Conshohocken Borough

The Conshohocken Historical Survey is a comprehensive report documenting the borough's historic buildings, providing a brief overview of its history, and outlining a number of potential historic districts. The report consists of three main parts:

1) The "Historical Overview," covering the borough's history from William Penn's first land grants to the mid-twentieth century. Because the survey's primary focus is on the borough's architectural heritage, this section emphasizes the built environment, the economic forces that created this environment, and the "founding families" who led the way in developing the borough.

2) Selected Significant Buildings. These survey forms document 82 individual buildings or building groups in detail. Each building was chosen either because of its distinctive architecture or because of its association with an individual, a family, a business, or an institution that played an important role in borough history. (We recognize that these are by no means the only significant buildings in the borough; only a representative sample could be selected for detailed treatment.) Each form contains a description of the architectural features and the historic significance of each building, a location map, black-and- white photograph, and other data.

3) The Comprehensive Survey Database. This lengthy section attempts to list every building in the borough, including those built in recent years, although only those built before 1940 receive complete entries. For each of these, the database lists the building's approximate date of construction, architectural style, present and past uses, condition, architectural integrity, and whether or not it would contribute to a potential historic district. The parcel number, which identifies each property on the county tax records, is also included as a means of identifying and locating each property. This section has been computerized and can therefore be corrected and updated as necessary.

Background

The Historical Survey was funded through a Survey and Planning Grant from the Bureau for Historic Preservation of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (a program funded by the National Park Service), with matching funds provided by the Conshohocken Borough Council. As with any other State grant of this type, the products of the survey -including the original photographs and negatives -are kept on file in the Bureau for Historic Preservation's archives in Harrisburg.

The grant enabled the Historical Society to hire a team of consultants, Steve Wiesenthal and Rebecca Trumbull, to conduct the survey. Steve and Rebecca share extensive experience in architectural history, including surveys of individual buildings and districts, and nominations to the National Register of Historic Places. They faced the daunting task of surveying every building in the borough -more than 3,000 in all -and evaluating the age, style and significance of each one. They are responsible for most of the contents of this report, including the Individual Resource Survey Forms, the Comprehensive Survey

Database, much of the Historical Overview, the accompanying list of sources, and recommendations for potential National Register districts. They also worked closely with the survey's volunteers, advising them on deed searching, photography, and historical research.