Valley Forge, Pa.
Item
Title
Valley Forge, Pa.
Creator
Attributed to Thaddeus M. Fowler
American, 1842–1922
Printed by A. E. Downs, Boston
Published by James B. Moyer
American, 1842–1922
Printed by A. E. Downs, Boston
Published by James B. Moyer
Date
1890
Materials
Color lithograph with additional hand coloring
Description
Known today almost exclusively as the location where the Continental Army camped in the winter of 1777–78 during the American Revolutionary War, Valley Forge, as this lithograph demonstrates, was a small but thriving town throughout much of the later eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In the 1780s, a dam was constructed across Valley Creek to replace the forge dams that were destroyed by the British in September 1777. The dam created a pond that provided a source of power for numerous industries, including a rolling mill, a gristmill, a paper factory, and a cotton mill.
In the 1920s, the Valley Forge State Park acquired much of the land where Valley Creek flows into the Skuylkill River. In an effort to return the area back to the way it was when George Washington camped there, park officials demolished the dam and razed most of the nineteenth century buildings. As a result, the village of Valley Forge depicted in this lithograph from 1890 ceased to exist.
In the 1920s, the Valley Forge State Park acquired much of the land where Valley Creek flows into the Skuylkill River. In an effort to return the area back to the way it was when George Washington camped there, park officials demolished the dam and razed most of the nineteenth century buildings. As a result, the village of Valley Forge depicted in this lithograph from 1890 ceased to exist.
Source
Palmer Museum of Art, The Pennsylvania State University, partial gift and purchase from John C. O’Connor and Ralph M. Yeager.
Identifier
86.582
Rights
This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted.