Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
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Source: October 1990 Volume 28 Number 4, Pages 155–159


History on a Sign Post II

Eleanor Chworowsky, Mary R. Ives, Bob Goshorn

Page 155

[Note: This is the second in a series on the derivation of various road names and the way in which these names reflect the development of the area and are history on a sign post. Part I of the series appeared in the previous issue.]

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Paoli

Although The Paoli Heights Land Company was organized in 1881 "for the purpose of purchasing and selling improved and unimproved real estate, or holding, leasing, or improving the same" in the area around the Paoli railroad station, the village of Paoli as we know it today developed for the most part in the last decade of the 19th century and in the 20th century. In the 1894 guide to "Suburban Homes on the Lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad", the main comments about Paoli were that "here the country burst forth in all its original grandeur" and that the "beautiful Chester Valley can be seen from the station, which reaches the elevation of nearly six hundred feet above tidewater".

The principal east-west road through the area, of course, was Lancaster Avenue, so named because it went to Lancaster, and later also sometimes referred to as the Lincoln Highway or Route 30. [It was discussed more fully in the previous issue.]

Page 156

Crossing Lancaster Avenue near the station is Valley Road, identified as North Valley Road to the north of Lancaster Avenue, and as South Valley Road as it runs south from the highway. Its name was derived from the fact that it ran down into the Chester Valley or Great Valley; on older maps earlier in the century it was sometimes identified as Chester Valley Road.

Intersecting Lancaster Avenue to the east of Valley Road, and running to the southeast from the highway, is Darby Road, which likewise took its name from the place it went to. The road is also known as Darby-Paoli Road as it passes south through Easttown Township. (In earlier times this road crossed the Lancaster Road and continued to the northwest past St. Peter's Church and on to Yellow Springs: in the petition of Joshua Evans for a license to operate the tavern that later became the Paoli Inn, he noted that there was "no house of entertainment between 'Yellow Springs' and the Square in Newtown on the road leading through a large body of the upper part of this county by the Valley Church to Chester, Darby, &c")

At the eastern end of Paoli there is also a cross road over Lancaster Avenue. The road running north from the highway, down into the valley to Howellville, was shown on earlier maps as Howellville Road, for reasons obvious. It is now known as Bear Hill Road, recalling that in the 19th century the Black Bear tavern, or "the Bear", was located at the top of the hill on the southeast corner of the intersection of the road with the Lancaster Road. Similarly, the road running south is known as Leopard Road because it went to the little village of the Leopard, which, in turn, took its name from the Leopard Inn or "Sign of the Leopard" tavern there. Both roads today are also identified as State Route 252.

On the south side of Lancaster Avenue, between Leopard Road and Darby Road, is Chestnut Road. It is believed that its name came from chestnut trees in the area; in the survey of the lands of The Paoli Heights Improvement Company, several boundaries are defined in part by chestnut trees. For many years the road was familiarly known as Mud Alley, indicative of the condition in which it was kept.

Running east and west between Chestnut Road and Darby Road, south of the highway, is the one-block long Craig Road. Shown on some older maps as Craigland Road, its name came from the Craig family that owned a large tract of land there for many years. (At one time a second road, Woodland Avenue, also ran between Chestnut and Darby roads to the south of Craig Road, but it has since then been abandoned, as has the southernmost part of Chestnut Road.)

At the western end of Paoli, running diagonally from the Pike to the southwest, is a road to West Chester, the county seat, known variously as the West Chester Pike and the Paoli Pike, since it connects those two places. Before the new limited access highway was constructed through the valley, this road was a part of U.S. Route 202, and hence is sometimes also known as Old Route 202.

To the west of that intersection, running north from the highway to the railroad tracks past the post office, is Greenwood Avenue. Its name came from the Greenwood family whose land was bordered on the east side by the road.

Page 157

Connecting Greenwood Avenue with North Valley Road, Paoli Plaza runs east and west between the highway and the railroad. Its name came from the shopping center that opened on the north side of the road in the 1960s.

Circular Avenue, which goes from the intersection of the West Chester Pike and Lancaster Avenue and curves around to intersect with Darby Road, obviously took its name from its approximately circular course. On the 1914 railroad atlas it is shown as Orchard Road.

Connecting Circular Avenue with Lancaster Avenue is Spring Street. Its name came from springs located at the end of the road; at one time water from the spring was pumped up to the railroad to supply the steam locomotives then in use on the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Three roads lead off from Circular Avenue between Spring Street and South Valley Road.

The first is Wistar Road. Its name may have come from the Wister family that owned land in the vicinity (although it is spelled differently), but it has also been suggested that it was so named when the area was developed in the early 1920s by Mrs. Susannah Bodine, who knew of a Wistar Road in Villanova and, liking the name, gave a road in her development in Paoli the same name.

Cobblestone Drive was named by the developer of the area, Joseph Palmer, from the cobblestone gateway and walls at the entrance to the development.

Poplar Lane, running south from Circular Avenue and then around to South Valley Road, is another example of roads named for trees.

On the north side of the railroad, Central Avenue runs parallel to the Pike and the railroad, the section between Bear Hill Road and North Valley Road known as East Central Avenue, and that extending west from North Valley Road as West Central Avenue. The road dates back to the 19th century and is shown on the 1897 map of the area. Its name obviously indicates that it was central to something -- but what it was between appears to be no longer known.

The area along West Central Avenue was developed before that to the east of North Valley Road, which in the early 20th century still comprised a part of the Biddle and Dingee estates.

Keystone Road, running north from West Central Avenue, took its name from the Keystone Cement Company, a firm owned by John Dalton who developed the area in the early 1900s. (Several of the homes along the road, appropriately, are made from the cement or concrete blocks that were a product of the company, and typical of the period.)

Page 158

To the west, the ecology of the area obviously gave Woodbine Avenue its name, while the names of Hollow Road and Summit Road similarly reflect the topography of their locations.

Two other roads in the area were named for local families who owned land in the vicinity in the early 1900s. Whitworth Road took its name from the Whitworth family (David Whitworth, incidentally, was a grandfather of Mary Whitworth Barbee, one of our club members), while Garrett Rroad derived its name from the Sylvester Garrett family.

Park Avenue, running east and west between Whitworth and Garrett roads, was so named, it is believed, because it borders on the Airdrie Nature Preserve to its north.

At the west end of West Central Avenuel and running to the north, and actually intersecting with it in Willistown Township, is North Cedar Hollow Road. It starts near the railroad "car barns" and proceeds down into the valley to Swedesford Road, passing under the tracks of the Trenton Cut-off and across those of the old Chester Valley/Reading Railroad at the site of the former Cedar Hollow station. Originally Cedar Hollow Road also continued south over the Pennsylvania Railroad to Lancaster Avenue and connected with what is now South Cedar Hollow Road in Willistown Township. (Through the courtesy of Robert Vallyo, a member of the Willistown Historic Commission, we have a picture of the old bridge over the railroad. It is his recollection that the bridge may have been abandoned and torn down in the mid-1930s when Route 30 was straightened to eliminate the sharp S-turns at Green Tree and near the General Warren Inn.)

Back to the east and running south from West Central Avenue is Railroad Avenue. It obviously took its name from its location leading to the railroad tracks and right of way.

The area along East Central Avenue, known as the Biddle Tract and later as the Dalton Brothers Tract, was not developed until the mid-1930s and after the Second World War.

Several street names in the development reflect the time when it was apart of the Biddle and Dingee estates.

Biddle Road obviously was given its name for the Biddle family, while Rochslach Road was derived from the name the Biddles gave their property. Similarly, Orchard Road took its name from an old orchard on the Biddlee state, through which the road passed. (Incidentally, both a barn and the coachman's cottage on the estate were later remodeled and converted into homes.)

Fennerton Road, by the same token, was named for the Fennerton estate of the Dingee family. The Dingees owned a large estate, on both sides of Lancaster Avenue, including a livestock and sheep farm on what is now the Paoli Shopping Center.

Page 159

Pennington Road, to the east of Fennerton Road, reflects the name of an earlier landholder in the area. In 1768 a Thomas Pennington purchased a 224-acre tract of land along Lancaster Road and extending to the north from Joshua Evans, and the Pennington family continued to hold parts of this tract for almost one hundred years until 1866, when the last 75 acres were sold.

The names of other roads in the Biddle Tract reflect the developers of the tract.

Arlington Road was named for Arlington Supplee, who built many of the homes in the early development of the property.

The two easternmost roads were similarly originally named Thomas Road and Vincent Road, named for Thomas and Vincent Dalton, the two brothers who were the original developers of the tract. Thomas Road was later renamed Dalton Road, presumably to avoid confusion with other Thomas roads.

And Jolind Road, an extension to the east of Rochslach Road, was named by Joseph Palmer, a later developer in the area, for his two children, Joseph Jr. and Linda Palmer.

There are also two other more recent roads in the old Biddle tract: Lisa Drive and Maude Circle. We are still trying to find out why they were so named.

Thus, in the road names on sign posts in Paoli are again reflected the places of importance to which the early roads went, the early land holders in the area, and persons involved in the 20th century development of the village, as well as its ecology and topography -- history on a sign post.

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INDEX TO ROADS

Road Name Page Road Name Page Road Name Page
Arlington Road 159 Hollow Road 158 Paoli Plaza 157
Park Avenue 158
Bear Hill Road 156 Jolind Road 159 Pennington Road 159
Biddle Road 158 Poplar Lane 157
Keystone Road 157
Chestnut Road 156 Railroad Avenue 158
Circular Avenue 157 Lancaster Avenue 155 Roshslach Road 158
Cobblestone Drive 157 Leopard Road 156 Route 30 155
Craig Road 156 Lincoln Highway 155
Lisa Drive 159 South Valley Road 155
Dalton Road 159 Spring Street 157
Darby Road 156 Maude Circle 159 Summit Road 157
Darby-Paoli Road 156
North Cedar Hollow Road 158 Vincent Road 159
East Central Avenue 157 North Valley Road 155
West Central Avenue 157
Fennerton Road 158 Old Route 202 156 West Chester Pike 155
Orchard Road 158 Whitworth Road 157
Garrett Road 157 Wistar Road 157
Greenwood Road 156 Paoli Pike 156 Woodbine Road 157
 
 

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