C H A P T E R 3 3 NARBERTH 1980 Area: 0.52 square mile ESTABLISHED: 1895

The Narberth Association in 1891 installed sixty oil lamps on the Narberth Park tract of developer S. Almira Vance at the residents’ expense. It fur­ nished oil, and a lamplighter earned $7.50 a month. By spring of 1893, the Bala and Merion Electric Com­ pany had installed electric street lighting on the tract, featuring twenty-four lights of sixteen candlepower Before becoming a borough in 1895, Narberth was each. Narberth Park still had just forty-five houses, not one village but six successive settlements—Indian, and Narberth Avenue was the only macadamized Swedish, Welsh, the hamlet of Libertyville, the street. Pavements were of wood. There were no con­ nucleus of a “Godey’s L ady’s Book town” called necting drains or sewer system, and no police. Elm, and three simultaneous tract-house develop­ Local residents no longer had to depend on the post ments: Narberth Park, the south-side tract, and office at General Wayne Inn. Another, to be called Belmar. Narberth Park Association, called after the Elm, had been sought and denied because of a name tract development of that name and begun by fifteen conflict with an existing facility. However, in 1886 a of its residents, originated on October 9, 1889. This Narberth post office was approved. It was located in organization seemingly started just to provide simple the railroad station, which itself underwent a name community services on the north side of Elm Station change from Elm to Narberth in 1892. The Narberth like those a tract on the station’s south side already designation won approval from Pennsylvania enjoyed. It proved to be a political beginning for the Railroad president George Brooke Roberts, in what present borough. must have seemed by then an obvious choice of name. These rail and postal facilities served the tract houses ACHIEVING INDEPENDENT RULE on both the north and south sides of the railroad. Activities of the Narberth Park Association have A Public Ledger account of November 13, 1890, often been described. There were committees for was correct about Elm and nearby communities: “All public safety, public works, ways and means, and along the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, for membership. Ash collecting began at $1.25 per week; several miles outside Philadelphia, are indications of garbage collecting was free. The association pur­ remarkable growth and a very healthful condition of chased a bell and placed it on Forrest Avenue as a fire matters in the real estate line.” Development spread alarm, bought fire extinguishers, distributed all­ over a large area of Lower Merion Township, but purpose alarm whistles to members, and offered a public improvements crept at a snail’s pace. The two-hundred-dollar reward for the capture and con­ residents’ association of Narberth Park set out to viction of burglars. By the end of 1890 “ Park” was speed up the delivery of needed services. In June 1893 dropped from the association’s name. it formed a committee, comprising A. H. Mueller,

1980 CENSUS PROFILE POPULATION TREND POPULATION Number Rank 6 Total Number 4,496 39 e o White 4,419 - Non-White 77 _ O h " g 4 Density (persons/sq. mile) 8,646.1 3 O 3 / Median Age 33.7 14

- D 1 2 Median Family Income $23,997 31 E w HOUSING Z Total Number 1,948 35 1______1______Persons per Household 2.3 _ 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 Median Value $60,900 24 Sylvester J. Baker, Charles E. Kreamer, David J. Completely surrounded by Lower Merion, the new Hunter, and Edgar A. M. L’Etang, “ to look into the borough occupied 0.52 square mile, and its bound­ advisability of obtaining a Borough Charter.” The aries are the same today. It is the only community in chief attraction of independent rule was that it would Lower Merion Township ever to sever ties with the have powers to establish public improvements not parent township. It accomplished this when efforts to then being attained under the supervisors’ rule of attain boroughhood were at a fever-high pitch, short­ Lower Merion Township. ly after Ardmore and Bryn Mawr in the same town­ The same residents group in October 1893 peti­ ship had held public meetings about taking a similar tioned Montgomery County courts to incorporate step and voted against it. And it was shortly before the Narberth as a borough. Proposed boundaries were to adoption of a township classification law at the turn be the center lines of Wynnewood Avenue at the of the century that gave townships new powers, some­ railroad tunnel to Montgomery Avenue, along it to thing of which Lower Merion rapidly took advan­ Merion Road, along Merion Road to Bowman, to the tage. Passage of this law has since cooled the fervor of railroad tracks, along these to Wynnewood Avenue. communities seeking borough status. They acted only on their own behalf. Having no con­ In 1936 there was a court hearing for a hotly con­ nection at all with the separately run “south side” or tested petition to recall Narberth’s borough incor­ its water supply and drainage systems, they excluded poration, but the petition was withdrawn when the the south side from their proposal. The borough’s evidence seemed to show that some people had signed Fiftieth Anniversary Report (1945) says that opposi­ more than one name. A citizens’ group calling itself tion to creating a borough was voiced by owners of Victory Committee for Home Rule for Narberth went large property and the railroad, among others, who home happy that day. saw no benefit. Not surprisingly, Judge Aaron S. Emblazoned on the center of Narberth’s corporate Swartz ruled against the borough charter the first time seal is an elm tree, the symbol of the village, all of around. His decision indicated that the Act of which (north and south of the railroad track included) Assembly dealt with incorporation of a whole com­ at one time was called Elm. munity, not just one part of it. It became clear that the judge considered the south side essential to the One month after the creation of the new borough Narberth community. of Narberth, on the third Tuesday in February 1895, In June 1894 a larger group of citizens returned to north- and south-side citizens went to the polls and court with a new petition adding the specification that elected their first borough officers. Lithographer the south side as far south as Rockland should be in­ August H. Mueller became the first burgess. Elected corporated as Narberth. In it they declared there were councilmen were Sylvester J. Baker, F. Millwood 129 property owners. Of some 78 resident free­ Justice, Alfred A. Lowry, James C. Simpson, and holders, 47 were recorded in favor and had signed the Richard H. Wallace from the north side, and Jacob petition, one remaining neutral. Some 38 nonresident M. March from the south side. freeholders signed the petition, as well as about 70 Wallace, an insurance agent and broker, was voters out of a total of about 120. Each of the various elected council president, and A. Perry Redifer, a categories had a majority in favor, one of the peti­ manufacturer of lasts, was named clerk at the first tioners, A. H. Mueller, stated. borough council meeting on March 4. The first item This second appeal to court was successful. In the of business was to set a tax rate of five mills, report of the county grand jury, a majority of at least expected to produce an $18,572 revenue from twelve of its members approved it. $371,450 in assessed property valuation. Taxable When Judge Swartz finally confirmed the grand properties totaled 151. One of the earliest ordinances jury’s finding on January 21, 1895, he fixed Narberth tried to limit the unrestricted wandering of horses and boundaries somewhat different from those proposed. cattle within the borough. Another specified that only Because it was exclusively farmland and had no persons who already had pigs in their possession were building lots yet laid out in it, he sliced off and ex­ allowed to keep them. Other achievements the first cluded a 61.5-acre section southward from Haverford year included founding a Board of Health, building Avenue extending from Narberth Avenue to Mont­ (by Goodman and Clothier) a Windsor Avenue sewer gomery Avenue and Merion Road, and as far as the with lateral connections at all cross streets, and railroad track, letting this remain as Merion. At the macadamizing some streets. By December 1895 same time, in accord with the court’s decree, the judge assessed property value rose dramatically to set the date for the first borough election as the third $636,600, and a $12,500 bond issue authorized public Tuesday in February 1895. improvements. MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM HUNTER BOARDMAN EARLY SETTLEMENT EARLY councils were held. So far this is supported only by only supported isthis far So held. were councils ad led cerd n te suac o a fresh a of assurance supply. water the and cleared already land using of convenience the of because settlement dian assertion general Becker’s Marshall anthropologist Lenni-Lenape Indian village a and place where Indian es cm to ots eoe ila Pn in Penn William before months two came Welsh suggests evidence Some Indians. (Susquehannock) In­ an been the had there and where cabinslog Swedes meetinghousesbuilt built Friends early the that at the heart of the Merion Welsh tract. Three of the of Three tract. Welsh Merion the of heart the at County, ontgomery M f o Society uut 62 ad ht fw f hm a have may one (See leastWelshin them Narberth. plantation writer’s at of article corner of a on fewremain to right a their asserted that and 1682, August Merion the Swedishstillpeoplelived here when that a county, the in site warlikethe settlements with Conestoga Swedishpost trading colonial oldest the ot rmnn o te rgnl eete families seventeen original the of prominent most on Swedish findings in the the in Swedishfindings on granted to them by them to granted in William isPenn what now Nar­ who settled thisin tract religioussearch of infreedom (1690) Forrest of and Windsor the at comer southeast Chester)in was wasWest his of grant half other (the decade. a owners within Welshfamily of quintet a it making arrival fifth a Borough, berth the the centerpiece histhe of parcel featuring house stone 62 ad fut arvn i 18, we land owned 1683, in arriving fourth a and 1682, abrh fl o srns my ae en is a first been have may springs, of full Narberth, Also believed have here been located to was of one Narberth farmland, wet meadow, and woodswere and wet meadow, farmland, Narberth Edward ap Rees’s ap originalseventy-eight Edward acres here Bulletin o f the Historical the f o Bulletin al 1982.) fall

where it passes north and south through the 1691, the year the for deeds through Narberth separate south two in and north passes it where line the so largelyintact, remained have boundaries borough’s west end. Described as the “ Merion Line” Line” Merion Describedwest borough’s as“ end. the discernible is tract Welsh Merion 2,500-acre the of frame to Narberth into extended pioneers Welsh borough. present outside the hisjust tract east endof north­ far the from given and trimmed Rees’sland, on built also was Meeting Friends Merion avenues. entered from Windsor Avenue with Indian Creek to to Creek Indian with Avenue Windsor from entered straight two-block hilly a along borough the within easilybe traveled can Line Merion old the Today it. parallel runs with Avenue Wynnewood North some boundary 350 feet ancient east of of Archives that City 174-75, Philadelphia), pp. 5, volume (Deed Rees E2 ap Book Edward and Owen Robert of those 1683) the original western(made about edgemarking Rees’sland. Merion other the by owned tracts larger of Portions the right. the Park, Narbrook servicewestern of drivethe stretch, eidr ht hs eto o ln cm under came land of section this that reminder and Edward ap Rees, beginning to enlarge his farm, enlargefarm, his to beginningRees, ap Edward and westernline’s the 1682, in Line Merion the of east pearance of Narberth’s west end even today is a a is today even end west Narberth’s of pearance fleeingpersecution, Owen, Robert 1691, when until no land west of the Narberth, Merion Line was settled severalfor Intracts years. Haverford between and the Merion zone frontier virtual a indicated boundary rcs xedn it ta zn. h wos ap­ woodsy The zone. that large into deed-holders extending original tracts the from bought each Surprisingly, Narberth’s Welsh property line line property Welsh Narberth’s Surprisingly, fe te ein es stld abrhs land Narberth’s settled Welsh Merion the After a log cabin at right. at cabin log a 610 arberth, N in house hd ae incorporates Lane, Shady hom e in 1911. The oldest The 1911. in e hom The Kerner fa m ily at their at ily m fa Kerner The

Welsh cultivation later than the rest of the borough. two-acre purchase, not all of it in the present The slender slice of borough land fronting on North borough, was bounded on the north by the then Wynnewood Avenue now goes by the name of “Nar­ Haverford-and-Merion Road, and his homestead was berth’s gold coast,” and not because it faces the at the Montgomery Avenue end. setting sun. When the West Philadelphia Railroad Company Carden F. Warner (Narberth’s Historical Prelude, was planned along the route that became the Penn­ 1616-1895, 1905) says that Revolutionary (or pre- sylvania Railroad’s Main Line now operated by Am- Revolutionary) Narberth turf served as a public rally­ trak and Conrail, the Commonwealth of Pennsyl­ ing place for patriots when a Liberty Pole was set up vania paid William Thomas for 2.747 acres in 1851 as here by French soldiers on the old trading post site. a right of way for the tracks. This was to be a better The village of Libertyville sprang up at that location route than the old Columbia Railroad’s inclined plane by 1834, when it became a stop on the old Philadel­ in the present West Fairmount Park. The Penn­ phia and Columbia Railroad. A more likely explana­ sylvania Railroad main line takes a wide-arc turn just tion for the origin of its name is the nearness of the before reaching Narberth, a necessity to avoid some area to Gladwyne, where a Liberty Pole was raised in sharp rises in the ground in Wynnewood. So that the 1799. puny locomotives could make the grade to Ardmore, The name Libertyville existed until Narberth the tracks followed the stream beds. The entry into Borough was incorporated, but before 1895 the use of Narberth was a twisting and scanning perspective, a the term “ Elm Station” began to eclipse that of reminder that Narberth developed as a passage or Libertyville as an address covering a wider area and gateway to somewhere else. including Fairview (Penn Valley). William Thomas set in motion a process that would Narberth had a “ witch” named Betty Conrad, result in the building of a railroad station on his prop­ mentioned as such on January 23, 1806, in Major erty. According to mid-nineteenth-century thinking, Joseph Price’s diary (Historical Society of Penn­ building a railroad station was the catalyst necessary sylvania manuscript). In her will proved that year she to create a town. Doubtless Thomas shared that out­ subdivided her 6 3/4-acre farm among her four chil­ look. However, there is no evidence that Thomas dren so that each had a lot facing Montgomery later sold off lots of two acres or more to encourage Avenue. Mrs. Conrad’s property with buildings on it, building of that town, as many accounts have stated. and at least two other nearby (log) houses enclosed in That distinction belongs to Edward R. Price, the “last houses at 1226 Montgomery and 610 Shady Lane and of the Prices,” and to him alone. probably Swedish, were the nucleus of Libertyville. At age eighty-one, William Thomas and his wife Razed by a real estate speculator in June 1980 at 1292 Sarah sold three-quarters of an acre to the Penn­ Montgomery Avenue was a wooden house, almost sylvania Railroad in 1869 for one dollar “provided certainly the “witch’s.” Her children’s curbside the lot be used solely and entirely” to build a railroad houses at 1296, 1294, 1268, and 1256 Montgomery re­ station. According to one account this donation was main, but the rest of the “ witch’s” tract is a subdivi­ made with the understanding that the station should sion of French provincial-style houses, built in 1980, always bear the name “ Elm” for Thomas’s old home which has wiped out much of Libertyville’s character in Wales or, according to another, because the many by destroying the ancient Indian Creek spring house, elm trees on his plantation were a constant reminder an early orchard, the Connor family’s barn-slaugh­ of his Welsh birthplace. William Thomas supposedly terhouse, and Super’s blacksmith shop. A hub of ac­ came from southern Wales. tivity in this farming area, the Connor and Super A Swiss chalet-style railroad station was built of businesses flourished at Libertyville from the Civil stone north of the tracks in 1870, and called Elm. War until the early twentieth century. Most old- After Thomas released an enlarged right of way to the timers still remember the large Super family at 1256, Pennsylvania Railroad, it built the Wynnewood whose blacksmith shop outlasted the other smithy in Avenue underpass on his former turf in 1879. The Narberth, located since colonial times opposite previous year, East Wynnewood Road had been General Wayne Inn. established by court order. North Wynnewood Descendants of various branches of the Price fami­ Avenue had existed since 1865. ly owned the assembled Price colonial landholdings J. W. Townsend, in his Main Line reminiscences, until 1838, when the southern half of the original mentioned that railroad brakemen used to pronounce (1682) ap Rees or Price tract was sold for $5,650 to the station’s name “ El-lm.” With a note of sarcasm, farmer William Thomas of Blockley Township, who local residents, maneuvering around many mud pud­ had emigrated from Wales in 1818. Thomas’s sixty- dles, took to calling the area “ Slippery Elm.” H. RONALD PAIGE. JR., AND ELLIE PAIGE Wood kept twelve Alderney cows, a Dearborn Dearborn a cows, Alderney twelve kept Wood (eminent Dickinson John Tunis, Joseph Anthony land Jones, Tunis, That Jonathan son his to quarter.” yeturn in pence passed six for “ door his at leaving Indians the in-law),venison about who spoke Wynne’s (Dr. Jones Thomas son- Edward Dr. of tion guiltythe bring to dollars thousand a raised officials citizens and station; the near murdered was migrant im­ 1876,German a in when Elm to came Notoriety Windsor and Narberth avenues into a boarding boarding a into avenues Narberth and Windsor Carden 1871. in it prior plantation that gives of bought account Warner a good Furey, Maria widow upper The tracks. the of north shifts scene the and that farm, marked “C. S. Wood Estate” on the of­ the on Estate” Wood S. “C. marked farm, that Farm. Rockland it calling borough, the of southernmost portion the forms tidy now the that Sullivan land this farmer sliceof at from iron bought railroad made Johnstown, which Company, Iron bria Sullivan.1863 In Charles president of S.Cam­ Wood, James and Morris, Jacob Revolution), the of scholar justice. to party home. (1770)present-day house near Price large the turned She profitably. land the farmed 1871.Furey Mrs. to owner, restaurant in Philadelphia remained a until hands tract family Price (1682) original the of half ficial 1895 borough map. 1895ficial borough at mare bay a and horses, sorrel and brown wagon, The south-side story becomes dormant until 1888, until becomesdormant story south-side The South of the Thomas tract was the former planta­ former the was tract Thomas the of South 714 Montgomery Avenue, and was about to embark embark to about was and Avenue, Montgomery 714 Avenue. Haverford 413 and 417 at houses joining Narberth Avenue. On April 18, 1881, he sold four four sold 1881, he 18, April On Avenue. Narberth now is what on street main its with Elm at village” Philadelphia’s Main Line, Edward R. Price commis­ Price R. Edward Line, Main Philadelphia’s (a lands ancestral own to Prices” the of last “ The ind pa (81 fr “ on a for (1881) houses plan a sioned summer for demand increasing the his life. schemeof ambitious most the on Reese1803 in Price built histhe house grandfather at lived inPrice, R. agingacres) Edward here, hundred time. marking be to seemed Furey Mrs. tion as “ Godey’s favorite architect.” The only only The its architect.” of magazine monthly favorite circulation mass American Godey’s “ as tion acres to his had long Hobbs enjoyed builder. a reputa­ ulnax J. a e ars wee hy ul ad­ built they where acres, few a Jr.) Mullineaux, Joseph Mary S. and (Mrs.Moore) Marmaduke (Mrs. done for it, it, for done speciallydesigns house published regularly that day ten and him, by ownership estate real of instances rare the of one in Hobbs H. Isaac architect to acres) rcdne tig Hnrd o hue from houses of Hundreds thing. un­ an class, precedented middle the for architecture domestic five acres to Samuel Richards, two lots two (sixfivethree SamuelRichards, acres and to customers:selected carefully to lots adjoining large “L A D Y ’S BOOK ’S Y D A “L Under the impetus of the of a impetus Under growing moneyed class and Just north of her property, change was in the air. the wasin change property, her of north Just Martha daughters her to distributed Furey Maria dys s ook B ’s y d a L odey’s G VILLAGE” AT ELM AT VILLAGE” N arberth railroad station, railroad arberth N okn ws, a 1890 ca. west, looking oe’ Lays Book ady’s L Godey’s popularized popularized

NARBERTH 431

Hobbs’s published designs were built singly or in Another advantage the Richardses had, in Price’s groups in the eastern part of the country. Several eyes, was their flawless Quaker credentials, especially Lady’s Book houses became a Lady’s Book village. those of Mrs. Elizabeth Richards. Her father, John The only identified Lady’s Book house still stand­ B. Ellison, a textile industry leader, was a staunch ing in Narberth is Barrie House, a Methodist par­ Friend. Her aunt and namesake, Elizabeth Ellison, sonage on Price Avenue. There may be others not yet was a celebrated Quaker preacher. The presence of identified. Despite differences in style, the houses the Richardses provided Price with the best possible Hobbs built in 1881-84 on these lots, some adjacent “ sales pitch” for his village. houses, and three other big ones in the heart of Liber­ The project at Elm was the golden dream of three tyville, all built by 1890, shared fundamental elements men in their golden years—farmer Price, architect that reflect the energy of the period. These elements Isaac Harding Hobbs, Jr., and Samuel Richards. Of were on the one hand a desire to break away from the these, the Richardses retained some of their land the agricultural traditions of the neighborhood, and on longest, nearly forty years. the other, imbalance and surprise. The site selected for the planned village of Elm, Initially opposed to selling off any of his own crowning the center of Edward R. Price’s hundred- acreage for the development, Price came around to acre farm, was excellent. Picturesqueness and variety the idea soon after whiskey merchant Henry C. Gib­ distinguished this hamlet of Hobbs-designed homes. son started building a mansion in Wynnewood on His largest local mansion (razed for Montgomery former Price land. Price chose as its first resident a Court Apartments) and another Hobbs dwelling (the leading representative of the closest thing this country Barrie House parsonage) stood together on a high had to a landed aristocracy. He invited Samuel broad shoulder of land on Hobbs’s own nine acres Richards, a scion of a family that earlier had land- that sliced across a bluff to Indian Creek. Barrie holdings of more than a quarter of a million acres in­ House is rugged and reflects Hobbs’s sense of power cluding New Jersey’s Wharton tract. over massive structures and over its sometimes mildly extravagant French Second Empire ornamentation. Did Samuel Richards convince Edward R. Price to This house, enhanced now by the cheerfulness and start a village here? Did he help Price overcome his grace of an enormous white birch that shades the en­ earlier objections, saying that he would gladly come trance, faces Price Avenue, but its balcony and pic­ and live here himself? That is probably close to the ture window overlook the length of that lot to truth. Richards was a man to be listened to in such acknowledge what must have been a romantic view matters. Always interested in a place with a future, he westward. became in 1881 the key resident of Elm village. Barrie House is the last leaf in the first round of Fifteen years earlier Richards had founded the full- Narberth town planning presided over by Edward R. size town of Atco, New Jersey, seizing an opportunity Price. Since it was built speculatively, it provides provided by a new railroad junction. He named the unique testimony to the kind of newcomers sought streets in alphabetical order, except the main avenue, for this community in 1881. In putting up new which he named after the town. buildings, Victorians sought satisfaction, not from The hard-driving and energetic Samuel Richards beauty, but from attaining what would befit the sta­ was already credited with launching the idea of a tion in life of prospective buyers. Thus it might have string of southern New Jersey seashore resorts, the gratified Price and Hobbs to know that two men of physical development from scratch of those com­ achievement, both medal winners at the Paris Inter­ munities, the naming of one of them (Atlantic City), national Exposition of 1900, lived in Barrie House in and the building of “the railroad to nowhere,” which succession—Samuel Vauclain cited for locomotive served Atlantic City with astonishing success. (See design and George Barrie for publishing deluxe edi­ Arthur D. Pierce’s Family Empire in Jersey Iron: The tions of the classics. Richards Enterprises in the Pine Barrens, 1964.) As Samuel Vauclain, the legendary head of the Bald­ the excitement of his own ventures began to subside, win Locomotive Works, was Narberth’s first in­ Richards looked for a place to live near Philadelphia dustrial giant. In many ways he was far ahead of his with his wife Elizabeth Moore Ellison and his second time, promoting national and local prosperity as well son and business partner, the low-keyed S. Bartram as an improved market for American goods. Vauclain Richards, and Bartram’s bride Mary Dorrance Evans was the guest-resident of this house from 1885 to (remembered as “ Aunt Mary" by John T. Dorrance). 1901, courtesy of its owner, brass manufacturer Isabel Bishop, the distinguished painter, is Samuel T. Broom Belfield, a close friend and admirer who Richards’s grandniece. lived in the adjoining Hobbs mansion. While Belfield owned these properties, what became Barrie House the existing road (now Narberth Avenue), and its lot was exclusively for Vauclain use, Belfield’s daughter- stretched back to Conway Avenue. Its stone gateposts in-law, Mrs. Percy C. Belfield, declared. Though can still be seen at 224 North Narberth Avenue. residing in a Green Street townhouse in the city, Built speculatively opposite Richards’s in support Samuel Vauclain believed in country living and fresh of the Price plan, by a fashion industry pattern mer­ air for his young family. chant, was a house bought in 1883 by widow Mary Scotch-born George Barrie added a whiff of ex­ Ann Anderson Williamson. She lived there with her clusive connoisseurship to the Narberth legend in son William von Albade Williamson, clerk of the 1910, when he took up residence in the former Third United States Circuit Court of Appeals, and his Vauclain house. Barrie had already pledged himself wife Maria Elizabeth McKean. to the comfortable values of the proud possessors of Two Williamson relatives had a finger in develop­ books and objects, such as J. Pierpont Morgan, a ment at Elm—Mary Williamson’s brother-in-law and Barrie customer. Barrie called his house Puir-Hilch, her husband’s first cousin. The brother-in-law, Per- and Barrie Road later built on a piece of his land is cival Roberts, Sr., founder of Pencoyd Iron Works, named after him. His wife, Renee Barrie, planted the looked after Mary’s welfare at Elm to the extent that carpet of periwinkle-blue Chionodoxa bulbs natural­ he put his signature first among six names on a peti­ ized in the front lawn and still a joy to see in early tion (1887) to widen her street, an Old Gulph Road ex­ April (as are thousands of February-blooming Siberi­ tension. The cousin was George Brooke Roberts, then an crocuses that lawyer Fletcher W. Stites planted in Pennsylvania Railroad president, who in 1892 accom­ the front lawn of 413 Haverford Avenue). modated the wishes of area residents by naming their The largest private home ever built here, Hobbs’s station Narberth. Roberts did not originate that Belfield summer residence at the southwest comer of name, though he is often credited with doing so. Narberth and Price avenues, was renovated by ar­ Norman Jefferies, the owner after 1911 of the chitect James A. Windrim soon after Belfield bought Williamson house at 219 North Narberth Avenue it in 1885. A member of the University of Pennsyl­ (since razed for St. Margaret’s parking lot), installed vania Museum board of managers, T. Broom Belfield there a copy of Independence Hall’s staircase. His was a stern disciplinarian who had nine sons and three wife, the former English actress Gwendolyn Jane daughters. He insisted his sons bicycle daily from Elm Pinces, created an English garden showplace on the to their Belfield foundry jobs at Broad and Spring grounds. Mr. and Mrs. Jefferies were ardent sup­ Garden streets. Alexander C. Shand, the next owner porters of the Narberth cherry blossom tradition. of the house, called it Douglas-Garden. Only the About 1927 Mrs. Jefferies opened a flower shop, now garden, still remembered as an asset to the neigh­ a dress shop run by her granddaughter at the same ad­ borhood, or at least some of it, remains, encircled by dress on Haverford Avenue. the borough’s largest apartment complex, the In 1886 the stove and cupola manufacturer William 110-unit Montgomery Court, built in 1939. L. McDowell (president of Leibrandt and McDowell) The Belfields before the turn of the century began commissioned a “ mansion” on a small lot he bought the Christmas custom of lighting the towering in a sheriff’s sale. McDowell was a contemporary of hemlock on their grounds. Montgomery Court Edward R. Price, and lived directly across Mont­ Apartments management continues this tradition gomery Avenue from him in a historic Price house. every year and features eight hundred lights topped by He set up legal “ covenants and agreements” to obtain a three-foot star visible from the railroad station. the imposing house he wanted, to ensure that he be Carolers from the Methodist church usually gather paid ample ground rent, and to reclaim ownership if beneath the tree. Another surviving tree, an umbrella anyone defaulted. His deed conveyed the lot formerly ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) probably planted by Mr. owned by the “ witch’s” daughter Elizabeth (with Belfield, was named one of the top three of this small buildings on it) to Isaac B. Culin of Phila­ species in a five-county area by Dr. John C. Swartley, delphia, a dry-goods-store clerk. Culin thereby agreed who included it in his “ social register” of “extraor­ to construct within one year “ a good and substantial dinary trees” published by Morris Arboretum in three-story stone house of sufficient value fully to 1970. secure the said yearly rent described” (which ground South of the Belfield house, Isaac H. Hobbs took rent could be extinguished only by paying ten thou­ advantage of Elm’s rolling terrain by placing his sand dollars to McDowell). Culin the same day con­ Gothic-style Richards house of ashy-pink stone at the veyed this property, and its ground rent obligation, to summit of a long gentle southerly slope exactly where the Joseph D. Ellis family of Fairmount, reserving to the ground levels off. The house was oriented toward himself the task of seeing that the mansion was built. Culin, probably of Swedish ancestry, built a stone built at Elm in 1889-90 on Price Avenue facing Barrie mansion, Bel-Brya, only a few feet from a couple of House, according to their son Francis, who was born log cabins that may be Swedish and are still in ex­ there. They had a large windmill on the grounds. The istence though transformed in their appearance. Bel- house still stands, embedded now in a housing sub­ Brya still stands at 1236 Montgomery Avenue as division. Everything about the house’s character, and D’Amore’s restaurant. Ellis’s partner in real estate, about Edward Forsythe’s background, suggests that his brother J. Pemberton Ellis of Powelton Village, he built at Elm through the influence of Samuel and soon built an imposing stone house at Montgomery Bartram Richards. Both he and they had their land and Wynnewood avenues, since replaced by Wyn- development offices in the Drexel Building. mont Apartment. Edward R. Price’s death in April 1887 signaled the Narberth’s most prominent family of Swedish co­ end of 205 years of Price presence in the neighbor­ lonial ancestry was the Justices. On part of Jacob R. hood, setting the stage for the immediate sale of two Hagy’s former farm in Libertyville, silverware nearby tracts, the Furey/Ridgway/Vance tract and manufacturer F. Millwood Justice built a large house the Thomas/Gatchell/Macfarlane tract. By early at 1104 Montgomery Avenue on land he acquired in 1888, the vitality and initiative that had marked the 1889 and 1890. The sons of a prosperous hardware Price village episode became extinguished. Price’s importer, “ Mill” Justice and his brother Alfred were original intention of selling his land in lots of not less bom in Powelton Village of a Quaker family related than two acres was soon set aside. The contrived ir­ to colonial silversmith Philip Syng. When a street was regularity of the placement of Hobbs’s mansions cut through Justice’s property, it was called Stepney quickly gave way to a tight grid plan with small Place after “Mill’s” father-in-law, attorney Albert building lots that partially surrounded and eventually Stepney Letchworth, who lived here. encroached on the Godey’s Lady’s Book town. Alfred R. Justice, “ Mill’s” brother, also lived in The first developer of land bordering on Price’s Narberth, eventually in the Richards house. His letter village was lawyer and public figure John J . Ridgway, to his fiancee Jessie Lewis on July 26, 1891 (collection who purchased a 58.31-acre farm on the north side of of Mrs. Jean Justice Collins), offers a vivid glimpse of Elm Station from the widow Maria Furey (the Phila­ early life in the depths of the countryside here: delphia restaurant owner mentioned above) in November 1887 for seventy-five thousand dollars The walk [with " Mill” and a cousin] served to stimulate our subject to two mortgages of twenty-five thousand appetites and we enjoyed a dinner of vegetables from our own garden and some very good ice cream from the little dollars each and another of seven thousand dollars. store near by (not quite equal to Blank’s). Our garden is In January Ridgway for one dollar turned the land doing very well this season much better than last, and we lux­ over to his Real Estate Investment Company of uriate in all kinds of garden truck except com, and we would Philadelphia. The acquisition launched the firm, of have that had it not been for our cow, who broke loose one which Ridgway was president. night and ignoring everything else except the strawberries Active in Philadelphia reform politics, Ridgway completely destroyed our “Dreer’s early.” On Saturday represented the Eighth Ward in City Council, and afternoon I invited Will Ferris to come out and play tennis became United States surveyor of the port of with me. He and Mill stood Mr. Forsythe and myself and we Philadelphia in President Benjamin Harrison’s ad­ were very evenly matched. The day was so cool and pleasant ministration. He knew real estate from his experience that we thoroughly enjoyed it. In the evening we had music and chess. as Philadelphia sheriff, 1884-87. The Ridgways had Anglophile tendencies that would soon make a per­ The easy good manners of all concerned remind us manent imprint in names given to roads and to the that Elm village did not need Galsworthy. Elm had a eventual borough itself. Settled in this country since Forsyte Saga of its own, in its early unhurrying days. 1679, the Ridgways were interested in their Elizabe­ Edward Forsythe, mentioned in the letter, was than and Jacobean family heritage in England and an investment broker and manager of Des Moines Ireland, where, according to Edwin Wolf 2d, the Land and Trust Company dealing in “ choice Western family has prominent early tombs. mortgages and school bonds” (1888 advertisement). Almost immediately after his firm had acquired the He came of a Chadds Ford colonial family that claims tract at Elm, John Ridgway mapped a grid plan for many educators in its family tree, starting in 1799 with streets (that were later simply extended), gave them the legendary first male teacher at Westtown School, British names, fixed the size of building lots at about John Forsythe. Edward Forsythe was an Orthodox 50 by 150 feet, and numbered each (from 1 to 315). Friend and his wife Hannah Yerkes a Hicksite, which That arrangement has remained dominant, with few made for lively discussions in the spacious home they changes to this day. Windsor Avenue was created as the development’s only east-west street and main Richards, a Philadelphia mayor and acquaintance of thoroughfare running along the seventeenth- and Alexis de Tocqueville. Benjamin W. Richards and eighteenth-century Price cowpath from the Price barn Thomas R. Ridgway were both founders of Girard at Forrest Avenue to the meadow that started at Con­ Bank. (The Narberth branch bank recognized the way Avenue, and parallel to Haverford Avenue founders at its twenty-fifth anniversary celebration in where the old Price water wheel was. 1982.) Richards was its first president, Ridgway its Ridgway named the new north-south avenues in second. If Samuel Richards saw John Ridgway at the alphabetical order starting at the western end of town funeral of Ridgway’s father in March 1887, or at the with Alton (later dropped), Berkley, Conway, Rittenhouse Club to which they belonged, he could Dudley, Essex, Forrest, Grayling, Hampden, and have told him about the large farming tract at Elm, Iona. ripe for development as a village. Richards may even have had some part in suggest­ A STREET NAMED NARBERTH ing that a new name be chosen for the street he lived The single exception to the alphabetical listing is on or for the town itself. With or without such help Narberth Avenue (east of Forrest), the only through from Elm’s leading citizen, Ridgway chose lasting street on the tract at the time. This street, an extension road names and sold fifty-seven lots, but built no of historic Old Gulph Road, was just being widened houses on them. His first customer was engineer when the portion running through the Ridgway tract George Bowers of Philadelphia. was named Narberth Avenue. This name change Sales were brisk, and houses started cropping up comes to light in a deed of sale (Deed Book 320, p. 67) like mushrooms on the lots sold. The first house com­ for a Narberth Avenue house on February 16, 1888. pleted was for Otis Brothers Elevator Company presi­ The deed says a “ plan of land” had already been dent Alfred A. Lowry, 206 Forrest, still standing. recorded for the tract. Thus “Narberth” made its first Another early arrival was German-born cabinet­ public appearance here as a street name, and on an maker Fred Bender, who built his own wooden important street. house, still standing, at 217 Forrest assisted by his two Significantly this Welsh name was applied to the woodcarver sons. The architect Oscar Frotscher put main street of the minuscule Godey’s Lady’s Book up a speculative Queen Anne Revival house at 115 town that hereditary Welsh landowner Edward R. Iona, which got him more residential work—for Price had founded in 1881 on his own property, ad­ wood engraver David J. Hunter (109 Iona) and for joining the north side of Ridgway’s project. drug and chemical firm executive Sylvester J. Baker. There is no doubt that Ridgway came to his town­ Mrs. Rebecca Elkinton Bacon’s imposing stone sum­ building task with Richards baggage. The name of the mer house, designed in 1888 probably by her important street, Narberth Avenue, appears out of architect-nephew and heir, Paul P. Elkinton, still alphabetical order exactly as the main street, Atco stands at 106 Iona. Widow of Richard W. Bacon, Avenue, does in Richards’s town plan for Atco—it is Mrs. Bacon was a familiar figure on the new streets of almost as if the new name Narberth were being Ridgway’s tract in her phaeton carriage, and later groomed to become the town name. helped found the civic group. There is an old mansion, Ridgeway, located about three miles west of the town of Narberth in Wales. THREE TRACT DEVELOPMENTS The National Library of Wales is unaware of any con­ Narberth Park nection between a family of Ridgways and that man­ The spirit and self-confidence of the merchant class sion. It was already owned by the Fawley or Foley are vividly reflected in the activity of a woman real family in 1692, and connected with them until the estate developer, S. Almira Vance, born Sara Almira 1860s, or later. Probably the existence of the well- Chandler. This childless widow of a Philadelphia known Ridgeway mansion at Narberth in Wales, hardware manufacturer and dealer made rich by the however, would alone have been sufficient for post-Civil War building boom gamely launched from Anglophile John Ridgway to introduce the Narberth her Girard Avenue home a successful venture-capital name here, even if his family had no connection with scheme here in December 1888 at the age of sixty-six. the Fawleys or their mansion. By Richards’s stan­ Just after inheriting a life interest in her husband’s dards, this would have been an acceptable approach, large estate, Mrs. Vance bought Ridgway’s Real and Ridgway would have known this. Estate Investment Company tract, and thus became John J. Ridgway must have been aware that his the town’s largest developer. Some seventeen lot sales banker-father had been a longtime close business were being negotiated when she took over the tract for associate of Samuel Richards’s uncle, Benjamin W. $46,500 subject to mortgages of forty thousand MARION MARKLE JONES AND CHESTER G. JONES ulse o omot l n iigPr. in tl ft le at Sign Park. riving D ont elm park. B to te o ts m in o ro p p to published soon became prominent residents at Elm, though though Elm, at residents prominent became for soon here efforts her supported of He Court Supreme Pennsylvania. the of justice associate an later Jr., Simpson, Alexander J. estate, was her husband’s settlealso engaged lawyerto time, the Her at dollars. strategy to have Narberth chosen as town name. town as chosen Narberth have to strategy Mrs. to Park Narberth name the proposed probably Elizabeth Fry, smallretained holdings here 1892,until 1889 January in Macomb Stanton William to sale, made of deed first her on appears name The lots. of on plana Park” receivedproject “Narberth the name tract. Vance the ever livedon none sisters,brother married and His many parents, years. would vex local developers for nearly two decades.two nearly vexfor that developerslocalwould swamp) (a problem a on face cheerful a put ly certain­ name Lake the Crystal and Victorians, many gleaming to cottoned have may Ridgway so rings,ear­ matching and brooch pansy diamond and gold wearing her to ledflowers pansy pert for preference Vance’s Almira as Just hisland. on water of body a Surely Ridgway would never have overlooked naming a in Avenue) second Narberth the naming represented (after have milestone may Ridgway, for In any with event, the the area. wasname crucial and, familiar she became before presumably land, ingthe buy­ after immediately name that She Vance.gave it (Deed 331,Book p. 240).Ridgway, with who, his wife name Crystal Lake. Yet the location of the bed of a of bed the of location the Yet Lake. Crystal name crystal asBesides,image. an cheerfulness to appealed tending lengthwise 700 feet from Haverford Avenue Haverford lengthwisefrom 700feettending 371, 331, 1892; p. of Deed Book 398, 481,p. 1894).of en ie udrrud bt salr south-side smaller a but underground, piped been By1895 had Creek. Lake Crystal Indian along north ex­ rectangle a waswithin position its described, As (DeedBookdeeds two isin described named so lake "T aking Toll, M ontgom ery A venue,” fr o m a p o st card st o p a m o fr venue,” A ery ontgom M Toll, aking "T During During the early days of her the stewardship, Vance rbby o abrha aie eebr the remembers alive Narberthian no Probably Cytl ae as hs Rdwy ig o it. to ring Ridgway a has also Lake” “Crystal

dians gave the name Swan Lake to a body of water of body a to Lake Swan name the gave dians catered catered a to summer clientele.Finally between the two 201 Major Army, Essex.Fritz’s the Union of battalion War included then a by one of Home-buyers average an completing month.” are time this at and seven side dwellingsthe railroad, of the north on twenty-sold and up Bethellput Davishad and “ that her. from bought occasionally themselvesthey lots on houses speculative also and customers Almira’s for Revivalhouses Anne Queen as trio, That Bethell,DavisBethell project. and (with Emily succeeding development her Park the Narberth on Bethells the with associated became Jersey, New Rochelle, New for departure permanent was this her to answer apparent Her notes. promissory to failed he her, due was inheritance what got she Bethell charge seeingof had although estate, and that husband’s her of co-executors were Bethell Uhle J. siteof (eventual locations desirable more tract’s the of Ridgwayone from purchased Uhle already Bethellhad J. Bethell. Uhle J. lawyer-to-be son, youthful development were Park William Bethell,R. Narberth specifiedtimes.certain at tract Vance’s Mrs. Singerlyof that lated handle promotion aided this bankers early phase of local development as publisher of the the of publisher tributary), a is Creek Indian Narberth’s which of Creek, (Cobbs Karakung name Indian the and ony, In­ that Berry)stating 1980 Anne byin (related tion lake stilltradi­ existed.oral This lendscredence an to he-nt prmn, se Mnr rpae i in it replaced Manor, Essex apartment, three-unit years many for which as boardinghouse, Posey’s enlarged Miss was later porches rambling with home Civil a of commander celebrated Fritz, W. Jeremiah erectingbegan eye-catching deceasedsoon husband), this Before orbit. nephew’s New her Davis of Woodbury, Warner builder happened, of out York, worthless holding left was Almira task. that fulfill rectory). and Church Margaret’s St. their and Emily, sister younger her of husband stipu­ agreement written a Also, mortgage-lenders. president of Chestnut Street Trust Company and and Company Trust Street Chestnut of president wildgeese.” of place “ means mentioned seeing wildnumerous swans in his new col­ side.the south Avenue onWilliam to Elmwood Penn playground today’s from extending frequented they formal residential hotel and dining room. A twenty- A room. dining and hotel residential formal cozy in­ a Inn, Windsor-Essex became it wars world 13, 1890, the the 1890, 13, 1962. buyer (at 201Another Forrest) was commission The project sailed along at full tilt: on November November on tilt:full at along sailed project The sheand wasthat Almira for rose the in thorn The liaVnesbne a ila . Singerly, M. William was banker Vance’s Almira enhl lias gns n ad ae fr her for sales land in agents Almira’s Meanwhile hldlha ulc Ledger Public Philadelphia Philadelphia Record. Philadelphia He and other other and He reported reported broker Frederick H. Harjes. The rotund turreted (in modern times housing the ticket agent’s office) house at 115 Dudley, which Francis P. Dubosq of the survived the larger and older stone station across the jewelers’ family bought, and houses at 119, 121, 123, tracks by a generation. This was the wooden structure and 125 Windsor were later used by a filmmaker as a that SEPTA leased from Amtrak and replaced in movie set. On the tract’s most scenic site at Wynne­ 1981 with a new inbound station of steel frame with wood Avenue was its largest (summer) house, owned glazed marquee, “ monumental” stairs, ticket office, by Margaretta T. Fuller, wife of drover Alfred M. and rest rooms (Ueland and Junker, architects). Fuller. During publisher James Artman’s ownership Macfarlane sold his first house (122-124 Elmwood in the teens and twenties it became a year-round facing the station) to Grove Locher in April 1890 for home, and everyone in the community was welcome $6,600. Macfarlane developed a compact grid plan to swim and skate on the lake there. The house later for 128 building lots, and named Elmwood, Wood- became Lakeview Apartments (with a duck pond), re­ side, Thomas, and Readrah avenues. Only two south- placed by Narwyn Lane subdivision about 1960. side roads are older: Rockland Avenue laid out by Construction at Narberth Park entered a quieter farmer James Sullivan before 1878, and Wynnewood phase after Mrs. Vance moved to New York. Another Avenue (now called East Wynnewood Road), 1878. developer, the Clothiers, bought her holdings (150 On November 13 the Public Ledger reported that lots) in December 1894. The well-connected, if inex­ C. W. Macfarlane had already finished eleven perienced, Clothier partners, cousins, must have houses, was building two more, and “ selling them as boosted hopes of residents anxiously awaiting the rapidly as they could be completed.” Among the court’s decision on borough status for Narberth. earliest Macfarlane homeowners was Samuel Swaim An obvious drawing card in their enterprise was the Stewart, the first established banjo maker and banjo active participation of young Albert E. C. Clothier, music publisher with an international clientele. who “knew the ropes” in the sense that he was the son Another early home-buyer was the energetic of the business partner of Edwin Fitler, a millionaire Wilmington-born lawyer J. Alexander Simpson, Sr. rope manufacturer who had been mayor of Phila­ An expert on election law, he had served as counsel in delphia a couple of years before and a “ favorite son” many leading political contests in the courts and was nominee for president in ’88. Albert and John B. state register of wills in 1873. Clothier, of a family predating the department store Macfarlane’s development of his own lots (he sold Clothiers in Philadelphia and no kin of theirs, settled twenty-six) continued at a rapid pace until early 1892, here and joined forces with local builder George O. then slackened. One crucial event had narrowed Mac- Goodman under the name Goodman and Clothier. farlane’s prospects and removed the drainage and Predominant among the varied styles of Goodman water supply systems from his control. C. Stevenson and Clothier houses were buildings with a medieval Gatchell defaulted on his mortgage late in 1891. character having steeply sloping roofs. They also built Spring Garden Insurance Company, a fire in­ the house with country-Georgian details now oc­ surance firm founded in 1835, acquired all of the tract cupied by Mapes’s (formerly Davis’s) Store. (except “ released” lots) at sheriffs sale for five thousand dollars in March 1892. The company presi­ The South Side dent then was William G. Warden. Board members The south-side story picks up in November 1888, included Addison Hutton (“Quaker architect of Bryn when C. Stephenson Gatchell of Haverford bought Mawr” and designer of Philadelphia’s Ridgway 30.556 acres of William Thomas’s land for forty Library), hat manufacturer John B. Stetson, and thousand dollars. The same day, Gatchell heavily banker William Wesley Kurtz. The insurance com­ mortgaged this land and sold it to builder Walter B. pany thereafter maintained the streets and lights, Smith, who next sold it, with full acreage intact, to looked after drainage and water supply units it now builder and civil engineer Charles William Macfar- owned, and sold thirty-eight lots through 1914. lane of Philadelphia in April 1889 for twenty-five The last-to-be-developed, large south-side section thousand dollars. of the borough, marked “ C. S. Wood Estate” on the Macfarlane initiated his own systems of drainage 1895 borough map, stayed a while longer in the hands and water supply, erecting a picturesque water tower. of executors R. Francis Wood, John H. Packard, and By August 1889 Macfarlane had entered into a pre­ Charles Stewart Wurts. Finally it received the name liminary agreement to convey land to the Pennsyl­ “ Narberth Grove” in an 1899 plan of lots. Here vania Railroad provided it be used exclusively for a stands the borough’s oldest tree, an enormous white “ passenger station and appurtenances” to be con­ oak, patrician, aloof, about four hundred years old, structed within five years. This small wooden shelter at 303 Chestnut. Belmar bells and recorded hymns are heard regularly. Addi­ Belmar was the name of a third tract-house de­ tional binding together comes from the Main Line velopment before Narberth became a borough. The Reform Temple and All Saints Episcopal Church, November 13, 1890 Public Ledger account described which, like the Friends Meeting, stand just outside the its location as “back of Elm.” The Elm Land Im­ borough perimeter. provement Company acquired Belmar’s fourteen Narberth’s only south-side church is Baptist, acres on December 4, 1890. This strip of land gave a located on the former 102-acre plantation of William north-south thrust to Elm’s layout, and an extension Thomas, a devout Baptist. Several factors favored a of Essex Avenue northward became its principal Baptist church here, besides the previous ownership street. Prime movers of Belmar were some of Elm’s of the land. Prominent Baptists Harry S. Hopper and most civic-minded and energetic citizens: J. Alex­ his wife Harriet M. Bucknell (of the Bucknell Univer­ ander Simpson, Sr. (first to buy lots), his son-in-law sity family) moved into their new home Pennhurst in James Chadwick, A. A. Lowry, and Charles E. nearby Fairview. Baptist minister the Reverend Kreamer. Belmar’s principal residence was Cheri- Thomas C. Trotter, Sr., settled in Elm’s south side. croft, built for J. George Bucher, the president of a Also, clergy from the Baptist Publication Society galvanizing products manufacturing firm and a started an enclave in Elm’s south side that supported Presbyterian elder. The sixty-unit Narberth Hall community progress and provided community Apartments replaced that large home in 1929. Belmar leadership. The Baptist enclave, which included disrupted Price’s Lady’s Book village plan for large several ministers, supplied Narberth’s first public lots more than anything till that time. Belmar’s major school board president, the English-born Reverend cross-street, Sabine Avenue, opened in 1894, a year Philip L. Jones. A Baptist Publication Society editor, after Narberth Public School was constructed at the he was formerly pastor of South Broad Street Baptist intersection. Church. The Reverend Dr. C. R. Blackall, an author and editor of Baptist Superintendent, made his home FIVE CHURCHES in Narberth. His wife, known professionally as Mrs. In the years when residents were seeking organiza­ C. R. Blackall, was the first editor of the Narberth tion as a borough, they were also coming together by Civic Association’s Our Town newspaper and origi­ systems of belief and practice. Thus the Public nator of the 1914 historical pageant. Another was the Ledger, reporting on the progress of the three tract- Reverend Elim A. E. Palmquist, Woodland Baptist house developments at Elm, was able to declare on Church pastor, Philadelphia Council of Churches November 13, 1890: organizer, and member of the Philadelphia mayor’s crime commission. The people of Elm are bestirring themselves in the direction of securing churches, and a movement is under way that After services and Bible school began in autumn promises well for an edifice for the Baptists. It is said that 1890, the Baptist mission was organized and linked N. [sic] S. Hopper, a Philadelphia broker, has agreed to with the First Baptist Church of Philadelphia. In June subscribe ten thousand dollars toward the building. At pres­ 1891 Harry S. Hopper bought a lot from Macfarlane, ent services are held in a vacant dwelling. There is some talk, agreeing that a “substantial stone” church and too, of a Presbyterian church and subscriptions are about to Sunday school be built there within three years, the be solicited for the establishment of such a church. It is likely deed says. The cornerstone was laid October 10. Prof. that the ground required will be donated by a lady deeply in­ William B. Godfrey directed the music and a Miss terested in the growth of Elm. Caldwell sang the “ Psalms” at the formal opening in The Baptists did indeed build the first church, the April 1892. The Public Ledger noted that $4,500 of Presbyterians the second, and the Methodists a third, the church’s $11,000 cost had already been paid. all before 1895. Thus by the time the borough came Church seating capacity was 245; and basement Sab­ into existence, Narberth already was a place recog­ bath school room, 125. nizable by its houses of worship. Two more churches, Following the Reverend Harold Kennedy’s in­ Catholic and Lutheran, soon rounded out the picture. stallation as pastor, the mission gained independent Like Merion Friends Meeting, the Baptist, Presby­ status as the Baptist Church of the Evangel. It had 130 terian, and Catholic churches are located on Edward members by 1907. In 1923-24 an entirely new Gothic ap Rees’s original Merion Welsh land grant (1682), church (Victor D. Abel, architect) was built adjoining while the Methodist and Lutheran churches occupy the old sanctuary, which is now a thrift shop. Of the land similarly granted to Hugh Roberts in 1681. In ten pastors who succeeded Harold Kennedy, the 1980, as much as ever, Narberth’s five churches con­ Reverend James C. Flanagan was the first to combine tinued to draw the nearby residents together. Church his ministry with a full-time job in business. BHARET BHARGAVA and William Reith.William and atr ok lc i 19. fe fr dsryd the destroyed fire After 1894. in place took pastor Pebtra cuc poe oel otmsi. In optimistic. overly proved church Presbyterian a list windowsof memorial designed by Alfred Godwin (Mayor Fitler’sEdwin H. business led partner) off the its ex­ picturesque drew for praise Ketcham’sthe structure Sons, Benjamin by built and Newsom Cather short-range the than rather increasingpopulation an in dedicated structure frame a and 6, July corded re­ was charter The 116 Elmwood. at five house vacant elected church, full-fledged a declared was members, received nine group the occasion that On greatly did probably Vance Mrs. Nonetheless wooden church, the cornerstone of new of a was cornerstone church the church, wooden poiet rsyein minister Presbyterian prominent a of Vance, daughter and tract Almira Park developerthe Narberth of question—S. in woman the report, May 1891, May nearly that six after months for would land donate terested in the of Elm” growth thousand-pound bell. The name Conrad F. Clothier Clothier F. Conrad name The bell. thousand-pound with tower lofty and paneling, oak tiling, its terior, J. architect by Designed flock. small its of needs of demands the keyed wasto and substantially, built was structure granite Holmesburg the that reported November. a in Services began elders. two named and trustees, which 1891. a met nextcommittee, in June appointed It Overbrook. and Gladwyne between existed none becausehere church Presbyterian a for proposal the tract. her on church this of ideawelcome the dollars. hundred twelve for trustees Church terian Presby­ Narberth to avenues Grayling and Windsor new church on September 9, the the 9, September on church new the servicein opening the 1897. Of January in laid are ue oe the f o one ouse, H Barrie U nited M ethodist parsonage. ethodist M nited U h Pebtr o Piaepi-ot accepted Philadelphia-North of Presbytery The oraitc pclto ta “a ay epy in­ deeply lady a “ that speculation Journalistic r Wlim on Bons ntlain s first as installation Brown’s Young William Dr. Lady’s Book Book Lady’s hom es, is now the now is es, hom —sold ulc Ledger Public Public Ledger Public land at at land

benefactions at her death in 1888. Her gift of fifteen 1888.of gift Her in death her at benefactions into came Mission Beth-Raffen Church, United Methodist Gladwyne the called now is what to 1885. tached At­ in adopted were constitution a and name Beth-Raffen The lot. the Tibben on wasbuilt church wooden a until home Fairview Tibben’s B. farmer Samuel in held regularly were Services attendance. in Thompson N. Priscilla daughter adopted her and Fairview of Thompson F. 1884,Mary with October hundred dollars “ to be usedasthey to shall best” deem “ dollars hundred Methodist varied Thompson’s F. Mary of orbit the Membership—in Membership—in the six sincehundreds 1929—rose to 1925,addition in Gothic a five reached hundred ship and Sunday themselves,school Sunday for and their families, and F G Wre, rhtc) a bit n dedicated. and built was architect) Warner, G. (F. won Methodist approval. Methodist won they their try, second On avail. no to but Mill Creek, one mile of Road south State Conshohocken on lot a building They offered theirstones neighborhood. and church Lutheran a for need 1881 a declaring in March statement a Tibben—signed F. Samuel and day, Holli­ George G. Bornmuller, M. August B.Tibben, Paul’s St. Samuel Ardmore— in of Church MembersEvangelical Lutheran Beth-Raffen. of founding leaders, J. Alexander Simpson, Sr., and Charles E. Charles and Sr., Simpson, Alexander J. leaders, community two Elm of part the on efforts strenuous hrhsassatpso n 1981.in pastor assistant church’s Narberth- is these of newest The ministers. gospel at as well as three congregation, last this from came Narberth’s mayors charismatics. into ventured 737 in 1938. Assistant ministers assistants student and Kreamer. and Thompson, F. Mary divorcee, devout a of bequest the to thanks church the got building Narberth here. permanent its build to made was decision nallyin founded Fairview in1884, eight years origi­before was a Church Episcopal Methodist Beth-Raffen born William F. Dean, ordained and installed as thisinstalledas and ordained Dean, F.William born ordained ten and missionaries foreign three least church the Callahan, George Reverend the pastor, in built was architect) Woolmington, H. (Clarence facade entrance Gothic with addition tensivechurch 938 intotaled membership and Kirkland, M. Bryant Reverend the of thepastorate during been added had dreds, dreds, except slighta for during the dip sixties. An ex­ 1955-57. During the current ministry of the ninth ninth the of ministry current the During 1955-57. 1949. hun­ ineight the into settled pastorate has figure the Lamont’s Sincethen the J. during 986 Robert at Reverend peaked It Church. Presbyterian 1946, when he was called to New York’s Fifth Avenue h frt ehds cas etn to pae in place took meeting class Methodist first The h ntaieo fu Lteas pahae the spearheaded Lutherans four of initiative The 1912.member­ in wereWhen abolished rents Pew Narberth’s only church transplant is Methodist. Methodist. is transplant church only Narberth’s is believed to have clinched a decision to build a per­ Frye, came from this congregation, now known as the manent structure. United Methodist Church of Narberth. J. Alexander Simpson, Sr., and Charles E. The Reverend Richard F. Cowley celebrated the Kreamer thought it ought to be sooner rather than founding-day Mass of St. Margaret’s Catholic parish later—and at Elm. By 1892 banker Kreamer was run­ on Christmas 1900. For the occasion the new ning the Belmar tract-house project of the Elm Land parishioners gathered at Derlwyn, the twenty-room Improvement Company, which had much to gain residence of the church’s first and long-time benefac­ from securing a church as focal point, just as the other tor, stockbroker Nicholas H. Thouron and his wife two, bigger, competing developments here had done. Anna Dutilh Smith Thouron. They won their goal by becoming active participants Regular Masses were first held in Narberth’s Elm in the life of the mission, then still under the wing of Hall fire station. By 1901 area Catholics totaled 276. the mother church in Gladwyne. In 1892 J. A. Simp­ The Maguire’s Court-Hey, a picturesque estate on son, Sr., was elected a Beth-Raffen trustee and placed Wynnewood Avenue (formerly Mrs. Fuller’s, later on a site-search committee. In less than two months Lakewood Apartments, now Narwyn Lane subdivi­ his committee report of a desirable lot at Essex and sion), was officially deemed the most desirable loca­ Price avenues was adopted. Appointed to the build­ tion for a church. It was unavailable. ing committee were Simpson, a Simpson son-in-law, Father Cowley settled the site problem by buying a and Kreamer. A raging fire destroyed the nearly com­ Narberth Avenue triple lot, which J. Uhle Bethell had pleted church. Finally finished by a new builder under purchased in June 1888 before his aunt Mrs. Vance architect D. Judge DeNean’s supervision, the struc­ took over the Ridgway tract. Publisher Samuel Irvine ture was dedicated in September 1895. Independent Bell had lived in the turreted Queen Anne Revival status in 1897 brought a new name, Narberth house that Davis and Bethell built there. That Methodist Episcopal Church. residence became and still is the rectory. The building By 1925 every inch of that “ little church on the of a church occurred in stages. A basement church hill” seemed crowded by 291 active members and 287 was finished in 1902. Dedication of the English Sunday school pupils and teachers, so a new church in Gothic-style church of Avondale granite with the late English Gothic style (Alexander Mackie Bavarian stained-glass windows took place on a Adams, architect) was planned. Pledges were taken to snowy day in March 1914. F. F. Durang designed the meet costs, and construction was to start in five years church, and parishioner John Flynn may have de­ on three acres of Barrie land purchased across from signed the crypt. the old church. By 1929, in response to outbreaks of bigotry during Then suddenly, soon after the ground-breaking, the Smith-Hoover presidential campaign when klans- the Great Depression of 1929 struck. Plans went men had marched up Woodbine Avenue (in the ahead anyway. Eventually not only did the local bank parish and in the Narberth postal zone, but not in the that held the construction funds fail, but some of the borough) to light a fiery cross, St. Margaret’s church’s active members died or were transferred. parishioner and advertising executive Karl H. Rogers Still the people completed their task. The church, with started the Catholic Information Society of Narberth. windows by H. L. Smith Company, was dedicated in This “Narberth Movement” published (until 1942) September 1930, and a mortgage-burning ceremony widely circulated interfaith booklets with catchy titles was held in 1951. Continuation of this costly project that aired Catholic doctrine on a “ take it or leave it” in the face of many obstacles is probably Narberth’s basis, without argument. The movement went na­ most heart-warming Depression story. tional and was copied overseas. In 1946 the congregation presented an amplifica­ In 1937 James J. Duffy became the first of fourteen tion system for the tower carillon to honor both living parishioners ordained a priest. By 1979 the congrega­ and deceased members who had served in World War tion comprised 1,250 families or about thirty- II (the deceased included Robert Compton, William five hundred persons. After one year as the seventh Haywood, Charles Latch, and C. J. Rainear 2d). pastor, Monsignor Francis Bible Schulte (the third Chimes and hymns vary according to the church consecutive monsignor to run the parish) was or­ season and patriotic holidays. They play daily at noon dained an auxiliary bishop to John Cardinal Krol of and six-thirty in the evening and Sunday mornings. Philadelphia in August 1981. The president of the While still attached to Gladwyne, this church had Middle States Association accrediting agency for all seven ministers, and subsequently twenty-three colleges and schools in the region, Bishop Schulte was ministers, including the present pastor, the Reverend the first priest to hold the title. He was also the first John L. Taylor. Two Narberth mayors (then called pastoral auxiliary bishop of Philadelphia to be posted burgesses), namely, Fletcher W. Stites and Henry A. in Montgomery County, the first in a Main Line com­ munity, and Narberth’s first bishop. Auxiliary purchase land. Anne Berry recalled having attended bishops go where the people are. This parish has long some evangelical meetings in a tent that covered the had a reputation for high attendance (2,300-2,500 on present Lutheran church site at the southeast comer a typical Sunday), large numbers of people taking of Narberth and Woodbine avenues. A springtime communion (more than a hundred thousand com­ 1924 ground-breaking for this hilltop Gothic church munion wafers used here annually), and one of the of gray stone, designed by architect George Baum, strongest records of financial support of any church was followed by dedication in May 1925. in the archdiocese. The next pastor, the Reverend Cletus A. Senft, Two other bishops, both exiles, have resided in St. spent his entire thirty-six-year ministry at Holy Margaret’s parish (at the Sisters of Mercy mother- Trinity. A combined parish house and parsonage an­ house in Merion): namely, George J . Caruana, Arch­ nex was dedicated in 1940. The church greatly ex­ bishop of Malta (1947-51) and Joseph M. Yuen, panded its membership after Pastor Senft returned Bishop of Chumatien, Honan, China (1956-69). from a leave of absence as a navy chaplain with the Chaplain of that motherhouse until 1940 was the Seabees in the South Pacific. Various parish groups Reverend Francis Brennan, who, as a cardinal posted (the church women, church school, choir, and youth in Rome in 1968, attained the highest Catholic church organizations) were in existence almost from the start office ever held by an American. of this church and developed more fully in the fifties. Since 1884 local Catholic children had attended The peak years of membership were 1959 through “ University School” run by Sister M. de Mercedes in 1961 with 552 persons. The Reverend Kenneth F. a house on the grounds of the Sisters of Mercy, Frickert was the next pastor. Under the fourth and Merion. Not until 1922 did Father Cowley purchase a present minister, the Reverend Orion A. Eichner, house at 209 Forrest to be used for education, making Holy Trinity membership was 441 in 1980. Fifty-three it official that a parish school was located in percent lived in Narberth, and the pastor said that an Narberth. Into it he put forty-eight pupils for a year unusually large percentage of them have had a long­ until he constructed a school (designed by William time association with the church. Since Holy Trinity is Webb Donohoe of Donohoe and Stackhouse, archi­ located near the scene of an arson fire that destroyed tects) on the site. several homes on April 20, 1981, it served as head­ In 1925 the cornerstone of St. Margaret’s School quarters for dispensing needed help and supplies to was laid, dedication occurring the next year. One the homeless for some time afterward. hundred and two pupils were enrolled then, and Sisters of Mercy from Merion conducted the eight PUBLIC SCHOOLS grades. Dennis Cardinal Dougherty presided over a A two-story public school building was constructed ceremony for the first full-year graduates of the of stone from the designs of D. Judge DeNean, an school in 1927. During the Reverend James F. Ardmore architect born in Maine, and opened by the Toner’s pastorate (1938-53) parochial pupils reached Lower Merion Township School District at the north­ the three hundred mark. Monsignor Joseph M. Glea­ east corner of Sabine and Essex avenues in 1893. The son in 1968 constructed a new school (Henry D. Dagit School Board of the new borough took charge of the & Sons, architects) and convent, turning the old school facility in September 1895. At the time there school into a parish center. From 1969 to 1973 the old were forty-four pupils in eight grades, all taught by school served as religious school and synagogue of Miss Allie G. Plank and one assistant. The first Temple Beth Am Israel. Since 1967 a St. Margaret’s Narberth High School commencement, in 1909, had school board appointed by the pastor has functioned. four graduates. Rapid population growth led to a In 1980-81 parochial school enrollment was 288. $55,000 bond issue for modernization effective Narberth acquired its Lutheran Church of the Holy autumn 1916. By 1920, 592 pupils were enrolled and a Trinity in 1921. The first meeting, attended by eight three-acre playground was added to the school plant. persons, took place in October, a month after the idea Narberth High School granted eighteen diplomas of founding the church was born. Next a canvassing in 1922. But controversy over its future swirled. A committee obtained eighty-five charter members, and defeated bond issue for a separate high school the first service took place at the former YMCA building led to the sending of high school pupils to building in December. Formal organization followed Lower Merion in 1923. Kindergarten through grade in January 1922 with ninety members enrolled. eight had an enrollment of more than five hundred in Sunday school started in March. 1930. That year W. James Drennen became supervis­ After the first pastor, the Reverend M. E. McLinn, ing principal, a post he held for twenty-one years. In arrived a year later, overcrowding at the YMCA 1931 the school Press Club started publishing the prompted the formation of a building committee to prize-winning Sun Dial newspaper. At that time the NARBERTH FIRE COMPANY borough’s fiftieth anniversary (1945). anniversary fiftieth borough’s School Public Park held inRises,” Narbrook Narberth A Nation “ presented: that pageants historical “ A Community Rises” , which celebrated the the celebrated which , Rises” Community A “ (1938), and 150th anniversary Constitution’s the for the Lower Merion Merion Schoolthe Lower District 1966.in Inc., closedIt in was grade Donovan, sixth through John kindergarten for architects, builder) Crothers, and (Chapelle school new A schools. secondary Merion Lower twelveto went through nine wellgradesas as forties. the in modernized was cafeteria, Its building, stone tor. connected the to east of end the Primary The custodians. two and secretary a had mediate-grade eight itand and teachers, junior-school in­ parti­ and the stairways new floors, new housing provided Abel building the of modernization were bused to other Lower Merion schools. Merion Lower other to werebused was recycled for private business the use, childrenand built SchoolPublic 1961-62.in merged Narberth with the to leading passageway a by School Upper instruc­ education physical a and teachers grade, eight had third through kindergarten comprising unit, inter­ four of consisted faculty Its School. Upper the fivecomprised and four grades intermediate the and high school program, on based modified a junior sixeight, Grades a new plan. through and floor tions, D. Victor architect by grades upper and termediate 1978 because of declining enrollment. The building The enrollment. declining of 1978 because Still frequently discussed in Narberth are two two are Narberth in discussed frequently Still Starting in 1961, in Starting in grades students seven eight and bine Avenue, consuming five structures and leaving and structures five consuming Avenue, bine twenty-one persons homeless, including a newborn newborn a including homeless, persons twenty-one nine Wood­ of block through hundred two the in blazed rowhouses brick fire arson 1981, 20, April An homeless. persons forty-two made and avenues, ford borough. in­ district more Valley, company’s Wynnewood, and Penn cluded Merion, fire to The 1913. in upstairs apparatus the renting years, sixty-one cupied oc­ which it Avenue, Forrest on Hall Elm com­ built fire pany the later years 1897. Two in parade pany 1896. January firein Church ignited Presbyterian Narberth that the was event attention community The 1896. October since group POLICE AND COMPANY FIRE block containing seven stores, twelve apartment apartment twelve stores, seven containing block the in than areas those in made being calls its of fire first motorized the acquired It Council. Borough com­ fire first the prompted years) seventeen lasted units, and some business offices at Essex and Haver­ Essexbusinesssome officesand at and units, quarter- a destroyed it Store; Hardware Ricklin’s Washington-born French count, Tristan B. du du B. Tristan count, French Washington-born families. these to checks it in distributed edn at olcos hd coe soito with America’s association close of a one had collectors, Barnes, art C. leading Albert Dr. Marais. and $8,000 collected Eyster J. J. Mayor infant. The worst Narberth fire occurred January 1940 in January occurred fire Narberth worst The The arrival of the first (which mobile fire apparatus volunteer a servedas has Company Fire Narberth Narberth’s fire chief from 1898 to 1910 was a a was 1910 to 1898 from chief fire Narberth’s r t. n fro du M arais, is at center at is arais, M du mpn, ue1, 1905. 18, June pany, om C h he, ut Tristan ount C chief, The The N arberth Fire arberth N The

Narberth Fire Company. It came about, said Miss contractor Theobald Harsch had begun employing Violette de Mazia, the Barnes Foundation educator, Italian immigrants and housing them in dormitories through Albert H. Nulty. Nulty began his association he built in Narberth. with Dr. and Mrs. Barnes as their coachman in Over­ Growth was rapid during the borough’s first brook, and was a Narberth fireman. Dr. Barnes, in­ decade. The number of dwellings passed twelve hun­ terested in Nulty’s work, attended fire company dred and about six miles of roads existed. Families social gatherings, served on its board, and was an with young children were numerous among some nine honorary vice-president. hundred inhabitants in 1900, as were live-in servants As the picture-hanger at the Barnes Foundation, (about forty-six whites, forty-five blacks). Nulty worked closely with the modern French master Miss Mary K. Gibson of Wynnewood acquired a Henri Matisse, installing the Matisse murals there. large wooded lot at 20 Sabine Avenue from the Price Dr. Barnes sent Nulty to the Detroit Institute of Arts estate in 1906 and built on it Holiday House, a place for apprenticeship to a renowned German restoration where poor city children referred by the Octavia Hill expert. Afterward Nulty became art restorer and Association and other settlement houses were curator at Barnes, personnel head, and, after Dr. brought to enjoy fresh air and summer sunshine. In Barnes’s death, a trustee of the foundation. 1921 Holiday House was run by the Evangel Circle of A bronze plaque outside the firehouse honors the King’s Daughters, sponsors of its endowment Borough Council secretary and fire chief Charles V. fund drive and an affiliate of Narberth’s Baptist Noel, who perished the day after Christmas in 1937 church. Robert Grant, a guard at the Historical Socie­ fighting a St. Charles Seminary fire. Noel was the ty of Pennsylvania, said that he fondly recalled Holi­ only Narberth fireman to lose his life in the line of day House piano music, Bible stories, and games he duty. Dr. Barnes suggested the memorial, then com­ played while a childhood guest there about 1920. missioned Barnes Foundation art student Marcella Professor Samuel P. Sadtler, the famed chemist, Broudo to make it. In memory of Albert Nulty the just after the turn of the century moved a Colonial Barnes Foundation gave Narberth Fire Company its Revival brick house with an 1892 datestone to its pres­ first rescue truck, housed in 1958. ent location at 243 North Wynnewood Avenue, add­ A Narberth Fire Company auxiliary, Mulieres, ing it to a smaller house. In 1906 Sadtler’s neighbor began in 1930. Stephen Paschall Morris Tasker led an expedition Burgess Richard H. Wallace, reporting to council from Hudson Bay across Northern Labrador to the in 1905, declared the borough “ notably free from Atlantic Ocean and wrote a book about it (Steve destructive fires and house robberies.” Yet he cited a Patrols More Territory, 1936). need for “ a mounted official” to patrol late after­ Narberth baseball traditions date from the noons and nights. In August 1914 the first full-time launching of the Main Line League in 1908. Baseball policeman, Daniel J. Hill, was hired at a six-hundred- dominated the local sports scene for a decade before dollar annual salary. In 1922 Narberth’s police force increased housing construction gobbled up the sand- came under the supervision of the Lower Merion lots. Usually called the “ oldest store in Narberth,” Police Department by a cooperative agreement Howard E. (“ Pop”) Davis’s general store (Mapes) making available such centralized services as the opened its doors in 1908, and before long attracted township jail, detective work, police instruction, and sports enthusiasts. A mainspring of recreational life communication system. This arrangement continues, from 1908 to 1920 was the YMCA, handsomely a flurry of talk in 1979 about a borough-township housed on Haverford Avenue. police merger having subsided. The year 1914 was crucial in the evolution of Narberth. The borough’s population had tripled in a RAPID GROWTH, 1900-1930 decade, and new people were taking over the reins, The period 1900-10, sometimes called the “Silent notably new burgess George M. Henry and four Decade,” was one of preparation, optimism, and Narberth residents, R. H. Durbin, R. E. Clark, H. C. nostalgia in Narberth, as elsewhere. New people of Gara, and W. Arthur Cole, who later became general prominence in the borough were associated in some manager of the Nation magazine. The Narberth Civic way with urban machines, Alexander C. Shand, chief Association (motto: “Promotion, Conservation, engineer of the Pennsylvania Railroad and one of the Correction” ) was formed and staged a historical nation’s foremost civil engineers, and James Artman, pageant. The association also began publishing a founder of Chilton Publishing Company. Artman community newspaper, Our Town, which counted as had foreseen the possibilities of motor transport, and Narberth’s principal new-ideas forum in the period he seriously entered the automotive field with the before World War II. It spearheaded a campaign to Automobile Trade Journal in 1899. Road-building transform a swampy fourteen-acre eyesore into a Frederick Law Olmsted-inspired parkland and model coverage in Philadelphia, Washington, Baltimore, community with interesting vistas, a stepping-stone and Richmond, and in the London Daily Mail. brook, and houses clustered around a green. Narberth welcomed electric train service in 1915; This project, called Narbrook Park and designed in residents assembled on October 14 to hear a lecture on 1914 by landscape architect Robert Anderson Pope, its benefits. Other news that year was the state’s was completed in 1915 after a group of citizens pur­ takeover of Montgomery Avenue and the removal of chased parcels of land and put them together. In­ toll, till then collected at Montgomery and spired by larger Forest Hills Gardens (laid out at Meetinghouse Lane. Narberth acquired its first bank, Forest Hills, New York, by Frederick Law Olmsted, a Merion Title and Trust Company branch, and the Jr., son of the “father of American landscape Women’s Community Club was founded, both in architecture”), Narbrook Park, is a rare pre-World 1915. One of Narberth’s finest houses (Boyd and War I example of a barren site developed in accord Abel, architects) was built for a nationally known with modern town-planning methods. Narbrook osteopathic physician, Kentucky-born Dr. O. J. humanizes nature to make it richer. Pope had studied Snyder, at 302 North Narberth Avenue in the mid­ under F. L. Olmsted, Jr., in his trail-blazing land­ teens. scape architecture course at Harvard, then worked The Junior Women’s Community Club dates from for him on Forest Hills Gardens immediately before 1920, Narberth Community Library from 1921, as doing Narbrook. D. Knickerbacker Boyd, a friend of does the Dr. Rush Chapter of the Daughters of the Pope and later a Forest Hills Gardens consultant, was American Revolution, and the Boy Scouts from supervising architect for Narbrook’s houses with his about 1918. partner Victor Darwin Abel. Narberth’s population in 1920 was 3,704, and Enhancing the enjoyment of Narbrook Park’s growth and prosperity continued throughout the open land, with its natural incline toward Indian decade. Free house-to-house mail delivery began Creek, is the recollection that this same “tract or under Narberth Postmaster Edward S. Haws on July parcel of meadow” was sought for pastoral use as 1, 1920. (The district in 1980 included Penn Valley early as 1695. In that year Robert Owen purchased a and borderline homes in Merion, and therefore many deed to seven acres from his next-door neighbor homes and businesses have a Narberth postal address Hugh Roberts (see Deed Book E4 volume 7, pp. without being in the borough.) 40-42, 1707-8, City Archives of Philadelphia). This Narberth launched its widely known July Fourth meadow, used as a watering hole for Owen’s cows fireworks tradition in 1922 at the Elmwood and Essex and sheep, stuck out from the main body of his plan­ avenues tennis courts. A movement to obtain a com­ tation like a peninsula, a contour it kept until Owen munity playground facing Windsor Avenue also descendants sold it to create the main portion of Nar­ began that year, as did a war memorial built there of brook Park—a rare example, from 1695 to 1915, of stone block “ sills” formerly used as rail supports unbroken American family land ownership. for the double-track Columbia Railroad. Also in the Another project that took root in 1914 with the early twenties, Albert Hay Malotte, who composed help of Our Town coverage was the successful drive to the musical setting for The Lord’s Prayer (1936) and make the Japanese cherry Narberth’s town tree. It Twenty-Third Psalm, lived in Narbrook Park. In was planted on main thoroughfares, at station circle, 1923 F. C. Feise Company built its tennis courts (still Narbrook Park, Penn Valley (Fairview), and by existing) over the culvert leading to Federal Spring at homeowners, encouraged by Danish-born Narberth Montgomery Avenue. Federal Spring is so called nurseryman and landscape architect Anton Emil because it was an outpost of Washington’s army at Wohlert. Wohlert gained renown for popularizing Valley Forge and the site of Federalist party ox roasts. Japanese flowering trees in this country and for doing The borough issued fifteen mercantile licenses in the original planting of them in Anacostia Park, 1923. By 1924 every street was paved. Washington, D.C. The Philadelphia Telegraph, May Our Town reported (1926) that the Narberth 5, 1916, editorialized about the nurturing of American Legion Building and Loan Association had Narberth’s enthusiasm for Japanese flowering helped finance fifty-seven homes and lent stock­ specimens while it was becoming a “ cherry blossom holders $ 181,000 on first and second mortgages. That town” famous for its trees. year 2,623 Narberthians were eligible to vote, and Firmly established in the borough by war’s end was rivalry (not entirely gone yet) between residents of the an unrelated custom honoring local servicemen by north and south sides was intense. In 1926 Mont­ planting trees in Narbrook Park and at church sites. gomery Bus Company took control from Greyhound In 1918 this tradition reportedly received press Company of two daily bus routes serving Narberth: Ardmore-to-Overbrook via the train station, and the Sometimes the Dolan butler, in tails and gloves, was Narberth-to-Fifty-fourth and City Line “short sent to deliver a tray of French pastries to a family or a line.” Both operated 5:30 A.M. to half-past midnight bicycle for a child, or to dispense ten-dollar bills to at fifteen- or twenty-minute intervals. Borough children for trick-or-treat on Halloween. residents listed in Who’s Who in America’s 1926-27 Red Arrow Lines took over Montgomery Bus edition were psychologist Thaddeus L. Bolton, editor Company’s routes in 1941, operating the “ I” bus (Rev.) Harry M. Chalfont, author Lee W. Squier, from Ardmore to Overbrook via Narberth Station and physician William Zentmayer. and Bala, and the “Z” bus (renamed “71” in 1980) A Hope Jones organ played the national anthem via East Wynnewood Road between Malvern Avenue welcoming patrons to Narberth’s first movie, Loves and Strafford (later Paoli). In the forties and fifties, o f Carmen starring Victor McLaglen and Dolores Del Red Arrow ran July Fourth “ trippers,” bus excur­ Rio, at the Narberth Theatre on November 7, 1927. sions every half hour from Fifty-fourth and City Line Grocery stores flourishing were Cotter’s, White­ to the Narberth fireworks display. side’s, and (still active) Freeman’s, as well as Ricklin’s The Volunteer Medical Service Corps of Narberth, Hardware (still active). Only a memory is White’s a first of its kind on the Main Line, began in 1942 as Sweet Shop, which dispensed “jimmies” on ice cream an offshoot of local Civilian Defense efforts. In 1981 cones. the corps was accepted into the Paramedic I training To Narberth’s web of neighborhoods, each with its program of the Montgomery County Emergency Ser­ own physical design and social history, the Italian- vice Council, and became the first local volunteer American segment was added during the twenties. squad to provide an Advanced Life Support system to Besides Harsch’s employees looking for permanent Lower Merion and Narberth residents. homes, natives of the Le Marche region, many from Often league champion, the Narberth baseball Abruzzi, some from Sicily and Calabria, arrived. At team was reportedly the “scourge of the Main Line” first most became stone masons, railroad workers, for forty years, from 1910 to 1950 (Philadelphia and laborers, usually settling near close relatives. An Evening Bulletin, June 24, 1951). Enjoying a “second Italian-American Citizens Club was founded in 1932. wind” during its thirties and forties heyday, it often During the annual Memorial Day parade sponsored attracted big-league scouts. Its manager was Eugene by American Legion Post 356, a special salute is fired H. Davis, second-generation owner of Davis’s Store, in front of both the Italian-American war memorial by then a “Narberth institution” where sports per­ on Iona Avenue and the Windsor Avenue war sonalities and the baseball team met and its trophies memorial. St. Margaret’s 1981 parish directory listed were displayed. Eugene H. Davis, Jr., became a fifty-one heads of household with Italian surnames sports hero in a 1939 Penn-Navy football game, then still living in the old Italian neighborhood—eighteen as team captain rode the wave of the glory days of on Hampden, sixteen on Iona, eleven on Woodbine, University of Pennsylvania football before the Ivy and others adjacent. League was formed. Another football personality, Bert Bell, was THE MATURING YEARS, 1930-1980 Narberth’s best-known citizen of any period. As com­ The population reached 4,669 in 1930 and kept missioner of the National Football League in the for­ growing. In 1933 the borough and the railroad ties and fifties, he led the football world, while living reopened talks about building an Essex Avenue in a turreted Queen Anne Revival house at 323 Haver­ underpass to cope with the increased volume of ford Avenue. Bell is credited with transforming motorists using Narberth Station. public opinion about this sport and paving the way A strong community spirit and emphasis on self- for today’s wide acceptance of professional football. help enabled residents to persevere during the Depres­ Daniel P. Mannix 4th, the big-game hunter and sion. After the local bank failed, Narberth National author, lived here during the same decades, and an­ Bank opened. Some 25 percent of the borough’s im­ thropologist Ashley Montagu wrote two of his books proved storm water drainage system was built under here in the forties. Born on Narberth’s south side, the federal Works Progress Administration auspices. J. Shane Creamer, attorney general of Pennsylvania Narberth’s most colorful figure and son of one of (1971-72), grew up here in the forties and fifties. Philadelphia’s richest men (Thomas Dolan), Clarence By 1950 foreign-born residents included 145 Irish Dolan, who was an invalid, built a Tudor house in and 102 Italians. In 1951 Narberth reportedly had 1936 at 501 Conway (H. E. Williams, architect) for 5,400 residents, but 12,000 in its postal area. Narberth his nurse Miss Mary G. Sharpe, and brightened the Bank merged with Girard in 1957. Depression years in Narberth for a good many In Narberth the tumultuous sixties were mostly people—those he employed, neighbors, guests. something seen on TV. Thomas B. Comerford, of an old Narberth family, created Lit Brothers’ block-long By 1972 the Narberth Civic Association was reac­ “ Enchanted Colonial Christmas Village" that tivated, for the third time, and playground sporting thrilled 600,000 Christmas shoppers annually in events of many kinds crowded the calendar. Besides center city from 1962 to 1977. Meanwhile, around Girard Bank on the main street, Narberth Borough in 1960, Narberth launched its own annual celebration 1980 had three banks on Montgomery Avenue—First of Santa’s arrival at station circle. Narberth Com­ Pennsylvania, Provident, Trevose Federal—and con­ munity Theatre, founded in 1960, goes on. struction of the Royal Bank of Pennsylvania began in Red Arrow began its “ 44” bus service from 1981. Ardmore to Sixth and Market streets via Narberth To compete with shopping malls, downtown Nar­ station in October 1964, and the old “ I” route expired berth had been forced to shape itself into an alter­ soon afterward. The end of an era was marked on native shopping area, with rather lively results, and September 1, 1966, when as a tribute to deceased acquired a new train station in 1981. Bells, broadcast Pennsylvania Railroad chairman Martin W. Clem­ hymns, and a fire siren are still part of the com­ ent, that rail line’s entire thirteen-state system munication system, part of the conversation of this stopped at 3 P.M. for one minute to honor him. From community. a Paoli Local halted at Narberth Station stepped the conductor to pay his personal tribute. He sounded A 1980 PERSPECTIVE taps, an eyewitness trainman said. More than most other Main Line towns, Narberth In opposition to the synthetic seventies, food shops has the close-knit democracy of a small Pennsylvania that emphasized wholesome “ natural” things sprang town. Yet in all its phases, this community developed up near fast-food shops in Narberth’s old Haverford as a passage or gateway to somewhere else. This was Avenue business district and in its newly ex­ already strikingly evident during the colonial Swedish panded Montgomery Avenue business district. The and Dutch period. Even Edward ap Rees’s original latter commercial strip stretched from the area across Merion Welsh land grant had a regional road (Haver­ the street from Friends Meeting along Narberth’s ford Avenue) running lengthwise through the middle northern border as far west as Narberth Avenue. Concern for the community was expressed in of it in 1682. The passage of a stagecoach along Mont­ Mayor J. J. Eyster’s project, a two-block-long flower gomery Avenue and two railroad routes through the garden edging the railroad tracks on both sides at the town again suggest the gateway idea. station, increased visibility of the Narberth Im­ Narberth’s identity over the years has seemed provement and Clean-up Endeavor (N.I.C.E.), rather blurred, because the eye is meant to look past founded in 1967, and in the willingness of third- it. Pedestrians heading to the railroad station start generation resident and second-generation family crossing Narberth’s main street, Haverford Avenue doctor William T. Chain, Jr., to make house calls (in (even now a regional road), at Ricklin’s Hardware his 1979 white Volkswagen Rabbit). and the self-service State Store corner. Autos zip by, Meanwhile the late Seymour I. West, a retired CIA going westward through Narberth, hardly slowing for employee known as “ the book hunter of Narberth,” pedestrians at all. The larger size of Narberth’s front searched for six or seven books at a time for cus­ street, Montgomery Avenue, gives a strong sense too tomers. Margarita de Saa and John White founded that this was one of the nation’s earliest and busiest the Pennsylvania Academy of Ballet at 31 North highways. Narberth Avenue in 1973. Robert Gibson, Jr., was The division and subdivision that took place during lauded for thirty years’ service as a principal scientist various settlements of the land are still visible in the on the Franklin Institute staff. Mrs. Mildred B. Ayars layout of Narberth. The neighborhood style that be­ served her fourth term as Women’s Community Club came characteristic of Narberth in the 1920s persists president. Bill Deasey, Jr., on his wedding day to the present day. In keeping with this has been the dramatically rescued a drowning helicopter pilot in community’s volunteerism, always a major force. the Schuylkill. Trained at Ringling Clown College in Narberth citizens have shown respect for the local Florida, Anthony Daley became the professional variations of culture (Barrie House was saved in 1980) clown Narbo, and worked at Circus World, Sarasota. and life styles. Narbrook Park Improvement Associa­ Bruce C. Gill became the Philadelphia Society for the tion in early 1981 won the first round in its battle Preservation of Landmarks executive director. And against encroachment by hard-driving real estate and Walt Hunter, a Narberth fireman (his tenth season), banking interests. The Narbrook effort sought to won five professional journalism prizes in five years protect the old nature-preserve and woodland for his WCAU-Radio news reports before becoming formerly owned by Curtis Publishing executive John a KYW-TV newscaster. B. Williams that, together with Stephen P. M. Tasker’s place, comprised the Falcone tract. Both state, neighborhoods have not been homogenized and citizens’ groups—Narbrook Park Improvement human scale destroyed. And the connective tissue still Association and an informal coalition of neighbors consists of a combination of rails and accessible and church people led by former burgess Henry A. roads. But now that growth has leveled off and land Frye—rallied under the banner of community sur­ filled up, Narberth’s residents daily resist the vival and revitalization. homogenization of culture, by replacing, exchanging, As trading, then farming, then residences charac­ remaking culture bit by bit. terized the emerging borough, so in 1980 Narberth has been defined in large part as “ the year-round hometown,” and by increasingly similar middle-class Victoria Donohoe life styles and values. In Narberth, although it is now Art Critic one of the most densely populated communities in the Philadelphia Inquirer

POSTAL HISTORY Hemsley, Hillegass, Jefferies, Nulty, Paschall, Price, Reed, NARBERTH (19072) Est 27 May 1886, PM Mrs. W. G. Richards, Righter, Tasker, Thouron, Trotter, White, Smick. Williamson, Wohlert, and Wood.

CONTRIBUTORS BIBLIOGRAPHY William Scudder Davis, banking W. James Drennen, schools Archives of Narberth. Deeds, wills, censuses, road dockets, Margaret Eyre Russell, mentor vital records. Bhargava, Bharat K. Narberth, Our Town. Booklet ACKNOWLEDGMENTS published by the Narberth Civic Association, 1976. Donohoe, Victoria. “ Clues and Findings: Swedish-Indian Elinor M. Abel; Mildred B. Ayars; Marshall Becker; Trading Post.” Bulletin o f the Historical Society of Mrs. Percy C. Belfield; Anne Berry; James D. Brett; John Montgomery County, Fall 1982. Brogan; Marian Sadtler Carson; William T. Chain, Jr., M.D.; Ward Childs; Ralph Collier; Jean Justice Collins; Kramer, Uncle Ben. “ Ben’sPage.” Weekly feature of M ain Thomas A. Cooper; Francis James Dallett; Eugene H. Line Times, 1978-80. Davis, Sr.; Eugene H. Davis, Jr.; Violette de Mazia; James ------. A rticles in Main Line Chronicle, prior to R. Denman, D.D.S.; John P. Donovan; J. Jeffries Eyster; August 1978. Frank C. Feise; Addison Foster; Francis H. Forsythe; Henry Main Line Chronicle. 75th Anniversary Souvenir Supple­ A. Frye; William J. Furber; Hugh R. Gibb; Elizabeth ment of Borough of Narberth, 1895-1970. October 8, Gilroy; Jean Reid Goldsborough; Robert Grant; Barton 1970. Johnson; Jonathan R. Keim; George B. Knapp, Jr.; Mabel Mason, Gerry Snow. “Looking Around Lower Merion.” Fritsch Knapp; Uncle Ben Kramer; Elsie Du P. G. Hirst Lip- Weekly feature in Main Line Times, 1978-82. pincott; Phyllis Maier; Gerry Snow Mason; William G. Our Borough: A Fiftieth Anniversary Report, 1945. Moellhoff; Ashley Montagu; Peter Parker; M. Barbara Booklet published by the 50th anniversary committee of Philpott; Bayard H. Roberts; Mary H. Howland Roberts; Narberth Borough Council, 1945. Jennie Mariani Rossetti; Emil Rossler; Milton Suplee; Peg Bailey Thomas; Joseph B. Townsend, Jr.; Samuel M. O ur Tow n. Weekly newspaper published by Narberth Vauclain 3d; Kay West; H. Justice Williams; Edwin Wolf Community Library, 1914-ca. 1945. 2d; Ben Yowell. Staples, Jean. “History of Narberth.” MS at Narberth Community Library, 1947. And the following families: Bailey, Barrie, Boyd, Cabrey, Warner, Carden F. Narberth’s Historical Prelude, 1616- Clothier, Cooke, Dolan, Edwards, Hagy, Hansell, Harsch, 1895. Press o f Bryn Mawr Record, 1905. Montgomery County The Second Hundred Years

LUDINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY & INFORMATION CENTER

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EDITED BY

JEAN BARTH TOLL MICHAEL J. SCHWAGER

Volume 1

PUBLISHED BY MONTGOMERY COUNTY FEDERATION OF HISTORICAL SOCIETIES

FIRST EDITION, 1983 MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

Commissioners Former Commissioners Paul Baker Bartle, Chairman A. Russell Parkhouse Allan C. Myers Frank W. Jenkins Rita C. Banning Lawrence H. Curry

© 1983 by Montgomery County Federation of Historical Societies All rights reserved First edition 1983 Printed in the United States of America

Montgomery County Federation of Historical Societies P. O. Box 1027 Norristown, PA 19404

ISBN 0-9612418-1-0 (Volume 2) ISBN 0-9612418-2-9 (2-volume set)