Baseball Hall Of Famer's Montco Childhood Home Could Be Demolished

WYNCOTE, PA — The childhood home of baseball hall-of-famer Reggie Jackson soon may be history, if an application seeking its approved demolition is approved by officials in Cheltenham Township, according to news reports and township documents.

Developers from Station Partners have submitted the demolition application to the township and are awaiting action, according to a report in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The new owners of Jackson's boyhood residence, 149 Greenwood Avenue, have not ruled out turning the site into a parking lot, the story says, but they may be considering other uses as well.

According to township documents, Cheltenham's Board of Historical and Architectural Review was set to consider the demolition application during its Sept. 15 meeting.

It was unclear when a vote might be taken on the matter.

An agenda for the meeting shows that the panel would be considering the application of Matt Sigel, one of the principals with Greenwood Avenue LLC, that aims to get permission to demolish the home, which is currently sitting vacant and unused.

The application seeks both demolition of the existing structure and construction of a parking lot, according to the agenda.

Cheltenham Township has two historic districts: La Mott and Wyncote.

The Wyncote section is where Jackson's boyhood home is located.

Jackson, who was born in the spring of 1946 in neighboring Abington Township, grew up in Cheltenham and played baseball while in high school.

He went on to play professionally for the Kansas City and Oakland Athletics, Baltimore Orioles, New York Yankees and California Angels.

He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993.

Jackson's father reportedly operated a tailor and dry-cleaning business on the ground floor of the home at 149 Greenwood Avenue.