Nether Providence Township.

Knowledge of Persons occupied in Retailing ardent Spirits becoming gradually Enslaved therewith, to the great Injury of themselves and Families. With desires that Righteousness, Temperance, and Prosperity may increase and abound among our Fellow-Citizens in that and every other neighborhood, We subscribe ourselves your Real Friends."

The opinion of the court, however, failed to accord with that of the remonstrants, and the license was granted to Spear for that year, and annually thereafter until 1810, when Isaac Cochran superseded him as landlord of the Anvil. Spear, however, in 1813, returned to the inn, to give place, in 1816, to Henry Houghton, and the latter, in 1818, to Henry Habbersett, who, in his petition, stated that the public-house is known as the Providence Inn, although it formerly bore the title of the Anvil, a name it was never more to bear. In 1823, George Litzenberg, Jr., became the landlord of the tavern, and as he was an active spirit in military affairs in the county, on many occasions the annual muster of the militia was held at the Providence Inn, and when the undisciplined rustics met for military instruction, some of the movements and manoeuvres were so startling and original that veteran soldiers would have stood aghast at the sight. In 1829, Charles Wells followed Litzenberg, and Wells, in 1832, gave place to Evan Way. The latter, seeing an opportunity to become the host of the Washington House, in Chester, and the prospect of being sheriff of Delaware County, moved to the county-seat, and Isaac Hall followed him, in 1833, as landlord of the Providence Inn. In 1837, James Dick was granted license, and in 1839, Norris Hannum, to be followed, in 1840, by George P. Alexander. Peter Worrall, the last of the publicans, obtained license for the Providence Hotel in 1843, and continued to receive the kindly consideration of the court until 1850, when the charter of the borough of Media, interdicting the Court of Quarter Session granting license to any inn or tavern within the limits of the new county-seat where intoxicating drinks were authorized to be sold, interposed itself as an obstacle in his way.

Peter Worrall, however, did not permit this new order of affairs to go unchallenged, but on May 28, 1850, filed his petition, setting forth that the act had been obtained by false and erroneous representation to the Legislature, that at the time the charter was asked for it was alleged that no license had been granted for or at the new seat of justice, whereas the truth was that he, Worrall, had license, and the inn had been a licensed public-house for fifteen years past. That he was advised that the act was local, partial, and unconstitutional, and would materially impair, if not destroy, his vested interests and rights, and he therefore prayed the court to grant him license for the house, or "if the said license is to be refused, to place that refusal upon such grounds as may afford him an opportunity of obtaining a decision upon the constitutionality of said provision from the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania." The judges, however, refused the application, and since that date no effort has ever been made to obtain leave of the Court of Quarter Sessions to vend intoxicating liquors at Media.

Hinkson's Corner. - The property on which this hamlet is located was originally a part of the Vernon tract, which was confiscated after the Revolution, and in 1790 was in the possession of the Hinksons. As early as 1770 John Hinkson was operating a saw-mill on some of the small streams in the township, probably on Vernon's Run. In 1799, James Hinkson was living on the northeast corner of the cross-roads, in a frame dwelling, which was later replaced by the present stone house (now owned by Rufus Shapley). He was a wheelwright, and had at that time two shops, one log and the other frame, which stood on the corner where the present blacksmith-shop is now located.

One of these shops be used for his business, the other was occupied by Richard Nuzrum as a blacksmith-sbop. He (Nuzrum) lived in Upper Providence, in which township he owned a farm. A few years later Mary, a sister of James Hinkson, erected a frame house which still stands on the southeast corner, in which she established a store, and continued there for several years. Later, the stone building, erected in 1799, now made into a stable by Rufus Shapley, was changed into a general store, and since 1844 was kept by Henry Lawrence, John Forrest, John Williamson Thompson, D. R. & H. T. Esrey, and in recent years by William G. Vernon. In 1810 a school-house was erected at Hinkson's Corner. In 1803, Ezekiel Norman, a blacksmith, came from Montgomery County and purchased the shop at the Corner. He continued to carry on blacksmithing there until a few years before his death, in 1864, when his son, Ezekiel Norman, succeeded to the business, and is still located at the Corner. In 1870 a petition was presented to the postal department for an office there, but it was not obtained until 1873, when George Latch established a store in the neighborhood, at which time an office was located therein, and Latch was appointed master. The purchase of land in the immediate vicinity of Hinkson's Corner and Wallingford by Philadelphians, who have made these localities their residences, has caused a rapid increase in the value of ground there. At and near Hinkson's Corner, Rufus Shapley, author of "Solid for Mulhooley," Col. Alexander McClure, Alfred S. Gillette, president of the Girard Fire Insurance Company, James W. Mercur, son of Chief-Justice Mercur, and others, reside, the result being that lands which a few years ago could be bought for two hundred dollars an acre is now being held at one thousand to fifteen hundred dollars for the same area of ground.

Thomas Hinkson, a brother of James, was a farmer, and owned prior to 1800 a large tract of ground on the south and northwest corner. He lived where the