John Speakman House
The John Speakman House was a Georgian-style stucco over stone farmhouse built c. 1800. Also once on the property were ruins of a springhouse/residence, a large frame barn that was much older than the house, a frame corncrib, and mushroom houses. The right side of the home indicated earlier construction and contained an unusually large corner cooking fireplace. The springhouse ruins indicated that an earlier house was built over the spring c. 1730s that belonged to the Brinton family. John Speakman was a farmer by trade. In 1850, he was farming 99 of 129 acres and growing hay, corn, oats, wheat, grass, potatoes, and fruit. The farm was valued at $9,030 in 1850. The property remained in the Speakman family until the early 1900s when it was purchased by Milton Heyburn. The Masciantonio Family owned the farm in its later years. The property was once home to an old sawmill and a mushroom farm. This property was demolished in 2001 to develop an office building at Baltimore Pike and Route 202, but the ice house was saved and moved to the Pierce-Willits House where it can be viewed by the public. Concord Township Historic Resource #15
Joseph Eavenson – Samuel Myers – Elwood Hannum – Lawrence Beebe House
The Eavenson-Myers-Hannum-Beebe House is a colonial farmhouse built c. 1740 off of Kirk Road. The center section of the house was built sometime c. 1740. The eastern end built in 1839 under Samuel Myers’ ownership, and the western section built in the late 1800s under the Elwood Hannum ownership. William Hannum was born in the house, and later went on to write the History of St. John’s, Concord Church. The barn was rebuilt in 1930 by Lawrence Beebe after an earlier one burned in a fire. Stone from the William Pierce House was used in the barn reconstruction. Dr. Donald T. Jones was born on the property in 1906. He became a nationally recognized orthopedic surgeon. His brother, Caleb Heyburn Jones, carved his initials into a window pane in the house. Edward Quigley owned the farm from 1934 to 1948. Quigley was the Huntsman for the Rose Tree Hunt. Many subsequent Hunt Meets began on the farm. The property was owned by the DeNenno Family in later years. Under their ownership, the property was an active dairy farm on 150 acres, and had many structures to support the farm such as three cow cribs, a milk house, pens, a silo, stables, a workshed, and a carriage house. Harold DeNenno was a dairy farmer, and at one point owned 45 cows and sold 2,000 gallons of milk a week to Wawa Dairies in the 1970s. His wife, Virginia DeNenno, is the founding president of the Concord Township Historical Society. The farm was subdivided in the 1990s for a housing development. This property is now part of the Woodside Farm Farm Market, where the public can purchase delicious, locally grown produce and food products. Concord Township Historic Resource #50
Joseph Cloud House
The Joseph Cloud House is a c. 1808 stone farmhouse off of Baltimore Pike. Joseph Cloud owned 92 acres of land, and was one of the five original school directors for the Concord Township public school system. Joseph willed the house and property to his son James Cloud in 1838 who lived there through 1850. James farmed 82 acres of the land, and the farm was valued at $10,000 in 1850. The property passed to the Styer family in the 1870s. The Styers are noted for introducing mushroom culture in the U.S., and are renowned for their nursery business. The Styers are also credited with the popularization of peonies in the area. Jacob Styer established a nursery in 1890. His son, Dr. J. Franklin Styer, took over the business in 1924 after the death of his father. J. Franklin Styer received a Ph.D. in Botany from the University of Pennsylvania, specializing in mycology and mushroom culture. He went on to work with Wyeth Laboratories on their penicillin production in the 1940s, served as president of the Pennsylvania Nurserymen’s Association, was a founding member of the American Horticulture Society, the American Association of Botanic Gardens and Arboreta, and the National Landscape Nursery Association. Dr. J. Franklin Styer was also the founder of the Concord Business and Professional Organization and a founding member of the Delaware County Conservation Board. He was a professor at the Pennsylvania State University, and dedicated a scholarship program to peony research. This property is now part of the Terrain nursery and restaurant, and is open to the public. Concord Township Historic Resource #157
Joseph Palmer – William Palmer House
The Joseph Palmer-William Palmer House is a stone Federal farmhouse built c. 1809 along what is now Smithbridge Road. The house was built on land part of an original 500 acre land grant belonging to John Haselgrove in 1683. The land passed through various hands until Asher Palmer sold 15 acres and a blacksmith shop to his son Joseph Palmer in 1800. The blacksmith shop was located on the west side of the present driveway according to present day archaeological digs. Joseph Palmer sold the property to his son William Palmer in 1843. Palmer built an addition to the front of the house in 1845. By 1850, the property consisted of the stone house, a frame barn with stables, a stone blacksmith shop, an ice house, milk house, and a double-geared saw mill with circular saws. There was an orchard with apple, cherry, pear, and peach trees and a grape vineyard. The farm was valued at $3,000. This property is a private residence and not open to the public. Concord Township Historic Resource #46