From our previous post about the huge castle for sale at the corner of Griscom and Dyre, we were emailed a photo that said “RES. OF MR GEORGE T SALE FRANKLIN AND DYRE STS. FRANKFORD PA”. We’ve heard back from Debbie Klak at the Historical Society of Frankford as to who this man was:
George Sale was a Northeast Philly real estate developer. He built the apartment building at Griscom and Oxford Ave to be a doctor’s hospital (clinic) with all of the modern amenities. He built a car barn(exactly where we’re still unsure) to house the B buses , the first buses to transport people up to Byberry farms for there were no means to get there. In those days, transportation dropped people off 2 miles from Byberry Farms. The other interesting thing is that when George died, creditors came after his estate. He owed people a lot of money,(to the tune of $750,000) tho they didn’t get much from his estate.
The pic above was taken from Temple’s picture database. Obviously it’s from a real estate office but it says it’s from the Frankford section and the reflection looks like the Margaret/Orthodox El stop to me, but the address says 1532 Oxford Pike, which by today’s street numbers, put it up in Lawndale. I’m also guessing he built the George T. Sale Building downtown that’s been turned into condos.
