History of a House – Charles W. Moore, Founder of Basketball in Conshohocken

History of a House

Charles W. Moore

Founder of Basketball in Conshohocken

It was a Different Game Back Than

By Jack Coll

12-14-21

     Researching the roots of Conshohocken basketball will take you straight to Charles W. Moore who along with his friend Howard Cox, brought the game of basketball to Conshohocken in 1895.

     Mr. Moore resided at 315 East Tenth Avenue for 51 years working for many years as a station engineer at the Schuylkill Iron Works of the Alan Wood Steel Company.  He was later employed by the Benjamin Foster Company of Philadelphia, where he worked on road building projects for sixteen years.

     The two-and–a–half story brick Victorian house at 315 East Tenth Avenue was built in 1890, other houses along that strip were constructed between 1885 and 1900. Although most of the houses in the borough were clustered in the lower end of town at that time a number of houses started to dot the landscape in the upper portion of the borough at the turn of last century.

     Born in Philadelphia on April 13, 1875, Mr. Moore, as a young man joined the West Philadelphia Y. M. C. A. where he became one of the first in Philadelphia to learn the game of basketball still in its infancy.  Playing a forward position on a nine-man team, he became one of the best players of his time.  In the fall of 1895, he and Howard Cox, at that time employed at the Lee Surgical Works, once located at Eighth Avenue and Harry Street, was also a member of the Philadelphia Y. M. C. A. started the game here which in later years was to bring Conshohocken the honor of having the World Championship Team.  The championship team of 1904-1905 was sponsored by the Conshohocken Pioneer Corp Club.  The Pioneer Corp had no military standing but all were drilled in marching and maneuvering.  The headquarters was located in the old school building which stood between First and Second Avenue on Forrest Street.

     The game at that time was played with seven men on a team governed by divided floor rules.  The forwards, centers and guards were not permitted to over step their boundaries.  All the scoring was done by the two forwards and each field goal counted as one point.  Games were mainly played in a caged-in area, in the early days there was no out-of-bounds, as the game progressed if the ball hit the sides of the wall, or cage it was deemed out-of-bounds.

     The game of basketball is said to be originated in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1891, sponsored by the Y. M. C. A. and coached by James Naismith.  The game was introduced in Conshohocken just four years later in 1895 by Moore and Cox, both former players with the Philadelphia Y. M. C. A.  Moore and Cox taught the new game to members of the Conshohocken Pioneer Club and the play of the Conshohocken Pioneer team in the vacated Presbyterian Church once located at Elm and Maple Streets became the beginning of a love-affair with basketball and Conshohocken that’s been going on for more than 125 years.   

    As the sport of basketball grew in popularity throughout Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, New Jersey and throughout the mid-western part of the country the Pioneer Club among other Conshohocken teams started looking for new and bigger arenas.  The first basketball court in Conshohocken at the former Presbyterian Church was equipped with a wire cage.  A few years later the court was moved to Fayette Street in the Washita Hall at First Avenue and Fayette Street, the Hall was later William Little’s Opera House, current site of Nudy’s Restaurant. For a time Conshohocken’s home court was located at Third Avenue and Forrest Street in the former home of the Grand Army of the Republic where our Civil War veterans would meet.  Some years later the caged-in court was moved to the former Steen Livery Stable once located on the corner of Hector and Poplar Streets, it was later Moser Glass Works and today has been converted into condos.

     Just ten years after Moore and Cox introduced the game of basketball Conshohocken did the unthinkable. In the 1904-05 season the team posted a 32-8 record, beating teams in four different states (a great distance to travel back then).   With no other teams remaining to beat, Conshohocken was declared World Champions of Professional Basketball.  Years later officials at the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, upon reviewing records, the Board of Directors also declared Conshohocken to be the professional basketball’s first world champions.  A photograph of the team is prominently displayed in the National Basketball Hall of Fame. 

     Members of the 1904-05 team included Steve White, Bill Keenan, Charles Bossert, Allan Glassy, Bill Herron, Billy Bennet and George Huzzard.  Billy Neville was the team coach and Johnny O’Keefe was the team mascot.  The team led the league in scoring with 1,548 points on the season, an average of 38.7 points per game was more than most teams could handle.

     Pointing out the 1904-05 team from Conshohocken brings me back to Charles Moore.  I don’t think this small Pennsylvania Borough would put a team in the National Basketball Hall of Fame without Moore and Cox introducing the game just ten years earlier.

     Mr. Moore played for many years and scored many a point in his post as forward.  By the time Conshohocken won the national championship in 1905, Moore had become a referee for the sport in Philadelphia.

     He was an active member in the Knights of Pythias Lodge No 117 for many years, he was also a member of Conshohocken Council No 241, Order of Independent Americans.

      He was born in Philadelphia on April 13, 1875 and passed away in October of 1950.  His death occurred at the Community Center Stadium (A-Field) as he sat in the stands awaiting the beginning of the football game between Conshohocken High and Upper Merion High.  Mr. Moore collapsed and died in the arms of his son Councilman Charles W. Moore while seated in the stands.  His son was also the president of the Conshohocken No. 2 Fire Company.  He is buried at Riverside Cemetery in Norristown.

Photographs above include in no particular order:

 The former home of Charles Moore where he once lived at 315 East Tenth Avenue.

An advertisement for a basketball game back when Charles Moore still played for the Conshohocken Basketball Team when they played at the borough’s basketball court once located at the corner of East Hector Street and Poplar Street, (once the home of Moser Glass

and currently condos)

A photo of a basketball cage, the type of courts used back around 1900 when Charles Moore played the game.  Back in the early 1980’s I had asked around to a few local historians wondering if this was the court at Hector and Poplar Streets, a few said it looks just like it while other old timers couldn’t confirm that it was the court at Hector and Poplar.

 A newspaper photo of Charles Moore in 1950, the year he passed away.

A photograph taken at the National Basketball Hall of Fame, (Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame) located in Springfield Ma., shows me pointing to the Conshohocken 1904-05 National Championship Team, and a close-up of the team photo.Once again Thank-You to all the sponsors who advertise on Conshystuff.com.  We thank you for supporting our advertisers and all of Conshohocken’s small businesses.