Edgmont Township.
On the 21st of September, 1841, the school directors purchased a lot of land of Isaac Yarnall in the southwest part of the township. A stone house was erected upon it, which was used for eight or ten years and then abandoned. The house is still standing, the property being sold several years ago to Jacob Smedley.
The stone house in the Western District known as No. 1 was built in 1867, the land on which it stands having formerly belonged to George Eppright. It is still standing, and used for school purposes.
The Southern District, No. 3. On the 28th of August, 1843, the directors bought a plot of ground of George Bishop and erected a stone school-house, which was used until 1875, when a lot was purchased of Jesse Green and Isaac Sharpless, about three hundred yards from the old house, on which was erected the present stone house.
On the 18th of March, 1825, Homer Eachus, William Baker, and James Sill were elected by the people of the township as trustees of schools. In 1834, after the school law was passed, Dr. James Aitkin and Homer Eachus were appointed inspectors of the public schools by the court of Delaware County, until directors were elected. In 1835 $293.55 was received by the township from the treasurer, it being the amount of county and State appropriations.
The list of school directors here given, from 1840, are from the records of Media, and are as accurate as can be obtained from that source:
1840, Thomas B. Russell, Maurice James; 1842, Homer Eachus, John Yarnall; 1843, John H. Taylor, Hiram Green, Jesse Green; 1844, James Sill, Abraham Baker; 1845, Baldwin Howard, Reuben Yarnall; 1846, Maurice Jones, Joshua Smith; 1847, Renben Yarnall, Emlin Stackhouse; 1848, James Aitkin, Baldwin Howard; 1849, Joshua Smith, Hiram Green; 1850, Isaac Yarnall, William Sill; 1851, Maurice James, James Aitkin; 1852, Thomas Baker, John H. Taylor; 1853, George Ebright, Isaac Yarnall; 1854, Maurice James, Thomas J. Baker; 1855, George G. Baker, Thomas Baker, Isaac Green; 1856, Abram H. Regester, Joseph Mendenhall, Joshua Smith; 1857, Isaac Thatcher, Maurice James; 1858, Edward Baker, Thomas J. Sharpless; 1859, Reuben Johnson, David Regester; 1860, Maurice James, Henry Mendenhall; 1861, Thomas J. Sill, James M. Smith; 1862, Reuben Johnson, David Regester; 1863, Robert J. Sill, Robert F. Davis; 1864, Jesse Yarnall, Lewis J. Baker; 1865, James M. Smith, William Manley; 1866, Robert F. Davis, Edward D. Baker; 1867, Jesse Yarnall; 1868, William S. Baker, James Sill; 1869, R. F. Davis, E. D. Baker; 1870, Jesse Yarnall, James M. Smith; 1871, Hatton Baldwin, Amos H. Baldwin; 1872, William H. Miller, Thomas Mendenhall; 1873, Enos L. Baker, F. F. Green; 1874, no report; 1875, Jesse Yarnall, Robert F. Davis; 1876, Joseph B. Taylor, Edward D. Baker; 1877, Passmore Howard, C. M. Taylor; 1878, Jesse Yarnall, Robert F. Davis; 1879, Frank Yarnall, Mrs. Emma Taylor; 1880, Passmore Howard, Elizabeth G. Green; 1881, Edmund D. Baker, J. F. Bishop; 1882, G. Frank Yarnall, Maurice James; 1883, Pennock E. Sharpless, Abram Hunter; 1884, Frank Bishop, Abram Hunter.
Public-Houses. - The story of the public houses of entertainment in Edgmont is brief. In 1762, Isaac Yarnall presented his petition desiring the approval of the court for his keeping a public house of entertainment in that township, which was extended to him, and continued annually thereafter until 1765, at which period Mary Yarnall made application for the privilege for that as well as the following year, 1766. In 1767, John Hoopes obtained license, and continued in the employment of innkeeping until 1771, when John Neal petitioned the court for the favor, stating that the house had been licensed for many years, and had formerly been kept by Isaac Yarnall. Yearly thereafter Neal applied for renewal of the license until 1776. In 1777, as before stated, the proceedings respecting licenses, as the records of most of the business of that year before the courts, cannot be found, but in 1778 William Dunwoodey was allowed the privilege, after which all further trace in Chester County, as to license in Edgmont, ceases.
It was not until 1806 that application for privilege to keep public-house appeared in the record of Delaware County, and in that year James Jeffries states to the court that he "hath rented the house which Joseph Griffith hath erected at the intersection of the West Chester and Providence Road, in said township," and desired the judges to recommend him to the Governor as a proper person to keep a tavern there. The court at the July session approved of his petition. This is the first mention of the noted President Tavern of Edgmont. In 1808, Joseph Robins succeeded Jeffries, and in his petition for the year 1809