We recently received an interesting collection of family photographs from the Lemul family of Rockledge, a corner of the county from which we don’t receive many items. This small borough is surrounded on three sides by Abington Township and borders the Fox Chase section of Philadelphia on its remaining side. The majority of the papers belonged to David Lemul, who attended the Rockledge School in the 1930’s.
Rockledge broke away from Abington Township in 1893. According Montgomery County: The Second Hundred Years, residents of the area felt the township government was too far away to adequately serve them. Soon after the founding of the borough (though the exact date is unknown), it started a local school called the Rockledge School. The original building burned down in 1902, and students were taught for a time at the Episcopal Church of the Nativity and then the Opera House.
Interestingly, the Rockledge School served grades 1 through 10. If students wished to continue their education, they could attend Cheltenham High School, as David Lemul did. The graduating class of 1938 produced this graduation issue of the Rocktonian.
Rockledge is, according to The Second Hundred Years, the only part of Montgomery County that ever attempted to join (or more accurately, rejoin) Philadelphia County. In 1923 the majority of residents signed a petition to do just that. According to the Times-Herald, most of the residents worked in Philadelphia and the trains and trolleys connected better to the city than to other parts of Montgomery County. These ads from a 1922 Rockledge School Review show many businesses in Fox Chase.
At first, Philadelphia wasn’t interested in annexing the borough, but later the city council changed its mind and voted in favor. But the petition was thrown out on technical grounds by a Montgomery County judge. A further attempt was made in 1926, but soon objections to the proposal came out. The volunteer fire department in particular objected because it would be disbanded if Rockledge joined Philadelphia. Others pointed out that taxes would be higher, and high school students would have to travel farther to the nearest Philadelphia high school. By 1929, the secession idea was dead.
Although the Rockledge school district merged with Abington’s in the 1960’s, the Rockledge School remained open until 1977.