Completing the Historic Newtown Heritage Walk.
Apologies for not following the correct number order, but parking is not readily available at Stop #1!
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| 100 E Washington Street, St Luke's Episcopal Church (1832, and a 1904 brick bell tower replaced the 1835 frame tower) |
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| 14 Liberty Street (1901), Newtown Fire Association; Newtown's first fire brigade formed in 1824 and the Fire Association was organized in 1889; in 1999 a three-bay addition replaced a 1959 two-bay addition |
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| 1892 Ladder Truck |
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| 35 Liberty Street, Wesley Hall (1846 for the Newtown Methodist Church); when the congregation moved to a larger church in 1896, Wesley Hall was sold to the Newtown School District, but was bought back in 1956 |
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| 35 Liberty Street, Newtown United Methodist Church (1895-1896) (not on tour) |
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| 136 N Congress Street, St Mark AME Zion Church (founded c 1820, church built 1897) |
Stop #25: From what event did Light House Hill get its name? The 1840 fire/burning of the John Wesley African American Methodist Episcopal Church.
Stop #24: When was Newtown Borough chartered by the Pennsylvania Legislature? 4/16/1838.
William Penn planned a town he temporarily labeled as "New Town" with the Common located along a creek. The land parcels fanned out from the Common so that early landowners had access to it as a pasture for their livestock and access to the creek as a water supply. The elongated pie-shaped parcels also gave landowners a "townstead" and a farmstead in one lot.
Stop #23: The Newtown Creek is a tributary of what other creek? Neshaminy Creek.
Stop #22: When were movies first shown in the Newtown Theatre? 1906.
Stop #21: What company made carriages on North State Street? JV & C Randall's.
Stop #20: What two churches once shared the same building? 1. Macedonia Baptist. 2. St Mark AME Zion. They shared the building now used by the St Mark AME Zion Church.
Stop #14: Who named Newtown in the 1680s? William Penn/Thomas Holme.
Stop #15: What current restaurant was once used as a high school? Guru's, formerly The Saloon, where high school classes were held 1916-1918 after a fire burned down the Chancellor Street School.
Stop #16: When was the Newtown Common first broken into lots and sold? 1796.
Stop #17: What Presbyterian minister was the first owner of a property on Sycamore Street? James Boyd.
Wayside marker #19a is at 298 N Sycamore Street at Durham Road, but we shall wait for stop #19b.
Stop #18: What was the name of the restaurant on Sycamore Street famous for its ice cream? Goodnoe Farm Dairy Bar Restaurant.
Stop #13: What building was used to house Hessian soldiers during the Revolutionary War? Old Presbyterian Church.
Stop #12: What farm on Sycamore Street was once known as the Potato Farm? Buckman Farm.
Stop #11: During the Revolutionary War, whose headquarters were located at the corner of Sycamore Street and Swamp Road? General George Washington.
Stop #9: Who was a leader in the Quaker community and one of the largest landowners in Newtown in 1702? Stephen Twining. Another family member, David Twining and his wife, raised Edward Hicks, the painter, after Hicks's mother died.
Stop #8: The stone (ashlar) used to build the Olde Church of St Andrew came from what quarry? Lewis Buckman Quarry.
Stop #10: What house shares its foundation with the footing of a bridge? McMasters House.
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| 23 N State Street, Newtown Borough Hall (1857-1858) is said to be the oldest building in Pennsylvania still in use for its original purpose as borough chambers |
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| 30 N State Street (location of wayside marker), Newtown Common & Creek is one block west on Greene Street, and is what is left of the original 30-acre Common |
Stop #23: The Newtown Creek is a tributary of what other creek? Neshaminy Creek.
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| 25 N State Street, Glazier Jewish Center (well! I thought I could get the history of this building - not!) (not on tour) |
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| 120 N State Street, Newtown Theatre (1831, making it the oldest "movie" theater in the country, although it was built as a social hall) |
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| 156 N State Street (1860 for James & William Randall) as the "North State Street" stop |
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| 218 N State Street, Macedonia Baptist Church (1953, replacing a 1914 frame church) |
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| N Sycamore Street south of Jefferson Avenue, the wayside marker for William Penn's New Town; as noted before William Penn planned a "New Town" in this location, and his surveyor, Thomas Holme, produced a map of Pennsylvania with "New Town" plotted on it |
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| 203 N Sycamore Street (1836), formerly The Saloon, has been a private residence, jail, hospital, and place of worship; during the Civil War there was a confrontation between Southern sympathizers who patronized the then hotel and Union troops home on furlough looking for refreshment |
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| 221 N Sycamore Street, Brooks House on one of the lots created when the Newtown Common was divided and sold (since no one owned the land of the Common, no one took care of it) |
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| 223 N Sycamore Street, Boyd-Yardley House (oldest section 1808) |
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| "Harry: A Kind Soul and Friend to All" is apparently the grandfather of Catherine Chamberlain who owns Eden Organics Salon & Spa at 227 N Sycamore Street |
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| N Sycamore Street at Silo Drive, site of Goodnoe Farm & Dairy Bar (1920 dairy farm established, 1955 restaurant established, closed 2006) |
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| 76 N Sycamore Road, Old Presbyterian Church (1769) was built when James Boyd, who lived just up the street, was minister (1769-1814) |
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| 2 Swamp Road, Buckman Farm Springhouse and Buckman House (c 1860-1870 in Victorian Second Empire style); the farm represents the last surviving agriculturally-related structures located next to the Common |
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| 2 S Sycamore Street, site of Washington's Headquarters, where as a guest of Mrs Hannah Harris, George Washington used the house as his headquarters from December 24th to 30th, 1776 during the Battle of Trenton |
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| 4 S Sycamore Street, the current Goodnoe Farm & Dairy Bar (not on tour) |
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| S Sycamore Street between Swamp Road and Cambridge Lane, site of Twining Farm on a tract of valuable land between Neshaminy Creek and Newtown Creek, which was purchased by Stephen Twining |
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| 138 S Sycamore Street, Olde Church of St Andrew (1880) was built by Catholic families of laborers who arrived in Newtown with the opening of the railroad in 1878 |
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| 13 W Centre Avenue, McMasters House (c 1833, purchased in 1863 by Robert McMasters, a blacksmith) |
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| Centre Avenue Bridge (1796) and the rear of the McMasters House; the bridge is the oldest remaining bridge in Bucks County and the fourth oldest in Pennsylvania |
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| Newtown Creek from the Washington Avenue Bridge |
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| 1 E Washington Avenue, Brick Hotel (1763) also housed captive Hessian officers and George Washington's staff in 1776 |
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| 2-4 S State Street, Paxson-Croasdale Building (1853) was the center of Newtown's commercial activities and was the Newtown stop of the Newtown Electric Street Railway Company (1897-1923) with service to Doylestown, Langhorne, Bristol and Trenton with connections to Philadelphia |
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| 5 S State Street, Temperance House (c 1722) was part tavern and part schoolhouse, and became an inn after the Revolutionary War |
We returned to the car and made one more stop.
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| Stop #19b: 2987 S Eagle Road, Durham Road Toll House (in operation 1870-1920 at its original location at Durham Road and N Sycamore Road; it was moved to this location in 1955) |
End of the Newtown Heritage Walk.
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