History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 159

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Pennsylvania > Montgomery County > History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania > Part 159

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The African Methodist Episcopal Church has an organization in the place, and the society erected a church edifice in 1881.

The First National Bank was incorporated Febru- ary 15, 1873; capital, one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. George Bullock, president ; Evan D. Jones, vice president ; and William McDermott, cashier. The Tradesmen's National Bank was organized February 15, 1882, incorporated the following May 1st and commenced business on the 23d. Its capital is one hundred thousand dollars ; John Wood, president and William Henry Cresson, vice-president and cashier. They occupied their new building, northeast corner of Fayette and Hector Street, July 5, 1883. The Weekly Recorder, William L. Prizer, editor and proprietor, was commenced in February, 1869, and re-established in 1877, the present proprietor having greatly enlarged it. The post-office was established here before 1851.

The Washington Steam Fire-Engine and Hose Company was incorporated February 23, 1874. They now possess two engines and three hose-carriages. One of the latter ranks among the finest in the State, having recently been awarded a premium at the Reading Fair. The engine-house is a creditable building. The association now numbers eighty-one active members. The Washita Hall Association was incorporated May 19, 1868, with a capital of fifteen thousand dollars. Their building is intended for concerts, exhibitions and lectures. It was enlarged in the summer of 1883 at an expense of three thousand dollars. The Matson Ford Bridge Company was incor- porated in 1832 and the bridge was completed the tol- lowing year. On the night of September 2, 1850, it was swept away by a high freshet, but was shortly after rebuilt. In this bridge the county holds stock to the amount of ten thousand eight hundred dollars. It was reconstructed and built of iron in 1872. To the traveler in going across, it affords a fine and interest- ing view of the scenery up and down the Schuylkill.

There are, besides, in Conshohocken several secret

and beneficial associations. Among these can be men- tioned the Independent Order of Odd-Fellows, Ancient York Masons, American Protestant Association, Wash- ington Camp of Patriotic Order of the Sons of Ameri- ca, Improved Order of Red Men, Druids, Good Temp- lars, Sons of St. George, Ladies' Philopathion, Knights of Birmingham and a German society. There is also a General Smith Post, Grand Army of the Republic, No. 79, Schuylkill Iron-Workers' Beneficial Associa- tion and the Corliss Iron-Workers' Association. The last two are composed of employees in the Messrs. Wood's establishments. Gratitude Lodge, of Inde- pendent Order of Odd-Fellows, have purchased a lot of ground for thirteen hundred dollars, on which they propose before long to build a hall. The Wash- ita Tribe of Red Men, No. 53, possess a controlling interest in the hall wherein they hold their meet- ings. There is also a band and a flute and drum corps.

Water is supplied from the river by a Worthing- ton steam-pump to a reservoir or basin on an elevated situation in the rear of the town, on Fayette Street. The first permits for this use were granted Novem- ber 3, 1873. The offices of the Water and Gas Com- pany are Jawood Lukens, president ; Alfred Craft, treasurer ; and A. D. Saylor, Alan Wood, Sr., Lewis A. Lukens, Evan D. Jones and William Summers, managers.

As has been stated, Conshohocken is a mile square, and in consequence the streets are laid out quite regular, crossing each other at right angles. Fayette is the main business street, extending from the Schuylkill bridge northeasterly, dividing the borough into two equal parts from which the ground descends in opposite directions. On the upper part of this street are some of the handsomest private residences in the place. It is broad, turnpiked and shady. Washington is the chief manufacturing street, along which the railroad to Norristown passes. Next and parallel comes Elm, Front, after which the avenues are called Second, Third, Fourth and so on in regu- lar order to the northeastern bounds of the borough. The main streets running northeast from the river, beginning on the upper or northwestern side, are Freedly, Wood, Maple, Forest, Fayette, Harry, Hal- lowell, Wells and Jones. In the southern portion, in addition, are Spring Mill Avenue and Hector, Poplar, Cherry and Apple Streets. The borough was divided into two wards June 12, 1876, the second or lower ward being decidedly the most populous.

The following is a list of those who have served as burgesses since the incorporation, May 15, 1850 :

1850, '53. John Wood. 1851-52. John R. Roberts. 1854-55. Charles A. Ulrick.

1856, '62, '63, '64, '70, '71, '72, '73. William Hallowell.

1857. 1. D. Saylor. 1858, '67. Frederick Light. 1859, '60, 'GI. Lewis \. Lukens. 1865. Henry Beaver. 1866. Evan D. Jones.

1868. E. S. Tomlinson. 1869, '74. James Tracy. 1875-76. William Summers.

1877-78. II. C. Messinger. 1×79. William F. Smith. 1880-81. William Henry Cresson. 1882-83. Michael O'Brien. 1884. John Field.

1885. Joseph Chrislett.

717

BOROUGH OF CONSHOHOCKEN.

Conshohocken is the name by which the Indians called Edge Hill. We have the evidence of this in the deeds of purchase from them by William Penn, of July 14, 1683, and of July 30, 1685, wherein it is so mentioned as forming one of the boundaries. This range still retains the name on the west side of the Schuylkill, and from thence became applied to this place. Some time before the Revolution Peter Mat- son was a land-holder on the opposite side of the river, and on the laying ont of roads here the crossing- place, in consequence, became called Matson's Ford, which name was not changed till about 1832, when the town was laid out as "Conshohocken."

During the Revolution the American army crossed the Schuylkill at this place several times. On the 19th of May, 1778, while Lafayette was stationed with a detachment of two thousand one hundred men at Barren Hill, three and a half miles from here, the British attempted to surprise him with a greatly superior force, divided into three divisions. One was led by General Grant and the others by Sir Henry Clinton and General Grey. When the divi- sion under Grant had approached within a mile of his rear, Lafayette received the first intelligence of their presence through an officer who had been sent early in the morning to reconnoitre. Thinking his situation critical, he withdrew in haste to this ford, and as the last division of his command was crossing with the artillery, the enemy's advanced parties made their appearance on the bank and fired a volley after them, when a skirmisli ensued, in which the Americans lost nine men killed and taken pris- oners. The British loss was two light-horsemen killed and several wounded. Lafayette proceeded to the high ground opposite and formed in order of battle, when the divisions under Grant and Clinton made their appearance. These, not deeming it prudent to cross, though they had more than four times the number of men, wheeled round and marched disappointed to the city. In consequence of this affair the old road which led to the ford, and on which this retreat was effected, has been called Fay- ette Street.

The ground upon which the town was laid ont be- longed at the time to the Schuylkill Navigation Com- pany, who sold it in square lots, James Wells and John Freedly, of Norristown, being the principal purchasers. David Harry, in 1830, built a grist-mill, which was the first improvement here. For a num- ber of years this mill had a large run of custom, always having a sufficient supply of water from the canal. Trains of farmers' wagons could be seen around it in times of drought waiting for their grists, some of the farmers living ten and fifteen miles distant. At this time there were two farm-houses here, one occupied by Mr. Harry and the other by Cadwallader Foulke. About a year or so afterwards Messrs. Wells and Freedly built a mill for sawing marble, which was obtained from the neighboring quarries; they

did a flourishing business for a number of years. They were followed in 1832 by James Wood, who built and put in operation a rolling-mill, the first in the place. The building of a furnace and foundry here, in 1844, by Stephen Colwell, also materially aided to help on the early progress of the place. In 1832, where is now the large store of William Sommers, corner of Fayette and Hector Streets, stood a cabin in which bad lived for some time a colored man called Ned Hector, who had been a team-driver for the army in the Revolution. On laying out the town it thus came that a street was named after him. He died January 3, 1834, aged ninety years, and his wife, Jude, two days thereafter.

Conshohocken had so advanced by 1849 that its inhabitants petitioned the Legislature for an act of incorporation, which was granted the following 15th of May. The commissioners appointed for laying out the horough agrecably to the charter were Isaac Roberts, Joseph Crawford, John M. Jones and L. E. Corson. The bounds were fixed as follows :

"Beginning in the township of Plymouth at low-water mark of the river Schuylkill, at the distance of half a mile, measured ou a direct line at right angles from the middle of the Whitemarsh and Plymouth turn- pike road, which is on the township line between said townships ; thence north forty degrees forty-five minutes east parallel to said turnpike road, over lauds of Cadwallader Foulke, John Stemple, Evan Davis and others to a point where the continuation of a certain public road line which now leads into said turnpike at the eastern corner of the farm of James Cres- son, and which road is nearly at right angles with said turnpike, if con- tinned northwesterly, would intersect said parallel line first mentioned as running north forty-three degrees east ; then from said point south- easterly the course of said road and crossing said turnpike and continuing its course in Whitemarsh, up over lands Inte of Daniel Harry, deceased, and Isaac Jones' land, one mile to a point on the land of said Isaac Joues ; tlience on his said land south forty degrees forty-five minutes west to the river Schuylkill aforesaid, and along up said river the several coursea thereof to the place of beginning." 1

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

BENJAMIN HARRY.

David Harry, who was probably of Welsh descent, early settled in Montgomery County, where he pur- chased a tract of twelve hundred and fifty acres of land, a portion of which is now embraced in the borough of Conshohocken, the remainder being in Whitemarsh township. Part of this land is still in possession of the family. Reece Harry, a son of David, born about 1701, who died in 1778, inherited a section of this tract, upon which he resided, subse- quently deeding a portion to his son John, grandfather of the subject of this sketeh, the former having married Alice Meredith, and had children,-Sarah, whose birth occurred in 1763; Mary, born in 1769; and David, who was born on the 17th of November, 1771, on the paternal estate, and who married Ann, daughter

1 Acknowledgments are due to William Henry Cresson, Esq., of thia borough, for information relative to the improvements in the place.

718

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

of Thomas Davis and his wife, Lydia White. Their children are Samuel, Benjamin, Reece, Mary (Mrs. Joseph Yerkes) and David, all of whom, with the exception of Benjamin, are deceased. The last men- tioned, and subject of this biographical sketch, was born May 16, 1809, on the homestead, which has been the scene of the experiences and incidents of a life- time. He was educated at the boarding-school of Joseph Foulke, of Gwynedd township, and on the completion of his studies entered the mill of his father, located on the banks of the Schuylkill, for the purpose of acquainting himself with the details of the business. This mill he afterwards successfully managed until

burgess of the borough. He is by birthright a Friend, and worships with the Plymouth Meeting.

JOHN JONES.

Mr. Jones is of Welsh descent. His grandfather, Jonathan Jones, resided upon the land now owned by the subject of this sketch, as did his father before him, both having been enterprising farmers. His children were Isaac, Jonathan, John, Susan, Mary and Ann, of whom only the last-named sur- vives. Isaac Jones was born in 1772, and followed farming pursuits in Conshohocken, having married

B Harry

the sale of the property. Mr. Harry from this date never engaged in any business undertakings apart from the management of his private interests. He was, in 1836, married to Lydia F. Wood, of Consho- hocken, and has children,-David, Anna, James, Mary, Winfield, John. Mrs. Harry is the daughter of James Wood, who established the rolling-mills at Conshohocken, and granddaughter of John Wood, of Plymouth, who was the son of James Wood, one of the carliest settlers of that township. Mr. Harry's political principles have been those of the Whig and Republican parties. He has frequently been solicited to accept office, but has invariably declined, though on one occasion elected to the honorable position of

Elizabeth Yerkes, daughter of John and Nancy Coffin Yerkes. Their children are John, William, Jonathan, Isaac, Charles, Susan, Elizabeth and Ann. Mr. Jones was married, a second time, to Rachel Foster, and, a third time, to Martha Lukens. His death occurred June 13, 1868, in his ninety-seventh year. John Jones was born December 18, 1795, on the homestead where his youth, until his twenty-first year, was spent. He received his education, in those early days necessarily limited, in the immediate neigh- borhood and at Plymouth, afterwards engaging in lahor on the farm of his father, which then embraced a very large portion of the present borough of Conshohocken. He subsequently removed to a farm purchased by his

719

BOROUGHI OF EAST GREENVILLE.

father in Upper Merion township, which he culti- vated for a period of six years. In 1819, Mr. Jones married Martha, daughter of Joseph and Ann Lukens, of King of Prussia, whose death occurred January 18, 1883. Their children are Joseph L., of Philadelphia; Isaac, of Illinois; William H., of Philadelphia; Rachel (Mrs. John Webster), of Chester County, Pa .; Elizabeth (Mrs. James T. Lukens, of Philadel- phia ; Mary, of Conshohocken ; Edwin, also of Con- shohocken ; George W., of Minneapolis, Minn .; Sallie (Mrs. Ephraim Fenton), of Abington ; and Charlotte, (Mrs. Daniel Lukens), of Chester County.

regarded as the pioneer in the business of milk ship- ping in the State, having shipped the first can of milk to Philadelphia by rail in 1847.

CHAPTER X'LII.

BOROUGH OF EAST GREENVILLE.

THE borough of East Greenville was incorporated September 6, 1875. Its area, about one hundred and

Mr. Jones, after a residence of some years in other parts of Montgomery County and elsewhere, returned to Conshohocken in 1852 and took possession of the homestead, since that date his home. In 1861, he retired, after a long life of industry, his son Edward assuming the management of the farm, which he cul- tivated until 1868, when the land was divided into town lots and sold for building purposes. Mr. Jones has always been either a Whig or a Republican in politics, but has never sought nor accepted office. He has since his youth worshiped with the Society of Friends, having been admitted to membership when fourteen years of age. Mr. Jones may justly be

eighty acres was wholly taken from Upper Hanover township. The assessed value of real estate at the time of its creation was eighty-two thousand and thirty dollars. It contained at that date ninety-four taxables, and upwards of fifty residences, all of them recently built. The land formerly belonged to George Urifer ; upon his death it descended to Daniel Y. Urffer, who in April, 1849, sold forty-three acres of the traet to Captain Henry H. Dotts; it was timber land at the time of this sale. The wood-leaf was sold, the land cleared and that portion fronting on the highway divided into building-lots. During the years of 1851-52, Mr. Dotts sold a number of the lots at an

720

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

advance. On a four-acre lot, at the corner of Church road, he erected a two-story brick dwelling, and sub- squently sold it for twelve hundred dollars, Mr. Dotts continued buikling and selling, and later erected the large three-story hotel now occupied by Charles P. Keely. Stores and mechanical industries followed the line of improvements, and the village became a new creation, rivaling the oldler claims of Pennsburg, a mile or more eastward. The project of building up a village at this point was partly due to the construction of the Green Lane and Goshenhop- pen turnpike road, which was opened to travel in 1851. The village received a further impetus in 1864, when some forty additional acres of land belonging to the original Urffer estate came into the market by the death of Mrs. Frey, a daughter of George Urffer, de- ceased. The tract was cut up into lots and sold to persons who built upon them. Philip Super, Esq., in his account of the Perkiomen Valley, writing of this village says: "To show the gradual rise in the price of land from the original price of seventy-five dollars per acre in 1851-52, we give the prices at which lots were sold during subsequent years up to the present time. The first of the original half-acre lots were sokl in January, 1853, for fifty dollars, and resold in May of the same year for seventy-five dollars ; in June' of the same year, Mr. Dotts repurchased a half-acre lot for ninety-five dollars ; in March, 1855, he again purchased half an acre for one hundred and twenty- five dollars ; in March, 1856, an acre lot was sold for one hundred and sixty-five dollars; in September, 1857, a quarter-acre lot was soll for one hundred and thirty-five dollars; and in 1859 a half-acre lot was sold for two hundred dollars.

" The original lots, of from two to four acres each, with which the place started in 1851, have been divided and sold in smaller ones ; at the present time there are but few lots in the place having more than fifty feet front. The village received its name in 1852, which appears to have been suggested by a tall pine- tree, with an evergreen top, and which is observable from all parts of the surrounding country. This 'old pine tree, with an evergreen top,' has become his- torical, if not immortal: from it a village takes its name, and a Greenville post-office is announced upon the post-office directory of Christendon-a fortu- nate tree, differing in no essential, save in its location, from hundreds of its kind that fell before the sturdy axemen of the Honovers."

This very pretty village is beautifully located, the elevation commanding an extended view of the valley and distant hills. The landscape is in every sense pastoral; cultivated farms, browsing cattle, green meadows, crystal streams, shaded homes, huge barns, ancient mills and steepled churches, with whitened graveyards, complete the rural and at- tractive pieture. Only the screaming whistle of en- gines, and racing trains of cars, as they spin along a back street of the town, breaks the prevailing country

quiet of the place. The main street or highway is well-kept, the sidewalks are curbed and paved, shade- trees, flowers and trailing vines ornament the neat and substantial residences that front upon the main thoroughfare. The borough has the characteristic thrift and commercial enterprise common to all rail- road towns in the country. Among the merchants may be named Henry Bobb, drugs ; Fluck & Bern- hard, live stock ; Nicholas Kase, boots and shoes ; William Kehl, merchandise; A. E. Kurtz, stoves; Keeley & Brother, coal, lumber, flour and feed ; Levi Meschler, merchandise; Edwin E. Steltz, furni- ture; E. M. Stauffer, jeweler. The mechanical in- dustries are represented by the village blacksmith, and carriage-builder. The manufacture of cigars is largely carried on here, the first to introduce the business being Amos K. Stauffer, who hegan in 1860, William K. Stauffer in 1865, and Daniel Dimmig and Thomas K. Gerhard about 1870. There are now carrying on the business in this place Amos K. Stauffer, Thomas K. Gerhard, William M. Jacobs, H. A. Dimmig and several others who have smaller es- tablishments. These firms employ about one hun- dred and twenty persons, and manufacture about nine million cigars anunally.

The Evangelical Association of East Greenville was organized about sixty years ago. A lot was pur- chased for a house of worship and burial-place on the road leading from East Greenville to Krousdale. A house of worship was built and used until 1873, when the present brick edifice was erected on Main Street, in East Greenville. Prior to the erection of these church buildings the congregation existed, worship- ing in the spacious houses of the farmers who made up its numbers. The pastors who served at the old church from 1838 to 1873 are as follows : Revs. Isaac Hess, Daniel Wieand, A. Ziegenfuss, Edmund Butz, R. M. Lichtenwollner, A. F. Leopold, C. K. Fehr, John Schell, Franklin Sechert and Reuben Deisher. Those who served from 1873 to the present time are Revs. G. Sharf, David Lentz, Henry Klick, Solomon Ely and Jeremiah Fehr, the present pastor. The church has a present membership of twenty-three.

The public schools of the borough are in advance of those of the township, ont of which it has been carved. They are taught during the term of seven months in the year; male and female teachers are employed at salaries of from thirty-two to thirty-eight dollars per month. There are one hundred and four pupils enrolled for the year 1884. Population in 1880, 331 ; number of taxables 1884, 128 ; value of im- proved land, $166,321; unimproved, $3850; forty- three horses valued at $3655 ; thirty-five cattle valued at $955; total value of property taxable for county purposes, $192,476.

Burgesses : 1875, Charles K. Lorentz; 1876, C. W. Wieand; 1877, William H. Kehl; 1878, Daniel Roeder; 1879, N. B. Keely ; 1881, John Hirsh ; 1882-83, F. L. Finck ; 1884, Jacob M. Knetz ; 1885, Jacob M. Knetz.

721

BOROUGH OF HATBORO.

CHAPTER XLIII.

BOROUGHI OF GREEN LANE.

GREEN LANE BOROUGH was incorporated by decree of the Court of Quarter Sessions December 10, 1875, and was carved out of Marlborough township. It con- tains an area of about one hundred and fifty-four acres. The boundaries are irregular, and were made to con- form to the wishes of the owners of adjoining farms, who were hostile to being included in the proposed borough limits.

The Perkiomen Railroad passes through the village, which is located at the convergence of three turn- pike roads,-the Spring House, constructed in 1848; the Perkiomen, open to public travel in 1849; and the Green Lane and Goshenhoppen turnpike, completed in 1851. The place contains a hotel, store, railroad station, school-house and upwards of fifty dwellings. There is also a grist-mill, smith-shop and a large ice house, located on the Perkiomen. In 1875 there were fifty-six taxable persons assessed, and the real estate was valued at forty-one thousand three hundred and fourteen dollars. It is distant from Philadelphia forty-three miles and eighteen miles from the Perki- omen Junction, on the Reading Railroad. The entire area of this borough rests upon the ohl Mayberry title, taken about 1730, being the same referred to in the account of Marlborough township. The derivation of the name of the village is from the Old Forge, or "Green Lane fron-Works," noted on the oldest maps of the county, and it is believed to have been given to the works named from the prevailing foliage covering the rocky hills to the north and west of the stream, it being largely of evergreen, with occasional pine, and from the narrow and tortuous road or lane that led from the main highway around the base of the hills to the forge. The locality was noted thirty or forty years ago for wild game, and sportsmen resorting there found pheasants, partridges and rab- bits in abundance, and the ancient villagers gave generous welcome to the liberal "spendthrift gun- ners," whose annual pilgrimage thither was im- patiently waited for by the expectant guides, who earned handsome fees for easy service in piloting these hunters and their dogs over and around the hills. The place was early and widely known as the location of the iron forge referred to. The fine water. power and abundance of wood, its easy conversion into charcoal, afforded unusual facilities for the manufacture of iron and for many years the best blooms in the market were produced at this place. Hammered iron long preceded rolled iron for general smithing purposes, and the produce of the forge found a ready market. In those days the country blacksmith purchased his bar-iron at the forge, and converted it into the hardware used in the building of houses, from the wrought uails in the floors to the hinges and latches of the doors. Iron was a com- 46

modity that fifty years ago was fashioned into a thonsand useful forms by the village smith which are now produced by the foundry and with the aid of im- proved machinery, and sold by the village store- keeper. The transition has changed the face of affairs at this old village. The forge has long since gone into decay; the old water-wheel, the huge bellows, the ore-crushers, the cone-like charcoal kilns, the famous teams and teamsters who made their weekly trips "to town" and back, the stage exchange stables, the huntsman and his hounds, the system of barter aud exchange that prevailed at the country store,-these have all been displaced by the changes wrought in the last quarter of a century, and Green Lane has become a railroad village ditl'ering in no essential from a dozen others which make the Perkiomen Valley so charming from Treichlersville to the Schuylkill River.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 159

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901 Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Bean, Theodore Weber, 1833-1891, [from old catalog] ed; Buck, William J. (William Joseph), 1825-1901
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1534