UPDATE (July 12, 2017): Thanks to reader George Lane, we have a picture of the "flying horses" (aka a merry go round) built in 1873 at Schuetzen Park. According to George, the pic is of the newly built merry go round (also called 'flying horses') in Sept. 1873. While the men were shooting, the women and children enjoyed the other features of the park. To see the original, check out George's Flickr. Thank you very much George for the...
Fallsers know him, but unless you were born here or happen to collect Big Band records, the name "Harry Prime" might've slipped under your musical radar. What a shame. UPDATE June 17, 2017: Harry Prime passed away Thursday, June 15, 2017. Born on March 5, 1920, Harry spent his final years with his family in Pennsylvania. He was a graduate of St. Bridget's Elementary and Roman Catholic High School. Services and interment will be private at the...
Local newspapers are a great source of juicy neighborhood details you won't find anywhere else. During the Golden Age of Newspapers -- from the arrival of the "penny paper" in the 1830's to the dawn of radio in the 1930's -- hundreds of newspapers covered all aspects of Philadelphia culture and society. Historical tidbits about Hohenadels in East Falls recently came our way, compliments of EastFallsHouse friend John C. Hohenadel (!!) from...
It’s amazing what kind of history you can find under your feet. Aaron Bechtel, bottle collector and local historian, made his first find by accident in 2006 on a hike in the Wissahickon. He happened to look below him while crossing a bridge, and noticed a vast old dump of glass demijohns (3 - 5 gallon bottles) sticking out of the ground. Though most were smashed, five were intact. He studied the bottles for clues online, and discovered they...
Thank you, John C. Hohenadel of Lancaster, PA -- a distant relative of our own "brewer branch" here in East Falls. He's been collecting Hohenadel breweriana for over 30 years, and also has uncovered lots of interesting clippings he's been so very kind to share with us. Here's one from a break & enter at the mansion on Indian Queen Lane (from the Evening Public Ledger, January 26, 1918): THIEVES OPERATE WHILE FAMILY IS ATTENDING...
East Falls House joins forces with another Hohenadel -- this one keenly interested in her family background. So far we've only made first contact, stay tuned as our story develops to present a clearer picture of these German immigrants who built a small local empire with their native brew. Our recent email exchange bodes well: October 22, 2014: Dear East Falls House, My name is Bridget Fichera. I am an amateur genealogist living in Connecticut...
Our local ghost stories continue with this latest tale from the Evening Bulletin, April 8 1932, about the ghost of a sad, suicidal tenant who once boarded there with early Rittenhouses. Rittenhouse is of course a huuuuuge name in Philadelphia -- not just in Center City where David has his own square, but here in our Wissahickon, early Rittenhouses built America's first paper mill in what's now a National Historic Landmark off Lincoln...
Back in August, we discovered an article in an old Penn Charter Newsletter that interviewed John Jacob Hohenadel, Jr -- grandson of John W. Hohenadel who ran the brewery at the height of its success in the early 20th century. When speaking with the author, we learned John Jacob Jr was alive and well: a retired office equipment wholesaler in Greenwich, CT. Of course we chatted him up! We briefed him on his family's significance in East Falls,...
These ghost stories come to us from the Chadwick Papers -- clippings from the now-defunct local newspaper "The Suburban Press" by the paper's editor in the 1930's, Alex C. Chadwick. Transcribed and unedited, below, they're a time capsule of sorts for scary storytelling 75 years ago. The old man narrative is archetypal, and then his fantastical descriptions seem kinda child-like and not terribly scary to modern sensibilities (turtle feet? lobster...
Q: How do you turn German beer into American beer? A: Drink it. Poor American lager. A whole generation of craft beer lovers grew up associating this once-noble Old World recipe with the thin, low-alcohol stuff favored by rednecks and underage drinkers. In truth, New World lager is an exciting German-American hybrid: their recipe, our ingredients. American beer at the turn of the 20th century was a proud product of artisanal brewers, made with...
