This is a companion volume to the "Springfield Township" and "Whitemarsh Hall" books, already both in their 4th printing!

The Springfield Township Historical Society is proud to announce that they are working on a new Springfield Township book, with completely new and unique pictures and text. They are working with Arcadia Publishing, as part of the publisher’s new Then & Now series of books. The book will be organized by areas of the township, with a history told through pictures and stories of each of its neighborhoods: Erdenheim, Flourtown, Northwoods, Oreland, the Pan Handle and Wyndmoor.

But We Need You!!! The Historical Society is currently collecting pictures and stories to include in this book. This is your chance to preserve some of your family’s history in print for generations to come! Contact Ed Zwicker (215-885-3413 or ed@zsiconsulting.com) if you have any materials you would like to have considered for inclusion. All your pictures will be returned to you after we scan their image into our computer, unless you would like to generously donate them to the Historical Society’s permanent archives.

STHS member Deborah Wilson of Oreland found this early 20th century postcard showing an interior view of the Black Horse Inn and notified STHS of this rare find. Ms. Wilson acquired the portcard on behalf of STHS and we are pleased to include such an important item in our collection.

Christopher Capone (right) received the Springfield Township Historical Society's first History Scholarship Award at the school's senior award's assembly in June 2007 from Charles Zwicker, vice president of the historical society. Capone plans to major in history at Ursinus College in the fall. The award is given to a graduating senior who plans to major in history or a related field and for scholastic achievement. The historical society established the award to recognize the importance of education about the township's past.

On Saturday, June 9th, the Friends of Historic Bethlehem Pike hosted a garden tour, proceeds from which benefitted the restoration of the Black Horse Inn. The event, which included seven local private gardens, concluded with a reception at the Carson Valley School. Local historian and author, David Contosta, local garden photographer Rob Cardillo and award-winning author Adam Levine were available to sign their wonderful books relating to Carson Valley School and gardens of the region.
The garden tour raised nearly $2,500 for the Black Horse Inn restoration effort.

From left, garden tour attendee Larry Arrigale, Friends of Historic Bethlehem Pike board member and tour volunteer Joan Dessureau, tour attendee Tom Keels and tour gardener-host Bob Gutowski, who is also Director of Public Programs at the Morris Arboretum.

At our March 2007 program, our first annual Marie Kitto Memorial award was presented to the very deserving Richard J. Meyer Sr.This award has been created to recognize someone who has made significant contributions to the historical society's tenets of research, preservation, and education. The award will be given annually in memory of Marie Kitto, our first executive director who was the driving spirit behind our organization and was considered to be the unofficial hitorian of Springfield Township. She compiled the majority of the research, pictures, and other artifacts that make up the core of the STHS collection.

Richard J. Meyer Sr. with Ed Zwicker, president of Springfield Township Historical Society, during the award presentation at our March program.

In September 2006, STHS proudly dedicated the first official state historical marker to be installed in Springfield Township. The marker, located across from Laurel Beech Park on Mermaid Lane in Wyndmoor, commemorates Philo T. Farnsworth, inventor of the electronic television and the site of his former station, W3XPF, where some of the first experiments in live local television broadcasting were undertaken in the 1930s. If you haven’t already seen the official blue and yellow marker, make a point to drive by and see where television was born.

The photo at the right shows the marker being unveiled by Larry Curry, a state representative and commissioner of the State Historical and Museum Commission (standing on ladder), and Janet Klein, a PHMC commissioner (plaid suit).
Looking on are Baird Standish, chairman of the Springfield Township Board of Commissioners, Jeff Harbison, a township commissioner, and Ed Zwicker, Springfield Township Historical Society president. Plans for the marker were arranged by the PHMC and the historical society.

To view a VIDEO of this historic event
CLICK HERE
(To return to this page, use your BACK button when finished viewing the video.)

State Representative Lawrence Curry (right) presented a citation from the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives to Springfield Township historical society president Ed Zwicker in honor of the historical society’s 20th anniversary.

The historical society was organized in 1985 to research and preserve the history of Springfield Township and educate the general public about township history. The presentation took place at our November 2005 program at which local residents and organizations showed their collections.

Washington, D.C. – On Friday, July 29, 2006, Representative Allyson Y. Schwartz (D-Pa.) announced that she has secured a $150,000 federal grant for further preservation and conservation efforts at the historic Black Horse Inn.

The funds were included in the Save America's Treasures program within the Fiscal Year 2006 Interior and Environmental Appropriations Act. The bill passed the House, with Rep. Schwartz's support, by a vote of 410 to 10.

In announcing the grant, Schwartz praised local organizations for their efforts to preserve the historic landmark.

"Friends of Historic Bethlehem Pike, the Springfield Township Historical Society, local elected officials, as well as local citizens, should be applauded for their hard work to preserve and protect the Black Horse Inn," said Representative Schwartz.

"I am honored to be able to support the efforts already underway to preserve the Black Horse Inn by securing a $150,000 federal grant for conservation efforts. The inn is a well-known landmark and I am pleased to help insure the site's historic integrity is preserved," added Schwartz.

“Representative Schwartz’s announcement caps off a great month for the historic Black Horse Inn,” say Friends president, Donald Mitchell. “At the beginning of July the building was officially listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Then in the middle of the month, with the help of township staff, our public appeal letter hit virtually every mailbox in the township. While that was happening the chimneys on the building were being restored, thanks to the contractor coordinating committee and the Black Horse Inn Advisory Committee. And now, thanks to Rep. Schwartz, we’re seeing some of our earlier fundraising efforts pay off as well.”

Note: On Thursday, August 4th, @ 12:30 PM Representative Schwartz will hold a formal check presentation at the Black Horse Inn.

NOTE - Click on BLACK HORSE INN for Donations and Information.

The Springfield Township Historical Society and the
Wyndmoor Civic Association co-sponsored a
Subdivision Management Options Workshop
on October 6, 2005.

Tim Wood (left), director of the Chestnut Hill Historical Society easement program, describes a recent easement acquisition in Chestnut Hill, as Bob Gutowski (center) and Jeff Harbison look on, Gutowski is vice president of the Springfield Township Historical Society and a member of the Springfield Township Planning Commission. Harbison is president of the Wyndmoor Civic Association.

Temple University students suggested to the Springfield Township Planning Commission on May 3, 2005 that the township research and begin the nominating process to place architecturally-significant buildings in the township on the National Register for Historic Places and consider nominating a Wyndmoor neighborhood as a National Historic District.
Temple seniors Ken Steif, Darren Greco, Julius Richards and Bonnie McCuen, under the leadership of adjunct professor Sharon McHugh, have researched and inventoried historic properties in the township, while Dr. Kurt Paulsen, a Temple professor, prepared a draft for an ordinance to preserve and protect important historic resources with the township and for an Historic Resources Protection Overlay District.
Using as PowerPoint presentation, the students told the planners that they found information on 95 architecturally-significant properties on a list of 255 that had been prepared by Springfield Township Historical Society board member Cynthia Hamilton. Among the late 19th and early 20th century architects who designed homes in the township –particularly in Wyndmoor in the area including Gravers Lane and Montgomery Avenue-- were Robert McGoodwin, Wilson Eyre, Horace Trumbauer, Charles Augustus Ziegler, and the firms of Ritter & Shaif, and Mellor Meigs & Howe, according to the students who outlined the life and work of each architect and showed pictures of houses in the township that each architect had designed.
The students researched the properties in the Springfield Township Historical Society archives, where they read essays written by historical society founder Marie Kitto, and the Pennsylvania Historical Society, where information was difficult to find because documents on township properties were mixed with those from Philadelphia, as well as Hamilton’s document, the Historic Resources Survey. (The goal of the Historic Resource Survey, sponsored by the Conservancy of Montgomery County, was to identify and document all buildings in Flourtown and Erdenheim.)
Avenues for future research, students suggested, could include completion of the inventory, use of a Geographic Information System and a Web-based database. Commission chair John Schaeffer thanked the students for their work and invited Temple to continue the project. He said that the commission would think about the data and review the proposed ordinance. The draft itself was not discussed at the meeting. Susan Spinella, a Temple administrator, plans to look into ways the information prepared by the students can be put on a server for township use.