Two friends from the Sunnyside Academy of Ambler teamed up and established a school to continue educating the young boys and girls. One of the friends who came up the idea was Mary R.P. Henszey. Read about her family's history, and how she established her school in Ambler.
Samuel A. Henszey, The Northern Industrialist
Samuel A. Henszey (1854-1919) was born on February 16 in Philadelphia to French and English descent. His maternal side was descended from the Knight family, and his mother was the sister of George K. Knight, one of the earliest prominent citizens of Ambler.
When he was a young boy, Samuel became fascinated with railroads and mining work. During school vacations, he and his family vacationed in Northern Michigan where his father had a large iron and copper mining business.
At age 16, Samuel worked for the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company , predecessor to the North Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Later on, he worked at the Springfield, Jackson & Pomeroy Railroad Company as secretary and later as the assistant to the president; a purchasing agent of the Bound Brooke route between Philadelphia and New York; vice president and general manager of the Arizona Central Railway; in charge of the Maricopa and Phoenix Railroad and the Santa Fe, Prescott and Phoenix Railway.
In 1887, he took charge of the abandoned Egypt Coal Mines in Cumnock, North Carolina. When he first arrived in North Carolina, he noticed many problems in the community:
Lack of transportation facilities
Buildings deteriorating
Machinery dismantled
Structures around the mine were destroyed
Underground works flooded with water
Prejudice in all enterprises in the South
Fun Fact #1: The Egypt Coal Mines was used for the Confederate soldiers in the Civil War as a source fuel supply for blockade runners.
Even with the economical problems faced in the South, Samuel succeeded, and reconstructed the plant and built it in a large scale.
"The coal outlook at our mines is better than ever before. We have nearly completed and will have in use within sixty days a hoisting engine with the capacity of 1,000 tons in ten hours. The quality and quantity of the coal improve as we go down. The depth of the mine now is 800 feet. Competent mining engineers, after long and careful examination, say that we have 12,000,000 tons of coal. That is based on present openings and specific gravity of coal, as furnished by State Chemist Battle."
- Samuel A. Henszey
He even built the Egypt Railway and Raleigh and Western Railway, and became president of both railways. The railways were used to transport coal through the Southern Railway and Seaboard Air Line.
Sad Fact #1: On December 19, 1895 around 9 am, an explosion erupted in the Egypt Coal Mines where about 70 mine workers were 460 feet below ground. Sadly, only 1/3 of the workers survived the incident.
Sunnyside Academy Friendship
While Samuel had a home and office in New York, his children were attending school in Ambler including his eldest daughter, Mary R.P. Henszey (1879-1964). While she attended Sunnyside Academy, she met Sarah "Sallie" D. Knipe (1868-1963), daughter of one of Ambler's prominent citizens David Knipe (1832-1919).
Sarah Knipe was an elocution teacher at Sunnyside Academy, who graduated from the school in 1884. Her father, David Knipe, was successful in the coal, lumber, and feed business in the North Penn Valley, and established his business in Ambler next to the railroad tracks that was later owned by J.W. Craft. After his death in 1919, Sarah and her sister Ella Knipe continued to reside in their father's home on the northern side of Butler Avenue within the Ambler borough.
After Mary graduated from Sunnyside in 1897, she and Sarah began visiting each other: Mary visited Sarah at her Ambler home while Sarah visited Mary in Cumnock and later in New York. She eventually became a roommate to Sarah Knipe. They went on vacation together with Sarah's sister Ella to Ocean City and Wildwood where they owned summer homes.
After Sunnyside, Mary became a schoolteacher in New York, and gained experience in teaching students in kindergarten. In the end, she earned her teaching license. Mary made many visits to her friend Sarah in Ambler, and gave her an idea to establish a school in Sarah's home.
A Growing School
After success with her school, Mary decided expand. As she continued to stay at the Knipe home, she decided to purchase the home of John L. Doan on Euclid Avenue and North Street.
It was unknown when Sarah Knipe joined Mary with her new private school, but I would assume it was after Sunnyside Academy closed after the turn of the century. She later decided to assist Mary as a teacher in her new school. We can see Sarah's involvement in Mary's school when they both decided to erect a new building on her father's property.
"Miss Henszey's school, wholly informal, is home-like and has ever an atmosphere of orderly, cooperative and happy propensity that creates the earnest endeavor of the pupils. The scholastic standard of the school is excellent. For many years it has successfully prepared boys and girls to enter their proper grades in higher schools, both public and private, and often with high rating."
- Ambler Gazette, September 21, 1939
Bibliography
"David Knipe." Ambler Gazette. Page 1. July 17, 1919. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/6359/rec/1.
"Egypt Coal Mine." North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Program. Last modified 2008. http://www.ncmarkers.com/Markers.aspx?MarkerId=H-41.
Federation 3, no. 1 (1903): 21.
Hairr, John. Coal Mine Disasters of North Carolina. (Charleston: The History Press, 2017): 35-48.
Harrison, Mitchell C. Prominent and Progressive Americans: An Encyclopædia of Contemporaneous Biography, Volume 1. (New York: New York Tribune, 1902): 161-163.
"Interesting School Exhibit." Ambler Gazette. December 31, 1914. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/23851/rec/1.
Journal of the Board of Education of the City of New York, Volume 2. (New York: Borough of Manhattan, 1909): 1603, 1811.
Kenderdine, Thaddeus Stevens. The Kenderdines of America: Being a Genealogical and Historical Account of the Descendants of Thomas Kenderdine, of Montgomery Shire, Wales, who, Two Hundred Years Ago, Settled in Philadelphia County. (Doylestown: Doylestown Publishing Company, 1901): 164-167.
Klinge, Frank H. M. Montgomery County 1927 Reading Main Line Vol 1, Plate 31, 1927.
"Local History Sketch. Interesting Local Matter Collected by 'E.M.' Some of the Business Section of Ambler--Isaac Thomas--Jonathan Lukens--David Knipe--Jacob Reiff--The 'Gazette' Building." Ambler Gazette. January 18, 1912. Page 4. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/6689/rec/1.
"Miss. Ella Knipe, Old Resident Of Ambler, Died At 82." Ambler Gazette. August 10, 1939. Page 1. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/23851/rec/1.
"Miss Henszey Opens Kindergarten School For Its 28th Term." Ambler Gazette. September 21, 1939. Page 1. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/23638/rec/6.
Mueller, A. H. Atlas of the North Penn Section of Montgomery County, Pa., Plate 26, 1916.
School 16-17, no. 1 (1904): 491, 455.
Smith, J.L. Montgomery County 1893, Ambler Borough, 1893.
The Successful American 1, no. 1 (1900): 38-39.
"Town Topics." Ambler Gazette. June 17, 1897. Page 5. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/wivp-gazett/id/753/rec/9.
"Wissahickon Valley Public Library's Ambler Gazette Collection." POWER Library: Pennsylvania's Electronic Library. Accessed October 29, 2022. http://digitalcollections.powerlibrary.org/cdm/landingpage/collection/wivp-gazett.
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