A view of the Brandywine Creek from about 1910. The exact location is unknown.
NAMES OF CREEKS CHANGE SINCE LENAPE INDIANS DAYS
Back in the very old days Delaware
Countians took a swim in Amosland kill, went wading in Calkoen Creek, fished
for croakers in Mill Creek, and went boating on the Crooms. And the Lenape Indians sailed birch bark
canoes on the Meechoppenackhan.
Today there aren’t any Indians on the
Meechoppenackhan but there are modern canoes on the Chester River, boats on
Crum Creek, fishermen in Cobbs Creek and waders and swimmers in Darby Creek.
Practically all of the county
waterways were known by other names during the early years. Following are the stories of the old names
and accounts of how the streams got their present-day titles.
The proper Indian name for Chester
Creek was the tongue twister – Meechoppenackhan. Translated, this name meant “the large potato
stream” or the “stream along which potatoes grow.” The Okehocking Indians, a tribe of the
Lenapes, owned most of the land along the creek.
Whether they raised the potatoes or
whether they grew wild the records do not show.
However, the name would hardly be applicable today since the banks of
the Chester River aren’t renowned for their potato bearing qualities.
The present name of the river seems
much more appropriate. It was obviously
named for the city although there is no record of any formal naming date. Opinion is that common usage affixed the
name. Today, however, there is still
some discrepancy. Officially it is the
Chester River although many persons insist on calling it the Chester Creek, the
name by which it was known for years and years.
Cobbs Creek, which forms the eastern
boundary of the county separating it from Philadelphia, was known as Mill Kill
or Creek in the early days of local settlement.
The name Mill was given because the Swedish water mill built by Governor
Printz in 1643 was located on its banks.
When the English settlers moved in,
the name Cobbs was given. It seems the
name was derived from William Cobb who owned a large tract of land along the
banks of the creek. In 1683 Cobb was
appointed by the court at Chester as constable for “Amosland and Calkoen
Hook.” These sections are now Ridley
Township and Folcroft.
Darby Creek had then old names, Mill
Creek, Calkoen Creek and Amosland Kill or Creek. It was later named Darby for the township and
borough located along its banks.
Originally the creek was considered a branch of Cobbs Creek despite the
fact that it is a much larger stream.
One county stream that still retains
its old name is the Muckinipattus. This
stream starts in Springfield Township, flows through Upper Darby and the
northern segment of Darby Township, then through Glenolden and then forms
through Glenolden, and then forms the boundary between Norwood and
Folcroft. The name is undoubtedly of
Indian origin although there is no record of what the odd title meant in Lenape
Indian language.
Stoney Creek was most probably named
by everyday reference. A common name for
a creek the title was probably descriptive, although not too exclusively, of
the many stones in the creek bed. Stoney
Creek also starts in Springfield Township and flows through Ridley Township and
Ridley Park.
At the other end of the county is the
Brandywine. There are three theories on
the origin of the name of the historic creek on whose banks one of the decisive
battles of the Revolutionary War was fought.
The first story tells about a vessel
laden with “branntwein,” or brandy that was sunk in the waters of the
creek. Thus the name – the creek with
the “branntwein” in it – Brandywine being a corruption of the original name.
Another explanation says that the name
was applied because “the slough near Downingtown discharged its muddy waters
into the creek tinging it the color of brandy.”
The third theory is that the name was
given for a man named Andrew Braindwine, who once owned land close to the banks
of the mouth of the creek.
Ridley Creek was undoubtedly named for
the same reason Ridley Township and Ridley Borough were named. The name was taken from the English home of
John Simcock, one of the area’s earliest settlers.
Crum Creek was believed to have been
named by the early Swedish settlers and Crum is believed to be a man’s
name. Records show that the name was
originally spelled Croome and that the present name is a corruption of that.
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