THE EARLY HISTORY OF SPRINGFIELD DELAWARE COUNTY,  PENNSYLVANIA

There are few communities in this great country of ours that have such an interesting and historic background as that of Springfield. Situated in one of the most beautiful and fertile parts of Delaware County, the area has been the scene of home life for nearly three centuries. The first established white settlement was made by the hardy Quaker pioneers who arrived with William Penn at Chester in 1682. Some of them secured land grants in the Springfield territory as early as 1681 but it was several years later before actual residence was made. Listings of the family names on the land grants issued prior to the year 1700 show the nationality background of the newcomers. They were mostly English and Welsh, with an admixture of Scotch-Irish, Dutch, Swedish and German surnames. Prominent among them were Coppock, Taylor, Lownes, Lester or Leicester, Maddock, Kennerly, Edge, Bonsal, James, Yarnall, Thomas, Powel, Maris, Stidman, Levis, Simcock, Smith, Wood, Elliott, Clews, Cartledge, and Foulke. Slightly later the names of Hall, Evans, Pennock, Davis, Ogden, Pancoast, Gleaves, Worrall or Worrell, and many others whose descendants still reside in the township, appeared on the tax lists.

Springfield is first mentioned as a governmental entity in 1686. In that year Peter Lester was named as constable by the court at Chester. In the same year George Maris, Samuel Levis, and Bartholomew Coppock, all prominent citizens of the frontier community were appointed commissioners to the first Court of Equity. Even at this early period, the inhabitants were eager to assume their civic responsibilities - a clarion call to service that Springfield citizens today never fail to heed. Farming and the grazing of cattle were the principal occupations of the inhabitants of the township. Each cattle owner had his own brand and the strays that wandered off into the virgin forest were usually returned unless destroyed by wolves. These predatory beasts became so numerous that in 1687 a bounty by the authorities for their destruction.

The white newcomers had little trouble with the Indians. This was no doubt owing to the wise and just principles inaugurated by Penn in all his dealings with the natives. The local tribes belonged to the Lenni-Lenape family, more frequently termed the Delaware Indians, since they inhabited the sylvan Delaware River Valley. They maintained several villages or wigwams in the Springfield locale and one large settlement was situated on Lownes Run, a small stream flowing into Crum Creek. The Delawares were an ancient tribe designated by the other Indians as a "Grandfathertribe" and reciprocated the fairness of the Quaker dealings with them. Their actions proved them to be peace loving and sagacious. The historian can but conjecture what would have happened to the gentle Quakers had they decided to settle in lands occupied by the warlike Iroquois further north. Penn’s colony might have become a great tragedy instead of a "great experiment" in colonization. Some have cast aspersions on the bravery of the Delawares because of their conquest by the Iroquois. Nothing could be less deserved by the courageous Delawares for the truth is that the Delawares held off the well armed invaders who had been fully equipped with fire-arms through their trading with the French. The local tribes were armed only with stone-age weapons - bows and arrows, but even so it took the Iroquois twenty years to make victory certain. In this struggle of gunpowder versus raw courage the Delawares proved themselves to the satisfaction of the historian. Even today arrow-heads and stone implements are discovered in the fields and woodlands of Springfield Township showing evidence of the former occupancy of the redman.

A tribute must be paid to the early residents for their bravery in facing the dangers of the wilderness. Jane Lownes, a widow with several children, came to Springfield probably about 1683, although the patent for her land bears the date of "second month, tenth, 1685." Not having a dwelling available, the little family lived in a cave until a home could be constructed. The site of the cave was marked by her descendants in 1799 and while the cave has long been filled in, the monument still remains as a reminder of this typical "Pioneer Mother". It also appears that there was a wilderness trail connecting Springfield with Haverford and some folks made the journey on foot in spite of the isolated location of the settlements. No doubt there was many an expatriated Welshman who upon making the rugged trek likened the wilderness to his native Wales, and his heart was heavy. The present boundaries of Springfield do not represent the original lines. The boroughs of Morton and Swarthmore, formerly known as Westdale, at one time were incorporated in Springfield an at an early date, both Darby and Ridley townships encroached on the present Springfield area.

Gradually, as the influx of new inhabitants increased, roads replaced the Indian trails, following the valleys and circling the high, densely forested hills. Darby Road or the road to Amosland, as it was sometimes termed since it led into the Swedish fringe area along the Delaware was laid out "12^th month, 9^th, 1687." We know this road today as Springfield Road and at one time it was overhung with huge oak and sycamore trees. The Delaware County Turnpike, or Baltimore Pike was opened in 1701. This was a highly traveled road even in colonial days and the lumbering, heavily laden Conestoga wagons on their way southward traversed it. At one time the pike was paved with sturdy planks of oak and hardwoods and a recent excavation in the vicinity revealed some of the ancient boards still in good condition.

There are many persons who assume that the township acquired its name from the abundant springs that are everywhere in the area. While this is a logical assumption, there is no actual proof that it was so named. From the large number of settlements in the English colonies that bear the name of Springfield it is quite possible that some of the homesick new arrivals wished to retain the familiar name of their village dwelling place back in old England. The exact number of inhabitants recorded in the early settlement of the township is not generally known. However, the tax list of 1776 shows that there were 60 persons taxable, who paid a total tax of 13 pounds, 15 shillings, and three pence. Allowing five persons to one taxable, the average home number, a conservative estimate of the population at 300 would be in order. Today, many decades later, the population figure is drawing closer to the predicted population high-water mark of approximately 34,000 persons, based on the present high residential zoning standards.

Many of the early settlers are buried in the ancient Quaker Burial Ground; located at the intersection of Old Sproul Road, or as it was known in colonial days Chester Road and Springfield Road. Given to the Quakers by Bartholomew Coppock, the younger in 1686, the two-acre tract contains a possible 5,000 burials, and while few of the graves are marked today with headstones, those that are marked bear the names of families appearing on the early land-grant lists. The first meetinghouse of the sect was probably of logs and erected by the worshippers. It was constructed in 1701 and destroyed by fire in 1737. A second meeting house was built of durable Delaware County stone from local quarries and used until 1851, when the present structure was erected using much of the stone in the new building. During the construction of the present Meetinghouse the ancient date marker from the previous house of worship disappeared and to this day the search for it continues. Legend has it that it somehow found its way into the sturdy rock wall surrounding the property and eventually the stone may be found. Springfield Meeting was known as the "Backwoods Meeting" in Quaker circles because of its isolated location. This situation has been changed in nearly three centuries. In keeping with the great interest of the "Society of Friends" in education, a school was maintained on the site on several occasions and the small frame building on the grounds today was built in 1835 for the maintenance of a school and library. Because of the great historic significance of the school the "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Museum and Historical Commission" has furnished the official metal marker granted to authentic historic sites and the location will be recorded in the state guidebook. An ancient white oak located in the burial grounds is probably the oldest tree still standing in the township and is a reminder of the dense virgin forests of yesterday that clothed the hillsides.

While the meeting site was center for township activities of a religious and intellectual nature, for years it was also identified with the name of Benjamin West, the Quaker artist, who attended there for a time as a boy before journeying to Europe. Born in a dwelling, now located on the campus of Swarthmore College, in 1738, West traveled to Europe and finally settled in England, where he became a founder of the Royal Academy and attained great fame by his numerous religious and heroic action canvases. It is estimated that his works exceed 3,000 in number and would require a gallery 800 feet long, 50 feet broad, and 20 feet high to contain all. In 1873 fire destroyed the interior of the West birthplace effacing some of the boyish attempts at art that he had executed upon the walls. It is the irony of fate that at the present time the Township of Springfield does not contain a work of art done by her illustrious son. As evidence of the tolerance and charitable nature of the early inhabitants of the township, tradition says that several families that were expelled from the ill-fated French Canadian Colony of Acadia in 1758 were sheltered in Springfield Township. These victims, members of a group about whom Longfellow wrote his memorable poem "Evangeline," were made subject to the harsh persecution of the English who suspected them of treason because of their French ancestry and scattered them by the shipload all along the Atlantic seaboard where many died in misery and poverty. Because of the ample water supply existing in the township, every creek and run supported its grist mill and furnished power for the various colonial types of manufacturing. Along Darby Creek, in the vicinity of the settlement known today as Addingham, several mills devoted to the manufacture of woolen yarn were in operation about the middle of the eighteenth century. Remains of these mills may be still seen. A structure known as the Tuscarora Mills was located near the bridge connecting with Bishop Road. It was built in 1845 by a local resident, George Burnley, who later leased it to Samuel Levis, a descendant of the original Samuel Levis who, in 1686, built on the bluff overlooking the site the still-standing farmhouse with its interesting checkerboard brick construction. Levis operated the mill until 1870 when it passed into various other hands and finally was demolished. What is known presently as the Victoria Plush Mills was founded in 1778 by John Lewis. The buildings served as a sawmill in 1788 and a paper mill in 1810 and remained in operation by the Lewis family 1897. On the upper reaches of Crum Creek, a mill furnishing the power for "Beatty’s Edge Tool Manufactury" existed about the middle of the eighteenth century. At Heyville, named for the prominent Hey family, located on Darby Creek adjacent to Addingham, several yarn mills known as Keystone Mills No. 1 and No. 2 were operated almost into the twentieth century. English and Scotch weavers constituted most of the skilled workmen and some of them and their descendants still live in the general area. Parts of the local Darby Creek Valley are very reminiscent of Yorkshire with its white-washed-stone, mill-workers’ houses and rugged hillsides. The broad Yorkshire accent is still recognizable in the speech of many Springfield citizens.

An interesting development based on the plentiful water supply of Crum Creek was created by the canny Scotchman Thomas

Leiper in 1779. He opened a stone quarry from which many of the ancient farmhouses in the locale were constructed. The old quarry is frequently searched today by those making mineral collections and some fine quartz crystals may be obtained by the expending of a little patience and effort. Leiper had wide vision and constructed snuff, cotton, and grist mills. The settlement was named Avondale, and among the many interesting relics still to be seen there are Leiper’s old manor house with its famous classically designed doorway, Leiper’s security vault constructed to resist attach by man or nature, and the remains of what constituted the first attempt to construct a railway in Delaware County.

Leiper desired to establish a method of transportation for stone from his quarry to Ridley Creek, one mile away. The attempt was successful and the horse-drawn railway was operated for 19 years. The remains of a canal, of which one of the locks was built in 1828 by George Leiper a son of Thomas Leiper are still to be seen in a fair state of preservation. Also located in the Crum Creek area is the site of the first forge in Delaware County. The spacious grounds of Strath Haven Inn occupy the land today and the section also housed the first powder mill which was built in 1776 to manufacture ammunition for the hardly pressed Continental Army that was soon to fight the bloody battle of the Brandywine at Chadd’s Ford and Birmingham. Established in 1864 at a time when the area of Westdale was still a part of Springfield Township, the Hicksite Quaker institution of learning, Swarthmore College, has added much to the educational background of the neighborhood. It has over 850 students enrolled currently and the college’s beautiful campus spreads over 250 magnificently landscaped acres bordered by Crum Creek. The institution, while founded by the Hicksite Quaker group, is entirely non-sectarian and a number of Springfield students are enrolled there.

Springfield is largely residential and while most of the old farm land in the township has been acquired for building purposes, many park areas have been retained for recreational uses and improvements have been made by an alert township park board. The orderly development of the township throughout the years has been the result of intelligent co-operation between the Board of Township Commissioners and the citizenry. Determined to maintain the high standard set by the past, this co-operation is even more marked today. Today, Springfield Township is a hub of commerce that provides residence for 24,160 people who enjoy many municipal amenities.

Townships like Springfield are an integral part of the bone and sinew of the United States. But such elemental parts of a great country are not created over night; they are the product of slow and painful growth emerging from the mists of time as a well-rounded community. Acknowledging its debt to the past, the Board of Commissioners unanimously passed the resolution given to them on October 23, 1950. It was presented by the Historical Society of Springfield and reads in part, "With the thought in mind that God fearing people, from many lands representing all denominations of the Christian faith, came to this land of promise to establish new homes and to worship God as they chose, we hereby request the Board of Commissioners of Springfield Township to designate the first Sunday in November of each year as "Springfield Day" in Commemoration of the founding of this ancient town, one of the oldest in our country."

With a wonderful past, Springfield Township, Delaware County, looks forward to a greater future.