Conshohocken Urban Redevelopment

Conshohocken Urban Redevelopment

In

Jack Coll’s new books

3/7/2017

by Jack Coll

       In this vintage photo of Conshohocken, you won’t recognize a thing if you have only seen the borough in recent years. This view has been completely changed since 1980 or so. There is a very large chapter in the 2nd of two books coming out by Jack Coll.

     There’s still time to order your book “Conshohocken & West Conshohocken-People, Places and Stories.”

The two volume set of books with more than 500 pages in each volume includes a chapter on Urban Redevelopment displaying dozens of photographs from the lower end of town many of them showing the buildings that were demolished during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.

You can order your book or books by contacting Coll’s Custom Framing located at 324 Fayette Street or feel free to call 610-825-7072 and order with a credit card.

If the volume’s are ordered seperately they are $65.00 per book plus tax at a total cost of $68.90 per book or you can order the set at $60.00 per at a total cost of $120.00 plus tax totaling $127.20

Here are the full details from a previous article we ran:

It’s Finally Here

CONSHOHOCKEN & WEST CONSHOHOCKEN

People, Places and Stories

By Jack and Brian Coll

We here at Coll’s Custom Framing are currently taking orders for the long awaited two volume set of books on Conshohocken and West Conshohocken. Similar to the book “Tales of Conshohocken & Beyond” the new books, Volume One and Two are 8 ½ x 11 inches in size, both books have more than 500 pages filled with history, stories and more than a combined 1600 photographs of the two boroughs ranging from the late 1800’s up-to and including photographs from 2017 in color and black and white.

The books have been more than seven years in the making. Gathering photographs and researching the topics in the book, and contacting individuals for material has taken time, time well spent!

The books will be released several months apart with the first book (Volume One) due out in the late spring, and the second book (Volume Two) due out in the late fall of 2017, just in time for Christmas. Brian and I are extremely excited about the books and believe the readers will thoroughly enjoy the topics we have chosen for the two volume set.

In Volume One of “Conshohocken & West Conshohocken—People, Places and Stories” are the following chapters:

INTRODUCTION

INDUSTRY —————–There Was A Time

RESIDENTS—————–All Good People

FEMALES——————–Prominent Ladies About Town

TROLLEY’S——————They Looked Good, But

SPRING MILL—————They Had Their Own Village

HOUSES———————-It’s Pretty Interesting

MURDER, MYSTERY & SCANDAL—-It’s A Little Creepy

FAMILY BUSINESSES——So You Think You Had It Rough

CORNER STORES (Part One)—– You Might Remember Some Of These

WEST CONSHY————What A Great Story

POLICE———————–Short And Sweet

SCOUTS———————-They Deserve A Chapter

EVENTS———————-Way Too Many To Mention

The Industry Chapter will have lots of photographs and will touch-on many of the long-gone and long-forgotten factories the town was built-on. Current residents, parents and grandparents likely worked at one or more of these factories.

The Residents chapter is also a chapter of photographs while the Females chapter gives a brief history of some of the more prominent women that have lived in the two boroughs.

The Trolley’s chapter gives a detailed history of the trolley cars that ran in Conshohocken along Fayette and Hector Streets from 1894 until 1933, while trolley cars running up and down a tree lined Fayette Street sounds very charming, the trolley story is and was far from charming.

The Spring Mill Chapter covers a little bit on the far end of Hector Street, Barren Hill and the section in-between where Lee Park and the Spring Mill Fire Company now stand.

We couldn’t write about every House in the borough so we picked out some of the different sections in town and talked about the time of their construction in an attempt to give all the residents an idea as to when their house might have been built, it really is a pretty interesting chapter.

That brings us to the Murder/Mystery and Scandal chapter of the book. Every town has had a good scandal and Conshohocken is no different, it a sad story. The Murder stories in Conshohocken are many, we picked a few out that dominated the headlines back in the day.  The mystery tag in the title “Murder, Mystery and Scandal refers to the many sink-holes or cave-ins that have taken place in the borough over the years and makes me wonder do we really have an underground river flowing through the middle of the borough.

Family Businesses and Corner Stores just might be my favorite part of the book. These stories will inspire you and make you take a look at what Conshohocken really is all about. Conshohocken has always been about the residents and there is no better way to tell that story than to recall some of the corner stores and family owned businesses.

West Conshohocken is always a good story but in this chapter a heartwarming story by a former resident who grew up at Front and Ford streets recalls her childhood memories and will take you back to a great era these two boroughs shared.

The Police chapter is a short chapter made up of mostly photographs, Conshohocken has a long police department history, one that was written in “Remembering Conshohocken and West Conshohocken.” Residents of the borough are very blessed that we get to brag about living in one of the safest boroughs in the state of Pennsylvania.

The Scouts chapter is also a very short chapter due to lack of photographs but over the years the boroughs scouting programs have worked extremely hard for our children and should be included in the history memoirs of our borough.

Events and Celebrations The book highlights quite a few of these events and celebrations with photographs as recently as 2016 showing off highlights from the St. Patty’s Day Parade, to the car shows and parades. The chapters also looks back on events like St. Mary’s Church feast and SS Cosmas & Damien 100^th, and final feast in 2013.

As we stated the two books are packed with more than 1600 photographs and more than 500 pages in each volume. Below are the chapters for Volume Two:

RESIDENT PROFILES——————–Interesting People

RECREATION—————————–Conshohocken Had Lots of It

BLACK HISTORY————————-Now You Know

TRANSPORTATION———————Old School

CORNER STORE’S (Part Two)————It Was A Glorious Time

LIST OF BUSINESSES——————–Lots of Em’

MUSIC————————————–Conshohocken Style

SOAP BOX———————————One Of The Best In The Country

WEDDINGS——————————–We’ve Come A Long Way, Baby

SCHOOLS———————————–They’re All Gone

CELEBRATIONS—————————Lots of Em’

MILITARY———————————-Conshohocken Proud

IRISH—————————————-They Were The First

URBAN REDEVELOPMENT————-Who Would’ve Thought

FAYETTE STREET MANSIONS———In Living Color

     COST:

If you pre-order both books the cost is $120.00 ($127.20 with tax)

If you pre-order just one book, or order them as they come out $65.00 ($68.90) for each book

If you don’t pre-order the cost for each book will be $70.00 per book

Only a very limited amount of books will be available if you don’t pre-order

To order your book or books you can send a check or stop at

Coll’s Custom Framing

324 Fayette Street

Conshohocken PA 19428                 

Or you can call us with a credit card at 610-825-7072

We accept most major credit cards

These are books that will last a lifetime and be handed down through the families for decades to come.