Glen Foerd on the Delaware

The mansion, then named Glengarry, was built as a summer home about 1850 in the Italianate style by Charles Macalester, Jr., a prosperous businessman and banker. Mr. Macalester became the trusted adviser of the eminent philanthropist George Peabody, and afterwards a trustee of his magnificent bequest to the cause of education in the Southern States. George Peabody was widely regarded as the "father of modern philanthropy." Mr. Macalester held close personal relations with U.S. Presidents Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, James K. Polk, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln. From President Jackson, he received the appointment as one of the government directors of the Second Bank of the United States, and was serving in such capacity when the charter of the bank expired (source needed).

In 1893, it was purchased by Robert H. Foerderer, a U.S. congressman and industrialist, who gave it its present name. He enlarged the house in 1903 in the Edwardian Classical Revival style. In 1971, the estate was given to the Lutheran Church of America. In 1985, Glen Foerd Conservation Corporation and the Fairmount Park Commission assumed ownership of the property.

Today, the estate is operated as a historic house museum, whose grounds are a public park.[2]

Glen Foerd was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.

• List of parks in Philadelphia

• Official website