Roxborough Historical Society Hosts Book Release Party

Roxborough was established in 1690. It was incorporated into the city of Philadelphia in 1854. The area was discovered, by Europeans at least, in 1623 when a handful of Dutch settlers traveled down the Delaware River and stumbled into the Schuylkill. It was, at the time of this "discovery," populated entirely by Lenni Lenape Indians and many of the names of its streets and landmarks—the Wissahickon Creek and the Manatawny Trail for instance—come from their tongue.

These are facts that most people don't know about the 21st Ward. Readers of "Images of America: Roxborough" (Arcadia Publishing; $21.99) are not in this majority.

The book—a 126-page soft cover, heavy with historical tidbits and black and white photographs of Roxborough—hit shelves on Aug. 29. On Wednesday night, a small crowd gathered in the basement of the Roxborough Free Library to celebrate its release and collect signatures from author Deborah Del Collo and John Johnstone—the former Roxborough-Manayunk-Wissahickon Historical Society president who wrote the book's lengthy forward.

"I spoke with descendants of the Lenape, with some old families from the area. I learned a lot," said Johnstone, a Roxborough resident who presided over its historical society from 2000-03.

"The colonial homes in this area, some of them are made with Wissahickon Schist. This is the only place in the world where homes are made from Wissahickon Schist," he continued.

Johnstone also added that the area's rich history is, despite the release of a book celebrating it, in some ways in jeopardy. He cited the case of Shawmont Station, the oldest of its kind in the U.S.

"Since SEPTA took it over, they've completed neglected it. It's in terrible disrepair," he said.

The primary author was more reticent to share facts about the topic of what was her first book. This was understandable: unlike nearly everyone else involved in the project, she's not from Roxborough.

"I changed careers in '05, and was at Drexel getting my Masters when the historical society contacted me and asked if I had any interest in managing their archive," explained Del Collo, whose day-job is managing the archives of Hamilton Township, New Jersey.

She accepted, one thing led to another, and Del Collo ended up taking the reigns of the Roxborough iteration of the "Images of America" series.

"This book couldn't have happened without Sylvia Myers," she added.

Myers, the vice president of the historical society was, all parties agreed, the driving force behind the book. Fittingly, the 52-year resident of Roxborough and her late husband were the subject of its dedication.

"It's been a long time coming," said Myers. "But the important thing is, we are preserving history. And Chestnut Hill and Mt. Airy have books."

Preserving history and keeping up with the Jones. Not bad for 126 pages.

"Images of America: Roxborough" is available for purchase at Barnes and Noble, AIA Bookstore, Books-A-Million, , , and