Included are:
"Haines Street was in years gone by called Meeting House lane, formerly Pickus' lane. Opposite Meeting House lane stood the Town Hall, built in 1854. At one time it was proposed to build Town Hall on Market Square. In 1862 the old Town Hall, with the addition of a number of buildings built of frame, was offered by the city of Phila to the Government as a hospital. It was known as Cuyler Hospital. At the close of the war the frame buildings were torn down. In 1877 the old steeple was torn down and replaced with the present tower & steeple in order to accommodate the bell and clock taken from Independence Hall. When Henry Seibert presented the State House with a new clock, the citizens of Germantown, through the efforts of Thomas A. Gummey, secured both bell and clock for their Town Hall. The bell is the second one in the history of the State House and was cast in Phil by Lukens. It is said to contain 1000 Spanish dollars which gives it its fine clear tone."
Newsclipping dated July 11, 1902:
"Bird's -Eye View of Central Germantown in the Early Sixties"
"Supplementing the picture and sketch of the old Mower United States Army Hospital printed a couple of weeks ago, "The Independent-Gazette" presents to-day an excellent half-tone cut of the Cuyler Hospital, which occupied the Town Hall and several adjoining buildings during the Rebellion. This famous old hospital started out with Drs. Darrach, Dunton and Downs, three well-known Germantown surgeons, in charge...(later Dr. Thomas F. Betton and then Dr. A.F. Muller)...The capacity of the hospital was about five hundred.
"It will be noticed in the accompanying cut that the steeple on the Town Hall at that time was somewhat different in architecture to that indicated by its present appearance. The steeple as shown in the cut was erected when the Town Hall was built, in 1854, and was changed to accommodate the old State House bell, which was placed in it some twenty-five or thirty years ago.
"During the war Lafayette street (now West Haines) was not opened, and the Town Hall Block, as it was called, occupied a considerable frontage on Main street, as the buildings will show. Quite a number of houses can be distinctly outlined in the above cut, and will be remembered by some of the older residents of Germantown, especially those buildings that appear in the vicinity of Tulpehocken street and beyond.
"In the distance the old stand pipe of the Germantown Water Works looms up, which was hoisted and set in place August 13, 1851. The capacity of the stand pipe, which was 120 feet in height, was 14, 400 gallons...."
Back to the page for this location
|| Home || Germantown || Addresses || Texts || Maps || Key ||