The name Ryers was derived from the Ryerss Estate, which is located in
Burholme Park along Central Avenue. The estate was owned by Joseph Waln Ryerss, who left it to his son Robert, a lawyer. Eight months before he died at the age of sixty-five, Robert Ryerss shocked Philadelphia society by marrying his housekeeper of many years, Mary Ann Reed. His will stipulated that upon Mary Ann’s death, the estate was to be turned over to the city of Philadelphia to be used as a park, library and museum "free to the public." Before she died, however, Mary Ann Ryerss remarried and then turned the property over to the city of Philadelphia in 1905. The Ryerss Museum and Library was opened to the public in 1910 under the administration of the
Fairmount Park Commission. Who later left it to the
Free Library of Philadelphia. ==References==