Headquartered in the Whitpain 1895 Public School, the Wissahickon Valley Historical Society serves to educate the public about the heritage and history of the people, institutions and events that have influenced and shaped the communities of the Wissahickon School District which encompasses Whitpain Township, Lower Gwynedd Township and the Borough of Ambler.
Founded in 1975 as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization, the Wissahickon Valley Historical Society’s purpose is to preserve the local historical buildings, artifacts and folklore of the historic Wissahickon Valley.
The Franklinville School c.1858 is a white stucco one-room schoolhouse located at 1701 Morris Road in Blue Bell, between Normandy Farms Estates and the Windermere Community. It is the only one-room schoolhouse open to the public in Whitpain Township.
The two-story schoolhouse located at 799 W. Skippack Pike in Blue Bell has a Library containing deeds, wills, photos, books, maps and genealogies, a 19th Century School Room and a Museum of local artifacts, focusing on items, pictures and records from the early farms and our industrial past.
Featured
Thursday, October 15th
Dine & Donate at Tannery Run Brew Works from 4:00 – 10:00
A portion of the night’s proceeds will be donated to WVHS. Dine
out and help our society at the same time. The address is 131 Butler Pike,
Ambler, situated in a historic building with a story. Find out about the
alligator!
WVHS 2026 Luncheon: Thank you to the following businesses:
- Ambler Pizza
- Blue Bell Inn
- Cantina Feliz
- Chanticleer, a pleasure garden
- Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site
- Flirt, Women’s boutique
- From the Boot, Ambler
- Giant Food Market
- Giuseppe’s Italian Restaurant and Pizza
- Graze Craze
- Il Giardino Italian Cuisine
- Lei Barry Real Estate, Keller Williams
- Longwood Gardens
- Lucky’s Roadside Stand at Ridge Hall
- McCaffrey’s Food Store
- Museum of the American Revolution
- National Liberty Museum
- Normandy Farm
- J. Whelihan’s
- Panache
- Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Phil’s Tavern
- Quintessence Theatre
- Radice
- Reading Fightin Phils
- Sorelle Hair Studio
- Studio Ambler
- Tannery Run Brew Works
- Turning Point
- Wilma Theater
- Winterthur
List is incomplete
Campaign to Preserve the Franklinville School
Donations are needed for the Franklinville School. In the past two years, WVHS has replaced the electrical panel, added drainage from the crawl space, replaced the front porch floor, repaired the porch roof, and replaced the roof. WVHS has done its best to find and use grant funding. However, water is still causing damage to the Franklinville School’s walls. We need to repair broken windowsills and paint and seal the outside walls.
Please consider a generous gift to WVHS, marked for the Franklinville School. You can make your check payable to “WVHS” and mail to: WVHS, P.O. Box 96, Ambler, PA 19002.
You can also donate using Venmo or PayPal at: https://www.wvalleyhs.org/donate/
Thank you!