18th-century farmhouse
about to be history

By Diane Prokop
Times Staff Writer

The Reuben Parry house at Knights and Chalfont Drive has seen a lot of flags fly in its more than 200 years at the top of the hill. On Monday, an American flag with 50 stars and 13 stripes rested twisted above the porch roof as the building sat waiting to be demolished.
An orange demolition sticker on the front storm door declares its end — "Notice of Demolition – 11041 Knights Road will be demolished on or after 4/7/08." The stone farmhouse that dates back to at least 1798 could be rubble by the time you read this story.
The longtime previous owner, Fred Weiss, though reluctant, was forced to sell the property as his family was concerned that taking care of the home and the 1.5 acres was getting too hard on his health.
According to Realtor Pat Kelly of ReMax 2000, the property settled in December and sold in the upper $400,000s.
Yellow George Weiss Realty signs sit in the fenced-in yard as a sign of things to come.
According to Kelly, three single-family homes will be built on the property, with four bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths. The asking price — $489,000.
Though the house soon will be but a memory to those who passed it on their way to Our Lady of Calvary or Aloysius Fitzpatrick schools, it has been documented by local historians.
Local historian Pat Worthington Stopper’s A Pictorial Glimpse into the Past includes a photo and description of the house, as does Take a Trip Through Time: Northeast Philadelphia Revisited, which was compiled by Lillian M. Lake and Harry C. Silcox. The home was also used as a road marker of sorts in Charles Martindale’s A History of the Townships of Byberry and Moreland in Philadelphia, Pa., which was published in 1867.
Byberry Township, prior to its incorporation into the city in 1854, was composed of the land in the Northeast Philadelphia neighborhoods of Mechanicsville, Parkwood Manor, Modena Park, Millbrook, Crestmont Farms, Morrell Park and West Torresdale. It was settled by the Walton brothers in about 1683 and was named for their home in England, called Bibury.
Martindale talked about the types of homes in Byberry and noted that some homes, including that of Reuben Parry, "are quite ancient, although some of them have been modernized in their appearance."
The home and property are also referenced in sections of the book pertaining to one of the area’s most revered sons — Dr. Benjamin Rush, who was considered the father of American psychiatry, and his brother, the Honorable Judge Rush. ••
Martindale’s "A History of the Townships of Byberry and Moreland in Philadelphia, Pa.," which was published in 1867, is available online at http://books.google.com
Reporter Diane Prokop can be reached at 215-354-3036 or dprokop@phillynews.com