USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, comprising a historical sketch of the county > Part 8
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SECOND WAR WITH ENGLAND.
The orders of council against our commerce and the impressment of our seamen, on the part of Great Britain, led to the declaration of war against that country by the United States on June 18, 1812. This war is known as the second war with England, or the war of 1812.
Opinion in Delaware county was not en- tirely in favor of the war, and on August 22d a large meeting of federal-republicans was held at the court-house, at which the war was condemned and the country was appealed to to make a change in the Democratic adminis- tration and save a protracted war. This meet- ing, however, amounted to nothing beyond passing resolutions.
The militia was held in readiness to march on short notice to protect Chester, and stay any attempted expedition by the way of the river against Philadelphia, but there was no such real need during the entire war.
In September, 1814, after the failure of the British to take Baltimore, steps were taken to fortify the Delaware river to protect Philadel- phia. Below Marcus Hook earth works were quickly thrown up to command the river shore. Earth works were also thrown up between Crum and Ridley creeks, to command the Queen's Highway.
In October a cantonment was located at the high ground just back of Marcus Hook cross- roads, called Camp Gaines and afterward Fort Snyder. Major-general Worrall had com- mand, and several thousand three months' men were in camp.
Delaware county furnished six companies of drafted and volunteer troops :
62
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
NAME CAPTAIN REGIMENT.
Mifflin Guards.
Samuel Anderson 1st.
Delaware County Fencibles, . James Serrill. 22d.
First Company.
William Morgan
First Company ..
John Hall. .65th.
Fifth Company
James Lackey 65th.
Sixth Company
Benj. Wetherby 65th.
All danger of invasion having passed away, the encampment was broken up in December, 1814, and the companies were discharged.
After the close of the war the county grew slowly for the next decade, during which there were two events of importance, one the es- tablishment of the Delaware County bank, in- corporated in 1814, and the issue, in 1819, from the office of Butler & Worthington, at Chester, of the Post Boy, the first newspaper published in the county.
COTTON AND WOOLEN MANUFACTURES.
" In the new era of industrial progress which was coming, the county of Delaware occupied no secondary position in the story of that time, but it marched abreast of the Commonwealth in the movement which has resulted in placing Pennsylvania in the fore-front of manufactur- ing States."
The first cotton mill in the county was op- erated in 1798, by Nathan and David Sellers of Upper Darby. In the same year Isaac Oak- ford had a fulling mill and calico stamping works at Darby, and in 1810 the Bottomly family started a woolen factory in Concord township, while Benjamin Smith and William Stedham had commenced spinning and carding at Siter's clover-mill, near the Spread Eagle tavern. About 1812 Dennis Kelley and a Mr. Wiest built a small stone factory on Cobb's creek, which during the war of 1812 ran day and night for long stretches.
After the second war with England many old grist mills were changed into cotton and woolen factories and filled with crude ma- chinery. The result of these injudicious ex- periments was that these establishments all passed into the sheriff's hands and were closed. In 1821 there was but one cotton
factory running successfully in the county, and it was that of Wagstaff and Englehorn, the formerof whom was a practical cotton spinner from England.
Thus ended in 1821 a crude experimental stage, which was succeeded by the permanent establishment of cotton and woolen manufac- turing, and it was inaugurated by the introduc- tion of the power loom and skilled operatives.
In the five years from 1821 to 1826 the in- crease was wonderful. In 1821 there was one cotton factory. In 1826 there were fourteen woolen mills, twelve cotton factories, and one power loom mill, or twenty-seven establish- ments, employing seven hundred and sixty- three hands.
Thus was firmly established the great indus- try of Delaware county whose loom products to-day are in every market in the land.
CHAPTER IX.
DELAWARE COUNTY INSTITUTE OF SCI-
ENCE HAVERFORD COLLEGE - TEN- HOUR MOVEMENT - EARLY RAILROADS -GREAT FLOOD-VILLA NOVA COLLEGE -COUNTY SEAT REMOVAL TO MEDIA.
DELAWARE COUNTY INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE.
An important event in the history of the county was the organization, on September 21, 1833, of the "Delaware County Institute of Science," under whose authority and direc- tion the first history of Delaware county was published. It was organized by the associa- tion at first of five persons: George Miller, Minshall Painter, John Miller, Dr. George Smith and John Cassin.
The early history of this institution is best told in the language of Dr. George Smith, the historian, and one of its founders : " The object of the association was to promote the study and diffusion of general knowledge, and the estab- lishment of a museum. The number of mem -
63
OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
bers gradually increased, and when it became necessary for the institution to hold real estate, application was made to the supreme court for corporate privileges, which were granted on the 8th of February, 1836. A hall of very moderate pretensions was built in Upper Providence, in the year 1837. Lectures were also given in the hall for some time after its erection. The museum embraces (1862) a re- spectable collection of specimens in every de- partment of the natural sciences, and particu- larly such as are calculated to illustrate the natural history of the county. It also embraces many other specimens of great scientific or historical value. Nor has the establishment of a library been neglected ; and although the number of books it contains is not large, it is seldom that the same number of volumes is found together of equal value. It has not failed to observe and record local phenomena and to investigate local facts ; and the useful- ness and value of the natural productions of the county have, in more than one instance, been established by laborious scientific in- vestigations."
The hall was formally opened in September, 1836, when Dr. Robert M. Patterson, then director of the United States mint, delivered an interesting address.
In 1867 the present fine two-story brick building in Media was erected, and the insti- tute removed to the hall which occupies the entire upper story. The building and lot is worth $30,000, and the library contains four thousand volumes, while its rare ornithological collection has been greatly increased in value and extent by the recent donation of the col- lection of the late Isaac Worrall. The col- lection of gold, silver and copper coins is very fine.
Dr. George Smith was president of the in- stitute from its organization in 1836 up to his death, in 1882, and then was succeeded by Hon. Jolın M. Broomall, the present incum- bent. The present librarian is Lewis S. Hough, A. M., a courteons gentleman and the
author of several interesting works on financial subjects.
HAVERFORD COLLEGE.
While the Friends had always maintained excellent schools from the time they came to the Delaware, yet they made no attempt to found a college in Delaware county until 1832, when prominent members of the Society in the middle Atlantic States sought "to provide a place for the instruction of their sons in the higher learning, and for moral training, which should be free from the temptations prevalent at many of the larger colleges:" This move- ment led to the purchase of a tract of land in the northern part of Haverford township, on which, in the following year, was erected "Founder's Hall," the first building of the present Haverford college, which was then opened under the unpretentious title of " Hav- erford School," although a full and high col- legiate course of study was inaugurated at the opening session. In 1845 the children of others than Quakers were admitted, and to-day Haverford college, with its many stately and graceful buildings, is situated in one of the most beautiful parks that any college in Amer- ica can boast, and ranks with the leading edu- cational institutions of the land.
Of the institution it has been beautifully said : Haverford's aim is "to teach high thought and amiable words, and courtliness and the desire of fame, and love of truth and all that makes a man."
The year following the establishment of Haverford college witnessed the acceptance of the common school system by fourteen townships, and its rejection by seven town- ships of the county. Meetings were held for and against free schools, and two years later, in 1836, thirty-three petitions from Delaware county, containing ten hundred and twenty- four names, were presented to the legislature, asking the repeal of the school law, while thir- teen petitions, bearing eight hundred and sev- enty-three names, were sent to the same body, remonstrating against the repeal of the law.
64
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
TEN-HOUR MOVEMENT.
While the school controversy was at its height, an agitation of the ten-hour movement was inaugurated in Delaware connty by a meet- ing on February 20, 1836, at the Seven Stars tavern, Village Green, of operatives of the cotton-mills on Chester creek. Lewis Cornog was president, and John Haynes secretary of this meeting, whose object was to oppose the long-hour system of work enforced by the cot- ton mill operators. Although the Chester creek operatives struck, nothing came of their action, and the old system continned for ten years longer. The movement then was pushed with energy in Philadelphia and Manayunk, and a correspondence was opened with the operatives of this county, who again met at the Seven Stars and perfected an organization, which met weekly until a law was passed, to take effect on July 4, 1848, making ten hours a legal day's work in all cotton, woollen, flax, paper and glass factories in the State.
Many factories stopped in Delaware connty, when the ten-hour law went into operation, and when they resumed ignored it. The op- eratives failed to get the benefits of the law, and after holding many meetings and sending two delegates - John Wilde and S. M. Chal- lenger-to New England, where they consulted with General Butler, they received more at- tention at the hands of their employers. Finally the law was observed and obeyed by all the operators and the mill-owners in the county, and the fourteen and fifteen-hour day of mill work was a thing of the past.
EARLY RAILROADS.
Following close upon the founding of noted institutions of science and higher education in the county, and the adoption of the ten-hour system for the benefit of the working classes, came the introduction of the railroad to super- cede the slower methods of travel by stage coach and canal boat.
Early travel was by means of horses and boats. Some time between 1780 and 1790
stage lines were established from Philadelphia to Wilmington and Baltimore by the way of Chester. A special stage line was established from Chester to Philadelphia about 1830, and a line of stages was then on the road from Philadelphia to New London and Baltimore by the way of Concord.
While the stage coach lines were developing by land, river navigation grew from canoe and shallop to sloop and packet. In 1790 John Fitch ran a steamboat called the Perseverance on the Delaware river. The Perseverance, although nearly twenty years ahead of Fulton's Clermont, was so defective in construction that it was continually breaking down.
But in 1834 stage coach and steamboat and pike and river in Delaware county had a con- testant for travel and traffic in the railroad. In that year that part of the Pennsylvania railroad that passes through Haverford and Radnor townships, was completed by the State under the name of the "Columbian Railroad." On Wednesday, February 28, 1834, the first train of cars from Lancaster to Philadelphia passed over the road, drawn by " Black Hawk," which was built in England, and was the first loco- motive used on the road.
On April 11, 1835, the Delaware Branch Railroad Company was incorporated to con- struct a railroad from Chester along Chester creek to intersect with the Pennsylvania ex- tension at West Chester.
In 1836 the Philadelphia and Delaware County Railroad Company, which had been incorporated April 2, 1831, obtained legislative sanction to increase its capital stock, and changed its name to that of the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Wilmington Railroad Company. The company obtained the right of way from the Delaware State line to Wilmington, and proceeded to construct its road from Philadel- phia to Wilmington, which was opened on January 14, 1838, to public travel. Its first track which was from Gray's ferry to Chester is now leased to the Philadelphia and Read- ing Railroad Company, and its present track
65
OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
between Philadelphia and Chester was built in 1870-71.
GREAT FLOOD.
There is historical record of floods in what is now Delaware county in 1683, 1705, 1740, 1795, 1822, 1830 and 1839, but none of them or any one since has approached anyways near to the flood of Saturday, August 5, 1843, which is known as the great freshet or flood.
On the morning of the 5th a moderate rain set it at seven o'clock, and continued until two o'clock, when a great cloud seemed to have burst over that part of the country drained by the waters of Chester, Ridley, Crum and Darby creeks. Fields and roads were flooded and an angry swelling tide of waters rose in the creeks just named, which swept bridge and dam and mill and factory like straws before it in its wild rush riverwards. Thirty-two bridges were destroyed or seriously injured, the Knowlton cotton mill swept away, other mills and fac- tories badly damaged, private houses swept away and nineteen lives lost, ere the waters subsided. The county commissioners were almost dumbfounded by the damage and de- struction of bridges, and asked the legislature to exempt tlie county from State tax for one year, which request was refused. Loans were made, and in a short time both public and pri- vate damage was repaired. Particular ac- counts of this flood will be found in the his- tories of the townships where it occurred.
VILLANOVA COLLEGE.
The Augustinian college at Villanova, in Rad- nor township, is the property of the Catholic Brotherhood of St. Augustine, and was founded in 1842 by Rev. John Possidius O'Dwyer, O. S. A., who served as its first president. The first college buildings comprised a two and one-half story stone house, the former resi- dence of John Rudolf. A new college hall was built in 1849, which now constitutes the east wing of the main college building that was erected in 1873. Villanova college is a fine structure, surrounded by beautiful and 5
extensive grounds. It was founded for the ed- ucation of the laity in the classics, arts, sciences and polite literature, and in 1848 was em- powered to grant degrees the same as other colleges and universities in the United States. Since 1842 this college has had students from nearly every State and territory in the Union, and from Mexico, the West Indies, South America, and several European countries.
Villanova college was named in honor of St. Thomas, of Villanova, the great archbishop of Valencia, in Spain, and the first patron of learning in the western hemisphere, who founded, on September 21, 1551, the univer- sity of Mexico, the first school on a grand scale that was established in the Americas.
In addition to the college at Villanova, there are a convent, with novitiate and study house, and a magnificent church of Gothic architec- ture.
The stately pile of buildings at Villanova are supplied with spring water, lighted with gas, and heated with steam.
MEXICAN WAR.
The most important event directly after the great flood and the founding of Villanova col- lege, that attracted the attention of the people of the county, was the Mexican war. During that struggle, in 1846, the Delaware County Grays, commanded by Capt. John K. Zeilin, offered their services to President Polk to go to Mexico ; but their offer was refused, as the Pennsylvania quota was filled before it was received.
COUNTY SEAT REMOVAL TO MEDIA.
The first agitation of a removal of the county seat of Delaware county, it is said, was due to Robert Frazer, a lawyer, who was defeated for a nomination by delegates from Chester and some townships near it. Radnor township was nearer to the county seat of Montgomery county than to Chester, and this in connection with the fact that taxes were lower in that county than Delaware, caused the people of
66
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
that township to petition for annexation to Montgomery county. This caused alarm in other northern townships and they agitated a removal of the county seat to some point near the center of the county as a means to hold Radnor township.
Mr. Evans, of Chester county, on March 21, 1821, presented nineteen removal petitions to the legislature, and ten days later Mr. Lewis presented twenty-five remonstrances. No ac- tion was taken on either, and the removalists made no further effort for nearly twenty-five years. In 1845 the public buildings at Ches- ter needed a large amount of repairs, and the removalists again became active to prevent those repairs being made. They called a meeting at the Black Horse tavern on Novem- ber 22, 1845. This meeting issued a call for township delegates to convene there on De- cember 6th, to choose the county property, Black Horse, Rose Tree, Chester or Beau- mont's Corner, as a place suitable for a county seat.
Each township was to elect two delegates, and on December 6th, the following delegates were present :
Birmingham - Dr. E. Harvey, J. D. Gilpin.
Aston
89
129
Bethel
IO
72
Birmingham
62
21
Concord - M. Stamp, E. Yarnall.
50
319
Upper Chichester.
4
72
Lower Chichester
12
92
Concord
83
70
Darby.
55
91
Upper Darby
168
32
Newtown - Eli Lewis, T. H. Speakman.
Edgmont
150
0
Haverford
147
3
Marple.
124
13
Middletown
223
17
Newtown.
118
I
Thornbury - Eli Baker, Daniel Green.
Nether Providence.
113
30
Radnor.
152
40
Ridley.
19
152
Springfield.
114
IO
Thornbury
116
5
Tinicum
2
19
Totals
1942
1100
Tinicum - Joseph Weaver, jr.
From Aston, Bethel, Darby, Upper Darby, Haverford, Radnor, Ridley and Springfield townships no delegates were present. A vote was taken and gave eight votes for the county property, six each for Black Horse and for
Chester, and two for Rose Tree. After sev- eral more votes had been taken the county property received twelve votes, a majority of the delegates present. This result was not accepted by the anti-removalists and a bitter contest was waged over the matter through the county newspapers. A reconciliatory meet- ting was held on December 30th at the hall of the Delaware County Institute of Science, and petitions were put in circulation asking the legislature to pass an act providing for a popu- lar vote on the question of removal. A bill was submitted to the legislature, in which the site of the new county seat was designated, and John Larkin, jr., the member from Dela- ware county in the house, although in favor of removal, opposed the bill in the shape in which it was presented and secured its defeat. In 1847 the legislature passed an act submit- ting the removal of the county seat to a point within half a mile of the county property, and not over a half mile from the State road, to a popular vote, which was taken on October 12, 1847, in the different townships, with the fol- lowing result :
TOWNSHIPS.
For Removal.
Against Removal.
Chester - J. K. Zeilin, Y. S. Walter.
U. Chichester - Robert R. Dutton.
Chester
Edgmont - E. B. Green, George Baker.
Marple - Abraham Platt, Dr. J. M. Moore.
Middletown - Joseph Edwards, Abraham Pennell.
N. Providence - R. T. Worrall, Peter Wor- rall.
U. Providence-Emmor Bishop, Thomas Reese.
Upper Providence.
129
2
67
OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Although there was a majority of seven hun- dred and fifty-two votes in favor of removal, the anti-removalists did not abandon the con- test, and determined to contest the validity of the act providing for the election on the grounds that it had been submitted to the vote of the people in like manner to a vote that was taken under an act of the legislature, in the town- ships, on the question of the sale of spirituons liquors within their respective boundaries, and which was illegal. as the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania decided that the act under which it was taken was unconstitutional.
In the meantime an act was passed on April 9, 1848, confirming the removal of the seat of justice, but containing a proviso that declared the act should not go into effect until the Supreme Court had decided "the question as to the constitutionality of the act under which it had been voted upon by the people. At the December term of that year the case was argued, and at the following spring term the Supreme Court held the act to be consti- tutional."
The commissioners, in pursuance of the re- moval act, soon purchased a tract of forty- eight acres of land adjoining the county farm for five thousand seven hundred and sixty dol- lars. Laying out the town of Media on this tract, they proceeded to erect public buildings on one of the lots, and sold the remainder of them at a great profit to the county.
In 1851 the public buildings were completed, and the court records were removed from Chester to Media, where the first session of court held at that place commenced on Mon- day, November 24, 1851.
The selection of the site of Media for a county seat had something to do with hasten- ing the project of a railroad from Philadelphia to West Chester, to pass through the territory of Delaware county. The West Chester & Philadelphia Railroad Company was incor- porated April 11, 1848, and in the autumn of 1856 had built their road as far as Media. By the close of that year the road had reached
Lenni, and on New Year's day, 1857, was at Grubb's Bridge, near the site of Wawa. On Tuesday, November 11, 1858, the road was completed to West Chester, where two days later a celebration was held in honor of its completion.
The building of the West Chester and Phil- adelphia railroad partly led to the construc- tion of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Cen- tral railroad from Grubb's bridge to Chadd's Ford. The Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad Company was incorporated March 17, 1853, and between January 3, 1855, and the close of the year 1858, constructed their road from Grubb's bridge to Chadd's Ford. This road afterward became the property of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company, and was later transferred by that corporation to the Pennsylvania Cen- tral Railroad Company.
The location of the county-seat near the geographical center of the county was no real detriment to Chester, whose true progress and successful development was to be in manufac- tures, and did not lie in the hotel and business patronage of persons attending courts and transacting legal business in the county offices. The new county-seat location had a decided and beneficial effect upon the development of the northern part of the county. It led to the building of Media, the early construction of the West Chester and Philadelphia railroad, with its continuous line of prosperous villages, many of which will become places of future size and importance, and gave an impulse to farm cultivation and rural road improvements that have made the country, for miles surround- ing it, a beautiful sight to look upon by the traveler and the tourist.
While the northern part of the county, from 1845 to 1860, was rapidly developing, the southern part was also growing, and made rapid strides of progress toward great wealth and abundant prosperity. Chester, instead of retrograding when the seat of justice was removed to Media, entered upon
68
BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY
her present remarkable career of commer- cial prosperity, which was inaugurated, about 1850, by John P. Crozer, James Campbell, John Larkin, jr., and John M. Broomall. Chester, up to that time, was surrounded by large farms, whose owners would not sell a foot of land at any price. "Death and debt have no respect for conservatism, and by de- grees these agencies worked in behalf of the change that was dawning." John P. Crozer and John M. Broomall bought the Kerlin farm, which they laid out into streets, and the former erected the first of his Upland cotton mills to the northwest of the town. James Campbell changed the old prison and work-house into a cotton mill, and John Larkin, jr., bought a part of the Cochran farm, which he laid out in streets and squares, and on which he erected over five hundred dwellings and several cotton mills. Thus were launched the great manu- facturing interests of Chester, whose popula- tion, in the decade between 1850 to 1860, in- creased from one thousand six hundred to four thousand six hundred, nearly trebling itself. The entire southern part of the county was profited by the spirit of enterprise that was transforming Chester village and borough into a city and a manufacturing center, and neatness, taste and evidences of thrift were to be met with on nearly every farm in the tide- water region of the county, from Philadelphia to the Delaware State line.
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