Kraft Cheese in Concord? The Chester 1724 Courthouse and new book !!

Baltimore Pike in Concordville looking east toward Media about 1935. Baltimore Pike was a 2 lane road at the time. The road on the right is Concord Rd. the route to the Chester Ferry before Rt. 322 was built.

NOTE: You don't think of major food companies like Kraft making cheese in a small town like Concord. But when companies first started out 100 plus years ago, they bought or rented small mills to get their product and company up and running. Kraft selected the Sharpless Mill in Concord Twp. plus others when they first started to make cheese in the Phila. area.

KRAFT REMOVAL BLOW TO CONCORD 

 Residents Fear Heavy Loss When Cheese Plant Goes to New Jersey

          In the neighborhood of Concordville, there is general regret because the Kraft Cheese Company will move its operations to Jersey City in June, says the West Chester Local News.  To the company as a whole, a forty million dollar corporation, the removal of this one unit means but little, but to the people of Concordville, who depend upon it for their subsistence, it means a great deal.  There are many families directly and indirectly corrected with it, all of whom will sustain heavy losses unless some new industry can be found to take its place.

          Different inquiries have been reported regarding the future use of the buildings and grounds.  Some say a soap factory is in prospect, others say some sort of chemical plant will be there.  Meanwhile, everybody waits and wonders.

          The Concordville plant is said to represent an investment of about $25000.  For many years Pennock E. Sharpless conducted a creamery there, and in the year 1924 the Sharpless interests were sold to the Kraft Cheese Company, which about that time merged with the Phoenix Cheese Company.  It is said that the sum of $75,000 was invested in an automatic sprinkler system as a preventive of fire, this including a reservoir and a piping system.

          Farmers in a district which extends toward Wawa, Chadds Ford and Kennett Square, now selling their milk to Kraft Company may lose their market, although it is said that the company could purchase this milk from the local farms, and could depend entirely upon a cream which is produced in Canada and other northern sections, as its material.  The local farmers supply 2800 pounds of milk a day, to be used in the making of cheese or in an ice cream mix, the latter being sold to the manufacturers of ice cream.  Three big thermos tanks are on the road every day, one bringing milk from Cochranville, another from Unionville, and a third from Mendenhall, where the company has receiving platforms.

          Casper Sharpless is the general manager at Concordville, and Amon E. Deavor is the plant superintendent.  There are in all at present fifty-six employees, mainly men and several of them heads of families.  A number of the present employees will go to Jersey City, continuing there in the service of the Kraft firm, while others will seek positions elsewhere.  Several are in such a position that they do not care to leave Concordville, and these will make arrangements for employment nearer home, in case the plant should be taken over and operated by a new firm, there will probably be work for them at the present location.

          “We do not anticipate that the farmers will have any trouble in disposing of their milk,” said Mr. Deavor last evening, “especially if some plans carry which are now under consideration, but of these there is no definite assurance at present.”

          In the plant there is much valuable machinery, and during the present ownership many special improvements have been introduced.  For instance, as one who is familiar with the work, says, there are special machines for wrapping the soft cheese.  Before these machines were introduced, forty girls were employed there, but in that department at present two girls are able with the improved system to do the work which formerly required so many more.

          While the Sharpless family sold out completely at the time the plant was taken over by the Kraft interests five years ago, and has no direct interest in this particular plant, it is understood that a considerable amount of stock in the Kraft Company is held in Concordville neighborhood.  The Kraft Company has its main plant in Chicago, and there are other plants all over the world, as in Australia, England and Germany.  When one plant is closed, the business can be shifted to another plant, so that the system as a whole goes on with little or no interruption.  Thus the burden rests wholly upon the Kraft Company to dispose of this property to the best advantage possible, and those who live in the neighborhood as employees, businessmen or other dependents, directly or indirectly, express the hope that whatever the succession may be, a going concern will occupy the present plant.

The Chester 1724 Courthouse on Ave. of the States about 1920 before it was restored. The large tower was taken off and replaced to look original

Note: The Penna. Historic Museum Commission took over the ownership and responsibility of the 1724 Courthouse in the 1970's. They want to return it to Delaware County and have contacted County Council. There has been talk of a group being formed to operate and maintain the courthouse, the oldest in Penna. Below is an appeal from Leslie Barbara Potter to the County and all other residents to organize a group to take over the courthouse. You can contact her below:

 potter16580@verizon.net

The 1724 Courthouse in Chester

To the best of my knowledge, the 1724 Court House has not had any meaningful community support or income produced for its up keep since the early 1970’s, when title to it was transferred to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  So I feel compelled to ask Delaware County Council, Delaware County residents, and the entire historic preservation community, if we did not shirk our responsibilities for the 1724 Court House first?  Although I have been active in the historic research and preservation community since 1972, I must confess to not having been involved in directly supporting the 1724 Court House.  If one is not part of the solution, one is part of the problem.  I am determined to become part of the solution.

 Nature abhors a vacuum.  I have absolutely no idea what the PHMC staff had in mind for the “Friends of the 1724 Court House”.  So after talking with a number of my colleagues, I am strongly strongly suggesting that we should get our collective tail in gear and use the time during this “enforced sabbatical” to organize and recruit a proposed list of qualified, competent, honest, and committed candidates from various disciplines, who might be willing to serve on the Board of Directors for the proposed new 501 (c) 3 non-profit corporation to be called the “Friends of the 1724 Court House”.