Lydia Law Land (and her children) and Samuel Land and Mary Ann Law Land (and their children) lived in the Roxborough/Manayunk/Wissahickon section of Philadelphia in the the late 1800s and early 1900s.

This area of Philadelphia is/was made up of several neighborhoods including Manayunk , Roxborough (Roxboro), and Wissahickon. The area is roughly triangular in shape. It is bordered by the Schuylkill River on the south and southwest and Wissahickon Park on the north and northeast. The land slopes downhill on both sides of Ridge Road. The Schuylkill River side is a rather steep incline.

Roxborough is above Manayunk Avenue. Roxborough was the neighborhood where many of the mill owners and company executives lived and where St Timothy's Church is located. Lydia lived for a number of years on Pechin Street near Shurs Lane in Roxborough. A large old mill stands on the corner of Shurs Lane and Pechin Streets.

Manayunk is below Manayunk Avenue. The shopping area was/is in Manayunk along Main Street at the bottom of the hill and near the river. The area along the river contained many mills and warehouses.

Wissahickon is a small section in the southeast. Vassar and Kalos Streets (where Samuel Land and Lydia Law Land lived for some period of time) are both in the Wissahickon section.

In October 2007 Regina Wakefield me with some reminiscence of Manayunk/Roxborough,

As I looked at your postcards I remembered the "ageold" discussion about where Manayunk began and ended. I grew up in the 200 block of Rector St. Above Terrace St. and a few houses below Manayunk Ave. We would fight to the last breath to say we lived in Roxborough even though we were below Manayunk Ave. We were above the cliff, our phone exchange was Roxborough 8 and our post office address was Roxborough 28. Manayunk was 7 and 27! Of course, now it is very chic to live in Manayunk but believe me, in the 40's it was not. In fact, to a child of that time, Manayunk was scary. Just thought you might like to read my "looking back" thoughts!

Regina Wakefield
formerly of 250 Rector St - Roxborough!

• Manayunk — North of Schuylkill River, upstream from the mouth of Wissahickon Creek. From the Native term meaning "where we go to drink." Renamed from Flat Rock after a brief interlude as Udoravia.
• Roxborough — Also known as Rocksborrow and Roxborro. Located between the Schuylkill River and Wissahickon Creek above Manayunk.
• Wissahickon — West of Wissahickon Creek, adjacent to Roxborough.

Harry Garforth, a local Manayunk-Roxborough historian, has graciously shared some of his research on the area.

Schuylkill River and Expressway

A view of the Manayunk, Roxborough/Wissahicken area of Philadelphia.

No postmark

Not posted

Posted 1921

No postmark

The trestle in the foreground belongs to the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). The trestle allowed the PRR to descend from the "S" bridge, high above the Schuylkill River down to the Pencoyd Steel Mill on the west bank of the river. This trestle crossed over the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad tracks and used a switchback to achieve the change in elevation.

Harry Garforth, 2005

I believe that the large church in the center of the picture is St John's Roman Catholic.

No postmark

No postmark

No postmark

The trolley tracks in Main Street belong to the Philadelphia Traction Company's Route 61. The service began as a horse car line but was later electrified on August 30, 1894. The trackage extended to Green Lane and Main Street. The route was further extended to Leverington Avenue and Main Street on October 25, 1909. Designation of this service as Route 61 occurred September 13, 1914. Trolley service continued until1941, when buses ran for a short period to allow reconfiguration of the overhead wire system for trolleybus operation. Trolley buses ran until March 13, 1961 when the line was converted to bus.

Harry Garforth, 2005

Sent in 1911.

Manayunk Reading Railroad Station at the intersection of Cresson and Gay Streets.

Harry Garforth, April 2006

Not posted

St John the Baptism Manayunk — since 1831

Posted 1911

Not posted

Posted 1909

Not posted

St. Timothy's Hospital in now The Roxborough Memorial Hospital

Don Duffy, April 2006

Not posted

This may now be the Ridge Avenue United Methodist at 7805 Ridge Ave. at Shawmont Ave., Roxborough

Formerly Used as a Church by Grace Congregation, Roxborough, Phila.

Not posted

Eden Baseball Toxborough Team Manayunk, not dated

The blue "x" shows the 1880 address of Samuel Land and Mary Ann Law Land.

The red "x" shows the 1920 addresses of:

• Samuel Land and Mary Ann Law Land
• Lydia Land and her daughter, Adelaide Land Daniels, and Adelaide's family

The red "x" shows the location of St Timothy's Church where the family of Samuel Land and Mary Ann Law Land and several of their children are buried.

I believe that "MANAYUNK" is in the wrong place. It should be below Manayunk Avenue.

A wool processing mill was built in Manayunk circa 1870 and by the late 1890s Manayunk had become a world class textile center.

The Pennsylvania Railroad came to Manayunk in 1884. In 1898 there were ads for the train to Atlantic City.

A trolly line to center City was completed in 1894.

In 1895 electric trains began replacing horse drawn carts.

Electric lights were available in 1898 from the Wissahickon Electric Light Company.

In 1896 a 6 room house near the RR Station rented for $9.00 per month and was for sale for $800. Other rentals in new houses (no location given) were listed at $12 per month, selling for $1,200 to $1,486.

In 1898 the following rentals were listed:

• 6 room house at 229 Kalos Street $13, per month
• 7 rooms on Umbria Street, $10.00 dollars a month
• 6 rooms on St David's Street, $10 per month

Mortgage rates in 1896 were $2.36 per week for $1,000 and $4.78 per week for $2,000.

It cost $25 for a new square piano and $14.75 for a solid oak bedroom suite.

A plot in west Laurel Hill Cemetery cost from $20 and upwards. There were 14 trains from Manyunk to the cemetery.

In the summer of 1898 it cost 15 cents to go round trip on the Fairmont Steamer. The boat made a circle between Riverside-Strawberry, Belmont, Zoo, Gardens.

Posted 1911

Flat Rock RR tunnel is between exits 337/338 (mileposts) on I-76, the Schuylkill Expressway. Exit 338 is Green Lane/Belmount Avenue, and 337 is Armore. This is very close to the Schuylkill River across from Manayunk section of Philly. On a map, look for RR tracks which disappear across the Schuylkill Expressway. That's the tunnel.

West Manayunk, PA seems to be a valid Mapquest name, and is in Montgomery County, earer toÊexit 338 than 337. You will see there is a Flat Rock Road, NW of West Manayunk (Left ). Which is parrallel to Hallow Road. Flat Rock Road deadends into Hagy's-Ford Road.

MarcZ

January 2008

The Philadelphia Zoo opened July 1, 1874. It was the first zoo in America.

The zoo was accessible by steamers on the Schuylkill River.

Not posted

Not dated. Printed on back

Henry Avenue Bridge was erected in 1932 at a cost of over $2,000,000. It is of Masonry constrution 915 feet long, 84 feet wide and 185 feet above water level in Wissahickon Creek. One of the most beautiful bridges in the city it connects Roxborough and Germantown.

Thanks to Don Duffy, April, 2006

Not posted.

Not dated.

The Wissahickon River runs along the Wissahickon Valley through Fairmount Park. This area of Fairmount Park formed the northeast boundry of Manayunk/Roxborough. The Wissihickon was popular for boating in the summer and skating in the winter.

Not posted. Copyright 1905.

Not posted.

The bridge is the Reading Railroad Bridge.

Don Duffy, April 2006

Copyright 1907 by Taylor Art Co. Not posted.

Dated October 12, 1906

Manayunk lies northwest of the city center along the Schuylkill River, just outside of Fairmount Park.

Post marked 1911.

Posted in 1905

"The intersection shown is East (Kelly) River Drive and Brewery Hill Drive."

MarcZ, December 2007

Printed on the back of the card,

"Drive in East Fairmont Park, beginning at Girard Avenue and extending north to the Wissahickon, among the most romantic and picturesque scenery."

"East Side looking South

P & R RR Bridge

Girard Bridge is in the background"

Artist redrew the blocks of the P & R RR Bridge"

Not posted

No date.

Posted 1911

The following four photos were taken in July 1923 in what appears to be changes planned by the railroad. These photos where attached to the map dated 8-22-23.

Written in the smaller block outlined in green "Box 2613-12"

Written in the largest block outlined in red "ROXBOROUGH R. R. CO."

Henry H. Houston, who was a Pennsylvania Railroad Company Director from 1881-1895, was instrumental in developing a plan to acquire substantial land holdings in upper Roxborough. The acquisitions were in anticipation of building a new railroad extension into the territory.

It was named The Roxborough Railroad. The new line was to branch off the Chestnut Hill Line, constructed in 1884. The railroad extension was never built, but land was acquired and the map you show on your site was evidently part of the planned land acquisitions.

Although existing on paper until 1926, it was dissolved by the Pennsylvania Railroad on August 16, 1926.

Henry H. Houston was very successful in developing land acquisitions in Chestnut Hill after train service was commenced in 1884.

The Lands lived in the Roxborough/Manayunk section of Philadelphia which is somewhere in the distance of this photo.

Not posted.

Go to Philadelphia Museum of Art for a history of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

No date.

Post marked 1918.

Post marked 1907.

Post marked 1904.

Post marked 1913.

Not dated.

Not dated.

Not dated.

Anita McKelvey sent the following helpful email in December 2007:

The best and most comprehensive database of photos is the city-owned website Philly History. Sometimes, accessing the database can be a little tough, trying to find what you're looking for, but it's a treasure trove once you get the hang of it.

About two years ago, the City got funding to web publish its entire Street's Department photo archive, which dates from 1840! From photography's earliest days, the City's Street's Department took photos to document road repairs, building demolitions, city-managed construction projects and the like. As a result, the City archives hold over 2 million images. To date, the website has maybe 50,000 images available online but it continuously adds a couple thousand more each month.

I tell tourists (I'm in the cultural heritage tourism business -- Day Trips And More) that if they want to see what Phila looked like in the old days, to simply google --"historic Philadelphia photos." At least a dozen terrific photo websites are online.

Universities such as Penn, Bryn Mawr, Temple and others, have all put their photo archives online free for public access. Also, the Historical Society of PA, the Library Company of Phila, and the Free Library of Phila also have their photo archives online. Here are the three best, after the City archive collection.

Bryn Mawr

Places in Time: Front door Link to the City of Philadelphia's Photo Archive web site, a searchable, GIS-linked database of photographs, many historic, from the City's collections

Jefferson:

Philadelphia Historical Digital Image Library C1-013, Art/Photo Collection, Thomas Jefferson University Archives, Philadelphia, PA. For images from collections at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia Library:

FLP - Historical Images of Philadelphia