Kennett Square: People and industries through the years

A sketch of the Unicorn Inn by Dr. Isaac D. Johnson.

Moynihan’s blacksmith shop in Kennett Square.

Samuel Pennock. Herb Pennock, a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher.

By Gene Pisasale Contributing Writer

Chester County has a rich heritage of accomplishments in the arts and sciences, and in business and industry, and Kennett Square has been an important part of that heritage.

Many people today do not know that Kennett Square had its own trust company and national bank, as well as a road grading firm and other large industrial sites, a railroad depot and its own trolley lines. Another fact somewhat lost to the historical archives is that several business leaders made their fortunes in Kennett Square over the years and left their mark on society.

In Greetings from Kennett Square: 1855-2005, Joseph A. Lordi and Dolores I. Rowe wrote that the name “Kennett” derives from a village of the same name in Wiltshire, England. Francis Smith was a former resident of that village. He arrived locally in 1686 and purchased 200 acres along Pocopson Creek. Another early landowner was Gayen Miller, who bought acreage in the eastern part of what became Kennett Borough from Letitia Penn Aubrey, William Penn’s daughter.

According to Kennett Township, the first known structure here was the Unicorn Inn, at the corner of State and Union Streets, constructed around 1735 as a public house serving travelers between Philadelphia and Baltimore.

The name Kennett Square first appeared in 1769 as Joseph Musgrave was trying to establish a town. Lordi and Rowe note that by 1776, Musgrave sold his property to Colonel Joseph Shippen. The Colonel was the uncle of Peggy Shippen, who is best known as the wife of Benedict Arnold. During the Revolutionary War, Kennett Square was just a small village, but it became the site for the encampment of thousands of Hessian soldiers and British troops before the Battle of the Brandywine. Kennett Square was incorporated in 1855 and celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2005.

It is well known that Kennett Square is the Mushroom Capital of the World, but the Kennett area has been the home to numerous thriving businesses in other industries, too. In Kennett Square: Yesterday and Today, Janice B. Taylor and

An advertisement for the American Road Machine Company. A postcard showing the National Bank of Kennett Square.

The historic Chalfant mansion.

Richard W. Taylor describe several mills along the East and West Branch of nearby Red Clay Creek. These included Hadley’s Mill, where Samuel Pennock produced spinning wheels, chair rounds and button molds. Forged nails were produced in a mill on the East Branch, and nearby property owned by the Chambers family operated a “wool carding mill, weaving mill, sawmill and paper mill. The first circular saw in Chester County was operated here around 1835.” Kennett Square over the years was home to a blacksmith, coachmaker, shoemaker, hatmaker and carpenter.

In their book, the Taylors note that ingenious craftsmen were quite active locally. Dr. Isaac D. Johnson is credited with inventing the bolt cutter, a type of hospital bed and a sanding disk used by dentists, as well as a lifting jack. The Pennocks were some of the most successful inventors. Moses Pennock and Samuel Martin patented a grain drill in 1841. On East State Street, Moses’ sons Mordecai and Samuel produced numerous agricultural-related items, including rakes, mowing and reaping machines and corn shellers. Samuel Pennock was the grandfather of Herb Pennock, who pitched for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees from 1912 to 1934 and complied 241 wins over the course of his Major League pitching career.

Everyone benefited when the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad came to town in 1857, spawning further business development and population growth. Railroad facilities included a passenger station, freight station and storage shed.

Continued on Page 40

This line subsequently became the Octoraro Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. During the Civil War, railroad cars were made here for the Union; as many as 120 men were employed. J. Eli Crozier built a foundry in 1867, which made castings for wheels, stoves, windmills, lathe heads and other parts.

When you think of Kennett Square, you may not think of roads, but Samuel Pennock was awarded a patent for a road grading machine in 1876. S. Pennock and Sons became a hugely successful manufacturer of the equipment. George W. Taft invented a rock crushing machine and held approximately 400 patents. Taft later became president of the Pennock Company, which was later recognized as the American Road Machine Company. His firm was subsequently reorganized as the American Road Machine Company.

After local citizens called a meeting and purchased some acreage, the National Bank of Kennett Square opened its doors on June 27, 1881. Originally in a building owned by a dentist, the bank later operated in a classically styled stone structure with marble columns aside the entranceway. For safe holding of legal documents, people often turn to trust companies. An advertisement for trunk made from vulcanized fi ber.

Lordi and Rowe note that on January 2, 1907, the Kennett Trust Company started operations on North Union Street. At one point Harry W. Chalfant was its president and J. Walter Jefferis was treasurer. Chalfant and Jefferis were well established families in the area. After John Voorhees arrived in Kennett Square, he quickly became one of its most successful merchants, opening one of the largest department and hardware stores in the region. It even had its own telephone exchange at the back.

As mentioned in Chester County and Its People, edited by W.W. Thomson, the lights came on around 1893. That year the Kennett Electric Light, Heat and Power Company was incorporated, with “… two 100-horsepower boilers, a 150-horsepower engine and two dynamos sufficient to maintain 800 incandescent lights each…”

One of the best-known local firms was owned by the Marshall family; their fiber and laminated products were used in trunks, suitcases and other items. Marshall’s operation was later acquired by the National Vulcanized Fiber Company (NVF). NVF had plants in Wilmington,

Continued on Page 42 The Samuel Pennock house in Kennett Square.

Newark and Yorklyn, Delaware. Their products included instrument and switchboard panels, as well as high voltage insulation. The remains of the NVF operations can be seen off Mulberry Street today.

Kennett Square was a hotbed of manufacturing in a wide range of industries through the years. Although these operations are largely gone today, if you drive around the borough and surrounding areas, you can see remnants of some of these establishments… and get a sense of just how important Kennett Square was to the growth of industrial America.

Gene Pisasale is an historian and author based In Kennett Square. His ten books focus on Chester County and the mid-Atlantic region. His latest book is titled Forgotten Founding Fathers: Pennsylvania and Delaware in the American Revolution. His books are available through his website at www.GenePisasale.com and on www.Amazon.com. Gene can be reached via e-mail at: Gene@GenePisasale.com.

A postcard showing trolleys at State and Union Street, Kennett Square, published by W J Berkstresser, circa 1909.