South Delaware County, PA (8/30/2020)

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Delaware County, PA was created in 1789 when Chester County was divided. The city of Chester was the county seat of Chester County, then became the county seat of Delaware County. The current county seat is Media, PA. The area of Delaware County was the first part of what was to become Pennsylvania to be settled by Europeans.

First, Upland, PA:

Cheshire House (1716), named for the county in England
from where most of the Society of Friends/Quakers came

John P Crozer II Mansion (1879-1880, in Victorian Gothic and
Queen Anne styles, made almost entirely of California redwood)

John P Crozer II, in cotton manufacturing and a director of the Delaware County Trust Company, was the grandson of John P Crozer. 

Caleb Pusey House (1683, constructed of handmade bricks) is
the only building still standing which can claim documented
association with William Penn, who visited on several occasions

Caleb Pusey had come to Pennsylvania in 1682 to serve Penn as manager and agent for the Chester Mills, the first official Proprietary saw and grist mill to be established by Penn in the colony.

Caleb Pusey House detail of brick and stonework (KSS)

Pennock Log Cabin (1790 in Springfield Township, moved
here in 1965) was built by Caleb Pusey's great great granddaughter,
Lydia Jackson Pennock, and William Pennock

Crozer Schoolhouse (1847 or 1849) was provided by John P Crozer,
one of his many philanthropic endeavors

Old Main (1857-1858, as Upland Normal Institute to house
and educate the children of the poor, by John P Crozer)

The Upland Normal Institute closed in 1861 due to scarlet fever, then smallpox, that decimated faculty and students. From 1862-1865, the building served as a hospital treating wounded soldiers from both the Union and the Confederacy. From 1865-1868 it was leased by the Pennsylvania Military Academy. The descendants of John P Crozer established the Crozer Theological Seminary in 1868.

"Martin Luther King, Jr., minister and civil rights leader, attended Crozer Theological Seminary where he earned his Bachelor of Divinity degree. King’s three years (1948-1951) at Crozer were a key period in shaping his philosophy of nonviolent social change for which he later became a Nobel Peace Prize honoree in 1964." 

In 1970, the seminary closed and merged with the Rochester Theological Seminary in Rochester, New York. The seminary buildings were then used by Crozer Hospital, which started as a home for incurables (1898) and a hospital (1902) endowed by J Lewis Crozer. Crozer Hospital grew into the Crozer-Chester Medical Center.
Back to the Crozer Seminary campus:

Pearl Hall (1871 as the library) is constructed of serpentine stone (KSS)

Davis House (1881)

Vedder House (1887)

Crozer Arboretum/Crozer Garden: quote from Gardenvisit.com:
"The gardens have a gardenesque character."

We had not brought our machetes to clear the path to Chester Creek

A pond is surrounded by fencing

Plaque for the Leona Gold Garden, part of
Crozer Arboretum created by her husband, Dr Herman Gold

Evans House (1890)

Pollard House (1868) (KSS)

President's House (1868)

Next: Chester, PA:

Chester Court House (1724) is said to be the oldest
public building still standing in the United States

Chester National Bank Building (c 1814) (KSS)

Gas street light? (KSS)

Former Delaware County National Bank (1882-1884,
by Patrick A Welsh in Renaissance Revival style)

Penn Landing Historical Marker (KSS)

Penn Landing Monument (1882, by John Struthers)

Penn Landing marker with the Penn family coat of arms

Atlas Obscura notes: "a block south from the park places the actual landing site along the railroad grade on the Delaware River, in an industrial waste site of the Kimberley-Clark plant on the waterfront. Thus, William Penn would have landed for the first time in the province of Pennsylvania on what is now a toilet paper factory."

Next: Essington, PA: 

Governor Printz Park with replica dwellings representing
New Gothenburg, the new capital of New Sweden that
Governor Johan Printz had moved from Fort Christina
(in the area of Wilmington, DE) in 1643

In 1655 Sweden gave up its attempts to colonize in the New World after the Dutch took over all their forts/settlements.

Governor Printz Park horseshoe courts

A pleasant Sunday afternoon on the Delaware River

Statue of Governor Johan Printz (1972, by Carl Lindborg)

Game board with quotes from letters of New Sweden

One of the game board "spaces" (KSS)

We planned on visiting the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, but it was closed due to storm damage.

Next: Norwood, PA.

Colonial style split rail fence

Morton Morton House (c 1750) is located at the
confluence of the Muckinipattis Creek and Darby Creek

Morton Morton was first cousin to John Morton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

Brick design detail

View from the Morton Morton House of Darby Creek and
across to the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge (KSS)

Finally, Prospsect Park, PA:

Morton Mortenson or Mortonson Homestead (established c 1654,
rock-cut foundation, and from  dated c 1666, north end c 1698, 
south end in early 1700s, and center section c 1798) is considered
to be the oldest man-made structure in Pennsylvania and for a time
was the ferry house for the Darby Creek Ferry

Morton Mortonsen was born in Finland, which at the time was part of Sweden, and arrived in New Sweden about 1654. He was the great grandfather of John Morton, signer of the Declaration of Independence.