Historic RittenhouseTown

Historic RittenhouseTown is located in the Wissahickon Valley section of Fairmount Park. It was founded in 1690 by William Rittenhouse and his son Nicholas. Together they built the first paper mill in North America supplying a much needed resource to the developing nation. The Rittenhouse family settled around the mill building up to forty-five residential and mill related structures. Today, Historic RittenhouseTown, Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to preserving the site’s six remaining original structures, welcomes over 3,000 students annually to learn about early 18th century American life in an authentic landscape. The organization also offers papermaking classes, public tours and free community events.