Southwood

The Southwood area in 1881

It was a while back that I stopped thinking about these posts as "reports" and began approaching them more as I see them -- as stories. I try to tell the story of a given person, place, thing, or event, at least to the extent that I understand it. Granted, some of those stories are more intricate and, frankly, interesting than others, but all are worth telling. For example, we recently delved into some of the people, places, and history of the area surrounding the Wilmington & Western's Greenbank Station.

But there were of course other stations with other areas around them, and of all those other stations, one of them was Southwood. And though there was never any sort of defined community around the Southwood Station, there are some interesting aspects to the area. There are also some things that I did not know until I was asked about the area (thanks, Erik!).

First, though, we'll start with where Southwood is, since it's completely understandable that you might not be familiar with it. The area we're referring to as Southwood sits along Limestone Road immediately south of the DE/PA state line, west of Hockessin. Also in the vicinity is the intersection of Limestone Road and Southwood Road, which runs west from Valley Road. The name "Southwood Road", however, seems to be a 20th Century moniker (at least for its eastern end, where it was previously known as Sunset Avenue, among other names).

More of the Village of Greenbank

The William Elliot House

In the last post we were introduced to the idea that Greenbank (the area around Greenbank Road, 
Newport Gap Pike, and the Wilmington & Western tracks) was primed to grow into a full-fledged village in the 1870's. With the newly-constructed railroad, the turnpike, the Philips (Greenbank) Mill, and nearby Marshallton, the Village of Greenbank was beginning to form. We also met Andrew Jackson Williams - Civil War vet, train station agent, shopkeeper, ladder manufacturer, and all-around busy guy in Greenbank.

We also learned that he may well have been responsible for building not only his own home, but as many as a half dozen houses along Newport Gap Pike, between present-day Kirkwood Highway and Duncan Road. There were two houses on the west side of the turnpike, between the railroad tracks and Kirkwood Highway (which of course wasn't there until about 1940), where a parking lot is now. Williams' house, as detailed in the last post, was directly west of the railroad tracks.

All of this land south of Newport Gap Pike and east of the creek was owned by James Cranston, part of a 17 acre tract acquired in 1865. This was about the time he was moving from his old house in Marshallton (the Springer-Cranston House) to his new one on today's Old Capitol Trail. Whether or not he originally acquired the land with the intent of leasing and/or selling it, by the mid-1870's that's exactly what he was doing. Some of it back along Red Clay Creek was leased for use as Green Bank Park (presumably he got paid for this). Along the road, Cranston sold off lots for housing. 

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.

The Clarnen-Armor House

The Clarnen-Armor House

One of the things that initially helped to spark my interest in local history was when I discovered how
many old houses were sitting in the middle of mid-to-late 20th Century developments. It's fascinating to me to drive down a neighborhood street and see split level, ranch, split level, ranch, HOLY CRAP 18TH CENTURY STONE FARMHOUSE! And most of the time it's very easy to tell the old houses from the new. Once in a while though, there's a historic house that for some reason seems only slightly out of place amongst its newer neighbors, and I'd bet that most people who pass it by don't realize the history behind it.

One home like this is in the development of Highland West, on the northwest side of McKennans Church Road and Mill Creek Road, across from Red Clay Creek Presbyterian Church (and below McKean High School, for all you former Highlanders). With a brick façade on the front covering its frame construction, the house is different from the surrounding 1960's homes, but not too different. Except for the fact that it sits further back from the street, you might not even notice it. But in reality, this home was here, all by itself, a century before its neighbors.

The house's story begins more than 30 years before its construction with a young couple -- one a local native and the other a recent arrival. The new arrival was James Clarnen, and I only know a little about his early life. He was born in Pennsylvania, and it was in a Pennsylvania regiment that he served briefly in the War of 1812. His father presumably had died, because his mother Jemima remarried to William Whaley, who took James on as his son. I can't find exactly when Whaley bought his property, but I know where it was and what he did on it.

The Fredericks of Mt. Cuba and Beyond

Location of Peter Frederick's Mt. Cuba property

It's not unusual for me to be contacted by someone, asking if I have more information about their historic home (and I'm deeply grateful to everyone who's done that). What's less common is for someone to ask about an historic home that used to be on their property, but that's just what happen not long ago in regards to a property near Mt. Cuba. The owners recently moved into a beautiful mid-20th Century home in one of the most scenic sections of the Red Clay Valley. They have a wonderful property with something unusual toward the back -- the remains of a much older house.

The property in question is located in the western edge of Christiana Hundred, in the roughly triangular area between Mt. Cuba, Pyles Ford, and Creek Roads. They knew that the house had belonged to the Frederick family, and that they had been butchers. Turns out that was true. That's all, thanks for reading folks, see you next time!

Ok, actually there was more to the story than that, as I'm sure you were hoping(?) there was. It began with a pair of German immigrants, Georg Peter Friederich and his wife, Catherine. They had come from Hesse-Darmstadt in western Germany in 1857, and were married in Philadelphia the same year. They soon made their way down to Delaware, where their first child, daughter Emma, was born in 1858. The 1860 Census has Peter (as he went by) working as a farm laborer, possibly for Samuel Armstrong on the farm that's now the Delaware Nature Society's Coverdale Farm. The Frederick family (the name was Americanized) is listed directly after the Armstrongs in 1860.

Seven more children would follow for Peter and Catherine over the next two decades or so, but their next big move came in 1862, with the purchase of some nearby land from farmer Otley Vernon. This first purchase was for about 3 acres, nestled along Pyles Ford and Mt. Cuba/Creek Roads, and includes the property that the current owners have. It seems that this was just land carved out of Vernon's larger tract, so the Frederick's house was probably built just after the 1862 sale. Ten years later, in 1872, Frederick purchased another 11 acres from Vernon. This land was across on the north side of  Pyles Ford Road.

The Story of the Newark China Clay Company...Live!

I've already mentioned this on the Facebook page, but I wanted to post it here as well. If you're looking for
something to do this weekend, on Sunday, September 26, 2021 at 1:00 PM I'll be doing my first in-person talk in what seems like forever. The topic of the presentation is the Newark China Clay Company, which mined and processed kaolin clay from 1912 until 1942, on what's now the northeastern edge of White Clay Creek State Park (near the corner of Corner Ketch Road and Paper Mill Road). I did write a post a little while back about Newark China Clay, but I've come up with some new information since then, plus...it's live!

The talk will take place at the Chambers House Nature Center at White Clay Creek State Park (on Creek Road just off of Hopkins Bridge Road). The presentation will begin at 1:00 PM, and due to Covid protocols the current plan is for it to take place outside, on the front porch of the house. Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day (weather, please don't make me have to come back and edit out this part), so come out and join us. Space is limited, so you must call the park at 302-368-6900 to register. Hope to see you there!!!

Behemoth in White Clay Creek: Chambers Rock and Its Complex Legacy

Sign at the corner of Chambers Rock
 Road and New London Road, 1972 

I'm thrilled and proud to be able to share with you another Guest Post by John Whiteclay Chambers II, retired professor and former chair of the History Department at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey. John, a descendant of the Chambers Family of the western Mill Creek/northern White Clay Creek Hundred area, shared with us recently a post on Restoring the Chambers Family Farm in the 20th Century. In this latest article he tells us about the origins of the names "Chambers Rock" and "Chambers' Rocks", how they are actually referring to different things, and how one of the names was used for a wonderful piece of 19th Century history that I had been completely unaware of. I hope you enjoy it, and tremendous thanks go to John for writing and sharing this with us! And note, the extensive and extremely informative footnotes are located at the end of the post.

Behemoth in White Clay Creek:

 Chambers Rock and Its Complex Legacy

By John Whiteclay Chambers II

Excerpt from John Whiteclay Chambers II, “The Chambers Family of Hilltop,” Copyright © 2021.   Do not replicate without written permission from the author. 

* John Whiteclay Chambers II retired from Rutgers University in 2017 as Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History and a former Chair of the History Department. He welcomes comments on the subject of this article. <john.chambers@rutgers.edu.>

“People say where is Chambers Rock?” says Kathleen Sullivan, naturalist at White Clay Creek State Park in Delaware. “They disagree over whether there is one rock, or if that is the name of the farm because there were so many rocks around it.”¹  She was referring to a former farm owned for generations by the Chambers family, a small part of which is now a development called “Chambers Rock Farm.”² 

People also know of the rock from “Chambers Rock Road,” a country road that runs through the old farm located on the state line between Delaware and Pennsylvania. Is there a “Chambers Rock”? There is, but to many people, its name and the name’s complex and varied history remain a mystery. 

The derivation of the name seems forgotten—except by some of those who lived nearby. “It was common knowledge among people who lived on Chambers Rock Road that there was a Rock and there had been a picnic ground years ago,” said Anne Murray, who lived on “Pennview” farm on that road from 1957 to 2000. Growing up nearby in the 1950s and 1960s in a house on Thompson Station Road that is now the Delaware Park’s headquarters, Joe Allmond also recalled it. “I remember the name,” he said, “and I remember hearing, ‘Oh, it’s called Chambers Rock Farm because of the Rock.’”³ 

The Marshalls and National Vulcanized Fibre

National Fibre & Insulation Mills, c.1912

I'll begin this post with a bit of a confession -- While we all know that there have been lots of mills and factories that have operated in MCH over the past few hundred years, there are only a few that stayed around long enough that there are people in the workforce today who were employed by them (Haveg/Ametek in Marshallton and Curtis Paper, for examples). One of the big sites, though, had had me so confused and intimidated that I avoided digging into it for the first decade of doing this blog (yes, I've been around that long). That site is the National Vulcanized Fibre Company in Yorklyn, and my hope is that if you're as confused by it now as I was, by the end of this post you'll have a pretty good idea of what was there, where it was, who built it, and what they did there.

The story really starts in England in 1856 with inventor Thomas Taylor and the creation of a new material – vulcanized fibre. Originally know as "indurated paper" and considered to be one of the first plastics, it had the misfortune of coming about at the same time as another material, celluloid. Celluloid was seen as the more useful of the two, and Taylor's creation was largely ignored in his native England. Eventually he made his way to the United States, and in 1871 patented his invention here. With its strength, flexibility, and thinness, vulcanized fibre soon caught on. And with its machinability, resistance to solvents and oils, and ability to be made in colors, many uses were soon fund for the material.

Through the 1870's and 1880's Wilmington became a hub for the manufacture of vulcanized fibre, and it's with this that we get our first connection to the Marshall family. If you'd like a full refresher (or lesson) on the Marshalls, I strongly suggest checking out Robert Wilhelm's two earlier posts about them. (To be found here and here.) And incidentally, much of the information for this post came from his excellently-researched Marshall Timeline, found on the Friends of Auburn Heights website. For our purposes, know that in 1856 Robert Marshall's youngest son, Thomas S. Marshall, was allowed to convert the family's grist mill at Marshall's Bridge (on the Red Clay just north of Yorklyn) into a paper mill.