Cheltenham Township

Beginning in the 1700s, water from the Tookany Creek powered mills throughout what became Cheltenham Township. Following the coming of the railroad in 1855 and the end of the Civil War, many of the wealthy in Philadelphia moved to the area to establish summer homes and, later, permanent residences. Home to early abolitionist Lucretia Mott and Camp William Penn, the nation's largest training ground for black Union troops, Cheltenham Township today remains a diverse community with a rich history. Cheltenham Township is the first comprehensive photographic history of this Philadelphia suburb. From the early days of mill towns along the Tookany Creek to the vast estates built by the fabulously wealthy at the end of the nineteenth century, Cheltenham Township captures all the towns and villages that comprise the township. The histories of Wyncote, Cheltenham Village, Elkins Park, Glenside, Melrose Park, and LaMott are brought into focus with many rare and unpublished photographs. Pictured are the early homes of Richard Wall and Toby Leech and the later mansions of the Widener, Elkins, Stetson, and Cooke families, as well as the fire companies, businesses, schools, people, and institutions that define the history of Cheltenham Township.

From its founding in 1687 by Quaker settlers searching for religious freedom, Cheltenham Township has been a hub for social history and change. On the edge of Philadelphia, the township was a rallying point for fiery abolitionists such as Lucretia Mott, the sight of the first African American Civil War camp and a retreat for Gilded Age tycoons. Local historian Donald Scott Sr. has compiled a series of vignettes to chronicle the history of a small but influential township from its earliest days and into the twentieth century. With tales of a locally born ice cream empire, the early life of Baseball Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson and an exploration of striking neighborhood architecture, Scott pays homage to this remarkable community.

This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.