Before you take your next stroll down one of East Falls’ tree-lined streets, register for the May Pennsylvania Horticultural Society course.

Join more than 4,000 Tree Tender graduates who plant and care for trees in the Philadelphia region. The course covers tree biology, identification, planting, proper care, and working with your community. Classes are scheduled for Wednesday, May 8, 15, and 11, 5:45-9:00 pm, at PHS 100 N. 20th Street, 5th Floor, Philadelphia PA. Register at www.pennhort.met/treetenders. For more information contact Mindy Maslin at (215) 988-8844 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it EFTT, just like a tree, needs to grow so every street will have a healthy street tree population.

March already!  For the “March of Time,” we are offering a timeline of East Falls. It’s a fun way to get a quick perspective on how our neighborhood developed:

1600 - The  Lenni Lenapes are the first residents of East Falls, calling the Schuylkill
           Ganshewahanna – “Noisy Waters.”
1668 – Grist Mill erected at the mouth of Wissahickon (now Philadelphia Canoe Club)
1677 - 1680 – Garrett Garrettson, a Swede, buys land from the Indians and builds the first
    house in East Falls - a one-room log cabin (at Vaux and Ainslie).
1686-89 – Robinson Mills built at Ridge Avenue and the Wissahickon.
1731 – Known for catfish and waffles, The Falls Tavern (originally Fort St. David’s
            Hotel) at the foot of Indian Queen Lane, is granted a license to sell liquor.

In a 1981 interview, Louise Halstead, age 99, recalled her life as a worker at Dobson’s Mills. Some excerpts:

Where were your parents from?
They came to Philadelphia from Lackalona [Lackawanna] County, near Scranton, with ten of their twelve children. They settled in Dutch Hollow – that’s where Mom grew her family. They got work at Dobson’s – they had a mill here that made carpet, cloth, plush, everything. They were the only big industry.

Did you work there too?
Yes, for years and years. I went to work when I was 13 and worked there until the mill closed, must have been in the ‘50s.

How did you get the job?
The man next door to us was a boss weaver and he got me a job burling. Burling
was taking the little knots out of the yarn to make it a smooth piece of cloth after it came from the weaver. Then you cut the selvage. I didn’t have a pretentious job – I also sewed numbers on cloth.

The year ended on a green note for East Falls Tree Tenders. Roger Marsh planted two trees, an ‘October Glory’ Maple (Acer rubrum ‘October Glory’) and a Sweetbay Magnolia (Magnolia), on the slope by Midvale Avenue at Mifflin School. The trees, donated by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, replace two trees planted in 2010 at the annual Arboretum Cleanup. Roger not only mulched the trees, he staked them and placed wire fencing around them to protect them from any errant lawn mowers. Thank you Roger, and thank you also Kitty and Hal Commons for their generous contribution to EFTT.  Although PHS provides the trees, such donations make it possible for EFTT to purchase mulch and buckets for the spring and fall plantings. Thank you as well to the Department of Parks & Recreation for planting a fifth street tree on Conrad Street in front of Mifflin School.

December was a busy month for changes in the City’s Zoning Code.

As folks may remember, the citizens of Philadelphia had called for a new zoning code several years ago. This was to replace an outdated code amended piecemeal over the past 50 years. The bulk of the new code was implemented on August 22, 2012.

One thing left out was sign controls. They are now changed.

Under the old Zoning Code, East Falls had a special Zoning Overlay called the East Falls Special District Controls which covered East Falls’ Riverfront Business District. This included use restrictions, some special rules to maintain the green buffer on Kelly Drive, and sign controls.

When the new code was implemented, The Overlay use controls and some other requirements were subsumed under a new zoning category called CMX 2.5. East Falls retained the Kelly Drive buffer. Because the City was not ready to implement new sign rules, our rules were maintained. Now, the sign rules have been subsumed under new signage regulations for business-related signage for the entire City. 

In 1916, the Weekly Forecast reported plans for a “large building operation” in East Falls - 41 houses, all alike, to be erected by builder Thomas Gavaghan. Still standing, you can see these houses on the 3400 block of Indian Queen, the 3400 block of Bowman, and the 3300 block of Vaux, some looking very unaltered from the original blueprint.

In his plans, architect, Joseph Tyrrell, described the homes this way: “The houses will be of the type usually found in the exclusive sections of Philadelphia, with the most modern improvements, such as parquetry floors, hot-water heat, sunken bathtubs, and stationary washtubs in the cellar, with outside entrance to the same. The usual coal range has been dispensed with, and in its place is an up-to-date gas range.

“The houses will have an artistic porch, large and well-lighted rooms; in fact, everything usually found in a house selling for $7000-$8000, while the price placed on these homes will be within the reach of every family desirous of living in comfort to which they are entitled.

That was the question East Falls Community Council asked in December…   What should the theme of this year’s Cook-off be?  Should it be Chili, as expected or something new?  Meatloaf Mania?  Lasagna-Palooza?

After a photo finish, the community has spoken and this year’s Cook-off will be…. A Chili Cook-off!  If it’s not broken, why fix it?

The Chili Cook-off will be held earlier this year – March 8!  The weather will still be crisp and cold. There’s still plenty of time to test and perfect your recipe – but make sure to enter early, as the number of entries will be limited to 25.  We’ll let everyone know when the entry form is posted on the EFCC website via the weekly EFCC Calendar email blast.

East Falls’ candlelit community Christmas Carol Sing, the largest in Philadelphia, was even lbetter attended thanks to a seasonally crisp, clear night!  

The pathways to the memorial in McMichael Park were aglow with luminaries assembled that afternoon by the small, busy hands of East Falls Brownie Troop #91387.  The air was buzzing with the hundreds of lifted voices accompanied by a jazz ensemble led by Penn Charter’s Hayley Varhol.

Wendy Moody, one of the Carol Sing’s founders, and retired Falls of Schuylkill Branch librarian, returned with The Wendella’s to lead the caroling.

On Saturday, January 12th, Winston and Wendy Moody, with Phil Hineline, will explore East Falls, identifying and counting birds for the annual Philadelphia Mid-Winter Bird Census.  

If you are an East Falls resident with an active bird feeder, you can help us in two ways: (1) You may contact us by phone (215-848-5131) or email ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) before the census date so we can add your address to our list of sites to observe, or, (2) if you feel comfortable in bird identification, please call us before 4pm on January 12th  with the number of each species of bird you observe—on the day of the count only.  You may leave a message on the machine.