Ambler Storytellers Features Building of the Month:

The King and Betz Grocery Building

THE HISTORY. The core of the original building at 216 Lindenwold Ave retains its shape, but over time the stone façade has given way to siding and brick: The first-floor porch has been enclosed, and a large addition has been added to the side closer to Butler Ave. In a nod to its original architecture, attractive corbels appear under the eaves along the roofline. The changes to the building appear to have been made in the 1940’s, giving it a WWII era vibe. Some historically significant buildings change over time, wearing their history even as they evolve to meet the needs of the community. Today it’s known as the King & Betz building, owing to the engraved marble plaque that bears the name of the grocery store it housed for half of the last century.

This historically significant building was, in fact, a grocery store continuously from the 1890’s through the late 1970’s. Back then, many grocery stores were owned by “mom and pop” and located on neighborhood street corners. Its first owner was Richard L Tyson, who had it for 14 years. Tyson sold it to Josiah Longstreth, whose ad in the 1906 Ambler Gazette boasted, “Fine Home Dressed Meats, Fresh Provisions and Fine Groceries.” Longstreth sold the store to Charles E Ridgeway, who used World War I patriotism in his ads. Ridgeway sold the store to J. B. Neely. By 1929, the store became King & Betz when Frank King and Charles Betz, whose names are engraved in marble on the side of the building, started the iteration that served this community through the late 1970’s. This long-running version of the grocery is remembered fondly by people who lived nearby in those years.

FUN FACT. Martin Kilson, the first tenured African American professor at Harvard University, grew up in Ambler. In his recently published book, A Black Intellectual’s Odyssey (2021), he recalled, “The store’s clientele was mainly North Ambler’s upper-middle-class WASP families, and whenever its fruits exhibited even a slight sign of spoilage, King & Betz set those pieces in crates outside the store. It was the heart of the Great Depression, and our parents could rarely afford to buy fresh produce, so we kids really appreciated those crates of spoiled fruits, picking out an orange, banana, or handful of grapes for our lunch bags.”

Please reach out to us at amblerstorytellers@gmail.com if you have any feedback, comments, or suggestions.

Thank You!

Ambler StoryTellers