Suburb in the City: Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, 1850-1990"In Suburb in the City, David Contosta tells the story of how Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, once a small milling and farming town, evolved to become both a suburban enclave for wealthy Philadelphians and a part of the city itself." "In 1854, the railroad connected Philadelphia and Chestnut Hill and the village was annexed by the city. Attuned to the romantic currents of the age, the wealthy men and women who moved to Chestnut Hill believed that the village's semi-rural surroundings might uplift them physically, spiritually, emotionally, and morally. At the same time, they wanted to continue to enjoy the best that the city had to offer while escaping from its more unpleasant aspects: dirt, crime, disease, and other shortcomings. They thus cultivated a dual identity with both suburb and city." "Ironically, this led to a sense of division as prosperous suburbanites held themselves aloof from the resident shopkeepers and domestic servants who provided so many of their creature comforts. Being a suburb in the city also meant that Chestnut Hill could not control its political destiny, as communities outside the municipal limits could. In response, residents developed a number of civic organizations that became a sort of quasi government." "Contosta's study of Chestnut Hill thus illuminates the divided and often ambivalent feelings that Americans hold about their great cities. He includes anecdotes gleaned from dozens of interviews with men and women of many backgrounds - lawyers, nuns, debutantes, grocers, craftsmen, and former servants - who tell of their lives in Chestnut Hill. More than one hundred photographs, many never before published, further enliven this analysis of suburban America."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved |
Contents
The Gateway Village | 9 |
The Romantic Suburb | 36 |
The Divided Community | 118 |
Copyright | |
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22nd Ward adelphia American April Architectural Baltzell Bethlehem Pike building built Catholic CHCA Chestnut Hill Academy Chestnut Hill Avenue Chestnut Hill College Chestnut Hill Community Chestnut Hill Historical Chestnut Hill residents CHHS Church City Directory civic colonial Contosta Cresheim Cresheim Creek decades Druim Moir Early Chestnut Hill East Side February G&CH Improvement George Woodward German Township Germantown Ave Germantown Avenue Henry Howard Houston Herald Hill Historical Society Hill's Hillers Hotchkin houses Houston Ibid Improvement Association Interview July June land later lived mantown March Martin's Montgomery County Morgan Tract Mount Airy munity neighborhood North Chestnut Hill nut Hill October organizations Pastorius Park Pennsylvania percent Philadelphia Cricket Club population prosperous railroad reformers Republican September Social Register Springfield Springfield Township Stenton Avenue suburban suburbs Summit Street Telegraph Township upper upper-class urban Village West Side Wissahickon Creek Wissahickon Heights Wissahickon Inn women