{"id":8515,"date":"2015-01-26T17:19:36","date_gmt":"2015-01-26T22:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/?p=8515"},"modified":"2015-01-28T08:08:32","modified_gmt":"2015-01-28T13:08:32","slug":"the-first-stop-on-the-main-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/2015\/01\/the-first-stop-on-the-main-line\/","title":{"rendered":"Powelton Avenue: The First Stop on the Main Line?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Pennsylvania Railroad\" width=\"580\" height=\"435\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jNrPq0Li3P4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<em>Footage of the last steam trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1954.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>For those who regularly ride the Main Line trains: have you ever wondered why there are no stops between 30th Street Station and Overbrook? \u00a0After Overbrook, however, the train stops nearly every two minutes.\u00a0There&#8217;s an old \u00a0&#8212; and <em>very<\/em> politically incorrect &#8212; mnemonic device for memorizing the towns on the Main Line: &#8220;Old Maids Never Wed and Have Babies. Period.&#8221; \u00a0Overbrook, Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Ardmore, Haverford, Bryn Mawr. Paoli.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8524\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8524\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.phillyhistory.org\/PhotoArchive\/Detail.aspx?assetId=5042\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8524\" alt=\"30th Street Bridge.ashx\" src=\"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/30th-Street-Bridge.ashx_-300x230.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"230\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/30th-Street-Bridge.ashx_-300x230.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/30th-Street-Bridge.ashx_.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8524\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The bridge spanning the Schuylkill River in 1876, which connected Center City with the now-vanished Baltimore and Ohio station at 24th and Chestnut, designed by Frank Furness.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Thankfully, this phrase has fallen out of popular use. \u00a0As the <em>Philadelphia Inquire<\/em>r quipped in a 1988 article that quoted it: &#8220;But let&#8217;s not forget what the Main Line, at the bottom line, really is. The term is so ingrained in our local patois that we tend to detach it from the real meaning. The Main Line is &#8211; well, the main line. Tracks and sidings. Signals and stations. Switches, whistles.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8525\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8525\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/memory.loc.gov\/pnp\/habshaer\/pa\/pa1000\/pa1097\/photos\/138632pv.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8525\" alt=\"138632pv\" src=\"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/138632pv-300x215.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"215\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/138632pv-300x215.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/138632pv.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8525\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The demolished Baltimore &amp; Ohio station at 24th and Chestnut, designed by Frank Furness. Source: HABS\/HAER<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8522\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8522\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/44th_and_Parkside_Ballpark#mediaviewer\/File:AthleticFieldBelmontParkside.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8522\" alt=\"AthleticFieldBelmontParkside\" src=\"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/AthleticFieldBelmontParkside-300x90.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"90\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/AthleticFieldBelmontParkside-300x90.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/AthleticFieldBelmontParkside.jpg 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8522\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The 44th and Parkside ballpark, built by the Pennsylvania Railroad YMCA. Source: Wikipedia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The Pennsylvania Railroad&#8217;s development of its right-of-way was a shrewd real estate deal. \u00a0Rather than haggle with Philadelphia city government and acquire parcels piecemeal, they could buy up huge swaths of farmland outside of the city limits and develop it as they saw fit. \u00a0Until the turn of the twentieth century, there were two other stops before the Main Line trains chugged from 30th Street, through West Philadelphia, and across City Avenue: Powelton Village and Parkside. \u00a0 According to architectural historian Robert Morris Skaler, Powelton became a popular residence for executives of the Pennsylvania Railroad and Baldwin Locomotive Works, and &#8220;even had a special railroad stop at Powelton Avenue for the Pennsylvania Railroad&#8217;s executives to travel by train to their offices.&#8221; \u00a0The Pennsylvania Railroad also had a stop at 52nd Street and Lancaster Avenue, labeled as the Hestonville Depot in an 1872 map. This stop later grew into a sprawling rail yard that cast a sooty, noisy pall over much of the adjacent Parkside neighborhood. Nearby was the 44th and Parkside ballpark, built by the Pennsylvania Railroad YMCA in 1903 and home of the African-American league Philadelphia Stars.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8519\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8519\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.phillyhistory.org\/PhotoArchive\/Detail.aspx?assetId=16518\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8519\" alt=\"52nd Street and Lancaster Avenue 2.21.1949ashx\" src=\"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/52nd-Street-and-Lancaster-Avenue-2.21.1949ashx-300x239.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/52nd-Street-and-Lancaster-Avenue-2.21.1949ashx-300x239.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/52nd-Street-and-Lancaster-Avenue-2.21.1949ashx.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8519\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The intersection of Lancaster Avenue and 52nd Street, the location of the now-closed 52nd Street depot and passenger stop. Photograph taken February 21, 1949.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Therefore, it could be argued in fact that Powelton Village was the first stop on the Main Line, the stretch of track connecting Philadelphia with Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the grand residential architecture that survives in Powelton today is a harbinger of the grand suburban development that grew up around the Pennsylvania Railroad&#8217;s Main Line tracks in the 1890s and early 1900s.\u00a0Powelton is a hybrid of streetcar and railroad suburban development: for the second half of the nineteenth century, it was serviced by both horse drawn (later electric) streetcars and by Main Line trains. \u00a0The surviving freestanding mansions on Powelton Avenue, Baring Street, and Hamilton Street are large and ornate, \u00a0yet they are set within walking distance of each other rather than being secluded on larger lots as they were on the Main Line. They are also located within a few minutes walk of the former Powelton Avenue stop. \u00a0Unlike the Main Line developments, there are also a significant number of twin houses and row house blocks intermingled with the free-standing houses.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8520\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8520\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.phillyhistory.org\/PhotoArchive\/Detail.aspx?assetId=71836\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8520\" alt=\"36th and Baring 12.14.1962.ashx\" src=\"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/36th-and-Baring-12.14.1962.ashx_-300x234.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"234\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/36th-and-Baring-12.14.1962.ashx_-300x234.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/36th-and-Baring-12.14.1962.ashx_.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8520\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Henry Cochran mansion at 36th and Baring Street, built in the 1890s by architect Wilson Eyre Jr. Photograph dated December 12, 1962<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Several well-known Philadelphia architects got in on the act of building up Powelton. \u00a0Wilson Eyre Jr., designer of many large houses in Rittenhouse Square and the Philadelphia suburbs, also worked on at least two houses in Powelton Village. \u00a0One was a substantial freestanding mansion for wine merchant Henry Cochran, located on the corner of 36th and Baring Streets. \u00a0Another was a renovation of a narrow twin house on the 3500 block of Hamilton Street. \u00a0In both of these projects, Eyre displayed his characteristic sense of whimsy and invention, much of it medieval in inspiration. He also avoided the gaudy grandeur that characterized so much late Victorian architecture. \u00a0Among other commissions, Eyre was responsible for the University Museum, the <a href=\"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/index.php\/2014\/05\/echoes-from-the-mask-and-wig-club\/\">Mask &amp; Wig<\/a> clubhouse, and suburban estates such as Horatio Gates Lloyd&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Allgates\">&#8220;Allgates&#8221;<\/a> mansion in Haverford. In the words of the Historic Commission&#8217;s Diana Marcelo: &#8220;Eyre detested an overload of ornamentation. He had a feeling of proportion, and a tendency toward extended horizontal planes. His buildings had crisp lines and much expression, achieved by a careful blend of varying materials.&#8221; \u00a0The Cochran house bears more than a passing resemblance to the early residential work of Frank Lloyd Wright. In many ways, Eyre&#8217;s Powelton and Wright&#8217;s Oak Park were similar suburban communities.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8521\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8521\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.phillyhistory.org\/PhotoArchive\/Detail.aspx?assetId=71838\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8521\" alt=\"St. Andrew's PE Church 12.14.1962.ashx\" src=\"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/St.-Andrews-PE-Church-12.14.1962.ashx_-300x237.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"237\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/St.-Andrews-PE-Church-12.14.1962.ashx_-300x237.jpg 300w, https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/St.-Andrews-PE-Church-12.14.1962.ashx_.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8521\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">St. Andrew&#8217;s Episcopal Church (now St. Andrew and St. Monica&#8217;s Episcopal Church) at 36th and Baring Streets. This was the location of Max Riebenack&#8217;s funeral in September 1903. Photograph dated December 14, 1962.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The neighborhood prospered for a few decades thanks to the station stop and the infusion of railroad money. From the 1870s until the early 1900s, because of its proximity to the old 30th Street depot, Powelton Village was a neighborhood of choice for Pennsylvania Railroad executives. \u00a0Max Riebenack was perhaps \u00a0the most prominent of the PRR executives who lived in West Philadelphia. Riebenack was an American success story: a German immigrant whose parents brought him to America as a six year old boy in 1850. By 1895, he had risen to the position of comptroller of the Pennsylvania Railroad, working alongside executives like Alexander Cassatt, mastermind of New York&#8217;s Pennsylvania Station and its tunnels. \u00a0Yet rather than move to Rittenhouse Square or the Main Line, Riebenack preferred to live &#8220;North of Market&#8221; in West Philadelphia, close to fellow German immigrants such as brewer Frederick Augustus Poth. With his newfound wealth, Riebenack purchased a plot of land for $14,000 (the equivalent of about $300,000 today) \u00a0at the corner of 34th and Powelton Avenue. \u00a0He then commissioned architect Thomas Preston Lonsdale to build a spiky roofed Queen Anne style mansion that rose high above the street.<\/p>\n<p>As a high-ranking executive of one of the largest corporations in the world, Max clearly liked living large, joining many clubs during his time on North 34th Street, both in town (the Union League) and in the suburbs (the Merion Cricket Club). The house, now Drexel University&#8217;s Ross Commons, was built for grand entertaining. The <em>Philadelphia Inquirer<\/em> breathlessly described the Riebenack&#8217;s silver wedding anniversary as follows:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cA largely attended reception was given last night at the residence of Mr. and Mrs. Max Riebenack, at Thirty-fourth and Powelton avenue, on the occasion of the silver anniversary of their wedding.\u00a0\u00a0The house was handsomely decorated and an orchestra furnished music in the spacious hallway from behind a fern-covered nook.\u00a0\u00a0The house was lighted up throughout with electric lights and crowded with guests.\u00a0Mr. and Mrs. Riebenack were assisted in receiving their guests by Mrs. Conrad T. Clothier.\u00a0\u00a0Many of the presents were handsome and valuable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_8523\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-8523\" style=\"width: 223px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.findagrave.com\/cgi-bin\/fg.cgi?page=pv&amp;GRid=112331948&amp;PIpi=90675525\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-8523\" alt=\"Max Riebenack\" src=\"https:\/\/phillyhistory.wpengine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Max-Riebenack-223x300.jpg\" width=\"223\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Max-Riebenack-223x300.jpg 223w, https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Max-Riebenack.jpg 258w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 223px) 100vw, 223px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-8523\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Max Riebenack, Comptroller for the Pennsylvania Railroad and builder of the mansion that now serves as Drexel University&#8217;s Ross Commons. Source: Findagrave.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Unfortunately, Max and Eleanor Riebenack suffered two terrible personal tragedies. In 1903, their thirty year old son Max Jr. died of typhoid fever in the family home on Powelton Avenue. \u00a0Five years later, another son, Henry \u00a0&#8211; an inventor and former track star at the University of Pennsylvania &#8212; \u00a0also died of disease, this time at the family&#8217;s beach house in Atlantic City, New Jersey. By the time Max Riebenack himself died in 1910, the neighborhood&#8217;s most fashionable days had past. When the Powelton Avenue stop closed, the neighborhood became much less accessible to Center City and the PRR&#8217;s offices at Broad Street Station. \u00a0Many of those with money moved to the Main Line towns past City Avenue, and the large mansions they left behind were converted into boarding houses.<\/p>\n<p>So ended Powelton&#8217;s short reign as the &#8220;first stop&#8221; on the Main Line.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Robert Morris Skaler,\u00a0<em>Images of America: West Philadelphia \u2013 University City to 52nd Street<\/em>\u00a0(Charleston, South Carolina: The Arcadia Press, 2002), p.77.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;West Philadelphia: The Basic History, Chapter 2: A Streetcar Suburb in the City: West Philadelphia, 1854-1907,&#8221;\u00a0<em>West Philadelphia Community History Center.<\/em>\u00a0http:\/\/www.archives.upenn.edu\/histy\/features\/wphila\/history\/history2.html<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;227. N. 34th Street, Philadelphia,&#8221;\u00a0http:\/\/poweltonvillage.org\/interactivemap\/files\/227n34th.htm<\/p>\n<p>Sally Downey, &#8220;Tracking the Main Line from Overbrook to Paoli: The World from the 17 Stops of the R5 Local,&#8221; <em>The Philadelphia Inquirer,<\/em> February 5, 1988. http:\/\/articles.philly.com\/1988-02-05\/entertainment\/26241651_1_train-station-signals-and-stations-bottom-line<\/p>\n<p>Diana Marcelo, &#8220;National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form: Wilson Eyre Home&#8221; (Philadelphia, PA: The Philadelphia Historical Commission, April 1976.)\u00a0https:\/\/www.dot7.state.pa.us\/ce_imagery\/phmc_scans\/H001363_01H.pdf<\/p>\n<p><i>\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Footage of the last steam trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1954. For those who regularly ride the Main Line trains: have you ever wondered why there are no stops between 30th Street Station and Overbrook? \u00a0After Overbrook, however, the train stops nearly every two minutes.\u00a0There&#8217;s an old \u00a0&#8212; and very politically incorrect &#8212; mnemonic device [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,3,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events-and-people","category-historic-sites","category-neighborhoods"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8515","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8515"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8515\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8515"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8515"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.phillyhistory.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8515"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}