Ted Bundy's grandparents' house
This is the location where Ted Bundy's grandparents' colonial-style house once stood.
It is situated in the Roxborough neighborhood of Philadelphia.
At the time, the address was 7202 Ridge Avenue. These days, the lot is home to a small strip mall.
Bundy lived here with his mother, Louise, his aunt, Julia, and his maternal grandparents, Samuel and Eleanor Cowell, until he was three years old.
There have been conflicting reports about Bundy's grandfather.
Psychiatrist Dorothy Lewis said that he was an abusive alcoholic who was cruel to animals and spoke to "invisible" entities.
However, several people who knew him claimed that he was a kind, supportive, and helpful gentleman who loved his family.
The identity of Bundy's biological father is unknown. His mother gave birth to him outside wedlock on November 24, 1946. Family members have said that Bundy's father was a Navy veteran who refused to have any involvement in his son's life.
During the 1940s and 1950s, there was a huge social stigma attached to being an unwed mother. As a result, his grandparents decided to raise him as their son.
In 1950, his mother, Louise, left Philadelphia and moved to her uncle's house in Tacoma, Washington. However, before relocating to the west coast, she changed Ted's surname from Cowell to Nelson.
Louise changed her son's surname to hide the fact that he was an illegitimate child. By doing so, she could fabricate a story that she was a widow and that Ted's father (a man with the surname Nelson) had passed away.
In 1951, Louise met a hospital cook named Johnny Bundy at a Methodist church in Tacoma.
Later that year, Louise married Johnny, who then adopted Ted as his son. It was at that point that 4-year-old Ted Nelson became officially known as Theodore Robert Bundy.
Former Address
The house is now gone. The address details below indicate the original site and are provided for historical reference only.
Address
499 Domino Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19128, USA
GPS Coordinates
40.045338, -75.232438
40°02'43.22"N 75°13'56.78"W
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Area Information
📍 The lot is situated on the corner of Ridge Avenue and Domino Lane in Roxborough, Philadelphia. The strip plaza is currently home to Tony Roni's Pizza and Rita's Italian Ice & Frozen Custard. It is opposite the Ivyridge shopping mall. The original address of the house was 7202 Ridge Avenue.
Photos
Photos of the house and other related images.
7202 Ridge Avenue.
Bundy's grandfather, Samuel Cowell, was a gardener who regularly advertised his flower nursery in the local newspaper.
The advertisement above was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on June 25, 1950. The address is listed as 7202 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia.
Bundy's grandparents' home.
The house is visible in this colorized aerial image from 1965. As you can see, it sat on the corner of Ridge Avenue and Domino Lane in Roxborough. The strip plaza that is present today was built five years later, in 1970.
The large shopping mall to the south did not exist while Bundy was living here.
Bundy as a child
These are colorized photographs of Bundy's childhood.
For the first few years of his life, "Ted Cowell" was led to believe that his grandparents were his parents and that his mother, Louise Eleanor Cowell, was his sister.
One infamous story about this period of Bundy's childhood claims that the three-year-old placed knives around his aunt while she was sleeping.
However, the accuracy of this story has been disputed. Judging by a 1989 letter that was published on the "Hi, I'm Ted" Facebook page, it may have been distorted.
In the letter, Bundy's aunt, Julia Cowell, recalled that he was in a "rambunctious mood" that day and that he had taken various items out of a kitchen drawer and placed them on her bed.
However, the toddler didn't just pick knives. He also grabbed other harmless utensils, such as spoons and an eggbeater.
If this story is true, then it means that Bundy didn't menacingly surround his aunt with a set of knives.
Roxborough Gardens Club
Bundy's grandfather was a member of the Roxborough Gardens Club. This newspaper clipping is from an article that was published in February 1949.
4617 Pulaski Avenue
Bundy's grandparents moved to 4617 Pulaski Avenue in Philadelphia after they sold their house in Roxborough.
It is likely that he visited this house on a number of occasions while he was staying at his aunt's house in Lafayette Hill in 1969.
His grandmother, Eleanor Cowell, passed away in April 1971 at the age of 76. Eleanor was a diabetic who suffered a stroke in the mid-1950s. She also underwent electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for depression. Because she had agoraphobia, she seldom left her house, especially during the final years of her life.
In December 1983, his grandfather Samuel passed away at the age of 85. By that stage, Bundy was on death row.
Coordinates: 40.022151, -75.165723
Overlay
Above, we've layered the old photograph on top of the most recent Street View image. Note that its position is approximate.
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