"But when Dr. Mattison rode past the abandoned grounds of Ambler's once popular county fair, having earlier seen the defunct mills and other examples of a village in decline, he did not pause to reflect on his decision to make this his home and the locale of his ambitious enterprise. On the contrary, he was pleased by Ambler's weakened condition—it was now malleable for his remarking."
An Asbestos Company that Impacted the Ambler Community
It was on a wintery day in 1881 when Dr. Richard V. Mattison and Henry G. Keasbey were on their weekend trip to the countryside outside of Philadelphia to find empty farmland for industrial development. It was when they approached a small, humble mill town that became famous for its resident being the hero of the 1856 train wreck. Despite the town's poor conditions and decreasing population, the duo found an opportunity to turn it into a thriving town.
Who's Who?
Dr. Richard Van Zeelust Mattison was born on November 17, 1851 in a rural section of Solebury Township in Bucks County, PA. Despite growing up in poverty, he thrived in his education, and earned a scholarship to attend the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy (now part of St. Joseph's University). Mattison continued his education and earned a medical degree at the University of Pennsylvania, despite not studying medicine.
His career began in a small laboratory in Philadelphia where he was experimenting different elements to cure mental and physical exhaustion. It wasn't until one night in his lab Mattison accidentally spilled Bromo Caffeine on a heated pipe. He was surprised to see that it didn't burn. That was the moment he discovered asbestos. By learning and understanding this newly discovered element, he realized how important asbestos would be for homes and other buildings.
Henry Griffith Keasbey was born on June 1, 1850 in Morris County, New Jersey. He was a descendant of a wealthy, Anglo-American family who were generational social leaders and philanthropists. Keasbey studied at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy where he met his friend and future partner Dr. Richard V. Mattison. Knowing that he needed money to build a factory, Mattison went to Keasbey for help. From his background, he placed Keasbey's name first on their joint enterprise that became known as the Keasbey & Mattison Company.
CHoosing Ambler as their Factory Location
After forming their partnership, Keasbey and Mattison's next step was to find an ideal location for their asbestos factory and to find a nearby train station where they can import asbestos from the mines of Quebec, Canada. It was that one day in 1881 the duo travelled by train outside Philadelphia where they approached a small, humble mill town. ​​
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Before Keasbey and Mattison showed up, Ambler was already established:
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Roads, homes, and churches were built
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Shops and stores were created
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Railroad was placed
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​The first real estate was developed​
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​During the early 19th century, Ambler was known to be a mill town where people built water-powered mills by the Wissahickon Creek to help them survive with necessary resources like clothing, food, and shelter.
The early 1880s brought to an end for the mills that once stood in Ambler, bringing in a new opportunity to utilize the Wissahickon Creek. For Mattison, he thought that he could use the Wissahickon Creek for his chemicals rather than using the polluted river in Philadelphia. Other important features in Ambler he appreciated were the train station that can easily help him import asbestos from Quebec, and the local limestone that can be quarried to form factories. ​
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"Wearing dark suits and bowlers, and carrying walking sticks as they stepped in and out of the cow dung in weedy pastures, the two men represented an odd sight to the dairy workers, blacksmiths, and wheelwrights who stood quietly observing from the sides of dirt roads that had not been widened since William Penn himself had claimed the territory in the 1680s for his fellow English Quaker immigrants, at the expense of the ease-out Indians."
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- Gay Talese, Unto the Sons
The 5 Contributions from Keasbey and Mattison's Arrival to Ambler
Since the arrival of Keasbey and Mattison in 1881, there were major changes to Ambler that everyone needed to know about. Thanks to their efforts and innovation, the Ambler Gazette published their first newspaper, sharing the news of Ambler's growth.
1. Paved the dirt road on Butler Avenue for motorized vehicles and carriages
2. Brightened the roads and sidewalks with street lamps
3. Loaned money to Ambler's businessmen for renovation and repairs of their shops and stores
4. Built homes for their workers, foremen, top executives and chemists
5. Welcomed Italian immigrants and other minority groups
From A White Mountain to a Nature Preserve
Ambler's economy relied on the asbestos production at the Keasbey & Mattison Company. Little was known about the affects of asbestos on the workers and on those who lived nearby the factories. The company was sold to the English company Turner & Newall, and then to the Certainteed Corporation and Nicolet Industries which they continued to manufacture asbestos in the area. During the 1960s, people began to speculate the health hazard of asbestos. The employees who worked for Keasbey & Mattison were exposed to asbestos dust without ventilated masks, and asbestos was dumped in massive piles in open air by the railroad tracks, making it known to the locals as "The White Mountain."​
"The Pennsylvania Department of Health reported in 1920 that, 'the amount of waste from the [K&M] plant is tremendous and gives the creek a milky appearance for some distance downstream,' (Eleventh Annual Report). During the work day, the factory constantly dumped a slurry of dolomite, cement, and asbestos into the Wissahickon Creek, likely poisoning the watershed ecosystem for miles downstream (Reiny)."
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- Ethan Reilly, "The White Mountains of Ambler"
Formal complaints of air and water contamination were filed in the early 1970s, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) got involved in the inspection, study, and cleaning up of the site when it was labeled the Ambler Asbestos Piles Superfund Site. With field surveys and high ambient air monitoring, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued a Public Health Advisory concerning the Site. It was decided by the EPA to remove at least some of the materials and to secure other areas in 1984. The Site was officially placed on the National Priorities List of Superfund Sites on June 6, 1986. After years of cleaning up the site, it was officially deleted from the National Priorities of Superfund Sites.
In 2006 the site was purchased by the Wissahickon Waterfowl Preserve, but they didn't officially take over the site until 2017 due to the EPA still working on removing the asbestos. When the site was ready for them, the Wissahickon Waterfowl Preserve placed a 511-foot walking path and benches around the 11-acre fenced-in pond.
Til this day, the former site of the White Mountain is long gone, bringing in the natural beauty the Wissahickon Creek give us. This demonstrates how something that was negatively impacted by people can be turned into something beautiful and moving forward into the future.