132 Elfreth's Alley

Clampfer lived with his family just south of the Alley on Second Street and rented out Houses 130 and 132 for profit.  His store and tavern was located on the Alley where House 134 stands today.

Clampfer’s grandson, also named Adam, moved into House 132 in 1788.  A hatter, he kept his hat-making shop next-door in House 134.  Adam Clampfer, Jr. was also the Under-Sheriff of Philadelphia from 1795 to 1803 while he was living in the house.  Unusually, House 132 remained in the Clampfer family until the Civil War.  Many Alley houses changed ownership each decade, but the Clampfers owned this property for over 120 years.

Indeed, House 132 has a tradition of housing families for an extended period.  The Sleigh family lived in the house fore several decades at the end of the 19th century.  Joseph Sleigh, a junk dealer who hailed from England, lived in House 132 with his wife and three grown children; the family also had two house servants.  In the early 20th century, Edward Bolger, a currier (someone who works with leather), his wife and daughter Mary lived here.  Mary married William O’Brien, who worked in a mattress factory, and they continued to live with her parents through the 1920s, raising two daughters in the house.

Prior to designation by the Philadelphia Historical Commission, the alleyway next to House 132 was closed in by brocks and made a part of the interior of the house.  Today, historic designation protects all the Alley houses against changes to their original stricture and exterior appearance.