Monday, November 30, 2020
Saturday, November 28, 2020
Friday, November 27, 2020
Thursday, November 26, 2020
March 15, 1883 - Inquirer
Dr. Forbes' Trial
The Lebanon Cemetery Case.
"...I never made an investigation as to where the bodies came from; men came there and offered to sell them, but we didn't receive them unless we knew who the persons were; I did not know that McNamee was getting bodies from Lebanon Cemetery: I did not know that there was such a place, nor where it was situated; I made no arrangement to get bodies from any cemetery; no such conversation ever occurred as to my telling McNamee that Judges Allison and Ludlow would not permit any wrong to be done, &c.; there is no foundation at all to this story; after McNamee had been hauling for some time he said he was going to Bryn Mawr, and asked me if I would go his security for a year; I knew nothing of the man, but after some recollection, I thought proper to assist him, and I did so for one year; it was a mere act of kindness to the man; I think I signed the papers at my house; I have been at the stable of the defendant; he would stop me sometimes as I went by; his stable was close by the college, around the corner; I generally asked him about his health, and never said anything to him about bodies that I can remember; ..."
Tuesday, November 24, 2020
St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church 1834-1839 - Rev. Jehu Jones Jr.. First African American Lutheran Minister 1786-1952 - 310 South Quince Street
Lutheran Quarterly Volume X Number 4 Winter 1996
Mask and Wig Clubhouse (aka Welsh Coach house & Stable), 310 South Quince Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (stable built between 1843 and 1853, remodeled into clubhouse by Wilson Eyre Jr. 1894, altered by Eyre 1901), murals by Maxfield Parrish. (Wikimedia)
.
Monday, November 23, 2020
18 S. Seventh Street - German Society 1866 - City Gas Office - Builder's Exchange 1892
Castner Scrapbook v.15, Sundry Buildings 1, page 1A
Click on image to enlarge.
Saturday, November 21, 2020
Heimgartner Club - 52 W. Girard Avenue Distributes 30 Tons Of Coal To Poor At Christmas In Fishtown - Inquirer 26 Dec 1905
William A. Heimgartner (aka Heimgaertner) owner of the Kensington Brewery at 1224 Frankford Avenue used his named benevolent association to distribute coal to the poor for Christmas.
Friday, November 20, 2020
Thursday, November 19, 2020
The Lower Dublin Academy - Pages 180-193 - The Bristol Pike by S. F. Hotchkin, 1893
An ancient building of stone was the abode of the janitor for many years. The quaint old-fashioned cottage, with its small paned windows, is now the residence Of Mrs. Charles Y. Johnson, who is janitrix. A wooden addition has been made on the lower side of the building, and it is adorned with a piazza. The grounds about this rustic cottage are marvelously neat and well kept, and the clean grass plat is a credit to the thrifty caretaker.
On May 8th, 1893, I had the privilege of being at a meeting of the trustees in this building and of receiving permission to use extracts from S. C. Willit's MS. book in my work. Meetings here in May have long been favored with bright weather, and a pleasant spring sun made this a lovely day. The view from the sloping ground over the dwellings at Collegeville, which is a suburb of Holmesburg, is a pleasant one. The pump-house adds to the picture.
In running over the names of trustees we can see a law of descent largely maintained as in the librarianship of the Philadelphia Library, held by those having Logan's blood in their veins, until the death of Lloyd P. Smith, when it passed into the hands of Mr. Barnwell. This is said to have been the only case of the kind in the United States of holding an hereditary office, as it were. Among the Academy Trustees we find the following family neighborhood names: Johnson, Enoch, Peters, Ellis, Nathaniel Lewis, Wm. Phillips, Waterman, G. H. Walker, Henry Tremper, Creigton, Wetherill, Fox, Col. John Clark, Isaac Pearson, Jacob Hall, Knight, Cowperthwait, John Neville, Henry Dewees, Wagner, Finlayson, and Furman D. Holme. Mr. Holme lived in the old mansion near Lynfield, not far from the depot of Holmesburg village. He also owned a farm near the Academy road, not far from the Kuhn place. He died a short time since. The meetings of the Trustees were held in cold and in heat. Committees used to visit the Academy while teacher and scholars trembled. All are now in their graves, and as we read between the lines of the old manuscript book of Mr. Willits, we may imagine something of the unwritten history of each which God knows.
Alexander Brown was at one time President of the Board of Trustees.
The old land titles hereabout run back to the Indian Chief Tammany and to the Swedes.
The present Trustees are as follows: B. Franklin Crispin, President; Andreas Hartel, Vice President; Edward Thomas, Treasurer; George S. Clark, Secretary; Joseph A. Johnson, Joseph H. Brown, Joseph Cartledge, William Rowland, Jr., Jonathan Rowland, Jr., Amos C. Shallcross, Henry V. Massey, George Morgan.
Vancouver - Estate and Stables of Nelson Brown, Torresdale, 23rd Ward, Delware River - Tally-Ho - 1893
"Vancouver - The celebrated navigator once lived in an old white cottage on this place with green blinds above the dwelling occupied by Nelson Brown, hence the name. Mrs. Thomas A. Morgan built this stone mansion. This became the property by purchase of William H. Stewart, who sold to Nelson Brown, who has added the finest stables along the river built of brown stone. Mr. Brown's fine tally-ho is well-known. The well-kept lawn, with its shading trees and the ample piazza, make an inviting abode. The house is next above Rose Cottage.
Next above Vancouver is the country seat of Edwin H. Fitler, ex-Mayor Of Philadelphia..." The Bristol Pike, Rev. S. F. Hotchkin, 1893
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Green Tree Inn - SW Frankford Avenue at Rhawn St. Holmesburg - Built Circa 1800
t 
Inquirer 1 Oct 1905
Page 108 - THE BRISTOL PIKE. By Rev. S. F. Hotchkin (1893)
GREEN TREE HOTEL.—This hotel is now kept by Charles W. Stout. It is at the south-west corner of Bristol Pike and Delaware Avenue, or in modern speech Frankford Avenue, as the Pike is styled, and Rhawn Street, as Delaware Avenue is called at present.
Aaron Vandyke, who owned the Woodfield farm, which became the Fox farm, opposite the Forrest Home, sold the lot on which the Green Tree Hotel was built, to Humphrey Waterman, in 1799. He owned the Washington but erected the Green Tree Hotel and moved into it.
Mr. Stout has occupied the property since 1875.
The deed traces the land back to boundaries of John Holme and George Fox.
Mr. Stout purchased of the estate of Morgan Clift in 1881.
The land is bounded in the rear by Willow Street. now styled Craig Street, on the city plan.
Mr. Clift described the hotel as in his memory being a stopping-place for the old Conestoga wagons bearing their loads to Philadelphia. He said that droves of cattle used to pass through the village, and stop for the night at the Pennock farm, just above the town. This was formerly Captain Arthur’s farm. He was a captain of militia.
Mr. Clift conducted the hotel for many years. His son, John, was the host for several years. Robert Johnson, now of the Washington House, succeeded in the charge for seven years, and it then fell under the care of Mr. Stout. Mr. Johnson enlarged the building, which had been increased in size thrice before his day, as the walls show. Mr. Stout has made additions to the building and stables at three different times.
Morgan Clift stated that a green tree which stood where Rhawn Street is now, gave name to the hotel. This was a tradition preserved by him and not a matter of personal knowledge. Rhawn Street was formerly known as Baker Street.
The hotel building is now a comfortable one in a fine location and still entertains the weary traveler.
The main building is of stone.
Monday, November 16, 2020
Sunday, November 15, 2020
Banquet of the Plumbing Supply Association of Philadelphia at Hotel Rittenhouse - March 6, 1914
Click on image to enlarge.
Terra Cotta Decorations on the Defunct Rittenhouse Hotel / Apartments - 22nd and Chestnut Streets - Willis G. Hale Architect
1912
