Pickering Field - Ambler, PA
- Yen Ho
- 2 days ago
- 3 min read
In 2015, I was part of the Wissahickon Summer Pops Orchestra that played at Pickering Field in honor of Joe Schneider, a long time WVHS member and notably known to host the group every summer at his home before he passed away. I never thought at that time why the park was named "Pickering Field"... until I began to do some research 10 years later...
The John Roberts Place
The 308 acres of land, at the eastern corner of Penllyn Blue Bell Pike and Morris Road, was originally owned by John Roberts (1714-1801). He was the one who built his estate in 1751 with the date stone "I. & I.R. 1751" (The "I" was substituted with the letter "J"). The huge land was passed on to his son was known as the "Pennsylvania Farmer", Job Roberts (1757-1851). Job had a daughter who married Charles Mather, and he granted and conveyed Charles the southeastern part of the land with the water rights, power, etc.
Fun Fact # 1: Job added an additional part of his father's estate where it was said that William Alexander, aka Lord Sterling was court martialed by his fellow officers in the Continental Army.
The Pickerings
The land was past on after the Roberts family during the 19th century. On that huge land during the 1880s, 25 acres was owned by Charles William Pickering, Sr. (1824-1893). Charles was the owner of the Pickering Spring Company that manufactured suspension springs, mostly for street cars, railroad cars, and locomotives. His namesake son, Charles William Pickering, Jr. (1871-1914), joined his business at a young age, but left to pursue another job at the United Security Life Insurance as an assistant trust officer.
The Pickering Spring Company was where the Matthias Baldwin Park is currently located.
The Pickering Wealth Spreads to the Community
After Charles, Jr. passed away in 1914, his sister Susan and her husband William Doughten took over the estate. His wife, Elizabeth Smith Bunting Pickering (1865-1931), was living in Philadelphia after Charles's death. Before her death, she wrote in her will that she bequeathed $1,000,000 from her Whitpain estate to relatives and friends, as well as charitable organizations she was part of.
It said in her will she bequeathed $5,000 to the "Village of Ambler,"
"expressing its use to be made 'in the construction of some public swimming pool in the open to be in memory of my late husband, Charles W. Pickering, Jr., and a tablet is to mark the improvement.'"
- Ambler Gazette, August 27, 1931
Fun Fact # 2: Charles, Jr.'s wife was a 6th-generation descendant of Philadelphia botanist John Bartram from her father's side. She was also the niece of Isaac H. Clothier (mother's side) of the Strawbridge & Clothier Department Store.
Conclusion
There may not be a public swimming pool in Ambler in honor of Charles W. Pickering, Jr., but there is a park created in 1960 named in his honor.
Bibliography
"Building Good Roads." Ambler Gazette. July 26, 1906. Page 1. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_5726.
"CHARLES W. PICKERING." The Philadelphia Inquirer. November 18, 1914. Page 10. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-philadelphia-inquirer-charles-w-pick/8889194/.
"CHARLES W. PICKERING, JR." Ambler Gazette. November 19, 1914. Page 1. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_9793.
Hopkins, G.M. Atlas of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Page 031, 1871.
"John Roberts Place, Penllyn." Ambler Gazette. June 19, 1913. Page 2. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_9721.
Mueller, A. H. Atlas of the North Penn Section of Montgomery County, Pa., Plate 27, 1916.
"Parks & Recreation." Borough of Ambler. Accessed January 19, 2025. https://boroughofambler.com/departments/parks-recreation/.
Smith, J. L. Montgomery County 1893, Whitpain and Worcester Townships, Bethel Hill, Fairview, Cedar Hill, Washington Square, Broad Axe Left, 1893.
"The Descendants of John Bartram, The Botanist (1699-1777)." The John Bartram Association. Accessed January 26, 2025. https://www.jbkelley.net/Texts/Bartram_Descendants.pdf.
"'Village of Ambler' Bequeathed $5000." Ambler Gazette. August 27, 1931. Page 1. https://digitalarchives.powerlibrary.org/papd/islandora/object/papd%3Awivp-gazett_18790.
Walsh, Joe. "Pickering Spring." Friends of Matthias Baldwin Park. Last modified May 2022. https://www.baldwinparkphilly.org/pickering-spring.
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