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There is wharfage for thirteen vessels, with a depth of twenty to twenty-four feet at low water, and for the protection of the shipping in winter ice piers have been erected, which are the only private ones on the Atlantic coast. Seventeen different kinds of oil are made and shipped to all parts of the world. Besides barrels, five-gallon tin cans are used for this purpose, works for the manufacture of the latter having just been completed and fitted with intricate and expensive machinery. Little, if any, of this work is done by hand. The tin is cut, squared, bent into proper shape, stamped, and soldered by machinery. The last operation is performed by an ingenious invention of Frank W. Edward, superintendent of the works, and the machine can turn out ten thousand perfectly soldered cans in ten hours. Before shipment these cans are packed, two being placed in a wooden box, which is also made entirely by machinery. Three hundred and seventy-five hands are employed.
The Seaboard Oil Company, composed of Crew, Levick & Co., was organized in 1881, and purchased a tract of land on Front Street, between Trainer and Booth Streets. Eight buildings were erected, which cover about three acres. Eight engines, three boilers, and fifteen stills are used in the manufacture of lubricating oils, paraffine oils and wax, refined burning oils, gasoline, and naphtha. Thirteen hundred barrels of crude oil are consumed daily. Thirty-three men are employed. Charles T. Miller is superintendent.
Delaware Oil-Refining Works. - The Delaware Oil-Refining Company was established by W. F. Young, in August, 1881, at its present location, between Second and Front and Johnson and Price Streets, South Chester. It was incorporated Oct. 15, 1881, as the Delaware Oil-Refining Company. The works comprise eight good-sized buildings of brick and frame, covering about half an acre. The articles manufactured are paraffine oil and wax. The engines are sixty-five horse-power, and there are six stills, the weekly capacity of which is four hundred barrels. Eighteen bands are employed. Five hundred and fifty barrels of residuum of petroleum oil are used per week, and the weekly capacity of the works is three hundred and fifty barrels of oil and fifty of wax.
Law & Devenney's Brick-Yard. - This firm established a brick-yard on an eight-acre tract of land situated on Morton Street and the line of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. They have three large kilns, and produce daily twenty-three thousand bricks, which requires the labor of forty-five men.
Robinson Brick-Yard. - Adjoining the yard mentioned above and situated on Sixth and Engle Streets is a brick-yard that was established by James Caven. The business was later conducted by Charles Fairlamb, Fairlamb & Robinson, and since 1876 has been carried on by D. Robinson. Forty men are employed, and seventeen thousand bricks are made daily.
Palmer Brick-Yard. - The brick-yard situated on Third Street north of West Street was established in 1865 by Mrs. M. Palmer, who still conducts it. Twelve men are employed, and about seven thousand bricks are turned out daily. Thomas Palmer is in charge.
South Chester Ship-Yard. - Joseph K. Clouser established, November, 1881, a ship repair-yard at the foot of Lamokin Street. Fifteen men are employed. It is the only yard nearer than Marcus Hook where repairing of wooden vessels is made a specialty.
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The territory now comprising the recently-erected municipal district of North Chester borough, was in the distribution of land surveyed and patented to four of the early settlers of the province. The upper part of the borough was part of the one hundred and eighty-four and a half acres surveyed to James Sandelands Dec. 2, 1685, and adjoining this tract to the southeast was the land surveyed the same day to Thomas Brassey, containing the same number of acres as were in the Sandelands plot. On the last-mentioned estate the villages of Shoemakerville and Irvington are located. At the southwestern end of the borough, on Dec. 18, 1685, one hundred and ninety-seven acres was surveyed to Eusta Anderson, the greater part of which is not included in North Chester; that part which is within the borough is popularly known as Powhattan, because of the mills of that name being thereon erected. The remaining land at the southeast of the borough was part of the three hundred and seventy acres patented to Israel Helms, June 18, 1668.
By act of March 14, 1873, that part of Chester township hereinafter described was incorporated as the borough of North Chester.
"Beginning at a point in the middle of the public road leading from the borough of Upland to Edgmont Road, being at the intersection of the boundary lines of the city of Chester, the borough of Upland, and the township of Chester; thence along the northeastern boundary of the said borough of Upland to the line dividing the properties of A. C. Lukens and John Wetherill; thence along the said line to the southern side of Edgmont Road; thence along the said southern side to a point opposite the line dividing the properties of Mary Kelly and Isaac Engel Cochran; thence crossing the said road and along the said line to Ridley Creek; thence down the said creek to the northern boundary of the said city of Chester; and thence following the said boundary to the place of beginning; said limits including the town or villages of Paultown, Powhattan, Waterville, and Shoemakerville."
The borough elections were directed to be held the third Friday in March of each year at the Oak Grove school-house. The act also created North Chester a separate school and election district. At the time of the erection of the borough the Powhattan Mills and Irvington Mills were located within the municipal district, and were then in successful operation. The Chester Rural Cemetery was within its limits, and the
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