The Arcade Building about 1914

The Arcade Building was built by J. B. Clothier before 1900 on the site of his real estate office. It was one of Narberth's earliest commercial constructions, combining shops on the ground floor and businesses and apartments above, and possibly the largest building in the borough at the time. In this image, it contains Ricklin's Hardware, Narberth's first theatre and a real estate office above the theatre. The structure on the right is probably the back of Narberth's post office at the time.

The postcard can't be earlier than Ricklin's 1914 occupancy, nor later than its November 1914 postmark.

Three of the six sections of the original building are still standing in 2024. The other three were lost in a huge fire on the night of January 7–8, 1940.

Inside the Arcade

Click to enlarge

By 1914, William T. Harris was the building's owner. He replaced the bay windows shown in the postcard with plate glass, and established his construction and real estate office on its second floor.

This photo with patriotic bunting is no earlier than August 1918, when the Narberth Post Office moved into the section to the right of center ("PO" is visible over the transom). The bunting looks identical to the decoration on 246 Haverford Ave. from 1921 or later. The Merion Title and Trust Company occupied this section between 1915 and 1924 or 1925. The building directory to the right the door, partially obscured by bunting, calls it the Harris Building.

The Arcade Theatre: Now Playing

In the black and white photo of the building above, there's a poster on the building's exterior wall to the left of the arcade entrance. It advertises "A Drama in the Air", a 2½-minute French film released in 1904, the dawn of cinema, that depicts a balloon flight that ends in a crash.

Why is a 1904 short being advertised in 1915 when more current, longer features were available?

Watch A Drama in the Air on YouTube

During the week of August 21, 1916, the town was celebrating Narberth's champion baseball team, anticipating the debut of electric train service and the reopening of Narberth Public School. At the Arcade Theatre they enjoyed:

• His Prehistoric Past, starring Charlie Chaplin (1914, 22 min.) Watch His Prehistoric Past on YouTube

• The Prodigal's Progress, episode 4 of 30 of the serial The Diamond from the Sky (1915)

• I Accuse (1916); not to be confused with J'Accuse of 1919

“Most Spectacular Blaze in Borough History”

The building's profile was forever changed on the night of January 7, 1940, when a fire broke out in the basement of Ricklin's Hardware store at 203 Haverford Ave.

The 19th-century construction as a single building abetted the fire's spread, through open partitions between sections, wooden joists running the building's length, the open space of the attic and the lack of fire-resisting construction techniques that only later became required. Fed by paint, other combustibles and a furnace oil tank, the blaze forced the evacuation of some 40 people, the entire block of apartments on Haverford ave. As more than 200 firemen from five fire companies fought the flames, temperatures dropped below freezing and snow began to fall.

By the following morning, six Narberth businesses had been burned out, including Ricklin's, Freeman's Market and two more around the coner on N. Essex Ave. Apartment renters picked though piles of furniture and clothing that had been piled along Haverford ave.

Three of the six sections of the original Arcade Building were condemned to demolition.

Ricklin’s Hardware 1913–2018

Twenty-year-old Hyman Ricklin emigrated from Poland to Philadelphia in 1895, the year of Narberth’s birth. In turn, he worked in a sweat shop, peddled dairy products from a horse-drawn wagon, opened a milk business at 625 S. 11th Street, and then a general store in Malvern.

After the Malvern store burned down, Ricklin moved to Narberth, where he gave hardware a try. He started out of a push cart in 1913 and the next year moved the business into the Arcade Building. After the 1940 fire, Ricklin, who owned that section of the old building, rebuilt in the same location.

Hyman died at his home at 118 N. Essex in 1945, and management of the store passed to his son and daughter. (Obituary: Our Town, Dec. 27, 1945)

Edward Riddell acquired Ricklin's in 1960; he, then his son Jed, ran it until its closing April 28, 2018, 11 years longer than the Ricklins had. At the time of its closing, Ricklin's 105 years made it the longest continuously operated business in the Borough.

Updated September 26, 2025.