Zeroing in on the House's Construction Date, Part 2 (Andrew F. Gutekunst)

This is Part 2 of a short series focusing in on my house's assumed construction date between 1922 and 1924. For an overview given in Part 1, see here. 
This article will focus on the real estate transactions of local North Glenside flooring contractor Andrew F. Gutekunst, one candidate out of three possibilities who had my home built. The goal of this exercise is to provide additional and specific context around my home's origin in order to hopefully narrow that construction date even further.

What I knew before this focused exercise, based on some fairly basic chain of title research for my property, is that Andrew F. Gutekunst owned the property from November 1923 to October 1924. He bought the property for $650 and sold it at the end of that short span for $5,500. However, he simultaneously leveraged the property for a $3,800 mortgage upon purchasing it, suggesting that the increase in value within a year is not as dramatic as it seems at first glance.

As described in Part 1, further searches of deed and mortgage indexes for Gutekunst related to properties in Abington Township yielded the following:

• Grantee on eight (8) deed between 1923 and 1928, plus two more in the 1940's
• Grantor on six (6) deeds in 1923 and 1924, plus three more from 1930-1947
• Mortgagor on eight (8) mortgages from 1921 to 1924

How This Information Was Analyzed

A more detailed breakdown and summary of these transactions is included in the following table:

This table organizes all of Gutekunst's recorded transactions by current address. The reason for this is simple-- the 22 recorded documents were the result of transactions involving only nine (9) current properties as they exist today. This allows me to examine when Andrew Gutekunst acquired each property, for how long he owned it, and whether or not he mortgaged each property.

Next, I ventured to specifically locate each property on three maps: a current Google Maps satellite image, a 1927 historical atlas map, and a 1937 historical atlas map. By using the legal description of each property as spelled out in the deeds, I can pinpoint the exact property as it exists today on Google Maps. Then, I can find the same property on the two atlas maps. Why did I choose these two years? If you'll notice in the table above, Gutekunst was most active in the specific years of 1923 and 1924. By locating the lots on maps in 1927 and 1937 (the two closest dates available), I can get a good sense of whether or not Gutekunst may have built houses on these properties or whether he was simply making a short-term investment as values increased in the neighborhood. Note that there is also a 1916 map for my area, but it depicts the neighborhood as it existed before it was largely subdivided around 1920, so none of these lots would have had houses on them in that year.

There are two properties on Cricket Avenue, adjacent properties no less, where Gutekunst came into ownership in the 1940's. Although I will describe them below since they do complete the picture of Gutekunst's local real estate dealings, these are less relevant to the task at hand due to the timeframe. One was actually his own residence, previously owned by his father, Frederick William Gutekunst. 

Some quick, general observations based on the table I've constructed. First, nearly all of these properties are within the block closest to the main arterial road of Jenkintown Road. The exception is very close to Limeklin Pike (at 257-263 Maple Ave), the arterial road at the south end of the neighborhood. Maps show that the earliest development occurred closest to these two roads, and Gutekunst's affinity was no exception. Second, Gutekunst appears to have purchased 3 lots directly from Reginald Ferguson, the originator of the Ferguson's North Glenside subdivision. With one exception (that same 257-263 Maple Ave), Gutekunst dealt entirely in land within this subdivision. It seems clear that this man was delving into something new to him, and perhaps he gained a greater comfort level by keeping his investments very close to home. He was age 25 in 1921 at the time of his first purchase. Now, onto the properties:

657 Jackson Avenue

This is Gutekunst's first investment, acquiring the lot directly from Ferguson in September 1921. Although the financial consideration of his purchase is not fully disclosed in the deed, Gutekunst did mortgage the property to a man named Sigurd Larsen in exchange for $2,500 within days of his land acquisition. Larsen may have been a long-time associate (it appears they may have worked at the same company as machinists as of 1917), as A.F. Gutekunst would later buy a different plot of land directly from Mr. Larsen in the 1940's. He further took out an additional $1,000 mortgage with a Building and Loan corporation a year later in 1922. There is a curious set of deed transactions on this property in June of 1923, with Gutekunst conveying the land to a Ms. Edith S. Mattson, a real estate stenographer of nearby Rockledge, then receiving it back from her one day later. Gutekunst ultimately sold the property to Frederick Locher for an undisclosed sum in July 1924.

Did Andrew Gutekunst build the home we see here today in the picture above? The amounts listed in each transaction are of little real help to us as they remain as murky as several other transactions involving $1 consideration amounts, plus with a few mortgages to boot. However, the house does exist on both the 1927 and 1937 maps. But, I was able to make a key discovery in the form of a newspaper advertisement in the Philadelphia Inquirer from May 7, 1922:

Bingo! This is absolutely a match for this property-- the house that exists on this land today fits well with the description given in the ad: an 8-room "semi-bungalow" (bigger than a typical bungalow, often two stories). The lot described in the property deeds is exactly 60x129, matching the ad. The use of the word "cheap" is interesting. This ad confirms to me that this house was completed by May 1922. The only reason I can't definitively peg this "new" home as having been built during Gutekunst's ownership is that he bought it only 8 months prior to taking out this ad. He easily could have bought it as a brand new house already and well within his rights continued to claim it as a new house in selling it. Given his $2,500 mortgage of the property upon his purchase, I'm guessing that's exactly what he did, taking it slow in the real estate game for his first property.

628 Maple Avenue

A.F. Gutekunst acquired this property in June 1923, right around the time when the mysterious transactions for the Jackson Ave house appear with Ms. Mattson. He acquired a separate double-wide lot on Maple Ave near Limekiln Pike this same month (see below). As for this lot at 628 Maple, Gutekunst again acquired it directly from Reginald Ferguson, and this time he had a partner. This partner was a Mr. William Brosz, a carpenter!!!

Did Gutekunst and Brosz work together to build this house in 1923? Well, they owned the lot less than 3 months. It doesn't seem like enough time even with a skilled carpenter on board. But maybe... maybe plans were in the works prior to buying from Ferguson and who knows, maybe they even had a deal worked out with Ferguson to start early (I think I'm reaching). Gutekunst obtained a mortgage on this property as well, for $2,500, and the partnership sold it in September of that year to a Nelson Mathis for an undisclosed amount. Mr. Mathis took out a $4,500 mortgage immediately, so a short-term bump in value of $2,000 may have been achieved here. The house does show up on both the 1927 and 1937 maps.

Look at the photo above of the house as it exists today. It has clearly been modified to a great extent over its life-- a second story has been added, and the front porch has been enclosed. But if you take away those two things, I see ALOT of similarities to my own house on Central Avenue-- the hipped roof over the front porch, the width of the house, and the existence of a projecting bay on the first floor left side of the house. It's just something to keep in mind... another "maybe" here.

257-263 Maple Avenue

Gutekunst and Brosz had a busy summer in 1923, as they also together acquired this double-wide lot further to the southwest on Maple Ave, near Limekiln Pike and outside of Ferguson's subdivision. This time, they bought from a Samuel Thompson, and the consideration amount is actually provided in the deed this time, for $1,550. However, another deed shows up shortly thereafter granting Brosz's half-share entirely to Gutekunst for slightly more than half the original investment-- $800. It's hard to know what happened here that caused Andrew Gutekunst to buy out his partner's half-- maybe they had a falling out, or maybe Brosz only wanted to build and not take on the risk of ownership/investment. Coupled with the previous property above, we have a partnership between Gutekunst and a carpenter that lasted, on record at least, only 3 months.

As for the houses that sit on these two now-separate lots today, I'm somewhat baffled. At first, you might imagine my excitement upon seeing nearly identical houses which I knew were owned and possibly built by the same person(s) in Gutekunst/Brosz. However, the house you see on the left, #263, appears on both the 1927 and 1937 maps, whereas #257 on the right appears only in 1937. Andrew Gutekunst mortgaged these properties heavily, in total to the amount of $25,000 through four separate mortgages over the next year, before selling the property to a local business, Glenside Lumber and Coal Company, in November 1924, for a total of $5,400.

I can't quite fathom the possibility that these two houses were built very far apart chronologically as suggested by the 1927 map-- they just look too similar. The theory I am running with, for now, is that Glenside Lumber and Coal Co. erected the houses, starting with #263 and completing it in time for the first atlas map (likely by 1926), with the neighboring house following shortly thereafter, maybe within a year or so after the map publisher finished their survey. All told, I believe that Andrew Gutekunst did not play a part in building these houses, although the incredible amount he borrowed via mortgage of the property is a huge mystery here. He must have improved the property in some way.

502 Central Avenue

My house is within walking distance of all these other Gutekunst-held properties. Andrew Gutekunst came into ownership in November 1923, and it was a sole venture after absolving his ownership ties with carpenter William Brosz. He acquired the property from local real estate broker Harry Renninger for $650 and simultaneously mortgaged it for $3,800. Owning the property for approximately one year, he unloaded it in October 1924 to Anna Coogan for the amount of $5,500.

Did Andrew F. Gutekunst, or someone working for him, build this house during his ownership? If you've been reading this blog to any extent, you know that this is among the foremost unknowns I hope to solve. As I've described previously, the house appears on both the 1927 and 1937 atlas maps, and I feel very confident that it was constructed at the very latest by the end of Gutekunst's sale to Ms. Coogan in October 1924.

647 Jackson Avenue

This property, acquired in May 1924, is located directly adjacent to A.F. Gutekunst's first investment property, which he sold a few months after acquiring this one. Again a sole venture in terms of ownership, it is another which was conveyed directly from Reginald Ferguson, the subdivision's creator.

A bit curiously, a house is shown on the 1927 map but NOT the 1937 map-- I had to check multiple times to be sure I was looking at the same property on both maps. Was an existing house demolished sometime after 1927? Maybe. Perhaps it was a mistake by the atlas map surveyor.

No matter, for now. Mr. Gutekunst, it seems clear, did not erect the house which sits on the property today. Having obtained the property for an disclosed sum, he conveyed it to Glenside Coal and Lumber for $400 on the same day he sold the company his properties at 257-263 Maple. Was November 24, 1924 a day that Andrew Gutekunst, to a large extent, gave up his dabbling in the real estate game? This day, where he offloaded three properties to the same buyer, was his final transaction recorded for several more years.

626 Penn Avenue

In July 1928, Andrew Gutekunst re-entered the marketplace, having acquired an empty lot on Penn Avenue at the west end of the neighborhood. He owned it for less than two months. The true market value is not recorded on either end of his ownership, and it appears that no house existed on this property until the 1950's.

621-631 Cricket Avenue

The house at 621 Cricket Ave (on the right in the photo below) is another outlier to the 1923-24 transactions, as it served as Andrew Gutekunst's personal residence. His father, Frederick William Gutekunst, who like Andrew was listed as a flooring contractor/finisher in several records, was the owner until he conveyed it to Andrew and his wife Olga in 1941. The father did not pass away until 1953, but he was 71 years old at the time of this transaction. It appears that this home had remained in the Gutekunst family until very recently, just last year 2015. It was built prior to 1927.

The house to the left, #631, was likely built in the 1950's, and not by Andrew Gutekunst. He acquired the land in 1946 for the amount of $390 from Sigured Larsen and sold it less than a year later for $600. Both amounts are suggestive of a vacant lot, and no house is shown on the 1927 or 1937 maps. Perhaps Andrew, although having largely given up real estate, happened upon an opportunity to purchase the lot neighboring his and took it.

Observations and Analysis

Below is a much simplified version of the table shown at the beginning of this post:

I did what I set out to do here, which was to get as full a picture as possible of Andrew F. Gutekunst's personal dealings in local real estate. Further, I would contend that I can at the very least draw a reasonable conclusion that he likely did NOT build or have my house built during his ownership of the property. Instead, I am continuing with the theory that at which I arrived after my initial mortgage document analysis-- that the house was probably already there in November 1923.

The simplified table here shows that five (5) houses had been built on properties he owned in time for the 1927 atlas map. His now-discovered business association with the carpenter William Brosz in 1923, within the midst of Gutekunst's whirlwind of the same year, leads me to believe that he did build at least one house with this partner. The apparent dissolution of that ownership partnership, coupled with the fact that I just don't see a huge jump in value over his investment on most of these properties, leads me to infer that A.F. Gutekunst intended to build more houses than he actually did. Until I see more evidence that could suggest the contrary, I believe that my house is a case of him acquiring a recently built home in the rapidly-developing neighborhood and flipping it after a short time for a profit.

Coming soon, I'll do a similar examination of properties in this neighborhood bought and sold by Philadelphia carpenter Jayson Stover in Part 3.

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Zeroing in on the House's Construction Date, Part 1

This is Part 1 of a series of posts focusing in on my house's assumed construction date within the years 1922-1924.

Short of locating an original building permit, a record of one, or some other primary document providing definitive proof, nailing down the construction date of an older house down to the exact year can be quite elusive. For my house, after I completed a chain of title chart based on recorded property deeds, I noted a jump in sales price from $650 in November 1923 to $5,500 less than a year later in October 1924. Such an increase could indicate that the house was constructed within that time frame during Andrew F. Gutekunst's ownership-- $650 is more in line with what an empty lot would have cost in this area at that time, whereas a price tag of a few thousand dollars is in line with what a single-family house would have cost. However, one must be careful with taking this at face value-- several of the deeds in the property's history recorded a consideration amount of only $1, meaning the actual market value is unrecorded.

Mortgage documents associated with the exact same property can be consulted to shed further light on the value, especially in these cases of "$1" transactions. Andrew Gutekunst, although he paid $650 (that we know of) directly to Harry Renninger in November 1923, he also simultaneously took out a mortgage on the property in the amount of $3,800. Whether he used part of these proceeds to compensate Renninger more properly, or used them for some other purpose, is not known, but the fact remains that the property was used as collateral to take out that mortgage-- the subject property is legally described in the mortgage document on record. This is highly suggestive that the property is "worth" at least $3,800 in November 1923, and that the house may have been built prior to that date.

Further clouding the issue is the fact that Harry Renninger bought the property the year prior in December 1922 from Jayson Stover, whom I know was a carpenter by trade. Stover had only owned the property for about 7 months, since May 1922. A shortened timeline presents the basic facts:

• May to December 1922: Jayson Stover, a carpenter who probably would have been capable of building a home in such a time period, owns the property.
• December 1922: Harry Renninger, a real estate broker who conducted many, many transactions, buys the property. The recorded consideration amount is $465, more suggestive of an empty lot value. No mortgage document is associated with this transaction, but note that Renninger may have had the means to compensate Stover a higher unrecorded amount without the use of a mortgage instrument.
• November 1923: Andrew F. Gutekunst, a flooring contractor, buys the property, officially for $650, while simultaneously using the property as collateral for a $3,800 mortgage.
• October 1924: Gutekunst sells the property to Anna Coogan for an official amount of $5,500. I feel very confident that the house was built prior to this date.

These facts give me enough reason to keep the dates from May 1922 to October 1924 as candidates for the actual construction date of the house. This is a relatively satisfactory range (2 year, 5 months), but it spans three different owners. I want to know WHO built this house, and if I can, narrow the WHEN down to a specific year.

So How Can We Narrow This Down Further?

One method is to locate other property deeds and mortgages for these three men-- Jayson Stover, Harry Renninger, and Andrew Gutekunst-- which are unrelated to my specific property. How many other properties were they buying in this general time frame and does it give me any further relevant insight into my own house?? This research will certainly give us more contextual information to consider. Renninger, as I've noted, bought and sold real estate for a living, and was associated with several real estate businesses. Index searches at the Recorder of Deeds yield over 150 documents involving him by name as one of the parties. It's too overwhelming to start with Renninger, so we'll focus on Stover and Gutekunst for now.

Both seem to have been somewhat active in local real estate investment, yet only for relatively brief periods of time in Abington. Limiting my search for Jayson Stover to transactions involving only property in Abington Township yielded the following results:

• Grantee on three (3) deeds in 1922, plus one in 1951
• Grantor on five (5) deeds between 1919 and 1922, plus one in 1952
• Mortgagor on five (5) mortgages in 1922

As a side note, Stover was very active in Hatboro, Horsham, and Upper Moreland to the north, during the 1940's and 1950's when he lived in that area.

And now for Andrew F. Gutekunst:

• Grantee on eight (8) deed between 1923 and 1928, plus two more in the 1940's
• Grantor on six (6) deeds in 1923 and 1924, plus three more from 1930-1947
• Mortgagor on eight (8) mortgages from 1921 to 1924

These are just from index searches-- there certainly are likely at least a few more that are not indexed quite correctly and might turn up once we look closer at each of these documents.

Observations and Next Steps

It's interesting that both of these men seem to have been dabbling in real estate. Jayson Stover, the carpenter, was in and out of Abington rather quickly, gone by the end of 1922 when he sold my property to Renninger. He was a Philadelphia resident at the time, and perhaps had always been quite active there. At first glance it appears that Stover held properties for short periods of time-- perhaps building homes quickly and moving on?

Andrew Gutekunst was a resident of North Glenside and was most actively acquiring property in 1923, the year in which he also acquired my property. He disposed of these properties more gradually over time and lived within walking distance of the properties he held. He was also a skilled tradesman, a flooring contractor, and perhaps was engaged in improving these properties to the point of building houses, albeit at a slower pace that Stover would have.

Something in my gut tells me that if I investigate each of these local properties where Stover and Gutekunst dipped their toes, I'll get closer to my answer. I plan to take this deeper dive by examining the legal descriptions listed in the recorded documents and locating the properties on Google Maps. If I can determine how often or how rarely each man left behind a house when they disposed of a property, it may serve as an important clue in bolstering the case for either as the builder of my own house.

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Saturday Spotlight- Circa 1879 Gothic Revival in Plymouth Meeting

This week's Saturday Spotlight is a bright yellow Gothic Revival home in Plymouth Meeting, PA. It is a contributing structure to the Cold Point Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Image via Google Street View

Measuring in at approximately 3,800 square feet, this property also has a fairly large barn structure behind the main house. Built with an L-shaped plan, the main form is a cross-gabled Gothic form. In the straight-on photo of the front facade seen above, we see the hallmark of many Gothic Revival houses with a steeply pitched, centered front gable that dominates the roof line and incorporates a single pointed arch window. A simple king post truss adorns the primary gable as well as the two side gables.. This example, built during the tail end of this style's popularity, includes a relatively small number of Gothic detailing and even includes some Italianate roof eave bracketing. The existence of a full-width porch at the entry is indeed common to Gothic Revivals, however.

Taking a spin around to the right side, we see that the house presents two facades of architectural interest to the street. The front porch wraps around to meet the rear ell, which rises the same 2-1/2 stories and terminates with a secondary gable and a palladian window. Above the porch are two symmetrical projecting bay windows, and directly above those we see some further late-19th-century Victorian-era influence with arch top windows. The single-story piece extending from the house out to the right seems to be an addition, as one is documented as having been performed in the late 1980's.

Image by author.

Origins

This house was constructed approximately in 1879 by carpenter Charles B. Camburn. Born in 1853 and having been raised in the area, Camburn built this as a home for he and his wife, Emma. Having acquired the land in 1879, Charles and Emma are listed at this location in the 1880 census, along with two other young carpenters, George W. Janes and Edward Coulston. Perhaps these fellow carpenters were boarding in Camburn's house to help him finish the job.

Carpentry was a trade which ran in this family: in 1900, Charles has a nephew, Joseph, who was also a carpenter and was living with them for some time. Charles and Emma's only child, daughter Elsie, married a man named George Matz, who was also a carpenter. Although Charles Camburn was a skilled builder, he also seems to have enjoyed his diversions, taking out a patent for a checkers-like solitaire game in 1897.

Camburn's patent for a "game apparatus" from 1897. Image via Google Patents.

George and Elsie Matz remained at the Camburn house through at least 1910, having produced two grand-daughters for Charles and Emma-- Eleanor and Hazel, before eventually moving on to their own house in Upper Dublin. Charles Camburn passed away in 1914, at the age of 61, of stomach cancer, and Emma Camburn followed in 1918. Their final resting place is very nearby, only a few doors down at the Cold Point Baptist Church cemetery.

1919 to 1960

The next several decades proved to be find relatively stable ownership for this house. George and Elsie Matz sold it in 1919 to William Hemphill Potts. Potts, age 42, was a manager at the Germantown facility of Abbott's Alderney Dairies, a highly successful company distributing butter, milk, cheese and other dairy products which had several locations in Philadelphia. Potts had a wife, Jennie, and three children, Helen, Alice, and William, Jr, with him at the home. A third daughter, Marion, was already married by the time the Potts family moved in at the end of 1919.

William Potts would continue his job with Abbott's Dairy for several more years, commuting from the Gothic home at Cold Point. He likely was accompanied daily by his daughters Helen and Alice, who took up jobs as bookkeepers at the dairy. In 1938, matriarch Jennie Potts passed away after battling a strep infection in her throat for several weeks. Soon thereafter, William appears to have retired from Abbott's. As of the 1940 census, now-grown children Alice and William Jr. remained in the house with their father, and Marion had moved in as well along with her husband and two children. William H. Potts sold the property in 1944, and later died in 1948.

The next 13 years saw the house owned by a John C. Fetter, and his wife Helen. Fetter, having lived most recently in nearby Conshohocken, was an inspector at a glass factory. The Fetters had at least one child, daughter Helen-- making a total of at least three Helens to have lived in the Gothic home.

1960s to Present

At some point, most likely upon his sale of the property in 1961, John Fetter subdivided his 4+ acre land into two parcels. The other parcel saw a one-story ranch house erected, which was later demolished for a new home in 2003-04. As for the Gothic Revival house, it stood the test of time, owned by Bernard and Mercedes Pannone from 1961-1972. The current owners have continued to hold the mantle of long-term and stable ownership for nearly 45 years, giving them the longest term of ownership in this house's 135+ year history. And I'm thrilled that despite the missing shutters at the pointed arch Gothic window in a 1990's photo of the house, these owners have replaced or repaired them in an architectural accurate manner.

Circa 1990's photo via Montgomery County.

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The North Glenside Land Company - "500 Desirable Lots"

Early on in my home research, a familiar corporation name kept popping up-- that of the "North Glenside Land Company". It re-appeared in deed after deed, specifically in the legal description of my land, as I kept requesting the documents from the Recorder of Deeds office via mail as part of my chaining the title (at that time, I had no opportunity to physically search in-person). Every week or so I'd receive a new deed further back in time, and each one defined the property's southwestern boundary "thence along the land of North Glenside Land Company". This continued back to Reginald Ferguson's receipt of the overall land tract from Emma Spear in 1919.

Just a Neighboring Development, But Consider My Interest Piqued

My initial viewings of local atlas maps found my property within the boundaries of "North Glenside - Ferguson" in 1937, as part of Reginald Ferguson's subdivision. But although it was called Ferguson's North Glenside, the corporation called North Glenside Land Company always seemed to be clearly a separate entity. In fact, it appeared to be the owner of the majority of the vacant land directly to the southwest and even a few slivers to the north and east bordering Ferguson's. The name "North Glenside Land Co." does not appear specifically on any of the early atlas maps, although the area is labeled "North Glenside" in 1916. In earlier years, this neighborhood was instead occupied by the "William Penn Real Estate Co." in both 1891 and 1897 (it was further labeled as "Remlu Heights" in 1909", a name which re-appeared on the 1937 map. Upon first glance, NGLCo (as I'll refer to it for short) appears to have been a successor to Wm. Penn Real Estate Company in owning that land tract.

After Googling the North Glenside Land Company, I was excited to find the following photograph courtesy of Duke University:

This photo was taken less than 1/2 mile from my house in 1916, down at the Ardsley railroad stop, and captures three advertising billboards. On the far left billboard, one can just make out the words "North Glenside Land Co." In the foreground we see the rail tracks, with Jenkintown Road trailing away from the photographer to the east. This view is in the direction as if one were moving away from my house. Cutting across from left to right in front of the billboards (behind the closer sign reading "Get Off Here- Ardsley Burial Park") is Tyson Avenue, largely obscured by the sloping ground. This sign for the NGLCo alerts disembarking train passengers, as well as those remaining on the train, that great home lots are nearby. The sign reads "North Glenside Land Co.     [Hou]ses and Bungalows For Sale" and the bottom line likely reads "Build to Please" with further text not in view.

Before I knew more details about Ferguson's tract and before I pinpointed my house's construction date to about 7-8 years after this photo, I thought that this could possibly have been advertising a development which included my house's lot or even the house itself. Alas, it is the neighboring subdivision but is a fascinating find nonetheless which intrigued me further about the North Glenside Land Company.

North Glenside Land Co. in the Years 1914-1920

Documentation found to date of the NGLCo's existence and operations largely consists of newspaper advertisements and references to the company in property deeds. The corporation is included on several reports produced at the Pennsylvania State Treasurer's office for the years 1916 and 1918, and there appears to be some evidence that the company was formed in 1914. Newspaper advertisements taken out by the company, found in the Philadelphia Inquirer, are frequent in this same year, 1914, adding credibility to that assumption. The company again appears to have advertised somewhat heavily in both 1916 and 1919, with at least one ad found in 1920.

Add to this the photo of the billboard dated 1916 and we have a fair bit of evidence that the NGLCo was active primarily from 1914-1920. What occurred pre- and post- these dates I am not quite sure at this time. However, any documentation which also provides any sense of geography always refer to the general area of Ardsley station. Thus, at this time I feel reasonably certain that the area of their holdings corresponds with those of the Wm. Penn Realty Co. before it and which was labeled as North Glenside in 1916. This general area, to the southwest of Ferguson's North Glenside tract, also corresponds roughly with what is today known as the community of North Hills (between Jenkintown Rd and Mount Carmel Ave, and between North Hills Ave and Edge Hill Rd). I have to assume that NGLCo's holdings were further contracted within those boundaries (probably no further east than Hamel Ave), and subtracted from it certainly would have been any lots sold off before 1914 to individuals.

Portion of a 1916 local atlas map. The location of my house, prior to its erection, is circled in purple. "North Glenside" is directly to the southwest. Original map via Franklin Maps.

"Your Bungalow in North Glenside"

The company's 1914 advertisements in particular provide some richness to this story. Nearly all of them stood out within a dense newspaper page of text ads by including an image of a bungalow. Most are also peppered with flowery language, as many real estate ads are. NGLCo was selling much the same type of haven that many developers were at this time, offering modern amenities such as reliably clean plumbing water and electric street lights, as well as an escape from city life with attractive landscapes ("high healthful surroundings"!) while at the same time allowing easy access to Philadelphia by way of the railroads. They implore potential customers to "enjoy your summer in a bungalow". Indeed, many of the bungalows built in this era served as summer cottage retreats for city dwellers. All of the ads in this first group are from April through July of 1914, indicating a heavy advertising blitz to try to lock in customers during the first spring and summer seasons after the company's establishment:

We see here an indication of the possible number of sales during these several months, as NGLCo continually amends its total availability from "500 desirable lots" down to 450 and eventually to "over 400". We also learn that the company had built dozens of bungalows itself (at least 40), in order to offer turn-key homes to buyers seeking such. In addition, vacant lots were available (certainly!), and the company appears also to have offered ready-to-build floor plans as well as customization. But wait, there's more! Easy financing and a free automobile ride to the tract from the train station. Everything to everyone, of course! It clearly was successful to some extent, as the earlier ads indicate pricing for a bungalow home ranging from $3,000 to $3,500-- that is later amended to $3,500 to $4,000 and later further to "$3,500 and up". A buyer could grab hold of a vacant lot for $250 to $500.

The ads also indicate management of the company by a Mr. William G. Glenn, on-site customer service by a Mr. Walter Lewis, and that the NGLCo maintained three offices in Philadelphia. One of these offices was at the Land Title Building on South Broad Street, an early skyscraper designed by famed architect Daniel Burnham. Given the existence of not one, but three offices, all of which were off-site in the city, I'd wager that Mr. Glenn was part of a larger operation and that the North Glenside Land Company solely existed as a corporation to serve this new development.

By October 1914, either business had slowed or the company had completed more bungalows on the lower end of its scale. This simple ad offers a "white plastered bungalow, hardwood finish ideal for young couple, $3000" as well as 5-room (2-bedroom) homes for $3,500 and 6-room (3-bedroom) homes for $4,000. No picture in this one either:

A few advertisements return to the Inquirer newspaper in 1916, one found with a picture:

In the plainer advertisement, we also see an additional listing below it bearing the name "Renninger & Renninger" (if you've read my chain of title summaries, this name should be familiar!). It's a sign of things to come for the North Glenside Land Company, as by 1919 they no longer rely solely on their "agent on the grounds" here and instead have farmed agency representation to the prominent local realty company headed by Harry Renninger:

The NGLCo still claimed "500 desirable lots" and perhaps used this figure loosely to describe their entire development at large. The company seems to still clearly be building in the neighborhood in 1919 in order to "supply the urgent need of more houses". Also, the sizes of the homes being built have increased in size. This ad below from 1920 is difficult to read, but lists three bungalows, ranging from 7-8 rooms in size with price tags from $6,400 to $9,500:

The trail of the North Glenside Land Company dries up after that, at least without more extensive research. I'll just need to keep digging, figuratively speaking, of course.

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Confirmed: The Neighboring Lot Was Once "Part" of My Current Property

Several months ago, I was fortunate enough to interview the daughter-in-law of John J. and Catherine Cantlin, the long-time owners of my home from 1932-2001 (John Cantlin passed away in 1961 and Catherine continued living here for 40 more years). This woman was able to share several pieces of information I had not known previously, including a birth in the home (her husband, in 1934), and the fact that Mrs. Cantlin also owned the neighboring lot on the north side, which was undeveloped at the time. This was the lead upon which to build more solid information.

My 1920's home in the foreground, with an even earlier home in the background (light blue); sandwiched in between the two is land which was owned by the Cantlins for some time, now occupied by my neighbor's ranch house.

Today, that lot contains a one-story ranch style house where my neighbors, a friendly family of Italian descent, live. These being lots of modest width, their driveway defines the property line, leaving about 6-8 feet between it and my house. The daughter-in-law had relayed that Catherine owned the lot and "sold it off about 20 or 30 years ago. She sold it and then that house was built." The stucco and brick rancher could be 1980's by the looks of it, although I'd have bet somewhere in the 1950-1980 range. My neighbor has been there since 1989 (27 years ago, could fit the timeline given). The only problem was that on the county assessment office's online database, there are listed transactions back to 1973, and none of them involve the Cantlins. So, naturally, where would I look to solve the problem? A chain of title search at the county's Recorder of Deeds office, of course.

I performed the search in person at the office-- although my county does allow off-site access to historical deeds, it currently costs 30 cents per minute so this can add up (I hope new Recorder Jeanne Sorg takes cues from Mr. Schiller in Berks County!). Also, since the assessor's database lists the last three transactions for this property, I could have skipped back to 1973 if I so chose. But, since I was there in person I decided to complete the full chain from my current neighbor back to Ferguson's subdivision (Reginald T. Ferguson was the man who subdivided Emma Spear's roughly 200 acre tract into individual building lots).

The first step was to locate my current neighbor's Grantee deed from 1989. As with most deeds in this area, there is a paragraph which includes reference to the previous deed in the chain. Repeating this process took me backwards successively in time, from deed to deed, and after not too long I located the 1919 deed with Ferguson's conveyance of the lot to a Albert F. Troast.

However, it's later in the chain's chronology where I'm hoping to locate the Cantlins, and earlier within that search I found it. On May 18, 1946, John J. Cantlin and Catherine Cantlin purchased the lot from Troast, who apparently held it for 26 years, for the sum of $500. The property actually consisted of three skinny lots, numbered #2220, #2221, and #2223 on Ferguson's plan, none of which were individually large enough to build on-- I have yet to learn why most of the land was apportioned in such a way by Ferguson's surveyor.

Clip from 1946 deed conveying the neighboring lot from Albert Troast to John and Catherine Cantlin

Around this time in the 1940s, the remainder of the block was finally starting to fill in with new stone-front Cape Cod homes. Although it is mere speculation, the Cantlins may have recognized burgeoning development on their block and decided to snag the adjacent land while they had the chance, holding open the possibility of expanding to the north, or to hold onto the lot for use by one of their children or other family. As I've discovered previously, the Cantlins were in the process of enclosing their rear porch to expand the house, taking out the permit only a month prior to this! So clearly, they had expansion on their minds in some respect. If I get the chance to ask the Cantlins' daughter-in-law, I'll see if she can provide any further insight.

In any case, John Cantlin passed on in 1961, and the neighboring lot remained undeveloped by the Cantlins. Catherine held onto it until 1972-- 44 years ago. I'll certainly forgive the daughter-in-law for the inaccuracy in timing, for she provided me the clue in the first place! I wonder how Catherine used the open lot-- did she garden there? Let her teenage kids frolic there? Another question to ask. When she did unload the land on May 10, 1972, she sold it to a company called Mont-Bux, Inc. for $7,000. Mont-Bux flipped it a year later to a Sidney and Carol Mann for $29,275. It seems clear that Mont-Bux Inc. was a local residential development company; a brief search turns up a few appellate court cases from the 1970's, all involving residential developments planned by the company. This evidence that Mont-Bux was a residential developer, grouped with the sharp increase in value in 1973 plus my interviewee's recollection that a house was built shortly after Mrs. Cantlin's sale of the land, strongly suggest that the rancher house was built between May 1972 and May 1973.

Clip from 1972 deed conveying the lot from Catherine Cantlin to Mont-Bux, Inc.

The second page of the 1972 mentions John's passing in 1961, in order to clear up any potential question in the title chain. Also note in the last line of this page that the lot is subject to the same restrictions spelled out in all Ferguson's lots, as discussed here.

Another clue turns into a fun research task and a question answered, adding another component to the history of my house! And further evidence that you must reach out to actual people who may have first-hand knowledge about your house's history, even if they don't realize it.

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Saturday Spotlight- Circa 1890 Queen Anne Victorian in Schwenksville

This week's Saturday Spotlight house is a Victorian house with a perch overlooking Main Street in Schwenksville, PA.

Driving down the Gravel Pike through Schwenksville at some portions transforms one back to the late 19th century. There are various Second Empire and Italianate buildings pressed up against the main road, and multiple large Victorian homes like this one and its neighbor sitting upon the hill. The history of this house is seeped with several names contributing to the development of the borough itself.

Measuring in at about 4,900 square feet, this is a Free Classic variant of a Queen Anne Victorian, with more classical porch columns as opposed to turned spindlework posts. Many of the prototypical elements of the style shine through here, most prominently the round tower with an S-curve roof and finial. Queen Anne homes look to avoid flat facades through many devices, and here we see asymmetry created by the tower and multiple small porches and bays around the entire house. The roof form is a cross-gable, with the front gable dominating. Yet, this shingled gable is broken up by two projections in its upper half, and a pent roof sloping at the bottom of the gable underneath the triple-grouped windows. The solidly brick first and second stories has several ins and outs, and the centered front porch picks up the shingled materiality to lighten up the solid mass. A relatively recent paint job seeks to re-establish the sunburst pattern in both the main and porch gables.

Origins

According to A Schwenksville History by the Schwenksville Bicentenial Committee, although founded by German settler George Schwenk in 1756, it was his grandson Jacob Schwenk who built a hotel and store in the first half of the 19th century laying the basis for a permanently settled town. The Victorian house here now sits on a portion of the land inherited by Jacob's daughter, Elizabeth Zeigler (Schwenk) Strassburger. Widowed at the time, Ms. Strassburger sold this parcel extending from Main Street to 2nd Street in 1888, to Valentine G. Prizer, and left the town her family established, moving to Norristown to live with her daughter.

It is likely within the next few years thereafter when Valentine Prizer erected this home in a common style of the time. The house appears both on an 1893 atlas map, as well as an 1894 drawing sketch of the town.

1893 atlas map of Schwenksville, with the house of V.G. Prizer highlighted. Map via Ancestry.

Portion of an 1894 bird's-eye sketch of Schwenksville, highlighting the Valentine Prizer home in red. Sketch via Historic Mapworks.

Prizer had been part of the business venture of McNoldy and Prizer's Store in town, at the location of Jacob Schwenk's original store. Valentine Prizer lived in 1900 at the Queen Anne home on Main Street with his wife, Sarah, and their 26-year-old adult daughter, Bertha.

1910 to 1940

In 1907, Prizer and his business partner sold their store to another partnership, which included Jacob Andrew Bromer, according to A Schwenksville History. Jacob Bromer was not only the son of longtime successful businessman Alfred Bromer (proprietor of the Perkiomen Hotel), but he was also the brother of Valentine Prizer's immediate neighbor, William Bromer, and the newlywed husband of his daughter Bertha. As of the 1910 census Jacob and Bertha Bromer are living in the Prizer's Victorian home, along with Valentine and Sarah Prizer. The Bromers now also had two of their own daughters in the home, Anna Maude, 6, and Mildred, 2. The family also housed a 23-year-old servant named Anna Schmidt. Valentine Prizer is listed as "postmaster" having been appointed to that position at Schwenksville's post office, whereas Jacob Bromer, of course, is listed as a retail merchant of general merchandise.

Ten years later, in 1920, Valentine and Sarah "Sallie" Prizer have the house to themselves, as Jacob and Bertha Bromer moved to their own home nearby. By this time, Jacob Bromer had gotten into the auto repair business, eventually building a new garage on the site of his father's Perkiomen Hotel. Valentine, perhaps minding the general store business, is listed in the census again as a store manager. On March 14, 1922, Valentine Prizer passed away after suffering a stroke, leaving the house and all of his property to his wife, Sarah. Sarah Prizer, upon her death on October 9, 1925, bequeath the house to daugther Bertha.

Jacob and Bertha Bromer, now in their 50's, moved back into the Victorian home on Main Street. Now, for a time, Jacob would again be adjacent to his brother William, in his own Queen Anne home next door:

The home of William Bromer, Jacob's brother, directly next door. Photo likely from 1990's courtesy of Montgomery County.

Unfortunately, the typhoid fever took away Bertha Bromer from this earth in 1933. Jacob, of course, was her beneficiary and became the sole owner of the home. That is, until he succumbed to his own illness, dying of a heart condition in March 1937. Valentine, Sarah, Bertha, and Jacob are all buried at the Keely's Church Cemetery down the road. As for the house, Jacob and Bertha's two daughters, Anna Maude and Mildred, conveyed it to a local bank, apparently as part of the settlement of their father's estate.

1940 to Present

The house's first owner outside of the Prizer/Bromer family was Ernest F. Royer, a bank clerk previously from Red Hill 10 miles to the north. Royer purchased the house and the full extent of its lot to 2nd Street in October of 1940. Ernest and his wife, Ethel, were both 27 years of age and moved to Schwenksville with their infant daughter, Fay.

In the late 1950's, the Royers apparently built a Cape Cod-style home at the back of the property facing 2nd Street. It also appears that Ernest and Ethel lived in the smaller Cape home later on in life, perhaps renting out the Victorian home as apartments. At some point they painted their monogram "R" onto the gable of the front porch, as seen in a 1990's photo on file with the County. In 1991, the Royers sold both homes and the land to the current owners, who in 2006 split the Cape-style house off from the property and sold it off, keeping the Victorian for themselves.

The home as owned by Ernest and Ethel Royer, complete with monogrammed entrance, circa 1990. Photo courtesy of Montgomery County.

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What Local History Has to Say About Ardsley vs North Hills

My house may have a slight bit of an identity crisis in terms of the neighborhood to which it belongs. It sits at the nexus of two communities within Greater Glenside-- Ardsley and North Hills. The larger subdivision containing my land, Reginald Ferguson's "North Glenside", eventually became known as "Ardsley". Today, Ardsley is largely considered to be bounded at its south end by the main thoroughfare of Jenkintown Road, stretching north to Susquehanna Ave between North Hills Ave and Hillside Cemetery). We, however, are located to the south of Jenkintown, part of a small 6-7 block portion of Ferguson's subdivisions, in what is now commonly known as North Hills. North Hills covers generally between Mount Carmel Ave to the south, North Hills Ave to the west (and extending even a few blocks further west into Upper Dublin Township), Jenkintown Road to the north, and Edge Hill Road to the east. By the literal definition of these boundaries, the house is located in North Hills; and, although the construction date of my home in the 1920's post-dates many earlier homes to the south more firmly in North Hills, it more closely aligns to the development of this neighborhood than Ardsley, where a majority of homes were built in the 1950's and 1960's.

Ardsley station (Wikimedia Commons)

North Hills, corner of Mount Carmel Ave & Limekiln Pike (Wikipedia)

Currently, I'm making my way through reading a comprehensive history written about Glenside, The Story of Greater Glenside by Robert S. Camburn (1977). There are several interesting nuggets of information in here on these two neighborhoods, and interestingly enough, the map included at the very end of the book allows the name of "Ardsley" to ever-so-slightly overlap Jenkintown Road at its east end:

Map of Glenside, as published in Robert S. Camburn's The Story of Greater Glenside (1977).

A few excerpts from Camburn's description of Ardsley-North Hills begins with this clarification, despite the label on the later map:

     "Because the names of Ardsley and North Glenside were used rather freely for development plans, we will state at the outset of our consideration of the North Hills area that it is regarded as lying between Jenkintown Road and Mount Carmel Avenue, while the Ardsley of today runs northward from Jenkintown Road."

In discussing North Hills further, Camburn describes various subdivision developments in the neighborhood across multiple historical maps, some of which I have seen (but some I haven't and can seek out!) spanning from before 1893 up to the late 1920's. My portion of Ferguson's subdivision is not mentioned here, but both the 1893 and 1909 atlas maps label the area directly south of my property. My house is at the absolute extreme southern boundary of Ferguson's later subdivision, and thus the area described here ends quite literally at my southern neighbor's property.

Portion of 1893 atlas map, highlighting the future location of my house, directly adjacent to the development of the Wm. Penn Real Estate Co. Map courtesy of Franklin Maps (note: map oriented with north to the right of the image)

Most of the Cape Cod-style houses on my block, however, were not actually built until the 1940's. Camburn's presentation of the several blocks directly to my south:

     "Plan maps which the author has seen for the earliest development of the North Hills community do not carry any dates. However, the 1893 local atlas map indicates a development here by the Wm. Penn Real Estate Company. (Somewhat later it has been called the Wm. Penn Realty Co.) The local atlas map of 1909 designates the same area as Remlu Heights (the developer, Ulmer, using the reverse spelling of his name). Parry says that this designation was attached only briefly to the locality."

Portion of 1927 atlas map, highlighting my house in Ferguson's North Glenside, with "Remlu Heights" directly to the south (left side of map). The name "Ardsley Estates" is also sprinkled throughout pockets of Remlu Heights. Map courtesy of Franklin Maps. (note: map oriented with north to the right of the image)

And later, more specifics of the location:
     "The earliest plan map mentioned above largely agrees with the 1893 local atlas map, boundaries being half-way above Spruce Avenue (to Jenkintown Road)... These maps all indicate Wm. Penn Real Estate Co. as owner."
     "On the 1909 local atlas index map, the area is designated Remlu Heights... but only to about halfway between Spruce Avenue and Jenkintown Road..."

This spot, halfway between Spruce Ave and Jenkintown Rd, is the location on the map where the northeast/southeast avenues take a slight curve, a product of Reginald Ferguson's layout being misaligned from the streets of Remlu Heights (now North Hills). This occurs directly in front of my house on Central Avenue, and also results in diagonal property lines at the front and back of my lot.

Camburn has another interesting footnote, speaking to his earlier allusion to the fast and loose use of the name "Ardsley" to different subdivisions:
     "An undated sales map, similar in coverage to the early maps showing the Remlu or Wm. Penn Real Estate Co. subdivision, bears the title of "Ardsley Estates." A separate plan map of 1923 shows Ardsley Estates owned by Edge Hill Realty Corp."

This name of Ardsley-- I had wondered about its origins since the early days of my research. However, rudimentary searches had only yielded the existence of another village called Ardsley, just outside of New York City which was supposedly named by a large landowner there after his ancestor's birthplace, the village of East Ardsley in England. Also, being an English placename, it supposedly means "home-lover's meadow."

Perhaps this is an image William T.B. Roberts (1850-1936) had in mind in 1905. Roberts, a business associate of the likes of Philadelphia magnates Peter Widener and William Elkins, came to rapidly develop several sizable developments in Glenside at the turn of the 20th century. According to Camburn:

     "Under plan dated March 10, 1905, Roberts prepared to develop what he called Ardsley. The area covered by this plan was within the limits of Jenkintown Road, Sylvania Avenue, Edgecomb Avenue and Tyson Avenue. Then, under plan designated Ardsley No. 2, dated June 1905, development north of Edgecomb Avenue to Bradfield Road was undertaken.
     Between these "Ardsley" areas and the area presently known as Ardsley from Jackson Avenue west, Roberts established Ardsley Burial Park in 1906 (which was bought out by Hillside Cemetery in 1953 and placed under the latter's management). The Roberts' family burial plot is located here."

This being the earliest chronological reference by Camburn of the use of the name Ardsley, it appears that the name was coined locally by Roberts, and referred to the neighborhood to the east of the current Ardsley, on the other side of the railroad tracks. This other area presently has an Ardsley Avenue where my wife and I made an offer on a house before finding the one we ultimately bought.

When Camburn finally comes to speak of the neighborhood currently known as Ardsley, we learn further of its origins, which consist primarily of the history I have learned through my independent research and presented on this blog:

     "...this area was called Tyson's Gap at the time of the Revolution and that this later became Tyson. Tyson was the name of Ardsley station on the rail line until about 1897. It is so named on the 1897 local atlas map.
     A development plan map of March 26, 1918, with later additions, is labeled "Ferguson Tract of North Glenside #1 - North Glenside Land Co.," and covers the area from Penn Avenue to Maple Avenue, north from above Spruce Avenue to Susquehanna Street. (The township line runs just west of Penn.)
     The Ferguson tract of North Glenside #2, as shown on plan map dated November 21, 1919, covers the area from Jackson Avenue to Maple, and from Jenkintown Road to Spear Avenue.
     Ardsley also includes the area west of Penn Avenue in Upper Dublin Township from Jenkintown Road to Fitzwatertown Road, north to Susquehanna Street."

Camburn was certainly right in claiming that the name Ardsley was used quite freely by developers. My own cobbling together of the timeline of the name's use locally, based on Camburn's history, is somewhat speculative in filling in the gaps as follows:

-1905: W.T.B. Roberts first uses the name Ardsley locally for his development east of the railroad tracks, north of Jenkintown Rd
-c. 1905-1909: The nearby Tyson train station adopts Ardsley as its new name.
-1918-1920: Reginald Ferguson lays out his North Glenside subdivision. I speculate that the name of the train station to its east, and the lack of common reference to the "original" Ardsley, causes residents and leaders to come to use this name for the burgeoning development close to the station in the 1920s. Thus, the name effectively jumps across the tracks.
-1923, 1927: Maps include "Ardsley Estates" amongst the area of North Hills to the south of Jenkintown Rd.
-1929: The Glenside Manor Civic Association of North Glenside, with its Civic Hall located on Hamel Avenue, changes its name to Ardsley Civic Association and Ladies Auxiliary, further cementing the name association with the neighborhood.

Current Google map aerial view, with boundary overlays indicating the migration of the name "Ardsley" from Roberts' subdivision east of the train station, to its present-day boundaries west of the station.

If it wasn't painfully clear by now, the message of this post is to SEEK OUT WRITTEN LOCAL HISTORIES. You are far from the first person to be interested in the origins of your micro-neighborhood and of your town or city at large. Even though my specific neighborhood is not the main focus of this written history by Robert Camburn, it was included by the author as a part of the larger history of Glenside as a whole.

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