(From the Monthly Progress in 2006)
Marburg, the Dorf in N. E. Philadelphia
When our family moved from Hancock and Thompson Streets to Marburg in 1922, this mainly German Family Neighborhood was located from Rising Sun Avenue west to Tabor Road east and from Comley street south to Devereaux Street north. This area was between Lawndale north and Crescentville south. Tabor Road and Godfrey Avenue is the southern end of the U.S. Naval Air Supply Center. The Building at the south corner of this property was originally the Keystone Brickyard Office Building. This property is now the Naval Air Commandant’s house. The area west of Rising Sun Avenue was a water reservoir that was above ground with a 20″ high wall of dirt. The inside of the reservoir was bricklined. On the N. E. corner of the reservoir was a cast iron cup and saucer. The saucer was 6 feet in diameter with the cup on top wherein the water was pumped from the Delaware River and flowed into the reservoir. It the early thirties, the reservoir was closed and dug up and cleared. This area is now the Lawncrest Recreation Center.
Marburg had many German stores. Mr. Lehmke was our baker for rye bread. My mother would give me a nickel to buy yeast from Mr. Lehmke and she would bake large round white bread. Mr. Lehmke delivered bread and cakes to our “dorf”, using a two- wheeled cart. Next door to Lehmke on Rising Sun Avenue was the Marburg Brewery and Bottling Works. The Heim family who owned the brewery also made bottled soda, namely, cherry, ginger ale, cream, orange and root beer. There were two German butchers and a German farmer who grew produce and sold it in his store. He would also push his cart through the neighborhood every Saturday, selling his wares. Our next-door neighbor was an iceman. He had a model “T” Ford truck, which he used to deliver ice in the area including Lawndale and Crescentville. Milk as well as Bread was also delivered using horses and wagons.
The house that my family lived in was a six room house with three bedrooms. There was no electricity. Lighting was supplied by gas lamps. The heater was a coal stove, hot air cylindrical ducts, and no blower. Hot air would rise to our first floor only. In the winter time, I would get up in the morning, get my clothes and run downstairs and sit in front of the grate where the warm air came out. The house had indoor plumbing but no sewage. We also had a two-seater outhouse in the back yard and had two cesspools. In 1926, my folks had the hot air system removed and replaced with a hot water system with cast iron radiators throughout the entire house. Next to the stove in the basement was a gas hot water heater which had to be lit with a match. You had to turn off the gas after the water was hot, otherwise the tank could explode. In 1933, the city of Philadelphia installed sewers throughout the neighborhood. My dad hired a German plumber, Mr. Weidemann who installed the drainage system to the sewer line.
In 1923, by father, my grandfather and their friends, Mr. Adam, a beer brewer before prohibition, and Mr. Poth, a Mason, erected a one-car garage at the front of our property. We needed this for our 1922 Model “T” Ford. They used cement blocks that were similar to cinder blocks but these had a design on the face of the block. This type of masonry is no longer used due to being banned by the city. Properties in those days did not have garages, so my dad decided that he would have six garages built across the rear of the property. This project entailed raising the rear of the property to allow drainage to the front. A retaining wall had to be constructed and dirt fill was brought in and dumped to the top of the wall. There were no motorized dump trucks at that time. We were fortunate that a nearby church was being built and since they had to dig out that property for a basement, we got the dirt we needed. The dirt was loaded on a horse and wagon that had a false bottom and was released to dump the fill. The basement was dug out by a horse pulling three feet wide
scraping devise like a farmer would use a plough. The dirt was shoveled into the wagon. Then it had to be leveled and this was done with shovels. My father had the garages built and rented them to our neighbors.
Mein Grossvater (Grandfather) Franz Pfeifauf
After our family moved to Marburg in 1922, Grandpop began making wine. He would take the #50 trolley to 4th and Callowhill Streets, where the wholesale produce markets were. He bought the grapes and hade to hire a horse and wagon to get the grapes home. He had a wine cellar dug out by hand) under the front porch of the house. After it was dug out, brick walls were erected. A doorway from the cellar had to be made. The floor of the wine cellar was made of used brick. My two brothers and I went to a reservoir that was being razed. The floor of the reservoir was lined with brick which we dug up and removed the mortar. Then we used a four-wheeled wooden wagon to take the bricks home. A layer of sand was the base with the bricks being laid on top and sand was also used to fill in the cracks. Making wine was quite an undertaking. My Grandpop had 2 fifty-gallon barrels for the finished product. Also 2 fifty gallon with the end of each one removed, (Stellass) into which the grapes were crushed with a grinder. These barrels were put on a platform so that the spigots at the bottom were high enough so the pails could get under for filling the wine barrels. These open-end barrels had to swell and the steel bands around the barrels were taped to help seal the barrels. After the grape juice was drained from the Stellasser, the crushed grapes were then pressed and the juice added to the barrels. The next process was making (Traubenschnapps) grape whiskey. The crushed grapes were put into a vat that was sealed. The cooking of the mash then began non-stop until there was no more condensation. The white lightning was then ready for consumption.
F.P.W.
(to be continued)
EDITOR’S NOTE: this was written and originally published in the following issues of the Monthly Progress:
Volume 61, No. 3 – March 2006
Volume 61, No. 4 – April 2006
Volume 61, No. 6 – June 2006
Volume 61, No. 7 – July 2006
Volume 61, No. 8 – August 2006
It has been re-published here in 2026 with minor edits. Misspellings of names, capitalization and punctuation have been preserved as originally published.
