Photo: Rear view of Thomas Mansion in winter, courtesy of Sarah West
A shady, obscure driveway leads into Clifford Park from Wissahickon Ave. Its long, curving course ends at Thomas Mansion. Most residents of Northwest Philadelphia don’t know about this oasis of preserved open space donated to Fairmount Park in the early 20th Century. It was saved from development by George Clifford Thomas (1817-1907) and preserved for future generations. The Thomas Mansion property is symbolic of many private residential and industrial properties that were donated or sold to the City in order to form The Wissahickon Valley Park as we know it today.
In 1850, George Clifford Thomas purchased 15 acres in the far western section of Germantown, now Mt Airy. In 1853 he purchased 7 more acres and built a small cottage where he lived until his greystone, a Victorian style mansion, was completed. In 1863 he married Caroline Sheetz. The area around Clifford Park was undergoing development with railroads expanding out from Philadelphia into surrounding communities. This was a time of transitions. In 1854, Germantown, Mt Airy, Chestnut Hill, and Roxborough had become part of Philadelphia when the city and nearby townships consolidated. In 1868, The Fairmount Park Commission, created the Wissahickon Valley Park largely to protect the city water supply from the Schuylkill. Mills, which had been in operation for nearly 200 years, were being closed and dismantled.
George Clifford Thomas was a merchant, an investor, and a partner in a profitable machine tool business, He was an astute investor with primary holdings in transportation and public utilities. He retired in 1856 at he age of 40 and spent the rest of his life building at Clifford Park and funding causes as a generous benefactor. He was a contemporary of Henry Houston the railroad magnate and land developer, owner of Andorra Nurseries, and another generous benefactor to Philadelphia.
The list of Thomas’ gifts to Philadelphia and the broader community is long. He and Carolie had no children, but he opened Clifford Park to the neighborhood and there are stories of how he served hot chocolate the children and families winter sledding on his popular hill now called Tommy’s Hill. He was an active member and generous supporter of the Universalist church on Stenton Ave. In his half century of stewardship he sold only 7 acres of his land holdings. With no heirs, he and his wife donated 15 beautiful acres to the Fairmount Park Commission with the provision there be no further development. His art collection was given to the Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts. He was instrumental in founding the St Lawrence Theological school that later grew into St Lawrence University. When he died in 1907 at the age of 90 his stock holdings were over $462,000, equivalent to 13 million in 2020 dollars.
For 50 years, George Clifford Thomas had devoted his life to filling Clifford Park with trees and other beautiful plantings. His formal gardens were open to the community. Records from the 1870’s show the estate had 2 smaller houses in addition to the mansion. To support his interest in horticulture he built a conservatory/greenhouse with a central rectangular fish pond. Its ruins still remain. There was a barn with cows and horses.
After his death the house was well cared for another 50 years by Fairmount Park senior staff who were allowed to live there as part of their terms of employment. The chief engineer and the City Arborist for NW Philadelphia lived at Thomas Mansion with their families. In the 1940’s the mansion was divided into 2 households. These staff tenants often spent their own money on upkeep. However starting in the 1970’s public complaints about city workers getting such beautiful low cost housing gradually led to the ending of staff occupation. Funding for Thomas mansion was cut and deterioration began. The building became abandoned for 2 years 1986-88.
In 1988, the Junior League of Philadelphia staged a 24-day open house which they called “Designs on Historic Thomas Mansion” in an attempt to create interest in restoration. They published a booklet with information, photos and drawings. The mansion now houses the Northwest Philadelphia park rangers and the public is still able to visit Clifford park. At the south end there is a maintained ball field. Neighboring children and their parents still sled on the hill when there is enough snow.
Since the Junior League event, Fairmount Park staff and the Fairmount Park Conservancy (FPC) have been seeking tenant caretakers for an appropriate adaptive reuse of the property. Efforts have been unsuccessful to date because of poor economic conditions in general and the prohibitive high costs of restoration. Since 1989, the Wissahickon District of the Park Rangers has been headquartered at the mansion.
Photo: Thomas Mansion garden and patio, courtesy of Sarah West
As Volunteer Coordinator, David Bower established an office and toolshed there in 1999. At that time, the grounds around the mansion had been neglected for decades. The gardens and the adjacent woods were seriously overgrown with weeds, mostly invasive exotic species of vines and trees.From 1999 until his retirement in 2016, Bower led over 4,000 volunteers who worked over 10,000 volunteer hours on 254 dates on the Mansion grounds. The volunteers restored some of the formal gardens, removed destructive invasive vegetation, and made the grounds much more welcoming to visitors.
In 2009, the historic building restoration unit of the Fairmount Park Conservancy (FPC) set up their offices and workshops at Thomas and began restoration of the Mansion. They have installed a new roof, repaired most of the windows, and made many other improvements. The FPC continues to search for a new tenant who would enter into a long term lease agreement. The lease would require substantial investment for restoration, preservation, and ongoing maintenance of the house and grounds.
Since 2015, FOW has hosted many volunteer service events at Thomas Mansion, including annual events on Martin Luther King Day of Service every January. Up to 150 volunteers have participated in each of these events and made major progress on removing overgrown invasive vegetation. By fall 2019, FOW’s efforts made it possible to plant 22 native trees in one of the restoration sites. Volunteers have maintained the plantings and have since found and protected many seedlings of native trees that are spontaneously regenerating.
In retirement, Bower had been volunteering almost daily maintaining the plantings and other parts of the grounds. Several other FOW Crew Leaders and Trail Ambassadors joined in to form the “Quaranteam” which has worked during many Wednesdays and Sundays. Volunteers are welcome to join these service days to give new life to this very special part of the Wissahickon. No special skills are needed. Tools and instruction are provided.
Because of these efforts of the Fairmount Park Conservancy, FOW Staff, and many volunteers, Thomas Mansion and the grounds around it are in better condition than at any time in recent years. Please visit the grounds, walk the trails, enjoy Nature, play on the ballfield, and socialize on park benches….And come when it snows for sledding on “Tommy’s Hill”!
by Sarah West and David Bower
Sources
- The Junior League of Philadelphia, Designs on Historic Thomas Mansion, 1988
- Joseph Minardi, Historic Architecture in North West Philadelphia, 2012 Schiffer Publishing LLD, Atlen, PA
- David Contosta & Carol Franklin, Metropolitan Paradise, volume 4 pp 814-818, 2010, St Joseph’s University Press
- David, Bower, notebook of collected documents June 2021.
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You probably don’t need us to tell you how special Wissahickon Valley Park is. Its 1800+ acres provide habitat to wildlife, refuge & recreation to over a million visitors per year, and protect the drinking water for one-third of Philadelphians. The park can’t take care of itself, however. It needs responsible park users and stewards to keep this special place clean and sustainable for generations to come.