Upper Providence Bicentennial

By Leslie Lighton-Humphreys

From Indian trails to a slackwater navigation canal, three railroad lines, an airfield, and a concrete expressway, to a pair of expanding recreational trails, the history of Upper Providence Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania evolved along the confluence of the Schuylkill River and Perkiomen Creek. Shaped like a diamond puzzle piece until 1896, its history is linked to evolving movement and settlements beginning with Indian tribes, William Penn, and the American Revolution. Opening of the Pottstown Expressway, joined by expansion of the sewer plant, led to rapid development of township farmland. November 12, 2005 marked the Upper Providence Township Incorporation Bicentennial.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jul 25, 2005
• ISBN: 9781462800612

Leslie Lighton-Humphreys

An eighteen year resident of Upper Providence Township, Leslie Lighton-Humphreys covered township Board of Supervisor meetings for a local weekly newspaper, served on the Board of the Schuylkill Canal Association, and has represented two township voting districts as a Republican Committeewoman. She and her husband Michael lived on Canal Street in Port Providence for sixteen years before relocating to a township home near the Royersford Borough line. Using books, articles, interviews, fieldtrips, an airplane ride, and other source research material, Leslie captured the flavor of her township's rich history. All proceeds from this book will support the Royersford Public Library.

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Upper Providence

Bicentennial

Leslie Lighton-Humphreys

Copyright © 2005 by Leslie Lighton-Humphreys.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Contents

PREFACE

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2

MOVEMENT AND SETTLEMENT

SCHUYLKILL RIVER

Islands

Villages

Fords, Dams, and Bridges

Three Creeks and a Run

PERKIOMEN CREEK

Islands

Villages

Fords, Dams, and Bridges

A Creek and Two Runs

TERRAIN

CHAPTER 3

BEFORE PROVIDENCE

ORIGINAL SETTLERS

DUTCH AND SWEDES

PROPRIETARY’S MANOR OF THE GILBERTS

PHILADELPHIA COUNTY

PENNSYLVANIA LAND COMPANY OF LONDON

TURN OF THE CENTURY—1700

CHAPTER 4

Providence Township

FISH WAR

CANAL PLANS

AMERICAN REVOLUTION

MONTGOMERY COUNTY

TURN OF THE CENTURY—1800

CHAPTER 5

INCORPORATION

SCHUYLKILL NAVIGATION

PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD

UNDERGROUND RAILROAD

CIVIL WAR

PHILADELPHIA AND READING—PERKIOMEN-ALLENTOWN BRANCH

PENNSYLVANIA SCHUYLKILL VALLEY RAILROAD

TURN OF THE CENTURY—1900

RIVER DESILTING PROJECT

POTTSTOWN EXPRESSWAY

TURN OF THE CENTURY—2000

CHAPTER 6

BICENTENNIAL

BIBLIOGRAPHY

ENDNOTES

Preface

For seven years I sat in the audience of the Upper Providence Township Hall as a newspaper correspondent for The Independent and Montgomery Transcript (1875-2002), Collegeville’s weekly newspaper. Twice monthly I reported on Board of Supervisors meetings. As I recorded the public administrative issues for my readers, I studied the township seal etched in glass over the heads of the supervisors. It read 1805.

When I began to research this book, I uncovered many coincidences to my own life. I was born on the anniversary of the opening of the Erie Canal and grew up in Delaware County near Springton Lake, built by Suburban Water Company as Geist Reservoir. My parents would travel to eat dinner at the Bull Tavern along the Perkiomen Creek.

In 1982 I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Washington College in Chestertown Maryland, as a member of the Bicentennial class. When I lived in Audubon, Lower Providence Route 422 was only open as far as Egypt Road.

My husband Michael and I were married in Ridley Creek State Park, near Gradyville. Mike is related to the Schrack family by marriage and previously worked at Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard. For five years I worked as a consultant at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (now Wyeth), and I was one of the last Arcola Post Office boxholders. My current manager‘s last name is Moore.

For a dozen years I sat on the Board of the Schuylkill Canal Association and served on several early Schuylkill River Heritage Corridor planning committees. Henry Force once owned our first home on Canal Street in Port Providence. The year before the township’s anniversary, the fourth sighting of Transit of Venus occurred on June 7, 2004, for the first time in 122 years.

Acknowledgements:

Donald Ashenfelder (longtime resident), Eugene Blaum (Exelon/PECO), Alice Boatwright (Pickering and French Creeks Conservation Trust), William

Brenner (Spring-Ford Historical Society), Mary Christman (Spring-Ford School District), Richard Czop (Commonwealth Fish and Boat Commissioner), Elizabeth Daley (Executive Director, Schuylkill Canal Association), Carole Faust (Montgomery County Archives), Dan LeJeune (Rivercrest Golf Club & Preserve), Donna McDermott (Historian, Valley Forge National Historic Park), Eileen and Bill McNamara (longtime residents), Warren Moore (Merck), Pilot Thomas Noetzel (Pottstown-Limerick Airport), John Schetler (Trappe Historic Society), James Tobin Stewart (Editor Extraordinaire), Lorett Treese (Bryn Mawr College Library), Chari Towne (Schuylkill Riverkeeper), and John Wood (Montgomery County Planning Commission).

GlaxoSmithKline, Limerick Historical Society, Lower Perkiomen Valley Sewer Authority, Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County Archives, Montgomery County Historical Society, Montgomery County Library (Norristown & Royersford), Montgomery County Planning Commission, Montgomery County Public Relations, Parkhouse, PECO, PennDOT, Phoenixville Area Historical Society, Pickering and French Creeks Conservation Trust, SEI, Shemin‘s Nursery, Spring-Ford Historical Society, Spring-Ford School District, Trappe Historical Society, Upper Providence Township, Valley Forge National Historic Park, Wordworks, and Wyeth.

A special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Richard Czop for generously underwriting this book so that all proceeds can benefit the Royersford Public Library.

All photographs were taken by the author. Cover: Lock 60 Reopening May 1, 2005; [1] Lock 60 area including Black Rock Dam, ravines, forebay, remains of hydroelectric plant, new lock gates and bridge, PECO transmission lines, locktender’s house, along Schuylkill River with Route 113 and the edge of The Ledges 72-unit housing development; [2] Route 29, Mont Clare, [3] Schuylkill River at Perkiomen Creek; [4] Route 113, Parkhouse, and Vista housing development. In addition image [5] is a Lock 60 vintage postcard from the collection of William C. Brunner.

Chapter 1

Introduction

In 2005, most township visitors spent mere minutes inside Upper Providence, Montgomery County. According to PennDOT, 60,000 daily motorists traveled seven miles of the Route 422 Expressway between Lower Providence and Limerick Townships. Traffic dropped by 13,000 beyond the Royersford exit.

Built in the mid-1980s, this concrete four-lane limited access highway begins at Route 202, near King of Prussia and traverses the boundary between Chester and Montgomery Counties. This is why the first few miles are officially known as the County Line Expressway.

The road gains its more common name, Pottstown Expressway, after crossing the Schuylkill River into Lower Providence Township at the Betzwood/ Trooper exit. Beyond Pottstown, the expressway ends in Douglass Township, Berks County. Route 422 then continues north to Reading along traditional surface roads.

Northbound drivers leave Lower Providence Township when they cross the Perkiomen Creek. Since 1805 this waterway has served as the southeastern boundary of Upper Providence. Downstream, a parallel arched railroad bridge carries deserted tracks over the creek, near the confluence with the Schuylkill River, and the area’s sewer treatment plant.

The first township landmarks are witnessed on the former B.F. Goodrich tire manufacturing plant site. Several of the neon-lit retail businesses along the roadway are The Dump furniture store, an art-deco-façade Regal-24 Cinema, Target, Lowes, The Turf Club sports betting parlor, Gold’s Gym, a Hampton Inn and adjacent Bob Evans restaurant. This property played a significant role during the Revolutionary War.

After traversing Egypt Road at the Oaks/Audubon interchange, the road takes a sweeping curve. St. Paul’s church can be seen on the left and the SEI Investments complex on the right. The modern corporate park resembles a colorfully restored industrial-age manufacturing village. A green PennDOT signs marks the bridge over Upper Indianhead Road.

The median expands. Once a beehive PennDOT storage building is spotted across the highway, the road scales a steep grade. When the road splits to skirt a high hill, opposing lanes are hidden. To the right, a quarry dug as part of road construction remains. Traffic crosses Troutman Road.

Approaching the Collegeville/Phoenixville interchange, the lanes knit back together. To the left, the GlaxoSmithKline brick multiplex overlooks competitor Wyeth’s sprawling campus deep in the valley. Other office buildings and the skeleton of a future hotel hug the right shoulder. Once across Route 29, the township’s administration complex hovers high on the hill, marked by the tall silver cellular tower. Straight ahead, steam from Limerick Nuclear Power Plant sprouts from twin cooling towers.

On the left, the Valley Forge Baptist Temple continues to expand, where South Trappe Road/Route 113 travels beneath the expressway. Just beyond, the 135^foot tall blue water tower, crowned with 911 antennae at Montgomery County’s elderly facility Parkhouse (formerly the Geriatric Center) touches the sky.

Single-family houses and connected town homes clustered in pockets along both sides of the expressway, edged by high berm-filled with grasses, cedars and varied species of vegetation. Motorists cross Old State, Mingo and South Lewis Roads, where the highway bisects the Spring-Ford School District campus of brick buildings, capped with characteristic Pacific-blue tin roofs. A sign marks the bridge over Mingo Creek.

As motorists pass into Limerick Township, where the Royersford exit concrete ramp meets the expressway, few may realize this was not the first highway built through the township.

In 1825, the Schuylkill Navigation Company opened its slack water canal system along the Schuylkill River. Beginning at the Fairmount Dam in Philadelphia, mule or horse-drawn barge and packet boats navigated the canal north to the junction with the westbound Union Canal in Reading or onward to Port Carbon located in the coal region.

Transportation evolved from canal to railroad and concrete roadways to air travel. Today drivers can navigate the lower canal boat route by traveling the Schuylkill and Pottstown Expressways. However, a glimpse of the past is still possible thanks to the dedication of local citizens, performed while the Pottstown Expressway was under construction.

By the time the Schuylkill Canal Advisory Committee, which evolved into the Schuylkill Canal Association, joined with the township and Commonwealth to preserve the canal area, the lower mile from Brower’s to Longford Road (Oaks Impounding Basin) had been filled in during the state’s river de-silting project. The Pennsylvania Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation (BAMR) currently owns Oaks and another township basin along the river in Mingo. Both sets of Lock 60 wooden gates were gone.

Visitors could only imagine how northbound boats would lock through into the forebay and lift 13½ feet to enter the Schuylkill River above Black Rock Dam. The following photograph shows the Schuylkill River and Canal at Lock 60 between Black Rock Dam and the locktender’s house.

missing image file

A lock chamber is comprised of two stonewalls