Andrew Jackson Williams and the Beginnings of the Village of Greenbank

The Andrew Jackson Williams House (1988)

A little while back I was invited to participate in the Greenbank Mill's Folklore Fridays program, and I decided to do a short talk about the short-lived Green Bank Park. As I went back and refreshed myself on it, I became much more appreciative of the history of the Greenbank area of the late 19th Century. There was a lot more going on there than I had known, as well as some interesting characters. The most frequent name that kept coming up was Andrew Jackson Williams, but as I learned more about him I realized that his story and the story of the Village of Greenbank were inextricably linked.

Due to circumstance, I was not able to share these stories that night at Greenbank, but I present them here, now, in two parts. In this post I'll introduce the Village of Greenbank and take a closer look at probably its busiest citizen. In the second post we'll delve more into some of the other residents and residences, and look at the end of the idea of this area as a distinct community.

When we think about “Greenbank” today, we tend to maybe think of Greenbank Mill, the Wilmington & Western station, Greenbank Road, or maybe Greenbank Park. We think of it more as an area with a few things with Greenbank in the name, not really as a Place. But for about 20 or 30 years starting in the early 1870’s, it truly was a Place. There really was a legitimate village growing up there. But why there, and why then? Most of us probably don’t think of that stretch of Newport Gap Pike as much more than just the dip between Kirkwood Highway and Milltown Road.

There are a few good reasons why it made perfect sense for a village to spring up there, and a really good reason why it started when it did. That reason was the railroad. They were the superhighways of the 19^th Century, so when the Wilmington & Western began running in October 1872 and put a station there, it made sense that more might spring up around it. It had not only the railroad, but also a major turnpike, the mill, and a large operation and population not far, in Marshallton. The area seemed primed to explode into a full-fledged village.

And if there were an unofficial mayor for the unofficial village, it would have been Andrew Jackson Williams. Williams probably moved here from Christiana just before 1870. In that year’s census he’s listed between William G. Philips, who lived in the big house on the corner of Newport Gap and Greenbank Road (the house was called Greenbank, and gave the area its name), and Isaac D. Philips, who lived in the Philips House at Greenbank Mill. So he was definitely here by then, and may have lived in some of the tenant housing that used to be adjacent to the mill. As a younger man he was originally a plasterer, probably working with his father who was a stone mason. He had been a Lieutenant and a Captain in the 4^th Regiment Delaware Infantry Company A in the Civil War, and helped to raise the volunteer regiment. Williams was also a carpenter, and seems to have worked for the Philips family here at the mill, when it was a spoke and felloe factory (making parts for wagon wheels). When William G. Philips died in October 1876, eight employees submitted an obituary/resolution to the newspaper, and A.J. Williams was the first name on the list. 

The progression of the Williams House/Store in 1873.
Articles are from April, May, and October

But Williams did way more than just work in the mill. Back in October 1872 he was named as the first agent for the Wilmington & Western’s Greenbank Station. The following year he bought an acre of land along the south side of Newport Gap Pike along the brand new railroad tracks (and directly across the road from the station), from James Cranston. There he built himself a house that also served as a general store, which he ran with his son John. The store was located in the front left (south) parlor of the house. Also in 1873 he tried his hand at the coal business with a Frank who was reported to be his son, but who might have been a younger cousin. By June of '75, he had planted flowers, and sold them, too.

Stories about A.J. Williams' ladder (and cider) factories --
the first one from June 1879 and the larger one in August 1881

In the spring of 1879, Williams built a ladder and chair factory, presumably on his property. This must have been a smaller building, because in 1881 he built a larger two-story building. And even though he was close to the creek, it seems like his operation was run by a coal-powered steam engine, not by water. Williams specialized in peach ladders and camp chairs, which were outdoor-type folding chairs. He also had a cider mill, which as the blurb above states was also replaced with a larger one in 1881. It's not clear (to me, at least) whether the cider mill was a separate structure or part of the ladder factory.

The destruction of the Williams ladder factory, July 1884

In either case it sadly only lasted another three years, because in July 1884 a fire destroyed AJ Williams’ factory. The report says it hadn’t been in operation for some time, but that he was getting ready to start it up again to make peach ladders. As a sad footnote, two years later there’s an ad for a 15 HP engine and boiler for sale from Williams, presumably the one that used to power his factory.

In 1887 he moved on to making metal polish (perhaps for the iron works in Marshallton), but he hadn’t given up on woodworking. For the 1888 Presidential election, he made a 4 foot by 10 foot log cabin that he took to political meetings, because as a boy in 1840 he had driven around something similar. The short version of the story is that the log cabin was part of William Henry Harrison’s 1840 campaign. In 1888, Harrison’s grandson Benjamin was running (and would win), and AJ thought he should have a log cabin of his own. He even had his picture taken with it in Wilmington and sent it to Harrison, and got a nice letter in response.

Williams moved on to working at the rolling mill in Marshallton, and lost a finger there in March 1889. (I mean it got cut off, he didn’t just misplace it.) In 1892, AJ was made the police chief for Brandywine Springs Amusement Park.

As far as Greenbank goes, besides doing and selling just about everything imaginable at some point, Williams was also in the center of the attempt to build it up. Remember how he had bought his acre from James Cranston? Well, Cranston began selling some other lots around 1875, and Williams built some of the houses. There were at least six or more in total. There were at least five on the southwest side of Newport Gap Pike: two on the east side of the tracks (slightly up the hill towards today's Kirkwood Highway), Williams’ house and one next to him directly west of the tracks, and at least one more on the other side of the creek towards Milltown Road. There was also at least one house on the northeast side of the turnpike, about where the entrance to the Wilmington & Western's parking lot is now.

Rear of the Andrew Jackson Williams House (1988)

In the next post we'll take a closer look at some of these houses, and explore another part of the Greenbank area, complete with its own homes and interesting residents. We'll also look at some of the reasons why Greenbank did not continue to grow into a full-fledged village.