Deshler-Morris House
Encyclopedia
The Germantown White House (formerly the Deshler-Morris House, Deshler House or Perot-Morris House) is a historic mansion in the Germantown
section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
. It was the scene of fighting in the Battle of Germantown
, and it is the oldest surviving presidential residence, having twice sheltered George Washington
during his term of office.
in 1948.
Deshler, a merchant, bought a 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) lot from George and Anna Bringhurst in 1751-52, and constructed a four-room summer cottage. Twenty years later he built a 3-story, 9-room addition to the front, creating one of the most elegant homes in the region.
Isaac Franks, a former colonel in the Continental Army
, bought the house following Deshler's 1792 death. It was he who rented it to President Washington.
Later, the house was sold to Elliston and John Perot, and in 1834 to Elliston's son-in-law, Samuel B. Morris. The Morris family lived in the house for over a hundred years, before its 1948 dontation to the National Park Service.
, after which British General Sir William Howe
occupied the house.
struck Philadelphia, President Washington remained in the city until September, before making his regular autumn trip home to Mount Vernon
. He and a small group of servants returned in early November, but Philadelphia was under quarantine
and they were rerouted to Germantown, then ten miles (16 km) outside the city.
He first occupied the Dove House, the headmaster's residence for Germantown Academy
(now extensively altered and part of Pennsylvania School for the Deaf
). He also traveled to Reading, Pennsylvania
, 60 miles (96 km) northwest of the city, to see if it would make a suitable emergency capital.
Returning to Germantown, from November 16 to 30, he occupied the Isaac Franks house. His wife Martha
, two of her grandchildren, Eleanor Parke Custis and George Washington Parke Custis
, and more of their servants and staff joined him late in the stay.
in Western Pennsylvania. He met there four times with his cabinet: Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson
, Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton
, Attorney General Edmund Randolph
, and Secretary of War Henry Knox
. The President posed for painter Gilbert Stuart
, who kept a studio nearby, and the family attended the German Reformed Church across the square.
Four enslaved servants were held by the Washingtons at the Franks house: Oney Judge
, Austin (her brother), Moll, and Hercules
.
and operated by the Volunteers of the Deshler-Morris House Committee, Inc. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
in 1972 and it is a contributing property
of the Colonial Germantown Historic District
.
In 2009, the National Park Service changed the official name from the "Deshler-Morris House" to the "Germantown White House."
. His estate consisted of 19 acres (76,890.3 m²) in Germantown, and was eventually split up by his heirs. Today, near the current historic site, "Bringhurst Street" is a street named after him which lies on the edge of his former land.
Lieutenant Colonel
John Bird was "lying sick" in the Bringhurst House when the American
army attacked on the morning of October 4, 1777. Bird arose from bed to lead his men, but was mortally wounded in the battle. Although a surgeon tried to treat him in Melchoir Meng's house situated on what is now a part of Vernon Park
, he was carried back to the Bringhurst House, where he died.
In 1973, the Bringhurst house was donated to the National Park Service from the Germantown Savings Bank in order to "assure access, light, and air for the historic structure". The Bringhurst property is currently in the process of conversion into an exhibition space and welcome center for the Germantown White House landscape.
Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Germantown is a neighborhood in the northwest section of the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, about 7–8 miles northwest from the center of the city...
section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
. It was the scene of fighting in the Battle of Germantown
Battle of Germantown
The Battle of Germantown, a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War, was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania between the British army led by Sir William Howe and the American army under George Washington...
, and it is the oldest surviving presidential residence, having twice sheltered George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
during his term of office.
Construction and ownership
The house takes its former name from its first and last owners: David Deshler, who built it beginning in 1752; and Elliston P. Morris, who donated it to the National Park ServiceNational Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
in 1948.
Deshler, a merchant, bought a 2 acres (8,093.7 m²) lot from George and Anna Bringhurst in 1751-52, and constructed a four-room summer cottage. Twenty years later he built a 3-story, 9-room addition to the front, creating one of the most elegant homes in the region.
Isaac Franks, a former colonel in the Continental Army
Continental Army
The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...
, bought the house following Deshler's 1792 death. It was he who rented it to President Washington.
Later, the house was sold to Elliston and John Perot, and in 1834 to Elliston's son-in-law, Samuel B. Morris. The Morris family lived in the house for over a hundred years, before its 1948 dontation to the National Park Service.
Revolutionary War
On October 4, 1777, it was a scene of fighting in the Battle of GermantownBattle of Germantown
The Battle of Germantown, a battle in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War, was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania between the British army led by Sir William Howe and the American army under George Washington...
, after which British General Sir William Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, KB, PC was a British army officer who rose to become Commander-in-Chief of British forces during the American War of Independence...
occupied the house.
1793
When the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
The Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 is believed to have killed several thousand people in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.-Beginnings:...
struck Philadelphia, President Washington remained in the city until September, before making his regular autumn trip home to Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon
The name Mount Vernon is a dedication to the English Vice-Admiral Edward Vernon. It was first applied to Mount Vernon, the Virginia estate of George Washington, the first President of the United States...
. He and a small group of servants returned in early November, but Philadelphia was under quarantine
Quarantine
Quarantine is compulsory isolation, typically to contain the spread of something considered dangerous, often but not always disease. The word comes from the Italian quarantena, meaning forty-day period....
and they were rerouted to Germantown, then ten miles (16 km) outside the city.
He first occupied the Dove House, the headmaster's residence for Germantown Academy
Old Germantown Academy and Headmasters' Houses
Old Germantown Academy and Headmasters' Houses is a historic school campus, the original site of Germantown Academy, located at Schoolhouse Lane and Greene Street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
(now extensively altered and part of Pennsylvania School for the Deaf
Pennsylvania School for the Deaf
The Pennsylvania School for the Deaf is the third-oldest school of its kind in the United States. Its founder, David G. Seixas , was a Philadelphia crockery maker-dealer who became concerned with the plight of impoverished deaf children that he observed on the city's streets...
). He also traveled to Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
, 60 miles (96 km) northwest of the city, to see if it would make a suitable emergency capital.
Returning to Germantown, from November 16 to 30, he occupied the Isaac Franks house. His wife Martha
Martha Washington
Martha Dandridge Custis Washington was the wife of George Washington, the first president of the United States. Although the title was not coined until after her death, Martha Washington is considered to be the first First Lady of the United States...
, two of her grandchildren, Eleanor Parke Custis and George Washington Parke Custis
George Washington Parke Custis
George Washington Parke Custis , the step-grandson of United States President George Washington, was a nineteenth-century American writer, orator, and agricultural reformer.-Family:...
, and more of their servants and staff joined him late in the stay.
1794
The following September and October, Washington and his family returned to the Franks house for vacation, although he left early to deal with the Whiskey RebellionWhiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion, or Whiskey Insurrection, was a tax protest in the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. Farmers who sold their corn in the form of whiskey had to pay a new tax which they strongly resented...
in Western Pennsylvania. He met there four times with his cabinet: Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the principal author of the United States Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom , the third President of the United States and founder of the University of Virginia...
, Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was a Founding Father, soldier, economist, political philosopher, one of America's first constitutional lawyers and the first United States Secretary of the Treasury...
, Attorney General Edmund Randolph
Edmund Randolph
Edmund Jennings Randolph was an American attorney, the seventh Governor of Virginia, the second Secretary of State, and the first United States Attorney General.-Biography:...
, and Secretary of War Henry Knox
Henry Knox
Henry Knox was a military officer of the Continental Army and later the United States Army, and also served as the first United States Secretary of War....
. The President posed for painter Gilbert Stuart
Gilbert Stuart
Gilbert Charles Stuart was an American painter from Rhode Island.Gilbert Stuart is widely considered to be one of America's foremost portraitists...
, who kept a studio nearby, and the family attended the German Reformed Church across the square.
Four enslaved servants were held by the Washingtons at the Franks house: Oney Judge
Oney Judge
Oney "Ona" Judge, later Oney Judge Staines , was a slave at George Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon in Virginia. A servant in Washington's presidential households beginning in 1789, she escaped to freedom in 1796 and made her way to New Hampshire, where she lived the rest of her life...
, Austin (her brother), Moll, and Hercules
Hercules (chef)
Hercules was the head cook at George Washington's Virginia plantation Mount Vernon in the 1780s. In November 1790, he was brought to Philadelphia to work in the kitchen of the President's House...
.
Preservation
The house is administered by Independence National Historical ParkIndependence National Historical Park
Independence National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in Philadelphia that preserves several sites associated with the American Revolution and the nation's founding history. Administered by the National Park Service, the park comprises much of the downtown historic...
and operated by the Volunteers of the Deshler-Morris House Committee, Inc. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
in 1972 and it is a contributing property
Contributing property
In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing resource or contributing property is any building, structure, or object which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic district, listed locally or federally, significant...
of the Colonial Germantown Historic District
Colonial Germantown Historic District
The Colonial Germantown Historic District is a designated National Historic Landmark District in the Germantown and Mount Airy neighborhoods of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania along both sides of Germantown Avenue...
.
In 2009, the National Park Service changed the official name from the "Deshler-Morris House" to the "Germantown White House."
Bringhurst House
The Bringhurst House, neighboring the Germantown White House on the northwest, was originally owned by John Bringhurst (February 19, 1725 – March 18, 1795), a carriage builder and inventor of the "Germantown Wagon"; in 1780 he built a carriage for George WashingtonGeorge Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
. His estate consisted of 19 acres (76,890.3 m²) in Germantown, and was eventually split up by his heirs. Today, near the current historic site, "Bringhurst Street" is a street named after him which lies on the edge of his former land.
Lieutenant Colonel
Lieutenant colonel
Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...
John Bird was "lying sick" in the Bringhurst House when the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
army attacked on the morning of October 4, 1777. Bird arose from bed to lead his men, but was mortally wounded in the battle. Although a surgeon tried to treat him in Melchoir Meng's house situated on what is now a part of Vernon Park
Vernon Park
Vernon Park is the oldest country park in Stockport, Greater Manchester, England. The Victorian Park contains what is now the Vernon Park Museum. It originally opened on Monday 20th September 1858 as Pinch Belly Park or the People’s Park, built by the Stockport Corporation on land donated by George...
, he was carried back to the Bringhurst House, where he died.
In 1973, the Bringhurst house was donated to the National Park Service from the Germantown Savings Bank in order to "assure access, light, and air for the historic structure". The Bringhurst property is currently in the process of conversion into an exhibition space and welcome center for the Germantown White House landscape.
See also
- President's House (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)President's House (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)The President's House in Philadelphia at 524-30 Market Street was the third Presidential mansion. It was occupied by President George Washington from November 1790 to March 1797 and President John Adams from March 1797 to May 1800....
, Washington's executive mansion, 1790-97. - Oney JudgeOney JudgeOney "Ona" Judge, later Oney Judge Staines , was a slave at George Washington's plantation, Mount Vernon in Virginia. A servant in Washington's presidential households beginning in 1789, she escaped to freedom in 1796 and made her way to New Hampshire, where she lived the rest of her life...
, enslaved maid of Martha Washington. - Hercules (chef)Hercules (chef)Hercules was the head cook at George Washington's Virginia plantation Mount Vernon in the 1780s. In November 1790, he was brought to Philadelphia to work in the kitchen of the President's House...
, enslaved cook for Washington's presidential household. - Tobias Lear V, Washington's secretary.
Further reading
- Marion, John Francis, Bicentennial City: Walking Tours of Historic Philadelphia. Princeton: The Pyne Press, 1974.
- Jenkins, Charles F., The Guide Book to Historic Germantown. Germantown Historical Society, 1973.
- Jenkins, Charles F., Washington in Germantown. Philadelphia: Canterbury Press, 1905.
- "Deshler-Morris House." National Park Service brochure. Independence National Historic Park.
External links
- Germantown White House at the National Park ServiceNational Park ServiceThe National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
- Article at UShistory.org
- Listing and photographs at the Historic American Buildings SurveyHistoric American Buildings SurveyThe Historic American Buildings Survey , Historic American Engineering Record , and Historic American Landscapes Survey are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consists of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written...