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Haverford Township Historical Society photograph collection
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Held at: Haverford Township Historical Society [Contact Us]PO Box 825, Havertown, PA, 19083
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Haverford Township Historical Society. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
Haverford Township is a suburb of Philadelphia situated near the wealthy "Main Line" west of the city. It encompasses the community of Havertown and parts of Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Ardmore, Drexel Hill, and Wynnewood in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
"Haverford Township was laid out by William Penn as part of the Welsh Tract or Barony. In 1681, a representative group of Welsh Quakers met with Penn to discuss their settlement, having purchased forty thousand acres of land which today comprises all of Haverford, Radnor and Lower Merion Townships. "Companies of Adventurers" were formed, with the most prominent person in each taking out the patent on 5,000 acres of land as trustee. The first three families arrived in Haverford Township in 1682. Lewis David, Henry Lewis and William Howell selected land along the southern border.
"The area was primarily agricultural until the second decade of the twentieth century. The census returns of 1860 show the value of livestock as $62,485.00; animals slaughtered $11,255.00; 46,049 bushels of grain harvested and the and the value of orchard and garden produce, $4,090.00.
"The two creeks that mark part of the township boundaries provided good millseats for the early settlers. [Several gristmills and sawmills were established in the 18th and 19th centuries.]...Between 1810 and 1840, [the Nitre Hall Powder Mills on Cobb's Creek, built by Israel Whelen, Sr.] were the second largest powder mills in the U.S. with production of 800,000 pounds in 1812. The mills ceased operations in 1840...
"Improved transportation opened the township to development. The Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad opened for use from Broad and Callowhill Streets to Paoli in 1833, and went as far as Pittsburgh by 1835. Tracks meandered through the countryside, going along Railroad Avenue in Haverford Township. This was the first railway for general commerce in the U.S., but offered little in the way of service to passengers until the late 1860s. The Pennsylvania Railroad bought the Columbia in 1857 and began changing the roadbed for what became the Main Line to the west.
"The Philadelphia and West Chester Turnpike Company first built the toll road, then formed the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company and built the trolley line, which opened in 1898. The addition of the Ardmore line in 1902 brought much new housing. The trolleys provided good transportation to Philadelphia and workers began to commute. Moderately priced homes on smaller lots were built in communities such as Llanerch, Brookline and Oakmont.
"The population of Haverford Township almost doubled between 1900 and 1925.
"In the beginning of the 20th [c]entury much farmland was purchased by wealthy families who built mansions and developed gardens on their new estates... [Several golf courses and country clubs were developed, notably the Merion Cricket Club Golf Association, The Llanerch Country Club, and The Pennsylvania Railroad Golf Club.]
"The first building erected for educational purposes was the Federal School, in 1797. During the 1800s four additional one-room schools and one parochial school were built. The latter part of the 19th century was the beginning of the present school system.
"After World War II, additions were made to existing schools, a new high school and three one-story elementary schools were built. Today there is one middle school, one senior high, five elementary schools, four parochial schools and four private schools.
"Haverford College, the first College founded by the Society of Friends in the United States in 1833, has several historic structures on its 225-acre property."
Bibliography:
Quoted text from: Haverford Township. "History of Haverford Township." January 29, 2008. Accessed April 25, 2014. http://www.haverfordtownship.com/egov/docs/120164522361.htm.
This collection consists of various photographs, mostly depicting the people, buildings, and scenery of Haverford Township (Delaware County, Pennsylvania). Most of the photographs are originals, but there are some copies and a few slides. The photographs are organized into albums by donor or subject. Buildings, especially historic sites, are particularly well represented, but there are also family photographs and photographs of other subjects. Of special interest is an album of hand-colored photographic prints by Dr. John Weigland Eckfeldt, circa 1920 (over 170 items) and an album of Powdermill Park Grange Playfield photographs, 1946-1947.
Most of the photographs in this collection have been digitized and are available through the Haverford Township Historical Society's website: http://haverford.pastperfect-online.com/36017cgi/mweb.exe?request=ks.
Topics include (but are not limited to): "Maen Coch," Clifton Hall, the Grange A Snapshot of Havertown in the Year 2000 Allgates Bergdoll Betsy Hall, Dennis Kelly, Jack Lynch houses Churches Civil Defense collection Coopertown Road, "Far Away," Connelly Point, Warden Crime scenes Federal School Haverford face lift, Arthur Wagner, Stores and Businesses Haverford Heritage Trail Hilda Lucas collection (Log house, Flintlock) Homes House of Three Generations Llanerch Crossing Park Llanerch postcards Main Line houses Manoa - Karakung Drive - Penfield - Cobblecort, Foxhill Farm, Allgates Margaret Johnston Summer Research Program Nitre Hall Penfield Development People and events Point Reading Roads, rails, businesses Schools Watts Real Estate Whitby Hall
Materials collected by or donated to the Haverford Township Historical Society from various over time.
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact Haverford Township Historical Society directly for more information.
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Haverford Township Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Sarah Leu through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact Haverford Township Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.