|
A Brief History of the Wissahickon Valley |
|
|
|
Page 5 of 6 Further south, Ambler remained little more than a train stop surrounded by a variety of deteriorating mills, most of which dated from the late 18th century. But in 1881 new life came to the community when two Philadelphia manufacturers, Henry Keasbey and R.V. Mattison, decided to move their pharmaceutical business from Philadelphia to Ambler. Mattison also set about building a magnificent chateau modeled after Windsor Castle. By 1891 Mattison added a beautiful gothic style church near his home and built an office building and opera house in Ambler. In 1897 the company moved away from making digestive aids and started to produce asbestos insulating papers and board. Mattison ran the quintessential company town, and by World War I, Keasbey-Mattison was the world's largest manufacturer of asbestos products. The business would continue to expand as asbestos roofing supplied became popular. But the company would not survive the depression. Mattison's empire and his home would be sold, the latter in 1936, the year of his death. The roaring 1890s would produce a competition among Philadelphia's ruling elite to build beautiful chateau in the area. Along the Penllyn-Blue Bell Turnpike (the last surviving turnpike in 1927), Bergdoll brewmaster George Rieger built the main building to the present day Silverstream Retirement Home. Further down the street multi-millionaire financier Henry B. Coxe built what is today Beth Or Synagogue as his summer estate. Francis Bond exceeded both Rieger and Coxe when he hired Horace Trumbauer to erect the present main building at Gwynedd Mercy College as his 250 acre summer home. Other's like Francis E. Bond would be content to expand and renovate many of the surviving 18th century farmhouses. Bond's son James, would later become a world class orthnithologist and his name would inspire British author Ian Fleming to name a character for him.
|
