Rockford Tower Christmas: Sledding in the 1930s


 Rockford Tower Christmas

Sledding in the 1930s


Rockford Tower is visible above the sledding hill in this past Christmas card.  Sledding on Mount Salem Hill in Rockford Park has been a winter tradition for generations.  Until the end of the 1930’s sledders had to be alert to the occasional trolley on the tracks cutting the corner from 19th St to Delaware Ave.  The tracks were removed with the switch to rubber tired trolleybuses on the No. 10 route on September 24, 1939, the first line converted.  A sidewalk  along the old track right-of-way was removed by the Delaware Division of Parks and Recreation in 2005.
 
The open arts and crafts belfry on Mount Salem Church also disappeared in 1939, replaced with the current crenelated Gothic  tower.

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