Eddystone, Pennsylvania
Encyclopedia
Eddystone is a borough in Delaware County
, Pennsylvania
, United States. The population was 2,442 at the 2000 census.
was first called "Tequirassy" by Native Americans
. The land was owned by Olof Persson Stille
, one of the early settlers from New Sweden
, who had immigrated in 1641. Olof Stille, a millwright by trade, came from Penningby Manor
in Länna
in the county of Uppland
, north of Stockholm, Sweden. After the conquest of the colony by the Dutch in 1658, Stille was one of the four commissaries or magistrates appointed to administer justice among the inhabitants, and thus became a judge of the first court on the banks of the Delaware.
The Borough of Eddystone was formed around the Eddystone Print Works. William Simpson & Sons established the Eddystone Print Works on the land that is now Eddystone in October 1873, after the land on which their previous factory had operated was condemned to make way for Fairmount Park.
Eddystone Borough was incorporated on December 7, 1888. Eddystone's petition for incorporation was challenged in court on several grounds, including that "the finances of the township of Ridley and of the Ridley school district will be diminished by the creation of this borough." On December 3, 1888, the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas issued an opinion rejecting these claims, noting that while Ridley's "revenues...will be diminished, so will its burdens."
After children pass the 5th grade, they move onto Ridley Middle School
, a part of the Ridley School District
.
According to the United States Census Bureau
, the borough has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²), of which, 1 square miles (2.6 km²) of it is land and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km²) of it (30.67%) is water.
Eddystone gets its name from William Simpson who was so impressed by the Eddystone Lighthouse
on a visit to England that he named the town & print works he'd founded after it.
of 2000, there were 2,442 people, 964 households, and 607 families residing in the borough. The population density
was 2,352.6 people per square mile (906.6/km²). There were 1,035 housing units at an average density of 997.1 per square mile (384.2/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 95.45% White, 1.76% African American, 0.33% Native American, 0.49% Asian, 0.61% from other races
, and 1.35% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.84% of the population.
There were 964 households out of which 31.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.8% were married couples
living together, 16.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.0% were non-families. 32.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.24.
In the borough the population was spread out with 28.4% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.6 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $37,543, and the median income for a family was $47,054. Males had a median income of $36,422 versus $25,069 for females. The per capita income
for the borough was $16,537. About 11.6% of families and 12.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.1% of those under age 18 and 16.4% of those age 65 or over.
In 2010 Eddystone had a population of 2410. Its ethnic and racial composition was 80.3% non-Hispanic white, 11.7% black or African American, 0.1% Native American, 1.3% Asian, 0.2% non-Hispanic of some other race, 3.2% reporting two or more races and 4.4% Hispanic or Latino.
plant (the smaller being in Spring Garden, Philadelphia
). Baldwin was once the largest manufacturer of steam locomotive
s in the world. Today an Exelon
generating station occupies some of the riverfront. The Platt-LePage Aircraft Company
built some of the earliest rotorcraft
on adjacent land to the northeast (outside the borough). The site's association with military helicopters continued through McDonnell Aircraft
and McDonnell Douglas
all the way to the present, as a Boeing
Integrated Defense Systems plant now operates there.
During World War I
, Remington Arms
opened the Eddystone Rifle Plant on Baldwin land with Baldwin management. Here it produced the Pattern 1914 Enfield rifle and M1917 Enfield rifle. A large portion of the rifles used by American soldiers in France in World War I were made at Eddystone. In January 1918 Remington Arms was absorbed by Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company
, which took over the rifle plant.
Baldwin also formed a subsidiary company (Eddystone Ammunition Corporation) in 1915 to build artillery shells (Russian-model on British order).
On 10 April 1917, 133 people were killed in an explosion at the artillery shell plant. A monument near the Edgmont Avenue side of the Chester Rural Cemetery
marks the final resting place for the remains of the unidentified victims, mostly women and young girls.
In 1917 the U.S. government also placed artillery shell orders, and bought out some of the assets of the Eddystone Ammunition Corporation. A new corporation, the similarly named Eddystone Munitions Company, was formed by Baldwin to make the shrapnel for the shells.
Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Delaware County is a county located in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2010, the population was 558,979, making it Pennsylvania's fifth most populous county, behind Philadelphia, Allegheny, Montgomery, and Bucks counties....
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, United States. The population was 2,442 at the 2000 census.
Early history
The area at the mouth of Ridley CreekRidley Creek
Ridley Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River in southeast Pennsylvania in the United States. The entire drainage basin is in the suburban Philadelphia area, but the upper creek and extensive park lands on the creek retain a rural character, while the mouth of the creek has long been heavily...
was first called "Tequirassy" by Native Americans
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
. The land was owned by Olof Persson Stille
Olof Persson Stille
Olof Persson Stille was a pioneer settler in the Swedish colony of New Sweden. He served as the first chief justice of the Upland Court.-Background:...
, one of the early settlers from New Sweden
New Sweden
New Sweden was a Swedish colony along the Delaware River on the Mid-Atlantic coast of North America from 1638 to 1655. Fort Christina, now in Wilmington, Delaware, was the first settlement. New Sweden included parts of the present-day American states of Delaware, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania....
, who had immigrated in 1641. Olof Stille, a millwright by trade, came from Penningby Manor
Penningby castle
Penningby Castle is a medieval-period private castle located the Länna parish of Norrtälje Municipality in Uppland, 70 kilometres north of Stockholm, Sweden. Penningby situated in the valley near Edsviken, a narrow inlet in the Saltsjön bay of the Baltic Sea .-History:One of the most...
in Länna
Norrtälje Municipality
Norrtälje Municipality is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the city of Norrtälje....
in the county of Uppland
Uppland
Uppland is a historical province or landskap on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea...
, north of Stockholm, Sweden. After the conquest of the colony by the Dutch in 1658, Stille was one of the four commissaries or magistrates appointed to administer justice among the inhabitants, and thus became a judge of the first court on the banks of the Delaware.
The Borough of Eddystone was formed around the Eddystone Print Works. William Simpson & Sons established the Eddystone Print Works on the land that is now Eddystone in October 1873, after the land on which their previous factory had operated was condemned to make way for Fairmount Park.
Eddystone Borough was incorporated on December 7, 1888. Eddystone's petition for incorporation was challenged in court on several grounds, including that "the finances of the township of Ridley and of the Ridley school district will be diminished by the creation of this borough." On December 3, 1888, the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas issued an opinion rejecting these claims, noting that while Ridley's "revenues...will be diminished, so will its burdens."
Education
Children in Eddystone attend school at the Eddystone Elementary School on 9th street. The Elementary school is located on the site of the old Eddystone High School, which burned down in 1960.After children pass the 5th grade, they move onto Ridley Middle School
Ridley Middle School
Ridley Middle School serves the Ridley School District. Ridley Middle School is located at Free and Dupont streets in Ridley Park, Pennsylvania 19078, and has an average student population of 1,300...
, a part of the Ridley School District
Ridley School District
Ridley School District is a school district in southeastern Delaware County, Pennsylvania in the United States. It consists of Ridley Township, and the boroughs of Ridley Park and Eddystone. The district has one high school, one middle school, and seven elementary schools. At all levels, the...
.
Geography
Eddystone is located at 39°51′34"N 75°20′27"W (39.859345, -75.340920).According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
, the borough has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²), of which, 1 square miles (2.6 km²) of it is land and 0.5 square miles (1.3 km²) of it (30.67%) is water.
Eddystone gets its name from William Simpson who was so impressed by the Eddystone Lighthouse
Eddystone Lighthouse
Eddystone Lighthouse is on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks, south west of Rame Head, United Kingdom. While Rame Head is in Cornwall, the rocks are in Devon and composed of Precambrian Gneiss....
on a visit to England that he named the town & print works he'd founded after it.
Demographics
As of the censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
of 2000, there were 2,442 people, 964 households, and 607 families residing in the borough. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...
was 2,352.6 people per square mile (906.6/km²). There were 1,035 housing units at an average density of 997.1 per square mile (384.2/km²). The racial makeup of the borough was 95.45% White, 1.76% African American, 0.33% Native American, 0.49% Asian, 0.61% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...
, and 1.35% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.84% of the population.
There were 964 households out of which 31.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.8% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
living together, 16.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.0% were non-families. 32.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.24.
In the borough the population was spread out with 28.4% under the age of 18, 7.2% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 14.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females there were 95.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.6 males.
The median income for a household in the borough was $37,543, and the median income for a family was $47,054. Males had a median income of $36,422 versus $25,069 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...
for the borough was $16,537. About 11.6% of families and 12.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 18.1% of those under age 18 and 16.4% of those age 65 or over.
In 2010 Eddystone had a population of 2410. Its ethnic and racial composition was 80.3% non-Hispanic white, 11.7% black or African American, 0.1% Native American, 1.3% Asian, 0.2% non-Hispanic of some other race, 3.2% reporting two or more races and 4.4% Hispanic or Latino.
Industrial history
Eddystone has a history of heavy industry. It was the site of the largest Baldwin Locomotive WorksBaldwin Locomotive Works
The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally, and later in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Although the company was very successful as a producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of...
plant (the smaller being in Spring Garden, Philadelphia
Spring Garden, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Spring Garden is a neighborhood in the central Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, bordering Center City on the north. Spring Garden is a neighborhood that combines diverse residential neighborhoods and significant cultural attractions...
). Baldwin was once the largest manufacturer of steam locomotive
Steam locomotive
A steam locomotive is a railway locomotive that produces its power through a steam engine. These locomotives are fueled by burning some combustible material, usually coal, wood or oil, to produce steam in a boiler, which drives the steam engine...
s in the world. Today an Exelon
Exelon
Exelon Corporation is an electricity generating and distributing company headquartered in the Chase Tower in the Chicago Loop area of Chicago. It was created in October, 2000 by the merger of PECO Energy Company and Unicom, of Philadelphia and Chicago respectively. Unicom owned Commonwealth Edison...
generating station occupies some of the riverfront. The Platt-LePage Aircraft Company
Platt-LePage Aircraft Company
The Platt-LePage Aircraft Company was a manufacturer of aircraft for the armed forces of the United States of America. Based in Eddystone, Pennsylvania, the company produced the first helicopter to be officially acquired by the United States Army Air Forces....
built some of the earliest rotorcraft
Rotorcraft
A rotorcraft or rotary wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air flying machine that uses lift generated by wings, called rotor blades, that revolve around a mast. Several rotor blades mounted to a single mast are referred to as a rotor. The International Civil Aviation Organization defines a rotorcraft...
on adjacent land to the northeast (outside the borough). The site's association with military helicopters continued through McDonnell Aircraft
McDonnell Aircraft
The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded on July 16, 1939 by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the F-4 Phantom II, and manned spacecraft including the Mercury capsule...
and McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas
McDonnell Douglas was a major American aerospace manufacturer and defense contractor, producing a number of famous commercial and military aircraft. It formed from a merger of McDonnell Aircraft and Douglas Aircraft in 1967. McDonnell Douglas was based at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport...
all the way to the present, as a Boeing
Boeing
The Boeing Company is an American multinational aerospace and defense corporation, founded in 1916 by William E. Boeing in Seattle, Washington. Boeing has expanded over the years, merging with McDonnell Douglas in 1997. Boeing Corporate headquarters has been in Chicago, Illinois since 2001...
Integrated Defense Systems plant now operates there.
During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, Remington Arms
Remington Arms
Remington Arms Company, Inc. was founded in 1816 by Eliphalet Remington in Ilion, New York, as E. Remington and Sons. It is the oldest company in the United States which still makes its original product, and is the oldest continuously operating manufacturer in North America. It is the only U.S....
opened the Eddystone Rifle Plant on Baldwin land with Baldwin management. Here it produced the Pattern 1914 Enfield rifle and M1917 Enfield rifle. A large portion of the rifles used by American soldiers in France in World War I were made at Eddystone. In January 1918 Remington Arms was absorbed by Midvale Steel and Ordnance Company
Midvale Steel
Midvale Steel was a succession of steel-making corporations whose flagship plant was the Midvale Steel Works at Nicetown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which operated from 1867 until 1976...
, which took over the rifle plant.
Baldwin also formed a subsidiary company (Eddystone Ammunition Corporation) in 1915 to build artillery shells (Russian-model on British order).
On 10 April 1917, 133 people were killed in an explosion at the artillery shell plant. A monument near the Edgmont Avenue side of the Chester Rural Cemetery
Chester Rural Cemetery
Chester Rural Cemetery, located in Delaware County, Pennsylvania near the city of Chester, was founded in March 1863. Civil War soldiers, both Union and Confederate, who died at the government hospital across the street, were some of the first burials...
marks the final resting place for the remains of the unidentified victims, mostly women and young girls.
In 1917 the U.S. government also placed artillery shell orders, and bought out some of the assets of the Eddystone Ammunition Corporation. A new corporation, the similarly named Eddystone Munitions Company, was formed by Baldwin to make the shrapnel for the shells.
Notable residents
- Margaret MatsonMargaret Matson-Biography:Margaret Matson and her husband Neals Matson lived on a farm near Ridley Creek in present-day Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Part of Eddystone township at the mouth of Ridley Creek, had been taken up by Olof Persson Stille, one of the early settlers of the Swedish colony of New Sweden who had...
, local landowner known as the Witch of Ridley CreekRidley CreekRidley Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River in southeast Pennsylvania in the United States. The entire drainage basin is in the suburban Philadelphia area, but the upper creek and extensive park lands on the creek retain a rural character, while the mouth of the creek has long been heavily...