Centre Square... The Great Square

by Lydia E. Bruneo

Easton, Pennsylvania’s Centre Square is a hub of activity all year round — fabulous eateries and shops, The Crayola Experience, summer Cruise Nights, Easton Out Loud, Easton Heritage Day, Easton Garlic Fest, PA Bacon Fest and Easton Winter Village — and as it should be as that was its intended purpose when laid out 270 years ago. The long, storied history of the “Great Square” begins in 1752 when Easton was founded, though Thomas Penn had acquired the land in 1735. The “Great Square” has experienced several significant events and changes over this long span of time.

From the beginning

The first survey to define the boundaries of the one thousand acre tract of land owned by Thomas Penn, son of Pennsylvania’s founder William Penn, occurred in 1736. Thomas had acquired the land via a lottery that was drawn in 1935. According to the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission the lottery scheme of 1735 was designed to encourage the sale of vacant land within the then existing counties of Bucks, Chester, Philadelphia, and Lancaster before negotiating another purchase treaty with the Indians. Even with the inducement of reduced quitrents on lottery land, the required number of tickets was never sold and there is no record that the lottery was ever drawn . . . The land claimed under the 1735 lottery scheme can be identified by a statement to that effect on the

Thomas Penn - Chief Prop. of Pennsylvania, Son of William Penn. image from worthpoint.com original warrant or survey and these records may be located through the regular warrant registers, though the registers will not mention the lottery scheme.

In 1751, Penn sent a letter, dated September 8, to James Hamilton, Deputy Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, regarding his intentions for the land. The letter is preserved in the Manuscript Department of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and reads as follows:

“Sometime since, I wrote to Dr. Graeme and Mr. Peters to lay out some ground in the Forks of the Delaware for a town, which I suppose they have done, or begun to do so. I desire it may be called Easton, from my Lord Pomfret’s house, and whenever there is a new county, that shall be called Northampton.”

Thomas had just married Juliana Fermor, the daughter of Lord Pomfret whose country estate, Easton-Neston, was located in Northamptonshire, England; hence the names “Easton” and “Northampton”.

Prior to the letter, William Parsons and Nicholas Scull began surveying the site of Easton on May 9, 1750, however, this attempt did not provide a satisfactory plan so Penn requested Nicholas Scull, Surveyor General, and Dr. Graeme, Proprietary Commissioner, to visit the Forks of the Delaware to inspect the place and the neighborhood where the town, then in Bucks county, was to be built. They were to make a draft of the town and submit it to Thomas Penn for his information, consideration, and possible approval. The final plan was to lay out the town as a grid around a “great square” based on the same concept used in Philadelphia.

The County of Northampton was erected under Act of Assembly approved March 11, 1752. Easton was to be the county seat. There were only 11 families in the town at this time. Thomas Penn also required a representative in the new town and county. Richard Peter, a trusted official of the Penn family and Secretary of the Land Office, in looking over the possibilities, decided that William Parsons was the one man who could satisfactorily perform these functions. Thomas Penn, in writing to Peters, said: “You will please let William Parsons know the satisfaction we have in his appointment, on whose prudence we shall very much depend in the settlement and good government of the town.”