East Falls takes its name from its location on the east side of the Schuylkill Falls along the
Schuylkill River at the original
line of waterfalls known as the 'Falls of the Schuylkill' where the river descends from the elevation of the Pennsylvania piedmont to the coastal plain occupied by the main part of the
City of Philadelphia. Thus East Falls was in colonial and Federalist times the
highest point on the river navigable down the river by boats not driven by a skilled pilot; accordingly the settlement housed a dock and became a transfer point to the Indian path converted into colonial roadways which later became
Ridge Avenue and Germantown Avenue. Before the
War of 1812,
Josiah White and
Erskine Hazard harnessed the water power from the cataracts for a foundry, wire mill and nail manufactory. Their combined energy needs led them to learn how to successfully use
anthracite in industrial heating during the
War of 1812 and to push for the legislation and corporation behind the
Schuylkill Canal, then found the
Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company. In many respects, they bootstrapped the
U.S. industrial revolution between 1820 and 1860 by building mines, canals, and railroads, including the first railroad over five miles long and bringing smelting of
anthracite pig iron to the United States. The falls disappeared when the river level was raised by the construction of the dam at the
Fairmount Water Works, four miles downstream, but rocks still visible above the water mark the natural
fall line. Before the arrival of European settlers, the
Lenni Lenape Indians considered the lower Schuylkill River their home. The
Wissahickon Creek runs into the Schuylkill here and separates East Falls from
Wissahickon, Philadelphia. Today it is included as a part of
Fairmount Park, providing walking and bike paths along its banks. Wissahickon is a merging of two Lenape words: "Wisaucksickan" meaning "yellow-colored creek", and "Wisamickan" meaning "catfish creek". In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries "
catfish and
waffles" was a favorite food at the many inns and taverns that ran through the valley, and a catfish still serves as the weathervane atop the
Free Library of Philadelphia Falls of Schuylkill Branch. East Falls, so named in the nineteenth century, had earlier been known as
Falls of the Schuylkill or
Falls Village. In the 19th century, the Dobson Mills textile factory thrived there. ==Demographics==