Ridley Township.

authorized Thomas Ewing to keep a public-house at the location mentioned. There he continued until 1833, the house being known as the Leiperville Tavern, in which year Robert Murray became the landlord and changed the name of the house to The Canal-Boat. In 1835, Daniel J. Campbell leased the premises and restored the old name Leiperville Tavern. There he remained one year, being succeeded by Samuel P. Morris in 1836, while Morris, in 1837, was followed by George P. Alexander. For three years the latter continued at the inn, when, in 1840, Samuel P. Lamplugh became the landlord, to be followed in the succeeding year by James Lenny, who in turn, in 1842, gave place to George C. Hall. In 1844, John Harrison Hill kept the house. It was while he was landlord of the tavern, in 1847, that Leiperville Lodge, No. 263, I. O. of O. F., was instituted, the room first occupied by the lodge being the garret of the wing, which was arranged for that purpose. In 1850, Hill removed to Chester, and was succeeded by John W. Clark, who, 1857, was followed by Edward Lenny, who purchased the property, and remained there until his death, in 1866, when Sarah Lenny, his widow, received license, and continued there until 1880, when Thomas Thompson, the present landlord, was granted the right to continue the Leiperville Tavern as a public-house.

Suburban Parks. - The first effort in Delaware County to lay out a tract of land in streets and lots to attract persons to make settlements there was about 1800, at Buenos Ayres, on the east side of Amosland road, and fronting on the Great Southern road. The project seems to have failed, but the plot of the proposed village is laid out on "A Plan of the City of Philadelphia and Environs, surveyed by John Hill," an exceeding scarce map, published in 1808.

Norwood. - Early in 1872, John Cochran, of Chester, purchased one hundred and fifty acres of land of the estate of Rebecca Gessner. The grounds were laid out into lots, and the proposed town named Norwood, the title being derived from a novel of the like name, written by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, then recently published. On June 1,1873, the first public sale of lots was made, which was the first effort made, of which we have record, to induce residents of Philadelphia to purchase villa sites and make a settlement in Ridley. In order that railroad facilities might be had Mr. Cochran donated the land for a station and conveyed the right of way for that purpose. The present Norwood Hotel was commenced in 1875 by Green & Benson, builders, of Philadelphia, but was not completed until 1877, at a cost of twenty thousand dollars. At the present time there are about forty-five houses erected at Norwood.

Ridley Park. - In 1870 the board of directors of the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad Company determined to change the location of the road between Philadelphia and Chester from the route through the lowlands along the Delaware, on which had been conducted a constantly-growing passenger and freight traffic since 1837. This meant the construction of a new line from Gray's Ferry, on the Schuylkill, through Darby, Sharon Hill, and other old settlements in the highlands overlooking the Delaware River, besides opening a new region for settlements in the neighborhood of the great city. Several suburban towns were projected on the "Darby Improvement," as the new road was at first termed, that of Ridley Park being on a larger scale and more complete plan than any of the others. In January, 1871, Robert Morris Copeland, a well-known landscape gardener, from Boston, Mass., examined the lands on the location of the new road, with a view to recommend a site for a new town to several gentlemen desirous of embarking in such an enterprise. With this purpose the Harper farm, near Darby, was purchased by them, but was almost immediately sold to the Darby Land Association. Sixteen acres on the southeast corner of the Southern post-road and Sharon Avenue, at Sharon Hill, was also purchased, and was held until sold in lots. It was not until the old Springfield road in Ridley was reached that the site for the new town was determined on. There it was that the experienced eyes of the landscape gardener saw in the rolling land, the creeks, the woodland, the magnificent river views and proximity to Philadelphia the locality he sought as the site for the new suburban town, Ridley Park, the geographical centre of Ridley township. Between January and May, 1870, the following farms were purchased on sixty days' option, and, with the exception of the Burk farm, were subsequently conveyed to the gentlemen who were interested in the purchase, and by them to the Ridley Park Association: John L. Burk; Emily Dutten, forty-two acres; Charles Horne, one hundred and thirty-three acres, which latter tract, as well as the Dutten farm, in 1703, was part of the large estate of Heinrich Torton; from Louisa Free, forty acres, which, in 1791, was owned by Margaret Smith, William, Rebecca, and Margaret Pyewell; Matthew Henderson, thirty-nine acres. In 1685, Thomas Brassie sold part of this tract to Thomas Smith, to whom it was patented in 1691, and of David Henderson twelve acres, which had been part of the Smith patent. Of William W. Maddock fifty-seven acres were purchased, which had formerly belonged to Hannah Carpenter, then to John Crosby, the elder, who sold it, in 1782, to Maddock's ancestors; of Edmund Stewart sixteen acres, which, in 1783, Caleb Davis purchased at sheriff's sale, and subsequently conveyed to the Stewart family; of William J. Trainer fifty acres, which Mary Ward, in 1784, had purchased of Andrew Hamilton; and sixty-three acres which, in 1791, Garrett Hughes had purchased at sheriff's sale, the property then being sold as the estate of Margaret Smith, William, Rebecca, and Margaret Pyewell.

The Burk farm was in litigation for almost seven years, the owner alleging that as Mrs. Burk refused