5859 Germantown Avenue

HSP: Campbell Collection (compiled by Jane Campbell, circa 1900-1910), vol. 33, p. 152, "Association Property Undeveloped, Haines Street and Germantown Avenue" (photograph taken before 1911).
5859 is third from the corner, gable end facing the street.

Background:
Dorothy Reger's small grocery store occupied a story-and-a-half house on this site during the early nineteenth century; the Regers' famous apple cider vinegar was sold here. For most of the nineteenth century this was a candy store. This is also said to be where Joseph Parker (the first to sell cricket goods in this country) started in business about 1868. A building with its gable end facing the street is shown on this site in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century pictures; it is unclear if this is the same building used by the Regers.

Demolished. In 1965 a commercial building was erected on this site.

Additional Sources:

• GHS: Johnson, Clarence. "Pictorial Germantown Road...", p. 88 (text).
• GHS: Keyser, Naaman. Manuscript Notes for v. 2 (north of Chelten), History of Old Germantown, pp. 32-33 (unpublished typewritten notes).
• GHS: Photo Box 11, envelope 8: "First Presbyterian Church, old Blg-5847-5851 Gtn Ave." (photographic print #641 pos. 433 featured in "spaces and Places" exhibit, 1980. Also shows the three houses north of the church/YMCA, including this one-and-a-half story building with gable end facing the street).
• GHS: Photo Scrapbook 5, p. 46: "Building of the Germantown Young Men's Christian Association, 1873-1892. Formerly the Building of the First Presbyterian Church in Germantown. East Side of Germantown Avenue, South of Haines St. (same photographic image as in Photo Box 11, envelope 8; however, this image includes slightly more of Germantown Avenue on either side of the YMCA).

   

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