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Mayfair is the youngest community in Northeast Philadelphia
having been incorporated in the 1930s. It is principally located in
what was once the open area between Holmesburg and Tacony. The
intersection of Townships Line Road (later renamed Cottman Street
after a farm family that lived east of Bustleton Avenue on Township
Line Road) and Bristol Pike (Frankford Avenue) was the center of the
community. As late as the 1920s the police horse patrol from the
Tacony Police Station at Longshore and State Road would ride once a
day from Tacony to city line at the Ryers Estate and back to Tacony.
This was the only provision for contact with the law for the
Northeast. Residents needing a policeman knew they could walk to
Township Time Road and wait, and sooner or later a patrol would pass
by. All complaints, requests for arrests and security matters were
reported in this fashion by the people of the Northeast. This
provision for police patrol placed much of the authority for justice
in the area on the magistrate at the police station at Tacony. The
Mayfair area also was dependent upon the village of Holmesburg. Those
living in what would later become Mayfair relied upon the Holmesburg
Water Works located on the west side of Frankford Avenue south of
Hartel Street for their water.
Mayfair’s citizens worked at the Lower Dublin Poor House
located on the site of Lincoln High School’s athletic fields, at
Rowland’s Shovel Works (Father Judge High School), at the Holmesburg
Prison, or in the many shops located around Frankford Avenue and Rhawn
Street. Prior to completion of the Frankford-Market Street Elevated
Train in 1922, few people from Holmesburg/Mayfair traveled into Center
City to work. Holmesburg was a wonderful little village in a farming
area far from the bustle of Center City.
Entertainment in Mayfair happened within family and church
celebrations. In the winter, shows and presentations by world famous
actors took place at the Forrest Home for Aged Actors located east of
Frankford Avenue between Township Time Road and Rhawn Street. Special
trolleys from Rhawn Street and Frankford Avenue took people to the
Music Hall of Tacony at Longshore Street and State Road for dances and
social activities. In the summer, Taconyites and people from
Holmesburg would get the trolley on Frankford Avenue and travel to
Linden Avenue to swim and frolic in the Delaware River at Pleasant
Hill Bathing Beach.
Independence came to Mayfair as a community in the 1930s and
the community emerged as a focal point for residential housing
development in the years following the Second World War.
As late as 1930, the small farms and country setting still
marked most of the Northeast section of the city north of Frankford.
The opening of the Market-Frankford Elevated to Bridge Street, in
1926, was the impetus that lead to the development of Mayfair. Now
just twenty minutes from Center City, Holmesburg’s open fields and
the Forrest Home tract of land became valuable to developers. Land
speculation began soon after the completion of the el project when
developer John N. McGarvey purchased the Forrest Tract for $600,000.
McGarvey, a West Philadelphia builder, had moved his operation to the
northeast building homes east of Torresdale Avenue above Cottman
Street. At the time, there was house construction on every side of the
Forrest Home tract. On the west side of Frankford Avenue, directly
opposite the Forrest home on a two hundred acre tract of land, West
Philadelphia builders H. W. Quick and Benjamin Hoffman built homes.
Soon speculators purchased most of the land along Frankford Avenue
north of Bridge Street and south of Holmesburg. This new area
eventually became known as Mayfair.
How Mayfair got its name is uncertain. Some say it was the
original telephone exchange. Others say that local civic leader,
Thomas Donahue (3521 Aldine Street), gave the community its name in
1928 when he declared at a community meeting that “We ‘may fare’
well if we get behind this community and push- so why not call it
Mayfair?” Whichever story is true, it is clear that the opening of
the Mayfair movie house and the organization of the store owners
adjacent to the area into the Mayfair businessmen’s Association
cemented the name to the community. This area, composed of new row
homes and a work force that traveled throughout the city during the
day and returned to their
community at night, soon had a population larger than Holmesburg.
The growth of Mayfair required another school. The Forrest
School resulted. The older children in the communities of Tacony,
Holmesburg and Mayfair traveled to Eighth and Lehigh Avenue to attend
Northeast High School or to Oxford Avenue and Wakeling Street to
attend Frankford High School both miles away. Pressure was put on the
School Board by members of the Mayfair Improvement Association for a
high school in the community.
The resolution of this conflict highlights the different
perceptions each of these communities held concerning their
neighborhood. The proposed school was called “Mayfair High School”
by those planning the building, since the site for the chosen building
was at Rowland and Ryan Avenues in the heart of the new Mayfair
community. Charles H. Williams of Benjamin Franklin High School was
named principal and given the task of opening the school. The process
was interrupted when a group of Holmesburg residents concerned over
the school’s name asked for a hearing with the School Board.
At the meeting it became clear that the three communities
closest to the school had different ideas as to what the school should
be named. As one Holmesburg citizen said, “There is no such
community as “Mayfair,” it is nothing more than a builder’s
trade name.” The Tacony community was less vocal, but let it be
known that they objected to the school being named after either the
Mayfair or Holmesburg communities.
The Board, sensing a deep split in the communities over the
issue, chose a name no patriotic American could find objectionable —
Abraham Lincoln High School. Who could find fault in naming a school
after one of America’s greatest presidents? But Mayfair leader
Thomas Donahue did. “We’re proud of our community. Why should this
school be named for Lincoln or any other man?” Mrs. Adelene Welsh,
of Mayfair, added that “We’re proud and disappointed by the
switch. We’re going to do everything we can do to fight it. It’s
just an example of jealousy on the part of some of the older
communities.” Mrs. Thomas B. Everist of the Holmesburg Association
objected, stating that “everybody had an opportunity to submit a
name. ‘Abraham Lincoln’ was one of the several submitted by
Holmesburg. Why all the fuss? The main thing is that the whole section
will have a high school.”
Unable to change the School Board’s position on the name
Abraham Lincoln High School, Donahue and the Mayfair Association took
the case to court on September 19, 1949. In one of the rare law suits
ever filed over the naming of a school, Judges George Gowen Parry and
Joseph L. Kin ruled in favor of the School Board, criticizing the
motives of those in Mayfair who objected to the name Abraham Lincoln.
The citation from the ruling was as follows:
So much as the plaintiffs and many other residents of the Mayfair
section are to be admired for the strong sense of local pride, they
show an utterly untenable conviction of the purpose of a public
educational system. Such a system is not intended to promote the
business or economic interest in any locality.
After the decision, Donahue and his followers were told
by the School Board that the planned elementary school at St. Vincent
and Hawthorn Street would be called the Mayfair Elementary School. The
issue was settled as well as the dispute between the communities.
This feud reflects the historic developments in each of the
three geographical areas. The proud people of Holmesburg simply did
not like the idea of a new community, carved out of their boundaries,
lending its name to the new high school. Taconyites felt just as
strongly as those in Holmesburg about the use of the name
“Mayfair”, but they were opposed to the use of the name
“Holmesburg” as well. Ultimately, the real estate industry had the
final say. Mayfair had newer homes, with parking space for cars, and
thus the section was attractive to home buyers after World War II.
Because the price of homes in Mayfair generally was higher than those
in the older sections of Tacony and Holmesburg, advertisements in the
papers now called Tacony “Lower Mayfair” and homes in the heart of
Holmesburg were advertised with a Mayfair label. Today, the name
“Mayfair” has triumphed.
Interviews...
The interviews were completed by students from Abraham Lincoln High
School.
Interview
with Patrick Edward Cava
by
Peter di Donato and Jennifer Lewis
Patrick Edward Cava has lived in Holmesburg for all eighty
years of his life. He comes from a large family with four brothers and
five sisters. His parents were not from this area. Joseph Cava, his
father, was born in Brooklyn, New York and Jenny Ennico, his mother,
was born in Avondale, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Cava died when Patrick was
only ten years old.
All of his brothers were in the service. Paul Cava died in
1936, after serving in the navy during World War I. Leonard Cave was
drafted into the army, and Jack Dempsey Cava, who was named six days
after the fighter Jack Dempsey won the title 86
o Historical Northeast Philadelphia: Stories and Memories enlisted in
the Marines during Pearl Harbor. Rose and Ida, two of Ed’s sisters,
have recently passed away.
While growing up in Holmesburg, Ed recalls living in a very
tight knit neighbor- hood. One memory he has concerns the time his
mother was pregnant with one of his brothers. During this time, a
neighbor would come over to take care of the rest of the family. He
also can remember having to clean the tobacco spitting cups at his
father’s barber shop with his brothers.
Ed was extremely active in community activities. If he wasn’t
playing football, then it was baseball. Unfortunately, when he was
fourteen his father made him give up sports to help out with the
business. (We learned that for some football games, 10,000 people came
to watch. One year for a city championship game 50,000 people came.
As a young boy, Ed had the privilege to play along side future
professional football players. One such player was Jack Potts. His
athletic achievements include being President of the Holmesburg Boys
Club and coach of Holmesburg’s American Legion Team.
Ed knew many people worked at the Henry Disston Sawmill. Every
person in the community had someone they knew working there. One man,
after working fifty-five years, retired and received a six dollar a
month pension.
As Ed matured, he married. Then he enlisted in the navy, but
could not leave immediately for service because his wife was ill. He
was stationed in Virginia and ran the barber shop there. For the first
five hundred haircuts he received a dime. After that he got a nickel
for every cut. In about a week, he would probably receive about fifty
dollars in tips. The shop was like a “club” where people would
come to talk for hours and would never want to leave. It was a very
friendly atmosphere where everyone would get together to enjoy
themselves and get a haircut.
Ed sold his shop about twenty years ago but it still exists.
Although he was a barber, it was not his only employment. He was also
a barber inspector from 1947 to 1952. After that, he was a court crier
and has been retired for twelve years.
In his retirement, Ed faithfully plays golf three times a week.
He has three career holes in one. Presently, he lives with his
grand-daughter in the heart of Holmesburg. He is still a very active
voice in the community and for the past two years has been the
President of the Mayfair Exchange Club.
Ed Cava attributes his greatest thrill to his Uncle Ben
Johnson. One sunny Saturday afternoon, Uncle Ben took Ed to see Babe
Ruth play in a double header. Ed was in awe. Babe Ruth was his idol
and a legend in the making. Ed can still picture the starting line up
of that very game as if it were played yesterday. After speaking with
him, you could tell this was true.
Ed blames the problems that youths have these days on drugs. He
feels more money needs to be spent to educate today’s youth and to
battle peer pressure. He can also remember when athletes played for
pride and enjoyment; not fame and fortune.
Ed Cava is an energetic eighty-year-old man who enjoys sharing
his experiences and passing them onto younger generations. This
definitely must be due to his tight-knit neighborhood and family
oriented up bringing.
Interview
with Dr. Albert Potts
by
Julie Billrnan, Erica Collins, and Andrew Buttenbush
Dr. Albert Potts has lived in Holmesburg all his life. He
was born on July 4th, 1928 in Dr. Marsden’s small hospital, located
on the 8000 block of Frankford Avenue. He grew up on Crispin Street,
near Father Judge High School. the section in which Dr. Potts lived
was once owned by the Benniger Estate. For many years, alcohol was not
allowed to be sold in that area because it was written in the property
deed.
The doctor presently resides on Hartel Street, not far from
where he was raised. His daughter lives in the same house in which he
grew up and his son lives on Fairview Avenue, only one block away.
St. Dominic’s, located on Frankford Avenue, was the
elementary school that Dr. Potts attended. He graduated from Northeast
Catholic High School, but decided to take his education one step
further. He went to college at St. Joseph’s and then attended the
Temple Dental School to pursue his career. He now has his dental
practice on the corner of Frankford Avenue and Hartel Street, just
down the street from the residence.
“The dropout rate was minimal when I attended high school,”
stated Dr. Potts. “When I was in high school there was a large
student body. However, not many students went to college, college was
considered only for the rich kids.”
As a child, Dr. Potts enjoyed playing in Pennypack Park and on
the Lincoln High School grounds. At that time, a poor house was
located on the grounds where Lincoln stands today. The poor house was
built where the amplification system for the football field is
currently found, and it extended on through the soccer fields. The
poor house was a place for the less fortunate, people who had lost
there homes, jobs, and/or family. Some lived there for their entire
lives. Mr. Kelly, a friend of Dr. Potts’ grandfather was the
administrator.
As a teenager, Dr. Potts would often hang out with his friends
on the corner of Rhawn and Frankford, near a large pharmacy. Before
meeting there, he and his friends would go to Brown School and play
baseball. Afterwards, they would all go to Russel’s ice cream
parlor. At Frankford and Cottman, there was a large movie theater,
called Mayfair Movies, or the Holmes Theater: later this became the
Pennypack Theater.
“When I was young, there was a lot of open space,” said Dr.
Potts. “I often visited swimming holes, the boat house behind
Lincoln, Smidties on Welsh Road and Kings’, near fishing, and ice
skating. It was possible to do all this because the water was deeper
then. The dams held back the water. Now the creek is neglected and the
water has become more shallow.”
Many people also went horseback riding. The park had many
bridle paths and stables. Children, including a very young Dr. Potts,
would chase pheasants and rabbits in the open fields. Although hunting
was prohibited, sometimes he would hunt in the part.
There were few playgrounds then, so children had to find other
ways to occupy themselves. Behind what is now Austin Meehan Middle
School, there were once corn fields, and Jeans Pizza was once a
baseball field where Dr. Potts and his friends would play.
According to Dr. Potts, an average day for him as a child would
be to “go to school, play football, eat dinner, and then do my
homework.” He also stated that he thinks “children then made do
with less.”
Most people living in the community worked at the Disston Saw
Company since manual labor was usually the only available work. Some
also were employed at Stetson Hats, Nesbitt, Janey Cylinder,
individual stores, the prison on Torresdale, and by either the police
or fire stations. “I think industry has decreased somewhat in this
community, though what we do have now is a lot nicer.” Many children
had to take over the family businesses. There were not many jobs for
high school students. Many students had small jobs as paper boys or as
delivery boys for the local stores.
Some
of the buildings from the past have survived this changing community.
These include Acme, the libraries (Holmesburg and Tacony), and the
fire house on Frankford Avenue and Hartel Street. There were even
stores on Frankford Avenue fifty years ago. The stores then were
individually owned. The largest food chain at that time was called the
Unity Food Markets.
Years ago the family unit was much stronger. Family loyalty was
important; tradition was a high factor among family members. Due to so
many single parents working and leaving their children with
babysitters, today’s family has little time together. “Today,
children have less guidance and less respect for their elders,”
remarked Dr. Potts.
“The community has changed. There is more vandalism today.
Years ago, you would never see graffiti on walls of buildings. You
would never see cars being stolen.
“The Holmesburg community is mainly a middle class community.
When I was growing up, people usually had one car!”
We enjoyed this interview very much and learned many new things
about the community in which we live. Dr. Potts was very pleasant to
talk with. This assignment helped us to change the way in which we
look at the things around us. Since the interview, we have become more
observant of our surroundings and its history
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