121 Elfreth's Alley

Esther Meyer, the widow of potter Mathias Meyer, bought the lot in that year and probably built a small rental property here.  But House 121 as it appears today was not constructed until 1809 by cooper George Peddle.  

In its early years, House 121 was the home of Peddle’s widow Margaret, and later his son William, also a cooper.  Throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, the house was home to several different Irish immigrants.  Box maker Robert McKay, fireman Patrick Cunniff, and police sergeant John Lyons all raised their families in this house.  In 1930, Carl Shaffer, a vulcanizer who had been born in California, was living in the house with his wife Jennie, their two children, and two boarders.  Daughter Violet Shaffer worked as a labeler for a laboratory, like many young girls on the Alley at the time the 1930 census was taken.

Look closely at the door of House 121.  Above the plaque with the house number is another plaque with another house number – Number 8.  The Alley used a different numbering system until the middle of the 19th century.  It started on the north side of the Alley at the waterfront, where House 107 once stood, ran all the way up the north side of the Alley and then back down the south side.  So, House 107 (now demolished) was originally House 1, and across the street House 106 (also gone) was known as House 34.