the result as seen today. The annex to Ardmore
of almost a village in itself, although in Delaware County, adds
very materiallyto the importance of the greatlyenlarged village.
The'development of the tract by Colonel Jones necessitated
the opening and improvement of Spring avenue and the
County Line road. Ardmore avenue was opened the entire
length of the western line of the property, and all the avenues
were dedicated to the Township as public highways.
Prior to this time there was no public road leading from
Lancaster turnpike to the Haverford road, between the road
east of the Lutheran Cemetery (then known as Kelly's Hill
road) and the present Buck lane, at Preston, a distance of a
mile and a quarter. Haverford College farm then had two
entrances, one off the turnpike opposite Lewis Warner's store,
and the other off the Haverford road, opposite the College
pumping plant. These entrances were connected by a contin
uous lane through the college campus and farm, so that tres
passing was as common as it was annoying. Notwithstanding
the fact that three gates were to be opened and closed in using
the lane, drivers prferred it as a "near cut" from Athensville
to Coopertown.
The sale of the lots laid out by Colonel Jones was vigor
ously pushed as soon as the survey was completed, George H.
Baker, who had served under Colonel Jones in the army, being
his agent, through whose influence the Public School and the
Masonic Hall were located on the new tract, and a number of
lots, principally on Ardmore avenue, were sold to private par
ties, thus launching the boom which proved a profitable ven
ture for the owner as well as for the village.
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF ABDMORE
2,^
A short time before the date of,the sales above referred to;
in fact, as soon as the survey was completed, and while the
stakes were all new and fresh showing the division lines of
the lots, the Colonel declared that he was determined to sell
the entire tract at auction. To this end he appointed a public
sale, and on the day set a good attendance was present. He
announced that the lots would be sold regardless of. price, as
had also been announced in the posters calling the sale. The
attendance at the sale was large, but the bidders were few. The
first lot put up was at the corner of Ardmore and Spring ave
nues, 100 feet front and 303 feet in depth, now owned by Mr.
Howard J. Butler. Bids were slow in coming when the Colonel
announced his determination to sell it, and so instructed the
auctioneer, the result being that the lot was knocked down to
Edward Dougherty for $510, who immediately announced that
he would build a row of small houses on his purchase at
once, which announcement stopped the sale and changed the
Colonel's mind on the subject of what he knew about launching
booms in real estate. An adjourned meeting was at once called
in the office of Stadelman & Baker, at which Mr. Dougherty
was in attendance and was very much in evidence. The out
come of the meeting was that Dougherty carried with him to
his home $200 of the Colonel's nice, clean money as a consider
ation for his willingness to call the sale off.
Then reasonable restrictions were imposed and the sale of
lots privately continued by Mr. Baker as before stated. The
lots on the turnpike front were among the first sold. The cor
ner of Ardmore avenue (which, by the way, was then Athens
avenue) and the turnpike was bought by Joseph T. Pearce.
The adjoining lot of 100 feet front, now owned by the Dela
ware & Atlantic Telephone Company, but recently by Dr. H. A.
Arnold,® and the Anthony Nunan lot was bought by the writer,
5Dr. Herbert A. Arnold, practicing physician and militai-y surgeon,
•was a long-time resident of Ardmore, where he died in 1933, at the age
of seventy-six. He served in Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American
War, and on the southern border during the imbroglio -with Mexico. He
gg
who later sold to James S. Cross, who built the house still
standing. George H. Baker bought the Spohn place, now the
property of Charles H. Frederick (the site of the Hadley home
and the Columbian Tea Store).
Dr. Samuel R. S. Smith bought the large lot the front of
which is now covered by the Colonial Block of stores, and the
firm of Stadelman & Baker bought the corner of Cricket and
Lancaster avenues, now owned by Mrs. Ida E. Stadelman.
The lot on the corner of Ardmore avenue and Lancaster
turnpike, now the property of E. .A. Bowker, was purchased
from Joseph T. Pearce about one year after the first sale of
lots on the turnpike front of the tract, by Benjamin Hunter,
who, a short time afterward, was tried, convicted and executed
in Camden, N. J., for the murder of W. H. Armstrong. Hunter
held the title less than twenty-four hours, when he transferred
it to William G. Lesher, Sr., who at once built a portion of the
present store for his son, who commenced business and carried
it on most successfully almost up to the time of his death. He
proved to be one of our best business men, and as well one of
our best citizens. His loss to the community is still felt and will
continue to be regretted for years to come. He was identified
with so many of the interests of the village where men of integ
rity, energy and •philanthropy count for so much that his
death, while comparatively a young man, leaves a vacancy in
the community for which there are too few available appli
cants. James S. Cross, now of Paschalville, Philadelphia, but
then a clerk for Stadelman & Baker and a nephew of Mrs. J. L.
Stadelman, after improving his purchase as stated and renting
the house for some years, sold both, and they were afterwards
re-sold, but not changed in appearance up to this time.
retired from the National Guard of Pennsylvania in 1914 with the rank
of Lieutenant Colonel. Both Dr. Arnold and his wife, Mrs. Louisa Harley
AiTiold, were descended from old settlers of Montgomery County. Two
of their family, General Henry H. Arnold, Chief of Air Forces of the
United States, and Mrs. Frederic Poole, are members of this Society,
and another son. Lieutenant Colonel Clifford H. Arnold, has for many
years been a practicing physician in Ardmore.—Ed.
gg
although indications are now apparent that the old properties
will get into the "Pike Front" procession and keep step to the
music of $200 per front foot.
Mr. Baker built the Spohn home for his residence and en
joyed it for years until reverses culminating in an assignee's
sale deprived him of it. The little store, now the Columbian
Tea Store, was built by Frank Spohn when he left the employ
of Mr. William G. Lesher on account of a change in the firm,
and opened the new building as a meat and provision store. He
was a very honest, conscientious man and a good citizen, being
another of Ardmore's business men who died in the midst of
his usefulness, while yet too young to enjoy the fruits of a life
of labor.
Dr. Smith built the large frame house recently moved from
the turnpike front to Cricket avenue to make place for the
eight stores known as The Colonial Block. When this house
was built it was admittedly the most pretentious house in the
village, and the care bestowed upon the grounds by the Doctor,
for years afterward made it at all times one of Ardmore's
most attractive homes. Since the removal of the house to its
present location it has been remodeled and much improved
both in appearance and convenience, and although more im
posing and costly dwellings have been since reared in the vil
lage, it is still a most desirable home. His family still reside in
the old but renewed homestead, his son-in-law, R. A. Mont
gomery, Esq., managing the estate. Prior to the purchase of
this home by Dr. Smith he had owned and resided upon Brookfield Farm at Mount Pleasant, now the delightful summer
home of Hon. Wayne MacVeagh, but in the fifties and earlier
known as Judge Jones's farm. He removed to this farm from
Chestnut Hill, where he relinquished a lucrative medical prac
tice to retire to private life. During the war he sold "Brook-
field" and removed to the Mrs. Mary Jones homestead, now the
residence of Dr. Macfarlan, on Church road, and while resi
dent there he bought the ground and built the house above re
ferred to in which he lived until his death, which occurred only
four years ago. Dr. Smith was in all respects the perfect
gentleman, honored and respected in his profession and in the
90
community; an excellent neighbor and a true friend. Long
after his retirement from active practice he was ever ready as
a consultant, but not for gain. It was said of him that he never
accepted one cent of compensation for any service rendered
after he removed from Brookfield. Of a family of seven chil
dren but three survive, Miss Elizabeth S., Mrs. R. A. Mont
gomery and Miss Emily S., all of whom are yet residents of
the village and occupants of the house built by their father
over thirty years ago.
The corner, or drug store, property completed the turnpike
front of this tract. Stadelman & Baker bought this lot as a firm
and at once transformed it from a cornfield into a lumber yard.
It was not a beautiful transformation, the yard becoming a
storage place for stone, sand, terra cotta pipe, etc., but it was,
nevertheless, a necessity. The growing village needed it in its
business. It was thus used until the dissolution of the firm
when in a division of the assets Mr. Samuel F. Stadelman took,
as his portion, the triangular piece of ground and the drug
department of the firm's business, which he removed to its
present location after building the store now conducted by his
estate. The present residence of his widow and family was
built soon afterwards. The lumber yard was then moved to the
corner of Lehigh and Montgomery avenues, and is now the
property of Smedley & Mehl, that falling in the division to the
share of Jacob Stadelman.
Samuel F. Stadelman was the son and youngest child of
Captain Jacob Stadelman, the owner of the old Black Horse
Hotel and large tracts of land on City Line near Bala, and in
Ardmore. Samuel joined the original firm of Stadelman &
Baker some years after its formation, having graduated from
the academic department of the Pennsylvania College at
Gettysburg , taken a course in pharmacy and fitted himself for
business. His admittance to the firm added to their other
departments the drug business, to accommodate which an
annex was built to the store about where the basement store of
the Merion Title & Trust Company, on Anderson avenue, now
is. For many years it was the only drug store in the village, or
within a radius of several miles, and did a profitable business
9]^
from its Inception. He was universally admired as a man, and
his loss to the village and vicinity was a serious and deplorable
one. He died in 1892, while yet a very young man, of heart
trouble with which he had been afflicted for some years.
He was a most devoted member of St. Paul's Lutheran
Church and prominent in the higher councils of the church
organization. He was Justice of the Peace from 1881 to 1886,
and administered the duties of the office most satisfactorily.
For years he was an officer of the first association formed
in the neighborhood for the relief of the poor and the suppres
sion of vagrancy, which he assisted in organizing and having
chartered as "The Relief Association of Bryn Mawr, Ardmore
and Vicinity," and to which he devoted much of time and
money in fostering its interests. He was faithful as a friend,
pleasant as a neighbor, consistent as a Christian and devoted
as a husband and father. His loss to the community has not
been repaired.
We must be pardoned for continuing the recital of our
recollections of this old farm for the reason that its transfor
mation from a farm to a village in itself has been more com
plete than in any other piece of land of equal acreage in the
village. Prior to the year 1866, when the farm became the
property of Colonel Jones, there was but one dwelling house on
the entire fifty-four acres. That house is still standing, and is
the pretty remodeled cottage of Mr. H. L. Cooper, occupied
until recently by Mr. R. J. Hamilton, on the corner of Sheldon
lane and Spring avenue, and is, with perhaps two exceptions,
the oldest house in the village. The large stone barn stood about
150 feet northwest of the house, while the little old stone
spring house stood quite near the little brook on the south side
of Spring "avenue, the avenue being named for or by reason
of the presence, almost in the roadbed, of this old spring
of deliciously cool water. Both the barn and the spring house
have been torn down for years—the dwelling alone surviving
the transformation.
And now a word about the owner prior to 1866. Joseph
Hunt was one of the best and most respected residents of old
Athensville. As has been said, he resided on this farm for
92
BULLETIN OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY*
imany years, and in removing from it he did not at once leave
the village, but bought and moved with his family to the old
James Morgan place, on the north side of the railroad, nearly
opposite to the Autocar works, where he remained for some
yeai'S, and again removed, this time away from amongst his
many friends, to Cheyney's Shops, near West Chester, where
he died a few years ago, and where his children still reside.
Our reminiscences must necessarily include-much of the life
history of some, if not of all, of Athensville's old time people,
and we can assure the reader that we will not have occasion in
all our writing to refer to one more worthy of mention than
Joseph Hunt.
Prior to the breaking out of the war he had been always a
staunch Democrat, the writer well remembering his advocacy
of the principles of Jackson and Jefferson. The first news of
Sumter made of him a Republican equally as earnest as he had
been in the cause of Democracy. During the war he was a
zealous upholder of the cause of the Union, it being no unusual
occurrence to have at his home meetings of the leading people
of the village in the interest of the men in the field, the filling
of quotas of the township and county, the raising of bounty
funds and the care of soldiers' families- In his efforts in this
direction he was ably seconded by such well-known men of the
time as Charles Kugler, William Miles, Joseph T. Pearce, and
Louis Wister, of the village; Joshua Ashbridge, of what is now
Rosemont; Thomas G. Lodge, of Bala (although Bala was then
unknown), and others equally interested in the cause of the
North.
He was never an officeholder, although always a hearty
supporter of his principles, and a good worker for others, in
variably doing the right as he saw it, and doing it well. No
man ever removed from the village leaving more friends to
regret his going than Joseph Hunt.
Reference has been made in our story to the fact that
through the influence of George H. Baker, who was at the time
a School Director, the Township of Lower Merion purchased
the lot on Ardmore avenue and erected thereon the first public
schoolhouse in the village.
Qg
I
It was built by Mr. R. B. Deal, in the year 1875, who had
just previously erected the schoolhouse at Mount Ple,asant.
From the opening of the building it proved to have been a mis
take, being too small to accommodate the children, and as a
consequence was enlarged at least twice prior to the year 1900,
when it was burned to the ground, the cause of the fire being
attributed to an explosion of chemicals in the laboratory
located on the third or upper floor. Previous to this time the
old Wynnewood School was the nearest public school to the vil
lage, its two small rooms accommodating (?) as many as 150
children. This building, a two-story stone structure, was also
destroyed by fire, and the smaller one-story building now in
use was erected on the old site, the greater number of the
scholars in attendance being transferred to the Ardmore
School. The present beautiful and most substantial building
was erected in 1901 and 1902, and although considered at the
time to besufficiently large for a generation to come, is already
almost too small to accommodate the over 400 children in
attendance. It was built from plans drawn by D. J. DeNean,
architect, by Sheaff & Son, of Chester, Pa;, and is admitted to
be among the finest school buildings in the State. Three halls
and two churches in the village served as school rooms, while
the new building was being erected.
. In 1869 arid 1870 the Masonic Hall was built on one of the
lots of this sub-division by Cassia Lodge, No. 273, F. & A. M.
Durant, of Philadelphia, was the architect, and Benjamin
Humphreys, of Humphreysville (now Bryn Mawr), was the
builder.
The Lodge removed from the Odd Fellows Hall on the turn
pike, now owned by Martin Whelen, in June, 1870, the officers
at the time of the removal being Dr. Algernon S. Uhler, W. M.;
Josiah S. Pearce, S. W.; Benjamin Shank, J. W.; Jacob L.
Stadelman, secretary, and Benjamin Humphreys, treasurer.
The appointed officers were: George H. Baker, H. L. Litzenberg, Charles S. Heysham, George C. Ristine, T. Jefferson
Bevan and William W. Bealor, all of whom are dead with the
exception of George C. Ristine(now a resident of Bryn Mawr),
and the writer of this story. Of thirty-one officers and past offi-
94
BULLETIN OF HISTOBICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
cers of this Lodge when the hall was built, but two are now
living.
The style of architecture of this building has never been
the subject of unqualified admiration, but it has served as a
home for the Lodge, in which it has grown from a membership
of 100 at the time of which we write to over 300 at the time of
the writing.® Two prosperous Lodges have in the meantime
been organized from the membership, Fritz Lodge, No. 420,
of Conshohocken, and Wayne Lodge, No. 581, of Wayne, both
honoring the subject of this sketch as a worthy mother.
The present officers of the Lodge are: Charles H. Meredith,
W. M.; Dr. Elmer E. Fleming, S. W.; William V. Collier, J. W.;
James C." McCurdy, secretary, and Richard Hamilton, treas
urer. There are also three trustees and ten appointed officers,
none of whom were members of the Lodge at the time of the
occupancy of the then new, but now somewhat passe, building.
Other earlier purchasers of lots and builders of homes on
the old Whiteman farm will be the subject of reference as our
story proceeds and our "recollections" become refreshed by
association of the "men and things" of the days agone.
The tract of land bounded by Lancaster, Ardmore and
Spring avenues, extending westward to a line about midway
between Greenfield and Holland avenues, as well as the lots on
the north side of Lancaster avenue, now owned by the Autocar
Co. and Mr. Edward S. Murray, were, in the forties, the prop
erty of John Litzenberg, who died in the year 1854.
The improvements on this tract consisted of the Red Lion
Hotel, a large and most substantially built stone structure,
which has not materially changed in all these years. The care
ful preservation of the building and the important altera
tions made in its interior arrangement have not to any great
extent changed its exterior.
It was in the olden times one of a number of country
taverns which were to be found on almost every mile of the old-
®The Masonic Hall referred to was torn down in the fall of 1916,
and was replaced hy the present building.—Ed.
•û-
I
/I •" • ;.
RED LION HOTEL AND STORE
(from a -photograph owned by the Litzenberg family)
95
rough and miserably kept toll road, all of which were well
patronized by the mountain teams and Conestoga wagons ply
ing between Philadelphia and the western part of the State.
A double house, one-half of which was occupied as a dwell
ing by Miss Hannah Stanley (a sister-in-law of Mr. Litzenberg) for many years, the other half being used as a feed
house, but later also altered to a dwelling house, stood in what
is now the front yard or lawn of the residence of the late Henry
Litzenberg, but now the general offices of the Autocar Co.
There were no other buildings on this tract, excepting
stables and other outbuildings, until the property passed to the
ownership of Horatio G. Litzenberg, only son of the owner
before mentioned, in 1854. He substantially improved the
property by generally overhauling, painting and otherwise
repairing the old hotel and erecting the new barn, which is still
standing; and, in addition, adding to the convenience of the
place by building numerous outbuildings, nearly all of which
still remain in use.
During the lifetime of both the father and the son, and for
some years thereafter, the easternmost half of the hotel build
ing was used as a general store. In fact, up to about 1860 it
was the only store in the village, the nearest store to the stand
at that time being conducted by Lewis Warner in a small build
ing in the yard of his home, now the residence of Gardiner L.
Warner, of Haverford. Everything was sold at Litzenberg's
that could be sold in a country store: groceries, dry goods,
flour, feed, salted meats and fish, cigars, tobacco and the end
less variety of a village's necessities were kept in stock at all
times, notwithstanding the fact that it was necessary in the
early days of which we write to haul everything by wagon
from the city, such conveniences as local freight service by the
single track railroad being then unknown. Three days in every
week a large, two-horse wagon made the trip to the Delaware
River wharves and back, in transporting to Athensville the
stores required to "keep up the stock." Regular days for serv
ing customers at a distance were maintained, the nearby coun
try being divided into routes and served by a driver and clerk,
who took the orders for the next week's service.
96
Cobb's Creek had two days per week; Haddington, the Gulf
and Mill Creek had each one day, all of these places being mill
districts, "the hands," or operatives in the mills constituting
the bulk of this wagon trade. A large two-horse wagon was
required in this service, while the deliveries and taking of new
orders consumed the entire day. The loading of this wagon and
the unloading of the Philadelphia wagon always took place in
the evening, and was a daily village event. Many willing hands
assisted in this duty, and many a sarsaparilla, etc., particularly
the etc., was given in exchange for the labor expended, in roll
ing barrels of mackerel and carrying boxes of goods into and
out of the store, for the bar of the hotel was so convenient to
the store as to be almost a part of it.
The space now occupied by the three large rooms used as
offices and refreshment rooms by the Dallas Brothers was all
embraced in the old store, but would not be recognized today as
the place known in the fifties as Rash Litzenberg's store. The Litzenberg store did not differ either in its appoint
ments or the habits of its patrons from all other country stores
of the times of which we write. It was kept open for business
every evening, with the exception of Sunday, until ten o'clock,
the clerks in the store acting in the capacity of bartenders in
the hotel, an always open doorway leading from behind the dry
goods counter in the store to behind the bar in the hotel, which
bar in the early days of our recollections was a little box in the
corner of the room, partitioned off from the rest of the room
by a lattice-work division reaching from floor to ceiling, with
a narrow shelf on one side upon which the bottles and glasses
containing the pump water, etc., were set by the man behind
the bar for the inspection, etc., of the customer. Later, as the
village grew and the demand for additional facilities for dis
pensing the liquor, etc., became manifest, the box in the comer
gave place to a longer and wider and more modern shelf, such
as is sanctioned and approved today by the International
Union of Bartenders.
The other furniture of the old bar-room consisted of a few
chairs and a big bar-room stove—^the. first to sit upon and; the
latter to spit at and warm up by on the outside. In the store
97
every box, chair and barrel, in addition to the counter space
that was not working*, had an evening occupant regularly, and
it would be beyond the realm of possibility to tell of the number
of weighty questions that were discussed and forever settled
by the habitues of the old store. Particularly was this the case
during war times, when discussions have been known to wax
so warm that threats were made to send a too rebellious par
ticipant in the debates to Fort Lafayette, at that time a prison
for political offenders and Southern sympathizers, while on
exraordinary occasions of argument parties have been told to
go to a very much more tropical region.
The proprietor of both hotel and store, as has been said,
was, from 1855 to 1875, Mr. Horatio G. Litzenbei'g, who was,
in many ways, a remarkable man. He was a thorough business
man, small in stature, active, shrewd, fully of energy and
honest in everything—a really good man in every sense. As
landlord of the hotel, operator of the store, farmer of the little
farm, banker for the village, and treasurer and principal con
tributor to the old Lower Merion Baptist Church, he was
really the most important man in the village. He would buy
or sell, get gain or suffer loss, advise others or take advice,
alWays in the best of humor; but he would not brook imposi
tion, and Baptist as he was, he never quailed before a man
twice his weight if throwing him into the turnpike became in
his mind a good, honest, Christian necessity.
His death occurred on March 23, 1880, at the home of his
daughter, Mrs. Mary L. Yocum, who then resided in the
Garrett Kitselman house, now the property of the Merion &
Radnor Gas and Electric Company.
Failing health, both in body and mind, superinduced by
overwork, necessitated the retirement of Mr. Litzenberg from
business several years before his death, when the store, hotel,
farm and all his many interests passed into other hands. Of
the clerks who had served under him, some of them for years,
a few of whom are remembered, none appeared as his logical
successor. Elhannan W. Fisher had died, David Ramage was
also deceased, George H. Baker and Adoniram J. Stanley had
gone to the war, and, upon returning. Baker had gone into
98
business on his own account, while Stanley died soon after of
disease contracted in the army.
George Griest and William H. Ramsey, who also recog
nized the old store as their alma mater, formed a co-partnership
under the firm name of Griest & Ramsey, and conducted the
business of the store very successfully for a short time, not
withstanding at that time sharp competition was springing up
in all parts of the fast-growing village. Mr. Ramsey soon
retired from the firm and entered business alone, buying the
old store south of Rosemont Station and later building, the
large stores and other buildings at his present location in
Bryn Mawr, where he has conducted a profitable business
ever since, being recognized at this writing as Bryn Mawr's
merchant prince, with apologies to Ardmore for his early
training.
Mr. George P. Yocum had in the meantime also returned
from the army and after a short experience as teacher in the
old Wynnewood School had married Mr. Litzenberg's only
daughter, Mary, and upon Mr. Ramsey's retirement associated
himself with Mr. Griest, the firm becoming Griest & Yocum,
and thus continuing for only a short time, when Mr. Griest
retired, and William G. Lesher associated himself with Mr.
Yocum, as Yocum & Lesher. Mr. Yocum assumed control of
the business of both hotel and store when Mr. Lesher retired
shortly afterward. During the interim between the retirement
of Mr. Litzenberg and the assuming of the entire management
by Mr. Yocum the hotel had been leased to and managed by
Samuel Himmelwright and Joseph Gravell on short leases,
but upon Mr. Yocum's acquiring proprietorship Mr. Reuben
G. Smith, the present proprietor of the Green Tree Hotel, was
made manager of the Red Lion, in which position he continued
for about two years, when he bought the property now the
Ardmore House, which had been conducted under a restaurant
license by Jacob Strahley for some time, and opened Ardmore's
second hotel. Later the hotel passed to the management of
Thomas H. Boyd, who had married Miss Hazeltine Stanley, a
cousin of the Litzenbergs, and the store was leased by. Mrs.
Yocum to Oscar S. Dillin, then to Charles Dillin and his son.
"99
Joseph, and upon the death of his father Joseph became the
last proprietor of the old store that for years had beeii proof
against a change in proprietors, but at the last had changed
so frequently that its prestige was lost, never to be regained.
In 1879, about one year before death summoned Mr. Lit-
zenberg, it had taken Mr. Yocum, the active representative of
the Litzenberg estate, when the property was olfered for sale
during the Boyd and Dillin tenancy, a purchaser being later
found in Mr. David Dallas, who bought it in 1885, and yet
continues his ownership of all he then purchased (about three
acres), with the exception of the portion sold to the Merion
and Radnor Gas and Electric Company on the west side of
Greenfield avenue, now ornamented (?) with a big gas-holder.
Mr. Dallas altered the interior arrangement of the building
to suit the hotel business exclusively, a small store which was
divided from the rest of the main floor and for a short time
conducted by his son, David, Jr., being also abandoned in
order that the room might be used as the hotel office. As an
old-time hostelry the Red Lion was possibly as well known
known as any hotel in eastern Pennsylvania. In addition to its
being one of the then many convenient over-night stops for
the "long roaders," as the Pittsburg teams were known, it was
patronized exclusively by drovers as a resting place for their
herds or droves, in many of which there were hundreds of
cattle en route to the stock yards then in West Philadelphia,
provision being in the fields (now covered with buildings) for
feeding and watering the stock, the hay or fodder being loaded
on a wagon which was driven back and forth amongst the
drove while the contents were "pitched off" to the hungry
cattle. The old hotel pump, still in service, supplied an abun
dance of water for all, no matter how large the drove.
Two years since the hotel management again changed,
although David Dallas, Sr., still retains the ownership, when
the sons of the owner—John J. and David, Jr.—became the
proprietors, who, while conducting the hotel in the best pos
sible manner, are not beset with any of the old-time accessories
of hotel management we have enumerated. This, then, was ^
the passing of Ardmore's and Athensville's first store and first
lOQ BULLEriN OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY OP MONTGOMERY COUNTY
hotel, both of which were at one time the largest, the best and,
for a long time, the only places of the kind in the village^
Now the store is a thing of the past; fifty other stores in
the village, having taken its place, are doing its work in the
face of spirited competition by Philadelphia merchants, while
the hotel, with but a single helper, meets all, and more than
all, the requirements of the village thirst. Truly a great change,
but it took forty years to effect it.
Of the family of the late Horatio G. Litzenberg there is
surviving Horatio Litzenberg Yocum, treasurer of The Merion
Title & Trust Co., and Charles C. Yocum, of Narberth (the
only surviving children of George .P. and Mary Litzenberg
Yocum) ;.and the family of Henry Litzenberg, who died less
than one year ago, leaving to survive him a widow, Kate E.
Butler; two daughters, Mary and Sarah; and one son, Leroy V.
Mr. Litzenberg's eldest son, Walter, died unmarried in the
year 1885.
In 1884 the children above named divided the tract lying
south of the Lancaster turnpike, containing about twentyrnine
acres, into over fifty lots, of which the Red Lion Hotel lots
were a part. The first lot sold was immediately after the com
pletion of the survey, the purchaser being Joseph Creighton
and the lot the one now owned and occupied by the family of
the late William M. Huey. Creighton built the house ;still
standing, which was the first new house erected on the tract.
St. Mary's P. E. Church, Mrs. Margaret Clevenger, •Miss
E. A. Gopdrich and others were among the early purchasers
of desirable lots, all of whom improved their purchases at once.
• While Mr. Litzenberg's three children were all living he
gave to his daughter, Mary, and his son, Henry, the lots upon
which they built homes, and which are now owned by Mr.
H. L. Yocum and the Autocar Co., respectively, being adjoin
ing lots, situate on the south side of Lancaster turnpike. .
The "Red Lion" finally became the property of the Autocar Com
pany, and was torn down in 1941. Time and space will not permit further
reference here to its most interesting history.—Ed. "
These properties were their homes during the life of each
of the children, one of them (the Yocum home) being the
place of death of both.
It is worthy of note that three generations of this family
have, with a single exception, all died since 1854, the exception
being Mrs. Martha E. Snyder, now of Clearfield, Pa., who is
still living, but upwards of eighty years of age.
Mr. Horatio Litzenberg has been referred to as having
been prominently identified with the old Lower Merion Baptist
Church, and in this connection we recall his almost weekly
entertainment of the founder, and at that time pastor, of this
church, Rev. Horatio Gates Jones, D.D., who drove from his '
home in Roxborough, a distance of nine miles, every Sunday
morning, for over a quarter of a century, to minister to his
people in Lower Merion. In addition to this, many weekday
trips were also made, as the old parson married or buried
everybody of his faith who required either service. He almost
invariably took dinner with Mr. Litzenberg, driving to his
home in the afternoon or by night if detained by an evening
service.
The writer well remembers the parson's curious but com
fortable old carriage, drawn by a white-faced sorrel horse,
driven by "Aaron," his coachman, who supposedly had more
name, but if so it was never made known at that time or since.
The weather never interfered with this journey, which served
as an inspiration to the Baptists of the village, who, noting the
faithfulness of the old pastor, "hooked up" their teams and
followed their faithful leader.
At the time of which we write, the Lutheran, or, as it was
then known everywhere, the old Dutch, Church, was the only
church and the only place of worship nearer to the village
than the one so familiarly called Parson Jones's Church, on
the Gulf Road. Charles Thompson Jones, who will frequently
be mentioned in succeeding chapters of our story as being in
the early forties an extensive property owner in and near the
village, was a son of this great and good man, as were also
Hon. Horatio Gates Jones, Jr., a State Senator and prominent
lawyer of Philadelphia, and Nathan L. Jones, an extensive
102 BULLETIN OF HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
lumber dealer of Manayunk, ail of whom are long since dead.
The two latter were members of their father's church in
Lower Merion, where either could, and frequently did, take the
place of their father in the pulpit and conduct the services of
the church if occasion required, while both, being good singers,
"belonged to the choir." After the retirement of Mr. Jones on
account of infirmities of old age, and his death, which occurred
in 1853, the Litzenberg home entertained supplies as hospit
ably as it had previously entertained the old pastor. Amongst
these, some of whom afterward became pastors of the church,
are remembered Rev.'G. M. Spratt, Rev. Leonard Freshcoln,
Rev. E. W. Cooper, Rev. Levi Parmalee and many others,
changes in the pastorate succeeding each other almost too
frequently for many years. All of these preachers are the
legitimate subjects of Ardmore's early history, as they either
lived, visited extensively or "boarded round" in the then quiet
hamlet.
We have spoken of the division of the Litzenberg farm
into building lots, and of the improvement consequent upon
this division. Apropos of this feature of our story are a few
lines on the subject of the opening of the road that made the
division and consequent improvement possible. The road
opened about the year 1866, now known as Ardmore avenue,
was christened Athens avenue when it was laid out, Ardmore
then being a familiar word only to the dwellers on or near to
the "high hills* of Ireland. The jury of view granted the road
on the line dividing the properties of Joseph Hunt and H. G.
Litzenberg. The necessity for the road was not a question of
moment for the jury, there being no road running northeast
and southwest for a distance of over a mile. Haydock Garrigues, Edwin Johnson and the Board of Managers of Haverford
College were foremost in the agitation' of the subject of a
better and more convenient means of reaching the village, but
they all lived and had all their property interests in Dela
ware County, while about one-half of the projected road
was in Montgomery County. The efforts of these gentlemen
to induce the residents of Lower Merion to take hold of the
project were futile for some time, but finally Mr. Hunt, Mr.
Litzenberg- and others took the matter up and carried it
through successfully. The road was opened along the property
line as stated to the Delaware County line, and thence by a
Delaware County jury it was granted through the Llewellyn
property to the Haverford road, it being several years later
when the road was continued on to Coopertown.
Opening a road in the sixties, being interpreted, meant the
setting back of the fences and collecting the damages. This
road was not made an exception to the rule then observed, so
that it was a long time before the driver of more than one
wagon per day availed himself-of the new "short cut,"- and
before reaching the end of the road he regretted not having
gone round by way of either White Hall or City Line. The
present beautiful drive can scarcely be believed to have once
been a positive disgrace to two counties. But it was.
One of the most determined opponents to the opening of
the new road was David Llewellyn, who owned all the prop
erty through which the road passed between the county line
and the Haverford road, as well as a large tract on the south
side of the road; where the very did stone house and farm barn
still stand, now so old as to be almost a curiosity, and yet they
are in appearance today unchanged from their appearance
of fifty 3'ears ago. Mr. Llewellyn was well known to every
man, woman and child in the then little village, being a daily
patron of the store and shops then so necessary to the farmers
living all about the village, as well as to the villagers them
selves. He was a very plain, honest and consistent Quaker, but
was not an enthusiastic agitator of public improvement, nor,
in fact, of private improvement of his own property to any
considerable extent. He urged as his principal objection to
the opening of the new road that it would only make it that
much easier for the boys on the pike to reach his farm and steal
his apples.
His objection went down under pressure, his friends by
opposing him doubling the value of his land and making pos
sible the beautifying of the countryside by the erection of
homes such as those of James M. Rhodes, Esq., John S. Arndt,
104 bulletin of historical society of MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Esq., George H. Lea, Esq., and others, all of which are built
on the original David Llewellyn farm.
The tract lying next to and immediately west of the Lit-
zenberg farm, fronting on Lancaster Turnpike, was owned up
to the year 1841 by John and Christlanna Litzenberg, the
owners at the same time of the last tract to which reference
has been made, perhaps too extensively.
In November of the year named, this little farm of only
about twenty acres was sold to Dr. Isaac W. Anderson, a son
of Dr. James Anderson, who for a life-time resided at St.
George's, the old home on Montgomery avenue, from which
Dr. Joseph W. Anderson, another son, was recently buried.
Dr. Isaac was the father of several children, one of whom was
Hannah A., wife of Hon. William H. Sutton, of Haverford,
•the only survivor of her family now residing near to her birth
place, the two sons, Andrew Crawford and Isaac, being resi
dents at this time of the far West.
He resided on this property for several years, during which
time he was in the active practice of medicine. His family
removed from, this home to the old John Taylor property, west
of Haverford, recently occupied by John S. Arndt, Esq. The
Doctor died in the month of December, 1854, at the home in
Athensville, and soon thereafter his widow, Martha Y., and her
brother, John Y. Crawford, Esq., of Mount Pleasant, as
executors of the will of Dr. Isaac W., conveyed the property to
George C. Duncan, a butcher, who had previously resided at
the Five Points, now on the western boundary of Fairmount
Park.
After the death of Mr. Duncan in 1867, the property being
left by will to his wife, she and her children laid out into small
lots and sold the unromantic and not highly ornate suburb of
Ardmore, known as Duncantown, it being the extreme rear or
southern end of the little farm.
In 1878 the remaining portion of the property, consisting
of a trifle over twelve acres, was conveyed by George C.
Duncan, Jr., the eldest son and executor of Elizabeth Duncan,
widow of George Duncan, Sr., who had died the year previous,
to William J. Fergueson and Charles E. McCoy.
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OP ARDMORE^
]^()5
In March, 1881, Fergueson and McCoy again sold the
property to James A. Holland, who occupied it until 1887, the
date of his death.
Three years later his heirs transferred the little tract to
the Bryn Mawr Trust Company, who opened Holland avenue
the entire length of the property and laid it out in small build
ing lots, the demand for which, for the building of small
houses for artisans and laboring people, warranted such divi
sion of the property as is shown by the present improvement
of the street, upon which are" built and occupied at this time
over fifty houses. Of these various owners much might be
written, for the reason that their lives are all interwoven with
the later life of Athensville and the early life of Ardmpre; but,
unfortunately, as is too frequently the case, the good they did
has been interred with their bones, for they are all dead, no
owner of the place having survived to witness the transforma
tion from farm to hamlet.
A few words regarding those best remembered must there
fore suffice, as we fear our writings of so many, if extended,
would produce uninteresting reading and share the fate of
such productions.
Dr. Isaac W. Anderson has been mentioned as the first
owner of this property, as we recollect it. He was one of the
very best men to whom Athensville can substantiate an honest
claim. He was a practicing physician of considerable note, and
there are many yet living in Lower Merion who remember his
personality and not a few who yet attest his faithfulness and
skill, particularly as these qualities apply to families and
patients, who, as is yet the practice, referred him for wellearned fees to the reward awaiting him in the next or some
other succeeding world.
His quaint old doctor's gig was a welcome sight to afflicted
humanity for miles around the village, while his quiet, plod
ding and very safe horse was known to the people as well as
was the Doctor himself. His positive unostentatiousness was
the subject of comment, for he was rigidly plain in ever3d:hing.
His exemplary life guaranteed him entrance into the homes
of the best people, while his^ well-known ministrations for
humanity's sake gave him entrance into the homes of the
worst; consequently he enjoyed an extensive, but not too
lucrative, practice. He and his family were most consistent
members of the old Radnor Methodist Episcopal. Church, to
the success of which he was a liberal contributor. As a student
under his father, he inherited not only the profession, but in
addition his religious tendencies, as well as many of his per
sonal characteristics.
No man surpassed him in consistency, honesty or integrity.
He was such a man as the world always regrets to lose and
whose loss, though to him an assured gain, is none the less a
loss to all mankind. The influence and example of such men
are felt long after they are gone, and in this instance the world
is better today by reason of the fact that Dr. Anderson once
lived in it.
- Mr. George C. Duncan, another owner of this property,
was possibly as well known at the time of his ownership as
any man in Montgomery County, for the reason that no man
would be content after seeing him until he knew all about him
that could be learned. .
He weighed about 350 pounds, notwithstanding which he
attended faithfully to his business, covering the distance be
tween Ardmore and Philadelphia, and return, almost daily.
In doing this, as well as in attending to his local business, he
invariably rode on the very front of the wagon, which exerted
a very depressing effect on that end of the vehicle, no matter
how heavily it was loaded. His business was that of a butcher
and was conducted on an extensive scale, his sales being made
in city markets; but upon his removal to Ardmore he added to
his Philadelphia business two or three country routes, which'
were "run" by his sons, at least four of whom were good
butchers, the routes, before the advent of meat markets in the
country, being most profitable investments.
Large numbers of cattle and sheep were slaughtered at this
old place, the slaughter pens being located in the rear of and
close to the house still standing, now the property of Joseph
P. Dillin. A blind man could find the place undirected if his
sense of smell was no worse than his sight.
His funeral was one of the largest ever held in this vicinity,
many being attracted through curiosity to view in death a
man of such enormous proportions, and see a coffin thirty-two
inches in width and over two feet in depth.
His wife, Elizabeth, was one of the most honest, outspoken
and positive of women, being noted for all those character
istics, as well as for her kindness of heart, her goodness to
the poor and her abhorrence of improvidence. She gladly
bestowed charity with a willing hand, but her opinion on the
subject of downright laziness was bestowed with equal willing
ness and not infrequently with considerable emphasis accbmpanyingît.
Ten children, six boys and four girls, were born to this
couple, a few of whom are yet among the village folk, William
being in business on Spring avenue; Philip, owner of the
station "hacks," and Samuel, ex-Supervisor of the township
and now a foreman for Commissioner Edward Campbell, are
among the survivors of this large family.
A great many of our readers will remember the last owner
of the Isaac W. Anderson property as a farm, whose owner
ship, although brief, is recognized in the name given the street
which bisects the tract. For many years prior to his purchase
of this property James A. Holland had been in the employ of
George B. Roberts, Esq., the owner of the Pencoyd farms, or
had been a tenant under him, removing to Ardmore from that
place. He was a most industrious and energetic man, his life
being, as he frequently said, "a life of work with no let up."
Under the old form of township government he held the
office of Supervisor of Roads when the township was divided
into the upper and lower districts. He resided at the time in
the extreme lower end of the lower district, but was assigned
the care of the roads in the upper or west district, from five
to seven miles distant from his home. His faithfulness as an
official was attested by the fact that it was said that he was
invariably the first man at the designated place for work in
the morning and the last to leave the place in the evening.
He-was a very "plain, blunt, man," honest and capable, but
not a sucess as a money-saver. His wife was Rebecca, a daugh-
3^08
ter of John Montgomery. She survived her husband several
years, but is also deceased. Four children survive, all of whom
reside near to, but not in, Ardmore. They are John, George,
Thomas, and Laura, wife of William E. Conner, of Delaware
County, some of whom yet have property interests in the
village.
The property adjoining the Holland place on the west,
which must be our village boundary in this direction, was
owned in 1848 by Abraham Levering, who named it Illinova.
It was occupied by his son, William, while the place immedi
ately opposite to it on the north side of the Turnpike, now
owned by Miss Kate Lesher, was owned by the same gentle
man, and was the residence of his son, John. The father,
Abraham Levering, owned and resided on the farm now made
famous as the palatial residence of Percival Roberts, Esq., on
Flat Rock Summit. His family consisted of ten children. In
addition to the above-mentioned, there were three boys, Joseph
H., a prominent physician, who was murdered at Humphreyville (now Bryn Mawr) in 1865; Abraham, Jr., and Jeiferson;
and five daughters, Eleanor, the first wife of Charles Kugler,
Esq.; Catharine, widow of David Morgan, of Ingeborg; Han
nah, wife of Christopher H. Garden, of Philadelphia; Deborah
and Annie. The surviving brothers reside in Indiana. But it
is of the William Levering property we are writing.
In the early days of our "recollections" the present Alfred
Godwin homestead, served the same purpose for William Lev
ering. The old stone house, then one of the best in the village,
has been greatly enlarged and improved by successive owners,
but the front portion of stone is not very greatly altered in
appearance in half a century.
There were about fourteen acres embraced in the property,
and in the forties there were standing on it, in addition to the
homestead, a small tenant house and a blacksmith shop. The
house was a low one-and-a-half story frame, and stood very
near to the present location of the stable of William McCon-
aghy on Wyoming avenue. It was occupied for many years by
James Shaw. The little stone smith shop, which was later
converted into a dwelling house, stood close to the Turnpike,
"
JQQ
about where the two new stores recently built by Alfonzo
Talone now stand.
. In this house (formerly the smithy) lived in 1849 a very
honest and industrious colored man named Israel Roman,
whose calling was that of a well-digger. He did a good busi
ness, as in those days everybody was obliged to have a water
well or "catch rain water," it being long before the first
thought had been bestowed upon piping water over twelve
miles for village consumption.
One afternoon, about the year named, the village was
thrown into a condition of excitement, occasioned by the
announcement that Roman was dead at the bottom of the well
at the Levering home, and that it was impossible to recover
his body, the well being very deep, with several feet of water
covering the body. The story proved to be true in every par
ticular, further investigation revealing the fact that the well
was filled with foul gases to such an extent that it was impos
sible to descend into it. No appliances for grappling for the
body were available, so that it remained at the bottom of the
well until Nathan Thomson, the then village blacksmith, forged
a hook with which the body was soon brought to the surface.
The excitement attending the accident was greater by far
than would be occasioned today by a similar accident befalling
one of the most prominent men of the village. But the times
have changed, the sudden death of even a great man being not
more than a nine days' wonder.
Roman's successor in business dug a new well for Mr.
Levering as his first job.
In 1854, Mr. Levering removed to Lafayette, Indiana,
where he almost immediately established headquarters as
State Superintendent of Sabbath School Work, to which and
kindred religious effort among the young people lie devoted
his life.
He is yet living in Lafayette, Ind., and has only recently
written assurances of much interest in the story of his old
home as told in our reminiscences. We congratulate him on
his vigorous old age.
In 1853 this property was purchased by Simon Mudge, a
Philadelphia merchant, who occupied it as a residence until
1865. During his ownership, three, at least, of his daughters
were married from this house. The older people of the place
must remember the charivari, or callithumpian, serenade ten
dered to the eldest daughter, Emma, and her husband, Charles
S. Throckmorton, who, most imprudently, remained at Mr.
Mudge's house the night of the wedding day.
A description of this musical (?) fete will be permitted as
a digression, for the reason that while it was not an Athensville conception, it was universally practiced in the village on
all convenient and appropriate opportunities. On the occasion
of Miss Mudge's marriage, which was very select, the noc
turnal concert was opened with an overture very soon after
the performance of the ceremony, and before any of the guests
had left the house, the curtain rising on the performance
about 8:30. It is proper to say that the groom was very well
known in the neighborhood, but belonged to the fraction of
the 400 who honored Athensville with the distinguishment of
even a sparking acquaintance. The "Captain" of the troupe
on this occasion was Edwin Stadelman, then in the coal busi
ness in the village. He proved his ability as an organizer by
enrolling nearly one hundred men and boys as musicians, each
one of whom provided his own instrument and performed on
it in his own sweet (?) way. Captain Stadelman was the only
man especially dressed for the occasion. He wore overalls and
a jumper and a silk hat. On each shoulder was fastened a
well-worn whitewash brush as epaulettes, while he carried in
his hand a pick handle as his baton and wand of authority.
The instruments consisted of every known and several un
known (up to the time) noise-makers, the leading instrument
being then, as always, the horse-fiddle. For the information
of the last generation of readers, this instrument should be
described. It was the largest packing box in the village, or
a box larger than that, if time was given for its construction.
It required no lid, the top edges of the sides of the box con
stituting the points of contact for a sixteen-foot hemlock three
by four, which was the fiddle bow, one rasp of which across
the box would terrorize a cemetery.
m
On the evening in question the troupe gathered all around
the Mudge residence, observing the most profound silence,
but every performer awaiting the Captain's signal to play.
The bridal party were in the refreshment room when the pick
handle was wielded, directing the opening of the concert, and
here we stop for want of words. It cannot be told. A few
dogs who had accompanied the performers to the scene added
to the din their final yelps as they started for home, and Isaac
Warner's hogs, quietly sleeping in his orchard 100 yards away,
broke through the intervening fence and scampered across lots
to Haverford College Farm, where they were sorted out from
amongst the swine belonging to the College farmer and re
turned the next morning.
The concert continued for some hours, until the bride and
groom "made their appearance" and shook hands with the
Captain, when the entertainment was declared ended and the
troupe disbanded, only, however, until another opportunity
was presented for a similar effort.
In April, 1865, Mr. Mudge sold the property to Bernard
Sprungk, who occupied it for less than two years, when it was
sold at Sheriff's sale to Charlotte E., wife of Samuel Slaymaker. Mr. Slaymaker was a broker, with his office in Phil
adelphia. He repaired the house and increased it in size, con
tinuing to reside in it until about 1884, when it became the
property of the Ardmore Real Estate Association, which at
that time consisted of William Miles, William G. Lesher, Henry
Blithe and Walter W. Hood. By this company Wyoming and
Locust avenues and other streets were opened and dedicated
to the township, the entire tract divided into lots, all of which
have been sold and many of them re-sold, and nearly all built
upon.
On the rear of the Mudge property, adjoining the large
farm of Haverford College, was a pond or lake having a sur
face of over an acre, and, there are yet living several men who,
as boys, had their first swim in Mudge's dam, and possibly as
many women who there, as girls, took their original tumble on
skates.
Just south of this pond, on the same stream, in the rear
112
bulletin of historical society of MONTGOMERY COUNTY
of what is now Duncantown, on the Haverford College prop
erty, was another pond, larger, deeper and in every way better
than the Mudge pond, invariably called "the Quaker dam,"
being maintained by the college as a swimming pool for the
students. Some of the wealthiest of Philadelphia's business
men are among the number who, as boys in the forties
and fifties were given at times, by members of the faculty,
their first lessons in water athletics in this old Quaker dam.
Professors Joseph G. Harlan and Moses Stevens, of the college
faculty, are remembered as instructors to boys who are now
old men.
Scarcely a vestige of either pond is left, while the little
stream which fed them, rising at Anderson's spring on the
pike, flowing through Ellis Maris's meadow, now the property
of A. A. Hirst, Esq., then through the Haverford College
grounds and the Llewellyn farm and on to Cobb's Creek, has
decreased in volume, its sparkling purity being a remembrance
only, while its very course has been changed to push it farther
away from the improvements built almost upon its banks.
The John Levering property before referred to is now
owned and occupied by Miss Kate Lesher. The improvements
upon it are practically as they were fifty years ago. The old
stone house has been the subject of some change in appearance
as well as convenience, but the old walls, built in the long ago,
yet stand. When Mr. William G. Lesher, Sr., moved from the
farm on Church road to this property, about the year 1856,
he added somewhat to the buildings and beautifully improved
the grounds, the yard in front and at the side of the house
being planted with flowers and plants in a most attractive
manner. An old ice house in this yard did not harmonize with
its surroundings and was torn down.
During the tenancy of John Levering the place was very
plainly but neatly kept, which means more than is at first
apparent — the neatly cut grass being the result of tedious
clipping with sickle and scissors, as, while "there were pro
phets in those days," there were no lawn mowers.
Having referred briefly to William, we have but to repeat
our reference in speaking of John. They were twin brothers.
remarkably resembling' each other in appearance and being
equally alike in habits, character, disposition and in all other
respects. They were of the very best of the eaiiy residents of
the old village, and it was and yet is regrettable that the village
lost them in its infancy and in their comparative youth.'
This property was sold in 1850 by the Levering family to
Jane K. Pogue; later to Joseph Hunt, and about 1855 to Wil
liam Thompson, who occupied it for about two years, when it
was acquired by Mr. William G. Lesher. During the time cov
ered by those numerous transfers the place contained about
four and a quarter acres, lying on both sides of the Pennsyl
vania Railroad, embracing the lot now owned by Smedley &
Mehl, used as their coal yard; the Haverford Electric Light
Works and the Samuel Williams property.
In 1883 the Smedley & Mehl lot was conveyed by Mr.
Lesher to Jacob L., William and Samuel F. Stadelman, execu
tors of Jacob Stadelman, deceased, and the coal business re
moved from opposite the station to this lot, where it was very
profitably carried on by Jacob L. Stadelman for seyeral years,
when it was sold to Henry F. Bruhner, who held it but a short
time, when he sold it to H. W. & R. Smedley, who held the title
for about two months, when it was again sold to Smedley &
Mehl, the present owners.
Of Mr. Lesher's family of five children three are yet living.
Margaret, widow of Enoch Clevenger, who was the first of Mr.
Lesher's family to marry, and who owns and for years resided
on the" farm on Haverford road, a part of which is how the
beautiful lake and pumping station of the Springfield Water
Co. (Mrs. Clevenger now owns and occupies one of the neatest
and most attractive of Ardmore avenue's pretty homes);
Emma, wife of Henry Blithe, of Philadelphia, but largely in
terested in Ardmore real estate; and Miss Kate, owner of the
John Levering residence on Lancaster avenue, or, more prop
erly speaking, the old homestead, are all of the generation who
survive.
A daughter, Julia, and an only son, William G., are
deceased.
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bulletin of historical SOCIETy OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Lehigh avenue was not opened until a comparatively recent
date, the Lesher property adjoining the Litzenberg lot, now
Murray's coal yard and feed mills, but then Litzenberg's sid
ing, coal yard and feed store.
The easternmost half of this property is now owned by Mr.
Lesher's daughter—Mrs. Emma Blithe.
For some years Charles Kenderdine was a tenant of this
property and is remembered as being a most useful and influ
ential villager. He never became a property owner in the place
—which was a matter of regret—he being a really aggressive
advocate of public or village improvement, of whom there were
then not too many in evidence in suburban towns.
When the Pennsylvania Railroad was straightened between
Ardmore and Rosemont the overhead bridge on Lehigh avenue
was built, there never having previously been a crossing or
even a road at this place. The opening of the road, while not
particularly favored by the owners of the properties abutting
on it, proved of great value to these opponents, transforming
as it did the lots from pasture fields into the best business loca
tions in the place. But the old owners were obliged to leave to
their heirs and assigns the pecuniary reward of their defeated
opposition — another evidence of the fact that "taking no
thought of the morrow" is not a good sentiment in real estate
transactions or the opening of necessary roads.
We must not go beyond the properties lying on the west
side of Lehigh avenue in writing of what is now conceded to be
Ardmore, although, were we writing exclusively of Athensville,
we would feel justified in going almost as far west, in laying
our claims, as Haverford Station.
Crossing Montgomery avenue at Lehigh avenue, we have,
as the northern boundary of the village, the large farm owned
until recently by Dr. Joseph W. Anderson, extending eastwardly along Montgomery avenue a distance of nearly 4000
feet, and containing over 100 acres.
It will not be an exaggeration to say that fifty years ago
the farm and its owner were known from one end of the county
to the other, the former as being one of the most valuable with-
EAELY RECOLLECTIONS OF ARDMORE
in a radius of miles, and the latter as being one of the leading
physicians of his time, as well as one of the wealthiest men of
the Township.
Until quite recently this property has been unimproved
with other than the fine old residence and farm buildings
erected long before our "recollections" can be made to apply.
It was not offered for sale at a price attractive to investors, or,
in fact, at any price, being farmed in 1900 as it was in 1850,
until the experienced eye of Mr. C. J. Mcllvain, to whom price
is subordinated to desirability in everything, fell upon it, the
result being a complete transformation from a fertile, but of
late years unprofitable, farm to a countryside unsurpassed in
Eastern Pennsylvania, dotted with beautiful homes, traversed
by the best built roads, planted and ornamented with the
choicest trees and plants, and in every possible way made most
attractive.
The old farm has been in the Anderson family since the
twenties, our earliest, as well as our latest, recollections of it
being that it has always been known as the Doctor Anderson,
farm. It descended from Dr. James, the father, to Dr. Joseph,
the son, the latter retaining the ownership up almost to the
time of his death.
In addition to this farm, the elder Dr. Anderson owned
several smaller tracts and lots of land in and near to the village
and in other parts of Eastern Pennsylvania, as will appear as
our writings continue, as well as several much larger tracts in
Clarion County.
The road leading from the Lancaster Turnpike to the en
trance to his home on the Old Road, now named officially as
Anderson avenue, was then Anderson's lane, and the grade
crossing which is now supplanted by the overhead bridge at
Ardmore Station, and which was in the early forties the stop
ping place for the few trains running on the old Philadelphia
& Columbia Railroad, was called Anderson's crossing.
The road, recently officially named Glenn's lane, was orig
inally known as Mill Creek road, although for a long time it,
too, bore the name of Anderson's lane. It was for a long time
the only road leading from the Turnpike to Mill Creek between
BULLETIN OF HISTOKICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Bryn Mawr and the present Cherry lane, at Wynnewood
Manor.
Travel to the creek with its then numerous mills and fac
tories, as well as to "The War Office," the original name for
Merion Square, was all confined to this very hilly and narrow
road, which was then a much-traveled thoroughfare, a condition
that was corrected in the early seventies, largely through the
efforts of Dr. Edmund 0. Evans, who, as a pioneer in cham
pioning good roads, succeeding in having opened through the
Anderson farm, the present excellent and comparatively road,
not, however, without encountering strenuous opposition from
the owner of the land, who saw in the proposed improvement
only the irreparable mutilation of his farm. The wisdom of the
effort was immediately manifested in that the old road became
an unused lane, while the new one was used by every driver
between Bryn Mawr and the City Line who had occasion to
drive from the Turnpike in the direction of the Schuylkill
River. It is conceded to be one of the best and most necessary
of all the highways in the Township.
The .Ajiderson family owned the lot where Ardmore Station
now stands, and it was with no little difficulty, and in the face
of the most determined opposition on the part of the owner
(the- young Doctor), that the Railroad Company secured the
lot for station purposes.
On the south side of Montgomery avenue, east of Smedley
& Mehl's lumber yards, the family owned several small lots,
as also the Dr^ George S. Gerhard property, on the corner of
Montgomery and Anderson avenues. In other parts of the
Township the elder Doctor and his descendants owned a num
ber of small places, while his name appears on the records in
connection with numerous mortgage holdings and other inter
ests, indicating that in the forties and later. Dr. James Ander
son was one of Montgomery County's most prosperous, as well
as one of its best known, men, while in public affairs; the
religious interests of the neighborhood and his devotion to the
cause of temperance, he earned for himself a name in the old
village which is yet respected and honored by the few of those
who knew him who are yet living.
ANDERSON HOMESTEAD IN 1911
SIMPKINS-McAFEE HOUSE IN 1913
(photographs by Charles R. Darker)
^17
His family was a very large one, he having married twice.
Ten children are remembered by the writer, but there were at
least four more than this number who died when quite young.
Three of his sons followed the profession of their father and
became well known to the medical world. These were Isaac W.,
James Rush and Joseph W., the last named being well remem
bered by nearly every .reader of this story. A daughter, Sarah,
married Mr. William A. Fisher, late of Bryn Mawr, of whom
William Righter Fisher, Esq., a member of the Philadelphia
bar, is the only son, and Naomi, wife of Dr. J. A. Linn, is the
only daughter.
James Rush was an ordained minister of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, as well as a practitioner of medicine. He
frequently preached in the nearby churches, but never prac
ticed his profession in the village, except when called as a con
sultant. He died in 1863. A daughter, Mary, married John
Buckman, of Burlington, N. J. Another daughter, Naomi, died
unmarried at her father's home, in 1860. She was one of the
loveliest of women. A. Jackson, a member of the Montgomery
County bar; Ultimus Adjutor, the .youngest son, and Dr.
Joseph W., the last to die, all passed away within the last
few years.
The only survivors of the large family are John F., residing
near Bridgeport, Montgomery County, and Miss Corona B., the
youngest of the children, who owns and resides in the old
homestead, now known as St. George's, being the only one' of
two or three generations of this large family to remain during
a lifetime in the village and to continuously reside for all that
lifetime in the house wherein she was born.
The old house has been changed from a farm house to a
lovely country home, while its environment has changed from.
the little village to a bustling town. Of all the large family
who have occupied the place during almost a century but one
remains in the village, but the name of Anderson will be asso
ciated with the place when all who bore the name have passed
away.
Dr. James Anderson died on June 1st, 1858, at the homewherein he had passed a long and very useful life. The old
Hg
house, now greatly improved in appearance and convenience,
was the old Doctor's residence, his office and his farmhouse.
As his home it was all that the word implies; as his office
it was the Mecca for almost all the early residents of the village
when illness or accident demanded his attention and advice,
and as his farmhouse it was the headquarters from which,
during his lifetime and for many years subsequent to his
death, emanated all the directions required in the manage
ment of a large farm, when farming was a very different
proposition from what it is today.
Before the years of the Civil War there was a small tenant
house situated in the field, about midway between the old
homestead and the western boundary of the property. It stood
well back from the old Lancaster road and was not either
pretentious, ornate or commodious. It was occupied by the
help on the farm — one of whom is remembered as John
McGann — a most faithful and devoted Irishman. A few of
his descendants yet reside in the vicinity, who are among the
best of our people. He was a most honest and industrious
farm hand, and, while in the employ of the Doctor, accumu
lated sufficient to purchase a home for himself in the somewhat
unromantic suburb of Haverford, known at that time and yet
as Kilkenny, although it is not that way on the map.
The old house has long since been torn down, and it may
be truly said that the place thereof knows it no more, for it
is now part of a beautiful residential section, and in its stead
are built and being built homes such as few sections of the
township have to be proud of.
Dr. Joseph W. Anderson, having been until so recently a
resident of the village, there will be little in the nature of
recollections to be written regarding him or his life as one of
the most influential of all our village folk. He was a Christian
gentleman, peculiar in some things, but consistent in all. Quiet
and reserved in manner, able in his profession which he may
be said to have practiced for his love of the profession and
humanity rather than for gain, his charges to the poor being
such as the patient chose to pay rather than such as he was
warranted in exacting.
He retired from active practice some years before his
death, when the growth and prosperity of the village had
attracted to it more physicians than were in the township
when he succeeded to his honored father's practice, and when
failing health required the taking of the rest he had so well
earned.
The youngest of the sons of Dr. James Anderson was
named Ultimus Adjutor—so named because he was to be "the
last helper." He died only a few years ago and is, therefore,
almost as well remembered as is the younger doctor. He was a
big, big-hearted, honest farmer — a friend to everybody and
everybody's friend.
Physically he was an athlete. Eschewing the profession of
his father and brothers he chose the rugged life of the farm
and the quarry, and for years he managed the farm for his
brother and did it well. The scythe and the grain cradle, the
sledge and the drill were to him as mere playthings, for he loved
them all in their day and generation, which was before the
time of reapers and binders, mowers and other farm machin
ery which he lived to see supplant his old-time equipment.
The large quarry on the Mill Creek road he opened with
his own hands and assisted in its development until hundreds
of thousands of tons of stone were taken from it.
But the farm is gone and the quarry is no more—^the one
being a beautiful countryside, while the other is covered by a
velvety lawn which surrounds a beautiful suburban home.
•Reference has been made to the fact that in the long past
Dr. James Anderson owned the lot on the corner of Anderson
and Montgomery avenues, which was sold by Dr. Joseph W.
Anderson to Dr. George S. Gerhard, and upon which Dr. Ger
hard built the home he has until recently occupied. This own
ership, or, rather, this lot, is entitled to more than passing
reference, for upon it, almost in the exact spot now occupied
by Dr. Gerhard's stable, stood "The Little Bethel," and the
story of "Little Bethel" must be told. It was a very plain,
simple, one-story stone building, in size about twenty by thirty
feet, having double-pitch shingled roof, with the front gable,
or entrance quite close to the road. Both within and without
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it was white-washed—a fresh coat being applied every spring.
A door in front, with a window on each side of it; three wlndos on each side, with two in the rear, made of the little build
ing a tjT)ical school house of half a century ago.
• In front of the little building.stood two giant buttonwood
trees, which were cut down long after the old gentleman's
death. To have attempted their destruction during his lifetime
would have provoked a tragedy.
The building was erected by Dr. James Anderson for the
convenience of his own and a few neighboring children in ob
taining a primary education and for the further purpose of
accommodating the neighborhood with a place in which Sun
day School could be held or small religious gatherings pro
vided for.
The Doctor selected the teacher of the day school, furnished
the wood for heating the room and the scrubbers for cleaning
it. The candles with which it was lighted were made at his
house, and the bucket of drinking water was carried from his
spring. A number of the neighboring youth were scholars
under this private teacher employed by the Doctor—a small
charge being made to meet the expense of tuition, while every
child supplied himself or herself with books, slate, etc., as re
quired by the teacher as ammunition in teaching the young
idea gunnery—and some other things.
The writer's first day at school was spent in the "Little
Bethel," very much to the teacher's discomfiture, as he was
feelingly advised just before the hour for closing, when the
teacher enforced a ruling which hurt.
But it was the Sunday School that made the fame of "Little
Bethel," if not world wide, at least township wide, for every
body in Lower Merion knew of. the little school. For many
years Mr. William A. Fisher, a son-in-law of Dr. Anderson,
who later became a licensed preacher of the Methodist Epis
copal Church, and whose death only a few years since was so
sincerely mourned, was superintendent, while Mr. George
Blithe, a resident of the village (being at that time the owner
of the property now owned by the estate of Charles Stark, on
Cricket avenue), was assistant superintendent.
^21
The school was Union throughout—creed, color, sex, age,
height, "nor any other creature" acted as a bar to attendance
at this school. All were welcome, the consequence being that
some of the best men and women and any number of the worst
who in later years contributed to the village fame could trace
their early spiritual training to the "Little Bethel" Sunday
School.
The furniture of the little room was of the plainest, con
sisting of benches, some high, some low, some with backs and
some without, but all hard. A pulpit or reading desk and a very
plain and very small bookcase for housing the scanty library,
together with an old-fashioned wood-burning stove completed
the equipment. The good old Methodist hymns were read from
the pulpit. The singing was "raised" by Mr. Blithe, and the col
lection "lifted" by one or more of the worst of the boy scholars,
while the sheet-iron stove served as a heater for the room, and
its hot top served admirably as a place for the same sort of boy
as took up the collection to drop a piece of asafoetida or a pinch
of red pepper during prayers.
More than once has an early amen been brought about by
the introduction in this way of a motion for prompt adjourn
ment.
At the time of which we are writing "The Little Bethel"
Sunday School was the only one in the village, notwithstanding
existing necessities. The old Lutheran. Church, then standing
in the corner of the graveyard on Church road, conducted a
Sunday School in the little old building still standing, only dur
ing the summer months, but the "Litttle Bethel" School was
open all the year. No more faithful Sabbath School officers
than Messrs. Fisher and Blithe ever exercised such functions
in any similar body. It was never too inclement for them to be
at their posts, and only serious illness occasioned the absence
of either. The same may be said of the teachers, among whom
we recall the late Dr. Joseph W. Anderson and his sister
Naomi; Mr. and Mrs. Joseph T. Pearce; Hannah, eldest daugh
ter of Nathan Thomson, later the wife of Josiah Longacre;
William Rudolph, a licensed exhorter of the Methodist Church;
and others. There were then no lesson leaflets or prepared
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bulletin of historical society of Montgomery county
studies for the children, the exercises being confined to a study
of and recitation from the Bible, with invariably an address by
the Superintendent.
The rewards for attendance and for committing verses of
Scripture to memory were little blue and red tickets, each hav
ing printed upon it a Scripture text. One blue ticket was the
reward for attendance, one blue for committing six verses of
the scholar's own selection; six blues were exchanged for one
red, and on anniversary days the reds were good for a book
costing anywhere from a fip to a dollar, according to the num
ber of tickets earned and not lost.
The attendance was always up to the capacity of the little
building, for there was no golf nor baseball, nor anything of a
similar religious character to attract the children on Sunday
afternoons, so that everybody went to Sunday School. And
then there were celebrations when the "Little Bethel" joined
with the Lutheran and the Union of Humphreysville, and
Coopertown and Fairview, for a day in the woods. It was the
event of the year. The time was usually a day in August, when
a thunder storm was scheduled for the afternoon; the place,
"a woods," anywhere. All rode to the grounds in wagons, or
walked. No automobiles or bicycles were ever seen at a Sunday
School picnic fifty years ago. A stand for the speakers, benches
for the scholars, and tables for the refreshments were erected
the day previous to the celebration, delegations from each
school participating, meeting in the grove to do this work.
The exercises consisted of singing, speaking by the minis
ters, declamations, single double, triangular and worse, by the
children from each school, and refreshments. All the former
were endured in blissful expectation of the latter. At noon it
was bread and ham and sometimes pie, and then amusements
for two hours; swings, quoits, corner ball and sometimes Cop
enhagen filled the gap between speeches, and at four in the
afternoon it was lemonade and cake and the thunder storm,
when all who could took refuge in, under or within sight of the
wagons, and then all went home, if not happier and better than
when they came, they were at least fuller and wetter.
Less than a score of those who, as scholars, attended the
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schools held in "Little Bethel," are now living, while possibly
not more than twice that number have any recollection of hav
ing seen the old building; but its influence for good has been
and, let us hope, is yet, felt in the neighborhood it so well and
SO inexpensively served for so many eventful years.
The little building was frequently used for mid-week
prayer-meetings, under the direction of Mr. Fisher, Mr. Blithe
or some member of the Doctor's family, there being then, as
has been said, but one church in the village, and that some
what inaccessible, the road leading to it, now so smooth and
dry, being then a mass of quicksand held in place by hundreds
of buried cedar bushes and tons of stone which were annually
lost to sight and are not even now to memory dear.
This old building was torn down to make place for the
improvements which, there as elsewhere, went to transform
Athensville into Ardmore, not even a picture of it being in
existence, for in its day and generation there were no kodaks.
It was one of the landmarks of the early days, and we think
deserves the extended notice we have accorded it. Not one of
the officers or teachers of the little Sunday School is living to
day, while of the scholars whom we recall as sitting with us in
the "Little Bethel," nearly all have "joined the innumerable
throng."
The lot on the southeast corner of Montgomery and Ander
son avenues was purchased in 1867 from Priscilla, widow of
Henry Purdy, by Dr. Joseph W. Anderson. In the original deed
made to Henry Purdy in 1825 he is named as "Henry Purdy, a
colored man," and there was no error in the description of the
man. He was never ashamed of his color, and made no protest
against being called a "nigger,", always claiming that "nig
gers" were of two kinds, black and white, and that while the
black variety were as "ornary" as possible, the white variety
were worse.
This lot was about 150 feet square, and Purdy had built
upon it a small stone house fronting on the old road, and quite
near the eastern, or Jacob Sibley, property line. Attached to
the house was a frame wagon-shed, back of which was a frame
stable.
^24 bulletin of historical society of MONTGOMERY COUNTY
•He was what is known as a huckster, driving about the
country with his wares, and always keeping in stock in the
wagon-shed, among other things, a supply of the best oysters
purchasable, a commodity of which he was a most excellent
judge, and of which his wife "Prissy" was an equally excellent
cook.
In the early fifties Purdy's was the only place nearer than
Philadelphia where oysters could be had, and there was no
man then in the village too aesthetic to stand at the tail of
Purdy's wagon and eat while-he knocked them open.
He attended all the public sales or vendues, of which there
were then a great many, and sold from the same old whitecovered wagon the "raws," while his bowls of oyster soupcosting a "fip," cooked on a charcoal furnace at his side, were
always well worth the money. For a "levy," or levenpenny bit,
which was two "fips," or twelve and one-half cents, a plate of
raw and a bowl of soup could be had, including the crackers,
which the old man broke with a little mallet and dropped "in
the soup." For a quarter, a very sturdy farmer could be made
to feel like a gourmand.
Notwithstanding the competition in this vendue trade,
which naturally sprang into existence, it was seldom indeed
that Purdy did not sell out.
It was charged against the old man that oyster soup was
not the only liquid refreshment sold from his wagon, but the
charges were met by the assertion that he had never had a
license to sell anything but oysters, which was true.
A number of good village stories have been told with Henry
Purdy as either the hero or the victim, and possibly an equal
number wherein his wife figured in the same way. One or two
will bear repetition.
He was at one time engaged to post the bills for a large
stock sale in the neighborhood. Taking his hammer and tacks
and paste-pot, he proceeded with the work and, being unable
to read, he posted every bill on fence, telegraph pole or other
convenient place upside down. The public thought it a scheme
to attract attention, and consequently everybody read the bill
at the risk of having to undergo an operation for the removal
125
of a cataract, and the sale proved to be the best sale of the
season.
About the year 1864 he was struck by a locomotive at And
erson's crossing and instantly killed just as he had finished a
colloquy with a neighbor over the absence of a hired man lately
employed by Jonathan Haycock, who then owned the property
on Montgomery avenue now owned by Mrs. Sarah B. Mason.
Purdy, referring to the missing employee, said, "He run
oif, didn't he?" "Yes," replied his friend, "he went on the cars
and took his portmantle." "Portmantle de debbil," said Purdy,
"'Twant no portmantle at all, 'twas a menice."
His wife claimed to be Priscilla McClellan, being a manu
mitted slave of the family whose name she changed for love of
Purdy. She was a well-known character in the village, and vis
ited with the best families. Her claim to having been reared
in the McClellan family was well-founded and genuine, as was
proven repeatedly by the quite frequent visits of the well-
known family to her humble, but always neat, home. The Gen
eral has on more than one occasion been a guest of "Aunt
Prissy" and verified her claim that she had nursed him in baby
hood, watched over his boyhood and retained the respect of his
manhood. It was no unusual thing to see the McClellan family
barouche stop at her door and unload, the visitors "staying to
supper," while the horses, coachman and footman were mean
while cared for at the Red Lion. On these occasions Henry
would remark, "Keeps a fellow busy knocken de heads offen
de chickens for Prissy's 'ristocrats."
She died in 1870 at the Home for Aged Colored Persons, at
Belmont and Girard avenues. West Philadelphia, of which in
stitution she became an inmate some years previously through
the influence of Dr. Anderson, who in this way applied the old
"mammy's" means to securing her every comfort in her de
clining years. Her remains lie beside those of her husband in
the-graveyard of the Radnor M. E. Church, of which she had
been for many years a most devoted member, and where ser
vices were held at the time of her funeral, when in a very large
attendance for such an occasion, there was not one colored per
son present, but at which the best families of the vicinity were
126
represented, to honor and evidence their respect for a really
remarkable woman, even though of a race which does not at
this time command the respect to which it might well be
entitled.
Immediately after acquiring the Purdy property, Dr. And
erson remodeled the old house and added largely to its capacity
and convenience. The old buildings were all torn down and the
little place converted into an attractive cottage home which
was leased to Mr. Edw. Steele and a Wharton family of Phila.delphia, for some years, when it was purchased by the late
Allen B. Rorke, who removed all the buildings, graded the
grounds and turned the old place into his lawn. How well he
did it is attested by a glance at it today. It is now the propertj'
of Edwin S. Dixon, Esq., being a part of the beautiful sur
roundings of one of Ardmore's handsomest homes.
This property, now owned by Mr. Dixon, familiarly known
in recent years as the McAllister place or the Rorke property,
was, in the early days, a portion of the Stephen Goodman tract.
The Goodman family had, previous to the earliest of our recol
lections, been owners of considerable tracts lying between
Anderson's farm and St. Mary's, the farm of Owen and Mary
Jones. Stephen Goodman was a brother of Catharine, wife of
Jacob Sibley. Mr. Goodman owned north of the Turnpike,
which included, in addition to the Edwin S. Dixon property, a
part of the property recently purchased from Josiah S. Pearce
by the Pennsylvania Railroad, and a lot now embraced in the
westernmost end of the property of Mr. G. A. Warner. Mrs.
Sibley owned south of the Turnpike the land now owned by
Henry Becker, Josiah S. Pearce, The Ardmore & Llanerch
Street Railway Co., William C. McCIintock, The First Baptist
Church, Daniel Shupert and others on the southeast side of
Cricket avenue above Athens avenue.
In 1879 the heirs of Catharine Sibley, who died the year
before and who had inherited the Stephen Goodman tract, sold
the Dixon place to Charles E. Blumner, who erected the large
stone house, but was unable to complete the other contemplated
improvements.' He sold, two years later, to James W. McAllis
ter, Esq., president of The Franklin Fire Insurance Company,
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one of the best of all Ardmore's short term residents, who in
(?•) 1891 sold to the late Allen B. Rorke, who greatly enlarged
and improved it by buying the Purdy lot, thoroughly remodel
ing the already fine residence, erecting stables, conservatories,
etc., and generally beautifying the place, making of it one of
the very handsomest homes in the village. He was, however,
not long permitted to enjoy it. The messenger that so fre
quently comes in the midst of life, took him at the very zenith
of his usefulness, when his heirs sold to Mr. Dixon, the present
owner.
Stephen Goodman, or "Uncle Stevey," as he was best
known, was never married, and for years prior to his death,
which occurred in 1854, he lived with his sister, Mrs. Sibley,
in the old farm house, built over 100 years ago, which was
recently demolished to make place for the new trolley station,
A brother, George, who also resided with this sister, was
killed by the cars, just in rear of the house now owned by the
Estate of Dr. Robert H. Alison, in the year 1849.
Jacob Sibley farmed the little place described above as be
ing on the south side of the Turnpike, until his death, which
occurred in 1856.
His children were: William, of whom we shall speak later;
Charles; George Washington; Jacob; Catharine, wife of Ed
win Urian; Elizabeth, wife of Thomas McClintock; and Mary
Ann, wife of Amos Parsons, of Merionville, the last named be
ing the youngest and only surviving child.
The writer well remembers this very honest, upright and
exceedingly industrious old man, and his equally honest, just
and good wife. The time of which we write was in the days
when there were no milk-men in Athensville, Sibley furnish
ing the daily supply of that necessity to many nearby families.
Daily trips to the old milk house and daily pleasant greetings
by this kind old body are a bright spot in our early recollections.
The old lady smoked, not a bad-smelling pipe, but cigars,
and more than once to old-fashioned pennies have been given
the writer, one "for keeps," and the other to be expended at
Litzenberg's store for either four "commons" or two "half
Spanish" for the old lady's comfort. They were not ornamented
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bulletin of HISTOEICAL society of MONTGOMERY COUNTY
with gaudy bands, nor even sold from boxes stamped by the
Revenue Department of the Government, but it could be truly
said of them that while neither beautiful in appearance nor
delicious in aroma, there was an element of strength within
them that does not attach to the best brands manufactured at
this time.
The property now owned by Mrs. Sarah B. Mason, fronting
Montgomery avenue and extending through to the railroad,
adjoining the Dr. Gerhard property on the west, was owned in
1842 by George Epright. Almost every Ardmorean refers to it
as the Philip Garrett place, he being a recent owner and wellknown resident.
The writer's parents removed from what is now Bryn
Mawr to this place in 1842, and to the best of his knowledge, he
accompanied the parents, but was not of much assistance in the
moving, being then of the unripe age of one year. This tenancy
continued for a short time, or only until the new house being
built at the time by Mr. William Miles for the Pearce family
was completed, the new house being now one of the oldest in
the village. It is now owned by the estate of John G. McMenamin, and was until recently the home and business place
of Mr. H. 0. Gruber.
When the writer moved his parents to the new home, the
Epright place was rented to John Clopp, who had built upon
it a small shop which he used in the manufacture of cigars,
long before the days when these contributors to solace and a
bad habit were required to be made only in a registered factory
in order that they might become an item in the Government's
revenue account.
The little shop stood quite close to the Little Bethel and
was a busy place in the then quiet village. Clopp made highpriced cigars his specialty, his "special brand" at $1.00 per
hundred being a favorite with connoisseurs. There was. no de
mand then for Cincos or Marcellos, but preferences change
with the times, even in the flavor of a smoke.
About 1850 the place was bought by Jonathan Haycock,
who took down Glopp's factory, using the ground as a truck
garden for about ten years, when, at his death, it descended by
EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF ARDMORB
j[29
will to his widow, Mary Ann Haycock, who is remembered by
many of our present villagers as one of the kindest and best of
women. Her patience and submissive endurance of years of
acute suffering preceding her death were remarkable evidences
of Christian resignation and fortitude.
She was an aunt of Philip S. Garrett, who acquired the
property through her and who, as soon as his ownership was
established, rebuilt the house and all the other buildings on the
place, thereby making of it a very comfortable, as well as a
very pretty, home. In the "year 1897, a short time before his
death, he and his wife Elizabeth, who was the youngest daugh
ter of Samuel McAfee, transferred the title to the present
owner, who has removed all the old buildings and erected in
their place one of Ardmore's neatest and most attractive
homes.
Between the Clopp tenancy and the Haycock purchase the
place was occupied for a time by Err Davis as a renter. He was
the father of the late Morgan R. Davis, Sr., of Haverford; Mrs.
Daniel Shupert, of Bryn Mawr; Elijah, Barbara and Err, Jr.,
who was the youngest son. Bearing the father's Christian name
he was known to everybody as "Boss."
He was the nerviest boy of his time, as was evidenced on an
occasion when he was about twelve years of age. He was sleep
ing in the old house which stood quite near to the spot on which
the Mason house now stands, when about midnight he heard a
noise which satisfied him that an attempt was being made to
burglarize the house by boring holes in the back door. Without
alarming any one either inside or outside of the house, he took
a double-barrelled shotgun belonging to his brother which he
hung out of a window immediately over the head of the thief
and only a few feet distant, discharging both barrels at the
same time into the head and shoulders of the operator of the
boring tool. Naturally the shot alarmed the village, particu
larly that part of it comprising the Davis family, who, upon
going to the Boss's room to investigate, found him quietly re
turning to his bed as though nothing unusual had occurred.
The burglar's tools and a badly cullenderized hat were
found at the door, and a trail of blood' led across the fields
toward Mill Creek, but the burglar was not apprehended, the
Police Department of the township not then having, as now,
bloodhounds "on the force."
Burglaries in the village, which had heretofore been quite
frequent, immediately fell oif several points, and "Boss" was
for some time not only the village lion, but really the entire
menagerie.
Samuel McAfee, the father of Mrs. Garrett, resided with
his daughter in this house for all the years intervening between
the time of the sale of his place to Mr. Glenn and his death,
which occurred in 1875.
Since the death of Mr. Glenn the McAfee farm has been
divided into several small but very beautiful places. Mr.
Glenn's son-in-law, Dr. Charles C. Royce, owns the mansion
and the tenant house nearby, while William T. Elliott, Esq.,
George Clymer Brooke, Esq., and others have shared in the
division and in vying with each other in beautifying the 'old
McAfee farm. But we will write now of the man and later of
the farm and its previous owner.
In addition to being a good farmer, Mr. McAfee was an
excellent judge of horses and an equally good horse doctor! He
may truthfully be said to have been the David Harum of his
day in Athensvllle. His opinion and services were then in great
demand, there being no veterinary in the village or near to it,
and as he never charged a neighbor for either advice or attend
ance, he was naturally a much-sought adviser. His general
knowledge of veterinary science, gathered as it was from a
little study and a large amount of experience, saved the neigh
boring farmers many of their dollars, while no estimate is pos
sible of the value of his ministrations to suffering animals.
It was never too early, too late, too inclement or too incon
venient for Samuel McAfee to attend and relieve a sick or suf
fering beast. His remains lie under the very eaves of Old St.
David's Church of Radnor, beside those of his wife and near
to those of a generation of his forbears, and not far from the
scenes oi his early life of almost a century ago.
131
He is survived by two daughters, Elizabeth Garrett and
Sarah, wife of Garrett Kitzelman, the former residing in Phil
adelphia, and the latter in this village.
We have spoken of Philip S. Garrett as one of the owners of
this property and as possibly the owner best known to those
who will read our story.
From his early manhood he was a resident of the village,
having come to the place before his majority, to learn the trade
of carpenter with the late Philip L. Goodman, when learning
the trade signified more than it does today. He learned it thor
oughly, married a village maiden, lived in the village all the
remaining years of his life with the exception of the last two.
He died in West Philadelphia in 1899, having removed there
only a short time previously. He was for many years foreman
for Mr. C. Anderson Warner, at one time the leading builder
of the place, and in that capacity he had charge of the building
of many of the best buildings in Ardmore and its vicinity.
He was one of the few good workmen who never aspired to
the position and dignity of a master builder, being content to
do for others that which he could well have done for himself.
In politics, as in his calling, he was not an aspirant for
honors or position, never seeking office, but working assidu
ously for others; always in the ranks of his party (the Demo
cratic) but never aspiring to lead it; never dictating, always
following and always to be depended upon. His widow, a son
Lewis M., and a daughter Eliza (both married) survive him,
both residing in West Philadelphia. The youngest of the
family, Mary, for a time a clerk in the Ardmore Post Office,
also married and removed to Philadelphia. She has died since
the first installments of our recollections have been printed.
The reference which has been made to the Samuel McAfee
property, on Glenn's lane, may be extended and an interesting
fact in relation to it introduced which will carry with it an
equally interesting story of a previous owner who was well
known in the neighborhood.
In the year 1854 Samuel McAfee purchased this property
from Absalom Simpkins, and it is of the former owner our
reminiscences must treat first.
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bulletin op HISTORIOAL society of MONTGOMERY COUNTY
When Simpkins bought the property, some years previous
to this date, there was no house, or, if any, a very small log
house, built upon it. Simpkins, with the assistance only of his
wife and son Enoch, then a boy of seventeen, quarried and
carted the stone, dug the well and the cellar, did all the stone
and brick work, hewed all the heavy timbers, made the window
frames, sash and doors, did all the carpenter work, painting
and plastering, together with all the other necessary work re
quired in building the house yet standing northeast of the
present home of Dr. Royce, until recently occupied by Michael
Walsh while in the employ of the late Edward. Glenn as coach
man. That he did it well is attested by the fact that it is still
standing, and is in exceptionally good condition for a house
over fifty years old, being materially unchanged in appearance,
and evidencing little indication of decay.
He did .not install electric lights or bells, nor did he pipe
the house for either gas or water, which was possibly an over
sight, but not an unpardonable one when one thinks back half
a century.
^
When he sold the property to McAfee he did so for the pur
pose of emigrating west, which he did as heroically as he did
everything else that he undertook.
Packing all the household goods and wearing apparel they
desired to take with them in two large two-horse wagons, and
selling the remainder at auction, he and his wife and three
children started from Athensville, taking with them an extra
horse and two cows.
Their place of destination was southern Illinois, at that
time the far West, and they drove the distance in about eleven
weeks, carrying with them their stores and camping en route.
All arrived safely with the exception of the cows; they
impeded the progress of the caravan, and were sold early in
the journey.
Locating on a farm, they started life anew, being success
ful in this venture, as in all others where the indomitable will
to win assured success.
Some members of the family have visited friends in the
village within the last decade, but more than half of those who
^33
left Athensville for the long journey have since taken the
longer one from which there is no returning.
Being next'neighbors to Dr. James Anderson, they were
also next friends, the old Doctor frequently referring the halt
ing and doubtful to Absalom Simpkins as an evidence and illus
tration of the possibilities of push.
The quarry opened by Simpkins when building his home,
now close to the Mill Creek Road, was then in the most inacces
sible part of the little farm, being nOt only in the most distant
corner from the road, now called Glenn's lane, but as well in
the lowest part of the land, and entirely surrounded by hills.
The opening of Mill Creek road gave easy access to it, and
later enabled Mr. McAfee to work it profitably for several
years. A number of buildings in the village have for their foun
dation walls the product of this old quarry. The stables of the
Red Lion Hotel are built entirely of this stone, every pound of
which was carted by Mr. McAfee in a one-horse cart,
"Charlie," a faithful old bay, furnishingâll the mbtive power
required to mpve the comparatively great mass.
A very pretty little lake was made by Mr. McAfee near the
roadside and close to the Hampton property line, which he
always designated as "the head waters of Trout Run," but
there is scarcely a trace of it left. The quarry, like its neighbor
on the Anderson farm, was abandoned during the ownership
of Mr. Glenn, the hillside showing little evidence of the carting
away of many hundreds of tons of its base.
The cozy home of Mrs. Anna B. Miles on Montgomery ave
nue was the home of her late husband, William Miles, at the
time to which our reminiscences revert, when, with his mother,
Mrs. Mary Miles, he occupied the home to which in 1851 he
brought as a bride, to the comparatively new house, the lady
we all know so well, Mrs. Anna B. Miles, who has continuously
occupied the property to the present time.
The house, then new and very comfortable, has been the
subject of improvement and re-improvement on several occa
sions, being today greatly enlarged, altered and beautified, so
that it is one of the few of the best of Ardmore's older homes,
while the. owner holds the same records as one of the best of
our older residents.
In the early forties Mr. Miles carried on the business of a
master carpenter, many of the homes of the earlier residents
of Athensville being the result of his efforts as a designer as
well as a builder, architects being then as scarce in the country
as are at this time combination architects and builders, such as
he was. at the time of which we are writing.
He carried on the business successfully for many years,
and until the village grew to such a size that modern carpentry,
in which contracts, bids, specifications and the supervision of
architects (are required), became a necessity in order that the
place could be kept abreast of the times, when he retired from
the business in favor of men who as boys had been apprentices
under his instruction, some of whom had been regularly inden
tured or bound to his service and who, in later years contrib
uted much to the village improvement through their handi
craft and skill.
Mrs. Mary Miles died in 1896 at the home of her daughter,
Mrs. John Austin, leaving to survive her four children, Wil
liam; John, for many years in the employ of Mr. H. G. Litzenberg in the coal and lumber department of his business;
Charles, who left home when a' young man and located in New
Jersey; and Kate, who married John Austin and resided in
Delaware County. All of the family are dead.
Of all the children William was the most successful in busi
ness, his close attention to which, coupled with ability of a high
order, enabled him to amass a fortune. In his early life, as a
carpenter, he was well and most favorably known, but much
better known in later years when engaged in a business in
which his abilities had more latitude 'and in which their exer
cise tended to increase his already extensive circle of appreci
ation and acquaintance.
While engaged in business as a carpenter and builder his
shop was at the old homestead. In those^ days there were no
trades unions or Saturday half holidays, the men working from
"sun to sun" every day and in the evenings until ten o'clock by
the light of candles or of whale oil or burning-fluid lamps, so
;l^35
that a "boss carpenter" was obliged to have a large shop in
order to be able to meet these conditions and the other more
important one of getting value for the thirty dollars per year
and board he was furnishing his apprentices during the four
years consumed in learning the trade.
There were then no mills for the manufacture of sash and
door or the working of flooring and mouldings, so that this
work constituted the winter pastime for the journeymen and
apprentices.
•Mr. Miles, with Mr. Philip L. Goodman, were in the early
days the only boss carpenters or master builders in the little
village; and as such they built nearly all or quite all the build
ings erected in it during their early business career, and yet
such has been the march of improvement and the consequent
demand for change in building construction that very little of
the work of either of them is now remaining.
Then almost everything was done by the day, and that it
was well done was very much in evidence when one of their old
buildings is torn down to remove the blot it constitutes on the
new countryside, beautified as it now is by the homes de
manded by the home-builders of the twentieth century.
No resident of either Athensville or Ardmore was more
thoroughly identified with the interests of the village in every
particular than was William Miles. Honest, upright, consis
tent, but in everything remarkably modest and unassuming,
attesting his faith at all times by his works, and contributing
liberally of both time and means in the furtherance of right
and justice, while for wrong and hypocrisy he ever had words
of loudest condemnation, which he did not hesitate to voice.
In 1861 he retired from the business he had so long con
ducted, as has been stated, and joined Mr. Horatio G. Litzenberg in opening a lumber yard on the property of the latter in
rear of the old Odd Fellows' Hall, in which he continued, how
ever, for only a short time, when he availed himself of the pos
sibilities of a broader field and, retiring from the Litzenberg
partnership, and leaving the well-founded business to his late
associate, he entered into partnership with the late John M.
Lindsay, and under the firm name of Lindsay & Miles leased
from Samuel Lindsay, his partner's father, the coal and lumber
yard at White Hall, on the old line of the railroad where Bryn
Mawr Hospital now stands, where they did an excellent busi
ness in coal, lumber, lime, etc., until the year 1884, when the
line of the road was changed between Ardmore and Rosemont, when the White Hall yard, as it was then known, was
compulsorily abandoned.
At the same time the railroad offices, telegraph office and
water station were moved to the new line while the yard, used
up to that time for the purpose of sawing and storing the wood
used for fuel in the locomotives, being no longer a necessity,
was also abandoned. At the same time Athensville became
Ardmore, Humphreysville became Bryn Mawr, and Haverford
School Station became the Haverford of the present.
But Mr. Miles was not sleeping while all these changes were
in progress. He quietly purchased land at what is now Rosemont, to which he moved his business, having taken care in
making the purchase to acquire more land than was necessary
to accommodate his immediate business requirements, in order
that when, later on, a station would be demanded at Rosemont,
he would be in a position to control its location. This he suc
ceeded in doing almost immediately by donating to the railroad
company the lot occupied by the first station built at Rosemont,
and thus securing station facilities, switches and siding privi
leges exactly to his liking.
. His foresight in this transaction was eminently character
istic of the ability of William Miles as a thorough business
man.
(To be continued)
Some Facts About Plymouth Township
Public Schools
By George K. Brecht, Esq.-"
In connection with my occupation as a public school teacher,
in the summer of 1890, I came from my parental farm home
in Worcester Township to Norristown to see Reuben F. Hoffecker, Superintendent of Public Schools of Montgomery
County, to learn of any position that might be available. Pro
fessor Hoifecker served as superintendent of public schools
for - twenty-five years or more until his death in December,
1903.
Superintendent Hoffecker was found at his home, located
at the west corner of Marshall and Cherry streets in Norris
town, the house still standing there with a bay window, part
of a first floor room, extending a short distance over the side
walk on Marshall street. In this alcove he could often be sieen
from the street at work upon matters connected with his
occupation.
I was informed that the school directors of Plymouth
Township had decided to establish a school in their system in
which some of the higher branches should be taught. The sup
erintendent suggested that I go to see S. Powell Childs (Sam
uel Powell Childs), Secretary of the School Board, to get the
particulars about the position. I was given specific directions
by a sketch on paper as the route to take to get to the residence
of Mr. Childs. I had known the location of this residence but
was not familiar with the roads leading thereto from Norris
town. I engaged a horse and carriage at a local livery stable
and drove to the residence of Mr. Childs, finding my way with
out difficulty from the directions given. This was on an August
day in 1890.
*Read before the Society, November 21, 1942.
137
Mr, Childs was at home at work on his farm. This was lo
cated at the Northeasterly end of Plymouth Township adjoin
ing- Whitpain Township, near Five Points, in the small village
of Narcissa. Mr. Childs met me cordially. While I had known
of him, I had not had the pleasure of meeting him theretofore.
His appearance and manner impressed- me at once, he being a
well built man, somewhat venerable in appearance, amiable,
well-informed and intelligent. He was an outstanding citizen
of the district and the county.
I later learned that Mr. Childs had been a member of the
Board of School Directors of Plymouth Township as early as
1857, and served until his death in May, 1900, as a director,
and as Secretary of the Board, with a few interims of a year
or so at a time, when he was out of office; but with recurring
regularity he was returned as a member of the board. He was
one of the most valuable members of the board during his
terms of service.
As a result of the interview I placed with Mr. Childs my
application for appointment as teacher of the new school and
was favored with the election to the position. My duties started
in September, 1890, and I spent five pleasant years in this ser
vice as principal of what was termed Plymouth Township
High School, and in effect, as supervisor of the schools of the
district, until 1895. I then registered as a law student in the
office of Childs and Evans (Louis M. Childs and Montgomery
Evans). I have kept in close touch with the schools and the
educational affairs of the township ever since, being an active
member of Plymouth Alumni League, the association of the
graduates of the high school, and as solicitor for the school dis
trict for forty years last past.
Incidentally, I will note that among the first students in
the high school was a young woman who twelve years later
became my wife, and ever since we have taken life's journey
together.
I appreciate your indulgence in permitting me to advert to
these matters involving so much personal reference. Now, I
"will proceed to relate some of the facts pertinent to the subject
of this article.
SOME FACTS ABOUT PLYMOUTH TOWNSHIP PUBLIC SCHOOLS
3^39
There had been five schools in operation in the township.
These were, the North Star School, located on Sandy Hill at
Germantown Turnpike, just above the village then known as
Hickorytown, more recently called Plymouth Center; Cold
Point School, located in the eastern corner of the township on
the border of Whitemarsh Township and on the eminence
which is a continuation of Sandy Hill and which farther on
continues into Militia Hill at Lancasterville, and then on into
the Fort Washington hills; Plymouth Valley School, in the vil
lage of Plymouth Meeting adjoining the Pljonouth Meeting
House and grounds of the Friends, also near the border of
Whitemarsh Township; Eight Square School, located on North
Lane, also known as Spring Mill Road, which extends from
Ridge Pike in the upper end of Harmanville in a southerly dir
ection, crossing Conshohocken Turnpike Road and extending
into Spring Mill; and Sandy Hill School, later called Black
Horse School, located in the western corner of the township,
near Mogeetown, just outside of Norristown. Then, too, the
district was sending pupils from the village of Connaughtown,
adjoining the Borough of Conshohocken, to the Conshohocken
schools, and was paying $400 or more per year to Consho
hocken. Some controversy between the two districts as to this
matter and the charge for tuition occurred. About 1910 Ply
mouth School District established its own school in the vicinity,
leasing the second floor, with the approach thereto, of Wash
ington Fire Company, on West Elm Street just outside of Con
shohocken in Plymouth Township, and equipped this room.
This arrangement continued until the consolidation of the
schools in 1915.
The citizens of Plymouth Township and vicinity early
evinced an interest in providing proper educational facilities
for their children. Evidence of this is found in the following
deeds:
1. DEED—Michael Wills, of the Township of Plymouth, yeoman,
and Ann, his wife, to Peter Keiger, Andrew Wills, John Davis, John
Hallman, John Brant, John Shoemaker and Samuel Spencer, all of
Plymouth Township; Abraham Yerkes, John Perrier, Harman Yerkes,
William Fisher, Frederick Dull and Thomas Shepherd, all of Whitemarsh
140
Township, dated the. 12th day of 2nd month, 1818; acknowledged the
same day before Daniel Davis, Justice of the Peace; recorded June 5,
1819, in Deed Book No. 36 page 62 &c.
This deed recites that in consideration of the public utility
of a house being erected on the following described lot, to be
used as a school house and to be free as a place of worship on
the first day of the week to any society professing the Chris
tian Religion, and also for and in the further consideration of
the sum of Ten Dollars unto them in hand paid by said parties
of the second part (names here repeated), the erection of the
said house and its application to the above mentioned purpose
and the receipt of said sum of Ten Dollars they do hereby ack
nowledge, this conveyance is made to the parties of the second
part and their heirs.
The lot of land conveyed is located in Plymouth Township,
Montgomery County, on Spring Mill Road, adjoining other
lands of said Michael Wills and lands of John Hallman. The
tract is triangular in shape, containing 11.78 perches along
Spring Mill Road and the lengths of the other two sides of the
triangle are 11.14 perches and 7.42 perches respectively. The lot
is part of 150 acres which Jane Wills (mother of said Michael)
by her last will and testament, dated Jan. 20, 1804, did give
and grant to said Michael Wills, his heirs and assigns.
The quality of the grant or conveyance is shown in the
habendum as follows:
To have and to hold said premises to said parties of the second part
jointly and their heirs, in trust, for the Inhabitants of the townships of
Plymouth and Whitemarsh residing or to reside within twelve furlongs
of the said—to be used as a School house and liberties thereunto and to be
used on the Sabbath as a house for worship unto Almighty God by any
society professing the Christian Religion, making application therefor,
and to be equally free for all the various sects of Christian profession
without any pi'eference or prejudice for or against any but if several
should make application for the same for the pui*pose aforesaid then
alternately that all as much as practicable may be accommodated to the
only proper use and behoof of the Inhabitants of the townships of Ply
mouth and "Whitemarsh residing within the Limits aforesaid for the
purpose before described forever.
2. DEED — Thomas Egbert and Margaret, his wife, to George
Priease of Whitemarsh Township, yeoman, Daniel Davis, of Plymouth
^41
Township, yeoman, and Ulrich Schlater of Whitpain Township, weaver,
dated the 1st day of 1st month 1821; acknowledged the same day before
J. R. Gonard, Justice of the Peace; recorded January 4, 1821, in Deed
Book No. 37 page 86 &c.
This deed recites that in consideration of the public utility
and private advantage of having a school house erected on the
hereinafter described land as well as for the further consider
ation of the sum of One Dollar, this conveyance is made to
parties of the second part, their executors and administrators,
of a lot of land in Plymouth Township on the line dividing the
townships of Plymouth and Whitemarsh and adjoining lands
of Daniel Wensley, Alan W. Corson, Michael Roreboth, Thomas
Egbert and Samuel Levezey, containing 40 perches of land.
The lot is part of the premises which Joseph Foulke on the 9th
of 11th month 1816 conveyed to Thomas Egbert in fee, in Deed
Book No. 33 page 190 &c.
To have and to hold to said parties of the second part, their
executors and administrators, in Uiist for the inhabitants of
said Townships of Whitemarsh, Plymouth and Whitpain, re
siding within ten furlongs of the same to be kept and occupied
as a public school house and liberties therefor to the proper use
and behoof (as a school house and liberties) of the inhabitants
of the neighborhood as before described.
The Friends, or Quakers, long before had established a
school in Pljmiouth Meeting. Norristown and Conshohocken,
bordering the Township, also may have reflected the advan
tages of better educational facilities.
The township early adopted the public school systeni auth
orized by the legislature of the Commonwealth about 1834.
The earliest deed found on record in the Court House of Mont
gomery County conveying premises to public school directors
in Plymouth Township is the following:
3. DEED—George K. Ritter and Sarah, his wife, to James Wood,
Sr., Thomas J. Whitney, Peter Colehower, Aaron Conrad, David Jarrett
and Charles Galloney, School Directors of the District of the Township
of Plymouth, their successors and assigns, dated March 18, 1840;
acknowledged the same day; recorded March 14, 1840 in Deed Book
No. 67 page 141 &c.' The consideration is $100.
This conveyance was for one-half acre of land in Plymouth
Township on the Perkiomen and Germantown Turnpike Road,
having a frontage on said Turnpike of 101.5 feet and extend
ing Southwesterly 226.6 feet on the northwest line thereof by
land of Leonard Johnson (in more recent years owned by Hon.
Charles Johnson), and 209 feet on the Southeast line by other
land of George K. Ritter (until recently owned by Clarence B.
Weeks). The rear line of the lot was 100feet in length.
The school records as far as they have been located, show
that the school affairs were carried on by the various boards
of six members more or less successfully. These records show
frequent non-quorum sessions, because of very inclement
weather, or illness or attendance upon jury duty by members.
The personnel of the board was subject to frequent changes,
although a few persons would remain to guide the boards in
keeping the schools supplied with teachers, levying taxes and
collecting the same. Often considerable delay was experienced
in getting tax collectors to make full settlement of the tax dup
licates. This delay in most cases was occasioned by extending
leniency to the taxpayers. The demands of the taxpayers that
the schools be operated on an economical basis is shown by the
tax rate, as for many years it, was as low as
mills,-and
teachers' wages ran as low as $32 a month, prior to the year
1890.
In 1890 a sentiment arose in the district for higher educa
tional advantages which resulted in the establishment of a
high school. Then, the graded course of study was introduced
into the schools. In the earlier days the country districts had
no graded courses of study and the courses were not uniform
in the different schools of a district. Each teacher and school
had their o-wn subjects of instruction. Lower Providence
Township, I believe, was the earliest of the country districts to
adopt a graded course of study and to have graduating exer
cises upon the completion of the course. Worcester Township
soon followed, introducing the graded course in 1886. The fact
that the pupils, or the parents, were required to furnish-the
textbooks and supplies militated against securing uniformity
in the conduct of the schools. During the 1880s the law re-
quired that some of the textbooks should be furnished free and
a few years later required the district to furnish the textbooks,
paper and supplies free. This worked to the more efficient con
duct of the schools, with further statutory requirements to
increase grounds and better arranged buildings, and higher
teacher qualifications. Some of us still cling to the notion that
the one time one room brick school houses and the teachers
gave better grounding of the fundamentals in training than
does the modern system. These views may be affected some
what by prejudice, and be befogged by the long passage of
years, or, perhaps, by lack of familiarity with the operation of
the modern school.
The township high school was continued until a few years
after the consolidation of the schools in 1915. About May,
1918, the school directors decided to discontinue the high
school grades in the schools and to send the pupils of those
grades to the larger and better equipped schools in Norristown
and Conshohocken and other districts. This method has con
tinued since.
Following the writer of this article, these persons were
employed and acted as principal of the high school, or super
visors of the schools of the district:
Willard S. Campbell from 1895 to 1898, 'He was also later
principal of the Jenkintown High School. He had served for a
time as principal of the Hancock School in Norristown, and
later as an instructor at Eisenhower High School in Norris
town. After leaving Norristown Mr. Campbell taught in one
of the Philadelphia high schools for many years until his re
tirement a few years ago. Mr. Campbell is also well known as
an impersonator of Abraham Lincoln in his lectures on the
Great Emancipator. For a number of years Mr. Campbell
served as choirmaster in several Norristown churches.
Winfield R. Hartzel followed from 1898 to 1907. He then
was employed as an instructor in the Northeast High School
in Philadelphia and continues in that occupation. He is a well
known resident of Norristown, having been choirmaster in
churches for many years.
Then followed Harvey W. Kline, who acted as principal for
144
bulletin op historical society of MONTGOMERY COUNTY
a short time and then entered the medical profession. Samuel
Wolford had charge of the schools for a short time.
Harriet W. Matthews of Conshohocken served as principal
for a number of years. She is now Mrs. Arthur H. Sagebeer of
Limerick Square in Limerick Township.
Wallace L. Danehower followed for several years when
Charles W. Maurer filled the position until the consolidation
of the schools in 1915. Mr. Danehower was then returned as
supervisor of the schools, and efficiently arranged the system
under the consolidation. Mr. Danehower died in January,
1918, and his widow, Alice Yeager Danehower, was elected to
take charge of the school system and continued in that position
for-a number of years. Cyrus 0. Taylor followed and he
was. succeeded by J. Maurice Strattan, who .is the" present
incumbent.
The consolidation of the schools marked an epoch in .the
educational system of Plymouth Township. As early as 1913
the School Board took action looking towards consolidation and
the closing of the one room schools. Resolutions were enacted
to raise money to finance the project. Some of the citizens, es
pecially in the western end of the township, opposed the pro
ject. Petitions signed by numerous objectors were presented
to the Board of Directors, and the petitions were courteously
considered., At least one meeting in Lysinger's Hall, Cold
Point, was held for public discussion of the matter. The Board
decided that the movement had the support of some of the best
citizens of the township and probably the majority thereof,
and proceeded to carry the project into effect. Then the remon
strants instituted court action to get authority to hold a public
election to decide whether or not the township should be
divided into two townships. The court authorized an election
and the proposal to divide the township was defeated by a
moderate majority. Under the law proceedings to create a
bond issue had to cease until the matter of division of the town
ship had been decided.
The Board then proceeded with the project, created a bond
issue of $32,000, and took further action to consolidate the
schools. It was decided to locate schools in three places in the
^^45
township. The main school was located on Conshohocken Turn
pike Road between Harmanville and Plymouth Meeting and
was called the Consolidated School. Black Horse School was to
be continued, and upon the request of the citizens near Consho
hocken, and the desire of the Board to satisfy the wishes of the
people as far as possible,, another school was located on West
Elm Street, near Conshohocken. This was named Ivy Rock
School. Alan Wood Iron and Steel Company, whose large plant
is located in this vicinity, donated the land for this school build
ing. By the terms of the deed to the School District the land is
to revert to the Company, if the premises are no longer used
for public school purposes.
The new building was not completed until 1915, when the
old unused buildings were disposed of at public sale. Dedica
tion exercises were held in the Consolidated School. The fol
lowing was prepared for use on said occasion:
AFTER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS
The test of time often is necessary to prove the value of
events as well in ,education as in other lines. The history of the
public school system reads variously as studied from different
times, localized in different sections of the country or state.
Passage of years and even change in the temperament of com
munities has been needed to determine and work out the most
efficient means to accomplish the purpose intended, and to
overcome local or individual prejudice that stands in the way
of establishing effective schools to meet the demands of the
times. Today, the state requires high and trained intelligence
to work out the destiny of .its subjects and to make their lives
prosperous and happy. Today, as never before, the state is lib
eral in furnishing the means to make possible the education
and training of its children, so that not only the favored few
but all may have the advantages of training that will tend to
prepare them for useful citizenship.
The inhabitants of Plymouth Township and vicinity early
saw the advantages of free education, for, more than a hun
dred years ago, schools were established by benevolent individ-
uals, if not on a free basis, then at a reduced cost. The people
of this township early embraced the advantages of the common
school system. From its geographical location the community
was affected by the proximity to Philadelphia and to the larger
boroughs of the county, where advanced ideas and methods
would first be in use. Then, too, its citizenship from the first
was of types that desired and required high educational advan
tages, and, if not procurable at public expense for the benefit
of all, then in any event in individual cases at private expense.
The school records show that Plymouth Township for many
years had maintained the public schools for terms of -ten
months in the year.
Twenty-five years ago a step in advance was taken by the
school fathers in establishing the township high school. In this
they acted in accord with the demand of the times and of the
community in general. Progress has now been made in a
bound, and with the consolidation of the schools, Plymouth has
placed itself in the very forefront with modern standards. With
this ideaand what goes with it, worked out along proper lines,
the schools.should prove a boon to the community and should
attract desirable people to locate in its bounds. All this should
promote the prosperity and happiness of the people.
Who will now question the value of this action of the School
Board? Who will contend that the advantages of a higher edu
cation should not be given by the community itself, esecially
when it can be done without undue burden upon any? It is be
lieved that local pride will induce all to desire the independence
afforded by having within its own borders the means of giving
its children the best available training.
Honor should be given to Frank Ramsey, S. Powell Childs,
George Corson, Charles Marple, John J. Brooke and Patrick
Lynch, the members of the School Board who brought the
means of higher education to your doors in establishing a higji
school, and to their successors, who maintained, or continued
the system. Due credit should be given to Thomas Sinclair,
William B. Richards, William S. Dickerson, John Gillen,
Thomas Coulston, Percy Rex, I. Harold Shoemaker and Milton
R. Marple, the members of the Boards who instituted the
147
consolidation project, and who brought it to its consummation
in the completion of this fine school building. These men be
came imbued with the idea of advanced education and have
been brave in acting upon their convictions and they have
brought to you the best possible school facilities under the
circumstances. Differences of opinion may obtain as to the
means and methods of working out the system; yet, by keeping
in" authority men (and perhaps in time women) of industry,
intelligence, sound judgment and integrity, and working with
them, when their efforts tend toward results that will best
serve the greatest number, the outcome will not be in doubt.
Those who have gone out from your schools look back with
pleasure, and are grateful, because of the advantages that were
afforded them by the township, and the inspiration given to
them for higher and better living. Such give you congratula
tions for the success you have attained in maintaining this
high standard of your educational system, and for the good
things still appearing to be your due, fair Plymouth. You have
given good account in twenty-five years. May the next quarter
of a century show no backward step.
Improvement in the school work followed, with increased
costs and increased compensation for the teachers.
Because of the growth of population it became necessary
to add to the facilities of the district to accommodate the chil
dren of school age. This increase in population occurred par
ticularly in the neighborhood of Black Horse. About 1921 the
Board of Directors took action to acquire grounds and erect a
new school building with eight rooms at Black Horse. It was
also decided to build an addition to the Ivy Rock School. A
bond issue of $85,000 was created with the sanction of the
voters, and the project put through.
About 1927 the facilities of Black Horse again proved in
adequate and additional grounds were acquired and the build
ing was enlarged. Funds for this matter were raised by a
$45,000. bond issue, created with the approval of the electors.
The directors of the School District by wise administration
and the exercise of sound judgment have been able to liquidate
148
the school debt, and by December, 1942, this will have been
fully accomplished.
The members of the Board of Education of Plymouth
Township School District who have brought about the.result
of clearing off the indebtedness are Fred W. Woerner, Presi
dent; Lewis Gi McQuirns, Vice-President; Warren C. Isen-
berg, Secretary; Theodore Nitterauer and Alan W. Jones,
with Milton R. Marple, a non-member Treasurer of the Board.
(Mr. Marple had served as a director for many years, and he
died September 24,1943.)
It may be noted that a move was set afoot to establish a
junior-senior high school in the district, under statutory pro
visions, which might be made available to adjoining districts
not having high schools. Action was taken to create an indebt
edness of $170,000 to put through the plan. A vote of the elec
tors being necessary, at an election held May 15, 1934, the
result was 877 voted against the proposal and 337 voted in
favor. Thus, the matter was defeated by the narrow margin of
forty votes.
Plymouth Township has an area of 8.4 square miles. The
1940 census gave it a population of 4380. After the census of
1920 the requirements were met to make it a township of the
first class politically, there being at least 300 inhabitants per
square mile. The population being less than 5000 the township
continues as a fourth class school district.
It is interesting to note changes in financial matters during
the course of years. I have already noted that the tax rate for
school purposes was as low as II/2 mills. When the high school
was established a special levy of 1 mill was made for building
purposes and 1% mills for general school purposes. The con
tract for building a one-room high school building added to the
North Star one-room building, was awarded to Evan Brooke,
the lowest bidder, at $995. The cost of equipment, heating etc.,
was several hundred dollars more. The economically minded
section of the township seemed to resent this increase of cost
of operation of the schools, and retired the members of the
board by whose action the high school was established, at the
expiration of their respective terms. It is to be noticed that the
members of the board who were dropped were returned to the
board in subsequent elections. The sentiment in favor of better
schools grew with the passing years and the satisfactory re
sults of the improved school operation. In 1915, after consoli
dation took place, the tax rate was increased to 5^ mills. In
addition a per capita tax was imposed for school purposes and
this tax has been five dollars for a number of years last past.
The current tax rate on taxable property is 16^2 mills.
The school budget fifty or sixty years ago ranged from
$2500 to $3000. In 1914-15 the budget is listed at $45,153. This
amount includes the proceeds of the $32,000 bond issue for
consolidation of the schools. For 1942-43 the budget includes
for current expenses $80,916. In this amount $64,550. is listed
for the instructional part of the service. A debt service item to
complete the liquidation of the indebtedness is added, thus
making the total proposed expenditures for the current period,
$i00,916.
In the earlier years the pupils of school age numbered from
350 to 400. In 1920 the number was approximately 600. In
1942 the enrollment was 542 in the lower grades, carried in the
township, with 202 attending high schools in adjoining dis
tricts, the cost of which was met by Plymouth Township.
Then, too, among the children of compulsory attendance age
in parochial and other private schools number 138.
Before 1890 the number of teachers employed was five, and
beginning in 1890 the number increased to six. In 1920 the
number is found to have been fourteen and in 1942 twenty-five.
Non-denominational religious interests obtained in many
country districts in earlier years. Thus school houses, especi
ally those established through private enterprise, were used
for these services on Sundays. As herein noted the Eight
Square school house was used for religious services. The North
Star school building was also employed in this manner. Hickorytown Union Mission acquired this latter property when the
school district abandoned it for school purposes. This organi
zation is now the Plymouth Center Union Mission. It is a nondenominational religious organization organized and carried
on through the leadership of Eck Carson and J. Edwin Ewing.
150 bulletin of historical society op MONTGOMERY COUNTY
NORTH STAR SCHOOL
The preparation of this paper was suggested because of an
inquiry by an interested person as to the origin or reason for
naming this school the "North Star School." Various lines of
research and Inquiry fail to disclose any definite information
as to the reason for the name. It is well known that on the
property adjoining the school property to the northwest, many
years ago, a tavern stand was operated known as the North
Star Tavern. This property is now occupied by H. Stanley
Drake and Elizabeth Johnson Drake, his wife, it having been
the home of Charles Johnson, the father of Mrs. Drake.
Charles Johnson was for many years a well known political
leader of Montgomery County and held offices in the Common
wealth of Pennsylvania at Harrisburg, he having been the first
Seci'etary of Revenue. The property is referred to as a tavern
stand in the deed from Samuel Johnson, of Norriton Town
ship, merchant, et. al., to Charles Johnson and Isaac Johnson
of Plymouth Township, limeburners. The Charles Johnson,
grantee in this deed, was probably an ancestor or related to the
Hon. Charles Johnson, above named. The deed is dated April
13, 1835, and is recorded in Deed Book No. 61, page 612, on
M'arch 20,1843.
A suggestion has been made that the designation "North
Star" originated from the fact that the Germantown and Per-
kiomen Turnpike Road as it proceeds from Hickorytown, now
Plymouth Centre, up the ascent toward the north points in the
direction of the North Star in the heavens. On clear nights this
sign post on high would readily strike the sight of.the travelers
along this highway. Thus, the term "North Star," would nat
urally come to mind and appropriately be applied to the sum
mit of the hill, after passing which the star would not be so
readily in the line of vision.
I am indebted for some interesting facts connected with
this school to Mrs. Linda W. Dettre, widow of Ambrose Dettre,
of Powell Street, in Norristown. Mrs. Dettre was born in 1850
and is living with her sons, R. Ronald Dettre (now Sheriff of
Montgomery County), and Linn A. Dettre; she is still keen
and alert mentally and attended this school in her childhood
days. She moved to Norristown in 1871. Christian Looser was
her grandfather and James Looser, her father. They lived on
a farm on "Jolly Road" northeast of Germantown Turnpike
Road. This farm was later owned and operated by James K.
Thomson who for a time was a school director in the township
and at other times school auditor. He also served as director of
the poor of Montgomery County. Mrs. Dettre recalled the
names of some of the teachers of the school, these being Jacob
Ramsey, David Knipe, Carlo Green and Ambrose Dettre. Her
last teacher was a Mr. Pennypacker. She became the wife of
Ambrose Dettre. Ambrose Dettre acted as superintendent of
the Sunday School conducted on Sundays in the summertime
in this schoolhouse. He also led the music at times. Mrs. Dettre
(as Miss Loeser) was a member of this Sunday School, taught
a class and at times led the music. Ambrose Dettre was en
gaged in the real estate and insurance business in Norristovm
for many years. He died a number of years ago. •
Among the teachers of the North Star School in addition
to those hereinbefore mentioned were David L. Crater, Mag
gie McGonagle, Anna Getman, Francis Stein, Freas Styer,
Joseph G. Trank, A. Lincoln Beerbrower, Laura H. Martin,
Lizzie Hallowell, Alice Hoffman, Mary Brooke, Lillian Brooke,
Anna Marple, Ida Seltzer, Sarah S. Childs, Mazie Trucksess
and Anna Hallman.
My thought is that this account of some of the events in the
evolution of an educational system of a community and the
naming of some of the persons who were instrumental in pro
moting the work should have sufficient value and interest to
merit its inclusion in the records of the Historical Society.
Without doubt there were other persons not mentioned herein
who gave valuable assistance in carrying on the work of edu
cation in the district in bringing to pass the result obtained,
and their names are omitted only because they were not
brought to notice in the researches and inquiries made in con
nection with the preparation of this paper.
Report of Recording Secretary
Nancy Corson Cresson
Our meeting on Februai*y 22, 1944, was the best attended for some
years, about one hundred new members having been admitted during
the year.
Most interesting papers were read. Mr. Elmer Sehultz Gerhard, of
Germantown, addressed the meeting on the subject, "Zinzendorf in
Germantown, Two Hundred Years Ago."
Mr. Harry Emerson Wildes, of Valley Porge, read a paper entitled
"The Meaning of Valley Forge."
A large collection of books and maps was received from the estate
of Chester P. Cook, our late president. This gift is of invaluable interest
to the Society.
The Society also increased the number of trustees from five to
fifteen.
This being the annual meeting, the following officers were elected:
President, Kirke Bryan, Esq.
First Vice-President, S. Cameron Corson
Second Vice-President, Charles Harper Smith
Third Vice-President, George K. Brecht, Esq.
Recording Secretary, Nancy C. Cresson
Cori-esponding Secretary, Helen E. Richards
Financial Secretary, Annie B. Molony
Treasurer, Lyman A. Kratz
Trustees
Kirke Bryan, Esq.
Mrs. H. H. Francine
H. H. Ganser
Nancy P. Highley
Foster C. Hillegass
Mrs. A. Conrad Jones
David Todd Jones
Hon. Harold G. Knight
Lyman A. Kratz
Douglas Macfarlan, M.D.
Katharine Preston
Franklin A. Stickler
Mrs. Franklin B. Wildman, Jr.
Norris D. Wright
152
Report of Corresponding Secretary
Ella. Slingluff
NEW MEMBERS
HONORARY
General Henry Harley Arnold
ANNUAL
George H. Bennett
Mrs. Kirke Bryan
James H. Egan, Esq.
David E. Groshens, Esq.
M. Paul Smith, Esq.
James R. Caiola, Esq.
Raymond Pearlstine, Esq.
Edward Foulke, Esq.
Henry M. Tracy, Esq.
James M. Voss
Irwin G. Lukens
Mrs. Lucy S. Unger
Miss Marian B. Harvey
; William J.'Moran, Jr., Esq.
F. C. Dieterle
Mrs, Philip Kind
William H. Rorer
George L. Harrison, Jr.
William P. Landis, Esq.
Jesse R. Evans, Esq.
E. Arnold Forrest, Esq.
E. Roy Bishel
George.Bassert
Mrs. Mark Guilbert
Mrs. Harold G. Knight
Kari p; Scheldt
Raymond K. Mensch •
William F. Moyer
Wallace M..Keeley, Esq.
Mrs. Thomas L. Christian
J. Fenton Cloud
Mrs. A. Irvin Supplee
William Davis
Rev. Howard H. Krauss
Mrs. William Davis
Karl Kent Kite
Francis T. Dennis, Esq.
Norman Kulp
Rudolf W. DeStafano, Esq.
Jonathan B. Hillegass, Esq.
Harvey D. Howden
Harry W. Gehman
John Hoffman
Gilbert S. Jones
W. Paul O'Neill
William S. Acuff, Esq.
Garrett A. Brownback, Esq.
J. Stogdell Stokes
James I. Wendell
William A. Bookman
Mrs. James I. Wendell
H. Walton Wood
Kenneth Howie
Mrs. H. Walton Wood
Joseph A. Ranck
Ralph F. Wismer, Esq.
Mrs. R. F. Walker
Mrs. LaTênce W. Rice
Victor J. Roberts, Esq.
Daniel A. Skelly
Miss Mary Walker
George C. Niblo
Thomas W. Faulkner, Jr."
Raymond R. Lawson
153
"
RESIGNATIONS
Maxwell Stevens
Miss Anna Dunn
C. Arthur George
Rev. John F. X. O'Neill
DEATHS
George R. Ralaton
Adolf Muller
Alvin B. Faust
Theodore Lane Bean, Esq.
Mrs. Laura Riegel Cook
Roland Taylor
Librarian's Report
Katharine Preston
ACCESSIONS
(Names of donors in italics)
Mr. Alan R. Cook and Mrs. Josephine Cook Willaon:
The donors, son and daughter of the late Chester P. Cook, of Merion,
Pa., president of the Society at the time of his death, in 1942, have
presented to the Society their father's magnificent collection of maps
and atlases, as well as a fine collection of books, chiefly of Pennsyl
vania interest.
Henry M. Tracy, Esq.:
Charter of the Plymouth and Whitemarsh Turnpike Company, granted
in the year 1848. Known as Butler Pike.
Photograph of Matson's Ford Bridge spanning the Schuylkill River at
Conshohocken, dedicated November 11, 1921.
George R. Ralston Estate:
Insurance Map of Norristown and Bridgeport, Pa.
Joseph Knox Fomance, Esq.:
Records of the Court of New Castle on Delaware. Vol. II, 1681-1699.
Land and Probate Abstract only. Published by the Colonial Society
of Pennsylvania.
REPORTS
Proceedings, Pennsylvania Society, Sons of the Revolution, 1912 to
1943.
Society of Colonial Wars in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. 1940.
Publications, The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania, 1917, 1918,
1919.
The Misses Cresson:
Mr. John Howard Dugan's copy of "The Centennial and Memorial
Association of Valley Forge."
Model of the Taj Mahal.
Mr. George Heaton:
Steel engravings, as follows: D. E. Farragut; Abraham Lincoln; J. C.
Fremont; Death of Ellsworth; Naval Conflict in Hampton Roads;
Action between the "Monitor" and the "Merrimac"; Battle of Wil
son's Creek—Death of General Lyon; Capture of New Orleans—
Attack on Fort Phillip; P. Sigel.
Miss Elma H. Snediker:
Daguerreotype of General William J. Bolton, left by Tacy D. Smith.
(With newspaper clipping.)
Mrs, C. Howard Harry:
Sermon in Memory of Rev. James Grier Ralston, D.D., LL.D., preached
on December 12, 1880, by Thomas Murphy, D.D., in the First Presbjrterian Church, Norristown, Pa.
Rev, Herbert D. Cressman:
Historical Sketch of St. John's Lutheran Church, Center Square, Pa.
175th Anniversary Year. (The donor, who is pastor of the church,
is author of the Sketch.)
Mr. Charles R. Barker:
"Early Recollections of Ardmore," by Josiah S. Pearce. In two volumes
(MS), 1913. (A typed copy of the original article which appeared
in the "Ardmore Chronicle," 1906-7, indexed and illustrated by the
donor.)
Sources of the Declaration of Independence. An Address Delivered by
Hon. Albert J. Beveridge Before the Historical Society of Pennsyl
vania, June 2, 1926.
George K. Breckt, Esq.:
(On behalf of his sister, Mrs. Emma K. Weber, 43 N. Whitehall road,
Jeffersonville, Pa.)
1. Report of David .R. Ouster, Teacher of Methacton School, from
Sept. 18 to Oct. 18, 1855, to Andrew Morgan, President of Board
of Directors of Worcester, Montgomery county. (On one side,
sheet shows attendance record of male pupils; on the other, that
of female pupils.)
2. Report of same teacher of same school for the "second month"
(date not mentioned, but presumably October-Novembei*, 1855.)
PURCHASED
Southeastern Pennsylvania. A History of the Counties of Berks, Bucks,
Chester,. Delaware, Montgomery, Philadelphia and Schuylkill. Super
vising Editor, J. Bennett Nolan, Esq. Vols. I, II, III.
The Historical Society of Montgomery County has for
its object the preservation of the civil, political and religious
history of the county, as well as the promotion of the study
of history. The building up of a library for historical
research has been materially aided in the past by donations
of family, church and graveyard records; letters, diaries
and other manuscript material. Valuable files of newspapers
have also been contributed. This public-spirited support has
been highly appreciated and is earnestly desired for the
future.
Membership in the Society is open to all interested per
sons, whether residents of the county or not, and all such
persons are invited to have their names proposed at any
meeting. The annual dues are $2.00; life membership,
$50.00. Every member is entitled to a copy of each issue of
The Bulletin free.
Historical Hall, 18 East Penn Street, Norristown, with
its library and museum, is open for visitors each week day
from 10 to 12 A.M. and 1 to 4 P.M., except Saturday after
noon. The material in the library may be freely consulted
during these hours, but no book may be taken from the
building.
To Our Friends
.
Our Society needs funds for the furthering of its work, its expansion,
its growth and development. This can very nicely be done through
bequests from members and friends in the disposition of their estates.
The Society needs more funds in investments placed at interest; the
income arising therefrom would give the Society an annual return to
meet its needs. Following is a form that could be used in the making
of wills:
I
HEREBY
GIVE
AND
BEQUEATH
TO
THE
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY,
PENNSYLVANIA, THE SUM OF
DOLLARS ($
)

Historical Society of Montgomery County

Transcription

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