History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 175

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 175

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).

course of nearly two miles empties into the river a short distance below the bridge. The station of the Reading Railroad is thirteen miles from Philadelphia, forty-five from Reading and eighty from Pottsville.

The population of West Conshohocken, according to the census of 1880, was 1462. Licenses were issued in May, 1883, to 5 hotels, 3 general stores, 1 stove and tin-ware, 1 boot and shoe, 1 drug and 1 provision-store, besides 1 dealer in flour and feed and I in coal. For 1882, 231 taxables were returned, holding real estate valued at $640,850, and including the personal prop- erty, 8679,035. The average per taxable is $2939, decidedly the highest of all the boroughs in the county, Conshohocken being $1869; Norristown, $1721; and Bridgeport, $1656. Within the past ten years Mingo post-office was established here, which was changed January 1, 1884, to West Conshohocken, the present postmaster being Dr. McKinzic. The

1 By Wm. J. Buck.

800

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

public schools are four in number, and for the school year ending June 1, 1882, averaged one hundred and forty-four pupils in attendance. H. A. Markley is principal, assisted by three female teachers. The public-school building is a large stone structure situ- ated on Church Avenue, to the rear of the built-up portion of the town. Gas is brought hither from Conshohocken in pipes laid over the bridge. The Balligomingo Baptist Church was constituted in 1855, and a stone church soon after erected. The pastors who have served the church have been the Revs. - Young, - Sagebeer, - Perry, W. W. Dalby, J. G. Walker, Thomas R. Evans and the Rev' E. I. Mckeever, the present pastor, who began his labors in April, 1884.

The Merion and Elizabeth Furnaces, belonging to J. B. Moorhead & Co., are situated beside the Reading Railroad, near the bridge. The former was built in 1847 by Stephen Colwell and was enlarged in 1876. The latter was built in 1872 and put in operation in October of said year. They have a com- bined capacity to produce about five hundred tons per week. Mr. Moorhead has been the senior partner of the firm since 1857, and resides in Philadelphia. The iron produced here is chiefly known as gray forge, calculated for boiler-plates and sheet-iron. The woolen-mills of George Bullock, on Gulf Creek, in the northwest part of the borough, are quite extensive, and give employment to two hundred and seventy- five hands, producing above three hundred thousand yards of cloth per annum. Beside the railroad and near the bridge are extensive worsted-mills belong- ing to a company, which employ seven hundred hands. James Hall carries on the manufacture of carpets, giving labor fo some twenty men. There are in the place, besides, several minor manufacturing establish- ments and mechanic shops.

The Township Line road, at quite an early period, was laid out from Chester County to this place; hence, originated a necessity for a crossing-place over the Schuylkill. Some time before the Revolution, Peter Matsou resided here, who, in 1780, was assessed for holding one hundred and seventy-nine acres and three horses ; Isaac Matson for two horses. It was from this family that the place was called Matson's Ford. In the Revolution it appears the British did some damage here, for which Peter Matson was al- lowed twenty-six pounds and Isaac Matson sixty- four pounds. It is probable that this was done at the time of the retreat of Lafayette, May 20, 1778, from Barren Hill, closely pursued by the enemy. He had scarcely got the last of his artillery across, before they were fired on by an advance party, which caused the loss of nine men, either killed or taken prisoners. Of the British, two horsemen were killed and several wounded. It is likely that this injury was done to the buildings in firing across the river. On the death of Peter Matson his land was divided among his four sons. The aforesaid Isaac Matson

was one of the number. The former, it is said, in his early life was greatly given to fox-hunting, keep- ing a pack of hounds for this purpose.

Where are now Mr. Bullock's woolen-mills, on Gulf Creek, George English erected before the Revolution, a fulling-mill which afterwards was conducted for many years by William Custer. On his death, about 1821, his son-in-law, Bethel Moore, became the owner, who made valuable improvements and entered exten- sively into the manufacture of woolen goods, especially satinets. A short distance above this, in 1856, George Townsend carried on a factory changed from a grist- mill that had formerly belonged to David Brooke. At Betliel Moore's establishment in 1858 were about thirty houses, a Baptist Church, store, school-house and several mechanic shops, which bore the name of Balligomingo. When the Merion Furnace and a few houses were built at the west end of the bridge, in 1847, the name of West Conshohocken was given to it. In 1858 it contained twenty-three houses, a store and a blacksmith-shop. The furnace then gave employ- ment to thirty hands. A block-printing establish- ment and a bleaching-works had been formerly car- ried on there, but were then closed.

This place owes much of its prosperity to the early enterprise of William Davis, who owned at the time a considerable portion of the ground on which it is situated. The bridge here was incorporated in 1832 as the Matson's Ford bridge, and is still called by that name. On the night of September 2, 1850, it was swept away by a high freshet, but was soon after re- built. In the year 1872 it was rebuilt of iron. In going over it a very fine view of interesting scenery is presented therefrom by looking either up or down the Schuylkill. About half a mile below the borough a steep conical hill rises from the river prob- ably to a height of three hundred feet and is supposed to be the highest eminence in Lower Merion. This elevation, which is a continuation of Edge Hill, is mentioned in the deeds of 1683 and 1685 to William Penn, called by the Indians Conshohocken, whence the name.

From what has been stated, West Conshohocken has had its origin from two distinct settlements, namely, Matson's Ford and Balligomingo, which will even- tually, through its growth, be combined into one. For the purposes of a town its site is certainly the most rugged or uneven of any in the county. In the petition of its citizens to the court for incorporation, in the fall of 1874, they state that the place contained two general stores, a railroad depot, lumber-yard, three coal-yards, feed-store, two blacksmith and two wheel- wright-shops, two furnaces, a cloth manufactory and other places of business, besides a population of three hundred inhabitants. From this statement we can perceive that the place has rapidly increased.

The bounds of the borough, according to its incor- poration, are thus given,-

"Beginning at low water-mark on the southeasterly side of the

" WOODLAWN." RESIDENCE OF GEORGE BULLOCK

BOROUGH OF WEST CONSHOHOCKEN.

801

Schuylkill River, at a point dividing the laods of George Bullock, Joseph W. Conrad and Jonathan Conrad, in l'pper Merion township; thence, by said line sonth 62 degrees, 35 minutes west, crossing the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the Schuylkill River road. by the middle of an old private road 93 perches fos to a corner-stone ; thence by the same south 57 degrees, 50 minutes west 59 perches 2%, to a coroer-stone in the mirlille of a public road, io a line of land belonging to the late Philip Rees, deceased ; thence, by land of George Bullock, south 26 degrees, 55 minutes east 72 perches 2f% to a corner-stone and partly by said road, south 61 degrees, s minutes west 24 porches fos to a stake torner of Samuel Tinkle's land; thence, by land of George Bullock, south 28 legrees, 9 minutes east, crossing the Gulf Creek at the head of George Bullock's dan, and crossing the Balligomingo road 65 perches As to a Ilirkory tree, south: 57 degrees, 51 minutes west 50 perches to a stone, a corner of land of the Isaac DeHaven, deceased ; thence south 23 de- grees, 56 minutes east 21 perches 2%'s to a corner-stone ; thence south 20 degrees, 39 minutes east 73 perches 26% to a stone in the middle of a

George Bullock was elected burgess upon the incor- poration in 1874, and has held the position continu- ously to the present time.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.

WILLIAM DAVIS.

Mr. Davis is of Welsh descent, his grandfather being Reese Davis, who resided in Roxborough, Philadelphia Co., Pa. He was the father of two

township line road, dividing Upper and Lower Merion; thence along the same, north 60 degrees, 20 minutes east 11 perches jo's to the north - easterly side of a public road through Lower Merion township ; thence 30 degrees, 39 minutes east, 15 perches if's to the southeast side of Kenzie's Aveone ; thence 50 perches 65% to a point in a line of Moro Phillips' and Herring's line, north 63 degrees, east 21 perches 265 to the middle of Moro Street ; thence 79 perches 22% to a corner, north 6} de- groes, 25 minutes east, rrossing a small stream of water 4 perches 25% to a corner-stone, north 82 degrees, 57 minutes cast 66 perclies 35 to a stake at a corner of Michael Murray's land ; thence south 18 degrees, 32 minutes east 36 perches 25% to a corner-stone of lands of Moro l'hillips and John Y. Crawford, north 60 degrees, east 69 perches 2% to a marble stone on the northeast side of a public road crossing Arrowmink Creek, north 17 degrees, east 12 porches fs to a marble corner-stone ou land of Jolin Warden : thence north 5 degrees, 22 minutes east, crossing the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad 64 perches 15% to a stake at low-water mark of Schuylkill River ; thence up along the same by low-water mark 407 perches to the place of beginning."

sons, William and Thomas, the former of whom was born in Plymouth township, Montgomery Co., and later became a resident of Upper Merion, in the same county, where he engaged in farming, lime-burning and various other business ventures. He married Phebe Supplee, of the latter township, and had chil- dren, -- Rachel, Rebecca (Mrs.Godfrey M. Young), Mary (Mrs. David T. Horton), William, Charles, George and several who are deceased. William Davis was born September 13, 1826, in that portion of Upper Merion now embraced in West Conshohocken, which has been the seene of all his business operations. After very limited educational advantages he was employed in various undertakings in which his father

802

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

was interested, and at nineteen entered a country store in Edgemont township, Delaware Co., Pa., where he remained one year as clerk, returning at the expi- ration of that period to West Conshohocken, where for two years he was employed in the same capacity by his father. He then embarked in the coal business, and having soon after, in connection with his brother,

purchased the business of his father, they continued ! North Pennsylvania Railroad, going north from Shoe- thetwo branches of trade. Mr. Davis, some years later, makertown, afford to the geologist a fine study of the various strata of rocks that compose the interior of the elevations of this section, being at four or five places from twenty to forty feet deep. Few neighborhoods within so small an area afford so great a variety, among which can be enumerated gneiss, quartz, tale, sehor and mica. These, again, afford specimens of micaceous gneiss, micaceous schist, talcose and chlorite slates, serpentine, felspar, etc. Lumps of pure mica may be obtained here of the size of a fist. On the east side of the Willow Grove and Germantown turnpike, and about quarter of a mile south of the Limekiln pike, is an elevation that is remarkable for being composed of white flint pebbles, generally of half an inch in diameter, denoting that they were once formed and deposited here by the long-continued action of water, and that afterwards an upheaval must have taken place and thus left them dry. Building stone is ex- tensively quarried in the vicinity of Jenkintown Station and sent off by railroad. became associated with a partner in the purchase and sale of coal and lumber and the management of a saw- mill at Bridgeport, Montgomery Co., which business was finally sold, when he concentrated his capital and energies on his extensive interests at West Consho- hocken, erecting a new store and in various ways in- creasing the scope of his enterprises at this point. In January, 1883, his two sons, W. Egbert and Reese P., were admitted to a partnership, the firm-nameremain- ing as before,-William Davis, Jr., & Co. Mr. Davis was, in June, 1853, married to Emily Y., daughter of David N. Egbert, of Merion Square, in Lower Merion township. Their children are W. Egbert, Reese P., Emily Y. and three who are deceased. Mr. Davis- has been, since its organization, a director of the First National Bank of Conshohocken and is also treasurer of the Matson's Ford Bridge Company. ITis political affiliations are Democratic. He has been treasurer of the borough and school district, and for many years filled the office of school director. He is identified with both the Masonic and Odd-Fellows' fraternities, having attained to high rank in the former. He was imbued in youth with strong Quaker predilections, but now worships at Calvary Protestant Episcopal Church of West Conshohocken; of which he has been vestry- man.

CHAPTER LII.

CHELTENHAM.I

CHELTENHAM is the extreme southeastern town- ship in the county, and is bounded northeast by Abington, southeast and southwest by Philadelphia, and northwest by Springfield. It is of regular form, five and a half miles long, and above one and a half wide, with an area of five thousand four hundred acres, and after Springfield, Plymouth and Norriton, the smallest in extent. Its surface is quite rolling, with a soil composed of loam and gravel, which is well cultivated and productive. The Edge Hill range is the most elevated, and crosses its southwestern corner, by the village of that name. Cheltenham is well watered by numerous small lasting streams. The Tacony Creek is much the largest, flowing through the township about eight miles, and emptying into the

Delaware at Bridesburg. In its course it propels sev- eral mills and manufactories, to which purposes it has been applied from an early period. The name is of Indian origin, and in records of 1675 is called "Ta- wocawomink." On Thomas Holme's map of original surveys it is mentioned as "Frankford Creek."

The cuttings through the hills on the line of the

The York road turnpike passes through the central part of the township two miles, and the Limekiln pike about the same distance near its northwestern limits. The former was completed in 1804, and the latter in 1851. The Willow Grove and Germantown pike extends about one mile and a half, finished in 1857. The North Pennsylvania Railroad passes through it three and a half miles, with stations at Ashbourne, York Road, Chelten Hills and Abington. This improvement has greatly contributed to the pros- perity of this section. The railroad from Philadel- phia to Newtown passes nearly a mile across the southeast corner of the township. The villages are Shoemakertown, Edge Hill, Cheltenham, Ashbourne, Camptown and Harmer Hill. Post-offices are es- tablished at the first four places. Cheltenham, in 1790, contained 620 inhabitants ; in 1820, 956 ; in 1850, 1292; and in 1880, 3236. It contains 390 inhabitants to the square mile, which is almost double the county average. The assessment for 1882 returned 690 tax- ables, real estate valued at $2,531,060, including per- sonal property, $2,721,970, the average per taxable being $3945, surpassed only by Springfield and Abington. The common-school system was accepted in the spring of 1838 by 16 majority, William Gil- lingham aud Thomas Rowland being elected direc- tors. For the school year ending June 1, 1882, thirteen public schools were open 10 months, averaging an attendance of 250 pupils. There are four houses of worship : St. Paul's, near Shoe- makertown ; Presbyterian, at Ashbourne; and two

1 By Wm. J. Buck.

CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP.

803

Methodist Episcopal Churches. In May, 1883, 8 gen- eral stores, 4 hotels, 1 restaurant, 1 confectionery, 3 lumber and coal-yards, and 3 dealers in flour and feed were returned. In 1785, 6 grist-mills, 3 saw-mills, 1 tannery, and 1 fulling-mill were assessed. The census of 1850 mentions 181 houses and 192 families. Along the valley of the Tacony, and within this township in 1870 were 5 grist-mills, 1 fork, 1 edge-tool, and 2 shovel and spade manufactories.

Ashbourne, now the largest village in Cheltenham, is situated on the east side of the North Pennsyl-

facilities with the city, abounds in elegant resi- dences.

The Presbytery of Philadelphia North, within whose bounds the Ashbourne Church1 is located, had their attention called, several years ago, to the neces- sity of planting one or more churches along the line of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, to accommodate the rapidly increasing number of families from Philadelphia. An effort was made by a member of the Presbytery to hold services in Shoemakertown, a mile north of Ashbourne, but the attempt was soon

"Il

PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ASHBOURNE.

vania Railroad, and but little over half a mile from the ; given up. About this time a number of Presbyterian Philadelphia line. It contains about sixty-five houses, families from Philadelphia moved into the neighbor- hood of Ashbourne, and the necessity of providing a place of worship was impressed upon them. Accord- ingly, on June 5, 1878, a meeting was held, at which it was determined to open a Sabbath-school in a small building, the use of which was kindly offered by Mr. R. J. Dobbins. The school was opened on June 16th with about one hundred scholars. On the 8th of a store, post-office and church. The census of 1880 gives it three hundred and forty-two inhabitants. This place has entirely sprung into being since the construc- tion of the railroad in 1856. The post-office has been established since 1876. The station is a handsome two-story building, with nice and neatly-kept grounds. The place was formerly a grist-mill, that dated back some time before 1750. This village is surrounded by a beautiful country, and from its nearness to and 1 Sketch written by Rev. Richard Montgomery.

804

HISTORY OF MONTGOMERY COUNTY.

October following a petition was presented to Presby- tery asking for church organization at Ashbourne. The petition was granted, and on October 25, 1878, the committee of Presbytery formally organized the Ashbourne Presbyterian Church, with fourteen mem- bers. Mr. Charles S. Luther, formerly an elder in the Bethlehem Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, and Mr. Thomas C. Van Horn were elected elders. After the ordination of Mr. Van Horn, these were in- stalled. On March 12, 1880, Rev. J. W. Kirk, who had been in charge of the Somerville Mission, Ger- mantown, was elected the pastor of the church, and installed May 13. During Mr. Kirk's pastorate the church increased in membership and the general work was systematized. October 3, 1882, Mr. Kirk, having received a call to another church, resigned this charge. On November 30th of this year the Rev. Richard Montgomery, a graduate of the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania and of Princeton Seminary, was called to be pastor, and on December 19 was ordained and installed.

In April, 1883, a contract was entered into with Messrs. Bird and Given, of Philadelphia, to erect the new church building, according to plans furnished by Isaac Pursell, and in January, 1884, it was finished at a cost of fifteen thousand dollars. The church is now in a flourishing condition, with a membership of about one hundred. The present elders are T. C. Van Horn, D. H. Yerkes, H. J. Laird and J. L. Ervin.

About half a mile from Ashbourne, on the Tacony Creek, is Myers & Ervien's fork-factory, which gives employment to fifty hands. The business was first established by Jacob Myers about 1848. The old stone grist-mill here of Jacob Leech was built some time before 1751, and is now used by the firm for other purposes. Just below this is the extensive elge-tool manufactory of C. Hammond & Son, who employ between sixty and seventy hands. The build -. ings are all of stone, and have been recently enlarged. The father of the present proprietor commenced the manufacture here in 1840, with a few hands. The chief products are hatchets, sledges and hammers. The Philadelphia office is at 13 North Fifth Street. The adjacent country is rolling and abounding in fine springs of water.

The village of Cheltenham, which was long known as Million, is situated on the Tacony Creek, near the east corner of the township and within a quarter of a mile of the Philadelphia line. It contains near sixty houses, two stores and a two-story Methodist Episcopal Church. It is surrounded by a rolling country. Here is the extensive shovel and spade manufactory of Thomas Rowland's Sons, the firm being now com- posed of Howard, Rush and Lynford Rowland. The works are propelled by steam and water-power, and give employment to ninety-five hands, In the census report of Montgomery for 1810, mention is made that the only two tilt-hammers in the county were

owned here by Benjamin Rowland, by means of which he manufactured twelve hundred dozen of spades and shovels annually. Gordon, in his "Gaz- etteer of 1832," mentions the manufacture of fourteen thousand five hundred dozens, consuming for this pur- pose one hundred tons of iron. Benjamin Rowland and his brother William died within a few days of each other in December, 1872. Members of this family are also extensively engaged in iron and steel manufactures at Kensington and Frankford. Chelten- ham post-office was established at this village before 1855, when Thomas Rowland, JJr., was postmaster. Within a quarter of a mile, on the city line, the Phila- delphia and Newtown Railroad has a two-story station for passengers. The Methodist Episcopal Church at Cheltenham is recognized in the minutes of the Con- ference for the first time in 1864-65 by the appoint- ment of the Rev. G. W. Lybrand as pastor. His suc- cessors have been M. A. Day, J. B. Maddox, D. L. Patterson, H. E. Gilroy, M. D. Kurtz, T. W. Simpers, William Muffin and T. C. Pearson.

Shoemakertown is situated near the centre of the township, on the York turnpike road. It contains thirty houses, a merchant mill, carriage-factory, hotel, store, Episcopal Church, two halls for concerts and lectures, several mechanic shops and a passenger station at the North Pennsylvania Railroad. The country around is quite rolling, and abounds in hand- some country-seats, This is an old settlement, and was known by its present name at least in the begin- ning of this century. Gordon, in his "Gazetteer of 1832," mentions that it then contained "a grist-mill, store and four or five good dwellings." The hotel was licensed here soon after the opening of the North Pennsylvania Railroad, and was the first public-house in the township. The post-office was established in the fall of 1857, and J. Q. Rand appointed postmaster. The York road was laid out through here in 1711, and where it crosses the Tacony Creek no bridge had been erected in 1746. The venerable stone bridge here was built by the county in 1798. A short distance to the southeast of this bridge Richard Martin had a tannery in operation in 1776, and no doubt established some time before. The railroad here is stated to be one hundred and seventy-six feet above Delaware tide- water.

The first grist-mill- at Shoemakertown was built on shares by agreement made November 6, 1746, with Dorothy, widow of Isaac Shoemaker, by Richard Mather and John Tyson, the ground belonging to the estate. This contract reveals several interesting facts,-that at that time there was a "sheep washing-place" in the creek to the rear of said Dorothy's garden, and a " ford- ing-place" for the York road. It is called in the agreement a "corn-grist water-mill." John Tyson, who resided in Abington, June 14, 1752, sold his quarter- interest in it to John Shoemaker, most probably one of the heirs. It remained in the Shoemaker family here until April 1, 1847, when it was purchased

805

CHELTENHAM TOWNSHIP.

at public sale by Charles Bosler, tenant of the premises. This was considered a fine property in its day, and is denoted on Nicholas Scull's map of 1759 as "Shoe- maker's Mill;" also on William Seull's map of 1770 and Reading Howell's of 1792. Charles Boster having died August 11, 1873, at the age of sixty-three years, the property came into the possession of Joseph Bosler, his son, the present proprietor. The latter, in the summer of 1883, greatly improved the capacity of the mill, adding a seventy-two horse-power engine. The main building is now forty-two by sixty feet, four stories high, with a capacity to manufacture from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fitty barrels of flour daily.

Edge Hill village is situated in the northwest corner of the township, near the Abington and Springfield line, where the Limekiln turnpike and North Penn- sylvania Railroad intersect. Its location is high, being on the southeast side of the eminence from which it has derived its name. The engineer's report states that the track of the railroad here in the deep cut is two hundred and eighty-four feet above Delaware tide-water at Philadelphia, one hundred and eight feet higher than York Roa Station and one hundred and twenty-three feet higher than Fort Washington. This pare has grown rapidly. The one of 1880 re- turns two hundred and ninety -five inhabitants, but the total sarrrounding population is Fiche than there stated. Cheltenham contains abon hity houses, a hotel, post-office and several scores and mechanic-shops. The extensive Edge Hill Tren-Works are just over the line, in Springfield township The post-office was established here before IS51 d was the first in Cheltenham. The Carmel Presbyterian Church is in Abington, but near to the line. It is a neat one-story stone building, located at the north corner of the Limekiln pike and Edge Hill road, built in 1876. The present pastor is the Rev. R. HI. Bent, installed January 1, 1882. Regular services are now held here. Rev. J. H. Dulles had charge here and at Jenkintown from April 17, 1877, one year.

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History of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Part 175

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