The Nineteenth Century

Mary Ambler and the Great Train Accident

Stroll down Main Street today, towards Reiff's Mill Road, and you will come to one of the oldest houses in Ambler Borough, the home of Mary Ambler.

The former Mary Johnson of Bucks County married Andrew Ambler, a weaver, in 1829. Three years later, Andrew purchased the Fulling Mill and 82 acres of land in the bucolic town of Wissahickon. They raised a family and enjoyed success in their business endeavors. When Andrew died in 1850, Mary took over the mill operations with her married son, Lewis, one of her large family of seven sons and one daughter.

That the borough has Mary Ambler's name is no accident; rather it is on account of an accident, a Great Train Accident that it does.

On July 2, 1855, the Wissahickon Railroad station formally opened. The railroad served as a great spur to local commerce, transporting both produce and people, and led to increased prosperity for the area. Local farmers could now ship their produce to markets further from home at low cost.

City folks from Philadelphia enjoyed taking the northbound train, dubbed the "picnic special," into the country.

On July 17, 1856, the "picnic special" collided with the southbound train head on, between Fort Washington station and Camp Hill station (the now defunct Fellwick flag stop). In one of the worst tragedies of the Industrial Age thus far, 59 people were killed.

Mary Ambler, known for her generous ministrations to ill townspeople, reportedly walked two miles to the site of the accident and directed the relief efforts.

Thirteen years later, in July 1869, town officials remembered her valiant actions that terrible day, and they renamed the local railroad station Ambler, in her honor. Later, the village and post office adopted the name.


A Steam locomotive from 1860.

Back to TOP

Find out how Ambler became a manufacturing town.

Source: Early History of Ambler by Dr. Mary P.H. Hough, 1936.