USA > Pennsylvania > Delaware County > History of Delaware county [Pa.] for the past century Read before the Delaware county institute of science > Part 2
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Lewis & Phillips in 1825 established the first power loom mill in the county. John P. Crozer began weaving with power looms in 1830 and others soon followed, until in 1850 most of the water powers of the county were used for these products. All over the county manufacturing villages had sprung up, giving the farmer a market almost at his own door for his milk, butter, eggs, poultry, and the products of his garden, paying him largely for the lack of a wheat crop even if, as was often the case, he had to buy his own flour.
After 1850 another change took place ; the water powers began to be deserted by these establishments for locations on the tide, coal had begun to supplant water power, both by reason of convenience and economy, and the factories sought the places handiest to that new force. This has built up Chester and its suburbs, and while manufactures have steadily increased since that time, it is no uncommon thing now to see the ruins of old abandoned factories crumbling into the unused streams that formerly kept their busy wheels and busy hands moving.
In 1827 the number of persons employed in the manu- facture of cotton and woolen goods in the county was 643, in 1870 the number had increased to 4030, and the value of the products during the same period rose from $400,000 per annum to nearly $7,000,000. Since 1870 the business has been steadily on the increase, except that the present stagna- tion in all industries is affecting that also. The number of looms now running in the county is about 5000, and the number of spindles 200,000.
Paper making was first commenced in the county at Ivy Mills in Concord township, by Thomas Wilcox in 1720 His descendants of the same family name still own and use the same mill site for the same purpose. A branch of the establishment was afterwards fixed in Glen Mills in Thornbury township, by the same parties, and at this latter place the paper used by the Government for the currency is made.
In 1860 there were 119 hands employed in making $180,898 worth of materials into $345,000 worth of paper, and in 1870 the workmen had increased to 135, the materials to $260,080 in value, and the products to $383,000. There is no reason to suppose that the same rate of increase has not continued up to the present time.
The first railroad in the United States was built in Nether Providence township, in this county, by Thomas Leiper, in 1806. The engineer was John Thompson, the
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
father of the late President of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and the original draft of the road is in the museum of the Delaware County Institute. The length of the road was a mile and a quarter, and it was constructed and used for years in carrying stone from the quarries on Crum Creek to the landing.
The Columbia, Lancaster and Philadelphia Railroad Company was chartered in 1826. The road ran through the townships of Radnor and Haverford. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the present possessor of the road, was chartered in 1846; the route is now changed so as to run through the township of Radnor only. When the Columbia Railroad was projected, there was considerable alarm in this county, lest interior competition would so lower prices in the Philadelphia markets as to break up the farmers ; here and when steam was introduced as a motive power, horses would certainly become valueless; yet grain and horses have steadily risen in price ever since.
The Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad Com- pany was chartered in 1836, and in 1838 the road was in operation. In 1872 the company constructed what is known as the Darby Improvement branch, by which the route from Chester to Philadelphia was changed from the marsh lands along the river to the higher table land westward. The old road between those two cities has been since sold or leased for a long term of years to the Reading Railroad Company by which it is now operated.
This latter company has within a few years become the owner of a tract of land of about three hundred and fifty acres on the river above and adjoining Marcus Hook, and being the owner of the Front street railroad which connects the old route of the Baltimore railroad with that land, it has become one of the railroads of the county.
The West Chester & Philadelphia Railroad Company was chartered in 1848. The road enters the county from the west in the valley of Chester creek, and continues in the valley to Glen Riddle, from which place it crosses the country through Media to Philadelphia.
The Chester Creek Railroad Company was chartered in 1866. This road connects the West Chester railroad with Chester by running from Lenni down the valley of Chester Creek. It also connects with the Baltimore Direct Railroad at Pennellton, the owners of which were chartered in 1853. Intersected as the county is in various directions by these
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
means of communication, it is safe to say that there is no point within its borders five miles distant from a railroad.
Our county has its full share of business corporations. Among them are the Delaware County National Bank char- tered in 1814 by the State, and converted into a National Bank in 1864, the First National Bank of Chester and the First National Bank of Media, both chartered in 1864. The last is located at Media and the other two at Chester.
The Delaware County Mutual Insurance Company, at Media, and the Chester Mutual Insurance Company, at Chester, insure against losses by fire, but the most of this insuring is done by companies elsewhere. The local companies being preferred partly on account of the cheapness of their rates, and partly because their managers are well known, obtain all the risks they will take; but this is only a small portion of the demand for insurance.
Building Associations, an invention of very modern times, have had their full share of patronage since their first introduction in 1852, and through their operations hundreds of laboring men and others of small means, who otherwise would not have saved a dollar, are now living in their own comfortable homes. In the hands of conscientious men, these institutions are a great blessing to people of small resources, but they are liable to abuse by harsh, hard and unscrupulous managers.
The people of our County are essentially a newspaper reading community. The various Philadelphia papers circu- late largely among us and our local press is deservedly well patronized. The oldest existing paper of the County is The Delaware County Republican. It was established in 1833 and still continues with the same name, the same owner and the same general character. Its politics were Whig while that party lasted, and afterwards Republican. Its columns have always been devoted to the cause of liberty, temperance and good morals. In 1855 The Delaware County American commenced. It is still published in the same ownership, and its general character and standing, as well as its political course and the principles inculcated, have always been sim- ilar to and of like high moral tone with those of the Republican. In 1835 the first number of the Delaware County Democrat appeared. At the end of the year it was suspended and after a long trance it revived in 1867 and is still published. Its politics have been generally Democratic. In 1873 The Dem- ocratic Pilot and The Weekly Mail were first issued, the former
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Democratic and the latter neutral in politics. The Daily News the only daily paper published in the County was established the same year. The Delaware County Advocate commenced in 1869. It is independent in politics, but of Republican proclivities, and devoted to the cause of temperance.
Several papers which were of importance in their day have ceased to exist. The first ever published in the County was a neutral paper called the Post Boy. It appeared in 1819 and in 1820 it changed owners, name and politics, becoming the Upland Union, and democratic. Under this name it con- tinued until 1842. In 1856 it was revived for a life of six months. The Weekly Visitor was published from 1826 to 1833. Its chief political feature was its opposition to the order of Free Masons.
In 1848 Dr. Joshua W. Ash, a member of this body, published the first map of Delaware County. The material for it was obtained with great care and much labor, partly from the records of the county and private title papers and partly from actual surveys. It exhibits not only the towns, roads and streams, the school houses, places of religious wor- ship, post offices and mills, but the farm boundary lines, with the names of the owners; and for a work of so much detail it is singularly accurate. It is believed to be the first instance in America in which so large a district of country has been mapped so minutely as to show the comparative size, shape and ownership of all the homesteads of even a few acres. Within half a dozen years other maps of the county have been published, largely copied from this one and showing the recent changes.
In the moral aspect of the subject, the religious denom- inations of the county demand the first attention. Constitut- ing as they did almost the entire colony of Penn, the Friends for the first half century greatly outnumbered all the other sects. The colony, however, being by the benign system of its founder open equally to all, other denominations had obtained considerable footing prior to the commencement of the century now closing, and during that century the Friends have become but a small portion of the religious element of the county. The decendants of these people, however, con- stitute the majority of the population, and their distinctive peculiarities sensibly affect the entire county. The hostility to oppression, whether on account of sex, race or opinions, the opposition to the use of intoxicating drinks, to judicial and profane swearing, to war, and especially to "playing soldier" in
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
time of peace, which characterize us, came from this source. Persons from elsewhere visiting our Courts, are surprised to find the oath rarely taken by either juror or witness.
It is to be remembered that hostility to war did not pre- vent the descendants of the Friends nor the Friends them- selves from engaging in it to suppress the recent rebellion. Probably they saw the issue and while they did not hate war the less they hated slavery more. It has been truly remarked that during that struggle the Friends furnished quite as much aid to the government in proportion to their number, as any other people, both in men and money, and that it was all contributed on the right side.
In 1860 the Friends numbered sixteen congregations with church accommodations for 5280 people. In 1870 the numbers had not sensibly changed. Within a year a new meeting house has been erected in Media, with the capacity of about five hundred seats. With this exception the num- bers remain the same, but the church accommodations, it is believed, bear a much larger proportion to the actual members than in other societies.
The earliest form of religious worship by the settlers seems to have been the Lutheran, introduced by the Swedes. Upon the advent of the English this form gave way to that of the church of England, which it much resembles. The first Episcopalians probably associated with the Lutherans in their worship, soon outnumbering and absorbing them. But in 1700 distinct Episcopal organizations began to appear, and the Rev. Mr. Evans was sent from England to attend to their wants. He appears to have officiated for several years after that date at Marcus Hook, Chester, Concord and Radnor.
The first church at Marcus Hook was built in 1702, the first one in Chester in 1704 and the first one in Concord in 1724. The Church of Radnor, now within the limits of Newtown township, was erected in 1717 and is still standing. It is the oldest church building in the county, except that of the Friends in Haverford, which was erected in 1700.
In 1860 the Episcopal congregations numbered seven, with church accommodations for 2325 people. In 1870 the numbers were about the same, and since that date there has been some increase of members, but no changes in congreg- ations or churches.
As a distinct sect the Methodists arose about the period of the American Revolution, and out of that event. For some years prior their had been attempts on the part of John
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
Wesley and others to awaken, within the Church of England, a livelier interest in practical and devotional christianity. But it is not likely that a new sect would have arisen out of these efforts if the Church of the mother country had not been cut off by the rebellion of the colonies from aiding and controlling its members here. The large majority of the adherents to that form of worship in the colonies, including the more violent Whigs and others of anti-English prejudices, refusing to await the close of hostilities for communication with the mother church, proceeded to organize under the Episcopal form, independent of the Old Country. The minority, embracing the wealthier and more educated portion and also those whose respect for the mother country was greatest, did not unite in this movement. The result was that at the close of the war, there were two Episcopal organ- izations in the Country, one in accord with the Church of England and the other not.
At that time there was no separate organization in England. But the earnest followers of John Wesley inside the National Church were called Methodists as a term of reproach by their less serious brethern. The name imported here soon ceased to be a term of reproach, and the anti- English Episcopal organization adopted the term of Methodist Episcopal.
Few Methodist churches were built in Delaware County prior to 1800, but since that date this denomination has increased faster than any other. In 1860 the congregations numbered 16, with church accommodations for 4360 people. In 1870 the latter had increased to 7900, and the increase since then has probably been in the same ratio.
Very soon after the first settlement of the English in Pennsylvania, the hardy and enterprising sub-race known as "Scotch-Irish," began to locate among us. These were mainly Presbyterians. They were descendants of the Scotch who had been encouraged to settle in Ireland a few generations before by the British government, and they preserved their national form of religion through the two emigrations.
As it is always the more energetic of any people who leave their homes voluntarily for a new country, each emigration of these Scotchmen took out from the mass the most active, earnest and restless, and this accounts for the peculiar force of character which distinguishes the Scotch-Irish in the new countries. They have really a double distillation of energy.
The first congregation of Presbyterians in this County
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
met in Middletown at or near the site of the Middletown Presbyterian Church, about a mile west of Media, soon after the beginning of the eighteenth century ; certainly before 1735. Others soon followed, but the chief increase of the sect in this County has been since 1820. In 1860 they had seven congregations with church capacity of 2630. In 1870 the former had increased to nine and the latter to 3700. The increase since has been in like proportion.
The first organization of Baptists was in 1715. This was the Brandywine Baptist Church in Birmingham township. Meetings had before that time been held in private houses, and the rite of Baptism was performed in this County as early as 1697. Most of the early Baptists appear to have been previously Friends, and a record bearing date May 4, 1715, quoted by Smith, indicates that these people preserved some of their peculiarities of phraseology after their change.
In 1860 there were five congregations of this denomina- tion in the County, with church accommodations for 2225 people. In 1870 the former had increased to six and the latter to 2500. Since then new churches have been built and new congregations established at South Chester, North Chester, and Media, and the accommodations probably now number 3500. The number of actual members at present is 1463.
The first establishment of Catholics in the county was at the residence of Thomas Willcox, at Ivy Mills, in Concord township, in 1730. The congregation was small and the increase of the sect was very slow until 1835, since then it is quite rapid, mainly from abroad. In 1860 there were five congregations in the county with church accommodations for 1980 people. In 1870 the former had increased to seven and the latter to 2550. The increase since is doubtless at the same rate. In 1757 the number of Catholics in Chester county was 120. Of these probably half resided in the part which is now Delaware county. The number now is not less than 2500.
A beautiful little structure built at Cheyney Station on the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad, well deserves a notice at this point. It is called the Wayside Church and is independent of all other organizations. It was erected by members of various religious sects, aided by many attached to no denomination, and it is open to all professors of religion, the services being varied to suit the views of the particular officiating individual, who may be some one invited by the
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
congregation, or some well meaning clergyman or other person who may feel it his duty, for the time, to occupy the pulpit. In the absence of such person, services much resem- bling the Episcopal are read by one of the members desig- nated for the occasion. The congregation numbers about two hundred.
The place owes its origin to the efforts of certain liberal minded people in the neighborhood, whose design appears to be to bring members of the several religious bodies more in contact with one another, that they may learn how insignifi- cant are the differences of opinion which have filled Christen- dom with persecution and bloodshed. The result is teaching on a small scale the lesson that most religious disputes are purely dialectic. The sects being isolated, learn to attach peculiar and technical meanings to certain much used words, and therefore, to some extent, really talk each a different language from the other without knowing it.
The movement at Cheyney appears to be in the direction of the progress of the age. Within the last half century there is manifestly a growing tendency among the various religious denominations to co-operate with one another in benevolent and humanitarian enterprises, and to view the peculiarities of of one another in a more charitable light ; and there is a decreasing disposition on the part of each, to claim the exclusive right of regulating the relations existing between man and his Maker. Delaware County has its full share of the wholesome progress in this direction.
To the history of every county in the Union belongs the subject of slavery and its extinction. In the great struggle all took part on one side or the other. From a very early date our county stood enrolled on the side of human rights. In 1696 the society of Friends, then constituting almost the entire colony, began the contest; first by prohibiting its members from importing slaves, next by proscribing the traffic in them ; then by requiring them to be kindly treated and taught to write, and finally one hundred years ago the society abolished slavery among its members.
In 1780 the Legislature of Pennsylvania passed an act making children born of slave parents after its date free, and requiring those then living to be registered or in default thereof manumitting them. Under this act 146 were regis- tered as slaves for life and sixteen as slaves for a term of years in the part of Chester county which nine years after became Delaware. Of these there were none in the townships
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
of Bethel, Birmingham, Upper Chichester, Upper Providence, Nether Providence and Radnor.
This Act of Assembly was the first instance of the abolition of slavery by legislation in the United States, and it shows that though the government of the State had long before passed out of the hands of the followers of Penn, their hostility to slavery had communicated itself to their fellow- . citizens.
The proportion of the descendants of these primitive people is greater in our county than anywhere else in the State, and here too has always been the most universal, quiet, persistent hatred of slavery. This was exhibited in 1850 as well as on other occasions. When the fugitive slave law was passed it provided for the appointment of commissioners in the several counties to carry out its provisions. But in Delaware county no man could be found willing to accept the appointment, and it remained unfilled.
Dr. Smith thinks that the number of slaves in 1776 was not less than three hundred ; in 1780 these had doubtless decreased, and though those registered under the act were not all that remained, yet by virtue of the act, those not registered became free, leaving the number after that date 162.
The crusade against the use of intoxicating drinks which began, at least in its extreme violence, about forty years ago, very soon took full possession of this county. Our people by their origin and training were prepared for it. It is curious to contrast 1826 with 1876 in this respect. Then the man who totally abstained from the use of alcohol was supposed by his neighbors to have "a screw loose" somewhere ; stands were kept at public sales to supply bidders with what was thought a prime necessity to life, and usually half a dozen fights relieved the monotony of the auctioneer's proceedings. Laborers had their daily allowance of "grog" and children were supposed to run a great risk of life unless provided with their morning dose of "tansy bitters" during the autumn months ; visitors knew they were unwelcome unless some intoxicating beverage were offered them; whisky could be had at every corner grocery, at eight or ten cents per quart, as cheap as milk, and many a family dispensed with the useless luxury of a cow that the indispensable substitute might be supplied.
Delaware county was not peculiar in this, nor in the gradual change to a better state of things. But this may be
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
said, that until recently, the improvement here was more thorough and radical than in most other places. We had come to look upon the habitual use of stimulants as a dis- qualification for any important public or private business.
It is admitted on all sides that the last year or two has . presented the aspect of relapse, but the causes are local, and temporary, and the retrograde movement can only be for a time. A community sending so large a proportion of its earnings outside of its borders to purchase that which brought into it only increases the cost of courts, prisons, and alms- houses, must soon become poor, and the economy into which it will be forced is upon the road upwards.
The progress of the county in general education has kept pace during the century with its material advancement. One hundred years ago there were no schools in the county for the education of the general public, except a few under the charge of the Society of Friends maintained by private subscriptions. In 1836 the common school system was es- tablished, at first as a measure to be accepted or rejected by the townships. Our county at once accepted it, and from that time we have been steadily increasing its efficiency. Now no child however low its circumstances need grow up among us without such training as will develop whatever of intellect he has, and enable him to compete in the race of life on fair terms with the most fortunate.
Beside the public schools, some private institutions de- serve notice. Haverford College was established by the Society of Friends in 1833, in Haverford township, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, ten miles from Philadelphia. The farm belonging to the College contains about two hundred acres. The Institution will accommodate about sixty stu- dents. The teaching is classical, mathematical and scientific, and is in no sense of the word sectarian.
Swarthmore College, also belonging to the Society of Friends, is upon the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad, about two miles east of Media. It was founded in 1869. The average number of students is about two hundred and twenty-five, and the whole number of graduates to this time is thirty-five.
This Institution is devoted to the education of both sexes, the projectors being satisfied that under proper care the presence of each will benefit the other, and the result has fully justified the soundness of this view. The course of instruction is the same for both sexes, and the experiment
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
has shown that there is no sensible difference in their capacity for the higher degrees of mental training.
The Crozer Theological Seminary owes its existence to the liberality of the late John P. Crozer and his family. It is located in the Borough of Upland, and it commenced under its present organization in 1868. The endowment of the College is $230,000, and its library has cost $25,000. It is under the charge of the Baptists, and its name denotes its general design. The average number of students is about fifty.
The Pennsylvania Institution for training Feeble Minded Children, established In 1859, near Media, is partly a private charity and partly a public enterprise. The possibility of enabling these unfortunate people to better their condition mentally has only been admitted within the past few years, and the success of this institution renders it no longer a question. Unless in rare cases, in which the intellect is very low indeed, what mind there is has shown itself capable of improvement, in the more fortunate of the class, indeed, until the deficiency becomes scarcely perceptible.
The Delaware County Institute of Science must not be omitted in the history of Delaware County. On September 2Ist, 1833, five individuals organized this Institution. The number soon increasing, they obtained a charter from the Supreme Court of the State in 1836, and in 1837 built a hall in Upper Providence which was occupied until 1867, when it was abandoned for a new one erected in the Borough of Media. The object of the Association was the promotion of general knowledge, and the establishment of a museum. The founders were George Miller, Minshall Painter, John Miller, Dr. George Smith and John Cassin. Dr. Smith was elected President of the Institute, and he has been annually re-elected ever since. He is the only one of the five now living.
The Library of the Institute contains 2000 volumes, and the Museum has become an extensive collection of highly interesting curiosities-Indian Relics, Zoological Specimens, Minerals, Coins, Birds, Insects. The number of members is now 197. The meetings are held monthly, and they furnish matters of interest and utility to those who attend them.
Another subject belonging to the progress of the age requires notice here, because our county is not only In the line of progress in that direction but in the front of the line, and that is the recognition of the rights of humanity inde-
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HISTORY OF DELAWARE COUNTY.
pendent of the power to enforce them.
Those whom accident or force has made the ruling class are willing at last to carry out to its legitimate consequences the great principle of political ethics that governments derive their just powers only from the consent of the governed.
Hence, men of African descent have been enfranchised. Hence, too, the New Constitution of the State permits women to be elected to offices controlling education ; and hence, too, a great political party, a few days ago dared to incorporate among its principles a full recognization. of the civil and political rights of women.
We are more worthy to count this advance a part of our county's history for the century, because in our county and in its county town, the first elective office in Pennsylvania ever held by a woman was conferred upon her, and that, too, only a few weeks after it first became possible.
We are entering upon the second century of our national existence. What does it promise us ? It will not do to say that there is not just as much room for progress as there was in 1776. The world still moves. To cease developing is to die. It may be said that it is safe to predict so long in advance, for we run small risk of being upbraided with our mistakes. But there is present reason for believing that in 1976 Delaware County will contain a quarter of a million inhabitants, intelligent and industrious, for these are conditions precedent to progress ; sober, for intemperance long before that time will either "destroy or be destroyed ;" with equal rights in the making and administering of the laws, in the enjoyment of the fruits of the earth, and in the freedom of individual opinions, without distinction on account of sex, race or religion.
LRBJL'78
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 0 014 311 364 4
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