Events – Past and Future

On Thursday, November 9, the East Falls Historical Society presented a program and tour of the Iron Works at Pencoyd Landing. Stephen Gibson, the Chief Architect of the Penn Real Estate Group, reviewed the history of the Pencoyd Iron Works. The program ended with a tour of the hotel and the former office of the Iron Works.

What do the Niagara Falls Bridge, the Chicago “L” and the main building of the Philadelphia Centennial have in common? Their steel was produced at the Pencoyd Iron Works in Bala Cynwyd. Established in 1852 as a specialty iron and steel foundry, at its peak the firm employed thousands of workers. It not only made the steel, but came to also design and build bridges all over America.

Pencoyd Iron Works has been re-imagined as a modern destination by the Penn Real Estate Group, which received a Preservation Achievement Award. The site is home to the Residence Inn by Marriott and two restaurants – The Landing Kitchen, a daytime café with indoor and outdoor seating, and Lark, located on the seventh floor. The original (1880s?) office building for the Iron Works, which may have been designed by Frank Furness, was damaged in a catastrophic fire in 1997, but is now home to the Penn Real Estate Group, which completed an award-winning historic restoration of the interior and exterior. This building will be included in our tour.

Although you can get to Ironworks at Pencoyd Landing from Bala Cynwyd, “the only truly spectacular arrival is from the Philadelphia side” (wrote the Inquirer’s Inga Saffron) by the pedestrian and automobile bridge from the parking lot at 3720 Main St. in Manayunk, near the state store and movie theater [Google Map]. This steel truss bridge once connected the Pencoyd main plant with some secondary buildings on the Philadelphia side.

We hope many EFHS members will take advantage of this opportunity!

Registration is required; please email to eastfallshistory@gmail.com. Then pay in cash at the door ($10 for members of the EFHS; $15 for non-members).

Click to download flyer (PDF)

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Saturday, October 21, 2023, 10 AM

 The John Dobson Walking Tour

No one was more important to the town known as Falls of Schuylkill (now East Falls) than John Dobson, one of the two Dobson brothers who created the immense Dobson textile mills, which employed thousands of “Fallsers” from the mid-nineteenth century into the 1920s. Many of the homes in which today’s Fallsers now live, and local storefront shops, were built by John Dobson, who became a major landowner in our area.

On this tour, guides Steven J. Peitzman and Nancy Pontone will relate the life of Dobson, from childhood mill worker in Oldham, England, to young immigrant to America and volunteer captain during the Civil War, and finally, to wealthy manufacturer, real estate magnate, and builder. We will see structures he built along Ridge Avenue and Westmoreland Street, remnants of the once sprawling Dobson Mills, a surviving building from his former estate, and more. Participants will also learn about some of the architectural styles found in East Falls.

$10 for current EFHS Members
$15 for all others

No pre-registration needed. Meet at 10:00 AM sharp at southeast corner of Ridge and Midvale Avenues (by LeBus).

The tour goes on unless the morning brings heavy rain.

Click to download flyer (PDF)
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Saturday, April 15, 2023 at 10 am

Walking Tour of Historic Mt. Vernon Cemetery

Join us for a Walking Tour of Historic Mt. Vernon Cemetery  (the burial place of John Barrymore), Now under restoration.

Led by Historian Brandon Zimmerman

Note: This walk will encounter some uneven ground!

Click here for photos of the tour, and more.

Download PDF flyer
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Wednesday, March 22, 2023

The Irish in America – The Kellys of East Falls

During  the nineteenth century, no ethnic group populated the Falls of  Schuylkill so much as the Irish. Many Irish immigrants, and their  daughters and sons, found work at the immense textile mills of John and  James Dobson. Some had likely been skilled weavers in Ireland. Other  Irish immigrants escaping the famine worked as laborers, or as domestics  and stablemen at the country estates along School House Lane. The Irish  of the Falls founded St. Bridget Church. Soon, the Irish of growing Philadelphia learned a variety of trades. Several became prominent contractors, such as John B. Kelly, father of Grace. 

Mary Burke, Professor of English at the University of  Connecticut, will discuss Irish identity and the Kellys of East Falls,  with a focus on Grace’s uncle, the Pulitzer-prize  winning playwright George Kelly. She will also tell us about Philip  Barry, another Irish-American playwright, whose 1939 play “The  Philadelphia Story” was reworked into “High Society,” the hit musical  whose cast included Grace Kelly. The title of Mary Burke’s presentation  is “Grace Kelly, George Kelly and Philip Barry in their Irish-American Contexts.” 

Burke is the author of the recently published Race, Politics, and Irish America – A Gothic History.

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Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023

East Falls: An Historical Overview

An illustrated Zoom lecture presented by Steven J. Peitzman

Click here for YouTube  video of presentation.

This  overview will trace the neighborhood’s development, literally from the  river up the hill—the early mills, factories, and breweries and, later,  the residential and institutional development. Early images of East  Falls will punctuate the talk.

The  now submerged falls on the Schuylkill River, about five miles from  central Philadelphia, once provided splendid scenery and excellent  fishing (well-known to the Lenape, our predecessors). Several mills  built as early as the late 1600s on the lower Wissahickon Creek and on  Falls Run added industry to recreation and tourism. With the 19th  century came a railroad, steam, and the immense Dobson Mills, which made  blankets for the Union Army, and carpets for everyone else. The “Falls  Village” became a busy, smoky mill town—”Falls of Schuylkill”—dense with  workers’ rowhouses. But how did the renamed East Falls survive the  closing of the mills, which at its peak employed 6000 women, men, and  children, and find a new way to flourish?

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2022

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Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022

Grand Re-Opening of the Grace Kelly Gallery

On Saturday, November 12th, the birthdate of  Princess Grace of Monaco, the East Falls Historical Society is planning a  gala celebration of the reinstallation of the Grace Kelly Gallery at  our new location, The Apartments at Henry Avenue, 3232 Henry Avenue from  1 to 4 pm. The cost is $20 for EFHS members, $25 for guests. Free  parking is available onsite.

Guests  will stroll through the gallery exhibit while enjoying sumptuous hors  d’oeuvres, sparkling wine and more. The self-guided tour includes Grace  Kelly artifacts – movie posters, dolls dressed in costumes from Grace’s  films, photographs, plates and textiles designed by Grace, and many  signed Christmas cards and letters. Old movie footage of Grace’s life  will be presented to the sound of period music.

The  space was granted to EFHS by NewCourtland at the completion of Phase 1a  of the Apartments at Henry Avenue. As NewCourtland is graciously  co-sponsoring this event, residents will be invited as special guests. 

Reservations are required by November 4. 

To order by mail  – $20 per EFHS member, $25 for others – please make checks payble to East Falls Historical Society and mail to Katy Hineline, 600 E. Cathedral Road, Apt. D305, Philadelphia, PA, 19128.  Include names for name tags.

To order online,  CLICK HERE to pay by credit or debit card, or by PayPal.  Be sure to enter names for name tags when asked.   No tickets will be sent; just give your name at the event.

Ticket purchases are not tax-deductible. 
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