Middletown Township.

friends of temperance living in the neighborhood. This association continued for a few years, when the organization was disbanded, and the hall was purchased by William M. Thomas, who changed it into dwellings, but subsequently he changed the building into one house, wherein he now resides.

The Village of Glen Riddle. - After the Sharpless Mills became the property of Isaac Sharpless and Gideon Hatton, the locality was known as "Pennsgrove Mills," which title was retained until February, 1854, when, complaint being made to the Postal Department that frequent mistakes were occasioned, in that letters intended for that office would be sent to Pennsgrove, N. J., it was decided to change the name of the station to Glen Riddle. Soon after the purchase of the estate by Peter and George W. Hill, the latter erected a store in the village, and a post-office was established, George W. Hill being appointed the first postmaster. At a subsequent date the office was removed to Parkmount, and Samuel Riddle was appointed postmaster. In 1843, when Mr. Riddle purchased the property, the post-office was re-established at Pennsgrove, and from that date to the present Samuel Riddle has been the postmaster, excepting in 1846, when he resigned, and in August of that year David B. Stacey, who at the time was keeping store at the village, was appointed, and continued to discharge the office for a period of two years, when Samuel Riddle was again appointed. On May 6, 1879, while a well was being sunk in the rear of the bleaching-house at the Glen Riddle Mills, and at a distance of eighteen feet from the surface of the earth, gold-dust was discovered in the dirt drawn from the well. Much excitement prevailed among the residents of the locality at the discovery. Specimens of the precious dust were sent to Professor Foot, of the State Geological Survey, and James E. Brown, the druggist at Rockdale, tested the metal and found it gold. Six quarts of sand yield fifteen cents in pure gold, which it was stated at the time was five times purer than ordinary dust.

Lenni Tribe, No. 86, I. O. of R. M. - In the Plant Moon, 23d Sleep, G. S. D. 377, a delegation from the Great Council of Pennsylvania visited Lenni, and the lodge was instituted in Lima Hall. The following officers were chosen: Charles W. Mathues, Sachem; Charles R. Yarnell, Senior Sagamore; William Carson, Junior Sagamore; William Fogg, Chief of Records; William F. Mathues, Keeper of Wampum; Joseph Bully, Prophet. Twenty pale-faces were admitted as members of the tribe at the first meeting. The tribe was later removed to Lenni, Aston township, where it is now located.

The House of Employment. - In 1855 the directors of the poor, William Trainer, Joseph B. Leedom, Jr., and Jacob Byre, were authorized to erect a house of employment near Lima, on the farm purchased from Abraham Pennell. The site for the building was on rising ground, from which the land sloped in all directions. Plans of the building were prepared by David Taylor, of Chester County, and the contract for their erection was made with Dutton Ottley. The building was begun about the 1st of May, 1856, and completed in May of the following year. The paupers were removed from the old building at Media to the new house of employment in the first week in April in that year. The main building is ninety by forty-eight feet, with two wings, each forty-two by twenty-eight feet; and the main building is three stories in height, with an observatory. A hospital was also erected, twenty-seven by eighteen feet, two stories in height. During 1883 an addition was made to the insane department, and a stone cook-house erected. The cost of the original buildings was twenty thousand dollars.

Agricultural and Industrial Society of Delaware County. - A meeting of the citizens of Delaware County was held at the court-house in Media on Aug. 8, 1878, for the purpose of establishing an agricultural society. After addresses the society was organized by the election of Dr. Ellwood Harvey, president; Richard Young and William P. Thomas, vice-presidents; Henry C. Snowden, secretary; J. Howard Lewis, treasurer. Other meetings were held, and stock subscribed to the amount of ten thousand dollars. The first exhibition was held at Chester Driving Park on Oct. 10, 11, 12, 1878. At this exhibition three hundred and seventy-five exhibits were displayed. In May, 1879, the directors purchased about fifty acres of land of the estate of John H. Fairlamb, about one mile from Media, and on the line of the West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad. These grounds were graded, fenced, fitted up, and buildings erected during the summer of 1879, and a fair was held there for the first time Oct. 8, 9, 10, 11, in that year. The gross receipts were three thousand three hundred and eighteen dollars.

Fairs are held in October in each year. J. Newlin Trainer was elected president in 1881, and is the present incumbent. Henry C. Snowden has been secretary since the formation of the society.

Chester and Delaware Counties Agricultural Society. - On Saturday, May 12, 1835, a society under the above title was organized, with John D. Steele as president; William Painter, Richard Pemm, Henry Myers, Gen. Joshua Evans, vice-presidents; William Jackson, corresponding secretary; Dr. George Thomas, recording secretary; Caspar W. Sharpless, assistant secretary; George Brinton, Jr., treasurer. Directors, Abraham W. Sharpless, William N. Barber, John James, Thomas S. Woodward, Paschall Morris, Joseph T. Jackson, Isaac Newton, Dr. John T. Huddleson, James S. Peters, and Hill Brinton.

The society held exhibitions for several years in Chester and Delaware Counties, until 1845, when interest in it ceased. In 1855 a second agricultural society was organized. In 1857 its officers were: President, James Andrews; Vice-Presidents, Chalkley Harvey, Nathan