An Old Slaughter House in Media and how Scrapple made Philadelphia(Middletown) Famous
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| Brooke St. Media, PA |
For the longest time I drove by this building on Brooke Street(behind Dean Keys Towing) and had no idea what it was. What intrigued me was what looked like an unusually long slide on the right side of the build. Sort of like a two-story staircase but with out the stairs. From what I'm told, it was originally built as a slaughter house for days when Media had those businesses. Makes sense, as it was explained that the slide allowed for moving products from one level to the other and eventually the ground floor. I'm not sure how the whole operation worked, when it concluded or what is there now, but it is one interesting, well constructed building.
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| None Better! |
Since we're on the subject, no one made scrapple better than the Habbersett Bros. Inc. formerly located on Knowlton Road in Middletown. I had a good friend who lived on the property and growing up we'd play around the trucks, garages, machines and the vast property the led up to Linvill Orchards. It was wide, vast and entertained us for years with outdoor adventure. I do vaguely remember smelling a pork aroma in the air when the facility was operating, but that wasn't so bad.
Linvill now stores equipment at the location when the business closed in 1985, but at one time, the family owned facility employed 130 people and was the first company to mass produce scrapple, which had to have had a big part in making Philadelphia famous. Here's a great article I found on philly.com that covers the Habbersett Family, their history and the ultimate end of this business that produced pork products since the 1860's.
When I get some time, I'll share how the Lionel Trestle that connects Elwyn to Media got it's name! Atleast, what the legend is behind how it got its name.
The best ever. Probably not healthy for you.
ReplyDeleteBut the taste was worth the risk.
I work for the company this currently in this building, Acrymax Technologies, which my grandfather founded. We've been in the building since the 1950s. I believe we have been the only other occupant in this building.
ReplyDeleteWe still have the original plans to building that mark out which rooms were which - pig pen, sausage room, etc. The building dates back to either 1914 or 1917.
From what I've been told (and this might not be completely accurate) the slaughterhouse business closed during WW2. The owener was a Quaker and they put some tax for the war on is goods, rather than pay the tax (and support the war) he decided to close the business.
http://www.delawarecountyhistory.com/mediaborough/documents/MediaDirectory-1915-6.pdf
ReplyDeleteit's No. 6 on the link, The property was owned by Clement E. Allen, Inc.
ReplyDeleteGreat information! All of Brooke Street is a bit of a mystery to me.
ReplyDeleteThanks for everyone's contribution to this story. Now we finally know!
ReplyDeleteTime to cook up some scrapple. Sliced thick, so it can be crunchy on the outside but soft on the inside. Let's just agree not to talk about the ingredients, okay?
ReplyDeleteI was born across the street on Baltimore Pike in 1960 and my parents always referred to Brooke street (and my mother and I still do ) as "Scrapple Alley"
ReplyDelete