Conshohocken Borough

The last of the four distinct historical phases of Conshohocken's growth began with the twentieth century. The economy was dominated by the Wood and Lee Companies and the residential expansion that pushed new construction beyond the borough limits. Fueling the large industries and precipitating the residential growth, new waves of arriving immigrants joined the last century's assimilated working class as the social stability of the town was challenged once again by young transient laborers.

The newly incorporated Alan Wood Iron and Steel Company produced its first steel on June 1, 1903 at its larger facilities one mile west of Conshohocken in Ivy Rock. With five 55-ton open hearth furnaces starting up in 1903 and the addition of four more in 1907, the Wood Company increased annual production to 250,000 tons of steel. In 1907 a portion of the Upper Merion and Plymouth Railroad was added to create a consolidated distribution system with both the Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia and Reading Railroads. With the buyout of the Upper Merion Hecksher and Sons Steel Company in 1911, an increase in milling plate capacity in 1914, the addition of a third blast furnace in 1917, and the construction of a five-story office building in 1918, the Wood Company became a major producer for the U.S. Government in World War I.  In 1918, it entered into an agreement with the W. J. Rainey Estate, a coal mining company, to assure a constant supply of coke, enabling continuous 24-hour operation. By 1920,the Alan Wood Iron and Steel Company was producing a half-million tons of steel and iron annually, or eight percent of the national output. Management remained staunchly in the Wood family until the 1929 Depression, which forced the temporary sale of the Company to outside interests.

The J. Ellwood Lee Company's twentieth century development followed a similar pattern of rapid expansion, major construction outside of the borough, the blossoming into a nationally recognized industrial giant, and the subsequent takeover by outside interests. With 600 employees at the turn of the century, Lee's surgical supply company became the largest individual employer in Conshohocken. His factories at Eighth and Harry Streets expanded to a complex of seventeen buildings in 1905, not including the off-shoot factories built by others on Ninth and Tenth Avenues for the production of glass supplies. As the second largest surgical supply manufacturer in the country, the J. Ellwood Lee Company merged with Johnson and Johnson in 1905. It continued operating out of both Conshohocken and Johnson and Johnson's headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey, until 1909, at which time most of the production was consolidated in New Brunswick.

All was not lost in Conshohocken, however. During the time that his surgical supply business was being transferred, J. Ellwood Lee was experimenting with the retooling of his rubber goods production. Lee foresaw the mass-production of automobiles and corresponding market in rubber tires, which he was soon to exploit magnificently. The Eighth and Harry Street factories continued to produce trusses, elastic hosiery, rubber goods and minor druggist supplies, alongside the new tire division. Inefficient operations in cramped headquarters led Lee to consider expansion of his facilities. Like the Woods eight years earlier, Lee was forced to expand outside of the borough boundaries due to the limited availability of land in Conshohocken. On May 1, 1912, the Lee Tire and Rubber Company, with 850 employees, opened its one block long, four story modern factory in Spring Mill, just across the borough's eastern edge. Pioneering a "puncture-proof" tire, "Lee of Conshohocken" achieved national prominence. It remained a thriving independent business long after J. Ellwood Lee's death in 1914. In 1965, the Goodyear Corporation acquired the Lee Company as a subsidiary.

Although tied to the success of the Wood and Lee Companies, the Conshohocken economy supported numerous smaller businesses. Both the Wood and Lee companies created the demand for off-shoot industries derived directly from the larger corporations. Iron and steel related foundries and mills, such as the William T. Bate and Son boiler works and the Ford and Kendig Company, manufacturers of cast iron fittings, exemplified the "second tier" of the steel industry. Lee's surgical supply company used glass vials produced by such neighborhood businesses as the Freas Glass Works, founded in 1905 on East Ninth Avenue, and the Ruth Glass Company around the corner at Tenth Avenue, founded by former Lee employee Joseph Ruth. The Hale Fire Pump Company was founded in 1914 and soon became the largest business in the newly diversifying economy.

Prior to World War I, three tire and rubber companies, a branch of the Adam Scheidt brewery, several lumber yards, a furniture manufacturer, flour and feed supplier, candy factory and the "Philadelphia Dental Parlors" all opened for business. As newly arriving immigrant groups became assimilated into the local economy, Conshohocken helped them realize the American dream -that with hard work and determination anyone can be successful and own a home. Scores of successful businesses were founded by immigrants. Corner groceries, Italian bakeries, barber shops and similar service businesses arose to support the town's expanding population. An abundance of housing from this era reflects the degree to which both speculative developments and custom-built houses proliferated.

Concentrated throughout the borough's north end, the early twentieth century residential boom formed an early version of a national trend toward suburbia. On parceled lots subdivided predominantly from the estates of Charles and Isaac Jones, blocks of twins and freestanding houses created an orderly grid layout. Built for an emerging middle class of immigrants realizing their goals of homeownership in a healthy economy, these houses looked unpretentious yet solidly built. Grouped windows and open plans distinguish the Craftsman, Bungalow and Colonial Revival vernacular houses from earlier Victorian era vernacular residences. Larger yards and porches carried an increased concern for light and air out to the streetscape. A variety of building materials contributed to an overall sense of diversity despite the general similarities in scale and house type throughout the neighborhood.  Joining the established materials of brick, cut stone, stucco, and wood shingle and siding was a newly developed formed concrete masonry unit. As a relatively inexpensive structural building block designed to simulate real stone, it served the purposes of many economy-minded builders. Between 1900 and 1925, it flourished. Its rusticated appearance fit in well with the informal Craftsman and Bungalow style houses then popular. Examples include 133 West Eleventh Avenue and 320 and 333 East Tenth Avenue.

A combination of developers' subdivisions and custom-built individual houses added to the architectural diversity. Several large multi-block speculative developments (143West Eighth Avenue and 303 West Tenth Avenue) illustrate a new architectural character that contributed to the middle-class transition from an urban row house image to a more countrified shingled bungalow (303 West Eleventh Avenue). Within an orderly grid layout, suburbia had arrived in Conshohocken.

Perhaps the dominant image of Conshohocken's early twentieth century houses not part of subdivisions is that of a full front porch beneath second floor symmetrical windows, capped by a large overhanging hipped roof with a single central dormer window. An early version built in 1904,140 West Ninth Avenue, was designed by Philadelphia architect George Lovatt. Intended to house working immigrants, it was not to be grandiose, but rather dignified and functional. Examples of this house type, executed in various materials, as twins or as detached houses (133and 150 West Eleventh Avenue, 132 East Tenth Avenue) abound.

The emerging middle class supported the strong community organization that had emerged by the end of the nineteenth century. Numerous lodges and clubs provided a social structure for everyone. A few of the groups were organized in earlier years, such as the Masons, who began meeting in 1868, or the Patriotic Order of Sons of America which was chartered in 1870. The turn of the century proved a booming time for these organizations--old established ones built new buildings, and new clubs were founded. In 1903, the Masons moved to Washita Hall. In 1891, the Sons of America built their headquarters at Second and Fayette. Other organizations born around this time were the Conshohocken branch of the Needlework Guild of America in 1894; the Women's Club of Conshohocken in 1897; the Foresters of America in 1898; the Companions of the Foresters in 1907; the Shepherds of Bethlehem in 1907; the Loyal Order of Moose in 1901; and the Knights of Columbus in 1911. Benevolent societies for the various ethnic groups were founded to aid in the immigrants' transition and provide social support (137 West Fifth Avenue, 300 Maple Street). And in 1908, the Conshohocken Improvement Association was formed to promote a new concrete bridge across the Schuylkill River, opened with great fanfare in 1921.