In 1914 Horace Roberts, a wealthy farmer turned Real State developer, bought the Vanvane farm on North Forklanding Road. A street on this Plan is named "Germantown Avenue." One can imagine that perhaps he could have named it this as he witnessed the predominately German merchants of early Maple Shade.
For almost two hundred years, what is now the township of Maple Shade, NJ, was inhabited by Quaker and Episcopal Church, English descendants of those bearing deeds from Thomas Ollive, and had their land surveyed from Daniel Leeds and who perhaps even witnessed the sight of the Indian town of Pemisoaken. Sure they had Black slaves and indentured servants and other hired labor, but it was pretty much "all the same names."
There was another period which started in the late 1800s but didn't begin to blossom until the World War One period and after. Houses from the late 1800s into this time here were of size and owned by a more wealthy class. They would have the yard done in gardens with hedges etc... and usually have hired help such as Maids, Cooks, Butlers, Gardeners. Bungalows came along and were used by the wealthy too as summer cottages and they could also be purchased by .....
the working class.
The Progress newspaper stood for improvements in Maple Shade. In the early 1920s Barlow & Co. was building its bungalows as the Delaware River Bridge (now the Ben Franklin) was being built. So dramatic was the suburbanization of Maple Shade during this time that Thomas Barlow was often called "the Founder of Maple Shade."It all went bust during the Depression but resumed again with Cape Cods, then Ranchers. Main Street filled along with stores, etc... etc.... You really know the story.
Between these two periods there was after the time of "Stiles Corners" here a "Country Village time" that took a long overlap of course into the suburban development years as farms of orchards etc... were here until the 1950s developments.Thomas Wilson, John Needles Jr., and the Benjamin J. Stiles Estate, all Stiles family relatives, left in the early 1870s. Their land was basically the whole center of town! Christian Frech moved shop from the village of Fellowship to the blacksmith shop here, along side John Winters, a wheelwright. In 1874 "Stiles Railroad Station" was renamed "Maple Shade Station."
The development of Maple Shade began on what was the old Benjamin J. Stiles farm at land lying on both sides of Main Street and west of Fellowship Avenue. It passed through a few owners until it was bought by Charles F. Shuster in 1877, who began the development of Maple Shade with a subdivision plan of lots. This is known as the "Shuster Tract."
From April 28, 1887 to December 1, 1895 William Broadwater was Post Master, (r.r. station)
From December 1, 1895 to October 31, 1904 Henry Fahr had the Post Office at his general store
From October 31, 1904 to March 17, 1905- there was No Maple Shade Post Office.
From March 17, 1905- Mrs. Laura Mennel was Post Mistress followed by her daughter Louisa.
Mennel's Dry Goods Store and P.O. was at first on Poplar Avenue in half of the "Joseph B. Stiles house" there.
From a 1907 Chronicle Directory-
Mennell, John, storekeeper, Poplar Ave.
Mennell, Harry, wheelwright, Poplar Ave.
Mennell, Laura, postmistress, Poplar Ave.
Mennell, Louisa, Poplar Ave.
When did the Mennel Store move to Main and Spruce Avenue? Well right now that is unknown because they could have moved there between 1907 and 1909 and have been renters, but it was probably 1909.
The Mennel family came to Maple Shade due to John Mennel marrying Christian Frech's (I believe) daughter, Laura. The Klinger family came as Mr. and Mrs. Adolf Klinger were the parents of Mrs. Fahr. They had a shoe shop in their large brick home, now the site of two brick apartment buildings, one the office of Doctor Stephen Paul. You would probably assume all the new German families here came as a result of Christian Frech. You're close.
Henry Fahr was the brother of Louisa Frech, Christian Frech's wife, and Mary Elizabeth Myers, William Myer's wife, who bought the old John Winter house and had a barber shop until his death in 1917. Here is his obituary from the Maple Shade Progress, courtesy of the Maple Shade Historical Society-
The Myers Barber shop located at Main Street and South Maple Avenue. The house later had a brick store front addition added to it by builder Fred Fister for Amos Ferro, and was called the "Ferro Building," over the years housing the Burlington County Trust Company Bank, the Arthur Cutler Real Estate office, and Radford Jewelers. It is currently the Real Estate office of Harry Renwick.
William M. Myers owned of a barber shop in Maple Shade many years ago. My name is Barbara Stevens and I am his great- granddaughter. I live in Indiana. My mother was Mary Helen Myers, his granddaughter. He died before she was born and her parents died when she was very young. My mother grew up at the Masonic Home in Burlington. My mother did know her grandmother, Mary Elizabeth Fahr Myers. My mother was 9 years old in 1930 when her grandmother, who was blind, died in a kitchen fire while trying to make dinner. As I mentioned, I have a very poor copy of a newspaper clipping regarding the death of Mary Elizabeth Fahr Myers in the fire but the date and byline are not legible and I do not know the name of the newspaper. In the article, the family name is misspelled as Meyers.
My mother's parents, William M. and Helen Myers, and her grandparents, William M. and Mary Fahr Myers, are buried in a family plot at Colestown Cemetery.
Just to help clear up some of the confusion about all the people in this family named William and Mary and Charles, my Mary Elizabeth Fahr Myers (Mrs. William M. Myers Sr.) was Henry F.'s sister. His other sister was Louise Fahr Frech (Mrs. Christian Frech). When these sisters were widowed they lived together in the Myers house until 1930 when Mary Elizabeth died in the kitchen fire.
Is there any information around town about the parents of Henry F., Mary Elizabeth and Louise? (There were also a couple of other brothers who moved to Pa.) I believe the parents were Matthew and Rose Fahr and they came from around Ulm, Germany to Maple Shade.
