History of W.E.C.

The Wissahickon Environmental Center is the new name of the Andorra Natural Area which was set up in the former Andorra Tree Nursery — an important historic site in the Wissahickon. Its history is documented from the 1750s when a farmhouse was built on the property. In 1850, Richard Wistar bought the property naming it the Andorra Farm. He planted many types of trees and built a long drive lined with Beech trees meant to be the grand entrance to a large home. The mansion was never built because Wistar died in 1863.

In 1882, Andorra Farm was bought by railroad tycoon Henry Houston who saw its potential as a tree nursery. He hired manager William Harper who later purchased the business and expanded the operation. At the time of Harper’s death in 1934, Andorra Nurseries was the largest tree farm in the east. The operation continued until 1961. When it dissolved, much of its 1,000 acres was sold for housing developments. The original Andorra property reverted back to the Houston estate and lay dormant for 20 years. 

In the 1970s Eleanor Houston Smith, granddaughter of Henry Houston, and her husband Lawrence Smith offered 100 acres to Fairmount Park to be used specifically as a natural area. With the help of their funding, the Tree House, the former propagator’s cottage, was opened as the Wissahickon Environmental Center at the Andorra Natural Area in 1981.

The Andorra Nursery propagator, Adolph Steinle, had constructed a small house on the nursery grounds. He built its enclosed porch around the trunk of a large Sycamore tree that grew right through a whole in the roof. The Steinle family named their home the Tree House. In 1981 the Sycamore had to be cut down, but a slice of the huge trunk remains inside for visitors to see.

The Wissahickon Environmental Center has been teaching children and adults for over 20 years. Find out more about programs using the outdoors as a classroom to teach children to appreciate the natural world around them.