Category: history

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Tonight at the Historical Society

Preserving & Promoting the History of NE Philadelphia since 1905
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF FRANKFORD
The Center for Northeast Philadelphia History
  
Tuesday, 08 December 2015 7:30pm
AUTHORS OF NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA
Your chance to meet and greet local historians/authors -some who have previously offered programs at the Society.
They will be discussing and signing copies of their books.
These make great gifts—join us and do some shopping – and enjoy our Annual Holiday Tea!
Participating Authors/Editors and Books
Roland Williams – Exploring Pennypack Park
Charles McCloskey –  Tacony: Era of William H Gatzmer and the Philadelphia &Trenton Railroad
Fred Moore (Editor) – Old Northeast Philadelphia County 1609-1854
John Webster – Vanishing Philadelphia: Ruins of the Quaker City

ANNUAL HOLIDAY TEA: All welcome; Please bring light fare/desserts to share.
 Refreshments served. Members free; Others $5.00
1507 Orthodox Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124 215-743-6030

 

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Buried at Wilmot Park

Wilmot Park today is a playground on Meadow Street across from the Second Baptist Church where you will hear the steady bounce of basketball at all times of the day and night.  Smaller kids happily climb and swing but 200 years ago, the land was used as a burial ground and many of those people who were buried there remain at rest under the asphalt today.

The records of those buried are scant but it is clear that the burial ground was active for quite a long time.   The original burial ground is at least 200 years old and was much larger than the playground is today.  It included all the land where the Wilmot School was later built in 1877.  At that time, Meadow Street did not divide the property.

Leon Brantley, Kim Brantley and Darrion Shufford laya wreath at Wilmot Park on Veterans Day.

Leon Brantley, Kim Brantley and Darrion Shuford lay a wreath at Wilmot Park on Veterans Day.

Joe Menkeich is a historical researcher living in Northwood who was successful in having another forgotten cemetery placed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.  He is now working on a similar project for the Wilmot property.  This will also include the former Wilmot school.

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Joe Menkevich (right) at City Hall with supporters Leon Brantley and Janet Bernestein.

It is time to give this historic site the recognition it deserves.

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The Kings Highway to be Documentary

It was a trail at first, long before the Europeans came along.  The Indians in this area traveled it.  Then the Dutch and then the English settled the area and it became a road.  The English King Charles II ordered that a road should be built from Charleston SC to Boston MA and it was completed after 85 years in 1735.

sherman and young

Jason Sherman and Jim Young President of the Historical Society of Frankford

It would witness the historic events of the revolution and grow to become Main Street in Frankford and then Frankford Avenue in Philadelphia.

Jason Sherman presented his plan to do a documentary on The King’s Highway at the meeting of the Historical Society of Frankford on September 8th.

This is a project that needs our support.  Filming has been going on for some time and as you see from the  trailer below, it will be a quality production.  This is a link to the web site.

 

Kickstarter Video for The King’s Highway Documentary from King’s Highway on Vimeo.
 

 

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Philadelphia Police Museum

Preserving & Promoting the History of NE Philadelphia since 1905
HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF FRANKFORD
The Center for Northeast Philadelphia History
  
Tuesday, 13 October 2015 7:30pm
PHILADELPHIA POLICE MUSEUM
Sgt Roderick Scratchard, Historian
 
  Did you know there is a Phila Police Museum – whose Mission is to Discover, Protect, Preserve and Remember? Come and meet a local police historian and learn more.  Join local resident Roderick Scratchard, who has gathered and studied the history of the Philadelphia Police Department.
 Refreshments served. Members free; Others $5.00
1507 Orthodox Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124 215-743-6030
www.frankfordhistoricalsociety.org  
UPCOMING PROGRAMS:  ALL INVITED
 
Tuesday, 10 November 2015 7:30pm
FRANKFORD’s NATIONAL HISTORIC TRAIL
Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary Route
  National Park Service Superintendent Joe DiBello, W3R-US President Ursula Reed, and W3R-PA President Lanny Patton will update & engage with Frankford/NE Phila to commemorate this nationally-significant local treasure.
 
Tuesday, 08 December 2015 7:30pm
AUTHORS OF NORTHEAST PHILADELPHIA
Frankford’s Home Grown Historians
 
Your chance to meet and greet local historians/authors -some who have previously offered programs at the Society. They will be discussing and signing copies of their books. These make great gifts—join us and do some shopping – and enjoy our Annual Holiday Tea!
ANNUAL HOLIDAY TEA: All welcome; Please bring light fare/desserts to share.
 Refreshments served. Members free; Others $5.00
 
SAVE the DATE – Genealogy Workshop – April 9 (1-3pm)
 
 
1507 Orthodox Street, Philadelphia, PA 19124 215-743-6030
www.frankfordhistoricalsociety.org