Springfield Township.
Post-office, on land now owned by Dr. Tyndall. Robert Ash, Edward Thomas, Rebecca Thomas, and Richard Worrall were teachers of the school. The building was used until 1857, when the Oakdale house was built. On the 13th of July, in that year, the directors bought of Joseph Gibbons and James Ogden, of Oakdale, thirty-five square perches, on which they erected the present stone house called Oakdale Seminary, and the old school-house near Ridley was abandoned.
On Feb. 26, 1855, the directors purchased of Charles Levi eighty square perches of land on Darby Creek, near where is now Hey's mill. This building is still standing.
On the 9th of March, 1830, William Beatty, Joseph Powell, and Seth Pancoast, as trustees, bought eighteen square perches of land, on which to erect a school-house. This house was used by the directors from 1836 to 1857 for school purposes, and on the 1st of April in that year, Seth Pancoast, surviving trustee, sold the lot to the directors, who erected the present two-story stone building; the upper story being used for a hall, the additional expense being borne by the subscription made by citizens.
On Sept. 23, 1873, a petition of certain citizens was presented to the court asking that the following described territory in the townships of Springfield and Ridley be erected into a separate school district to be known as Morton: "Commencing at a point in Providence road opposite the Blue Church road; thence along the said Blue Church road to the division line between John Ogden's and Caldwell's land, and thence along to the Lafayette road, to the road leading to South Avenue; thence along South Avenue to the division line of Ridley and Darby townships; thence along said line to the division line between Springfield and Upper Darby townships; thence along said lines to the turnpike road; thence along the same to the place of beginning." On Sept. 28, 1874, a decree erecting the school district of Morton was entered, and on Feb. 8, 1875, the court annulled the decree.
The present two-story brick school-house in Morton was erected in 1875, at a cost of three thousand five hundred dollars. The lower part was built by the township, and the upper story, by a stock company for public use, an agreement being made that if the township should require the whole building for school purposes the directors should take it, paying to the stockholders two thousand dollars. The lot on which it is built was donated by Alexander Young.
At the election on March 18, 1825, Joel Evans, George Lewis, and Samuel Rhoads were chosen school trustees. After the adoption of the school law of 1834, the court appointed Joel Evans and John Lewis inspectors of public school until directors were elected. In 1835 the amount received by Springfield, from State and County appropriations, for school purposes was $103.47.
The following is a list of the school directors of Springfield, as appears of record:
1840, Samuel P. Harrison, Seth Pancoast; 1842, John C. Beatty, Sketchley Morton; 1843, Ezra Levis, William Burns, William Ogden; 1844, Randolph Bishop, Randolph Fimple; 1845, Seth Pancoast, John C. Beatty; 1846, Seth Pancoast, Joseph Gibbons, Jr.; 1847, Randall Bishop, Charles Shillingford; 1848, William Carr, John C. Beatty; 1849, Seth Pancoast, Randolph Fimple; 1850, Randall Bishop, Randolph Fimple; 1851, Charles I. Morton, Sketchley Morton; 1852, Richard Fimple, William C. Longstreth; 1853, John Rhoads, Randall Bishop; 1854, Sketchley Morton, William Hill; 1855, William C. Longstreth, George B. Lownes; 1856, George Heath, William P. Beatty; 1857, Samuel C. Ogden, Moses Hey; 1858, George P. Snyder, Sketchley Morton; 1859, John M. Lawrence, James H. Ogden; 1860, J. Reese Lewis, Moses Hey; 1861, Owen Evans, James P. Maris; 1862, J. W. Lawrence, William B. Flounders; 1863, Moses Hey, J. R. Lewis; 1864, Owen Evans, Sketchley Morton; 1865, James H. Ogden, William H. Gibbons; 1866, J. W. Lawrence, James Bishop; 1867, Charles G. Ogden, Sketchley Morton; 1868, Edgar T. Miller, Richard Young; 1869, Charles G. Ogden, Joseph Bishop; 1870, Sketchley Morton, Ambrose Wood; 1871, Eager T. Miller, Richard Young; 1872, Joseph Bishop, C. G. Ogden; 1873, Joseph P. Morris, Sketchley Morton; 1874, George B. Lownes, Maggie Pancoast; 1875, Charles Ogden, Joseph Bishop; 1876, Sketchley Morton, Joseph P. Maris; 1877, Samuel Evans, Richard Young; 1878, Charles G. Ogden, Joseph Bishop; 1879, A. G. DeArmond, D. C. Shillingford; 1880, Samuel Evans, Joseph P. Maris; 1881, Joseph Bishop, Richard Young; 1882, D. C. Shillingford, Thomas Carr; 1883, Joseph P. Maris, William M. Parker; 1884, Richard Young, J. Bishop.
Swarthmore College.
Swarthmore College. - This admirable and extensive educational institution, conceived and carried on by the Friends for the co-education of the sexes, had its inception in a meeting held in Baltimore, Oct. 2, 1860. It was there proposed to erect a new institution of learning, under the care of Friends, designed to equal the best colleges in the land. With this object in view the society purchased two hundred and forty acres of land on Crum Creek, in this township, and distant about eleven miles from Philadelphia, via the central division of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad. Swarthmore College was incorporated by act of the Legislature, passed April 1, 1864. By this act James Martin, John M. Ogden, Ezra Michener, Mahlon K. Taylor, Thomas Ridgway, James Mott, Dillwyn Parrish, William W. Longstreth, William Dorsey, Edward Hoopes, William C. Biddle, Joseph Powell, Joseph Wharton, John Sellers, Clement Biddle, P. P. Sharpless, .Edward Parrish, Levi K. Brown, Hugh McIlvain, Franklin Shoemaker, and their associates and successors were constituted the body corporate. The capital stock consisted of fifty thousand dollars, but an act approved April 14, 1870, granted authority to increase it to five hundred thousand dollars.
On May 10, 1866, the corner-stone of the college building was laid, and three and one-half years later (on Nov. 10, 1869) the college was inaugurated in its new home. The work was carried forward in spite of many disadvantageous circumstances, but brought to a very satisfactory conclusion a few days prior to the date we have mentioned. The buildings, of which the entire length was three hundred and forty-eight feet, with return wings of ninety-two feet each, consisted of a central structure, sixty feet wide by one