How it all got started - Right Here!
Dave in The Dart, North Rose, NY 2013
In 1987 & 1988 Lansdale Business Center Founder, David Staples Foulke gathered a small group of investors to purchase and revive, innovate and re-purpose, the 5acre site that is now the Lansdale Business Center. At the time of that transition, certain buildings had fallen into disrepair and were not suitable for the vision of the partners and were removed. What stands today, is the “Best of the Best” in terms of usefulness, integrity and craftsmanship. Established by Mr. Perkins nearly a century earlier, Dave undertook to make the many upgrades to serve the needs of numbers of simultaneous enterprises, today’s technology, and dedicated work areas.
Dave’s Home & Law Offices, Penllyn Pike, Springhouse, PA
It seems right and fitting that today the Lansdale Business Center is home to the people and their business enterprises that embody both the very traits (grit!) and spirit of Mr. Perkins, and those of David Staples Foulke. Dave’s family settled in Gwynedd, PA in 1680 he was ancestor of the Lord of Penllyn, Wales. He and his children saw The Foulke Mansion in Penllyn, PA, that was hugely relevant to Revolutionary War efforts and prior to its destruction in 1977. He was born in Chestnut Hill, PA and established his Law Practice and raised his family in Springhouse, PA, while later seeking “Paradise” or a property to enjoy his love of flying and animals and horticulture in upstate New York.
Dave walks along enjoying “Paradise”, his Upstate, NY Airport
Dave was an avid Golfer and played courses around the world, and enjoyed doing the same in skiing and hiking excursions. Some twenty years ago, he charged and/or challenged his daughter Ellen and Son-in-Law Allen with the daily Management of the business as they do today, following his pioneering and dynamic business model for investment, reciprocity, profitability, and a heart for helping the little guy sharing his love for animals and nature.
Dave heads to Aeroflex field to talk and fly with Reporter, Budd Davisson, Air Progress, '72 (or so)
In later years, “Paradise,” as he called it—actually Farnsworth Airport, complete with its own Flying Ace Drive—was his 80-acre property in upstate New York, rich with wildlife and sweeping vistas. As a recognized airport, it featured a stunning runway and hangar, where he often mowed the grass a lot, managed his walnut groves, and continued to practice law. He also relished working on and enjoyed flying his cutting edge, modern aircraft, ranging from a 1938 Culver Dart to an experimental NASA motorized glider. He passed away in 2015 at the age of 82, still at the helm of all his complex and rewarding interests.
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The area's destiny was secured when it was included in a vast twenty-eight-million-acre package of land granted by Charles II, King of England, to William Penn, the son of a favorite admiral. Within two decades — before the 17th century was out — Gwynedd would be surveyed, named, subdivided, and settled.
Artists’ rendering of the original Perkins Glue Company Circa 1914
In a “bumpy”, expensive and pioneering undertaking, Frank G. Perkins went about the discovery and manufacture of the world’s first vegetable glue! Early on, in his engineering, Perkins invented a dehydrator for plant material, but had yet to transfer the thinking and plans to harness the growing and harvesting of Cassava root to make adhesive. Land Surveyors and Agricultural explorers were evidently flocking to Florida as Perkins himself did, and went about building The Planters’ Plantation in that state, to grow Cassava crops and ship raw material north.
Many frustrations led Perkins to abandon Florida and move the growing enterprise to Java in the Dutch East Indies. For that venture, he created the Dutch East Indian Company and, while still in the United States, made plans to relocate his processing and shipping operations northward to be closer to expanding railways, ports, industry, and manufacturing. In 1909, Perkins established 650 North Cannon Avenue in Lansdale, PA, as the headquarters for his international enterprise. He constructed what was, at the time a very modern office building and production facility—creating good local jobs and partnering with customers to develop what we now call kiosks within their stores to carry his products. Pioneering, indeed! The property continues to provide creative and physical space for research, development, and service businesses, guided by the same foundational principles and integrity rigorously upheld by both men.
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650 North Cannon Avenue. Lansdale, PA 19446
by EDIFi Digital
