A History of Elfreth's Alley Day

Elfreth’s Alley Day is coming up soon on Saturday, June 7th from 1pm-5pm! On this day we block off the street for this fundraising event to benefit the continued preservation of the Alley, just as we have done every year since 1934. That means that this year marks 91 celebrations of Elfreth’s Alley Day! Here’s a brief history of how it all began, and how the event has evolved over time.

One of the crown jewels in our archives at the Elfreth’s Alley Association is a scrapbook entitled A Chronicle of Elfreth’s Alley, compiled by Eliza Newkirk Rogers. According to our records, Rogers was one of the founding members of the EAA and one of its earliest volunteers. From 1932 to 1967, she meticulously collected every mention of Elfreth’s Alley that appeared in print and pasted them into her 190 page scrapbook, leaving a priceless document of the development of the Elfreth’s Alley Association and the preservation of the Alley itself. Thanks to this scrapbook, we know the exact date when the Elfreth’s Alley Association was founded:

“On a rainy evening, March 28, 1934 with a 30 degree temperature, the Elfreth’s Alley Association was formed by residents of the street with the following officers: Mrs. Florence Greer (President) and Mrs. Dolly W. Ottey (Vice President).”

Working alongside the Philadelphia Society for the Preservation of Landmarks, which had been founded by Frances Ann Wister in 1931 to save the Powel House from demolition, the first members set about the task of raising the city’s awareness of the importance of Elfreth’s Alley as a historic site. But how to do so? The best answer was to allow the citizens of Philadelphia to visit the Alley and to see its homes. This led to the first iteration of what is now called Fete Day or Elfreth’s Alley Day, inviting people to explore the Alley on June 2, 1934. To begin with, the event was promoted as “At Home on Elfreth’s Alley.”

“At Home on Elfreth’s Alley” was repeated the following year (1935), and the local newspaper reported on the success of the event: “Elfreth’s Alley came into its own again yesterday…More than 500 lovers of the old and the picturesque paraded through the alley during the afternoon.” Clearly, the Elfreth’s Alley Association’s goal of bringing awareness to this unique historic street was paying off!

In 1937 and 1938, the event was transformed into a massive street theater pageant called “Windows of Old Philadelphia,” with dozens of local actors in colonial costume recreating events that could have occurred on Elfreth’s Alley in 1725 and 1776. The stage was the Alley itself, with audience members following the actions of the characters throughout.

By 1940, the event had returned to the “At Home” moniker, but the following year it was rebranded as “Elfreth’s Alley Day.” Philadelphia’s Weekly News Magazine described some of the programs offered in 1941:

“The Rittenhouse Square Clothes Line of Art will be displayed, and there will be music, ice cream and cake for sale, and a ‘White Elephant’ sale of gifts. Colonial costumes will be worn by members of the Elfreth’s Alley Association. The Hearthstone, the delightfully quaint tearoom at 115 Elfreth’s Alley, will be open all day, serving delicious food in an old world setting. Also visit the charming gift shop in Number 136. Come and bring your friends and in so doing, help in the restoration and preservation of one of the landmarks of Old Philadelphia. Admission 25 cents.”

As noted above, in 1935 the event welcomed 500 visitors. But by 1941 that number had increased to 1,500 attendees and in 1942 the number rose again to 1,800! Elfreth’s Alley Day had certainly fulfilled its initial goal of raising awareness of the historic importance of the Alley and the need to save it from destruction. From the forming of the Elfreth’s Alley Association in 1934 - when the street was regarded by many as one of the worst slums in Philadelphia - to just eight years later in 1942 welcoming nearly two thousand people in a single day to a now beloved neighborhood institution was an incredible feat indeed! Due to its clear success, this may be one of the reasons why Dolly Ottey chose to close her Hearthstone restaurant at 115 Elfreth’s Alley on November 22, 1942. On May 3, 1943, #115 became the new headquarters of the Elfreth’s Alley Association. The original Hearthstone sign is on display in our museum.

By 1944, the programming offered at Elfreth’s Alley Day expanded greatly, as you can see in the program pages below:

In 1946, Elfreth’s Alley Day was rebranded as “Annual Fete Day” for the first time, and continued under that name for many years. Here are some images from the 1949 program:

By 1954 - twenty years after the formation of the Elfreth’s Alley Association - attendance for Elfreth’s Alley’s Annual Fete Day had reached 10,000 visitors, an amazing victory for all the people who had worked so hard to convince the citizens of Philadelphia that Elfreth’s Alley was indeed a special place worth saving and celebrating.

And the story isn’t over yet! We continue the tradition of Elfreth’s Alley Day: A Neighborhood Fete on Saturday, June 7th from 1pm-5pm. By purchasing a ticket and enjoying the many delightful activities and performances we have to offer (and getting to peak inside the houses of the Alley) you are becoming an integral part of the Elfreth’s Alley story - a story of community, historical preservation, and the lives of ordinary Philadelphians from 300 years ago to the present. We hope to see you on the Alley on June 7th!

BUY YOUR TICKETS TO ELFRETH’S ALLEY DAY ON JUNE 7 HERE

Mother's Day: Made in Philadelphia

If you have ever taken a tour of Elfreth’s Alley Museum, you may remember our bedroom exhibit in House #126, which is dedicated to telling the story of the Kolb family that lived there beginning in 1847. Lewis and Mary Kolb were German immigrants who ran a shoemaking business inside their home, like many Alley residents before and after them. Mary Kolb was the mother of eight children and five of them were born in that very bedroom. In her lifetime, she gave birth to four girls and three boys: Constantina, Amelia, Matilda, Maria, Bertram, Washington, and Lewis Jr. Sadly one of her children, Maria, died in the house when she was just eight months old. Mary gave birth to her eight children without the advances in medical science many (but not all) women have available to them today, and pregnancy was often dangerous for both mother and baby. In both the 18th and 19th centuries, the #1 cause of death for women was childbirth.

What many may not know is that the holiday of Mother’s Day was itself born right here in the city of Philadelphia, founded by Anna Maria Jarvis in 1908 - 117 years ago!

Anna Maria Jarvis was born to Granville and Ann Reeves Jarvis on May 1, 1864, in West Virginia, the ninth child born into the family - two more siblings were born after her. Seven of her ten siblings died in infancy or early childhood. Her birthplace, today known as the Anna Jarvis House, was added the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Anna’s mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, was an active member of the local Methodist Episcopal Church and taught Sunday School. At the close of one of her lessons in 1876, Ann Reeves Jarvis made a statement that made a deep and lasting impression on her then 12-year-old daughter Anna:

“I hope and pray that someone, sometime, will found a memorial mothers day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it.”

When she grew up, Anna was encouraged by her mother to pursue higher education, attending the Augusta Female Seminary in Virginia, which is now known as Mary Baldwin University. Anna then moved to the city of Philadelphia, where her brother also lived. She became the first woman to work as a literary and advertising editor for the Fidelity Mutual Life Insurance Company. After her father died in 1902, Anna urged her mother to come live with her and her brother in the city, which she did in 1904. However, Ann Reeves Jarvis developed heart disease and was cared for by her loving daughter before passing away on May 9, 1905. She is buried in Philadelphia’s West Laurel Hill Cemetery.

On May 10, 1908, three years after her mother's death, Anna Jarvis held a memorial ceremony to honor her mother and all the mothers of the world in Philadelphia at the Wanamaker's Store Auditorium. In her speech, she described her reasons for choosing the white carnation as the symbol of Mother’s Day:

“Its whiteness is to symbolize the truth, purity and broad-charity of mother love; its fragrance, her memory, and her prayers. The carnation does not drop its petals, but hugs them to its heart as it dies, and so, too, mothers hug their children to their hearts, their mother love never dying. When I selected this flower, I was remembering my mother's bed of white pinks.”

The country immediately took Mother’s Day to their hearts, but like many holidays it became commercialized as a way for businesses to sell more products. Anna Jarvis deplored what Mother’s Day was becoming, writing:

“A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother—and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment!”

While others profited financially from the holiday, Jarvis did not. In 1943, she began organizing a petition to rescind Mother's Day. However, these efforts were halted when she was placed in the Marshall Square Sanitarium in West Chester, Pennsylvania due to her declining health. People connected with the floral and greeting card industries paid the medical bills for her care. Anna Jarvis died on November 24, 1948, and was buried next to her mother, sister, and brother at West Laurel Hill Cemetery. She was 84 years old when she died. Anna Maria Jarvis never married or had any children of her own, but she never forgot the bond she forged with her own mother and never stopped wishing that the bonds we all share with our mothers (and grandmothers, and mother-figures) would be recognized, respected, and said out loud and in person.

While Mother’s Day is different today than how she originally intended it, Anna Maria Jarvis’s legacy of honoring the mothers of the world will never be forgotten, especially in Philadelphia. Today, a historical marker commemorating Anna and the founding of Mother’s Day stands proudly outside of City Hall, near the location where she made her first speech at Wanamaker’s (most recently known as Macy’s) 117 years ago.

Learn more about the mothers of Elfreth’s Alley by visiting our museum houses, open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 12pm-4pm. Admission is only $3 for adults and $2 for children ages 7-12.

Have you ever been curious about what all the other houses on Elfreth’s Alley look like inside? You’re in luck! Tickets are now on sale for our annual fundraiser Elfreth’s Alley Day: A Neighborhood Fete on Saturday, June 7th! Learn more and buy your tickets here. All ticket sales go towards the continued preservation of Elfreth’s Alley, our nation’s oldest continuously inhabited residential street!

Symposium: Rowhouse City: History and Adaptation in Philadelphia, October 7 and 8, 2022

Courtesy of the Special Collections Research Center.  Temple University Libraries. Philadelphia, PA.

Rowhouse City: History and Adaptation in Philadelphia

Friday, October 7, 2022—Saturday, October 8, 2022

This October, join our Director Ted Maust, alongside leading scholars of vernacular architecture and Philadelphia history at a special two-day symposium about the history, present, and future of the Philadelphia Rowhouse!

Earlybird pricing is available until July 13—use code EARLYBIRD for 20% off your registration.

On Display Now: "The Power of Experimentation at Elfreth's Alley," Photography by Dilmar Gamero

In one piece, artist Dilmar Gamero created pinhole photos from both inside and outside homes on Elfreth’s Alley.

Photographer Dilmar Gamero Gamero has been producing interesting work on Elfreth’s Alley for several years now—check out his experiments to incorporate historic photos into the Alley’s current appearance using rephotography and stereoscopy. Now he has conceived a series of installations in conversation with historic images and archival materials which record the Alley’s history, posing questions about who is included in these collections and who is not. Gamero uses techniques ranging from the very simple—pinhole photographs—to the complex—videos generated from archival material using artificial intelligence—to produce pieces which explore topics such as child labor, domestic labor and which interrogate patterns of power and privilege.

Gamero (front), discussing his piece “Feme Sole” (on easel).

The show comprises seven pieces which are on display in museum spaces and in the museum garden. The show will remain up through June 2022 (at least). Viewing the entire show requires paying regular museum admission ($3, we also have a free day coming up), but one of the pieces can be seen in the Museum gift shop for free.

We're Looking for Volunteers!

Hey! Here at the Elfreth's Alley Museum, we’re looking for volunteers who are eager to chat with visitors from all over the world and learn about the history of Philadelphia's best-preserved street.

Volunteers will perform duties such as welcoming and orienting visitors to the museum, answering their questions, and engaging them at our interpretation station. Staff will provide orientation/training materials and work with volunteers to place them in positions where they are both comfortable and confident in carrying out the tasks asked of them.

We are especially looking for volunteers with fluency in languages other than English and with an interest in history.

The Museum's season begins in April this year and runs through October, but we are open to volunteers with temporary or periodic availability!

You can fill out THIS FORM or email director@elfrethsalley.org for more info.

Save Our Sills!

Houses require maintenance, and our museum windows are in dire need of repair. A good coat of paint and fresh glazing will provide a first line of defense against the elements and protect our houses' interiors. The windows, like the rest of the building, are not just physically important to our museum, but are also critical in our mission to see the past and look towards our future on the Alley.

The Elfreth's Alley Association has set aside funds for projects like this, but this coat of paint will exceed our preservation budget line for 2021--we need your help!

There is a lot of work to do!

This project will involve painting:

• 14 windows (including reglazing)

• 2 doors

• Metal flashing and wood siding

Help us meet our goal of $6,000 to fund this project by donating at the link below.

https://pages.donately.com/elfrethsalleyassociation/campaign/save-our-sills

Each increment of $500 raised through this campaign essentially pays for one of the doors, and each $350 paints another double-hung window. Follow along as we track our progress on this campaign and the painting itself right here on this blog post!

*UPDATES!*

October 15th: In our first day, you have already contributed $846! Thank you! Already, we have enough funds for one door and one double-hung window—let’s keep it going, spread the word!

October 20th: After a few more donors chipped in, including one for $1,000 (!) our fundraising for this project stands at $1,948! So let’s say we’re at both doors, two double-hung windows, and one of the smaller windows! Still just over two-thirds of the way to go!

January 3, 2022: Matt Valentine of MVPaint has nearly wrapped up the work and our windows are looking so much better! (see photo of work in progress below)

We are still hoping to raise the full cost of this project; currently we’ve raised a little over 50% of the $6,000 goal. Please consider donating!

Elfreth's Alley Shirts Available! *Update*

Whether you are headed out on the town or working from home, you can wear your support for the Elfreth’s Alley Museum! This design features measured drawings of some of the homes on the Alley (including the museum houses) created in 1931, just a couple of years before the Elfreth’s Alley Association was founded (1933).

Our museum receives a portion of every purchase through Bonfire and the shirts get shipped right to your door. This “batch” of orders is open through October 17 and orders should arrive between October 26th and November 4th. (We now have these set to be on sale constantly) The design is available on a variety of different shirts to suit your fit and style, and we also have shirts with the logo of our podcast, The Alley Cast! The more shirts we sell, the better our share of profits, so tell a friend, or, better yet, surprise a friend with a shirt!

elfrethsalley.org/shirts

Season 2 of 'The Alley Cast' is Underway!

We’re three weeks into the new season of The Alley Cast and it’s exciting!

The first episode of this season introduces the theme of this new batch of episodes—work!—and also tells the story of Andrew Adgate (aka Absalom Aimwell), a choral teacher and small-scale manufacturer who published an ode to workers in 1789 just about a block away from Elfreth’s Alley!

The next two episodes tackle the story of house construction in the city over three centuries, from the early impact of the Carpenters’ Company of Philadelphia to 19th and 20th century cycles of speculation, and the enduring legacy of systemic racism.

Yet to come in this season: episodes about working children, boarding house operation, cabinetmaking, the food service industry, and common laborers. Find the podcast here on our website or subscribe to it on your favorite podcatcher (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.) to get each episode when it is released!

Remembering Ed Mauger

In the recent history of the Elfreth’s Alley Museum, no single person has loomed larger than Ed Mauger, who passed away a year ago, after a battle with cancer. Mauger served as the museum director in a volunteer capacity for several years and covered utility bills himself, keeping the doors of this institution open when its future was in doubt. He was also active with the Association of Philadelphia Tour Guides and recruited many volunteer docents who still staff Philadelphia’s historic sites today. Near the end of his life, Mauger campaigned to rename stretches of Market Street and 6th Street to commemorate the historic events which took place along those avenues.

This past weekend, friends and family gathered at Laurel Hill Cemetery, Little Pete’s Diner, and finally, at the Elfreth’s Alley Museum to remember Mauger in story and song. See the video below of the memorial in the Elfreth’s Alley Museum garden.