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Born in Dublin,William Croghan probably arrived in North America as an adolescent British officer. He organized the Tenthcompany of the EighthVirginia Regiment in Pittsburgh in 1776, but was assigned to another regiment en route to Washington’s army.He arrived in New York just before Washington escaped to White Plains, then Newark and, finally, crossed the Delaware. Croghan was present when Washington saved the Revolution from dissolution at Trenton, and he went on to Princeton and into winter quarters with the Continental Army. Used by Washington as a spy, Croghan fought through the disastrous Brandywine and Germantown battles and saw Philadelphia captured before 1777 concluded.

This chapter examines the ways in which a minority of Friends raised the slavery issue at a time when it was not a matter of general concern, much less outrage. The opening text of this chapter is the now celebrated 1688 Germantown Protest against slavery. Although it has long been said that this declaration disappeared both without trace and without influence, this chapter argues that it in fact left significant discursive traces, which can be found in the antislavery pamphlet written by the supporters of the schismatic Quaker George Keith and in antislavery letters written by Cadwalader Morgan and Robert Pile. Through these, it was at least indirectly responsible for the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of 1696 advising Friends to avoid buying slaves. The chapter concludes that by the end of the seventeenth century, therefore, the Quaker discourse of antislavery in Pennsylvania, despite some elements of confusion and inconsistency, was in fact both remarkably intertextual and remarkably well-developed.

This introductory chapter presents the end of Don DeLillo's White Noise. The protagonist, Jack Gladney seeks assurance from an elderly nun about the faith of others while being treated in a Catholic hospital. The nun portrays religion in the final stages of secular decline—a portrayal heightened by the notion that a postmodern remnant simulates belief on the superiority of secular moderns. The story is a vivid literary snapshot of American religion in the 1980s, but one that was spectacularly wrong. Perhaps caught in her own parochial enclave (“Germantown”), the nun seems unaware that many Americans continued to believe strongly in many of the ideas she derides, including God, the devil, angels, hell, heaven, and even the final battle between the heavenly host and Satan's forces.

This chapter examines the problems that arose during the planning and development of three corridor cities in Montgomery County: Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Germantown. The idea of corridor cities melded the interests of Montgomery's miniature and commercial republics—a rare consensus in land use policy. According to the General Plan, Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Germantown would each be developed as a complete, compact “new town.” The chapter considers the opposition of the municipalities of Rockville and Gaithersburg to the idea of becoming corridor cities and how the problem of many governments obstructed development in accord with the General Plan (although Rockville eventually evolved in a way close to the vision). Germantown presented a different problem, that of many builders without a coordinating master developer. Rockville, Gaithersburg, and Germantown offer lessons on the effectiveness and limitations of using infrastructure extension and regulations to manage the pace and character of development.

This chapter introduces Germantown Avenue, a historic street which cuts through Philadelphia, from the most affluent to the most impoverished neighborhoods. There are about 85 congregations on the Avenue representing historic Protestant churches, mosques, “mega churches,” storefront churches (Latino and African American), Peace churches and unique syncretist faiths. The diversity is captured through narrative and photography. The research presented in the book analyses the agency of these religious communities in their urban ecologies, or contexts.

This chapter examines how sacred space is socially constructed in an urban context in different types of buildings from historic churches to former commercial buildings adapted for religious purposes. “Sacralization” is a social process in which a physical space becomes sacred (inviolable) and a vehicle for spiritual transcendence. This process occurs both within a faith community and in correspondence with context. Two congregations from very different traditions on one intersection are described as they have created sacred space in a former ironworks store and funeral home.

This chapter examines Thomas Sadler Roberts’ medical education at the University of Pennsylvania in 1882, believing that natural history was not a gentlemanly vocation. Staying in Germantown where his Aunt Cornelia Roberts’s family lived, Roberts was presented with an opportunity to put down a few roots in his father’s hometown by spending some time with his Quaker relatives. During his stay, Roberts showed his skill in memory. One noteworthy display of this skill was when he quoted a textbook verbatim on an oral exam. The rigors of medical school, however, led to Roberts neglecting his bird studies. His journals omitted anything about avian presence in Philadelphia. But his interest did not vanish entirely as during his second year, he accepted an invitation to become a member of the American Ornithologists’ Union. The chapter concludes by describing his residency at the Philadelphia General Hospital.

In the summer of 1777, thousands of soldiers under General Howe sailed from New York to Maryland, from where they would march north toward Philadelphia, the seat of the Continental Congress and at the time the largest city in British North America. Several thousand of the troops were Germans. A difficult campaign that involved numerous skirmishes and battles with the enemy culminated in Howe’s capture of Philadelphia. Although they appreciated being in a predominantly German region, the German troops quickly discovered that most German Americans did not welcome them with open arms. Moreover, a few months after their arrival, the campaign’s successes were overshadowed by what would turn out to be the Hessians’ bloodiest battle of the entire war, the Battle of Red Bank. During this period, some German officers were growing increasingly impatient with British military strategy.