RESEARCH BRIEFS

MARBLE HALL SWIM CLUB

Marble Hall Swim Club, circa 1950s. Research provided by Mike Poniatowicz.

The Marble Hall swim club was a favorite place for summer swimming fun in the Conhohocken/Whitemarsh/Plymouth Township area for many years. It was located at 429 Ridge Pike, Lafayette Hill which is the current address of Sunrise of Lafayette Hill a Senior Living Center. The above picture’s view is looking toward Germantown Pike with Ridge Pike behind the photographer. The two houses pictured in the upper left hand corner of this picture are/were located on Germantown Pike. Today to the right of this picture is the location of the St Philips Church, School and recreation complex.

During my research I was curious why a swim club in this area would be named “Marble Hall." I discovered that sometime just after the American Revolution Daniel Hitner (and later his sons) operated a number of marble quarries on either side of Germantown Pike on land that is now Miles Park and the Green Valley Country Club. In the 1830s Daniel built his own mansion on what is now the basketball court at Miles Park using marble that was mined from his quarries. This mansion became known as Marble Hall. Also during his life Daniel founded the village of Marble Hall. This village does not seem to have any official boundaries but a 1871 map displays the rough boundaries as the land between Germantown Pike and Ridge Pike from about Joshua Road moving east (towards Philadelphia) to about Crescent Avenue. Today the census bureau considers Marble Hall as an MCD (Minor Civil Division) for statistical purposes.

The Marble Swim Club was a wonderful place to spend a hot summer afternoon. For the 60 cents entry fee you could spend the whole day swimming. The building on the left was the changing area. Moving to the right along the back of the picture you can see the refreshment stand, the first aid station, and the office. Rumor has it that the pool pumps were also in this building. Moving further along to the right you can see the turnstile in the entrance and exit area. We think this photo was taken from the top of the diving board which was located on Ridge Pike side of the pool.

The advertisement shown was discovered in the Conshohocken Recorder of June 23, 1933

HELP CHS

Despite all of the informational resources at the Conshohocken Historical Society there is still some data which we would like to add to our archives and for that data we come to you.

For the Marble Hall Swim Club, we'd love for you to share:

Open and closure dates for the Swim Club.
- As noted, the photo at the top of this page was taken sometime in the 1950s, and we know from archival information that the Swim Club was still open for business as late as 1966, but no known opening and closure dates have been uncovered.

Any information regarding the buildings at the rear of the header photo on Germantown Pike.

Do you have memories of your time at Marble Hall? Can you identify anyone in the photo shared above?