Carolyn's Blog

West Grove, Pennsylvania-A Well-Preserved Town  

At the intersection of Evergreen and Prospect Streets in historic West Grove, Pennsylvania, you can get an idea of what it must have been like in 1893, when this Borough was incorporated.  Named after the West Grove Quaker Meeting House, the town was a center of local trade dating back to 1731, when John, Thomas, and Richard Penn granted 5000 acres to William Penn, grandson of the Founder of Pennsylvania, subject to the rental of 'one red rose on the twenty-fourth day of June if demanded.' This payment has been made almost every year since. Usually a direct descendent of Penn had been present to receive the red rose. This is done in a public ceremony, generally on the Saturday following Labor Day, and attracts a large crowd.

Below:  The Historic West Grove Quaker Meeting, Evergreen and Prospect Intersection, and Former Train Station turned Ice Cream Shop

The Penn Township Park is located in Jennersville, next to the Jennersville Regional Hospital, and across the street from the YMCA. There are gazebos and picnic tables for rent in the park by contacting the Township office.  The Jennersville YMCA was a beehive of activity around the kiddie and adult pools on a recent summer Sunday.

A more quiet scene (at least on the surface)  was across the road at the Jenners Pond retirement community. Residents have full use of the YMCA, plus their own walking trail, health center, dining rooms, a library, activity rooms, and even a pub!

And just down the road, is the 59 bed Jennersville Regional Hospital, with its own emergency center, and 85 licensed physicians. And all you have to do is turn around, and see that you are still in the midst of the peaceful countryside of Chester County.  Jennersville's postal address is West Grove, so you can see that West Grove is still a very rural community.

Although a Penn grant for the area dates back to 1706, and native inhabitants were here from the Seventh Century, the Borough of Avondale was not chartered until 1894. Many people pass through the town as they are headed from the Port of Wilmington to Lancaster County, but few stop to look at the historic properties as we did the other day.

Here are just a few, starting out with an old stone mill built in 1906 on the site of an earlier mill. It is being creatively re-used by the Edlon company for an engineering office (1) and one of the engineers (2) explains about a Teflon product is produced in the building next door as an adhesive for products such as HDF (high density fibreboard).

Then we see 2 views of a building dating back to the 18th century, once housing the Bachelor's Club (3), all of whom later changed their marital status and the building became a bank, shops, and now is proudly shown by it's owner, who runs a travel agency there (4), and who says HE is a bachelor!

We will tell you more in a future article.

The West Grove postal area includes many communities, the most populated is probably Jennersville.  With activities centered on Old Baltimore Pike and the Route 1 expressway, lots of activity is found centered on the intersection with Route 796. Here can be found a large modern shopping center which is a study in contrasts.  Within a few yards of one another, you can see a Starbucks with a drive-in window and hitching posts for the Amish community and their horse carts. A neighbor tells me she has only seen one horse ever tied up there, and we wonder how often the Amish go to get coffee or shop at the Giant Food Store (never?).

 Winterthur, an American country estate, is the former home of Henry Francis du Pont (1880-1969), an avid antiques collector and horticulturist. In the early 20th century, H. F. du Pont and his father, Henry Algernon du Pont, designed Winterthur in the spirit of 18th- and19th-century European country houses.

A visit there today proved to be most interesting, one of the reasons being I thought I knew the paths through the gardens. Well, they moved them, actually a good idea for a hot afternoon, because I was able to stay in lots of shady areas. They have also added a feature--a small group tour of one floor in the museum is included in general admission now. There you see displayed actual rooms moved from houses in all 13 of the original colonies, along with antiques from a collection of 85,000 objects.

Here's a sneak preview of what you would see on the grounds and in the museum.

The village of West Grove derived its name from the Friends Meeting House on Harmony Road built in 1787 several miles west of the Friends Meeting House in the village of London Grove.

The March 28, 1885 Daily Local News described West Grove as "one of the most flourishing villages in this county" and stated that "it contains some three flouring mills and the largest nursery for rose culture (see below) in the United States (Dinger & Conrad, Co.), a large casket factory (Paxson Comfort) and a large number of dwellings". In May 1885, the Chester County Democrat reported that thirty new homes were under construction.

Today, the Friends Meeting House (Quaker) overlooks the east end of town from its peaceful setting which includes a bird sanctuary and arboretum. It is located on a site occupied by a simpler original 1786 meeting house which was enlarged and remodeled in 1903 to accommodate the wider Quaker community.

Below is an artist's sketch of the meetinghouse,  photos of the exterior and interior, courtesy of the Meetinghouse.

As part of the Town Tours and Village Walks series on summer Thursday nights, we were invited to share the history of Historic Yellow Springs in Chester Springs, Pennsylvania last night.

The Lenape Indians first discovered the springs thousands of years ago, using the healing powers of their iron rich waters. In the 18^th century, Yellow Springs was a fashionable spa village that attracted visitors who sought healing waters and social interaction. An early innkeper welcomed visitors to the site.

We also got a glimpse of life in 1787, when  a Pennsylvania surgeon suggested to Gen. Washington that sick soldiers be brought here to recover from fevers and illnesses.  All that remains of this early hospital are stone walls. After this period, it returned to function as a spa and vacation area.

From 1868 to 1912, the site became the home to Chester Springs Soldiers' Orphan School for children of Civil War soldiers. From 1916 to 1952, it was a country school for students of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine arts.

From 1952 until 1974 the village was the headquarters of Good News Productions, a film studio in Yellow Springs that created over 400 films including the sci-fi original The Blob.

Since 1974 it has been the home of Historic Yellow Springs, a group of volunteers with a mission of preserving the area.In the scenes below, they re-enact the history of Yellow Springs.