History Unlocked-Feb 2017, Society Founding
Polecat Road House – The Historic Landmark that Started It All – Part II By: Karen Kendus In the last installment of History Unlocked, I discussed an important landmark found within the borders of Concord Township called the Polecat Road House. The preserved building standing there today looked rather different than the building donated to Concord Township by Arters Brothers Realty Company. The house in question was in grave disrepair and according to one Daily Local reporter of the day, in a condition where “winter’s savagery” could do it in. As a result, a group of dedicated volunteers with a desire to preserve this 18th century structure established Concord Township Historical Society, which has lasted 50 years, without any sign of slowing down. In November 1965, Arters Brothers Realty Company acquired the Polecat Road House and surrounding pr operty. Arters Brothers planned to build a housing development named Fox Valley, which you can find today along Polecat Road. In July 1967, Arters Brothers transferred the Polecat Road House and the one acre upon which it sat to Concord Township for $1. Concord Township supervisor, Sam Upperman, saw a need for a separate group dedicated to preservation of the house. Through his contacts and friendships with fellow township residents, Mr. Upperman gathered a group at his home on the evening of January 30, 1967 to “discuss the organizing of an Historical Society.” Sixteen Concord Township residents formed the original Concord Township Historical Society. They chose office positions that night with Mr. Upperman as their president. The first order of business for the newly formed Concord Township Historical Society was to review the property and raise funds for the preservation of Polecat Road House. Concord Township Historical Society had several arc hitects look at the structure first. They dated it no later than 1750, which was crucial information. The records from the time are incomplete, and the actual date is still unknown. Unfortunately, even though the house had occupants only two years before the Township received it, the house itself was crumbling. The roof needed to be replaced. As with many old houses, the floor needed replacing in some areas, but reinforcing and leveling in others. The double fireplaces were plastered shut. The winding staircases on either end were missing pieces in places and would also need to be replaced. A portion of these funds was collected at the annual St. John’s Concord Episcopal Church house and garden tour, sponsored in 1967 by the Historical Society. The estimate for renovation at the time was $5,000. By 1978, the Historical Society had spent more than $16,000 on the restoration, all donated in the name of historic preservation, by way of selling funnel cakes, holding pig roasts and colonial suppers, selling prints of the house, and of course collecting membership dues. Renovations on the Polecat Road House were completed over the course of several years. Based on tax information for William Trimble at his death, the Polecat Road House was renovated according to how we believe it looked when it was first built. The doors were placed back at the ends of the house. The dormers were also removed. The fireplaces were restored to their previous glory, and the wall separating each half of the first floor was removed. Due to their hard work and continued maintenance of this property, Concord Township Historical Society has cared for Polecat Road House for the past 50 years. Note wooden insert at the edge of the two fireplaces in the photo at right – this is what remains of the wooden partition that separated the two families that lived in this building. In the years since 1967, Concord Township Historical Society has grown. Today, the Historical Society continues to offer tours of the museum located in the first floor of the Pierce-Willits House, at 659 Smithbridge Road, and sponsors a number of additional events throughout the year. This year marks their 50th anniversary. It takes an incredible group of people to realize the need to preserve our history, and turn it into a thriving group of volunteers, fueled by donations. I am proud to be part of this incredible organization, with its own rich history. In the coming months, History Unlocked will include a plethora of topics relating to the history of Concord Township to help celebrate Concord Township Historical Society’s 50th anniversary. Each article was researched using the materials collected and categorized by Concord Township Historical Society members since their inception. Please check back next month for our next History Unlocked article and stay tuned for upcoming events. Note: CTHS has replicas of the Polecat Road House for sale for $35.00. Contact them for how to purchase. References Brice, George. 1967. “Concord Township Historians Begin Restoration Project.” Daily Local News, 11 October: 16. Concord Township Historical Society. 1967. Meeting Minutes. Taken by G. DeNenno, unpublished. Indenture. 1967 July 3. Delaware County Recorder of Deeds. Media, PA.
U.S. Currency
Paper for the first U.S. Currency was produced by the Wilcox’s Ivy Mills Ivy Mills Property
The Flood of 1971
Devastating flood waters struck Concord Township on September 13, 1971. The rain began on Sept 11 but was much harder on Sept 13th & water rose quickly. The Chester Creek and its branches & tributaries were flooded when a stationary front stalled over the local area. The destruction started in the western areas of Delaware County, including Concord, and continued downstream to Chester leaving a path of destruction. 450 Delaware County residents were left homeless, mostly in Chester where there was major flooding. This was very localized flooding. Other areas of Delaware County and the Philadelphia region were not affected. In Concord, three people lost their lives. David Lindsay drove into water on Concord Rd near Station Rd where his car stalled on the railroad tracks. His passengers, daughter, Jean Espey, and 2 year old grandson, survived. The child was rescued early on by Steven Sheppard, a 19 year old neighbor & his friend. The daughter made it to the railroad signal box and climbed to her safety. Mr. Lindsay and Steve Sheppard clung to nearby fence posts. As the fence washed away, Mr. Lindsay was carried downstream where his body was found when the water receded. Sheppard was left clinging to a fence post. Sheppard and Espey were rescued by Ralph Clark, an Australian with rough water rescue experience, after the firemen were unable to do so. William & Muriel Mitchell drowned when their car was washed away further down Concord Rd. where a branch of Chester Creek passes under the road near what is now Riviera at Concord. The flood waters washed away the Ward, PA Post Office. The small frame post office building was located in the middle of the parking lot behind what is now Il Granaio. The building washed downstream and was demolished when it hit the nearby railroad trestle on the Newlin Grist Mill property. Mail service was never restored at Ward. The Cheyney Rd. bridge over the Chester Creek was ripped away from its footings and the bridge dropped in to the creek. The Newlin Grist Mill suffered extensive flooding & damage. The Penn Central Railroad Octoraro line, which ran from Wawa through Concord to Oxford, was extensively damaged. The worst damage was a section of about 400 ft of the track along Polecat Road that was washed about 25 ft out in to the Chester Creek. The damage was so extensive that it has never been rebuilt.
Garnets Among Us?
Did you know this community once thrived as a local mining area? Garnets were the “gems” of the Concord/Bethel area and a heavily used mine once existed near the entrance of The Clayton Park picnic area off of Garnet Mine Road. You may enjoy the following article, which was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1992 and reflects direct quotes from our President Emeritus Ginny DeNenno. The article not only provides a wonderful historical perspective, but reinforces the importance for CTHS to continue to preserve those “nuggets” for future generations. Note in 1964 the Junior/Senior High School was formalized as a school district and given the name “Garnet Valley” after consulting with the Clayton Family as their successful farm “Garnet Valley Farm” had first held the name for many years. You might also find it interesting to read a letter to Edith Clayton Lloyd, dated January 20, 1971, from her sister Emeline. This letter tells about the mine and an interesting event that occurred in 1926 when lightening struck and killed many cows due to the garnet veins running through the area. Old Garnet Mines Are A Dig Through County’s History By Joseph S. Kennedy, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT POSTED: Philadelphia Inquirer – May 07, 1992 The garnet mines of western Delaware County, like the storied diamond mines of King Solomon, have been lost to time and legend. Both the mines and the miners are long gone. Only Garnet Mine Road and Garnet Valley School District serve as reminders of what more than 100 years ago was a unique mining operation. The garnet sand dug from the local mines was used for the mundane purpose of manufacturing sandpaper. According to Henry Ashmead’s 1884 History of Delaware County, it was John H. Smedley, a mineralogist from Middletown Township, who promoted the development of the garnet deposits on the Foulk Road estate of Charles Williams in Bethel. Smedley noted that the deposit, made up mostly of garnet sand with nuggets mixed in, made ideal abrasive material for use in grinding and shaping. After several years spent trying to get businesses interested in the deposits, Smedley succeeded in 1879 in arranging for the sale of the Williams estate to a New York state abrasives firm, Herman Behr & Co. The 47-acre site sold for $4,700, and mining operations began in the fall of that year. The mining operation was an open pit 200 feet wide by 85 feet deep. The sand was dug with hand tools, then bagged and hauled by horse and wagon to Boothwyn station. There, it was shipped by rail to the Behr Co.’s factory in Troy, N.Y. The garnet sand sold from $30 to $100 a ton depending on its quality. Miners also dug up a few garnet stones that were suitable for making jewelry. The Concord Historical Society has a few of the nuggets, polished and cut into gemstones. Ginny DeNenno, president of the historical society, said those stones had the dark red color consistent with quality garnet gems. “There simply were not enough nuggets found to make the operation pay,” DeNenno said. So it was the sand, the prime ingredient for sandpaper, that was the lifeblood of the mining operation. In November 1900, freezing temperatures burst the lines of the steam pump that kept water out of the pit. Water built up rapidly, thousands of dollars worth of machinery was lost, and Behr Co. decided to close its mine. But that did not spell the end to garnet mining in the area. In the 1890s, while Behr’s mine was still in operation, a new mine was started by American Glue Co. of East Wampole, Mass., which also manufactured sandpaper. The “new mine” was on the Fulton farm, just across the road from the “old mine.” Concord Historical Society files indicate that the last surviving miners of the “new mine” gave a program to the Garnet Valley Home and School Association in 1960. The four surviving miners, by then all in their 80s, described the “new mine’s” operation. Like the old mine, it was an open pit, about 40 feet deep. At the bottom of the pit, tunnels or drifts were dug outward, according to the four main points of the compass. The tunnels were usually about 50 feet long. The garnet sand was dug out by pick and shovel, loaded onto hand-operated railcars and pushed to the center of the pit. From there, the sand was lifted to the surface by large wooden buckets and taken to the processing building. There, the sand was beaten, crushed and washed. Next, it was dried. When dry, the sand was poured into bags of 165 pounds each and carted off to either the Chester Heights or Boothwyn station for shipment by rail to the company’s factory in Massachusetts. To do the work, the mine employed 15 men full time as laborers, carpenters, machine operators and teamsters. The new operation closed in 1906 because, according to the miners, the company found a desirable supply of garnet sand closer to its manufacturing site. Over the years, both mines filled with water, and the new mine was used as the Bethel Township dump. According to DeNenno, the mines were filled in with the construction of the Conchester Highway in the late 1940’s. Revised January 2022