A brief history of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania : from farmland to suburb / Lewis and Trudy Keen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Keen, Lewis.

Contributor:

Keen, Trudy.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Real estate development.

History.

Historic buildings.

Fort Washington (Pa.)--History.

Fort Washington (Pa.).

Fort Washington (Pa.)--History--Pictorial works.

Historic buildings--Pennsylvania--Fort Washington.

Buildings--Pennsylvania--Fort Washington.

Buildings.

Pennsylvania--Fort Washington.

Real estate development--Pennsylvania--Fort Washington--History.

Genre:

Illustrated works.

Physical Description:

127 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Charleston, SC : History Press, 2006.

Summary:

Revolutionary War historians know Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, as the site where George Washington successfully repelled the British before moving on to Valley Forge. The Fort Washington of that day featured a landscape dominated by farmland, but the beauty of the area and its proximity to burgeoning Philadelphia ensured that it would not remain rural for long.

Less than a hundred years after the crack of Patriot muskets reverberated through Fort Washington, the area grew into a thriving summer resort, and was well on its way to becoming an early Philadelphia suburb. As a playground for elite Philadelphians before the end of the nineteenth century, Fort Washington became the location for lavish summer homes and year-round estates. The popularity of the area continued to increase, and soon a thriving middle class developed, changing the face of Fort Washington and producing dozens of grand Victorian homes that survive to this day.

A Brief History of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania: From Farmland to Suburb, by local historians Lewis and Trudy Keen, tells the story of Fort Washington that few know. Drawing on a wealth of original documents, this look at Fort Washington's colorful past provides an accessible account of the people, events, homes and businesses that have made this area of Pennsylvania a prosperous and vibrant community.

Contents:

The early years : farmland and post railroad development

Along the pike

Large estates in and around Fort Washington

The boom years of the Heights, 1885-1910

The first suburbanites in the Heights

The Bodenstein family

Chronology and inventory of Fort Washington Heights

The properties of Fort Washington Height.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1596291273

OCLC:

65425772