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142:. The settlers arrived in the 1680s. In 1700, they built Cresheim Cottage, the earliest permanent building in the vicinity, which is still standing at the intersection of Germantown Avenue and Gowen Avenue. (The original cottage comprises the smaller part of the present building; the larger part was built circa 1748.)
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by the
Pennsylvania from 1924 to 1952, more as an operational convenience for the railroad than for the line's negligible commuter traffic which the PRR never bothered to develop. The section of the branch below Queen Street in Wyndmoor remained in service for freight customers until 1978 when it was
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that stands at the southwest corner of the intersection of
Germantown Avenue and Cresheim Valley Drive contains plaques honoring both the early German settlers of the Cresheim Valley and Samuel Newman Baxter, chief arborist of Fairmount Park from 1915 to 1945.
166:(behind what is now the campus of New Covenant Church and several schools) and ran next to the creek's bank from there to the creek's headwaters near East Lane station in Wyndmoor. The railbed curved through Hillcrest and Laverock in
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extended
Fairmount Park ownership of the creek valley almost to the Philadelphia-Montgomery border at Stenton Avenue as part of the Wissahickon East Project, with ongoing and future efforts such as streambed cleanup and
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A dirt parking area off
Cresheim Valley Drive, southwest from the Chestnut Hill West railroad bridge, marks the trailhead for a set of walking paths that follow the creek for some distance downstream to its outlet.
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Outdoor enthusiasts of
Northwest Philadelphia and various Montgomery County communities have encouraged their local legislators to effect the conversion of the Cresheim Branch's railbed into a
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to meet and follow the right-of-way that is now occupied by the Fort
Washington Expressway portion of
316:"Friends of the Cresheim Trail, a non-profit, volunteer, community initiative (cresheimtrail.org)"
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304:. Philadelphia Chapter of the Pennsylvania Railroad Technical & Historical Society: 34–39.
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88:, which take advantage of the former railbed's grading and open space. In October 2013, the
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Cresheim Valley Drive runs beside the creek from
Stenton Avenue until southwest of the
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named the creek after the village from which they had emigrated (which is now part of
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Lynch, James J. D. Jr. (May 1982). "The
Chestnut Hill and Fort Washington Branches".
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154:, variously called either the Cresheim Branch or the Fort Washington Branch of the
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138:). The aforementioned pergola plaque gives the settlers' spelling of the name as
337:"City to transform long-abandoned Northwest Philly trestle into recreation path"
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81:. The former railbed within it (see section below) is also an easement for
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removal to restore the 6 acres (2.4 ha) of newly acquired land.
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tracks, where the road bends away to become Emlen Street. The stone
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Cresheim Branch (Fort
Washington Branch) of the Connecting Railway
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The area around
Cresheim Creek was originally inhabited by the
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From 1893 to 1978, a 6.5 mi (10.5 km) branch of the
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at Devil's Pool not far south of the Valley Green Inn.
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122:Pre-Euro-American and early-Euro-American periods
20:Cresheim Creek before it meets Wissahickon Creek.
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247:"15-year dream now reality in East Mount Airy"
130:. Seventeenth-century (1600s) settlers of the
136:Monsheim, Alzey-Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate
426:Rivers of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania
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245:Vella, Vinny (December 29, 2013).
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48:Eastern Regional Research Center
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226:List of rivers of Pennsylvania
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335:Moselle, Aaron (2013-11-26).
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45:Agricultural Research Service
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277:. Wissahickon East Project
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369:Wissahickon East Project
35:. Rising at Wyndmoor in
436:Wissahickon Valley Park
272:"WEP Consensus Summary"
251:Philadelphia Daily News
160:Chestnut Hill West Line
102:Chestnut Hill West Line
431:Rivers of Philadelphia
416:Rivers of Pennsylvania
56:Northwest Philadelphia
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392:40.05792°N 75.20186°W
156:Pennsylvania Railroad
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90:City of Philadelphia
39:(in a park near the
37:Springfield Township
397:40.05792; -75.20186
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218:Philadelphia portal
168:Cheltenham Township
164:Allen Lane station
152:Connecting Railway
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188:. The branch was
68:Wissahickon Creek
52:Montgomery County
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281:29 December
256:28 December
190:electrified
176:White Marsh
410:Categories
383:75°12′07″W
380:40°03′29″N
351:2014-04-28
321:2014-04-28
232:References
198:rail trail
86:powerlines
60:Mount Airy
341:Newsworks
172:Route 309
204:See also
140:Krisheim
117:History
106:pergola
128:Lenape
275:(PDF)
29:creek
27:is a
283:2013
258:2013
83:PECO
73:The
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41:USDA
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
