The Committee of 1926 President Helping To Keep Historic Strawberry Mansion's Past Alive

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Paid Sponsor Partnership: Philadelphia Corporation for Aging

For the last 15 years, Connie Ragsdale has been helping to preserve the Historic Strawberry Mansion.

"I taught school for 32 years. I was looking for something to do after I retired," says Ragsdale. "And I began being a guide in the park houses."

She is now the president of the Committee of 1926, the stewardship group that cares for the Fairmount Park mansion.

"It's a feeling more of someone's home; just how people actually lived," she says.

She shows off the ballroom, which she says was "their party room."

"We're getting ready to celebrate our 100th year," she says.

Ragsdale says the beginnings of the committee and what is now a house museum started at Philadelphia's world fair to celebrate the country's 150th anniversary.

She says during the sesquicentennial, a group of women "of a certain age" put together a village to show the fairgoers how people lived between 1776 and 1850.

Now that mission continues inside Strawberry Mansion, once called 'Summerville.'

"The house was built in 1789, and it was built by Judge William Lewis. He was an abolitionist," says Ragsdale.

There are antiques and historic artifacts on view, like two of George Washington's chairs.

There are also commissions from George Washington.

"He asked Judge Lewis to have a part in the government," she says.

Judge Lewis helped draft the nation's first act to abolish slavery.

Ragsdale says Philadelphia became the place where runaways were heading because they knew "they had a safe harbor here."

Visitors can take a guided tour of the rooms and collections, which includes Tucker porcelain.

"And we have one of the oldest antique doll collections in this area," she says.

The second owner, Judge Joseph Hemphill, added two additions to the house that include the Banquet Room.

The Committee of 1926 added a mural of the historic houses of Fairmount Park in 2013.

She says these houses "had so much to do with Philadelphia's history" that her preservation work makes her feel like she's leaving "a legacy to continue."

"You don't know where you're going if you don't know where you've been," says Ragsdale.

Historic Strawberry Mansion
The Committee of 1926

Historic Strawberry Mansion
2450 Strawberry Mansion Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19132