Germantown Then and Now

Ever since its 1683 founding as an independent borough situated several miles northwest of downtown Philadelphia, Germantown has maintained an identity which, while decidedly unique from that of Center City, also wrestles with the same questions of representation and historical memory. From the area’s inception to its current status as a largely African-American neighborhood, this interactive online project seeks to narrate the transition of various Germantown institutions through the years and to provide context relevant to the neighborhood’s situation in present day.

The German-born lawyer and public official Francis Daniel Pastorius reached the city of Philadelphia on August 16, 1683 and two months later would issue a land warrant on “behalf of the Germantown purchase”, thereby activating the settlement. The majority of the new immigrants were of Quaker faith - known also as being members of the Society of Friends - and sought freedom from the religious persecution they had experienced in the Old World. Thirteen families from the Crefeld region of Germany would initially comprise the populace, but only two years later Germantown boasted some forty-four families, twenty-eight of which were Friends and sixteen of which were of other faiths, such as the Mennonites.

One manner in which the people of Germantown constructed their identity in a new country was religious toleration. Mirroring their personal desires in the immigration process, residents of all faiths cultivated an atmosphere of spiritual acceptance, even to the degree that historian Naaman Henry Keyser declared Germantown to be the "birthplace of freedom and religious liberty" in the United States. Letters from the archives of Pastorius suggest that as early as 1686, a Kirchlein, or small church, had been constructed for the Friends’ worship, and various Quaker meeting-houses popped up around the town for worship and discourse. But more notable than the Friends’ dedication to their own religious services was their tolerance - and, to an extent, encouragement - of the worship of citizens of other faiths. For example, an influx of English-speaking immigrants to the town in the mid-17th century presented a problem as to the language in which services were to be conducted; worship in the traditional German would no longer suffice for the new immigrants. However, services were allowed to be administered also in English by permission so that residents speaking either language could worship comfortably. Additionally, the Methodist bishop Francis Asbury was invited to preach to a growing Methodist sect in the German Reformed Church in 1773, and an Episcopalian clergyman was invited to do the same thirteen years earlier. Indeed, religious tolerance was a major characteristic of Germantown life from the community’s inception.

Another key feature of Germantown in the 18th century was its development of an economic identity. Specifically, the management of paper and textile mills as well as the production of linen materials, informed by the geographical situation of the town and the prior technical proficiencies of its immigrant residents, respectively, would come to characterize Germantown’s commercial life. In an address to the annual meeting of the Pennsylvania-German Society in 1906, Keyser stated that the early settlers “quickly appreciated the possibilities of the many water courses” nearby, and it was on the nearby Wissahickon Creek that Germantown settlers erected the first two paper mills in the new country’s history. Indeed, German papermaker William Rittenhouse constructed a paper mill in 1690 along the Monoshone Creek, a tributary of the Wissahickon, and its successes were such that the mill provided all of “the American-made paper used by Philadelphia and New York printers”, according to Judith Callard of the Germantown Historical Society. Additionally, linen weavers played a significant role in the town’s industrial growth. Many of the German immigrants were proficient in weaving and quickly began practicing their trade in the New World. In his 1692 poem A Short Description of Pennsylvania, Richard Frame testifies to the scale of linen production in observing that in Germantown “lives High German people and Low Dutch / whose trade in weaving cloth is much”. Further, the British Reverend Andrew Burnaby in 1760 spoke to the quality of Germantown linens, commenting that the town’s “thread stockings are in high estimation”, and in 1758 “in that town alone above 60,000 dozen pairs” were produced. Linens were of so great importance to Germantown that the initial seal of the Bank of Germantown included a loom. 

Now that an introductory basis for the history of Germantown has been constructed, the reader can navigate the Neatline map exhibit to investigate the development across time of several historical sites in the town, to consider questions of memory and representation, and to evaluate the town's status in 2016, more than three centuries after its founding. 

Bibliography

A Century of the National Bank of Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Dedicated to the Former Presidents and Cashiers, by the Directors, 1814-1914. Accessed through HathiTrust Database. Philadelphia, PA: 1914.

Callard, Judith. Germantown, Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Pub., 2000

"Christopher Sower House Site." UShistory.org. Accessed May 11, 2016. http://www.ushistory.org/germantown/lower/sower.htm.

Coffin, Elizabeth W. A Girl's Life in Germantown. Boston: Sherman, French &, 1916.

"Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia." Historic Germantown. Accessed May 11, 2016. http://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/historic-germantown-new-knowledge-in-a-very-old-neighborhood-2/.

Frame, Richard. A Short Description of Pennsylvania. 1692. Reprinted in The Settlement of Germantown, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.: Campbell, 1899.

"Germantown Monthly Meeting." Germantown Monthly Meeting. Accessed May 11, 2016. http://gmm.gfsnet.org/index.html/.

"Germantown Neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (PA), 19144 Detailed Profile." Germantown Neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (PA), 19144 Subdivision Profile. Accessed May 11, 2016. http://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/Germantown-Philadelphia-PA.html.

Haines, Caspar Wistar. Germantown History - Site and Relic Society of Germantown. 3rd ed. Vol. 2. Germantown: Site and Relic Society of Germantown, 1917.

Hocker, Edward W. Germantown 1683-1933; the Record That a Pennsylvania Community Has Achieved in the Course of 250 Years; Being a History of the People of Germantown, Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill. Germantown, Philadelphia, Pa.: Author, 1933.

Jenkins, Charles Francis. The Guide Book to Historic Germantown: Prepared for the Site & Relic Society. Germantown, 1902.

Keyser, Naaman Henry. Old Historic Germantown: An Address with Illustrations. Presented at the 14th Annual Meeting of the Pennsylvania-German Socety, Lancaster/Pa.: Pennsylvania-German Society, 1906.

"'Revolution Starts in Germantown' with Modern Public Housing on Queen Lane." Newsworks.org. Accessed May 11, 2016. http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/item/89178-revolution-starts-in-germantown-with-modern-public-housing-on-queen-lane.

United States. National Park Service. "Germantown White House." National Parks Service. Accessed May 11, 2016. https://www.nps.gov/inde/learn/historyculture/places-germantownwhitehouse.htm.

"Will Germantown Ever Become an Accessible, Big-time Tourist Draw?" Newsworks.org. March 24, 2014. Accessed May 11, 2016. http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/nw-philadelphia-more-stories/item/66175-will-germantown-ever-become-an-accessible-big-time-tourist-draw?linktype=hp_impact.