Germantown () is an area in Northwest Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded by

Palatine A palatine or palatinus (Latin; : ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman Empire, Roman times.

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

, and

Mennonite Mennonites are a group of Anabaptism, Anabaptist Christianity, Christian communities tracing their roots to the epoch of the Radical Reformation. The name ''Mennonites'' is derived from the cleric Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland, part of ...

families in 1683 as an independent

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

, it was absorbed into Philadelphia in 1854. The area, which is about six miles northwest from the city center, now consists of two neighborhoods: 'Germantown' and 'East Germantown'. Germantown has played a significant role in

American history The history of the present-day United States began in roughly 15,000 BC with the arrival of Peopling of the Americas, the first people in the Americas. In the late 15th century, European colonization of the Americas, European colonization beg ...

; it was the birthplace of the American antislavery movement, the site of a Revolutionary War battle, the temporary residence of

George Washington George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...

, the location of the first bank of the United States, and the residence of many notable politicians, scholars, artists, and social activists. Today, the area remains rich in historic sites and buildings from the colonial era, some of which are open to the public.

Boundaries

Germantown stretches for about two miles along Germantown Avenue northwest from Windrim and Roberts Avenues. Germantown has been consistently bounded on the southwest by Wissahickon Avenue, on the southeast by Roberts Avenue, and on the east by Wister Street and Stenton Avenue, but its northwest border has expanded and contracted over the years. When first incorporated as a borough in 1689, Germantown was separated from the rural Germantown Township by Washington Lane; later, the border was expanded to Carpenter and East Gorgas Lanes; it was then rolled back to Washington Lane in 1846, () and remained there until the borough was absorbed into the city of Philadelphia in 1854. Today, the western part of the former borough is the neighborhood known simply as 'Germantown' (though is sometimes called 'West Germantown') and the eastern part is the neighborhood of 'East Germantown'. While the boundary between the two neighborhoods is not well-defined and has varied over time, currently 'Germantown' usually refers to the part of the former borough that lies west of Germantown Avenue, up through West Johnson Street, and 'East Germantown' to the part that lies east of Germantown Avenue, up through East Upsal Street. The neighborhood of Mount Airy lies to the northwest, Ogontz and West Oak Lane to the northeast, Logan to the east, Nicetown–Tioga to the south, and East Falls to the southwest. The majority of Germantown is covered by the 19144 zip code, but the area north of Chew Avenue falls in the 19138 zip code.

History and demographics

Although the arrival by ship of the Original 13, the later founders of Germantown in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

on October 6, 1683, was later to provide the date for German-American Day, a

holiday A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. ''Public holidays'' are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often ...

in the United States, historical research has shown that nearly all of the first thirteen

and

families were in fact Dutch rather than

Germans Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, imple ...

. These families, which were mainly Dutch but also included some Swiss, had relocated to

Krefeld Krefeld ( , ; ), also spelled Crefeld until 1925 (though the spelling was still being used in British papers throughout the Second World War), is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, in western Germany. It is located northwest of Düsseldorf, its c ...

(near the Dutch border) and Kriegsheim (in

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; ; ; ) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the sixteen states. Mainz is the capital and largest city. Other cities are ...

) some years prior to their emigration to America to avoid persecution of their Mennonite beliefs in the

Dutch Republic The United Provinces of the Netherlands, commonly referred to in historiography as the Dutch Republic, was a confederation that existed from 1579 until the Batavian Revolution in 1795. It was a predecessor state of the present-day Netherlands ...

and

Swiss Confederacy The Old Swiss Confederacy, also known as Switzerland or the Swiss Confederacy, was a loose confederation of independent small states (, German or ), initially within the Holy Roman Empire. It is the precursor of the modern state of Switzerlan ...

. The town was named Germantown by the group's leader Franz Pastorius, a German preacher from Sommerhausen. The town's population remained largely Dutch-speaking until 1709, after which a number of the Dutch families set out west and a series of major German emigrations reached Germantown and Pennsylvania as a whole. Their initial leader, Pastorius, later aligned himself with newer German arrivals and as the only university-trained and legal and literary man among the early settlers, chronicled and stressed the town's German origins. Adding to the assimilating of Dutch culture was the fact that the direct vicinity of the settlement was already inhabited by fifty-four German families who had accompanied Johan Printz to the Swedish settlement on the Delaware several years before 1683 and had resettled themselves. Pastorius was the first bailiff. Jacob Telner, Derick Isacks op den Graeff and his brother Abraham Isacks op den Graeff, Reynier Tyson, and Tennis Coender ( Thones Kunders) were burgesses, besides six committeemen. They had authority to hold "the general court of the corporation of Germantowne", to make laws for the government of the settlement, and to hold a court of record. This court went into operation in 1690, and continued its services for sixteen years. In 1688, five years after its founding, Germantown became the birthplace of the anti-slavery movement in America. Pastorius, Gerret Hendericks and the brothers Derick and Abraham op den Graeff gathered at Thones Kunders's house and wrote a two-page condemnation of slavery and sent it to the governing bodies of their Quaker church, the

Society of Friends Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

. The petition was mainly based upon the Bible's

Golden Rule The Golden Rule is the principle of treating others as one would want to be treated by them. It is sometimes called an ethics of reciprocity, meaning that one should reciprocate to others how one would like them to treat the person (not neces ...

, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Though the Quaker establishment took no immediate action, the

1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery The 1688 Germantown Quaker Petition Against Slavery was the first protest against enslavement of Africans made by a religious body in the Thirteen Colonies. Francis Daniel Pastorius authored the petition; he and the three other Quakers living ...

was a clear and forceful argument against slavery and initiated the process of banning slavery in the Society of Friends (1776) and Pennsylvania (1780). In 1723, Germantown became the site of the first congregation of

Schwarzenau Brethren The Schwarzenau Brethren, the German Baptist Brethren, Dunkers, Dunkard Brethren, Tunkers, or sometimes simply called the German Baptists, are an Anabaptist group that dissented from Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Reformed European state churches ...

in the New World. The

Church of the Brethren The Church of the Brethren is an Anabaptist Christian denomination in the Schwarzenau Brethren tradition ( "Schwarzenau New Baptists") that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany during the Radical Pietist revival. ...

- among other churches - have their roots in the Schwarzenau Brethren. When Philadelphia was occupied by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

during the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

, British units were housed in Germantown. In the

Battle of Germantown The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, between the British Army led by Sir William Howe, and the American ...

, on October 4, 1777, the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

attacked the garrison. During the battle, a group of civilians fired on the British troops as they marched up the avenue, mortally wounding British officer James Agnew. The Americans withdrew after firing on one another in the confusion of the battle, which resulted in the battle becoming a British victory. The American losses amounted to 673 men and the British losses consisted of 575 men, but along with the American victory at Saratoga on October 17 when

John Burgoyne General (United Kingdom), General John "Gentleman Johnny" Burgoyne (24 February 1722 – 4 August 1792) was a British Army officer, playwright and politician who sat in the House of Commons of Great Britain from 1761 to 1792. He first saw acti ...

surrendered, the battle led to the official recognition of the Americans by France, which formed an alliance with the Americans afterward. During his presidency,

and his family lodged at the Deshler-Morris House in Germantown to escape the city and the yellow fever epidemic of 1793. The first bank of the United States was also located here during his administration. Germantown proper, and the adjacent German Township, were incorporated into the City of Philadelphia in 1854 by the Act of Consolidation. Italians began settling Germantown in 1880, and comprised an active and vibrant part of the community.Di Giacomo, Donna J. ''Italians of Philadelphia''.

Arcadia Publishing Arcadia Publishing is an American Publishing, publisher of neighborhood, local history, local, and regional history of the United States in pictorial form.(analysis of the successful ''Images of America'' series). Arcadia Publishing also runs th ...

, 2007. , 9780738550206. p
9
The significant changes that occurred in Philadelphia's demographics at the start of the 20th century caused major shifts in Germantown's ethnic makeup as well. When the first wave of the Great Migration brought more than 140,000 African Americans to the city from the South, long-established Philadelphians started to move to the outskirts. During this time, many German, Scots-Irish, and Irish families moved to Germantown. During the 1940s, a second mass migration of African Americans from the south to Philadelphia occurred. While the majority of middle-class African American newcomers first settled in North Philadelphia, the housing shortages in this area that followed the end of World War II caused later arrivals to move instead to the Northwest. This led to a wave of new housing construction. To meet the housing needs of the growing numbers of African American families moving into southern Germantown, the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority allocated $10.6 million for the creation of public housing. Between 1954 and 1956, Germantown experienced an influx of lower-income African Americans, resulting in a decline in property values and triggering a "

white flight The white flight, also known as white exodus, is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the Racism ...

" of the majority of white residents to the suburbs. The demographic shift caused a slow but steady decline in central Germantown's upscale shopping district, with the last department store, a J. C. Penney branch, closing in the early 1980s. The current demographics of Germantown reflects this shift. As of the 2010 US Census, Germantown proper is 77% black, 15% white, 3% Latino, and 2% Asian, and East Germantown is 92% black, 3% white, 2% Latino, and 2% Asian. Eugene Stackhouse, a retired former president of the Germantown Historical Society says that the demographic transition of Germantown into a predominantly black neighborhood was the result of the now illegal practice of

blockbusting Blockbusting was a business practice in the United States in which real estate agents and building developers convinced residents in a particular area to sell their property at below-market prices. This was achieved by fearmongering the homeowne ...

. "It was a great disgrace. Cheap houses would be sold to a black family, then the realtors would go around and tell the neighbors that the blacks are invading", said Stackhouse. The practice was used to trigger panic selling.

Education

Primary and secondary schools

Public schools

Germantown is zoned to the

School District of Philadelphia The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated State schools, public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the largest school district in Pennsylvania and the eighth-lar ...

, as is all of Philadelphia. Public schools located in Germantown include the Anna L. Lingelbach School (K–8), the John B. Kelly School (K–6), the John Wister Elementary School (K–6), the Hill Freedman Middle School (6–8), the Theodore Roosevelt Middle School (7–8), the Fitler Academics Plus School (1–8), and the Martin Luther King High School (9–12). The Robert Fulton Elementary School and Germantown High School, a regional public high school located in Germantown, were both closed in 2013.

Charter schools

Mastery Charter Schools operates the Mastery Charter Pickett Campus (7–12, MCPC) in Germantown. The school opened in August 2007.Pickett Campus : About
." Mastery Charter Schools. Retrieved on September 10, 2012. "Our Location 5700 Wayne Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19144" The charter system headquarters is located at Pickett. Germantown Settlement Charter School (5–8), Imani Education Circle Charter school (pre-K to 8), and the Wissahickon Charter School's Awbury Campus (6th–8th) is located in the neighborhood . The Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, a private state-chartered school, occupies the former site of Germantown Academy, which moved to Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1965.

Private schools

Germantown's private schools include the DePaul Catholic School (K–8), Waldorf School of Philadelphia (PreK-8), the High Street Christian Academy (K–4), the Germantown Islamic School, the Green Tree School (special education, ages 6–21), and two Quaker schools: Germantown Friends School and Greene Street Friends School. Nearby private schools include Mount Airy's Revival Hill Christian High School (9–12), Blair Christian Academy (PreK–12), Islamic Day School of Philadelphia (PreK–5), Project Learn School (K–8), Classroom on Carpenter Lane (K-2), and Holy Cross School (K–8), as well as Chestnut Hill's

Springside School Springside Chestnut Hill Academy (also known as SCH Academy or SCH) is an independent, non-sectarian Pre-K through grade 12 school located in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, approximately 10 miles fro ...

(PreK–12), Chestnut Hill Academy (K–12), and Crefeld School (7–12). The William Penn Charter School (commonly known as Penn Charter), the oldest Quaker school in the world, is located in nearby East Falls.

Higher education

La Salle University is in both Germantown and historic Belfield. Its west campus is centered on the old Germantown Hospital buildings and property, which it purchased in 2007. Other universities and colleges close to Germantown include Drexel University College of Medicine's Queen Lane Medical Campus,

Arcadia University Arcadia University is a private university in Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania, with a Glenside mailing address. The university enrolls approximately 3,200 undergraduate, master's, and doctoral students. The 94-acre (380,000 m2) Glenside cam ...

, Chestnut Hill College, The Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, Philadelphia University, and

Saint Joseph's University Saint Joseph's University (SJU or St. Joe's) is a Private university, private Jesuits, Jesuit university in Philadelphia, Lower Merion Township, Pennsylvania, and Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The university was founded by the Jesuits, Society of J ...

.Education
". Mt. Airy USA. Retrieved on January 20, 2009.

Other teaching institutions

Settlement Music School, the largest community school of the arts in the United States, operates one of its six branches in Germantown. Phila FLP NorthwestRegional

Public libraries

Free Library of Philadelphia The Free Library of Philadelphia is the public library system that serves the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is the 16th-largest public library system in the United States. The Free Library of Philadelphia is a non-Mayoral agency of the ...

operates public libraries. The Joseph E. Coleman Northwest Regional Library is located in Germantown. The library was given its current name in 2002, after Joseph E. Coleman, a member of the

Philadelphia City Council The Philadelphia City Council is the legislative body of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the United States. It is composed of 17 councilmembers: ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large from throughou ...

Transportation

The first railroad in Philadelphia was the Philadelphia, Germantown and Norristown Railroad, which linked Germantown to a station at 9th and Green Streets in Center City. It opened in 1832, and was initially powered by horses. The inventor Matthias W. Baldwin built his first commissioned

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

for the new railroad. Nicknamed ''Old Ironsides'', it eventually reached a peak speed of 28 mph."Matthias William Baldwin", in Lance Day and Ian Mcneil (eds.), ''Biographical Dictionary of the History of Technology.'' London: Routledge, 1995; pg. 39. Today two

SEPTA SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...

Regional Rail Regional rail is a public transport, public rail transport service that operates between towns and cities. These trains operate with more stops than inter-city rail, and unlike commuter rail, operate beyond the limits of urban areas, connectin ...

lines connect the neighborhood to Center City: the

Chestnut Hill West Line The Chestnut Hill West Line is a route of the SEPTA SEPTA Regional Rail, Regional Rail network. It connects Northwest Philadelphia, including the eponymous neighborhood of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chestnut Hill, West Mount Ai ...

with stops at Queen Lane, Chelten Avenue, and Tulpehocken stations; and the Chestnut Hill East Line with stops at Wister, Germantown, and Washington Lane stations. The neighborhood is also served by bus routes 18, 23 (formerly a trolley line), 26, 41, 53 (formerly a trolley line), 65, 71 and 81, and K. File:Old-Irosides-1832.jpg, Baldwin's "Old Ironsides" (1832) File:2093 Germantown ave april 85 - Flickr - drewj1946.jpg, Route 23 trolley on Germantown Avenue (1985)

Parks and recreation areas

Germantown has numerous parks and recreation areas. These include: * Awbury Arboretum, a historic 55-acre arboretum and estate *Carpenter Park *Clifford Park *Cliveden Park *Cloverly Park *East Germantown Recreation Center *Fernhill Park * Germantown Cricket Club (private) *Hansberry Garden and Nature Center *Happy Hollow Playground *Howell Park *Kelly Playground *Loudoun Park *Vernon Park *Waterview Recreation Center * Wissahickon Valley Park (bordering), a 1400-acre park that is part of the Fairmount Park system. *Wister's Woods Park (bordering)

Historic sites

National Historic Landmark Districts

Colonial Germantown Historic District The Colonial Germantown Historic District is a designated National Historic Landmark District in the Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Germantown and Mount Airy, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Mount Airy neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Penns ...

* Rittenhousetown Historic District

National Historic Districts

* Awbury Historic District * Tulpehocken Station Historic District

National Historic Landmarks

* Cliveden, the estate of Benjamin Chew, an important site during the

, open to the public * Germantown Cricket Club * John Johnson House, a site on the Underground Railroad, open to the public * Charles Willson Peale House *

Wyck House The Wyck house, also known as the Haines house or Hans Millan house, is a historic mansion, museum, garden, and urban farm in the Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was recognized ...

, open to the public

National Register of Historic Places

Other sites listed separately on the

NRHP The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of sites, buildings, structures, districts, and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

: * Alden Park Manor * Beggarstown School * Conyngham-Hacker House * Delmar Apartments * Deshler-Morris House * Fitler School * Germantown Grammar School * Grumblethorpe * Howell House *

Loudoun Mansion The Loudoun Mansion is an historic, American house that is located in the Germantown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Marion, John Francis. ''Bicentennial City: Walking Tours of Historic Philadelphia''. Princeton: The Pyne Press, 197 ...

* Ebenezer Maxwell House * Mayfair House * Oaks Cloister * Thomas Meehan School * Mennonite Meetinghouse * Charles Schaeffer School * Upsala * Grumblethorpe Tenant House * St. Peter's Episcopal Church of Germantown * William C. Sharpless House * Smyser and English Pharmacy * Sally Watson House *

* YMCA of Germantown

Gallery of historic houses and architecture

''For a more complete gallery of contributing properties in the

see here'' File:4650 Germantown Loudon.JPG, Loudoun Mansion, 4650 Germantown Ave. File:Grumblethorpe Front.JPG, Grumblethorpe, 5267 Germantown Ave. File:6620 Germantown b.JPG, Winston Commons, 6620-6624 Germantown Ave. File:4705 Germantown.JPG, Original Wakefield Presbyterian Church, 4705 Germantown Ave. File:Germantown Civil War Monument & church.jpg, Market Square Presbyterian Church and Civil War Monument File:5218 Germantown Ave.JPG , Howell House, at 5218 Germantown Ave. File:6026 Gtown Wyck.JPG, Wyck House, 6026 Germantown Ave. File:Germantown Mennonite Meeting.JPG, Germantown Mennonite Meetinghouse, 6119 Germantown Ave.

Other historic buildings, places, and sites

* Barron House *Boxwood, 156 W. School House Lane, 1897-98 * Concord School House *The Francis Strawbridge House, Wissahickon Avenue, Germantown *The Germantown Boys' Club, 23 W. Penn Street, 1898-1909 *Germantown High School, 5901-13 and 5915-41 Germantown Avenue *

Gilbert Stuart Gilbert Stuart ( Stewart; December 3, 1755 – July 9, 1828) was an American painter born in the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Rhode Island Colony who is widely considered one of America's foremost portraitists. His best-k ...

Studio * Green Tree Tavern (Germantown) *The Jonathan Graham House, 5356 Chew Avenue, Germantown *The King Green House, 5112-14 Germantown Avenue *The Leibert House, 6950 Germantown Avenue, ca.1800-08 *Little Wakefield, 1701 Lindley Avenue * Lower Burial Ground (Hood Cemetery) *The Lutheran Theological Seminary Historic District, Mt. Airy * The Connie Mack House *The Methodist Episcopal Church of the Advocate, 5250 Wayne Avenue, Germantown, Philadelphia, PA *St. Michael's Lutheran Church, 6671 Germantown Avenue, Mt. Airy, ca. 1728-1897 *Mitchell, Fletcher, & Co., Inc., 5708 Germantown Avenue, Germantown, ca.1811-1911 * The Upper Burial Ground * Vernon Park *The Wachsmuth-Henry House, 4908 Germantown Avenue, ca.1760 *Woodside, The Dorfeuille-Hacker Country Seat, 339 E. Wister Street, ca.1797

In popular culture

The 1946 book, '' Bright April'', written and illustrated by Marguerite de Angeli, features scenes of 1940s Germantown while addressing the divisive issue of racial prejudice experienced by

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

s. The 2015 novel '' Loving Day'' is set in Germantown.

Notable people

Herb Adderley Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typically distingui ...

, NFL Hall Of Fame defensive back for

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

and

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

Louisa May Alcott Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Good Wives'' (1869), ''Little Men'' (1871), and ''Jo's Boys'' ...

, author of the ''

Little Women ''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters— Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details th ...

'' series of books * M. K. Asante, filmmaker, professor, rapper, author * James Barron, naval hero * Frankie Beverly, R & B musician, 1946 - 2024. A street in East Germantown named in his honor * Bilal, singer-songwriter * Samuel Blair, second Chaplain of the United States House of Representatives * Anna Richards Brewster, painter * Elaine Brown,

Black Panther Party The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist and Black Power movement, black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newto ...

leader * Martin Grove Brumbaugh, Governor of Pennsylvania, 1914–1919 * Mary Carr, film actress * George Washington Carpenter, scientist * Benjamin Chew, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania * Clarence Clark, professional tennis player, winner of the U.S. National Championships * Daniel Clark, Delegate from the

Territory of Orleans The Territory of Orleans or Orleans Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States, organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from October 1, 1804, until April 30, 1812, when it was Admission to ...

to the U.S. House of Representatives * Walter Leighton Clark, American businessman, inventor, and artist * Joseph Sill Clark, Sr., tennis player * Florence Van Leer Earle Coates, American poet * William M. Colladay, Wisconsin politician * John Conard, member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania *

Bill Cosby William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American retired comedian, actor, and media personality. Often cited as a trailblazer for African Americans in the entertainment industry, Cosby was a film, television, and stand-up comedy ...

, comedian, actor, musician, author, educator * Wesley E. Craig, US Army major general *

Charles Darrow Charles Brace Darrow (August 10, 1889 – August 28, 1967) was an American board game designer who is credited as the inventor of the board game ''Monopoly'' by Parker Brothers, the game's publisher. Personal life Darrow was a domestic heater sa ...

, credited inventor of the ''

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

'' game * Marguerite de Angeli, writer and illustrator of children's books * Amrit Desai, yogi, founder of the Kripalu Center * Byron W. Dickson, college football coach * George Ege, member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania * James Engle, speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives . David Fair, community and LGBTQ activist *

Lola Falana Loletha Elayne Falana or Loletha Elaine Falana (born September 11, 1942), better known by her stage name Lola Falana, is an American singer, dancer, and actress. She was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical in 1975 for her ...

, singer, dancer, and actress * Mantle Fielding, architect * Sidney George Fisher, author * Janet Gaynor, film, stage and television actress and painter * Frederic Gehring, Catholic priest, National Chaplain for the Catholic War Veterans *

Henry Gibson James Bateman (September 21, 1935 – September 14, 2009), known professionally as Henry Gibson, was an American actor, comedian and poet. He played roles in the television sketch-comedy series ''Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In'' from 1968 to 1971, w ...

, actor * Walter B. Gibson, author known for the pulp fiction character

The Shadow The Shadow is a fictional character created by American magazine publishers Street & Smith and writer Walter B. Gibson. Originally created to be a mysterious radio show narrator and developed into a distinct literary character in 1931 by Gibs ...

* Thomas Godfrey, inventor of the octant * William Newport Goodell, artist, craftsman, and educator * Jacob C. Gottschalk, first

bishop in America * Abraham op den Graeff, one of the first settlers from Crevelt, Germany who established Germantown and its surrounding Township six miles northwest of Philadelphia, merchant, politician * Nelson Graves, Philadelphian

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

er * Carolyn Green, competition swimmer and two-time

Pan American Games The Pan American Games, known as the Pan Am Games, is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas. It features thousands of athletes participating in competitions to win different summer sports. It is held among athletes from nations of th ...

gold medalist * Albert M. Greenfield, businessman, political activist, philanthropist; lived in Germantown 1920s–1930s * Rufus Harley, jazz musician * Alfred C. Harmer, member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania * Ross Granville Harrison, biologist and anatomist * Charles Hoffner, pro golfer, member of first Ryder Cup team * Bernard Hopkins, professional boxer *

Marcus Jastrow Marcus Jastrow (June 5, 1829 – October 13, 1903) was a Poland-born American Talmudic scholar and rabbi, most famously known for his authorship of the popular and comprehensive ''Dictionary of the Targumim, Talmud Babli, Talmud Yerushalmi and Mid ...

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ic scholar *

Eve Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...

, rapper, actress * Edwin Jellett, writer * Lindley Johnson, Philadelphia architect * Lloyd Jones, Olympic athlete *

Florence Kelley Florence Molthrop Kelley (September 12, 1859 – February 17, 1932) was an American social and political reformer who coined the term wage abolitionism. Her work against sweatshops and for the minimum wage, eight-hour workdays, and children's ...

, social and political reformer *

Khia Khia Shamone Finch ( ; ' Chambers; born November 8, 1976)''U.S. Public Records Index'' Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010. is an American rapper and record producer. She is known for her single, " My Neck, My Back (Lick It). ...

, rapper, record producer * Florence Kirk, American soprano * Adam Kuhn, physician, professor, and botanist *

Maggie Kuhn Margaret Eliza "Maggie" Kuhn (August 3, 1905 – April 22, 1995) was an Americans, American activist known for founding the Gray Panthers movement, after she was forced to retire from her job at the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, then ...

, activist, founder of the Gray Panthers * Maxine Kumin, poet and author * George Cochran Lambdin, Victorian flower painter *

George Landenberger George Bertram Landenberger (May 12, 1879 – January 15, 1936) was a United States Navy Captain and the governor of American Samoa, from May 12, 1932, to April 10, 1934. Landenberger commanded many ships during his naval career, as well as two na ...

, 23rd

Governor of American Samoa This is a list of Governor (United States), governors, etc. of the part of the Samoan Islands (now comprising American Samoa) under United States administration since 1900. From 1900 to 1978 governors were appointed by the Federal government o ...

* Noyes Leech (1921–2010), law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School * George Lippard, novelist, journalist, playwright, social activist, labor organizer * Eric Lobron, German chess grand master of American descent * James Logan, statesman * Sarah Logan Wister Starr, humanitarian * John W. Lord, Jr., Pennsylvania State Senator, Philadelphia City Councilman, United States District Judge * Airrion Love, member of the R&B group

The Stylistics The Stylistics are an American Philadelphia soul group that achieved their greatest chart success in the 1970s. They formed in 1968, with a lineup of singers Russell Thompkins Jr., Herb Murrell, Airrion Love, James Smith, and James Dunn. All ...

* G. Love, born Garrett Dutton III, front man of the musical band G. Love & Special Sauce *

Alexander Mack Alexander Mack ( 27 July 1679 – 19 January 1735) was a German clergyman and the leader and first Minister (Christianity), minister of the Schwarzenau Brethren (or Schwarzenau Brethren, German Baptists) in the Schwarzenau, Kreis Siegen-Wi ...

, leader of the German Baptists * Connie Mack, the longest-serving manager in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

history * Abe Manley, sports executive * J. Howard Marshall, wealthy magnate and husband of

Anna Nicole Smith Vickie Lynn Marshall (née Hogan; November 28, 1967 – February 8, 2007), known professionally as Anna Nicole Smith, was an American model, actress, and television personality. Smith started her career as a ''Playboy'' magazine centerfold in M ...

* Logan Marshall, author * John Alden Mason, archaeological anthropologist and linguist *

Jimmy McGriff James Harrell McGriff (April 3, 1936 – May 24, 2008) was an American hard bop and soul-jazz organist and organ trio bandleader. Biography Early years and influences Born in Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, McGriff started playing pia ...

, jazz musician * Robert L. McNeil, Jr., developer of Tylenol and chairman of

McNeil Laboratories McNeil Consumer Healthcare is an American medicals products company belonging to Kenvue consumer health group. It primarily sells fast-moving consumer goods such as Over-the-counter drug, over-the-counter drugs. History The company was founded ...

Singer, Natasha
"Robert L. McNeil Jr., Chemist Who Introduced Tylenol, Dies at 94"
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', June 3, 2010. Accessed June 4, 2010. * Thomas Meehan, botanist and author * Thomas Lynch Montgomery, historian and librarian * George T. Morgan former chief engraver at the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the United States Department of the Treasury, Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bull ...

Margaretta Morris Margaretta Hare Morris (December 3, 1797May 29, 1867) was an American entomologist. Morris is known for her work with agricultural pests, specifically the Hessian fly, cicadas, and the Colorado potato beetle. Her observations on water beetles ...

, entomologist * James K. Morrow, writer * James St. Clair Morton (1829-1864), Military officer in the United States Civil War * Eleanor Myers, archaeologist * William Jackson Palmer, founder of

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is the most populous city in El Paso County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. The city had a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 15.02% increase since 2010 United States Census, 2 ...

Francis Daniel Pastorius Francis Daniel Pastorius (September 26, 1651) was a German-born educator, lawyer, poet, and public official. He was the founder of Germantown, Philadelphia, Germantown, Pennsylvania, now part of Philadelphia, the first permanent German-American ...

, leader of the Germantown settlement * James DeWolf Perry, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church *

Christian Frederick Post Christian Frederick Post (an anglicanization of Christian Friedrich Post) (1710 Polish Prussia29 April 1785 Germantown, Pennsylvania) was a missionary of the Moravian Church to the indigenous peoples of the Americas who played a brief but signific ...

, Moravian Church missionary * Ellen Bernard Thompson Pyle, illustrator known for her ''

Saturday Evening Post ''The Saturday Evening Post'' is an American magazine published six times a year. It was published weekly from 1897 until 1963, and then every other week until 1969. From the 1920s to the 1960s, it was one of the most widely circulated and influ ...

'' covers *

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

, Jazz musician *

Edmund Randolph Edmund Jennings Randolph (August 10, 1753 September 12, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States, attorney, and the seventh Governor of Virginia. As a delegate from Virginia, he attended the Constitutional Convention and helped to cre ...

, the first

United States Attorney General The United States attorney general is the head of the United States Department of Justice and serves as the chief law enforcement officer of the Federal government of the United States, federal government. The attorney general acts as the princi ...

Theodore William Richards Theodore William Richards (January 31, 1868 – April 2, 1928) was an American physical chemist and the first American scientist to receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, earning the award "in recognition of his exact determinations of the atomi ...

, recipient of 1914

Nobel Prize in Chemistry The Nobel Prize in Chemistry () is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outst ...

* Mary Davis Ridgway (1873–1927), physician who ran a homeopathic hospital open to poor patients in Germantown * David Rittenhouse, astronomer, mathematician, first director of the United States Mint *

William Rittenhouse William Rittenhouse (1644 – 1708) was an American papermaker and businessman. He served as an apprentice papermaker in the Netherlands and, after moving to the Pennsylvania Colony, established the first paper mill in the North American col ...

, founded the first paper mill in the colonies * Owen J. Roberts, Supreme Court Justice * Ralph J. Roberts, co-founder and former CEO of

Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...

* Charley Ross, four-year-old kidnapping victim in 1874 * Charles Frederick Schaeffer, Lutheran clergyman * Francis Schaeffer, Christian theologian *

William I. Schaffer William Irwin Schaffer (February 11, 1867January 15, 1953) was an American lawyer and judge from Pennsylvania. He served briefly as the state's Attorney General, resigning to serve on the state's Supreme Court for over twenty years, including t ...

, lawyer, Pennsylvania Attorney General and Supreme Court Justice * J. Barney Sherry, silent film actor * William Shippen, Philadelphia physician, civic and educational leader who represented Pennsylvania in the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislature, legislative bodies, with some executive function, for the Thirteen Colonies of British America, Great Britain in North America, and the newly declared United States before, during, and after ...

* Benjamin Shoemaker, mayor of Philadelphia * Ron Sider, founder of Evangelicals for Social Action * Frederick Smith, lawyer, Pennsylvania Attorney General and Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice *

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

, punk rock singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist * Mike Sojourner, professional basketball player * Christopher Sower the elder, printed the first German-language Bible in America * Christopher Sower the younger, clergyman and printer * Christopher Sower III, loyalist printer * Martin Luther Stoever, Lutheran educator and writer * Witmer Stone, ornithologist and botanist *

, portrait artist * Walter Stuempfig, Romantic realism artist * Clyde Summers, lawyer and educator who advocated for labor union democracy * Thomas De Lage Sumter, U.S. Representative from South Carolina *

Frederick Winslow Taylor Frederick Winslow Taylor (March 20, 1856 – March 21, 1915) was an American mechanical engineer. He was widely known for his methods to improve industrial efficiency. He was one of the first management consulting, management consultants. In 190 ...

, engineer, management theorist, and consultant *

Meldrick Taylor Meldrick Taylor (born October 19, 1966) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2002. He held world championships in two weight class (boxing), weight classes, including the International Boxing Federation, IBF junior ...

, professional boxer *

Russell Thompkins, Jr. Russell Allen Thompkins Jr. (born March 21, 1951) is an American soul music, soul singer, best known as the original lead singer of the vocal group The Stylistics and noted for his high tenor, countertenor, and falsetto vocals. With Russell as ...

, songwriter of the R&B group

* Bill Tilden, tennis player * Henry van Dyke, author, educator, and clergyman *

, first president of the United States. Lived in Germantown briefly at the Deshler-Morris House * Grover Washington, Jr., saxophonist * Ora Washington, professional tennis player * Jesse Watters, conservative political commentator * William Walter Webb, Episcopal bishop *

Langhorne Wister Langhorne Wesley Wister (September 20, 1834 – March 19, 1891) was an American military officer who served in the Union army during the American Civil War. He raised a company and served as captain of the 13th Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment ...

, Civil War brevet brigadier general *

Owen Wister Owen Wister (July 14, 1860 – July 21, 1938) was an American writer. His novel ''The Virginian (novel), The Virginian'', published in 1902, helped create the cowboy as a folk hero in the United States and built Wister's reputation as the " ...

, author * Sally Wister, Philadelphia campaign diarist * Jeremiah Wright,

Black theology Black theology, or black liberation theology, refers to a theological perspective which originated among African-American seminarians and scholars, and in some black churches in the United States and later in other parts of the world. It contex ...

pastor * John Zacherle, television host, radio personality and voice actor * PnB Rock, R&B singer, rapper, composer * Mike Mentzer, Bodybuilder

References

External links

Art by Joseph Ropes (1812–1885), ''Scene in Germantown, Pa.'', 1874

Art by William Britton, ''Market Square, Germantown'', c. 1820

Atlas of the Late Borough of Germantown, 22nd Ward, City of Philadelphia, 1871

* ttp://www.ushistory.org/germantown/index.htm Clickable map of Historic Germantown (Independence Hall Association)
Germantown Historical Society

includes land disputes, apprenticeships, sales of goods, personal matters, etc.
History of Old Germantown (1907), online version

* ttp://philadelphiaencyclopedia.org/archive/northwest-philadelphia/ Northwest Philadelphia, The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia
''Phillyhistory.org''
Historic Photographs of Philadelphia, City Archives {{Authority control 1683 establishments in Pennsylvania 1854 disestablishments in Pennsylvania German-American culture in Philadelphia German-American history Historic districts in Philadelphia Municipalities in Philadelphia County prior to the Act of Consolidation, 1854 National Register of Historic Places in Philadelphia Neighborhoods in Philadelphia Populated places established in 1683