Chestnut Hill Conservancy

Today’s Throwback Thursday post takes us down to Mount Airy, to the construction of a house for William Marriott Canby at 835 Westview Street, also known as 6801 Wissahickon Avenue. This 1910 photograph shows the roof’s deck being installed, by unidentified workers. Note the background, visible at the upper right, which shows that the area was still quite rural at the time, with woods and an open field visible nearby. This Tudor house, designed by Duhring, Okie, and Zeigler, ...still stands and is in good condition today. #ThrowbackThursday Are you housebound and need something to do? Find out more about your house and favorite buildings in Chestnut Hill by visiting http://chconservancy.org/photo-search to review thousands of photographs of local subjects, and find out the history of your house by visiting http://chconservancy.org/historic-district to find out how old your house is. Enjoy, and be well!

Today’s Wissahickon Wednesday takes us to a rarely-discussed playground in Andorra, called the Houston Playground. Located along the edge of the Wissahickon Valley in Andorra, the playground and nearby meadows- called the Houston Meadows- are the namesakes of developer Henry Howard Houston, of Chestnut Hill. At one time, Houston had purchased large tracts of land on the Roxborough side of the Wissahickon Valley and owned a nursery which covered much of what we know today as A...ndorra. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Houston had planned to build a railroad leading to the area, much as he did in Chestnut Hill, with his construction of the Chestnut Hill West line. The plans fell through and for decades, the nurseries and meadows existed as overgrown tangles. With the progression of the 1950s and ‘60s, many of the parcels were gradually sold off and were developed with houses. As the area’s population grew, the construction of the Houston Playground was a logical next step. Built in the late 1960s, the playground featured a large metal two-story rocket area children could climb. The rocket stood adjacent to the playground’s building, the latter which is shown here as it appeared in 1999. Do you have a photograph of the old rocket? If so, please share it here! @FOWissahickon #WissahickonWednesday See more

Check out this sneak peek video of next week's Discovering Chestnut Hill virtual lecture on Visit Philly's facebook page. https://fb.watch/337a6kR-IY/ For more information and tickets, visit http://chconservancy.org/discovering-chestnut-hill

These photographs juxtapose the old and the new. In the late 1920s’ the Reading Railroad embarked on a program to eliminate all of the railroad crossings along its line to Chestnut Hill- now that of SEPTA’s Chestnut Hill East line. The black and white photograph shows the old Mermaid station, which stood on Mermaid Lane just north of the railroad tracks, just short of its demolition; it was not replaced after the project was completed. Note the dirt road to the right of the s...tation. This still exists today- in a sense- as that strangely-overbuilt concrete driveway connecting Mermaid Lane with Wyndmoor station and Willow Grove Avenue. The image in color shows the same perspective as taken from a screen grab of a recent Google street view. #ThrowbackThursday Are you housebound and need something to do? Find out more about your house and favorite buildings in Chestnut Hill by visiting http://chconservancy.org/photo-search to review thousands of photographs of local subjects, and find out the history of your house by visiting http://chconservancy.org/historic-district to find out how old your house is. Enjoy, and be well!

This rather desolate view taken around 1885 shows Chestnut Hill just as developer Henry Howard Houston was embarking on his plan to build his planned community of Wissahickon Heights- now the area centered on what is now Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (SCH), the Philadelphia Cricket Club, and St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church. This photo shows a view of West Chestnut Hill as Houston would have seen it, characterized by a few old buildings and overgrown farmland. The... photo was taken from 8605 Seminole Avenue (the name more recently drifting to Street), facing southeast. Look carefully in the background and you will see the newly-completed Wissahickon Inn (now the upper school of SCH). The outbuildings towards the center right have long since been demolished. #ThrowbackThursday Are you housebound and need something to do? Find out more about your house and favorite buildings in Chestnut Hill by visiting http://chconservancy.org/photo-search to review thousands of photographs of local subjects, and find out the history of your house by visiting http://chconservancy.org/historic-district to find out how old your house is. Enjoy, and be well!

Today’s Wissahickon Wednesday brings us to a photograph of an unknown house, taken around 1900. It was received some years ago as part of a collection of photos of the Wissahickon and Cresheim valleys, so it seems logical that the building shown here was also located in the Wissahickon. Note that the other photos in the collection were from Wissahickon subjects located all over the Valley- not just in one general area. Potential locations include near Kitchen’s Lane and the Monastery, or perhaps at Historic RittenhouseTown, near the Monoshone/ Paper Mill Run. Any ideas on where this building stood? Please let us know about it! @FOWissahickon #WissahickonWednesday

Today’s Wissahickon Wednesday post brings us to the Cresheim Valley- to that often-overlooked portion lying east of Germantown Avenue. Shown here a photograph taken by William W. Powell, Jr., of Cresheim Valley Drive at the railroad bridge of the Chestnut Hill East line, as the area appeared around 1950. Powell lived at 8301 Shawnee Street from 1938 until his death in 1987. Notice the lack of street lights and guard rails; even in the 1950s, the area still had a relatively ru...ral aspect, which is underscored by the total lack of cars visible in the photograph. As for the railroad bridge, very few photos of the bridge taken before about 1960 exist in the collections of the Chestnut Hill Conservancy. The stone bridge now standing there was built in 1924-1925. Do you have any old photos of this bridge, especially those taken before 1960? If so, please let us know about them! @FOWissahickon #WissahickonWednesday See more

Today’s Throwback Thursday post brings us to a scene almost unrecognizable today. The view shown in this circa 1900 photograph is of area children skating on what was referred to as Casey’s Ice Pond, with the photographer standing below West Springfield Avenue, the latter which is visible towards the center of the photo. James Casey had his ice house nearby, at what is now the northwest corner of Lincoln Drive and Springfield Avenue, out of view to the left of this photograph... and not far from his house, at 230 West Willow Grove Avenue. The pond was filled in circa 1910, and Lincoln Drive was then constructed. The one recognizable feature still standing today is in the form of the Victorian house visible at the back center, partially obscured by the tree. This house is 159 West Springfield Avenue and is still very much recognizable today. #throwbackthursday Are you housebound and need something to do? Find out more about your house and favorite buildings in Chestnut Hill by visiting http://chconservancy.org/photo-search to review thousands of photographs of local subjects, and find out the history of your house by visiting http://chconservancy.org/historic-district to find out how old your house is. Enjoy, and be well!

With the holidays now behind us, it’s time to focus on some winter activities! Shown in this photograph taken in 2003 is an unknown family enjoying some ice skating on a frozen Wissahickon Creek, near the Thomas Mill Bridge/ Covered Bridge. For years, the Creek rarely froze over, as a result of the presence of pollutants in the water. These would lower the freezing temperature of the water, making the event a much rarer sight. Do you know the identities of any of the people shown in this photograph? If so, please let us know! @FOWissahickon #WissahickonWednesday Wishing you a Happy and Healthful 2021!

The fourth annual Night of Lights (October 9-25) will take the form of an extended public art installation activating Germantown Avenue and transforming Chestnut Hill’s familiar main street into an interactive exhibition of local history and architecture. With a new socially distant format and an expanded virtual experience, we can't wait to celebrate our community's people, places, and stories with you! #nightoflightsCH #preservationhappenshere #archivesmonthphilly #archivesphl #designphilly

The Chestnut Hill Conservancy presents Tree of the Month, our series of articles by Paul W. Meyer, Conservancy Board Member and Morris Arboretum's Retired F. Otto Haas Executive Director October - Gingko biloba Ginkgo biloba, one of our community’s most common and easily recognizable trees, predates mankind on earth by nearly 200 million years. In fact, it was widely distributed on earth during the time of dinosaurs. Amazingly, ginkgo has adapted and persisted, little chang...ed from its ancient ancestors through the eons of time. This adaptability continues to serve the species well. Ginkgo is highly resistant to urban stress factors including heat, drought, deicing salts and poor soils. It is also resistant to most insects and diseases. For these reasons it is widely planted as a street tree throughout Philadelphia. So when street trees were being selected for Germantown Avenue in the 1960s, Ginkgo was a good choice. Visit http://chconservancy.org/tree-of-the-month to read the ful article!

With Halloween just two days away, it only seems appropriate to feature a Throwback Thursday post with pumpkins! Shown here in this 1986 photograph from the Chestnut Hill Local are Norwood-Fontbonne Academy kindergartners visiting a pumpkin patch at Linvilla Orchards, in 1986. From left to right are: Joseph Roby, teacher Sally Pavlick, Kristin Wiser, Lauren Goldbeck, Benjamin Wiedemer, Kevin Britt and Victoria White. #ThrowbackThursday Are you housebound and need something to do? Find out more about your house and favorite buildings in Chestnut Hill by visiting http://chconservancy.org/photo-search to review thousands of photographs of local subjects, and find out the history of your house by visiting http://chconservancy.org/historic-district to find out how old your house is. Enjoy, and be well!

This Wissahickon Wednesday post is the ninth in a series of posts of slides taken in 1960, received from the estate of longtime area naturalist, Sioux Baldwin. For details about her donation, please refer to the October 14 Wissahickon Wednesday post. After visiting Historic RittenhouseTown, the photographer headed up Forbidden Drive, and stopped momentarily just south of the Walnut Lane Bridge. Heading just a bit up the slope from Forbidden Drive, he/she took these photos of... the Bridge, as it and the surrounding area appeared in 1960. One odd feature exists in the lighting standard visible on Forbidden Drive. This stood for decades- well into the 1990s- and no other similar lighting standards were erected anywhere else along Forbidden Drive. The reason for its existence at this location- as opposed to anywhere else along Forbidden Drive- is unknown. @FOWissahickon #WissahickonWednesday See more

Discovering Chestnut Hill Lectures are back! On November 18, we'll be presenting The Wissahickon Style of Landscape, a virtual lecture by Carol Franklin. Explore the borrowed landscapes of Northwest Philadelphia with nationally recognized landscape architect Carol Franklin. Drawing from themes in Metropolitan Paradise: The Struggle for Nature in the City, the book about the Wissahickon Valley, which she co-authored with David Contosta, this illustrated virtual talk will elabo...rate on the essential connections between the natural and cultural landscapes so exquisitely manifested in the historical development of Chestnut Hill and Mount Airy, converging as a distinct Wissahickon Style. Carol Franklin, FASLA, is a pioneer in the field of ecological design, co-founder of Andropogon Associates, and long-time Chestnut Hill resident. November 18, 7pm. Conservancy Members $10, Non-Members $15. http://chconservancy.org/discovering-chestnut-hill

Thank you to everyone who came out during the evenings of October 9 - 25th for the fourth annual expanded Night of Lights! We hope you had as much fun as we did strolling the Hill and sharing our histories. An especially big thank you goes out to all of our wonderful sponsors and volunteers--be sure to scroll down and thank these fantastic individuals and organizations if you enjoyed this year's event! ~Amazing Volunteers and Participants!~... Carolyn Adams Bowman Properties Team Philip Dawson Will Detweiler Rob Fleming Russ Goudy Steve Heimann Monika Hemmers Peter Hoffman Dave Hoylman Craig Johnson Heather Killinger Steve Kurtz Dan Macey Brad Maule Anne McNally George McNeely Molly Murphy Frank Niepold Kate O'Neill John Siemiarowski Robert Silverstein Coxey Toogood Stephanie Walsh Bill Webster ~With Special Thanks To:~ Tuomi Forrest Sanjiv Jain Eileen Javers Paul Roller Artisans on the Avenue AR Workshop Chestnut Hill Bohemian Pink Blum’s Antiques Bredenbeck’s Bakery and Ice Cream Parlor Busy Bee Toys Chestnut Hill Brewing Company El Poquito El Quetzal Gallery on the Avenue Hideaway Music Jonesy’s Accessories Made By ME: Handmade Gourmet Chocolates McNally’s Tavern Sara Campbell Scene-in-Action Productions Company Serendipity Tailored Home Tavern on the Hill TC Unlimited Boutique Threadwell Weavers Way Next Door Windfall Gallery Zipf’s Candies ~And Many Thanks Again to This Year's Sponsors and Partners:~ Bryn Mawr Trust The Sivel Group Millan Architects Elfant Wissahickon Realtors Bowman Properties Chestnut Hill Business District Chestnut Hill Local Dantastic Food Dennis Meyer, Inc. En Route Marketing Electrical Wizardry Friends of the Wissahickon George Woodward Co. Johnson, Kendall & Johnson Kurtz Construction Nottingham, Walsh, Goodman & Associates of Merrill Lynch Shechtman Tree Care Studio of Metropolitan Design Valerie Designs Germantown Historical Society Historic Germantown Mt Airy CDC Springfield Township Historical Society Archives Month Philly Design Philadelphia

It's the last weekend of Night of Lights and we're excited to close out this wonderful community event with you! Some great offerings up and down the Avenue this weekend: Buy a record at Hideaway Music (8232 Germantown Avenue) during their extended evening hours and get a free pizza at Chestnut Hill Brewing Company! Tomorrow night (10/24), check out the Gallery On The Avenue's (8622 Germantown Ave) Art Night from 5-8 pm. Featuring tables with paints and clay and working image...s of art-in-progress with three local artists represented in the gallery: Noelle Wister, Christopher Ward and Judy Jarvis - who will all be on-site! Don't forget, you can preserve your memories of your childhood (or of this current and truly historic moment) as easily as making a phone call--whether you're out walking the Avenue during Night of Lights or in the comfort of your home. Just dial 267-820-8175 and press 0# to share! You can also email us to arrange a time to record your story at [email protected]. #nightoflightsCH #preservationhappenshere #archivesmonthphilly #archivesphl #designphilly

There is just something about the arrival of fall which makes many people think about apples! Apples were clearly on the minds of Water Tower Recreation Center tot recreation program participants Breeanin Hansteen and Michele Burns, who were squashing apples while making applesauce in October 1996. Hopefully they had ginger snaps or spiced wafers to go along with their homemade applesauce- a perfect combination! #ThrowbackThursday Are you housebound and need something to do? Find out more about your house and favorite buildings in Chestnut Hill by visiting http://chconservancy.org/photo-search to review thousands of photographs of local subjects, and find out the history of your house by visiting http://chconservancy.org/historic-district to find out how old your house is. Enjoy, and be well!

Stroll through Chestnut Hill Pa while safely social distancing during #NightofLightsCH presented by Chestnut Hill Conservancy, now through the 25th! See historic images projected through storefront windows, illuminated buildings, family-friendly activities & more : FYI Philly

This Wissahickon Wednesday post is the eighth in a series of posts of slides taken in 1960, received from the estate of longtime area naturalist, Sioux Baldwin. For details about her donation, please refer to the October 14 Wissahickon Wednesday post. After visiting the Henry Avenue Bridge and vicinity, the unknown photographer then visited Historic RittenhouseTown and captured this peaceful scene as it appeared in the spring of 1960. At the time, the houses functioned as pr...ivate residences; they are now part of Historic RittenhouseTown’s series of buildings helping to tell the story of the history of the old village, which consisted of over 40 structures by the mid-19th century. The content and overall feel of this 1960 view is remarkably similar to that found today, with the possible exception being that the view is much more open today. The large trees visible in the photograph are long gone. @FOWissahickon #WissahickonWednesday For more information about Historic RittenhouseTown, visit https://rittenhousetown.org/

More of #NightofLightsCH in the news! Weather looks good for the next several days--can't wait to see you out there!

Tonight might be a rainy one, but you can still enjoy many features of Night of Lights from the (warm, dry) comfort of home via the event's mobile website--starting with our Storyteller Stations! In audio pieces mixed and produced by Molly Murphy, hear how the neighborhood has changed over the years from long-time residents Willard Detweiler, Steve Kurtz, Russell Goudy, and Anne McNally. From our partners at the Germantown Historical Society, Philadelphia, listen to experienc...es and memories of the Black community in Germantown, from attending dance classes at the YWCA to shopping on the Avenue to student life at Germantown High School. These recordings are part of a project called "African Americans Between the Wars," recorded in the1990s. To access these stories from your smartphone or web browser, as well as building histories in Chestnut Hill and more, just follow this link: http://bycell.co/conls #nightoflightsCH #preservationhappenshere #archivesmonthphilly #archivesphl #designphilly

Today’s Throwback Thursday post takes to East Mermaid Lane in Wyndmoor. The photograph of the farm is that of the Winoga Stock Farm, taken in 1939 just before the construction of the United States Department of Agriculture’s Eastern Regional Research Center began. The second photograph is also from 1939, and shows the construction of the USDA’s facility well under way, with the photograph taken while cornerstone-laying ceremonies were being held. Nearby is the location of the... origin of Cresheim Creek, which is located in Mermaid Park. #ThrowbackThursday Are you housebound and need something to do? Find out more about your house and favorite buildings in Chestnut Hill by visiting http://chconservancy.org/photo-search to review thousands of photographs of local subjects, and find out the history of your house by visiting http://chconservancy.org/historic-district to find out how old your house is. Enjoy, and be well!

This Wissahickon Wednesday post is the seventh in a series of posts of slides taken in 1960, received from the estate of longtime area naturalist, Sioux Baldwin. These slides were donated to the Chestnut Hill Conservancy, along with bags of manuscripts, photographs, from her estate. The slides were housed in two carousels; one carousel had slides of various Wissahickon scenes, from 1960, which appeared to have two sets of slides- jumbled and seemingly out of order- of scenes ...taken in spring and late fall of that year and appear to have been used as part of a slideshow- a walking tour of sorts- of the Wissahickon Valley and environs as they appeared in 1960. These slides are unusual, as photographs of the Wissahickon from this era are exceedingly difficult to come by. For the previous posts of these slides, see Wissahickon Wednesday posts from September 2nd and each Wednesday onwards. Before leaving the vicinity of the Henry Avenue Bridge (see last Wednesday’s post), the photographer visited the Toleration Statue. Designed by sculptor Herman Kirn, the statue was erected in 1883. It is believed to have been modeled after William Penn, to reflect Quaker values of liberty and conscience. The photographer captured the image of the statue on a perfect day, with the haze giving the statue and the Wissahickon Valley mystical qualities. @FOWissahickon #WissahickonWednesday

Night of Lights in the news! Thanks Chestnut Hill Pa for sharing this clip--to see more, check out our Press page! http://chconservancy.org/press #nightoflightsCH #preservationhappenshere #archivesmonthphilly... #archivesphl #designphilly https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=661473317861001