Jax Stumpes: Newtown, PA I (6/13/2020)

Saturday, June 13, 2020

Newtown, PA I (6/13/2020)

Saturday, June 13, 2020
Today's field trip was to begin the Historic Newtown Heritage Walk in the Borough of Newtown, PA. To engage interest, there is a History Detective Contest with a question for each of the 34 stops on the walk. Finding the answers requires reading of the wayside markers located at every site.
Driving north on State Street, we made a stop at Stocking Works.

451 S State Street, site of the Newtown Canning Company (1903-1908);
the Newtown China Company erected this building and was in
operation from 1909 to the 1940s

Stop #7: Name two items canned at the Newtown Canning Company in the early 20th century. The wayside marker listed the following items: corn, tomatoes, apples, beans, and pumpkins.

411 S State Street is also part of Stocking Works, a business complex

405 S State Street is part of Stocking Works (KSS)

301 S State Street (1904) was originally the Newtown Hosiery Mill (aka
The Stocking Works) and later a stained glass company, then a bobbin
factory; during World War II it housed the Lavelle Aircraft Corporation

Stop #6: What company won an Army-Navy "E" for excellence during World War II?
Lavelle Aircraft Corporation.
A historic marker noted that the world's first experimental and operational weather satellite, TIROS 1, was manufactured by Lavelle in 1960.
We parked "downtown" on S State Street.

27-35 S State Street are located on property of the former public
buildings of the County Seat, including a jail whose brownstone walls
were reused to build the low wall seen to the right

Stop #32: When was Newtown the County Seat of Bucks County? 1726-1813, for 88 years.

40 S State Street, the First National Bank and Trust Company of Newtown
was established in 1864; in 1884 a brownstone building was erected here
and in 1928 a new brick building was constructed around the brownstone

Stop #33: What bank's clock can be heard every 15 minutes in Newtown? First National Bank.

The First National Bank's clock was erected in 1928

111 S State Street, Bird-in-Hand, is considered the oldest frame structure
still standing in Pennsylvania; it started as a tavern (on record in 1686)
and is now a private residence

Stop #34: What is the site of the only Revolutionary War action to take place in Newtown? Bird-in-Hand as the former Red Lyon Inn was used as an overflow jail to hold Hessian officers who were taken as prisoners by the Continental soldiers at the Battle of Trenton in December 1776. It was also the site of the Loyalist Raid of 1778 when the British occupied Philadelphia.

In the backyard of Bird-in-Hand is the former dairy
(the small square building with vents) where milk and
cheese were stored in the Revolutionary times

Garages of 127 S State Street, former White Hall Hotel,
now being used to provide outdoor seating for dining (KSS)

127 S State Street (1800s), was the former White Hall Hotel,
being a hotel from 1843 to 1979 when it suffered a fire; in 1983 it was
renovated and the façade was restored, now housing shops and offices

Stop #4: What hotel was raided by the Doan Brothers during the Revolutionary War? Actually the brothers raided a frame building used as a store on the site of the White Hall Hotel. The frame building was from 1796-1836 the home of Isaac Hicks, father of the renowned artist Edward Hicks.

Newtown Friends Meeting sign (KSS)

219 Court Street (1817), Newtown Friends Meeting was co-founded
in 1813 by Edward Hicks who was a Quaker minister, but
better known for his artistic renditions of The Peaceable Kingdom

Stop #5: When was the Newtown Friends Meeting built? 1817.

122 Penn Street, Edward Hicks House (1821), home of the Quaker minister
and folk artist who painted over 60 versions of The Peaceable Kingdom,
often including William Penn in the background signing
a treaty with Tamanend, a chief of the Lenape Turtle Clan

Stop #3: What famous Quaker lived in Newtown and was known as a coach and sign painter? Edward Hicks, whose business was as a coach and sign painter.