The Wall House: A William Penn Land Grant Since 1682

The house near you is one of the oldest surviving structures in this part of Pennsylvania. Richard Wall built its original section in sixteen eighty-two on land granted directly by William Penn, arriving as part of the first wave of Quaker settlers who came to this promised colony of religious tolerance. For nearly two decades the house served as an early meeting place of the Society of Friends, with gatherings held here from sixteen eighty-three to seventeen oh two before a permanent meetinghouse was established.

The Shoemaker family acquired the property in sixteen ninety-four when Sarah Wall married George Shoemaker, and their descendants lived here continuously until eighteen forty-seven, more than a century and a half of unbroken family occupancy. Additions were made around seventeen twenty-five and again in eighteen oh five. Cheltenham Township purchased the house from the Bosler family in nineteen thirty-two, and it survives today as a tangible connection to Penn's original vision for this corner of the New World.