Upper Dublin’s Transformation Into a Post-world War Ii Suburb

PRE-WORLD WAR II BOUNDARY CHANGES

Prior to the end of World War II there were four boundary changes affecting the rectangular size of Upper Dublin as originally surveyed pursuant to William Penn’s directions:

the creation of the Borough of Ambler in 1888, carving out a large portion of Upper Dublin adjoining Lower Gwynedd (representing the 408-acre tract purchased from William Penn in 1716 by the Harmer Brothers, per Ambler Borough website),

the 1929 transfer of an area then known as North Oreland, west of Limekiln Pike below Beechwood through the midline of Chelsea Avenue to just below Pennsylvania Avenue, from Upper Dublin to Abington (discussed below),

the 1940 boundary alteration between Abington and Upper Dublin through the Ardsley neighborhood apparently to accommodate lines within a new subdivision that would have divided individual homes, and

the 1943 annexation by Ambler of a one-acre tract “at Rose Valley and structures along Church and Main Streets” (Ambler Borough website).³¹

B. PEOPLE AND HOUSING IN UPPER DUBLIN PRIOR TO WW II

POPULATION GROWTH

Upper Dublin’s population in 1930 was 4379. In 1940 it was 4620, representing a 5% increase from 1930, but a brief look back at those years is illuminating.

2. WHERE PEOPLE LIVED

The Census

The 1930 Census had listed only two Enumeration Districts for Upper Dublin: 46-142 and 46-143 (46-142 including Oreland Village) and 46-143 (including Ambler Highlands and Fort Washington Villages). There were no institutional settings. In 1930 St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum was located in West Conshohocken.

The 1940 Census Map of Upper Dublin³² had three inserts with detailed street maps: Ambler Highlands-Fort Washington, Oreland, and East of Oreland, with the following Enumeration Districts:

46-205 everything east of Pennsylvania Railroad tracks (including Oreland and East of Oreland)

46-206 all of Upper Dublin between Susquehanna Road and Welsh Road except for the area within 46-205

46-207 Crest View Sanitarium (Note: Census shows no population, as this was- erroneous as the 1930 census elsewhere lists similarly named facilities in Cheltenham and Upper Providence with population;

46-208 below Susquehanna and west of Ft. Washington Avenue (including Ambler Highlands and Fort Washington)

46-209 St. Mary’s Orphan Asylum

46-210 below Susquehanna Road between Ft. Washington Avenue and the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks

The 1950 Census’ Enumeration District Map began to show the township’s post-World War II development, with the addition of Enumeration Districts ED-360 through ED-368.

The Population

Pre-World War II Upper Dublin mostly consisted of farms and their inhabitants with a smattering of small commercial establishments (notably the Jarrettown Inn, plant nurseries and a few stores) and long-existing religious congregations of Quakers and various Protestant denominations with relatively small but dedicated congregants.

Homes were principally found in the Old Fort Washington area adjacent to Bethlehem Pike and Pennsylvania Avenue, a section adjoining Ambler between the Ambler Borough boundary and Bethlehem Pike (including the St. Mary’s property and adjoining homes on Lindenwold and those above Lindenwold to Butler Pike),³³ and, adjoining Abington and Springfield, the Ardsley section on the east side of Fitzwatertown Road and what is now known as North Hills and Oreland, along the northern side of Pennsylvania Avenue (formerly known as Township Line Road). There were also a small number of homes and buildings at historic intersections in Dreshertown, Jarrettown, and Three Tuns.

Prior to the completion of the New Jersey extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1955, Upper Dublin saw a number of transformative events:

a) passenger railroad access (through what was then the Reading Railroad’s routes to Reading Terminal and, following Reading’s bankruptcy, SEPTA and the construction of the Commuter Tunnel in Philadelphia);

b) increasing ownership of automobiles, and

c) opening of three private golf courses in the part of the township nearest the more populated, earlier developed areas of Ambler, Cheltenham and Springfield.³⁴