Rittenhouse Town

Rittenhouse Town is a Pennsylvania historical marker in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, dedicated 1991.

Lincoln Dr. at Rittenhouse St. just off Wissahickon Ave., Fairmount Park, Philadelphia

Get directions ↗Start a road trip Historical trails

William Rittenhouse, first Mennonite minister in America, erected here in 1690 the colonies' first paper mill. Successive generations of Rittenhouses built additional mills, establishing this region as the center of American papermaking. By the 1850s this village had over 40 buildings, and seven early buildings survive from this once prosperous industrial community. Scientist David Rittenhouse was born here in 1732.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Historical maps covering this location

1670 · Virginia and Maryland As it is planted and Inhabited this present Year 1670 ... (John Carter Brown Library, Brown University)
1675 · Pascaerte van Nieu Nederland : streckende vande Zuÿdt Revier tot de Noordt Revier en't… (Princeton University Library)
1689 · A mapp of ye improved part of Pensilvania in America, divided into countyes, townships… (Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library)
1708 · Carte Particuliere de Virginie, Maryland, Pennsilvanie. (David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries)
Historical map (Library of Congress)

A mapp of ye improved part of Pensilvania in America, divided into countyes, townships…, 1689, covering the location of Rittenhouse Town, with a pin at the marker's coordinates — A mapp of ye improved part of Pensilvania in America, divided into countyes, townships…, 1689, covering this location. Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library. The pin is ours, placed from the marker's coordinates.

Example

For example, one family's tree showed the Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania standing under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

Upload your family tree and TreeAlive finds the markers near where your own ancestors lived.

See your family's markers

Start with a tree file, a FamilySearch sign in, or a WikiTree ID.

Report a problem with this page

The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyThat would be an error, and we can pass it to the program.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

We may pass what you report to the state's marker program. Please don't include personal details.

Marker data: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission via data.pa.gov

More markers nearby

Dr. Mary Davis Ridgway (1873-1927)under 1 mi
Joseph Huston (1866-1940)under 1 mi
William Penn Charter Schoolunder 1 mi
Walnut Lane Bridgeunder 1 mi