Families and Neighbors – The Ties That Bind

       Powelton’s history includes a surprising number of prominent individuals. However, the lives of the majority of Poweltonians have never been chronicled. Despite this, the histories of many families have emerged. One such family is the Butler-Dent family, three generations of whom lived in the same house in Powelton over a period of about 100 years.
       James P. Butler was born in Connecticut about 1821. In 1850, he was living in Philadelphia. He went through a number of occupations: “cork henster” (whatever that is), bookbinder, coal dealer, and silversmith and jeweler. His first wife, Emma M. Foering, died in 1858 at age 33 leaving him with two young daughters, Mary Ella (born 1853) and Fanny (1856). He soon married Mary Baker.  In 1860, they moved to 3401 Baring St. and about 1862-‘63, they moved to 202 N. 35th St. where the family lived for about 100 years.
       About 1871, his daughter, Mary Ella Butler, married Joseph H. Dent. Dent was orphaned at a young age.  His parents, Elizabeth and Joseph W. Dent, a gold beater, apparent died in the 1850s.  In 1860, Joseph, age 10, was living with his aunt and uncle, Lydia (Hansell) and Samuel Lloyd.  Lloyd was a successful brick maker.  At age 10, Joseph was listed in the census with real estate valued at $10,000.  In 1870, he and the Lloyd family were living at 3322 Bridge (Spring Garden) St. and he was working as a store clerk.
       Mary and Joseph Dent had three children: Mary (1872), Joseph (about 1873), and Ella (1877). They also lost an infant son in 1876 when they were living at 3626 Powelton Ave. Joseph began working as a real estate agent. Tragedy struck again in 1879 when Joseph died suddenly. In 1880, Mary and the three children were living with her parents at 202 N. 35th St.
       In 1900, James Butler (now 77) and Mary (80) were still living with Mary Dent and her two daughters. Grandson Joseph H. Dent was a 2nd Lieutenant in the U. S. Army living in the Philippines where the Philippines-American War was just coming to an end. On August 28, 1902, the New York Times reported

The best man,  Roswell (Ross) E. Williams, Jr., was Dent's cousin who lived at 46 N. 36th St..
        What the Times failed to mention is that the Savage family was just in Atlantic City for the summer. They lived at 3425 Race St., right across 35th St. from the Butler and Dent families.  Anna Savage was the daughter of Albert and Ida Savage. Albert was born in Virginia in 1859. It appears that he was practicing law in 1880, but by 1900 he no longer listed an occupation. They moved to Powelton about 1898.
       James Butler died in 1901 at 78 and Mary died two years later at 83. In 1930, Mary Dent was 76 and living in her parents house at 202 N. 35th St. with her daughters. Mary Emma and Ella were 57 and 52 and neither had married. Mary Emma worked as a public school teacher and then at the Board of Education. Ella never listed an occupation.
       Meanwhile, their brother, Joseph, remained in the Army until 1909. In 1910, he and Anna were living with her maternal grandparents in Baltimore. Joseph worked as a bookkeeper and, later, an auditor. When he died in the 1920s around age 50, Anna moved back to Philadelphia with three of their five children.
       In 1950, Anna Savage Dent (age 65) was living at 3425 Race St. where she spent her adolescence. Her sister-in-law, Mary E. Dent was still living across the street in her grandfather’s house where she had lived almost all of her 74 years.
       It is many families like these that make Powelton a village.

A shorter version of this appeared in the Powelton Post, January, 2012

100 Years Ago in Powelton: The New Friends' School Building

The Philadelphia Inquirer carried the following story on September 25, 1901:

 “FRIENDS’ NEW SCHOOL BUILDING

   “The Friends’ West Philadelphia School building, at Thirty-fifth and Lancaster avenue, is fast nearing completion and will be ready for occupancy, it is believed, by Oct. 14.  The building is thoroughly modern, and the committee in charge has given special care to the heating, ventilation, and plumbing arrangements.  The drinking water for the entire plant will be filtered through stone and boiled before it enters the coolers.

   “This building will now comfortably accommodate 165 pupils, divided into kindergarten, primary and intermediate grades, promoting finally to the Friends’ Central School at Fifteenth and Race streets, of which graded system it is a part.  The principal is now enrolling pupils at her temporary office, 3507 Lancaster avenue, where she or her assistants may be consulted between the hours of 8:30 A. M. and 4 P. M. every weekday except Saturday.”

Note: the arrangements for clean water were especially important.  There was a serious problem with typhoid fever until Philadelphia finally completed the installation of sand filters for the city's water supply in  1912 and began chlorination in 1913.

Of Church and Family

The growth of Powelton after 1860 was reflected in the growth of its churches. The two most prominent reminders of that are the Metropolitan Baptist church, which was originally the Northminster Presbyterian Church, and St. Andrew and Monica’s Protestant Episcopal Church. Both churches were originally small congregations serving the population of Mantua. Powelton families played central roles in the growth of both after 1860. The long-term association of the Andrews family with Northminster Presbyterian is a part of that story.

Northminster Presbyterian Church c1900

Northminster Presbyterian began about 1837 as a small “Sabbath-school” that met at a house near 33rd and Spring Garden Sts. In 1846, it moved to a new, small church at 3500 Spring Garden which is still in use as a church today. It was organized under the name The First Presbyterian Church of Mantua. With the growth of Powelton, the church purchased the lot at 3500 Baring St. and in 1875 they moved into the substantial building we see today. With the declining importance of Mantua, the church was renamed Northminster Presbyterian. (More information about its history is available from the Interactive Map for 3500 Baring St.)

Undoubtedly there were many families in Mantua and Powelton that played important roles in the growth of Northminster Presbyterian. However, one family in particular seems to have been at the center of the church’s growth after 1860. The Alexander Andrews family was one of the first to move into the heart of Powelton. One daughter married the pastor who oversaw the building of the new church and the other daughter married a future treasurer and elder of the church.

Alexander Andrews (1812-1887)

Alexander J. Andrews was born in 1812 in Upper Oxford, Chester Co., Pa. In 1838, he married Amelia D. Van Amringe of Philadelphia. Her father was born in the Netherlands and her mother was born in England. Both parents died before her 10th birthday. Alexander worked as an engraver in Philadelphia and as a machinist and machine manufacturer in Providence, R.I. and Philadelphia. In 1851, his business failed wiping out his resources. In 1856, he turned to the grain business at 31st and Market Sts. and from then on, he was quite successful.

Amelia Van Amringe Andrews (1810-1873)

In 1859, the family acquired the land at 3507 Baring St. through a trust administered for Amelia by Henry S. Cochran. (This was not the Henry Cochran who later built a house down the block at 3511 Baring St.) In the 1860 census, Amelia claimed $8,000 in real estate and $1,000 in personal property. Alexander didn’t list any assets. When they moved to the north side of Baring St., the south side of the block and most of the neighboring blocks were probably still wooded lots.
In 1866, their daughter, Louisa (age 19), married Rev. Henry Augustus Smith, D.D., Pastor of the First Mantua Presbyterian Church (also called the New School Presbyterian Church) at 35th & Spring Garden. In 1870, he oversaw the purchase of the lot at 3500 Baring St. across the street from the Andrews home. The new church, now named Northminster Presbyterian, was opened there in 1875. Henry and Louisa lived at 3413 Hamilton St. with their son and two daughters. Louisa died in the late 1870s and in 1880, Henry and the three children (ages 11, 8, and 4) were living at 3705 Hamilton St. He resigned his pastorate at the Northminster Church in 1882 claiming ill health. He died the next year at age 50.

The Andrews’ second child, Frederick, was born in 1851. He entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1867, but left after his freshman year. In 1869, his father built a new warehouse and grain elevator at the southwest corner of 30th and Market St. He made Fred a partner and renamed the business Alexander J. Andrews & Son. Fred married Mary Schoonmaker, the daughter of a prominent Civil War hero and business man from Pittsburg. They moved to Haverford. In 1900, they were living Plainfield, N.J. where he was in the produce exchange business.

Amelia Andrews died in 1873 at age 63. In 1882, Frederick and Euretta sold 3507 Baring St. which they had inherited from their mother. Alexander was apparently retired and living with either Fred in Haverford or Euretta on 35th St. Alexander Andrews died in 1887.

Euretta Andrews Alexander (1853-1823)

The year following her mother’s death, their second daughter, Euretta (age 20), married Edward P. Alexander. He had been living with his brothers, Charles and Henry, at 3626 Baring St. They ran Alexander Brothers Leather Belting Co. In 1873, Edward had purchased the back of the church’s lot from the Northminster Church of which he was a prominent member. Edward and Euretta built a house there (306 N. 35th St.), renovated it several times, and lived there until 1922. Euretta died the next year at age 70.

Edward P. Alexander (1844-1927)

Edward and Euretta Alexander were active members of Northampton Presbyterian. In 1873, a list of churches contributing to temperance meetings lists Edward as treasurer of Northampton. In 1891, he was elected one of the three church elders and in 1897, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a candidate for the position of pastor was entertained at the Alexander’s home. (The candidate was apparently unsuccessful.) Edward and Euretta had four children: two boys and two girls. Both sons went into the family business.

One son, Julian, married a local girl, Virginia Hill, at Northminster Presbyterian in 1914. Virginia grew up at 3416 Baring St. and her father, Horace G. Hill, grew up at 3405 Hamilton St. Her grandfather, Horace Hill was an accountant and served as auditor for several Presbyterian churches in Philadelphia. Horace G. Hill was a physician at Jefferson hospital and chief medical director of Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance. He died in 1901 at age 42 from “la grippe.” At the time of the marriage, Virginia’s mother was living at 409 N. 36th St.

After Julian and Virginia were married, they moved into their new home at 3417 Race St. They had two daughters, Juliana and Louisa, who were the great-granddaughters of Poweltonians Alexander and Amelia Andrews and Horace and Mary Hill. Virginia was still living at 3417 Race St. in 1950. 

Northminster Presbyterian moved to Drexel Hill in 1956, taking the church’s cherished bells from the tower. In 1975, they merged with St. Paul’s United Church of Christ to form the Collenbrook United Church. The church at 3500 Baring was sold to Metropolitan Baptist church in 1956.

Erratum: Julian and Virginia Alexander had a son and a daughter, Julian and Louisa.  (10/2/2012)

Something Noticed While Walking the Dog My Architectural Archeologist, Scott Ryder, has discovered signs of past civilization. Actually, remains of a large house that stood at 3500 Powelton before the Courts were built. Having discovered that the Du Pont family once occupied this site, he went about looking for any remaining physical evidence of that time. After passing the site numerous times, he noticed that the granite curbing around the original footprint of the property is quite a bit larger and of a better quality than what we usually see. It extends about three quarters of the 3500 block of Powelton and south down 35th St. to the property line of the Courts Apartments. At that point you can see the original curb cut for the carriage entrance. The drive is shown on the 1872 Hopkins map (at the right). At that time the site was owned by Dr. W. A. Pieper. In 1881, the Du Pont family purchased this lot and the lot to the west and enlarged the house. Our investigations continue.