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Home : Quarterly Archives : Volume 17 |
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Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society |
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Source: July 1979 Volume 17 Number 3, Pages 73–81 Folk Names and Other Places No Longer on the Map
Part II This is a continuation of the compilation of "Folk Names and Other Places No Longer on the Map", a Club project to develop a list of place names formerly in use in Tredyffrin and Easttown Townships. In the first section, names once given to hills, hollows and ravines and to crossroads were listed. Top3. Settlements and Early Villages TopCabbagetown Cabbagetown was the popular name for the area later more formally known as Waterloo Mills, along the Darby Creek in the southeastern corner of Easttown Township on what is now Waterloo Road. The area was settled as early as in 1768, records indicating that a John Morris was operating a sawmill in the area from 1768 to 1774. Some time later a grist mill was established about a quarter of a mile below the sawmill. It is from the alleged practices of one of the millers, whose name (perhaps fortunately) is unknown, that the name Cabbagetown is derived. According to tradition, sometime around 1830 "the miller who ground the grist for the farmers near about had few scruples as to the amount he retained for his toll, and they were fortunate if they received one-half back". As these peculations became notorious, the area became known as Cabbagetown, from the use of "cabbage" to mean "to bag or pocket, to purloin or steal". The miller, it is also said, soon departed for parts unknown for lack of custom. Although the name Waterloo Mills was adopted when a post office was established in 1853, the hamlet was still widely known as Cabbagetown. As late as in February 1885 there is a reference in the West Chester Daily Local News to the purchase of "a good lot on the road to Cabbagetown" In the 1850's, when the village was perhaps at its most prosperous, it included the grist mill, several tenement houses, two farm houses, and a blacksmith, wheelwright and coachmaker's shop. #TEHCQ 12:42; DLN 2-19-1885 Also see Waterloo Mills; Hickory Hill TopChurchtown The small cluster of homes at the intersection of Berwyn Baptist Road and Fairfield Road in Tredyffrin Township, later known as Quigleyville or Quigleytown, was originally known as Churchtown. The name was derived from the African Methodist Episcopal Church located there. In about 1849 or 1850 the congregation of devout colored people first organized in the home of Henry and Sarah Roach and continued to meet in members' homes (and, for a time, in a nearby shop) for a dozen years. Land for a church building was conveyed to the trustees in 1856 for $50, and five years later, under the pastorate of Rev. Nelson Hughes and Rev. Charles Boardley the building was started. Construction work was interrupted by the Civil War, but was completed under Rev. W. H. Davis after the war ended. In 1901, under the pastorate of Rev. Elijah Byrd, the church was remodeled and the name Mt. Zion, Devon, adopted. The church at that time also became a part of the Philadelphia A.M.E. Conference. *P 164; TEHCQ 4:19 Also see Quigleyville; Mont Clare TopClarenceville In the late 1830's or early 1840's "a man by the name of Clarence" bought the old Lewis house and store on the old Lancaster Road in what is now a part of Berwyn. After renovating the buildings, he put a sign on his store naming the area Clarenceville. The name apparently never was generally accepted, however. *FLB Also see Reeseville TopClintonville Clintonville, also known as Clintonville Estate, was "situate on the north side of the Great Limestone Valley, in Tredyffrin Township" along Yellow Springs Road. In 1836 the community included a three-story paper mill "constructed and arranged for the manufacture of Bank Note or other fine paper", a stone warehouse, shop, combination store and dwelling house, two other large stone dwelling houses, four smaller stone dwelling houses "for the accommodation of workmen in the mill", a tenement house, and a stone spring house. Water for the mill was supplied from a large reservoir. One of the two large dwelling houses was formerly a "public house" known as the Fox Chase Tavern. The entire estate was offered at public auction on November 23, 1836 "without reserve on terms easy to purchase". *R&E 10-15-1836 TopCockle Town Cockletown was the early name by which a section of present-day northern Berwyn, along the old Lancaster Road (now Conestoga Road), was known. It extended for about a half mile along the road, from the Fox tavern (at what is now the intersection of Contention Lane with Conestoga Road) on the east to Peggy's Corner (the intersection of Howellville and Conestoga Roads) on the west, lying in both Tredyffrin and Easttown Townships. One of the earliest settlements in either township, the small hamlet consisted of fewer than twenty houses, "mostly of the log cabin type, built of oak or chestnut logs, with stone chimneys; occasionally one more pretentious had stout stone gable ends". Behind the houses were small cleared plots, planted to provide food for the family and livestock. The settlement flourished in the 18th century, before the relocation of the turnpike in 1792. The name is believed to have been derived from the cockle, or cornflower, "an imported European weed closely related to the ragged robin, which flourished and became very troublesome in the wheat fields". While it has also been suggested that Cockletown was a corruption of Cuckoldstown and that the latter was the original name for the area, it seems probable that the reverse was more likely the case, "doubtless originating in the vulgar wit of some scandal-monger of later days". With the relocation of the turnpike, the village became "just another backwoods settlement", though the half-mile straightaway of the old red clay roadbed became the scene of Sunday afternoon horse racing. *TEHCQ 1:19 Also see Peggy's Corner; Reeseville TopEvansville Evansville was an early name for the village at the intersection of the Paoli-Newtown-Darby Road with Leopard Road in Easttown Township. The area was originally mapped as Evansville by John Kauffman, a young surveyor. He was the son-in-law of John Evans, the owner of the Leopard tavern and other property in the area, and named it in honor of his wife's family. The village included the tavern, a blacksmith shop, a store, and perhaps eight or ten dwellings, and was the largest hamlet in Easttown Township for many years and the gathering place for the township on all public occasions. The area was more popularly known as The Leopard, however, and when a post office was established there in 1866 it officially took that name. *WPA; TEHCQ 10:72 TopGaysville A settlement along the old Lancaster Road, near where it now intersects the Lincoln Highway just west of the Tredyffrin Township line, was once known as Gaysville. The derivation of the name is not known, though it has been suggested that it perhaps was a reflection of the social life and group activities a crossroads community at that time could provide. *R: Conrad Wilson TopGlassley One of the earliest real estate promotions in this area, a town by the name of Glassley was planned, laid out and platted in 1800 by a Robert McClenachan soon after the completion of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike. (McClenachan obtained title to the land through his wife Amelia, a niece of the wife of Charles Thomson, Secretary of the Continental Congress.) The proposed town lay astride the new turnpike in Easttown Township, between what is now Old Lancaster Road and the Lincoln Highway. It extended for about a half a mile, from the present Weadley Road on the east to near the present-day Warren Avenue in Berwyn on the west. The plan for the town included five streets running in an east-west direction, from north to south, High, North, the Turnpike, South, and Pearl; and seven north-south streets, from east to west, McClenachan (now Valley Forge Road), Wayne, Thomson (now Fairfield Road), Washington, Franklin, Harrison, and Green. Within this grid of fifty-eight blocks, the land was subdivided into 585 lots. Only a few lots were ever sold, however, and the town of Glassley never really existed except "on paper". Its name was preserved for almost eighty years, however, in the Glassley School House, built in 1808 on land donated by McClenachan at the intersection of Washington and Pearl Streets; it, and a later Glassley School that replaced it after a fire, was used until 1888. The eastern part of the area was also known as Glassley Commons for many years and was used by the local militia for their drill before becoming part of a dairy farm. *TEHCQ 5:50 TopMt. Airy During the latter half of the 19th century and before the establishment of the railroad station on the Pennsylvania Railroad at Daylesford, the section along what is now Old Lancaster Road east of the Daylesford station in Tredyffrin Township was known as Mt. Airy. At one time there was a large tobacco farm in most of the area. A public school, built in 1852 to serve pupils from the western part of Reeseville and parts of Paoli, was located to the west of the the present St. Monica's cemetery and called the Mt. Airy School, It was used until 1890. *FLB; TEHCQ 7:95 Also see Scalp Level Nixon's Row A group of houses along the north side of the Lincoln Highway, just west of the intersection of Leopard Road with the highway in Easttown Township, was popularly known as Nixon's Row. It is believed that the name was derived from the builder of the houses. *AHC TopPinchtown Pinchtown was the name given to a small settlement in Easttown Township just below "the old sawmill of Jonathan T. Morris". South of the present-day Berwyn, between Cabbagetown and Newtown Square, it was on South Leopard Road near its intersection with Newtown Road. It is said that the name was derived from the low economic status of many of the area's residents, who had to "pinch" their pennies to make both ends meet. *AHC; R: Conrad Wilson TopPleasantville Pleasantville was located on the Leopard Road, about one-half mile south of the Lancaster Pike, in Easttown Township. It can probably be assumed that the name was derived from the feelings of its residents towards the area. In addition to several homes, it was also the location of "Sonny Hall", built in 1851 as a meeting place for the local Sons of Temperance, from which the hall's name was derived. In the mid-1850's the hall was also used as a meeting place for the "Know-Nothings" or Native American party, which at one time had over 150 members in this area. For a short time afterwards, Sonny Hall was also the meeting place for the Council of American Mechanics. *FLB; TEHCQ 10:83 TopQuigleytown (Quigleyville) The area around the Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church at the intersection of Berwyn Baptist and Fairfield Roads in Tredyffrin Township, once known as Churchtown, was in later years known as Quigleytown or Quigleyville, after George S, Quigley. A prominent contractor and local politician, Quigley lived in the area for over seventy-five years, from 1864 to 1941. He was a Republican County Committeeman for his last thirty years and was also a Township Supervisor. *P 164 Also see Churchtown; Mont Clare TopRennyson's Row Rennyson's Row was the name given to a row of eight stone houses, in a row along Swedesford Road east of Howellville, built as housing for the workers in the limestone quarries. A feature of the houses was a fresh water supply, running directly into the kitchens of the houses through a gravity feed from a spring. The name was taken from the owner of the quarries, William Rennyson. TEHCQ 7:30 TopSalem The area in Tredyffrin Township along Yellow Springs Road in the vicinity of the Salem Methodist Episcopal Church, about a mile west of the octagonal Diamond Rock School House, took its name from the church and was known as Salem. The church, built in 1833, was originally located on the south side of the road, where a small graveyard is still in existence. In 1878 a new church was built, on the other side of the road, and continued in use until the 1930's. It was sold in 1934 after many of its members and their descendants had died or moved away. In 1863 a public school was also built in the area, known as the Salem School. It was closed in 1939. *TEHCQ 7:1, 7:82 Also see Tablet TopSiterville The Siter family was one of the early settlers in what is now known as Strafford. From 1791 to 1812 they were the inn-keepers at the Spread Eagle tavern, first Adam Siter, then John, and finally Edward. When a small village grew up around the crossroads of the Lancaster Pike and Valley (now Old Eagle School) Road to the west of the tavern, it became known as Siterville, after the area's most prominent residents. In the early nineteenth century, the village included a blacksmith shop, toll gate, store, saddlery, shoemaker, tailor, and wheelwright, in addition to a block of stone houses. The name fell into disuse after the Spread Eagle post office, originally in the Spread Eagle Inn, was moved from the inn further west into Tredyffrin Township, next to the Eagle station. Since the post office continued to be known as Spread Eagle, the entire section between it and the inn adopted this name. #TEHCQ 5:34, 36; R: Conrad Wilson Also see Spread Eagle TopValleytown (Valleyton) When Tredyffrin Township was organized in 1707, its name was adopted from the Welsh words meaning "township in a wide, cultivated valley". The name was occasionally translated into English, and on some early deeds the township is referred to as Valleytown or Valleyton. *GVA; R: Conrad Wilson TopWacktown The area along what is now Old Eagle School Road, between Upper Gulph Road on the north and the railroad on the south in Tredyffrin Township, was at one time known as Wacktown. The name was derived from a John Elling Wack, who owned much of the land in the area at the time. The family was originally named van Wack, and emigrated from Holland. *R: Dorothy Reed TopWalkerville (Walkertown) Before the Chester Valley Railroad was constructed in 1852, the settlement at the crossroads of Swedesford Road, Old State Road, and the Baptist (now Devon State) Road was known as Walkerville or Walkertown. Its name came from one of the more prominent residents, Richard C. Walker, a great-great grandson of Lewis Walker, one of the first settlers in the township. Earlier, during the encampment of the American army at Valley Forge in 1777-1778, a picket post had been located in the area, north of the crossroads, where a weekly produce market was also set up. When a station on the Chester Valley Railroad was located in the village, it was given the name of Centerville. *TEHCQ 13:19 Also see Centerville; New Centerville TopWeadleytown Weadleytown was a relatively obscure little village in eastern Tredyffrin Township, off the main line of travel between Radnor and King of Prussia. It was named for William Weadley, a landowner in the area, and was settled in the late nineteenth century. *P 216 TopReferences: TEHCQ Tredyffrin-Easttown History Club Quarterly: volume and page cited R Recollections of various TE History Club members FLB Unpublished notes of Franklin L. Burns AHC Student papers, American Heritage Class at Conestoga High School taught by Conrad Wilson DLN West Chester Daily Local News R&E West Chester Register & Examiner WPA Works Progress Administration: Historic Roads Survey 1935 P Edward Pinkowski: Chester County Place Names (to be continued) |
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Page last updated: 2010-04-16 at 22:00 EDT |