A Concise History of RittenhouseTown

• First paper mill in North America is built on the site in 1690 by William Rittenhouse, leader of a Mennonite community of which he became the first minister.

• David Rittenhouse, mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and first president of the United States Mint is born at the site in 1732.

• More than ten generations of the Rittenhouse family continue to live on the site, owning and operating the mill for over 150 years.

• Site develops in the late 18th and early 19th centuries into a small self-sufficient industrial community including more than forty structures: homesteads, workers' cottages, the paper mill complex, a church, a school, and a firehouse.

• In the late 1870s, the Rittenhouse family sells the industrial site, now called RittenhouseTown, including the land, and all of its buildings, to the City of Philadelphia's Fairmount Park Commission.

• Site, now about thirty picturesque acres in Fairmount Park, is declared a National Historic Landmark District in 1992.

History of Historic RittenhouseTown, Inc.

• 1984: Thirty individuals form Historic RittenhouseTown, Inc. to preserve, restore, and historically interpret Historic RittenhouseTown. This group of individuals works to prevent further deterioration of the buildings and to open the buildings to the public to share this important history.

• 1986: The site is open for visitors and the hands-on papermaking program for school students is introduced. The organization introduces many annual events to allow members and visitors to enjoy the site.

• 1990: The organization conducts a major capitol campaign to celebrate the Tricentennial of the founding of the paper mill, raising enough money to hire a professional staff, convert the Abraham Rittenhouse Home into a visitors center and the barn into a papermaking studio.

• 1992: The name of the organization is officially changed to Historic RittenhouseTown, Inc.

• 1998: Historic RittenhouseTown, Inc. introduces the colonial German cooking program, which takes place in the restored Rittenhouse Homestead Bakehouse.

• Today: Historic RittenhouseTown, Inc. has over nine hundred members from across the United States and overseas. The membership helps to maintain five of the orginal buildings, all of which are open and interpreted for over 13,000 visitors a year.

Mission of Historic RittenhouseTown, Inc.

Historic RittenhouseTown, the site where William Rittenhouse founded the first paper mill in British North America and where his grandson David Rittenhouse, patriot and scientist was born, is dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of this National Historic Landmark. Through archeology, historic research, preservation, and high-quality educational programs, Historic RittenhouseTown dedicates itself to informing the public about the life and times of this Early American industrial village.