Exactly 100 years ago – A rare image of a long-lost house in August, 1924.

And it’s a house with many family connections all the way up to Riverton’s recent years.

It’s August of 1924 and a young mother took her toddler on a stroller excursion to the riverbank. It’s a classic Riverton image that was happening every summer day since long before this snapshot and still happens all the time.

You might have seen a copy of the image a couple of weeks ago on Will Valentino’s fine Facebook page Old Images of Palmyra, Riverton & Cinnaminson.

Will was downloading the screen image from eBay at the same time as one of our board members was buying the original snapshot from the dealer to donate to HSR’s archives.

Yes, exactly 100 years ago last month.

What is that house in the background?

It’s not what we all might think!

At first (and second) glance, that imposing house appears to be the C.C. Fitler house “The Anchorage” which still stands at 11 Bank.

But not so.  Compare …

Fooled us, too, for a bit. Look closely and you’ll see that many details match, but the whole shape of it is wrong – and 11 Bank is much larger.

Our snapshot house is much rarer – and it’s a house that didn’t last long (probably less than 40 years). Few pictures exist. Here’s the only other picture we have of it, a postcard from 1907 or later:

It was located up Bank Avenue in the next block, between Linden and Thomas, at number 105. It was built in 1896 and gone by WWII.

The Showells

The 1896 home was built by Edward Bredell “Eddie” Showell Jr. (1863-1916) and his wife Gertrude Batchelor Showell (1863-1932).

The Showell family came from deep colonial roots in the Eastern shore of Maryland (where there is still a little town named Showell in Worcester County).

According to Edward’s 1916 obituary, they named the house “Mapleton”.

Edward B. Showell Jr. (1863-1916) married Gertrude Batchelor (1863-1932) in Philadelphia in 1886.

Why Riverton?

They likely learned about Riverton through his cousin Nannie Heiskell Myers (1857-1906), who married Edwin Henry Fitler Jr. (1853-1901), the son of the Mayor of Philadelphia. Nannie and Edwin renovated the house in Riverton at 407 Bank Avenue (on the downriver corner of Main) as their summer home in 1882.

Like the Fitlers, Edward Jr. and Gertrude also began spending summers in Riverton and then they moved here year-round in about 1892, according to the Philadelphia directories.

Edward and Gertrude broke ground on their beautiful new shingled Riverton house in 1896. The Philadelphia Inquirer for December 20^th says they were already “domiciled” in their new house on the Delaware.

Edward and Gertrude Showell’s Family

Edward and Gertrude raised six children in this grand house on the riverbank. The 1900 Census showed 12 residents, including four female servants (two born in Ireland and two whose parents were Irish).

Edward was an active sailor at the Riverton Yacht Club and was the Commodore in 1905 and 1906. In addition to his sailboat he also had a steam launch – with a hired man to be its “engineer”.

As his father’s health began to fail in the 1910s, Rex and his uncle began taking over more and more of the thriving grocery and liquor wholesale business.

Ironically, Rex’s father Edward Sr. died of cirrhosis of the liver in 1916. He was just 52 years old. Liquor continued to cast a shadow on the family: in 1919 the 18^th Amendment created Prohibition, devastating their profitable business of alcohol imports and sales.

By the 1920 Census, just four years before our idyllic snapshot, hard times forced Rex and Lenore to rent out their own house, at 209 Howard Street, which had been a wedding present from Lenore’s father. They and five of their own children moved back to this big, almost empty house to rejoin his widowed mother and his brother.

Rex and his family probably were living in this house you see in August 1924 when our little snapshot was taken.

As it turns out, this newly-found 1924 snapshot is nearly the most recent record we have of this house. A Sanborn insurance map from 8 months later shows its outlines. (From the collection of Paul Schopp.)

By the 1930 Census, this house at 105 Bank does not appear (which means it was either empty or gone). Mother Gertrude (then 65) was living in a rented house a couple of blocks upriver at 405 Bank Avenue along with her divorced daughter (also named Gertrude, Edward Jr.’s sister) and two grandsons. Rent was just $100 per month. (#405 also no longer exists, being torn down a few years later.)

Our subject house was definitely gone by the time the 1942 update of the Sanborn map was created.

All was not doom and gloom, though. The family worked hard and persevered. They were back in their own house at 209 Howard by 1930. To pay the bills, Rex was working as a laborer, according to the Census of that year.

However, in 1934 a newspaper ad for a distillery in Camden appears to be employing him, saying “just ask for Mr. Rex Showell, a connoisseur of fine wines and Liquors”. Their kids all went out to work as soon as they were old enough, boys and girls alike. The family made it through the Great Depression without losing their Howard Street home and it stayed in the family through 2022.

Many Showells stayed in Riverton and made their own lives and families. Quite a few of today’s residents will remember children and grandchildren of Rex and Lenore.

Daughter Lenore, nicknamed “Sister”, married Gus Probsting and the two were energetically involved in many Riverton activities.

Rex and Lenore’s grand-daughter Lenore Layton (so many Lenores!) lives today in Cinnaminson and is much appreciated as a strong supporter of the Historical Society of Riverton.

Finally, George Rex Showell is remembered at the Riverton Yacht Club every year with the sailing of a special race to award the perpetual trophy named the “Rex Showell Cup”, donated to the club by his family after his death in 1951. Originally a 4^th of July race, it was sailed on May 18^th this year (2024).

We never know what we’re going to turn up, do we?