USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > Chester > Historical sketch of Chester, on Delaware > Part 5
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Both tracts were laid out in streets and squares, and almost in- mediately signs of improvement began to manifest themselves in the present North and South wards. Many of the old residents looked on in amazement, and often the quiet remark went round, " These men will lose every dollar they have in this_business." The enterprising men, however, paid little attention to these prog- nostications of misfortune. Dwelling houses were erected, streets
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41
Chester from the year 1850 to 1882.
laid out and graded, and capital was invited to locate in this vi- cinity. Early in the year 1850, James Campbell, of Ridley, pur- chased the lot and bowling alley formerly belonging to the Dela- ware County Hotel, which lot was located on the north side of Fourth street where part of the Market House now stands. This building he altered to receive looms, and in March, 1850, within three months of the purchase of the Kerlin and Cochran farms, for the first time the noise of the shuttle was heard in the Borough. When the public buildings were sold, Mr. Campbell bought the prison and workhouse, and at much expense he changed the ancient structure into a cotton mill, thus making the first permanent es- tablishment in which textile fabrics were woven within the bounds of the present city of Chester.
In 1856, John P. Crozer conveyed his interest in the joint pro- perty to Mr. Broomall for the cost and legal interest thereon reserv- ing only the half-square of gronnd on Penn and Second streets, where the Baptist church now stands. This was Mr. Crozer's own proposition, and on being reminded that more than enough land had been sold to pay the entire costs, leaving four-fifths of it as clear profit, he replied that he had gone into the enterprise not to make money but to aid in the development of Chester, and he was quite content that the profits should go to Mr. Broomall who had done the chief part of the work; that his assistance was no longer neces- sary, but that he would let his capital remain to be repaid by Mr. Broomall, with interest, at his own time and convenience. Of course this offer was gratefully accepted. Shortly after, when Mr. Broomall learned that the fee simple title to the Kerlin tract could be purchased for nine hundred and twenty dollars, from the execu- tors of the estate of Dr. Albanus. C. Logan, the great-grandson of Joseph Parker, he availed himself of the offer, and on August 24, 1858, bought the rent and reversions in the leasehold he had ac- quired from William Kerlin nearly ten years before that date.
In the present North ward, Mr. Larkin, in spite of great opposi- tion, carried out his designs fully. It is related that although he laid out the streets in that part of the town and dedicated them to the public, the Borough authorities refused to keep the highways in repair, and at his own expense he maintained a force of men at work upon them. On one occasion when a member of the Town
42
Historical Sketch of Chester.
Council complained that the streets in the old part of the Borough were neglected, contrasting them with those of Larkintown, which were neat and well kept, and declaring that the public moneys should not all be expended in one locality, another member in- formed the speaker that Chester had never contributed a dollar for that purpose, and that Mr. Larkin had personally paid for all the highways made as well as maintaining them in repair. Not only did he do this, but he constantly built houses, stores, foundries, shops and mills, in conformity with a rule he had adopted at the beginning of his enterprise, that every dollar he received from the sale of lands or buildings should be expended in further improve- ments ; and hence, for any person desiring to start in business, he would erect the required structure, and lease it to him or them, with the privilege of purchasing the property at its cost price with- in ten years. Mr. Larkin has built over five hundred houses and places of business, several being large cotton mills. In 1881, he sold the last vacant building lot remaining out of the original eighty-three acres he had bought as an unimproved tract, thirty-one years before. More than thirty years Mr. Larkin spent industriously and earnestly in making the North ward what it is, and only during the last ten years did he receive much assistance, from the labor of others to the same end, in dotting it all over with dwellings and in- dustrial establishments.
To return to the river front ; Mr. Broomall, in conjunction with William Ward, in 1862, purchased the farms of Edward Pennell, James Laws and John Jeffery, and in 1863, together with Mr. Ward and Messrs. Seyfert & McManus, of Reading, he purchased the farms of George Wilson, John J. Thurlow and William John- son, and in 1871, as a member of the Chester Improvement Com- pany, he bought the farms of William H. Morton and Isaac Eyre. He laid out and named the streets between the old Post road and the river, and between Chester creek and Trainer's Third street mills, and only two of the forty-one names have since been changed, Essex street and Salkeld street, the citizens refusing to take, but by a common movement, the former became Concord street, and the latter Broomall street.
The first manufacturing establishment in Chester was the ma- chine shop and foundry of Kitts & Kerlin, and there, in 1837, was
43
Chester from the year 1850 to 1882.
erected the first stationary steam engine, " and its advent," says Mr. Broomall, in a sketch of Chester, in 1872, " produced more sensation among the simple villagers than did the downfall of the French Monarchy." The next engine introduced was one built by this firm about 1840, and used by the late Judge Frederick J. Hinkson in the old Brobson tannery, on Edgmont avenue. The first manufactory of textile goods was that of James Campbell, in the old bowling alley before mentioned, in 1850, shortly after en- larged by his purchase of the county property, a description of which will be found under the title Court Houses and Prisons, in Chester. The first business establishment below Chester creek was the saw mill and lumber yard of Thomas M. Smith, who about 1851, purchased the square of ground between Penn and Concord streets, on the south side of Front street, for $900. Then followed the sash factory of Lewis Thatcher ; a small mill built by the late Alderman Joseph Entwisle, for bleaching cotton ; the dye works of John Gartside and Samuel Cliff, and Benjamin Gartside's mill, all in the South ward. In 1854, Dr Bonsal and Abraham Blakeley built what is now the Arasapha mills in North ward, and Samuel Montgomery erected the first mill put up by him, known afterwards as Lilley & Montgomery's, in South ward. John Larkin, Jr., built the Broad street mill for James Campbell, and Mr. Broomall erected for T. B Price the machine shop at Third and Franklin streets, South ward, which Samuel Eccles, Jr., changed into the Mohawk mills, now operated by Robert Hall & Son. The ship yards of Thomas Reaney and William Frick, since of John Roach & Sons, and other industrial establishments followed in rapid succession in all parts of the city until Chester has now upwards of thirty-five cotton and woolen mills, logwood works, the extensive machine shops of Robert Wetherill & Co. : the Combination Iron and Steel Works ; the Eureka Cast Steel Company; H. B. Black's Edge Tool Works ; H. C. Eyre & Co., and James Massey's machine shops; Morton, Black & Bro.'s planing mill; the sash factories of Miller Cox, Stroud & Co., and Henry M. Hinkson ; several carriage factories and many other industries which have given to this city a national repu- tation as a manufacturing centre. The entire river front in South ward is now occupied with flourishing business establishments ex- tending along and beyond the city limits for more than three miles.
44
Historical Sketch of Chester.
The graduates of the Pennsylvania Military Academy have spread the reputation of Chester, as an educational point, in every State in the Union; Crozer Theological Seminary stands second to no similar institution in the land in preparing young men for the min- istry, and Prof. Gilbert's Academy is noted for thoroughness in intellectual training.
Few eastern towns have exhibited the enterprise and vitality which have characterized Chester since the energetic men I have mentioned aroused it from its inertness thirty odd years ago, and began to invade the slumbers of the venerable hamlet.
In 1852, F. & A. Wiggin, of New York, purchased the remain- der of the Cochran estate in North ward, and laid it out in streets and offered the property for sale in lots. In 1862, Crosby P. Mor- ton-from whom Morton avenue takes its name-laid out the large tract of ground south of the old Queen's Road, in Middle ward, in streets and squares. He erected the Chester Dock Mills, (now Lewis & Roop's) cut a dock and built the saw and planing mill at that point, since known as Morton, Black & Brother's, and erected fifteen dwelling houses. His death was a public misfortune, inas- much as he proposed to make greater improvements had his health not entirely broken down. In 1864, Spencer MicIlvain laid out twenty-six acres of the old Caldwell farm in North ward, in streets, and in 1865, John Hinkson and Henry McIlvain made extensive improvements on this tract of ground. They built the Continental cotton mills for John Green, the Abgadon mills for Barton & Cot- ton, the Sunnyside mills for James Ledward, and about thirty dwel- ling houses. This enterprise was followed by John Cochran and John Barton, who purchased part of the Fyre farm in South ward, and brought it into market. Mr. Cochran built many houses, as did also Lewis Ladomus and others in various parts of the town, and Gen. Edward F. Beale, within a few years, has sold many valu- able lots in the business part of the city, on easy terms, and sup- plied the money to those wishing to build thereon, which has greatly improved Edgmont avenue above the railroad, and has re- sulted in the erection of many imposing dwellings and roomy stores.
In 1856, gas was introduced into Chester, and twelve years later water was distributed to the public by the Water Board from the basin on Concord Avenue. Previous to that, wells and pumps sup-
45
Chester from the year 1850 to 1882.
plied the people, and the scarcety of that element in the Borough, frequently caused much inconvenient to the large manufactures. When Mr. Campbell first established his mill, he was compelled to draw all the water used in the mill from the creek.
During the civil war, Chester's records is excelled by no town of a like size in the nation. She gave freely of her men and means for the preservation of the government. In the early days of the Re- bellion, when the news of the firing on Fort Sumpter had just startled the loyal North into activity, the intelligence was one even- ing brought to Chester, that a low black schooner was coming up the river to destroy the town and burn the bridges on the railroad. The citizens turned out promptly, organized themselves into a mili- tary company for defense, and, that that body did not cover itself with heroic laurels is simply due to the fact, that the enemy learning of the preparations made to receive them, discreetly refused to as- cend the Delaware as far as this place. The Crum creek campaign, however, deserves a chapter in the unwritten history of that trying period in our country's story. Subsequently John P. Crozer ten- dered the buildings since known as the Crozer Theological Seminary as a hospital for wounded soldiers, and many maimed men, both in the North and South, to this day greet the name of this city with grateful recollections of the thousand kindnesses shown them by its residents, while they were inmates of the national hospital here.
By Act of Assembly, February 13, 1866, the ancient Borough was incorporated into a city. Hon. John Larkin, Jr., was elected the first Mayor, serving two consecutive terms from 1866 to 1872, and was succeeded by Dr. J. L. Forwood, who was honored in being the executive of the city during the National Centennial, holding the office for three terms, from 1872 to 1881. He in turn was fol- lowed by Hon. James Barton, Jr., the present incumbent, whose term will include the observances of the Bi-Centennial Landing of William Penn at Chester. A peculiar circumstance is that each of the persons who have been Mayors of this city, are representatives of old Delaware county families, and the ancestry of all of them can be traced backward in our county's annals to the coming of the first settlers of their name will be almost coeval which was of Penn himself.
1
COURT HOUSES AND PRISONS AT CHESTER.
1 THE Swedish settlers at Upland must have had a crude but generally accepted system of judicial authority reposed in some person or persons, to preserve the public peace, at least, if no power to enforce right between parties in civil disputes was recognized. In the lapse of time we have lost all record or tradition even respect- ing the tribunal which administered even-handed justice according to the rude notions of those early times. The first mention we have of a Court being held at Upland is found in the " Records of Up- land Court" itself, from 1676 to 1681, edited and annotated by Edward Armstrong, Esq., and published by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. From this valuable work the greater part of our present knowledge of the judicial proceedings of the early days of the Province is derived.
At the session of Upland Court, November 14, 1676, an order was made providing that Neeles Lacrson be paid " for his charges for keeping the Court last year," and that the former clerk, William Tom, " deliver to the present clerk, Eph. Herman, the records and other public books and writing belonging to the Court." This order was obeyed, but the documents were found to be in such confusion that Tom was order to properly arrange them before he transferred them to his successor. Tom, however, died in 1677, and the records, being still in his possession at the time, are now lost to posterity. The inn of Laerson is believed to have been on Edgmont avenue, north of the present Second street. He was the owner of 181 acres of land in Chester, covering a large part of the present thickly built up portion of the city to which I am now referring. Neeles Laer-
47
Court Houses and Prisons at Chester.
son was a quarelsome neighbor, as will be seen by an examination of the records. In 1678, James Sandilands, on behalf of the inhabit- ants of Upland, called the attention of the Court to the fact that Laerson had built a fence closing the old and usual way to the mea- dow, which obstruction the Court ordered the latter to remove. On the same day the church wardens complained that in taking posses- sion of two lots in Chester, which he had bought from Dominie Lasse Carolus, he had included some of the church or glebe lands. The Court ordered that he should be allowed that which he had bought, but, if it was found that he had taken more than was by right his, it should be annexed to the church lots.
The first Court of which we have information was, as shown, held at Learson's inn, but the justice ordered November 13, 1677, that Captain Hans Jargin, who had been occupying the building as a bar- racks for his company, should " fit up " the House of Defence or Block House and furnish it "fitt for the Court to sitt in against ye next Court." Although there is no positive record showing that the House of Defence was used by the Court for its sessions, it is now generally conceded that the evidence fully established the fact that it was so occupied. This building, which was constructed of logs, stood on the east side of Edgmont avenue, about eighty-four feet from the present Second street ; was rectangular in shape, and was fourteen by fifteen feet in dimension. It was erected at an angle to Second street and extended into the roadway of Edgmont avenue. Neeles Learson, March 13, 1678, was ordered by the Court " to make or leave a lane or street from Upland creek to ye House of Defence or County House " between that time and the next Court, and in default to be fined at the discretion of the judges. As the early settlers traveled almost wholly by water, it was very essential that there should be free access from the creek to the public build- ings, and this means of communication the pugnacious Laerson seems to have interrupted until the strong arm of the law dealt sum- marily with him. How long the House of Defence was used as the public buildings of the county, I cannot say, but in 1703, after two other building in succession had been occupied by the Court, the Grand Jury presented the old Block House " as being a nuisance and dangerous of taking fire, and so would endanger the town." " The Court," so runs the old entry on the docket, " in deliberate
48
Historical Sketch of Chester.
consideration, ordered the said house to be pulled down and that Jasper Yeates, Chief Burgess of the Borough of Chester, shall see the order performed." Previous to 1665, there seems to have been. no place for the detention of prisoners in Chester for two years be- fore that date, " John Ward for sundry Felons, committed to the custody of the Sheriff, and made his escape with irons upon him."
The third Court House, or the third building wherein Court was held, was built in 1684-'85. Dr. Smith, the lite able historian of Delaware county says : " A jail was erected at the same time, but there is reason to believe that it was built near the creek, and that. there was a street laid out between the two buildings." Henry Hollingsworth, who was a Friend, " for cutting the eaves of the. new prison," was dealt with by meeting the same year. This Court House, both Dr. Smith and John Hill Martin believe, was located on the east side of Edgmont avenue; and in the draft of the first settled part of Chester, in Smith's History, it is marked as. being between the House of Defence and the Hoskin's house, known to us of the present generation as the Graham house. The student of our ancient anuals will find more confusion in the authorities re- specting the sites of the several Court Houses, than in any other details of the early days of the Colony. This last building, after it was no longer used for county purposes, was ordered by the Court, at the March session, 1701, " to be set on sale the 6th day of the third month next, papers to be set up to give notice that it is to be sold at Vandew."
Whether the sale was had, according to order, I do not know, but the property must have passed to Ralph Fishbourn, of Chester, gentleman, for in the latter part of the year 1705, the Legislature passed an act " to assure, grant and convey unto Ralph Fishbourn one messuage, cottage house, or tenement, and lot of ground there- unto belonging, situated in Chester, in the county of Chester, for- merly known by the naine of the "Old Court House.'"
The fourth Court House, so far as its foundation is concerned, is still standing on the west side of Egmont avenue, nearly opposite the House of Defence, its precise location being two hundred and fifty-six feet six inches from the south-west corner of Edgmont avenue and Third street. It was built by John Hoskins, in 1695, and he conveyed the lot to the county the same year. The old
!
A
OLD COURT HOUSE, BUILT 1724.
49
Court Houses and Prisons at Chester.
building, now owned by Jonathan Pennell, has a part of the wall of this Court House standing in the northern gable of the present structure, between the two end windows, and extending up nearly to the second story. The old part of the wall and that whielt was added after it ceased to be the county building, is still easily dis- cernible. The jail was in the cellar, and the iron rods which for- merly barred the prisoners' escape from confinement, while admit- ting fresh air to the cells, still remain in the weather-stained frames in the foundation walls. The Court room and Jury rooms were in the first and second stories.
At the same Court, March 1701, at which the sale of the old Court House erected in 1684 was ordered, the prison being found inadequate to retain the culprits, Jasper Yeates, Ralph Fishbourn, Joseph Cobourn and Andrew Jobe, were appointed supervisors to build a new prison on the grounds of James San lilands, the young- er, and were instructed that the erection should be twenty-five feet in length by eighteen feet in width in the clear. This structure, so far as the prison was concerned, was built, for the old draft of Chester, now owned by William B. Broomall, Esq., locates this building as south of the Court House built by Hoskins in 1695, and Sandilands, by his attorney, David Lloyd, in open Court, de- livered a deed for the land to the commissioners of the county. Within the walls of the old goal, languished. in 1718, Hugh Pugh and Lazarus Thomas, who were hung May 9, of that year for the murder of Jonathan Hays ; and here, too, in 1722, were detained William Hill, Mary Woolvin, and James Battin, under sentence of death. The first two were reprieved for twelve months by Sir William Keith, Deputy Governor, but Battin was directed to be executed and hung in irons in the most public place.
I have serious doubt whether the Court House alluded to in the report of the Grand Jury of the 24th of February, 1701, was ever built. The Grand Inquest, on that occasion, called the attention of the Court to " the necessity of a Court Hous and prison hous," but stated also that " there is little money in the bank, and that many have not paid their moiety & rate of the last assessment, de- sire that such may be forced." They also recommended the speedy gathering of the county tax remaining unpaid, and requested the Justices to issue warrants therefor, and end their report with the
50
Historical Sketch of Chester.
declaration that in their opinion " Law and Justice cannot have its perfect courc without such housis for their distribution as afore- said." We know that at the December Court, 1701, the Justices ordered repairs to be made " to the court and prison hous," and appointed Walter Martin, John Hoskins and Henry Worley to be supervisors and oversee the work, with power to provide materials, employ workmen, and to finish the repairs as speedily as possible. The supervisors were also instructed to provide a pair of stocks and a whipping post. Whether the expense of the building of the new Court, as desired by the Grand Jury, in 1701-'2, was greater than the county could undertake, cannot now be determined, but there is no documentary evidence to show that such a structure was ever erected, and, I endorse the opinion of Dr. Smith and John Hill Martin, that the next Court House, in chronological order, was the old building on Market street, known to us of the present day as the City Hall.
The fifth Court House, including the tavern of Neeles Laerson, in the number, was the massive stone structure still standing on the west side of Market street, which was built in 1724, the date stone being in the south wall, but covered with the dull brownish preparation which still defaces the ancient edifice, and hides the numerals from sight. The building has the pent roof projections over the first-story windows, as was the style of architecture of that day, and as originally constructed was surmounted with a small belfry rising from the centre of the roof, in which formerly hung a bell, with the words " Chester, 1729," cast in the metal. The bay or semi-circular projection at the north side, in the rear of the Judges' bench, was added at a latter date. The jury rooms were in the second story of the building. Dr. Smith tell us that tradi- tion has handed down an incident " as having happened during the building of the Court House, or some other public building in Ches- ter," which he relates as follows :
" During the progress of the work a young lady was observed to pass and repass the building daily, dressed in very gay attire. After the promenade had been continued for some time, one of the work- men, less mannerly than his associates, upon the appearance of the lady, called out :
" In silk and scarlet walks many a harlot."
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Court Houses and Prisons at Chester.
The young lady, feeling indignant at the insult, promptly replied : " By line and rule works many a fool."
Unfortunately for the tradition connecting this incident with Chester, the same story is told respecting the erection of an edifice in York, England, which building antedates the discovery of America by the Genoese mariner, and the anecdote is related of several localities in Great Britain years before we have knowledge that any European had settled at Upland.
When the new Court House was finished an Act of Assembly was procured, " to enable the trustee to sell the old Court House and prison belonging to the borough and county of Chester," and in 1725, the building mentioned, the one built in 1695, and part of the wall of which stands in the house now owned by Jonathan Pennell, on Edgmont avenue, was sold to Wm. Preston, of Philadelphia, mariner, for £27.
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