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Most of the library's books and other materials were transferred to the Miriam Coffin Canaday Library in 1970. In recognition of Thomas' appreciation for art, this building continues to house the books and materials related to art and art history, as well as archaeology. After the books were removed, the former stack areas were converted to offices and classrooms. The Great Hall and other architectural features were not altered.&nbsp;

The Great Hall is used for performances and lectures. It previously served as the library's main reading room.

The library includes an enclosed courtyard called "The Cloisters." This area is home to the ashes of world-renowned mathematician Emmy Noether who taught at Bryn Mawr after fleeing persecution in Nazi Germany. 

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Collection of photos from the National Park Service

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National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for M. Carey Thomas Library

This structure, completed in 1907, served as the campus library until 1970. In 1991, the building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. Not only is this architecturally significant building one of the most visible places on the historic Bryn Mawr campus, it continues to serve a gathering place. The building's Great Hall hosts performances and lectures, as well as campus and public events throughout the year. Quita Woodward Memorial Room for recreational reading with recent books on literature, art, religion, current affairs, as well as many classics.
  
The building is named in honor of  M. Carey Thomas, the first dean of the school and it's second President. The building and its signature Great Hall were inspired by campus buildings at Oxford University. 

M. Carey Thomas Library, Bryn Mawr College

This trail includes twenty-five monuments, historical markers, museums, and other historical and cultural sites that are primarily related to the history of women and gender. The trail starts in the center of the city and then expands to the north to include a handful of other sites such as a cluster of landmarks on the campus of Bryn Mawr that were selected for their proximity to other landmarks so that the trail can be driven in a few hours.

Philadelphia Women's History Trail

Explore Delaware County, Pennsylvania, its people, its places, and events

Delaware County Heritage Trail 

This historical marker was erected to honor the life and many achievements of Anna Howard Shaw. This historical marker erected by the Pennsylvania Historical &amp; Museum Commission as a part of a series of historical markers.<blockquote>"The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission administers a program of historical markers to capture the memory of people, places, events, and innovations that have affected the lives of Pennsylvanians over the centuries since William Penn founded his Commonwealth. More than 2,000 cast aluminum markers tell the important and interesting stories that are part of the history of Pennsylvania."</blockquote>Few have a more interesting story than that of Anna Howard Shaw. Before she was a key player in the women's suffrage movement of the United States, Shaw was a master of several different crafts.Shaw was born in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1847. When she was four, she and her family emigrated to the United States and settled in Lawrence, Massachusetts. From an early age, Shaw had a call to preach. Her passion to preach received disapproval from her classmates, friends, and family who agreed to pay for her college education only if she abandoned preaching. Despite such continual opposition and isolation from so many, Anna chose to keep on preaching. Shaw went on to study at Albion College in 1873 with no financial support from her family due to her career path. Shaw then went on to study at Boston University's School of Theology in 1876 where she was the only women in her class. At BU, Shaw was exposed to many inequalities due to her gender. Shaw found it unfair that the male licensed preachers were given free accommodations in the dormitory and their board cost each of them $1.25 while it cost her $2 to pay rent of a room outside. Shaw also struggled to find work as a preacher in Boston. Due to these financial hardships, Shaw considered a career change.While serving Wesleyan Methodist Church in East Dennis, Massachusetts, Shaw earned a medical degree from Boston University in 1886. At age thirty-nine, she broadened her activity from pastoral and healing ministries to also become the “master orator” for social justice concerns, organizing and lecturing throughout the world for the causes of temperance, woman’s suffrage, and peace. Shaw was the first ordained woman to preach in Amsterdam, Berlin, Copenhagen, and London, and the first woman to deliver a sermon in the State Church of Sweden. The first woman awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for her work as chair of the Woman’s Committee of the National Council of Defense during World War I, Shaw was an advocate for the League of Nations covenant just prior to her death in 1919.Though Shaw was a very accomplished doctor and preacher, her legacy is due to her endless devotion to women's suffrage in the United States. Beginning in 1886, Shaw served as the chair of the Franchise Department of Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU). Her task was "to work for woman suffrage and then to use the ballot to gain 'home protection' and temperance legislation." However her focus on temperance subsided as she became more heavily involved in the suffrage movement by lecturing for the Massachusetts Suffrage Association and later the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA). It wasn't until 1887 that Shaw met Susan B. Anthony. In 1888, Shaw attended the first meeting of the International Council of Women. Susan B. Anthony encouraged her to join the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA). Having agreed, Shaw played a key role when the two suffrage associations merged to create the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). For the first time in the women's suffrage struggle, the movement finally had some teeth now that there was a united front. Shaw was the president of NAWSA from 1904 - 1915. Under her leadership, NAWSA continued to "lobby for a national constitutional amendment granting women the right to vote." She continued to lecture even after her retirement until her death. Shaw died of pneumonia at her home in Moylan, Pennsylvania at the age of seventy-two, only a few months before Congress ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the US Constitution which granted women the right to vote.The location of Shaw's death is the basis for the placement of her historical marker by the Pennsylvania Historical &amp; Museum Commission. After a long life of significant achievement and social justice that jumped between many different locations in the Northeast, It is most fitting that the memorial dedicated to honoring this life is placed where it ended. Anna Howard Shaw is one of the most influential women in the history of the United States. The fact that this isn't the only monument honoring her legacy is testament to that. There is also a statue of Anna Howard Shaw that was erected next to the Community Library in Big Rapids, Michigan, in 1988. Boston University School of Theology opened the Anna Howard Shaw Center and the Albion College opened the Anna Howard Shaw Women's Center. There is also the Anna Howard Shaw Junior High School built in 1922–1924 in Southwest Schuylkill, Philadelphia. This historical marker will last for a very long time, just like the amazing legacy of Anna Howard Shaw.

Erected in 2014 by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, this historical marker was commissioned to honor the life of Anna Howard Shaw (February 14, 1847 – July 2, 1919). This marker can be found at the intersection of S Orange St. and S Ridley Creek Rd on S Orange St. Shaw was a leader of the women's suffrage movement of the United States. She was also a physician and one of the first ordained female Methodist ministers in the United States. Shaw is known for being a key member in the unification of various suffrage groups to create a united front in the women's suffrage movement. She lived near the location where this historical marker was erected from 1908 until her death.

Anna Howard Shaw Historical Marker

While
William Lightfoot Price was not the founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement, he
certainly supported and promoted it with the creation of his Rose Valley
community in 1901.&nbsp; The Arts and Crafts
Movement was a direct reaction to what Price and others considered to be the detrimental
effects of the Industrial Revolution, especially to the artisans, craftsmen and
artists in America.&nbsp; The 80 acres of land
he purchased around the defunct Rose Valley Mills already contained numerous
buildings, to include twelve small homes, 2 mills, an historic stone house once
occupied by Bishop White, and the fieldstone barn that became the Thunderbird
Lodge.&nbsp; Most of the buildings were renovated,
expanded and covered with stucco and tile.

Price and
other community members believed they could sustain their community by
producing hand-crafted products, such as furniture, pottery, and art.&nbsp; To that end, Price decided to take the old stone
barn and convert it into art studios for Alice Barber Stephens and her husband
Charles.&nbsp; Alice was, by this time, a
well-known painter, illustrator and teacher. &nbsp;Charles, also an artist and teacher, collected
Native American artifacts, hence the name of the lodge.&nbsp; Price added a fieldstone and stucco home to
the barn prior to his death in 1916.&nbsp; The
two structures are connected by a unique octagonal staircase which gives access
to all levels of both buildings.&nbsp; 

Charles Stephens
died in 1931 and Alice passed the next year.&nbsp;
The Thunderbird Lodge was then occupied by Allen and Mildred Scott
Olmsted who were both active in peace, women’s and civil rights
organizations.&nbsp; Allen Olmsted helped
found the American Civil Liberties Union and Mildred held a leadership position
in the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.&nbsp; At the behest of Alice, prior to her death in
1990, the lodge was donated to the Rose Valley Centennial Foundation in 2015
and it was the Foundation that converted the lodge into a museum and events
venue that tells the story of the local Arts and Crafts Movement through
artifacts, classes, lectures and other special events.&nbsp; The Thunderbird Lodge is open select
weekends, usually one per month, throughout the year.&nbsp; Please call or visit their website for more
information.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

What is now known as the Thunderbird Lodge began its existence as a late-18th century fieldstone barn.  It was then transformed into artist studios and attached to an early-20th century house connected via an octagonal staircase by the leading architect of the Arts and Crafts Movement, William Lightfoot Price.  The lodge was part of the larger Rose Valley utopian community created by Price and others in 1901.  The lodge later became the home of leading civil rights activists, Judge Allen and Mildred Scott Olmsted.  It was then donated to the Rose Valley Centennial Foundation in 2015 by the Olmsted family.  It now serves as an Arts and Crafts museum and is home to the Rose Valley Museum and Historical Society.  The lodge was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989 and is part of the Rose Valley Historic District which was designated in 2010.  

The Rose Valley Museum at Thunderbird Lodge

Benjamin
West was born the youngest of ten children to Quaker parents in 1738.&nbsp; His artistic talents became readily apparent
at a young age and his parents sent him to study in Philadelphia where he quickly
became a well-known portrait artist.&nbsp; He
spent some time painting in New York City prior to traveling to Italy in 1760
to further his learning.&nbsp; He spent the
next three years in Rome, Florence and Venice studying the Renaissance masters
prior to moving to London in 1763.&nbsp; 

His stop in
London was meant to be temporary.&nbsp; However,
West never returned to America.&nbsp; Instead,
he continued to paint portraits to earn money and became ever more interested
in multi-figure historical works, even if he presented mythologized versions of
actual events.&nbsp; In 1769 he was
commissioned by King George III and his royal patronage continued until
1801.&nbsp; During that time, West painted
some 60 works for the royal family.&nbsp; It
was during this royal patronage that West painted his two best-known works: The Death of General Wolfe c.1770, and Penn’s Treaty with the Indians c.1772.&nbsp; He also managed to help found
England’s Royal Academy in 1768 and served as its president from 1792-1805 and
again from 1806 until his death in 1820.

During the
late 18th and early 19th centuries, West’s emphasis moved
from historical works to those focused more on religion and he began to design
stained glass windows such as those in St. George’s Chapel in Windsor
Castle.&nbsp; West is rightly credited with
bringing new philosophies, compositions and techniques to the artistic
world.&nbsp; His Death of General Wolfe is an early example of a contemporary event
with figures in modern clothing rather than those of ancient Rome, making it an
influential example of Realism.&nbsp; As his
fame grew, American artists began to travel to London to study under his tutelage.&nbsp; The list of American artists he influenced
include Matthew Pratt, Charles Wilson Peale, Gilbert Stuart, John Trumbull and
Thomas Sully.

His Springfield birthplace was built sometime
around 1724 and is a stone structure with a gabled roof and two gabled dormers
on each side.&nbsp; It features a centered
entrance with a gabled portico and has two internal chimneys at each end.&nbsp; After the interior was destroyed by fire in
1824, an addition was added.&nbsp; The
residence was incorporated into the campus of Swarthmore College sometime after
its foundation in 1864 in what was then called Westdale, after Benjamin
West.&nbsp; The Borough of Swarthmore was incorporated
in 1893.&nbsp; West’s birthplace served as a
faculty residence.&nbsp; It is now a visitor’s center and houses the Office of Public
Safety.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Located on the campus of Swarthmore College, the Benjamin West Birthplace now serves as both the Visitor’s Information Center and Office of Public Safety.  West was born in the stone, 2.5 story home in 1738 when the area was known as Springfield.  West was, perhaps, the greatest American artist of his generation.  He began his career as a portrait painter but quickly moved on to complex historical and religious works after he toured Italy and moved to London in 1763.  His influence on American art is difficult to overstate as numerous artists traveled to London to learn from and work with him.  His birthplace was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965.  

Benjamin West Birthplace

In 1963, protests led by the NAACP&nbsp;erupted in Chester, Pennsylvania, challenging the segregation of the county's schools. The protests got the attention, and therefore the involvement, of other civil rights organizations. The protests continued, receiving national attention. As a response, in 1964,&nbsp;a school board meeting was planned. A year before his death, human rights activist Malcolm X attended the meeting. After his participation in the school board meeting, his presence did little to ease tension in the community. The protests became more aggressive, leading to the arrest of over 100 people. The increased racial tension led then Governor Bill Scranton to visit the area himself.&nbsp; The protests have been said to be a direct cause in the desegregation of Chester schools.

Following months of protests against segregation in the county's schools, Malcolm X attended a school board meeting in Chester, PA. 

Malcolm X Visits Chester, Pennsylvania 

Broomall was born in 1847 in southeast Pennsylvania. She grew up in a Quaker family wanting to be a doctor, and her parents supported her dream. She began her medical career as a pupil assistant at the Women’s Medical College of Pennsylvania, and she used this income to forward her opportunities for an education. While a student at WMCP, she attended different lectures set up by her dean. However, these were all-male lectures, and as a woman in the medical field, she endured many different types of harassment from male workers. They would continuously cat call her and minimize her importance and work. For the nineteenth century, this was common. Women were seen as inferior to men, especially in medicine. Many did not continue their work in the field because of the continuous degrading for their male counterparts. However, Broomall persevered and continued to attend schooling, completing the lectures. After schooling, she accepted a position as chief resident physician at the Women’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she remained for eight years. While a physician, she also taught classes at WMCP. She was eventually promoted to chair of obstetrics after the death of a superior. She then established one of the first clinics for maternity care in South Philadelphia and catered mainly to poor patients who were in high risk pregnancies. She studied antiseptics and procedures to ease the delivery of babies, and actually decreased the death rate during deliveries at her hospital to less than 20 per 2,000. She continued as a professor of obstetrics for another twenty years, and she was also a gynecologist for the Quaker-run Friend’s Asylum for the Insane in Philadelphia. Dr. Anna E. Broomall passed away at the age of eighty-five after being ill for months. She was believed to have been the oldest female physician in the country. Broomall was a pioneer for women in both medical education and the medical field itself. With her development of the Women’s Medical College Maternity in South Philadelphia, as well as her perseverance in a time where men dominated the medical field, she was able to revolutionize fetal medicine. A Pennsylvania historical marker was placed for her at 13th and Chestnut street in Chester, PA, close to her home.

Dr. Anna E. Broomall was an obstetrician and gynecologist known specifically for her revolutionary work in fetal medicine. She continuously worked with women in high risk pregnancies to decrease the infant mortality rate. Broomall strategized with different methods that were uncommon for her time, including cesarean section, to promote safer deliveries for both mothers and their babies, while also creating one of the country’s first maternity care clinics in Pennsylvania. She wrote articles and studied cases regarding different fetal complications, and she also presented ideas that would come to change the fetal medicine industry. 

Dr. Anna E. Broomall Historical Marker

Old Main was established in 1858 in Chester, PA by a man named John P. Crozer. His hopes were to create an establishment that gave worthy young people an opportunity to receive a good education. Throughout the Civil war, the building was used as a hospital (“Crozer Theological Seminary”). Later, after John’s passing, his heirs turned the building known as Old Main into the Crozer Theological Seminary, which opened for students in 1868 (“Crozer Theological Seminary”). Since opening, it became one of the leading classical liberal seminaries in the east. One of the students being none other than Martin Luther King Jr. It was here that Martin Luther King strengthened his commitment to the Christian social gospel and ideas about nonviolence as a method of social reform which later played a huge role in his fight for equality.	The landmark the Crozer Theological Seminary was on has been used for so much throughout the past hundred decades. From a school to a hospital, then a seminary, and now a park and medical center. This alone shows the significance of the historic sight. John P. Crozer originally created the building as an institution and school for younger people. His hopes were that these young individuals would seek out education in order to become good teachers (“Crozer Theological Seminary”). During the Civil War, Crozer’s school turned into a hospital that aided prisoners and soldiers. After the war, the building was returned to Crozer right before his death in 1866. Before passing away, Crozer gave the institution to his heirs, hoping they will continue to use it for educational purposes (“Crozer Theological Seminary”). In 1867, the Old Main building was then turned into the Crozer Theological Seminary. Crozer’s philanthropist actions made him a huge benefactor in the Chester community. He not only created a school, but gave scholarship money for the less fortunate, believing that education should be received for all young children.	Not only was the historic landmark significant, but a particular student that graduated from the seminary as well. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15th, 1929 (“Martin Luther King Jr.”). He grew up in Atlanta, Georgia with his father, Michael King Sr, mother, Alberta Williams King, sister, Willie Christine King, and younger brother, Alfred Daniel Williams King. At a young age, King was very intelligent, skipping ninth and eleventh grades. He graduated from Morehouse College in 1948 just before entering the Crozer Theological Seminary. Here, King strengthened his commitment to the Christian social gospel and ideas about nonviolence as a method of social reform. King was one out of eleven Black students at the seminary in 1948 (“Crozer Theological Seminary”). He graduated valedictorian of his class in 1951 after being elected student body president, earning the Pearl Plafker award for scholarship (“Crozer Theological Seminary”.) After graduating from Crozer Theological Seminary, King was committed to addressing societal needs and social reform that he has been seeking throughout his life.  	The historical significance of Old Main, hospital, Crozer Theological Seminary, or Crozer Arboretum can mean many things for a variety of people. As a school in its early existence, it taught education to the poor. Providing teachings that they would have otherwise not been able to access. As a hospital during the war, it cared for and treated many individuals. Without it, many soldiers may have passed due to their wounds. As Crozer Theological Seminary it taught many individuals, such as Martin Luther King Jr, liberal theological learnings. Finally, as the Crozer Arboretum where people can visit the gardens and park. Each of these institutions provided by the historic landmark keep the lasting legacy alive today.

The Crozer Theological Seminary is located in Chester, Pennsylvania. It opened in the fall of 1868 by Baptists. The Crozer Theological Seminary adopted a nondenominational approach to religious education, gaining reputation as a theologically liberal institution ("Crozer Theological Seminary"). It gained significance due to Martin Luther King attending and graduating as valedictorian of his class in 1951. Martin Luther King strengthened his commitment to the Christian social gospel and ideas about nonviolence as a method of social reform which later played a huge role in his fight for equality. The Crozer Theological Seminary merged with another Baptist Seminary in New York in the late 1960's, forming the Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School ("Crozer Theological Seminary"). The old building in Chester, PA is not used by the Crozer Hospital and the seminary's grounds are now the Crozer Arboretum.

Crozer Theological Seminary 

“Landingford” was the name Pusey gave to the 100 acre farm adjoining the mill site deeded to him by Penn which he cultivated to raise food for his large family. Pusey and his family came to Pennsylvania in 1682 along with Penn on the ship "Welcome" to serve as manager and agent for the Chester Mills, the first official proprietary saw and grist mill to be established by Penn in the colony. The Friends of the Caleb Pusey house, Inc. was organized in 1960 to undertake restoration of the house and property which by that time had deteriorated to a point of imminent collapse. The group secured the support of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission in the project and obtained matching funds from the Commonwealth. Today this organization continues to maintain the house, which is authentically furnished with pieces from the early colonial period and is listed on the national Register of historical Places. The organization also offers frequent programs and activities of historic interest, which are open to the public and operates a museum and gift shop for visitors to the site. The Landingford Plantation also includes the 1847 Crozer Schoolhouse and the Pennock Log House.

The Caleb Pusey House, built in 1683, is the oldest continuously standing house in Pennsylvania open to the public. Built and occupied by Caleb Pusey, this is the only still-standing building which can claim documented association with the proprietor, William Penn, and which he is known to have visited on several occasions. This unique English vernacular house stands beside Race Street, the small road once paralleling the millrace that brought water from Chester Creek to power the mills.

Caleb Pusey House

Ethel Waters, a famous African American singer and Broadway actress was born on October 31, 1896 in Chester, Pennsylvania. She was best known for her wide vocal range and her slow vibrato. Waters was raised impoverished, by mother, Louise Anderson who gave birth at only thirteen, after being raped by local Caucasian man, John Waters.Waters suffered an unfortunate childhood. Her mother and her struggled both physically and mentally growing up. Her impoverished upbringing in Chester, PA influenced her decisions as a child. She was neglected by her parents and yearned for affection. As a teen she spent her days plotting with thieves and running drug errands for locals in Chester. With no sense of responsibility from her parents, Ethel had no supervision. Ultimately, music is the one thing Ethel could lean on in such hard times, it practically saved her. Ethel’s first marriage was at age 12, while she was still in school. When she turned 13, she became a chamber maid at a hotel in Philadelphia. Being a maid is what kept her on her feet. That year was filled with firsts for Waters as she also sang in public for the very first time. She was discovered during a talent show she participated in and continued to display her talents at churches and other public gatherings. At a costume party, on her 17th birthday Waters was persuaded to perform two songs and ultimately stunned her guests. This performance landed her a professional gig at Lincoln Theater in Baltimore. At 17, she began performing professionally, and billed herself as “Sweet Mama Stringbean.” Soon after, Waters continued her ascent to stardom, moving to New York City and appearing at the Plantation Club in Harlem. That was the performance that lead her to Broadway.In 1939, Waters became the first African American to star in her own television show, The Ethel Waters Show. This was a 15 minute variety show that included dramatic performances and featured guests. By the late 30’s, Waters had made her way to the top with several Broadway credits. She was considered one of the greatest blues singers, and even performed with some of jazz’s greatest, such as Duke Ellington and Benny Goodman. On top of her ever growing theater credits, Waters also starred in several movies, even winning the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for her performance in Carson McCullers’ The Member of the Wedding. This historical marker was place along Route 291 in 2015, placed near Ethel Waters park. This marker was placed here to commemorate her life provide inspiration to all. Waters was a star, overcoming racism and sexism to pave the way for contemporary singers, dancers and actors. She is a sign of hope and a wonder of success to all people. Her rise to the top after starting so low is inspiring and her story is truly amazing.After a long life of fighting her way into people’s hearts, Waters died of kidney failure on September 1, 1977 in Chatsworth, California.

This is a marker to commemorate the life of Ethel Waters, one of the most renown singers and actresses of the early 20th century. Waters was born on October 31, 1896, in Chester, Pennsylvania. This marker is where Ethel grew up. She did not have an easy childhood, and craved affection she never received. Her family was always on the move, and she suffered from many illnesses and injuries as a child. After a rough childhood, she moved to Baltimore and it was there that her career began. After her big break, Waters went on to become a famous jazz singer and a Broadway sensation. In 1933, Waters appeared in her first all-Black film, Rufus Jones for President, that featured the child performer Sammy Davis Jr. as Rufus Jones. She continued her career always holding multiple jobs at once, and was even nominated for an Academy Award in 1949. Waters was married three times, and had no children. She lived a long and successful life that came to an end from uterine cancer on September 1, 1981.

Ethel Waters Historical Marker

Prior to his death in 1718, William Penn laid out the first three counties in what would later become the state of Pennsylvania: Philadelphia, Bucks, and Chester.&nbsp; Five years later, the leaders of Chester County decided they required a new courthouse in which to conduct their legal business.&nbsp; Thus, in 1723, money was allocated and construction began on the county’s fourth courthouse.&nbsp; Unfortunately, historians know little else about the planning process.&nbsp; Even the architect’s name has been lost to history. Although, it does have Quaker influences as evidenced by its twin doors, one for men, the other for women. &nbsp;The small courthouse (it’s first floor courtroom only measures 31’x36’) was completed in time for the court to hold its 1724-25 session within its stone walls.&nbsp;

The 2.5 story courthouse is comprised of a combination of hewn and rubble stone and features two-foot thick walls and a slab stone floor in its courtroom, which was&nbsp;divided by a low wooden railing. The second floor was home to the court’s jury rooms, each of which included a fireplace. Its roof includes two chimneys at each end and a center copula that is home to a bell that was cast in London and added in 1729.&nbsp; A large, three-sided bay with arched, multi-pane windows was added in 1744 and is known as the Judge’s Bay as it came to accommodate the raised judge’s bench which expanded the size of the courtroom.

Shortly after the Declaration of Independence was signed in the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall), copies were made to be transported to the state’s county seats, to include Chester.&nbsp; On July 8, 1776, a copy arrived at the Old Chester Courthouse and was read to the public from a second-floor window.&nbsp; After that reading, the courthouse’s bell chimed for almost half-an-hour, the same bell that resides in the cupola today.&nbsp; The courthouse’s famous bell had, for unknown reasons, been removed and then replaced during renovations in the early 1920s.

In 1789, Chester County was divided, creating Delaware County, in which, the town of Chester now resides.&nbsp; Thus, the courthouse ceased being the seat of Chester County and served the same role for the newly created Delaware County.&nbsp; By the mid-nineteenth century, the county’s needs had outgrown the small courthouse and the county seat was moved to Media in 1851.&nbsp; The courthouse then took on the new role of City Hall for the town of Chester.&nbsp; Eventually, business interests sought the land that the courthouse sat upon and plans for its demolition cropped up in 1917.&nbsp; However, Governor William Sproul not only saved the old courthouse but raised money for its restoration in the early 1920s.&nbsp;

The courthouse then became home to the Delaware County Historical Society until structural issues forced its abandonment in 1966.&nbsp; It was the nation’s oldest serving courthouse until 1967 as it held one trial per year to hold that distinction.&nbsp; Currently, the Old Courthouse is home to the Chester Community Improvement Project, a non-profit community housing organization.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

This Pennsylvania structure is the oldest public building in the United States that is still in use. The building dates back to an era when the land that now comprises Delaware County in southeastern Pennsylvania was part of Chester County. At that time, the small town of Chester was the county seat and this building served as the courthouse for Chester County from 1724-1786. The building has long been part of Delaware County and as a result, it served many functions including the county seat of Delaware County. The building later became the Chester City Hall and is now home to the Delaware County Historical Society.  The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

Old Chester Courthouse

Highlights of the exhibit hall, which is open to the public, include the furniture room and an extensive historic map collection. The organization also sponsors lectures and other events that are free to the public. Genealogists and researchers can also utilize DCHS's library which includes thousands of local photographs, yearbook collections, Delaware County Times newspaper clippings files, and many rare and unusual documents and books.&nbsp;&nbsp; The exhibit hall features a variety of artifacts on displays relative to local history and the collections held by the Delaware County Historical Society. The exhibit hall is also home to DCHS's exhibit and program Passport to History, the organizations signature educational exhibit which includes programs for students in grades 4 and 5 that educate youth about local history and&nbsp;encourage visitation to area historical sites.&nbsp;

Established in 1895, Delaware County Historical Society collects and preserves historical documents, objects, data, genealogy, and artifacts relative to the history of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Located in the old Delaware County National Bank building (later Southeast National Bank) the three-story building houses DCHS's extensive research library, archives, artifacts, education center, and exhibit hall. The footprint of the original bank is still visible with the preservation of old teller windows, bank vaults, and marble staircases. The building is also immediately adjacent to the 1724 Courthouse. 

Delaware County Historical Society

Thomas Garrett was born
in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania on August 21, 1789. His family had been hiding
fugitive slaves in the farmhouse ever since he was a child. The very first time
he had ever helped a slave was when the family servant was kidnapped from her
quarters late in the night in the year 1813. Garrett married Mary Sharpless of
Chester County, Pennsylvania, and by February 1819 they had 3 children together,
two girls and one boy. In 1822, the Garrett family moved to&nbsp;Wilmington, Delaware, the northernmost town of the slave state. This town was only
five miles away from the Pennsylvania state border; Chester County was the
epicenter of abolitionism. This is important because Pennsylvania was a free
state, which means if a slave made it there, they were free. After moving to
Wilmington, Garrett went into the iron and hardware business, then opened his
home on Shipley street to fugitive slaves trying to get to freedom.&nbsp;Two
years after the family moved to Wilmington, their second son Henry was born and
then their third daughter was born. 
 
In June of 1818, Garrett had joined the Pennsylvania Society for
the Promotion of the Abolition of Slavery. The organization was founded in 1775
but was not recognized until 1784 and went by the name The Relief of Free Negros
Unlawfully Held in Bondage. This was the very first abolitionist society to be
recognized in America. Anthony Benezet and Thomas Paine were two of the members
that play a large role in American history. Anthony Benzet was an
educator as well as an abolitionist who helped found the society. Thomas
Paine was a political activist during the Revolutionary war, and was against
slavery from the beginning. Benjamin Franklin was the first elected President
of the society, and he also petitioned the U.S. Congress in 1790 to ban slavery
altogether.&nbsp; 
 
Thomas Garrett helped save over 2,700 slaves in his 40-year
career as a stationmaster at his home. One of the families that Garrett saved
was the Garnet family in 1824. The Garnet family of eleven was given permission
to go to a funeral but they&nbsp;escaped from the covered wagon that was carrying
them while it was stopped. They first traveled to Garrett's station in
Wilmington, and from there&nbsp;to New York City. The Hawkins family was also helped to
freedom in December by Thomas Garrett. Samuel Hawkins was a free man, but his
wife and six children were enslaved. His family was apprehended at John Hunn's
Underground Railroad Station, and then taken to New Castle County Jail. Garrett
heard what was happening and took the fugitives before Judge Booth, Chief
Justice of Delaware, on the writ of Habeas Corpus. The judge ordered that the
fugitives were to be released. Garrett ordered a coach from the Underground
Railroad to help get them to Pennsylvania. After these events Garrett and Hunn
were both sued for harboring fugitive slaves. John Hunn had two trials, where
Thomas Garrett had four. Charles Glanding and his wife, the owners of the
Hawkins family, sued Garrett for $5400. 
 
In 1870, the fifteenth amendment passed to give African
Americans the right to vote. On this day the African Americans hoisted Thomas
Garrett on their shoulders, hailing him at their Moses. Thomas Garrett was one
of the most influential abolitionists during the Underground Railroad. Garrett
was the inspiration for Simeon Halliday in the novel&nbsp;Uncle Tom's Cabin&nbsp;written by Harriet Beecher Stowe. On January 25, 1871
Thomas Garrett died at 89 of natural causes.

Harboring fugitive slaves had been a career for Thomas Garrett’s family from the time he was born. When he was young, he had helped a kidnapped slave escape from slave hunters, and from that point forward, he knew what he was meant to do in life. His life was full of many triumphs, but also had errors while trying to help the slave community. He was called Delaware's greatest humanitarian by the people of Delaware because of his accomplishments involving the underground railroad. He helped over 2500 slaves to freedom before his career ended.

Thomas Garret Station Master on the Underground Railroad

Talon Energy Stadium is a state of
the art Major League Soccer arena located just south of Philadelphia in the
city of Chester PA. The Stadium was built in 2010 and It sits on the banks of
the Delaware River, in a prime location for easy access from two railway platforms
and from also I-95, I-476, US-322, and PA-291. This makes getting to the
stadium very simple. Talon Energy Stadium is the home of the Major-League
Soccer Club, the Philadelphia Union. Although the Stadium was built as a professional soccer
specific pitch, it has also been used for other events, including collegiate
soccer games, collegiate football, collegiate rugby, collegiate lacrosse, and has also used as a concert venue. The stadium has a built-in concert stage and
an expansive grass and promenade area which is great for tailgating and outdoor
festivals. “Talon Energy Stadium was also built with a sideline roof to protect
fans from the elements without obstructing the scenic view of the Commodore
Barry Bridge and the Delaware river from their seats.”(MLS)

The Talon Energy Stadium was built in
the City of Chester in order to change the community and change the lives of
those in the city, according to Dave Debusschere, the Executive Vice
President and Chief Financial Officer of the Philadelphia Union. 

The Stadium property is owned by
the Delaware County Chester Waterfront Industrial Development Authority, which
is a government body. This means the sixty-million-dollar stadium does not pay
property taxes to the City of Chester. However, the Union in 2010 signed up for
a PILOT program which would have them pay five hundred thousand dollars to the
city annually for four years, and one hundred and fifty thousand then after. Even
though this payment plan matches the total owed to the county, the Director of
Accounts, Finance and Human Resources at Chester City Hall, Nafis Nichols, declared
that the bond payment of the stadium is more than what the PILOT is worth. To
pay for the construction costs of the stadium, Delaware County sold thirty
million in bonds. “The state offered forty-seven million, plus ten million from
the Delaware River Port Authority, with the rest coming from various private
investors.” &nbsp;This thirty year bond
required that Chester pay an annual payment of four hundred and forty-four thousand
back to Delaware County. 

Another problem the city is facing
is that the conveniently placed ramps provide easy access to the stadium. The
city was hoping this would entice fans to have fun in the city after the event,
but many people just go to the game and then go straight home. Nichols is
hoping to begin projects in the future for the waterfront area to help keep
people interested in the area after games. 

To give back to the community, the Union also does charitable donations through the Philadelphia Union Foundation.
They built mini soccer pitches at the elementary schools, where players of the
Union coach at the dedication. The team has also have done various initiatives through
Widener University with the Soccer for Success Program as well as Chester City
United. 

The Chief Business Officer of the
Union is also looking to grow the fan base and attract more fans and people
alike to the stadium by inviting non-Union events to the site, including Rock Allegiance
Festival. He also wants to create a new experience
for fans and offer new attractions that will entice more visitors.

As of end of 2017, the building of Talon
Energy Stadium has not payed off for the City of Chester, but the Union are
doing their best to be good neighbors to the city and do what they can to help.
By working with the members of the city council they are looking forward to
creating more attractions to the area to increase visitors and bring in more money
for Chester. Hopefully once taxes can go down and people could start moving
into the area in a more stable way the city of Chester will start booming and
more people and companies will start coming into the area.

State of the art Major League Soccer stadium, home of the Philadelphia Union. Built in the city of Chester, on the banks of the Delaware River.

Talon Energy Stadium 

Eden Cemetery or Eden Memorial park is located at the old
Bartram Farm on Springfield Road in Collingdale, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
The 114-year-old cemetery is the burial site of over 90,000 people. The
cemetery was created to provide a burial site where African Americans could be
buried with dignity and respect. 

Eden Cemetery is also the burial sites of Lebanon Cemetery,
the Stephen Smith Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored Person's Burial Ground,
Olive Cemetery and the First African Baptist Church Burial Grounds, all
Philadelphia cemeteries disrupted by construction in the city in the earlier
years.

The first person to be buried at Eden Cemetery was Celestine
Mosley Cromwell, wife of William Cromwell who was a member of the Advisory
board in 1902. Like everything else in it times the Eden Cemetery had its
battle with protesters of different race. On August 11, 1902 protesters blocked
the entrance of the cemetery protesting “the colored burial ground.” The
protests ultimately delayed the funeral for Mrs. Cromwell for hours. A local
paper called the Chester County Times stating “Collingdale Has More Race
Troubles, Town Council Has No Use for a Colored Funeral, No African Need Apply.”

Eden Cemetery is also the burial site of at least 400
African American Civil War Troops who fought against slavery. Eden Cemetery is
the burial site for African Americans that fought and died in at least five
different wars. 

There are many names and famous people buried in Eden
Cemetery. The most notable is that of William Still, the African American known
as the Father of the Underground Railroad who helped free about sixty slaves a
month. Octavius Catto, a civil rights leader and a baseball pioneer, John
Taylor, the first African American to win an Olympic Gold Medal, and Dr.
Caroline Still- Anderson, daughter of William Still and the first African
American physician. These are just a few of the influential women and men buried at this&nbsp;cemetery.

The cemetery has had its fights against protesters,
vandalism, and hatred even up until 2008. In July of 2008 some 200 headstones,
one being of Octavius Catto, were vandalized. It is said that this incident was
racially motivated as the Collingdale Police arrested three white teenagers in
connection with this 2008 incident. These racially-motivated protests, like those that marred the opening of&nbsp;Eden Cemetery, are emblematic of the challenges faced by African Americans and their response to live and&nbsp;celebrate lives of dignity.&nbsp;

Located in Collingdale, Pennsylvania, Eden Cemetery was created by five leading African American residents who petitioned the city and overcame protests to create a space where Black Philadelphians could be buried with dignity. The city approved the purchase of the land but hesitated to allow the creation of a "colored cemetery" after white residents protested. The city approved the creation of the cemetery in 1902, but the leaders of the community had to endure one final act of indignity. During the funeral and burial of Celestine Cromwell, the wife of one of the five men who created the cemetery, white residents of Collingdale attempted to physically block the funeral party's access to the cemetery. Mourners refused to abandon their plans, and Cromwell became the first person buried at Eden Cemetery. The cemetery serves the final resting place for many Black leaders, including women and men who were active in the Underground Railroad. In 1902, William Still was buried at the cemetery. Still helped hundreds of slaves escape. 

Eden Cemetery 

The barn at Newlin Grist Mill is of the typical "Pennsylvania Bank Barn" style. It is built into the existing hillside, with a ramp at the front leading to the main floor. This level had three bays--a central one for the storage of vehicles and farm tools, and a bay on either side for the storage of hay. A cantilevered rear bay overhangs at the back. The lower level can be accessed from the back side of the barn and has stalls for animals. While it was common for livestock--especially hogs--to be allowed to roam in the woods for much of the year, animals might be stabled in the barn for a variety of reasons. Horses would be groomed and saddled or harnessed in their stalls, cows could be milked in a dairy parlor, and sheep might be brought in when lambing.

The original barn associated with the Miller's House was no longer standing when the property became part of the Newlin Grist Mill park, so in 1986, a barn located in northern Delaware was acquired and rebuilt on site to help represent the agricultural aspects of the site in the 18th century.

Bank Barn

Just 31 years
after the English arrived at Jamestown and 18 years after the Pilgrims landed
at Massachusetts Bay, the Swedish sailed up the Delaware River and established
a colony at what is now Wilmington in 1638.&nbsp;
The Swedish, like the other colonizing European countries, hoped their
colonies would benefit them economically.&nbsp;
However, that was not the case with New Sweden as the Swedish found
re-supply difficult and the colonists were more concerned with survival rather
than turning a profit.&nbsp; Thus, the Swedish
government dispatched a new colonial governor, Johan Printz, to turn things
around in 1643.

Printz was
instructed to increase trade relations with the local Native Americans and to promote
the growing of profitable grains and tobacco, the fishing industry and the
raising of sheep for wool.&nbsp; To do this,
he decided to expand the colony by moving its capital further up the Delaware
River, despite the presence of both the English and Dutch in the region.&nbsp; He decided to set up shop on Tinicum Island
within the Delaware.&nbsp; The island has
since been reclaimed by the mainland. 

Printz then
instructed the colonists to build Fort Gothenburg on the island.&nbsp; The fort came to enclose settler homes, a log
chapel, barns, and the new capitol building which came to be known as the Printzhof.&nbsp; Constructed of Swedish lumber and brick, this
structure was destroyed by fire, along with almost all the fort’s other
buildings, in 1645.&nbsp; The colonists
immediately began to rebuild, to include a new Printzhof.&nbsp; This new structure featured a stone
foundation and was again constructed of Swedish materials, to include
glass-paned windows and drapes.&nbsp; It also
housed Printz’s library.

By the early-1650s,
New Sweden was under threat on several fronts.&nbsp;
The colonists accused Printz of being a cruel and authoritarian leader. &nbsp;It had not been re-supplied in years as a
Swedish ship was lost at sea and Sweden was at war with Denmark.&nbsp; Lastly, the expanded colony had drawn the
attention of both the Dutch and English.&nbsp;
By 1653, Printz had endured enough and returned to Sweden.&nbsp; His replacement, Johan Rising, promptly
provoked the ire of New Netherland and its leader, Peter Stuyvesant.&nbsp; By 1655, New Sweden was no more, having been
fully incorporated into New Netherlands.

Today, all
that remains of the Printzhof is its stone foundation which was first excavated
in 1937 under the auspices of the New Deal Works Progress Administration.&nbsp; The Printzhof’s remains reside within the seven-acre
Governor Printz Park along the Delaware.&nbsp;
The park contains historical markers that describe the settlement and a life-size
bronze statue of Governor Printz.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Located in Governor Printz Park, the Printzhof is the structural remains of a 17th-century residence of the governor of New Sweden, Johan Printz. The stone foundation of the structure is all that remains from the first European settlement in what would later become Pennsylvania. Printz relocated the capital of New Sweden from Fort Christina, in present-day Wilmington, Delaware, when he arrived in the New World in 1643. His first home was destroyed by fire along with most of the surrounding buildings in 1645. The structrue was rebuilt, but all that now remains of the Printzhof is its stone foundation and artifacts excavated from the site during archeological digs in 1937, 1976, and 1989.  The Printzhof was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1961.  

The Printzhof and statue of Johan Printz

While many of the houses, mills, and other structures built in the 18th century Mid-Atlantic region were constructed primarily out of stone, bricks were often utilized for the chimneys and hearths. In 2012 and 2013, NGM partnered with New Castle Historical Society (NCHS) to reproduce bricks for a hearth restoration. While restoring a chimney in the Historic Amstel House, a fragment of a special hearth brick was discovered. NCHS decided to manufacture replacement bricks for the hearth restoration and approached NGM. The planning team examined sources on brick making tools and techniques and spoke with individuals involved in brick making projects. Since then, NGM has continued to offer demonstrations of brickmaking for special events and educational programs.

An important part of Newlin Grist Mill's approach to history is that the staff and volunteers at the site learn about historical processes by actually doing them and documenting the experiences. This comes from the field of "experimental archaeology." One of the projects that has been done onsite is traditional brickmaking.

Brickmaking Area

Potash is a chemical substance that was used in making fertilizer, glass, soap, gunpowder and dyeing fabrics. In the 18th century, the primary source of potash was the ash from native hardwood trees. The basic chemical compound potassium carbonate was extracted by leaching the ashes in big iron pots to dissolve out the soluble components. Evaporation of the solution through percolation resulted in the production of potash. An article published in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1750 noted that potash was "a Commodity that no Nation hardly can be well without." So important was potash in early America, the very first US patent was issued in 1790 to Philadelphian Samuel Hopkins for improving the process and equipment for making it.

An important part of Newlin Grist Mill's approach to history is that the staff and volunteers at the site learn about historical processes by actually doing them and documenting the experiences. This comes from the field of "experimental archaeology." One of the projects that has been done onsite is the making of potash.

Potash Kiln

This bronze deer statue was commissioned by Elizabeth Newlin, one of the founders of the park. Edward Fenno Hoffman (1916-1991) was the renowned sculptor who made the deer statue, and it was dedicated in 1973.

Deer Statue

The Newlin family was operating a general store on the property before 1730. While the exact date of the extant building's construction is unclear, the July 28, 1729 probate inventory for Nathaniel Newlin includes a long list of items under the heading, "Ye Goods," separate from his household possessions. The inventory of the store included cooking implements, glassware, tools, spices, and ready-made clothing items like hats and handkerchiefs. The majority of the goods stocked in the store were various types of fabric, as well as cloth tape, thread, needles, buttons, and other sewing items. By 1772, the Trimble family operated the store. John Trimble's probate inventory from July 6th of that year has a section of "Shop Goods to wit." By that time, the store had expanded its offerings to include books, a wider selection of household goods and tools, as well as a larger variety of luxury ingredients like coffee, chocolate, tea, and sugar. The building continued to be used as a store in the 19th century and was used as a residence until 1990. Today, the H. Dabbs Woodfin Research Archive is housed in the former Newlin store. The Archive was dedicated in 2008 for the purpose of creating a repository for materials related to the Newlin Grist Mill, the history of the Nicholas Newlin Foundation, families associated with the grist mill (Newlin, Sharpless, Trimble, and Hill), and information related to the 29 land parcels that make up the Foundation’s property. In addition to the materials in the Woodfin Archive, Newlin Grist Mill is home to the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills (SPOOM) archives. This collection includes materials related to mills and milling, SPOOM organizational materials, and publications. Of significant interest is the organization’s mill files organized by state and its photograph and slide collection.

In the first half of the 18th century, the Newlins built a general store next to the mill. The store was constructed over the top of the mill’s tailrace, which was enclosed by an arched masonry tunnel. For many years, it served as a store and residence. It now houses the archives and library of the Nicholas Newlin Foundation and the Society for the Preservation of Old Mills (SPOOM).

Trimble House

The original portion of the Miller's House was built in 1739, consisting of two stories made of field stone. It follows the English style of vernacular architecture of the period, with a central door and a chimney on each gable end. The interior of the house was laid out in the "hall-and-parlor" fashion, with the front door opening directly into the main room, the "hall." A partition separates the "parlor." A set of narrow winder stairs in the corner of the hall leads upstairs to two bedchambers. Each of the four rooms includes a fireplace. The house had both a cellar and an attic, as well. This would have been a comfortable home and a perk of taking a job as the miller in what was, at the time, an area that still had Black bears roaming the woods. Unfortunately, there are no surviving records that indicate who the early occupants of the Miller's House were. A third story was added on to the original portion of the house later, and a two-story L was added on to the back of the house in the 1860s. Another 2-story addition was built on to the rear of the 1860s addition in the 1960s, adding a modern kitchen and bathroom to the house. When the house was being restored to its original appearance, the third floor was removed from the front portion of the house.

When the Newlin Grist Mill was expanded to a merchant mill in 1739, a 2-story stone house was also built nearby to attract a miller. This would have allowed the miller and his family to live onsite and oversee operations. It is thought that by this time, the members of the Newlin family were no longer involved in the day-to-day of the mill and had hired a master miller to run what was now a large merchant mill.

Miller's House

The most well-known papermill in Concord Township was Ivy Mills, owned by the Willcox family and located downstream from Newlin Grist Mill on the West Branch of Chester Creek. Started in 1726, it had Benjamin Franklin as one of its customers and would go on to produce the paper for Continental currency. Ivy Mills operated until 1886--its ruins can still be seen today along Polecat Road (the eastern boundary of NGM), near Ivy Mills Road. But from 1796 to 1817, the Willcox family had nearby competition--William Trimble, Jr. also operated a larger papermill along the same creek during that period. William Trimble, Jr. closed his papermill when he purchased Newlin Grist Mill.

Besides grist mills to produce flour, there were numerous other types of mills along Chester Creek including sawmills, textile mills, and papermills. There were two papermills downstream from Newlin Grist Mill. These turned linen and cotton rags into paper for writing, printing, and currency. The iron paper press here (mounted on a reproduction wooden frame) came from Trimble's papermill and would have been used to squeeze water out of the paper pulp and compact the fibers into smooth sheets of paper.

Paper Press

In the winter 1682/83, Nicholas Newlin and his family landed in Upland (adjacent to Chester, PA), newly arrived from Ireland and seeking religious and economic opportunities. The family settled in Concord Township and began building a new life for themselves. In 1704, Nicholas’ son Nathaniel constructed a grist mill now known as the Newlin Grist Mill. The mill served its community as a source for grinding grains and strengthened the economy by exporting products to international markets around the world.Until 1941, the mill continued to grind grains and sell flour products under several different owners (Newlin, Trimble, Sharpless, and Hill). Each generation of owner also updated machinery and expanded the building to meet the needs of the time. These changes can be seen in the construction and landscape of the Newlin Grist Mill.In the 1930s, a ninth-generation descendent of Nicholas Newlin visited the mill looking for his family’s origins and became captivated by its character and traditions. E. Mortimer and Elizabeth Newlin purchased the mill in 1956 and immediately began restoring the building and equipment. Mr. and Mrs. Newlin established the Nicholas Newlin Foundation in 1960 giving it a mission that remains relevant today:The purpose of the Nicholas Newlin Foundation is to preserve its land and its historic buildings for the pleasure and education of the public.In an area of urban growth, the Foundation maintains open land as a refuge for plants, animals, and birds, and for the people who come to enjoy them. In an era of digital technology, it offers visitors insights into the vanished life of the rural eighteenth century. This two-fold objective of environmental and historical concerns is combined in a single theme wherever possible. ﻿Following the ideals of its founder, E. Mortimer Newlin, the Foundation will strive to enhance its service to the public, while securing its future by managing its finances wisely.For more than sixty years, the Nicholas Newlin Foundation has served its community through the preservation of history and open space, conservation of plants, animals, and waterways, and as a place for both education and recreation. Today, the Nicholas Newlin Foundation continues to maintain the Newlin Grist Mill and Park along with its twelve historic structures and over eight miles of hiking trails. Through a distinct balance of dedication to tradition and acceptance of innovation, the Newlin Grist Mill provides opportunities to connect with history and nature.

The Newlin Grist Mill and the surrounding 160-acre park is a place for exploration of both history and the environment. The site features a working grist mill, offers public history and nature programs, and includes over eight miles of walking and hiking trails. Whether you are involved in preservation, education, outdoor recreation, or just relaxing, there is something for you.

Newlin Grist Mill

Nathaniel Newlin (Nicholas’s son) and his wife Mary built the Grist Mill in 1704. In the beginning, it ran as a custom mill, grinding grain into meal or flour on demand for individual farmers in the area. The miller would take a portion of the grain as his payment—this was called the toll. Toll amount varied widely by time and place, but a typical amount would have been 1/16 to 1/32 of the total. The toll could also be paid in cash or barter. Wheat, corn, rye, barley, oats, and maslin (a mixture of wheat and rye) would have been ground in the mill. In 1739, the Newlins added a large 2-story stone addition to the mill. This addition would have at least doubled the grinding capacity of the mill. At the same time, they hired a professional miller to handle the increased business and built a stone house close to the mill to attract a miller. At this point, the mill was expanding to operate as a merchant mill, where the miller would buy the grain from farmers and sell the flour commercially. Usually, even merchant mills were required to continue some custom milling. The changes in 1739 reflect the increased production of the area’s farms, as well as the expanding regional and global markets for flour.  By the middle of the 18th century, the Newlin family were prosperous mill owners, hiring a miller to run the mill on a day-to-day basis but still retaining control over operations. By the 1770s, they had leased out the Grist Mill to the Trimble family and had stepped away from its management. In 1817, the mill was purchased by William Trimble. It was rented and/or owned by the Sharpless family for a time before the Hill family purchased it in 1860. The third floor (frame addition with red wooden siding) was added to accommodate later milling equipment during the 19th century. The cupola on top of the roof was likely added around the turn of the 20th century for the same reason. The Newlin Grist Mill ceased operations as a commercial mill in 1941. E. Mortimer Newlin, a ninth-generation descendant of Nicholas Newlin, purchased the mill and began the process of restoring it to its colonial configuration in 1956. Four years later, Newlin Grist Mill opened to the public, and Mortimer Newlin created the Nicholas Newlin Foundation to support the site. Over the next few decades, Mortimer continued to purchase land for the park. Today, Newlin Grist Mill is a 160-acre park that is owned and operated by the non-profit Nicholas Newlin Foundation.

The Grist Mill was built by Nathaniel Newlin (son of Nicolas) and his wife Mary in 1704. It was owned by the Newlin family until the early 19th century, when it was sold to the Trimble family. It would go on to pass to the Sharpless and Hill families until a ninth-generation descendant of Nicolas Newlin, E. Mortimer Newlin, purchased it in the mid-20th century and restored the mill to represent the site's colonial history.

Grist Mill

Philadelphia's Lazaretto Quarantine Station is the oldest
standing facility of its kind in the Western Hemisphere and the sixth oldest in
the world. Built in 1799-1800, it is estimated that as many as one third of all
Americans are descended from immigrants who passed through this station, which
predates Ellis Island by a century [1; 7]. It stands on the site of Pennsylvania's
first European settlement, New Sweden's capital under Governor Johann Printz,
established in the 1640s. The grounds and buildings of the Lazaretto were later
used for recreation, then became the first seaplane base in Philadelphia [7].

Before the Lazaretto

The first Europeans to colonize what would become
Pennsylvania were the Swedes (see <a href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=23270" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Queen Village</a> and <a title="Link: https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=23266" href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=23266" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Gloria Dei Old Swedes' Church</a>),
who settled relatively peacefully in the territory of the Lenni Lenape (or
Delaware) Indians (see <a href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=23269" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tamanend
Monument</a>). In 1643, New Sweden's first settlement of 250 colonists was
built at Tinicum, including residences, farms, a school, and a church. The
settlement also included Printzhof, Governor Printz's residence and government
headquarters [7; 12]. Recent archaeological investigations on the Lazaretto
Quarantine Station grounds have confirmed that the Printzhof site extends into
the Lazaretto site, and have also revealed a Native American component
connected to the Lenni Lenape occupation of the area from roughly 1200 C.E.
[7].

Public Health in
Philadelphia

British Quaker William
Penn established the city of Philadelphia in 1682, after receiving a land grant
from the King of England consisting of what we now call the state of
Pennsylvania. A city of many firsts, Philadelphia's public health efforts
include the establishment in 1729 of The Philadelphia Almshouse (the first
American health care provision for the poor) and the founding in 1756 of <a href="https://theclio.com/web/entry?id=23271" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Pennsylvania Hospital </a>(the
first hospital in the nation). The city established its original quarantine
station (or Lazaretto) in 1742, on the banks of the Schuylkill River (this,
however, was not an American first, as New York City's Bedloe's Island
quarantine station had been built in the 1730s) [6; 7].

Philadelphia's
First Quarantine Station

In 18th century America, when little was understood about
how to cure or control the spread of disease, quarantine was the only known
measure for the prevention of epidemics. Particularly in seaports, quarantine
stations, also commonly called lazarettos or pest houses, served multiple
purposes: first, the spread of foreign disease to the general population;
second, the treatment of passengers ill from their long voyages; and third, the
official inspection of ships and cargo [12]. In 1742, Governor George Thomas
was petitioned by German inhabitants of Pennsylvania for a reception house for
their fellow countrymen who required medical treatment upon arrival. As the
American Colonies had experienced epidemics of smallpox, cholera, and Yellow
Fever in the previous 50 years, Thomas agreed, and the state obtained 342 acres
on Fisher's Island (also called Province Island) and spent $1,700 on African
slaves toward the creation of the city's Pest House [7; 12]. The station itself
was built on the six acres closest to the bank of the Schuylkill River,
with additions to the complex in 1750. The station survived the Revolutionary
War, but not the public health policy changes following Philadelphia's
outbreaks of disease in the 1790s, particularly the infamous Yellow Fever
epidemic of 1793 [12].



 The Lazaretto
Quarantine Station As many as 5,000 residents (10% of the population) of
Philadelphia died during the five-month epidemic of 1793, and another 17,000
(1/3 of the population) fled the city, including most of the members of the
government [3; 7; 11; 12]. The City of Philadelphia responded by creating a
Board of Health the following year, and the decision was made to build a new
quarantine station further from the city. The site at Tinicum was chosen for
its isolation and small population, and ten acres were purchased from brother
and sister Thomas and Rebecca Smith and six acres from John and Mary Taylor [12].
On the site were built a customs house, wharf, and a quarantine station under
the guidance of the Board of Health and the Guardians of the Poor [6; 12]. In
spite of these new facilities (since Yellow Fever spreads through mosquito
bites), more epidemics followed each summer, killing another 3,500 in 1797 and
forcing residents to flee the city again the following year [3; 6]. Volunteers
were requested to care for the sick; African-American clergymen Richard Allen
and Absalom Jones offered their help and recruited nurses and gravediggers from
the city's 2,500 freedmen and women through the Free African Society; more than
300 of these volunteers died of the fever themselves [6]. The Lazaretto
buildings were completed in 1800. The main building imitated the style of the city's
Pennsylvania Hospital, with a physician's residence on one side and the
quarantine master's residence on the other, each with their own stables. At the
riverbank, two guard houses kept watch for ships coming either from the
Delaware River or from the Port of Philadelphia. The complex also included a
burying ground and a dead-house [7; 10]. At the time, Philadelphia was
America's largest city and busiest commercial port [3]. As many as one out of
every three Americans is estimated to have descended from immigrants who passed
through the Lazaretto Quarantine Station, where the ill were treated and
cargoes inspected and sometimes fumigated with sulfur and alcohol or destroyed
altogether to prevent the spread of disease. All passengers and merchants who
passed through Philadelphia were quarantined for at least one full day, and
sometimes as many as thirty days [2; 6; 7]. When, in 1800, two illegal U.S.
slave ships were captured by the U.S.S. Ganges,
the emaciated Africans on board were brought to the abolitionist city of
Philadelphia and treated by the staff of the Lazaretto station for 31 days
(long enough to establish legal status) and freed into the care of the
Pennsylvania Abolition Society [1; 6]. The station also treated residents of
the city who contracted infectious diseases [12]. In spite of the excellent organization
and (for the time) treatment the Lazaretto offered, the mosquito-borne yellow
fever persisted, returning several more times in the 19th century, particularly
in relation to a ship from Jamaica, the Home,
in the summer of 1870. Believing the fever to be airborne, 1,000 Philadelphians
called for the removal of the Lazaretto. However, dramatic increases in
European immigration necessitated its continuation until 1895, at which time
most immigration came through New York City and the Marcus Hook quarantine
station on the Delaware began receiving ships for the Philadelphia area [3;
12].

&nbsp;

The Lazaretto's
Subsequent Uses

From 1895 to 1912, the Georgian-style main building of the
Lazaretto was used as a vacation spot and country club by wealthy members of
the Philadelphia Athletic Club. The Orchard Club featured bicycling, tennis,
baseball, hunting, fishing, and boating [5; 7]. The property was planted with
grapes, flowers, and trees, and the buildings housed indoor games such as
billiards and ping pong. The history of the building was important to the Club,
who were careful to preserve the exteriors and much of the interior of the
buildings in their original style. On December 17, 1909, the Aero Club of
Pennsylvania was established, and seven years later organized Philadelphia's
first aviation school. The Philadelphia School of Aviation opened at the former
Lazaretto on May 12 under the guidance of Colonel Robert Edward Glendinning. It
became one of the first seaplane bases in America, and was taken over by the
War Department on March 8, 1917 for training squadron fighters and the Army
Signal Corps for World War I. After the war, flight instructor Frank Mills returned
to Philadelphia and purchased the Lazaretto property, reopening it as a
seaplane base which was operated by himself and his family until 2000 (it also
served the United States forces during World War II) [4; 12].



The property was placed on the National Register of Historic
Places in 1972. It was abandoned in 2000 and saved from demolition in 2005, but
remains stable and retains a high degree of historic integrity, as well as
being of national (arguably international) historic significance [2; 7].
Archaeological investigations of the grounds seek to locate Printzhof, the 1643
Swedish colony consisting of the governor's house, courthouse, prison, and
meeting house, as well as the Lazaretto's burial ground, smallpox hospital, and
ice house [2; 12]. While the main building is slated to become Tinicum
Township's municipal government headquarters, historic preservation is a top
priority, and the township's Historical Society holds three events on the
grounds every year: the Tinicum Township historical Society Flea Market in
June, the Share Your Own History Weekend in September, and the History and
Mystery Weekend in October [4; 5].

Historic
Marker Inscriptions:



Lazaretto Quarantine Station

A rare surviving example of a quarantine station, the
Lazaretto was the introduction to America for many immigrants. Established in
1799 in reaction to a yellow fever epidemic, it operated until 1893 to inspect
cargo and passengers for infectious diseases. Affected cargo was fumigated or
destroyed and ill passengers were hospitalized and quarantined until recovery
or death. The cemetery was here and original structures remain nearby.&nbsp; 
Erected 2008
by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission [9].

&nbsp;

Lazaretto Quarantine
Station — Delaware [County] — It is believed to be the last remaining quarantine station in the United States. For
much of the 19th century, it was where many Europeans were first
introduced to the United States [7].

Philadelphia's Lazaretto Quarantine Station is the oldest standing facility of its kind in the Western Hemisphere and the sixth oldest in the world. Built in 1799-1800, it is estimated that as many as one third of all Americans are descended from immigrants who passed through this station, which predates Ellis Island by a century [1; 7]. It stands on the site of Pennsylvania's first European settlement, New Sweden's capital under Governor Johann Printz, established in the 1640s. The grounds and buildings of the Lazaretto were later used for recreation, then became the first seaplane base in Philadelphia [7]. 

Lazaretto Quarantine Station

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Like mentioned previously, this institution was founded on March 10th, 1743, after a meeting of Quakers and merchants decided to erect the first institution in the area. This signing committee consisted of 29 participants, and the signed document was an agreement that essentially founded one of the oldest public libraries in the United States. On the outset, the organizers purchased forty-five volumes at a cost of 11 pounds, 10 shillings. Of these forty-five volumes, forty-three of them are still on display at this library. The purchase of these books was arranged by a botanist by the name of John Bartram. He was able to make arrangements to purchase the volumes from London, which supplied the institution with its first catalog. The funds mentioned previously were transferred in the form of a bill exchange to Lawrence Williams, which was paid to Peter Collins of London.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; In order to properly understand the history surrounding this institution, a look at the first group of administrators here is necessary. John Pearson was elected the first librarian of this institution. Joseph Bosnall was the first secretary, and finally, Nathan Gibson was the first treasurer. The mentioning of these original administration members is necessary because it provides us with more context surrounding the institution. According to the libraries official website, a large number of the books were kept at the home of the Librarian. This means that Pearson himself had access to a large amount of the libraries volumes at his own house. Borrowers of said books were charged with one and one-half times the amount the volume costed if they weren't returned. According to the Libraries official website, late fines ranged from 4-6 pence, depending mainly on the value of the volume itself. Also according to the Libraries official website, company meetings were held in the homes of members of the library.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The current property of the library was purchased in 1866 and the present home of the library was erected in 1872 after the raising of funds by local friends and borrowers. The total costs for construction were $8,895.54. Today, 260 years later, the library houses more than 20,000 volumes of fiction, non-fiction, reference books, audio, DVD, and finally, video tapes. The library also has an online catalog accessible through the internet. The library sponsors community events, and is a member of the Delaware Country Library System. Patrons belonging to the Library are able to get books all over Delaware county.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

On March 10th, 1743, a group of Quakers and merchants residing in the village of Darby chose to meet and organize the first institution in the area. On this day, 29 people met and signed an agreement which would serve as the first building block for one of the first public libraries in America.  The building itself might seem easy to miss; however, the history and culture surrounding this old institution is definitely worth checking out. This library, along with many others founded during this period of American history warrant a thorough investigation of history. 

The Darby Free Library

The Merion
Cricket Club, founded in 1865, decided to add a nine-hole golf course in 1896
as the popularity of golf in the United States began to increase.&nbsp; The course was expanded to 18 holes in
1900.&nbsp; Shortly after, golf ball technology
changed as the gutta percha ball was replaced with the rubber core Haskell
ball.&nbsp; This new golf ball, which consistently
travelled farther, made the cricket club’s course obsolete.&nbsp; As a result, the club formed a committee to
look into the feasibility of building a new, longer course in 1910.&nbsp; They hired 32-year old Hugh Wilson who, while
an accomplished golfer, had no experience designing courses.&nbsp; Wilson then proceeded to design one of the
best courses in the United States.

After the
course was designed, sculpted and seeded, Wilson travelled to England and Scotland
to learn about designing, building, and maintaining courses sometime in late
1911 or early 1912.&nbsp; He was scheduled to
travel back to America aboard the HMS
Titanic in 1912, but decided to extend his stay several more days.&nbsp; Upon his return, he incorporated much he
learned into his East Course.&nbsp; Wilson’s course
was built on only 126 acres and was relatively short at only 6,500 yards.&nbsp; However, he increased its difficulty by
incorporating numerous (131) Scottish-style bunkers that featured peninsulas
and islands of grass as well as eyebrows which are comprised of thick, tall
grass around the edges of the bunkers.&nbsp; 

Merion
hosted its first USGA championship in 1916 in the form of the U.S. Amateur
which featured a 14-year old Bobby Jones.&nbsp;
Jones would return to win the U.S. Amateur in 1924 and again in
1930.&nbsp; His 1930 win completed golf’s first
Grand Slam as he had previously won the British Amateur, British Open, and U.S.
Open Championships.&nbsp; A plaque along the
11th hole commemorates this event.&nbsp;
The East Course also hosted the 1950 U.S. Open in which Ben Hogan made
his triumphant return from a near-fatal auto accident.&nbsp; His famous 1-iron on the championship’s final
hole helped secure his spot in a playoff round which he won the next day.&nbsp; Merion also witnessed Lee Travino’s playoff
win over Jack Nicklaus in the 1971 U.S. Open and Justin Rose’s first major
championship in the 2013 U.S. Open.

The East
course is also known for its wicker baskets atop its pins rather than flags.&nbsp; It is believed Wilson developed this idea
while in Scotland, but its true origin remains clouded in mystery.&nbsp; Merion is almost exclusively a walking course
as carts are prohibited except for the physically disabled and the use of
caddies is highly recommended as there are no yard markers on the course. &nbsp;Merion has since lengthened the East Course to
almost 7,000 yards and acquired more land to ensure it will continue to host
USGA championships.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

Comprised of two 18-hole courses, the East and West courses, the Merion Golf Club has hosted 18 United States Golf Association (USGA) championships, more than any other.  The first course built on the site was created by the Merion Cricket Club in 1896.  That course was replaced by the Hugh Wilson designed East Course in 1912 and the West course was added to the club in 1914.  The East course is the more challenging of the two, has hosted all USGA championships, to include five U.S. Opens, and is thus, better known.  The club is private and only open to members and their guests.  The Merion Golf Club was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1992.  

Merion Golf Club

&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Located in Derby, PA, Hilldale Park was the longtime
home of the Hilldale Daisies. During the 1920s, the Hilldale Daisies were one
of the most successful Negro League Clubs. Dominating the early Eastern Colored
League, they won the pennant each of the league’s first three years. In
addition to the Hilldale Daisies, other lesser known African American baseball
teams also used Hilldale Park. One of the most notable sites in the ballpark
was a large tree behind the centerfield fense that had branches extending over
the fence.

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; To explain more about the Hilldale Daisies and the kind
of success and baseball history that Hilldale Park witnessed, here is a list of
some of the baseball hall of famers who played there. They include: Pop Lloyd,
Louis Santop, Oscar Charleston, Ben Taylor, Joe Williams, Biz Mackey, Martin
Dihigo, and Judy Johnson. As for the Daisoes, they played in the first ever Negro
League World Series where they lost to the Kansas City Monarchs in a close
contest, but they returned in 1925 to the Negro League World Series and won by
defeating the Kansas City Monarchs five games to one. 

&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After 18 years of play at Hilldale Park, which began on
May 16, 1914 with a crowd of 3,000 spectators, the Hilldale Daisies folded in
1932. Despite their initial success that even warranted an enlargement of the
park to account for a growing crowd of both whites and Blacks, the economic
stress of the early 1930s led to the team’s collapse. Today, there is a marker
where the field was that depicts Hilldale Park’s historical significance.

               Located in Derby, PA, Hilldale Park was the longtime home of the Hilldale Daisies. During the 1920s, the Hilldale Daisies were one of the most successful Negro League Clubs. Dominating the early Eastern Colored League, they won the pennant each of the league’s first three years. In addition to the Hilldale Daisies, other lesser known African American baseball teams also used Hilldale Park. One of the most notable sites in the ballpark was a large tree behind the centerfield fense that had branches extending over the fence.

Hilldale Park

Miss Baldwin’s School for Girls was founded in Bryn Mawr, in a much humbler location than the stately Bryn Mawr Hotel that serves as its facilities today.&nbsp; Miss Florence Baldwin began the school in the house owned by her mother with just thirteen students. Five of the thirteen would go on to graduate from the school two years later, and four of those five proceeded to attend the illustrious Bryn Mawr College.

As the number of attendees grew, more space was needed to continue classes.&nbsp; Baldwin first chose to purchase a home across the street from her mother’s home as an extension of the school.&nbsp; Soon after, however, the continued growth of the school demanded a large-scale reorganization. For this, Florence Baldwin turned to the nearby Bryn Mawr Hotel.

With winter business being considerably slower in business for the Hotel, Miss Baldwin was able to work out a deal with the owners; during the winter months, the Hotel would house classes for the Baldwin School. Less than 20 years later, a year-round lease would be negotiated between the Baldwin School and the Bryn Mawr Hotel which would lay the groundwork for the full purchase of the hotel by the school in 1922.

The Bryn Mawr Hotel itself is architecturally and historically significant. The building was designed by Frank Furness, a well-recognized American architect who designed a number of other notable hotels in other cities.&nbsp; The Bryn Mawr Hotel is the last of Furness' remaining buildings and serves as a stately reminder of the best works of an iconic architect.&nbsp; Furness’ works dot the cityscape of the Greater Philadelphia area, but the Bryn Mawr Hotel best displays the Chateau Style he was best known for.

The resilient and open design of the Hotel has been credited for the longevity of its use, a claim which is supported by the fact that it is still in use by the school as of the creation of this entry.&nbsp; Throughout the 1900s the leadership of the Baldwin School organized the purchase of new land and the construction of new buildings and extensions to existing structures.&nbsp; This&nbsp;process included the building of the Elizabeth Frost Johnson Schoolhouse, the Red Gym, and a swimming pool for use by the students.

The 1960s and 70s brought many changes to the Baldwin School including the closure of the boarding program at the school.&nbsp; The Bryn Mawr Hotel (previously referred to by the school as “the Residence”) was converted into a faculty residence, and a new building was built for younger students.&nbsp; 1978 was the year that “the Residence,” and the school it contained for so many years, was listed on the National Park Service’ss National Register of Historic Places.&nbsp;

Since 1978, the Baldwin School has constructed a science building, computer lab, an athletic center and more.&nbsp; It celebrated its 100th year in 1988 and proceeded to gain significant recognition throughout the 90s and early 2000s.&nbsp;

The Baldwin School is the alma mater of an impressive list of accomplished women, including Kinney Zalesne, the Manager of Corporate Strategy at Microsoft; Jody Gerson, the CEO of Universal Music Publishing Group who recruited and signed pop artist Lady Gaga; and Anne Cabot Wyman, Pulitzer prize winner and two-time finalist who became the first female editorial editor of the Boston Globe.

The Baldwin School of Bryn Mawr is one of the United States’ most prestigious all-girls schools.  Since 1888, the Baldwin School has served the Greater Philadelphia area and it has been located here in the former Bryn Mawr Hotel for most of those years. While the building has undergone some modifications since its original construction in 1890, the school still calls this building home and has overseen and contributed significantly to its preservation as a historical landmark.  

The Baldwin School of Bryn Mawr / The Bryn Mawr Hotel

In 1842, ten miles outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Villanova University was founded by the Order of Saint Augustine. &nbsp;The institution provides a liberal arts education and is committed to the community and serving others. &nbsp;In addition, the university values excellence and outstanding performance both in the classroom and during athletic competition (Lane, 2016). &nbsp;Villanova is ranked among the nation’s top universities and supports and encourages academic and athletic growth (Lane, 2016). &nbsp;There are 24 varsity sports in which over 500 student-athletes participate in. Villanova University is a member of the Big East Conference, Colonial Athletic Association (football), and the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (Women’s Water Polo) (Lane, 2016). The Pavilion, home to the Men’s and Women’s basketball programs, was built in 1985. Its architecture, internal features, as well as the events held there, have all contributed to the well-known impact it has had on those who have attended, played in, and funded the Pavilion. &nbsp;The Pavilion was originally known as the John Eleuthere du Pont Pavilion. &nbsp;He was the main funder of the building. &nbsp;In 1997, his name was removed from the facility after he was convicted of the murder of Dave Schultz, an Olympic, gold medal wrestler (The Pavilion, 2017).The Pavilion was built as a multipurpose arena that sits 6,500 people (The Pavilion, 2017). &nbsp;From the outside, it stands out with its hyperbolic paraboloid roofline (The Pavilion, 2017). The inside is spacious and features multiple different athletic uses to the center. Although most people are familiar with the way the Pavilion looks during a basketball game, it may also be used for tennis, volleyball, indoor track and field training, baseball and softball batting practice, and for rowing practice. The courts are lined for basketball, tennis, and volleyball (Facilities, n.d.). &nbsp;There is also a five lane, 200 meter track, a jump pit with sand, pole vault pit, and batting cages (Facilities, n.d.). &nbsp;The game court for varsity men’s and women’s basketball was replaced in 2002 and is now a portable maplewood surface (Facilities, n.d.). &nbsp;In addition to the courts and practice facilities inside the Pavilion, there is also a press room, an athletic department lounge, a VIP box, and convocation center with a stage, curtains, drapings, and folding chairs. &nbsp;Despite all the Pavilion has to offer for the student-athletes, it is most known for its large student section that takes up a third of the seating. &nbsp;However, it is considered only the 5th best arena in the Big East due to the awkward layout, high ceilings that prevent good acoustics, and a large empty space behind the student section for baseball (McQuade, 2017). Villanova University’s Pavilion is known to be an exciting venue in which more than 1.9 million people have passed through, just for men’s basketball. &nbsp;Not only is the Pavilion used for Villanova athletic events, but for many other reasons as well. The entire city of Villanova, Pennsylvania has benefitted from the Pavilion and its large arena floor that measures 23,016 square feet (The Pavilion, 2017). &nbsp;It has been the hosting venue for Commencement events, recruiting events, concerts, conventions, trade shows, Special Olympics, Relay for Life, the Advanta International Tennis Championship, NCAA Championship events, and Law School graduation. &nbsp;It is also the home court of the Philadelphia Freedoms of World Team Tennis (The Pavilion, 2017). &nbsp;Not only is the Pavilion important to the student athletes and faculty at Villanova, but also to the surrounding community.Throughout the years, the Villanova Wildcats have been extremely successful. &nbsp;They have an all-time record of 293-62 (.825) for the men’s basketball team and 262-140 (.651) for the women’s team (The Finneran, 2017). &nbsp;All-time attendance at the Pavilion is 2, 270,190 people and 92% of games played were with sold out crowds (The Finneran, 2017). &nbsp;Men’s Head Basketball Coach, Jay Wright, has a “career record of 161-20 (.890) at the Pavilion, including a 93-5 (.949) record against non-conference opponents and a 68-15 (.819) record versus BIG EAST” programs (The Finneran, 2017). The men’s basketball team has won the regular season 8 times, the Big East Conference Championship 3 times, appeared in the NCAA tournament 36 times, and has 2 NCAA national championship titles (Villanova Wildcats, 2017). &nbsp;It is obvious that the Pavilion plays a large role in the positive atmosphere that the teams get to compete in and has a true impact on the attitudes and mindset of the athletes. In addition to building a well-rounded, liberal arts, education for all of its students, Villanova has produced several men’s and women’s professional basketball athletes. &nbsp;There is a total of 46, both retired and current players, who have played in the NBA and 1 in the WNBA (Villanova Players, 2017)(Villanova University, n.d.). &nbsp;Villanova basketball continues to be a top team both in the Big East and in the nation year after year. Over the last 31 years, there have been several donations to Villanova’s athletic department and programs such that a complete remodel of the Pavilion was approved. The updates will help to benefit Villanova’s elite basketball programs and will further honor the history of basketball at the Pavilion (The Finneran, 2017). &nbsp;It was scheduled to begin in June of 2017 and finish before the 2018-2019 basketball season (The Pavilion, 2017). &nbsp;This renovation is solely funded by donors. &nbsp;A major donor was William B. Finneran, and to honor him, the building will be renamed, the “Finneran Pavilion” (Board of Trustees, 2017). He was a member of the class of 1963 and made a $22.6 million donation in the Spring of 2016 (The Pavilion, 2017). &nbsp;The university has hired several industry leaders to plan and build this renovation. &nbsp;They will use the “architecture firm, EwingCole,as well as Legends which is a holistic planning, sales, and hospitality provider in sports and entertainment” (Board of Trustees, 2017). &nbsp;This design team is attempting to transform the Pavilion into a vision of continued and enhanced success and entertainment.There are several goals of the Finneran Pavilion renovation that aim to contribute to the creation of an even more exhilarating home-court advantage. &nbsp;The designers have incorporating designs that will implement a “high-quality, game-day experience for fans, strengthen Villanova’s ability to recruit and train the nation’s best and brightest students, and will elevate fan experience through improved seating and other amenities, enhance operations, and provide VIP seating” (Lane, 2016). &nbsp;The renovations will include a brand new main entrance, a 360 degree concourse with concessions and merchandise stands, more comfortable seating, enhanced audio-visual capabilities, a new Hall of Fame exhibit, a Court One hospitality room in which the actual court from the 2016 Championship is the flooring, courtside seating options, and upgraded Wi-Fi technology (The Finneran, 2017). &nbsp;In addition, there will be improvements to the locker room, recruiting room, a VIP club, and a renovated walkway outside the arena to welcome students and fans (Craig, 2017). &nbsp;&nbsp;Despite a total renovation budget of $60 million, the seating capacity of the Pavilion will remain the same. &nbsp;Limitations of this opportunity not only include zoning ordinances and longer delays of progress, but also funding. &nbsp;A full tear down of the building and additional seating would cost over $125 million and additional parking space is not available (The Finneran, 2017). &nbsp;Despite this, the Finneran Pavilion will be a more enjoyable experience for students, faculty, athletes, and fans while the teams will hopefully benefit from an increased electrifying, home-court advantage.The Pavilion renovation aims to properly honor and show appreciation for not only William Finneran and his donation, but those who have contributed to Villanova basketball success. &nbsp;Creating a new and enhanced home court atmosphere will continue to foster a positive and exciting environment to help show support for their elite basketball programs. &nbsp;In return, it may also have a greater impact on recruitment and will be another aspect that draws talented student athletes to Villanova University.

The Pavilion at Villanova University is home to the men's and women's basketball teams. It is used for other sports and recreational use for students. Great teams and players have played in the Pavilion where basketball has become the main attraction. Donors and Villanova alumni have gathered money to support for a renovation and rename the stadium to the Finneran Pavilion.

Delaware County Heritage Trail

M. Carey Thomas Library, Bryn Mawr College

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information