Devon Avenue was originally known as Church Road. It was renamed in the 1880s by Edgewater developer John Lewis Cochran after Devon station on the Main Line north of Philadelphia. Originally known for its farms and greenhouses, North Town, as it was then called, began to attract residential and commercial development in the early 1920s. Developer Henry B. Rance opened the area’s first real estate office in a frame shack at the corner of Devon and Western Avenues.
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Compiled by Neil Gale, Ph.D.
I grew up at Touhy & Sacramento in the 70s. It’s almost unthinkable now to imagine the entire area as empty farmland, even though I was told our house was built on farmland just after the war (essentially only 30 years after these pictures were taken). And this also answers why the movie theater (which opened in 1931) was named the “Nortown”, over on Western Ave. I never knew why before.
ReplyDeleteI grew up there in the 50's and 60's. Amazing to see these photos. Thanks much for sharing them.
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