100 years ago Delco was the place Phila. went for vacation!! Especially Springfield Twp.!!

 

The Zimmerman Log Cabins at Baltimore Pike and Leamy Ave. about 1940. Springfield Twp. "was a go to" place for summer vacations for Philadelphia families 100 plus years ago.

Note: It is hard to imagine today but Delaware County was the place to go for vacation for Philadelphia families, .Delco had hotels, lakes etc. for swimming and boating. Golf courses and other game places. One could go horseback riding etc. A great place to go!!

RECORDS SHOW TOWNSHIP WAS “VACATIONLAND OF YESTERYEAR”

          More than a century ago, Springfield was recognized as the vacationland of Philadelphia, for the peaceful rolling countryside offered abundant woodlands and wide cool streams to the harried residents of the big city.

          Horse drawn carriages, the old “Toonerville Trolley” which wound its way along the Pike from Angora, and the railroad excursion trains to Secane station offered means of travel to the holiday minded folks.

          At one time, the “Ye Highlands Inn”, which is shown on early maps as being on a hilltop site near Bellevue and Homestead Avenues, featured an observation tower which offered a view of the countryside.  A Boardwalk leading from the inn went to a pond, and nature trails wound through the Harris Woods where ranch type homes now stand on North Avenue.

          Gay Victorian splendor was exhibited in the elaborate summer estates that were built on the Pike before the turn of the century.  The John McConaghy mansion is now a secretarial school and the Thomas Marshall home is now a nursing establishment not far from the Blue Church.  Time has not been kind to the grandeur of “Stoneton” to the north across the highway, and other summer abodes have been removed in that area.

          The Shillingford express once shuttled from Morton to other such hotels as the Lamb Tavern on Springfield Road, Springfield Inn on Baltimore Pike, and Turf Villa Inn at Springfield and State Roads.

          It is interesting to note that in 1860 the population of Springfield was listed as 534 males, 551 females, nine colored males and 15 colored females, with area statistics listed as 4319 improved acres and 594 unimproved acres.

          For the sightseers there was an active lumber yard near the Oakdale School and a brickyard near Morton.  Prior to 1894, when H. I. Ackerman Took over the old Judge Morton brickyard, north of the railroad, hand-dug clay was pressed into molds for sun and wind drying.

          In later years, under the supervision of A. a. Ackerman, his son, machinery replaced the hand labor with a huge crusher preparing and shaping the bricks.  The kilns, re-located south of Yale Avenue in the early 1900’s, fired as many as 180,000 bricks at a time, and when the 10-arch ovens were built, both salmon and red bricks were produced simultaneously.

          Mr. Ackerman’s son served as a Township Commissioner for years and is now a member of the Civil Service Commission.

          Blacksmith and carriage shops were numerous in the early days, and there was a time when religious groups held summer meetings along the creek at Woodland Avenue to baptize their members.  An ornate iron gateway at Leamy Avenue and the Pike offered a well planted estate with lake on which the owner never built his home.  This land also was used in later years by a religious group for summer programs.

          At the turn of the century, early vacationers could well have thrilled at the Wild West movies that were once filmed along Darby Creek and at the old Saxer Avenue quarry.  Daredevil feats along the rocky cliffs and winding woodland trails were taken by the old Lubin Picture Co., of Philadelphia.

          Digging Indian treasures could well have been a summer diversion, for Springfield was known as “Indian country”, and even today it is possible to find arrowheads and artifacts of the Redmen.

          The old “Buzzard’s Roast” at Woodland Avenue and the Pike was operated by a merchant named Mason who kept a cigar store at the turn of the century.  Many a tall yarn was spun here by the “country folk” who entertained the city visitors during the summer months.

          A small general store in the Plush Mill area, operated for over 50 years by Mrs. Nellie Woodhead, was established when nearby Crum Creek was not bridged and animals on the way to the Drove Yard near Gray’s Ferry forged the stream.

          That was the time when sugar sold for five cents a pound, and flour and sugar came in large wooden barrels.  Her merchandise included such items as shovel gloves, straw hats, shoes and farm items, not to mention black molasses and table syrup in handmade wooden buckets.

          Through the years, kindly Mr. Woodhead was remembered by the children as being the one to celebrate her birthday every September by giving them free candy.

Please Come!!

Reading of the Declaration of Independence July 8, 2024 starting at 1 pm. 412 Avenue of the States, the 1724 Courthouse Chester, PA 19013 Followed by a wreath laying at John Morton’s Grave At Old St. Paul’s/Old Swedes Cemetery

          An old windmill once spun on the site where Springfield’s new township building stands on Power Road.  In the mid-1800’, a 1-room house and barn of the Bennett farm covered the knoll where the present low, sprawling brick building has been constructed.