Washington O Crouthamel: Ottoway House, Buckingham

This image comes from a scanned film negative in SC-29-05, the Arnold Brothers negative collection at the Mercer Museum Library of the Bucks County Historical Society. Eventually it was published as Postcard 112.

Washington O Crouthamel — I'm assuming he's the one in the suit jacket — was born in Bedminster Township in 1848. He seemed to lose interest easily: In his book A Genealogical and Personal History of Bucks County, William W H Davis gives an exhaustive account of the various positions (clerk, store owner, traveling salesman, hotel keeper) and locations (Tinicum, Philadelphia, New Galena, Doylestown, Gardenville) where Crouthamel had plied his trade at the time of the edition's 1905 publication.

By the time Newton Arnold took this photo for the postcard series on September 12, 1907, Crouthamel was the proprietor of Ottoway House in Buckingham. In his delightful book Postcards of Bucks County, PA 2020, (full disclosure: edited by yours truly) Robert Chase Palmer explains that the building was originally built as a private residence in the early 1800s, before becoming a hotel owned by the Righter Family. It was sold to William Buckley and was in the process of being remodeled when it burned on February 13th, 1936. The building was rebuilt and today (2023) is home to Baci Ristorante. Chase has a fantastic website on the Arnold Brothers, including an interactive map and an index of the entire negative collection.

Some fun cropped sections from this photo: Crouthamel posed proudly, ringing a bell on the porch of his newest venture; a man resting, burly arms folded, at the well (is this a well? Correct me if I'm wrong, please); two women relaxing on the sun-dappled balcony; a man in a vest — the bartender? — beside a floppy old spaniel and an advertisement for Wave Line Cut Plug Tobacco.