Davis Beaumont, Innkeeper

by Doug Humes Photos courtesy of Newtown Square Historical Society

“With the slow pace of life in the village of Newtown Square at the beginning of the 1800s, a few landowners or wealthier residents rose above the usual farming level to become outstanding in one way or another. Just such a man was Davis Beaumont.” That is a suitable introduction in the Newtown Square history book to one of the more notable men of Newtown in the 19th century. Davis was born in 1790 to William and Hannah Davis Beaumont, their first boy after five daughters, and given his mother’s maiden name. His father had bought the relatively new Farmer’s Wagon Inn on the West Chester Turnpike, and the young Davis grew up there, helping his father with tavern chores. The family were Quakers, and in the days before compulsory education, the Quakers ran their own schools. Davis could walk down the street to the Friends Meeting property to attend school in their octagonal schoolhouse. It is said he received an excellent education in the English language, was a “skilled penman” and constant reader, in a time when most were illiterate.

At age 21 he went off to Philadelphia to teach school, but returned to Newtown three years later, when his father died, to manage the inn. A traveler later recalled the tavern sign, “The old swinging signboard with its Dearborn and pair of horses.” The tavern and inn were the meeting place for the community, with a stone upping block for the ladies to dismount, a pump and trough for thirsty horses and a large porch that ran the whole length of the building. The West Chester stagecoach stopped there and dropped off mail. In 1828, the post office opened a branch there, with the name “Newtown Square,” and Davis was the first postmaster. In the 1820s and 30s, the tavern served as the polling place for Radnor, Marple, Edgmont and Newtown Square. Davis served as County Commissioner, and in 1845 when the County was considering moving the county seat from the town of Chester, one of the four sites being considered was Beaumont’s Corner. Eventually Media won out.

Beaumont owned the main downtown area of Newtown Square – the inn, general store, the storekeeper's house behind it, stables for horses and pens for livestock being driven to market. When he died, a wealthy man, in 1870, the large property had been in his family for 74 years.

For more history on Newtown Square, Delaware County, and membership information, please visit our website at www.NSHistory.org. N S