"Wrangletown" and the "Trick House" Middletown Twp. was the place to party some 200 years ago

The former Franklin Mint on Baltimore Pike in Middletown Twp. It stood on the south side of Baltimore Pike opposite the Wawa Dairy. Today ii is a housing development.

Note: Running late this week. My FB page crashed on me and it took forever to get is fixed and working again. Two hundred years all of Delaware County ha all sorts of town names, some serious  like "Aston Mills" a small town there to funny ones like "Wrangletown" known then for it's fighting and partying.

WRANGLETOWN

“There’s a tavern in the town”

 

         Today, the community of Lima in Middletown Township, Delaware County, has an aura of quiet charm.  About a century and a half ago, however, Lima was somewhat less than charming, and certainly unquiet.  It was known as “Wrangletown” with the accent on the “wrangle” and was so identified on some maps.

         Seems that in 1806 one Philp Yarnall was granted a permit by the county court to establish a “public house” at what then was called Middletown Crossroads.  Philip’s principal, and persuasive, plea to the court was that the nearest bar was at Black Horse, about two miles away.  Yarnall built his tavern at the intersection of Baltimore Pike and Edgemont Road, and the community’s quietude ceased.  There were complaints about the noisy disputes in the tavern, which went so far into the night.  In 1808 a number of residents went to court, seeking to have Yarnall’s permit revoked.  They testified that the village now was widely known as “Wrangletown” and that its growth had been stunted because “decent people” refused to settle there.

         Yarnall’s permit was revoked.  In 1816, however, a sympathetic judge gave Yarnall another chance.  Whereupon the wrangling was resumed.  Three years later the court put Yarnall out of business for keeps.  But the name “Wrangletown” stuck for many years thereafter.

         Once assured that the tavern would not reopen, solid citizens began moving into the community.  One was Isaac Isaacson, who built a square, three-story house, topped by a tower.  It still stands on the southeast corner of Baltimore Pike and Edgemont Road.

         About three miles from Lima on Edgemont Road just west of Valley Road, stands what once was known as the “trick house.”  Built in 1720 by John Yarnall, grandfather of Philip, it was so called because of its exterior wall construction:  two of brick, two of field stone.