- Parent Computer Expo
When – Sat, November 21, 9am – 12pmWhere – Frankford High School, 5000 Oxford Ave. Phila. PA 19124 (map) - Fall For Your Park at Overington Park
When – Sat, November 21, 10am – 1pmWhere – Overington Park, Leiper and Orthodox Streets (map)Description – Our next Friends of Overington Park event is on Saturday November 21, 2009, from 10am till 1pm. We will be planting a few trees, and racking up leaves, I hope some of your readers would like to attend. The event is called Fall For Your Park and will be going on around the city in over 60 parks. I hope to see you there.
- Town hall meeting
When – Tue, November 24, 7pm – 8pmWhere – St. Joachim’s church hall, Church and Griscom streets.Phila. Pa 19124 (map)DescriptionCaptain Bachmayer (15th District) invites residents from the district to share their concerns at a town hall meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 24, at 7 p.m. at St. Joachim’s church hall, Church and Griscom streets.
- Program at the Historical Society of Frankford
When – Sun, November 29, 2pm – 4pmWhere – Historical Society of Frankford, 1507 Foulkrod Street, Phila. PA 19124 (map)Description – THE LENAPE TRADITION — Special Guest Program and Fundraiser Indian Cultural Museum of Allentown This interactive program and display will highlight the heritage of the Lenape people that were the first to inhabit the area that is now Frankford. In light of the Thanksgiving holiday, it is appropriate to remember and appreciate the people that once called Frankford home. Join the folks from the Indian Cultural Center in Allentown as they share information on their history and traditions. The Historical Society of Frankford is also mounting a small display of its own Lenape and other Northeast Philadelphia American Indian artifacts. Activities for all ages will be offered, so bring the entire family and support the educational outreach HSF has been doing for over 100 years to promote and preserve the history of Northeast Philadelphia. Special refreshments will be offered.
- Frankford Civic Association Meeting
When – Thu, December 3, 7pm – 8pmWhere – Frankford Hospital – 2nd floor conference room (map)
- 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!
- 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.
- 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
Tag: History
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.
Northwood’s Burk Deed Restrictions
My father snagged a Burk Deed Restriction handout from last night’s Northwood Civic Association meeting. I’ve never been able to find anything on the internet about it and its such a shame because it’s probably the greatest asset that community has. I’m kinda fuzzy on the history so if a reader wants to correct me, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll correct it. As far as I know, all properties built within the deed restricted area are required to be single family houses. This forbids corner stores, duplexes and commercial properties. But from what I undertand, doctors are aloud to have their offices in their houses, that’s why you might see doctor signs up.
I had known that the restriction existed in the triangle of Oxford-Harrison-Castor, but I didn’t know there was one on some blocks west of Castor, I wonder how Pat’s Cafe and that auto shop were able to be built. Neast Philly recently reported that the Northwood Civic is planning legal action against any infringement on the deed restrictions which is sure to keep the neighborhood strong for years to come.
[PDF] burk deed restrictions
Quiz Time, Some Rich Dude One Hundred Years Ago Named This House, What Did He Call It?
During my initial visit with Debbie Klak at the HSofF on Veteran’s Day, we spent a fair amount of time talking about the wealthy families of Frankford. I’m really interested on getting the back stories that go along with the mansions that are still standing. And she would say something like “[so and so] family lived over in the [some house location], it was called [estate name]”. And she did this twice before I stopped her to get clarification and realized that THE RICH PEOPLE WERE NAMING THEIR HOUSES. Being firmly entrenched in the proletariat, I find this so amusing. It’s just like the Vanderbilts and Biltmore. Frankford has Biltmores.
So lets play a game, I have a few houses that were named, let’s start with one that is a recent home of the week back in August that was owned by Henry Blum who owned a jacquard mill in Kensington. What name did this dude give his house? Here’s a hint, his last name(Blum) is in the name.
UPDATE: Through googling and chance, it appears that this fellow’s first name is NOT Henry, it’s Herman.
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.
Frankford’s Million Dollar High School
Below is a photo taken of the then newly built Frankford High School from one of the many archived news articles at the Historical Society of Frankford. I would wager the article is from 1916 since we know they began construction in 1915. A fact I didn’t know was that the school was built as an annex to Central High School.
Below Is the trowel used for the laying of the cornerstone currently located at the HSofF.
The inscription reads:
CORNER STONE LAYING
FRANKFORD HIGH SCHOOL
STONE LAID BY FRANKLIN SMEDLEY
FEBRUARY 27TH 1915
But check out the note reading “trowel made by Henry Disston and Sons.” The Disston Saw Works was a plant over to east by the Delaware River in Tacony. In fact Henry Disston built the houses in Tacony for his workers pretty much all by himself. Check out this article from former Lincoln High School principle Dr Harry Silcox about Disston and the Tacony he built. I think it’s very telling that while Frankford was at it’s industrial zeneth, Henry Disston and Sons was still the choice to make the ceremonial trowel. In fact, we at the Gazette hold him in such high esteem that we headed over the Hidden City exhibit over at his saw works a few months ago.
And who was this Franklin Smedley who was honored by laying the stone? Well save his story for later. Check out other posts in our series here.
[link] Historical Society of Frankford
The information in this post was compiled with the help of Debbie Klak, current member and former president of the Historical Society of Frankford.
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.
