Cheltenham Township Historical Commission releases old aerial photos of Greenleaf

In a recent e-newsletter, the The Cheltenham Township Historical Commission (CTHC) released a series of old aerial photos of what is now Greenleaf at Cheltenham, the outdoor shopping center.

The photos show Kulp farm, which later became Gimbels and the Cheltenham Square Mall before it became Greenleaf.

“The intersection of 309, Cheltenham Ave, and Washington Lane, prior to the shopping center development. 309 comes down on the left on a diagonal, crossing Cheltenham Ave. The tracts labeled as Kulp Farm became what is now Greenleaf and Cheltenham. The cleared tract in the upper-left became the middle school. The wooded area is where the Rock Creek cut still exists.

The e-newsletter also shared ads which appeared in the The Philadelphia Inquirer on August 17, 1955. Here is a sample:


In related news, the CTHC is trying out an official name for their newsletter: The Ivy Today. You can send feedback or other name suggestions to historicalcommission@cheltenham-township.org. The name dates back to a time when the Wall House’s ivy growth gave it the name The Ivy.

The CTHC oversees the operations at the historic Richard Wall House Museum, and meets on the second Thursday of the month at 6:30pm at the Richard Wall House Museum Carriage House, 1 Wall Park Drive, Elkins Park. 

For the most recent issue of CTHC’s biannual The Wall Paper, you can click here. For past issues of their monthly e-newsletter, you can click here. The Commission has a recently revamped website, which can be found here.