- Christmas Bazaar
When – Sat, December 5, 12pm – 4pmWhere – Second Baptist Church of Frankford, 1801 Meadow St, Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)
- Grand Army of the Republic Museum Open House
When – Sun, December 6, 12pm – 5pmWhere – 4278 Griscom Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)Description – Presentation at 1:30 PM: Civil War Era Music from the Front at Christmas Time Gleim’s Band 198th P.V
- DO YOU HEAR WHAT I HEAR? St. Joachim’s Christmas Event
When – Sun, December 6, 3:00pm – 4:30pmWhere – St. Joachims, 1507 Church St. Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)Description – St. Joachim’s is presenting the biggest Christmas event ever! It will be held in the Church on Sunday, December 6, 2009 at 3:00 PM. Join us for an afternoon of music, fun, drama and prayer. Free admission. 3 pm to 4:30 pm with refreshments following. Invite your friends and neighbors!
- Community Meeting on the SEPTA Margaret-Orthodox Station Rehabilitation Project
When – Tue, December 8, 5:30pm – 7:30pmWhere – Frankford Group Ministries, 4620 Griscom Street Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)Description – Get details about what’s happening to update the station We invite you to attend the meeting to get: * an overview and progress update about the project; * details about improvements; * possible impacts to businesses, residents, and riders; * an opportunity to have your questions answered firsthand. Tuesday, December 8 Frankford Group Ministries 4620 Griscom Street Philadelphia, PA 19124 5:30 pm Registration & Refreshments 6:00 Meeting Begins 7:30 Meeting Ends We look forward to seeing you. For more information contact Patricia Miller, Constituent Relations Coordinator, at 215-580-3609.
- Historical Society of Frankford program
When – Tue, December 8, 7:30pm – 9:00pmWhere – 1507 Orthodox St., Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)Description – MUSEUM and MEMBERS SHARE HOLIDAY TREASURES — Historical Society of Frankford Volunteers and Members. HSF’s Museum and Library has items in its collection that were likely holiday gifts or accessories for past Frankford families. You may have an item that your family has used or a special holiday gift that has been enjoyed over the years. Bring them to share with our members and volunteers as you get an insider’s view of some of HSF’s special items. Educational holiday crafts for the children will be offered, so bring your young people to this festive meeting. And feel free to bring a dessert as we gather to enjoy our traditional holiday sweets buffet.
- Zoning Board Hearing on 1522-24 Church Street
When – Wed, December 9, 4pm – 5pmWhere – 1515 ARCH STREET 18TH FLOOR (map)
- Philadelphia Energy Coordinating Agency co-host Weatherization Workshops
When – Wed, December 9, 6pm – 8pmWhere – Sankofa Charter School, 4256 Paul St. Philadelphia, PA 19124 (map)Description – Rep. Payton and the Philadelphia Energy Coordinating Agency co-host Weatherization Workshops These free workshops are open to the public and will teach people how to save money through energy conservation. Trainers will present on how to install self-help energy saving material and provide these materials free of charge to qualifying attendees. Information will also be available on rebates, tax credits, and new energy programs. Referrals will also be provided to existing energy conservation and assistance programs. Sankofa Charter School 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9 4256 Paul St. Philadelphia For more information, call 215-288-2001 http://www.pahouse.com/Payton/CommunityCalendar.asp
- Frankford Garden Club trip to Longwood Gardens
When – Sat, December 12, 3pm – 9pmWhere – Bus departs Griscom and Orthodox Streets (map)Description – Trip to Longwood Gardens on Saturday December 12- $5 for Garden Club members, $12 for adult guests, $6 for children guests! The Bus will leave from Griscom and Orthodox Streets at 3:00 pm, arriving at Longwood around 4pm – we will return by 9pm
- Frankford Garden Club Holiday Party
When – Tue, December 15, 6:00pm – 8:30pmWhere – Wissinoming Park (map)Description – For Garden club members and their invited guests.
- Northwood Civic Association Meeting
When – Tue, December 15, 7pm – 8pmWhere – St. James Lutheran Church, at Castor Avenue and Pratt Street. (map)
- Italian Style Family Dinner
When – Wed, December 16, 4:30pm – 8:00pmWhere – St. Joachim’s Church, 1527 Church Street, Phila., PA 19124 (map)Description – MARK YOUR CALENDAR Every Third Wednesday from September thru May Italian Style Family Dinner The Dinners will be served from 4:30 PM to 8 PM in Fitzmaurice Hall Take-out will be available. COST: $8.00 for Adults, $4.00 for Children. Come Join us!
- Free Pictures with Santa
When – Sat, December 19, 9am – 12pmWhere – Dream Girls, 4601 Frankford Avenue, 2nd floor. (map)
Category: Business
Frankford Civic Meeting
The Frankford Civic meeting held tonight, was very well attended with about 30 people in the room.
There will be a SEPTA meeting at the Frankford Group Ministry building (4620 Griscom Street) on December 8th, to inform the community about the 7.5 million dollar rehabilitation of the Margaret-Orthodox El stop. It was the first el stop rebuilt back in the 80’s and now they need to do it over again. This time maybe it will be the right way. See the community calendar for the details.
Rep. Payton has partnered with the Energy Coordinating Agency to offer a Weatherization Workshop in Frankford. Weatherizing your home can reduce your heating bill dramatically, and provides a safer, warmer home for your family. The Energy Coordinating Agency will show you how you can weatherize your home for little to no money. They will also discuss assistance programs from the government that help pay for the cost of weatherizing your home. See the community calendar for the details. Please Call State Representative Tony Payton Jr’s Office at 215-744-7901 or email Simone Woods at swoods@pahouse.net if you plan to attend.
Zoning hearing at the ZBA for the conversion of 1522 and 1524 Church Street to multi family housing. The community opposes the conversion and all concerned residents should attend the hearing to make sure the ZBA understands our position.
A contractor who owns the lot at 4205-07 Adams Avenue is seeking support for a zoning change to build a garage to store his equipment. He came along with his architect to display his proposal. He was advised to solicit support from the immediate neighbors adjacent to his property and to begin the application process.
It was anticipated that Anthony Bannister would appear to explain his group’s plan to purchase the now closed New Frankford Community Y property. They have been in discussion with Senator Payton’s office as well as Councilperson Quinones Sanchez office. No one from the group attended the meeting. Reps from Sanchez and Payton’s office both said in the course of their meetings they had raised questions about the business plan and funding for the project. In addition,there is the issue of the sale of a non profit entity to a “for profit” corporation. Barry Howell, president of the Northwood Civic was present and said that the Northwood Civic’s position at this point is to emphatically oppose the deal.
Good news to report. Somehow the long unmoving vehicle on Ruan Street that was discussed at last month’s meeting has been eliminated. We’re not sure who deserves the credit for doing the right thing.
Next Frankford Civic meeting is January 7th. Be sure all the details I forgot to report on NEastPhilly.com.
Herman Blum, Blumhaven And Craftex Mills
I started out not knowing too much of Herman Blum. In fact, I thought his name was Henry. But an intrepid reader not only figured out that 4651 Leiper Street’s given name is Blumhaven, but they also turned up more interesting information on him and his house.
We aren’t the only ones interested in Herman Blum and Blumhaven. Karen Stevens, an archivist with Independence National Historical Park asked a question about “the Blumhaven Library in the Frankford section of Philadelphia” on Temple’s Delaware Valley Archivist Group last December 2007. Now I don’t know a whole lot of about Frankford’s history but I have a good grasp on where all the brick and mortar stuff is and was, and there’s no Blumhaven Library. But it turns out the Historical Society of Frankford’s own archivist, Jack McCarthey, knew what was what. He told Ms Stevens:
The Blumhaven Library no longer exists. It was Herman Blum’s rare book and
manuscript collection, which was donated to the PHMC and is now Manuscript
Group MG-169 at the PA State Archives. Herman Blum was a textile executive
and manuscript collector who lived in Frankford. The Library was in his
house which still stands.
I found a listing of the documents he turned over, it’s pretty impressive. He had property deeds signed by William Penn himself. Blum himself corresponded with Pierre DuPont. He’s got James Buchanan writing to all sorts of people, Stephen Girard, and a bunch of other guys that end up in Wikipedia, he had original deeds signed by William Penn. All of this stuff in what had to have been one mean looking library in that house.
So how’d he earn that house money? Mr Blum(1885 – 1973) who lived some 88 years, bought his jacquard mill, located in Kensington at 1806 Venango Street, in 1923. He turned it into Craftex Mills. Suprisingly, Craftex still exists, and it looks like he still has descendants on the payroll with Robert and Terry Blum listed as executives with the company. The mill has since moved from Kensington but the building still exists according to WorkshopOfTheWorld.com which has the whole story of it’s operation.
Mr Blum seemed to leave quite a legacy to his profession, and I might say was a little bit of Renaissance man. He was a trustee of the Philadelphia College of Textiles and Sciences. He wrote the three books about looms and textiles. And just for good measure he banged another book out about William Penn with information he gleamed from his private library collection. He must have been a riot at parties.
[link] Craftex Mills entry at Workshop of the World
[link] Books By Herman Bloom at Library Thing
[link] Blumhaven library’s collection list at the state archives
The information in this post was compiled with the help of Debbie Klak, current member and former president of the Historical Society of Frankford. Sources include the archives of the historical society and her recollections.
HSF collects, preserves and presents the history of Northeast Philadelphia and the region. Recognizing the neighborhood of Frankford as the historic and geographic gateway to the region, HSF documents and interprets the history of the people, places, events and traditions of the greater Northeast Philadelphia area and serves as an advocate for the preservation of the region’s historic resources. Through its collections and programs HSF provides opportunities for its members, the surrounding community, and the general public to explore and appreciate the history of Northeast Philadelphia and its place in the world. Check out other posts in our series here.
Sonic Open on Aramingo Avenue
Sonic was open yesterday with a large crowd at lunchtime. The chick-fil-A has been under construction and the structure has been studded out. Quite a development down there at Aramingo Crossing (map).
Frankford Real Estate Transactions
Thanks to the folks at the Philadelphia Real Estate hub we have these transactions for October.
1319 Foulkrod St $132,000 |
1073 Allengrove St $150,000 |
1046 Bridge St $120,009 |
4258 Griscom St $31,000 |
5244 Saul St $45,000 |
1103 Fillmore St $51,000 |
5214 Marlowe St $64,000 |
4318 Cloud St $70,000 |
1047 Pratt St $149,900 |
1612 Haworth St $36,000 |
2011 Bridge St $67,500 |
5027 Worth St $42,000 |
5446 Marsden St $96,000 |
1024 Wakeling St $175,000 |
1117 Kenwyn St $179,000 |
2306 Duncan St $112,000 |
5328 Large St $117,500 |
929 Herbert St $179,900 |
5124 Glenloch St $25,000 |
5246 Saul St $36,500 |
2085 Brill St $56,000 |