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Home : Quarterly Archives : Volume 40 |
Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society |
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Source: July 2003 Volume 40 Number 3, Pages 79–82 Images of Chesterbrook
In 1881 Alexander J. Cassatt (right), better known as A. J. and then first vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, purchased 632 acres in an area in Tredyffrin north of Swedesford Road and east of Mill Road. A map in A.E. Mueller's 1897 Atlas of Surveys Along the Line of the Pennsylvania Railroad (above) shows his "Chesterbrook Farm." He planned to breed horses for racing and raise champion dairy cows and sheep there. The farm had two houses from the Revolutionary War period, a massive barn, several large breeding stables, houses for employees, and at least 10 other buildings standing together in a village-like cluster. Valley Creek flowed through the middle.
Cassatt brought over Alexander Murdoch (above) from Scotland to manage his flock of Shropshire sheep. [1901 photograph from Country Life magazine reproduced in Memories of Chesterbrook Farm, Duportail History Group, 1991.]
The main farm group along the service road. The buildings were painted deep red, the same color used by the cars of the Pennsylvania Railroad. [1962 photograph from Memories of Chesterbrook Farm.]
A 1962 photograph showing the main area of Chesterbrook Farm. The white building to the left is the Lee-Bradford house, a stone building that was the headquarters of Generals Charles Lee and Thomas Bradford during the Revolutionary War. It was now the farm manager's office. The barn on the right was built in 1898 by Frank Furness, of Furness, Evans & Co., who designed other off-site buildings for Cassatt. It replaced another barn that had burned earlier that year.
The three photographs above show exterior views of the main house of Chesterbrook Farm, located west of the large barn area close to Mill Road. It was built in the 1700s and remodeled by Cassatt to include 5 bedrooms, 4 bathrooms, 2 sunporches, and servants' quarters. Cassatt gained fame with his racehorses and he and his wife entertained here in a grand manner. In 1968 the house was vandalized and burned down. [1963 photographs by Dorothy Reed are now in the Tredyffrin Easttown History Club archives.]
A 1991 view of the same location. The Lee-Bradford House on the left is now the Picket Post Swim and Tennis Club and the smaller barn now houses the Chesterbrook Academy, a preschool and kindergarten. These may be seen today about 1/5 of a mile on the left of Bradford Road. Turn left from the Chesterbrook Village Shopping Center onto Chesterbrook Boulevard and then right onto Bradford Road. [Both photographs from Memories of Chesterbrook Farm.]
[1963 photographs by Dorothy Reed. Now in the Tredyffrin Easttown History Club archives.] In 1906, at the age of 67, A. J. died of whooping cough. Chesterbrook Farm passed to his oldest son, Captain Edward Cassett who, after he married Eleanor, a beauty who was called Bunny, continued to race horses and entertain lavishly in the main house. He died suddenly in 1922 at the age of 53. Bunny was married again in 1924 to Dr. Joseph Packard Laird from Devon, but he died in 1927. From then until her death in 1962 at the age of 73 Bunny lived at the main house on Chesterbrook Farm. R. A. Colgan and then Peter Boland managed the farm for her. The horses were no longer there but the Guernsey cows produced prize-winning milk. In 1952 the cattle herd was auctioned off. In the 1950s the new Pennsylvania Turnpike cut across the north end of Chesterbrook Farm and in 1965 Route 202 was relocated and that cut across the southern part of the farm. These events are said to have greatly affected Bunny. In May 1963, a year after Bunny died, all the carriages in the barns were sold at auction. The 3 photographs at the left show this event. A. J. had been a promoter of better coach roads and had, at his own expense, built a macadam road between Chesterbrook Farm and the Berwyn railroad station. He had also macadamized Montgomery Avenue so he could travel between Cheswold, his home in Haverford, and Chesterbrook Farm. Since transportation was a major interest of AJ. it is not surprising that he had so many carriages. Shortly after Bunny's death the 514.4 acre farm was appraised at $580,000. In 1969 it was sold to the Great Valley Corporation for $2,322,000. |
