RECENT DONATIONS
Enfield Tile Bench
2023.10
Recently, this wooden bench was brought in to the Society by board members Karynn Squadrito and Dot Cutler. We know very little about this bench. Until her passing in 2008, the bench was in the possession of Ann Castle. We were told that Ms. Castle had used the bench outside of her home for many years. The late Ms. Castle, along with her late sister (Jane Castle Borie) and late brother-in-law (Joseph Borie) have been good friends of the Society. In 1998, Ms. Castle donated a series of Enfield Tiles and associated memorabilia once belonging to her sister Jane Castle Borie. Years earlier in 1987, after the Society was first established, Joe and Jane Borie donated several tile pieces from the Enfield Tile and Pottery Works they had purchased at an auction for the Society’s collection.
On the underside of the bench is an inscription which reads “~Enfield Tile ~ bench designed and made by Joe Borie” we know that the Bories had once been in possession of this bench. Did they make it from tiles that they had purchased at the same auction they acquired the tile they donated others to the Society? With the inscription, we do know that the bench was made prior to Joe’s passing in 1994 and therefore likely dates between the late 1980’s – 1990s. While there is still much to uncover regarding the history of this piece, we are thrilled to include it in the collection.
J.H. Dulles Allen opened the Enfield Tile and Pottery Works in 1906 at the corner of Church and Paper Mill Roads. The company made decorative pottery and tiles that are found in many local homes and businesses, such as the Carson Valley School. The work can be found throughout the country as well in such places like The Pan American Building in Washington, D.C. and the Bok Tower in Lake Wales, Florida.
Tall Case Clock
2017.56
This clock was built by Joseph H. Jackson, a resident and clockmaker in Flourtown from 1805 to 1810. He came from Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England in 1801. First settling in Germantown, he trained there and then moved to Springfield Township to set up his own business. We only know about three of his clocks, ours being the only one currently running and on display. In 1810, Mr. Jackson married and moved to Pumpkintown, a section of of Chestnut Hill near Bells Mill road. In 1817, he moved to Delaware taking up farming and clock repair, having been forced out of clock making by stiff competition.
The donors, are descendants of the Haas and Lesseig families. Fredrick Haus first appears in the Springfield tax records in 1803, shortly before Mr. Jackson, in 1805.
Generously donated by Susan Lesseig France and Karen Lesseig Snyder.
The Sunnybrook Sun Microfilm
2013.117
The Sunnybrook Sun which became The Springfield Sun and The Colonial dating from the 1940s through the 1990s. The Sunnybrook Sun took its name from the Sunnybrook Country Club which was the course now known as the Flourtown Country Club. These newspapers will undoubtedly prove useful to future generations of researchers interested in local history.
Generously donated by Montgomery Newspapers.