William Rotch Wister (1827-1911), first born son of Sarah Logan Fisher and William Wister, built a house on Clarkson Avenue in 1868, the year of his marriage to Mary Eustis (1844-1944). The family lived in this home ("The Mary and Frances Wister Studio") until 1876, when they moved across the street to a new, larger house that would come to be known as "Wister." The Wisters' second house, 'Wister,' was built in 1876 on the side of Clarkson Avenue opposite from the Arts Studio; 'Wister' was donated to Fairmount Park in 1949 and demolished in 1956.
William Rotch Wister, a very successful businessman, was active in the Philadelphia social scene, and is widely cited as the "Father of American Cricket." William's and Mary's daughters, Mary Channing and Frances Anne, were born in Germantown and raised at the first property ("The Mary and Frances Wister Studio"). Both would become prominent women activists in Philadelphia.
Read an essay on William Rotch Wister in La Salle's Digital Commons
The lives of the Wister family are chronicled in Reminiscences of a Victorian Child, by William and Mary's third daughter, Ella Wister Haines (1879-1969).
