little known facts about lower mai(efield township

LITTLE KNOWN FACTS ABOUT
LOWER MAI(EFIELD TOWNSHIP
ROADS:
Fifty years ago, the roads were just dirt, some not even two cars wide. There were no hexagon stop signs on any roads eifher.
l-Stony Hill Road -this road was one lane wide and closed frequently during snow storms
a) Was first ca77ed Fallsington-Newtown Road because it connected the Quaker Meeting House in Fallsinglon with the
Meeting House in Newtown.
b) Inthe early 1920's, the name changed to Roelofs-Fallsington Road- Possibly so named because Henry W. Roelof had a
large felt and hatfactory nexf to the road. His property was sunounded by Langfuorne Pike to the nortlr, the railroad on the
south and Roelofs- Fatlsingfon Road on ttre wesf . Mark Palmer 's prop€rty was the east boundary.
c) By 1937 tle reme Storlt Hill Road became the last name change. The WPA paved the first phase of Stony Hill Roqd from
Route 332 to the railroad tracks. The original base was just pebbles, a layer of chips covered the pebbles, oil was added and
finally *payed" withblack top.
2-Heacock Road so named after the enterprising Joseph Heacock, the rose man who also owned the Hillborr farm.
-
However, the Hillboms ran the dairy for bim
3-Big Oak Road -from Moon's Nursery from below Pine Grove Road) to the Township line (where it meets
Middletown township)
was cal7ed "Swamp Road" . When it raine4 the whole area hame "water-soaked", (like a sponge) thereforg srvampy.
LONG TIME RESIDENTS bave said Mrs. Scudder who owned the farm where Charles Boehm and Pennwood School are
now sent around a petition to change the name of Swamp Road Ie Big Oak Road- There really was a huge oak tree to the
west of fte geteral store. (see it in the Photo section) . It was hit by lighfing causing enough damage to remove it for safety
r€asons. Some think fhis tree was standing when George Washington was in the Bucks County area
4-Mirror Lake Road
-
Before the road was "cut tlrough'' the Stewart farm to make room for the Shopping center and fire station, the road passing
in front of Tom Patterson's farm was called East Edgevlood Roqd naw Mirror Lal{e Road, and ftom Stony Hill Road to the
railroad tracks the road was called lfiest Edgewood Road. now the extension of Heacock Road.
s-Mill Road
waspaved lrl.1953-54.
6-Township Line Road -In
the 1960's this was the last township road to be paved.
TEE FIRST TRAFFIC LIGHT
gas pump
was at the intersection of Big Oak and Makefield Roads. Duerr's general store had a
ard fhe "famous" Big Oak which rras fhe source of fhe renaming of the road fh,at was to the west of their store.
RAILROADS - ownerso the Roelof Station and the trolley line
l-Bound Brookrecords and maps show the tracks as befug owned by Bound Brook (maybe because the line started at one time in Bound
Brook , NI) and traveled from New York to Trenton. There were four rails at this fime.
2-Reading RailroadSteam locomotives brought another era to the are4 tourists e.aget tfi escape the foul city ur and,heat. Heacock Roses,
ducks, eggs and mail were shipped out of on the t:ains as far away as New York. WW II Troops were brought through here
fromNew York to Philly and Maryland.
3-Penn Central
-
Moved both passengers and freight The brakemen would hook-up a gondola to one of tle freight trains. When the train
picked qpeed coat would fall offthe gondola down beffieen the tracks where people could just pick it up and put it in
bags or wheelbarrows.
EAMTRAK-
Purchased two rails for passenger service. There were train cars called *dinkies" that only traveled locaf$.
5-COTIRAIT.
Took the remaining two rails for freighl
6-CSXToday, movesfreighl
7.SPETA.
Trmsports pass€ngers.
r)
THE ROELOF'S STATION f'Lizette""Lizette" was the stop for passengers coming out to tle country for a vacation and fresh air. There was a wooden "Board
Walk" from the Roelofs Station to the Palmer Boarding House (later called the Roelof Hotel). Ovrners include McClisters
and today Heiu. On the north side of the tracks was a two story building. The ticket agent could sleep upstairs. There were
freight scales, and storage sheds. The ticket agent could sell candy and direct one to pump fresh water from a hand dug
well and where to find the outdoor privies- The station was also once the post office. Mail was dropped offtwice a day.
On the south side of the tracks was an enclosure for fresh produce going out and for lmssengers arriving or departing.
When there was a "pick-up" of either product or 1xrsengers, zteLflagwas pulled down to signal the engineer to stop. A
round trip ticket was 25 ar 26 cents.
TROLLEY LINE
When not in use &e trolleys were housed on what is now tle Scammell Property at the intersection of Langhorne-Yardley
Road and Route 332. The "trolley beds" were laid donn the center of the road. The trolley could take you from Trentorl
NJ to Yardley or Newtown, on to Washington Crossing or New Hope, Newtown to Doylestown, or Bristol to Newtown, or
Yardley to Newtown. You could also go from Easton to Tfenton Andbaek ag;aml
MSTORIC VILLEGE OF EDGEWOOD _
some maps have &is village ca[ed Stradlington, (possibility named for Elias Stradling). It was changed to Sammemi]Ie in
because tourists were coming to vacation here for the &esh air. It was a thriving summer resort cornmunity with
several boarding-houses and in early 1900's a hotef which is stlX slanding and occupied today. The name of the area was
ct nged to Woodsifu for the next 83 years. The name of Efuewoodidefiifrcd the area until 1935. The village nane see-
f835,
saurcd baektolfioodsideandfinallyrcstatefi.toEdgewoodbytheBoardofsuperuisorsorcMayS, I978.The"lwmlet'was
a cross roads to somewhere else. Yeg some made this area home, worked in the Heacock greenhouses, the Roelofs Stetson
felt and hat factory or plowed the rich soil and raised produce for themselves, families in the surrounding areas and shipped
goods as far away as New York. According to James Flowers' papers, a general store had operaled more or less
continuously in the village for 150 years. HISTORIC!
LONGEVITY
the property belonging to the Bennett's family on Langhorne-Yardley Road has remained in the same family for more than
lO0 years
STRUCTT]RES
1- Heston Hall
2-
-
The first section was built about 1830 as a Quaker School for girls and later for retrded girls being taughtby Heston's
wife. It laterbecame the fust Grange HaIl. This was the site of the first Grange Fair which lasted three days.
The Grange Hall
-
Community House
The land was donated by Agnes Hillhrn, the materials were donated by Joseph Heacock, Sr. and the labor was supplied by
the local carpeffex. This was the site of beef and oyster dinner5, weddings, birthdays, dances, political discussion" 4-H
meetingg md family reunions.
3- The Blacksmith
Shop-
Owned by Christopher James '?op" and Christopher Henry Bennett. (Chris's dad). They were so busy, they had to operate
two forges. They shod the Heacock horses and repaired cars andbuggies.
Bennett's Garage-
45-
They had two gas pumps. Once was a post ofBce too.
The Tomlinson StoreOnce las a post office too.
Biles CornerOnce had the post office here. Licensed to be a tavem.
6-
Mollineaux *
owned it in the l92A's,They too had the post office for a while. Then it was boughtby Ber"rell, then
a dance hafl upstairs, but closed ttre store in the 19?0's. Dave Broadway
Yardley bought it in the 1950'. They had
purchased it and removed the gas pump.
7-
OloShady-
8-
Roelofs Hotel-
Bill
Was once Jesse Palmer's tavern 1796-99.
First owned by Mark Pakner, with his daugfiterLizette as proprietress of the Boarding House. When it became a hotel,
there were numbers above the doors on ttre third floor rooms- McClisters owned the house and lived there for vears. He
soldittoadevelo'per.
2j
*POINT
of VIEW STUD" Farm on Langhorne-Yardley Road. Million dollar winning mce horse" Uncle Mitlie" was trained
here on a quarter mile race track. Uncle Miflie won the Champagne Stakes and Wakefield l{andicap in New York at the
age of 2 and the Lamplighter Handicap at Manmouth Park at the age of 3 . Latw Brahma bulls were raised here and later yet
Palominos ponies.
10- Witt'o Wispwas buift between 1850 and 1856 by Stacy Pickering on part of the Stapler trach This was located on Route 332 ad,had a
single gas punrp out fronf. A gatplare for the men folk to gather and talk about their day and whal they planned for
tomorrow.
TAVERNS-Once granted a ferry
license, the owner was also granted a Tavern license. These ssestablishments' catered to
the travelers and drovers using the road from Yardleyville to Philadelphia
The Yardley Tavern (on River Road) in 1?90-1849
O1' Shade-JessePalmer's TavernwasbuiltbyDaniel rrl765,licensed 1796-1799
Biles Corner was built by John Palrner for Dr. Biles--tavern license to Jesse Palmer was refused m 1799. Dr. Biles
reqplied in 1835 andthelicense was pr:ffited.
** How dry I am. The Bucks County temperance moyement in the middle 1800's and then Prohibition in the 1920's to
*DRY' status of today.
about 1934, conaibuted to the
Now gone
Steeple ChaseBack in the I92O's, there was a "Sullqr" (driver sat in a little cart) raretrack on or near the While farm land which was west
ofthe Delaware Canal.
Tanneros General StoreThis was one of the four corner stores located at the intersection of Stony
vacant lot behind the Wachovia Balk.
l{ill
Road and Edgewood Road. The site is now a
McCormick's Duck FarmOnce located on Dolington Road, on what was the original Yardley Plantation. McCormick shipped 'Yardlet'' ducks to
restaurants and retail markets throughout the east coast. The ducks were shipped as far away as New York from
Roelofs Station.
Heacock Rose Company and greenhousesEdgewood becrlme a mmpany town when Joseph Heacock opened his second rose business, the fust being in Wlncote, PA
This was a wholesale florist aad nurseryman who bought mmy of the houses in the village and several surrounding farms
for his business operation. The Nurseries began operdion abaruf' I92A and conlirnred rmril 1970. At one time tlfs was the
township's largest employer. It gained an international reputation during that time. There were cattle, cows, greenhouses
and workers all employed by Mr. Joseph Heacock. There was a whistle blowingatT 6N[ galling the workers to work, at
noonfor lunch and again at 5PM for the end of the day shift. There were workers on sile during the night too. The men
milking the 200+ 6ps,5 twice a day wore long white coats. At one time the milk was processed on the site. The Cow Barns
bumed to the ground in 1929, andne\rer rebuilt The company closed its' doors n 1974 and sold all of tlrc workers homes,
thal they had rented from Mr. Joseph Heacock. It is said thal aknost every resident of the Village worked al the gfeenhouses at onetime or another.
Post OfficeDepending on the political party in of$ce at the time, the post offtce moved from store (fomlinsoq Mollineasux BerrellYardley, Bennett's gn:age, Biles Corner) to store around the intersection of Route 432 and Roelofs-Fallsington Road. At
one time the post office was even at the train Roelofs station. Mail was delivered twi ce a day . There were no house
numbers to help the mail person delivering the mail. He just knew where you lived.
Roelofs Felt and Stetson Hat FactoryInthe early 1920's Mr. Roelof owned a large parcel of land boarding on the Fallsinglon-Newtown Road and what was &en
Woodside Road. The railroad station was named after him This land parcel was located in front of the Mark Palmer
homestead. Employment was open all. There was however, a murder of the m$rt firez.nan n 1X)54 wtd the building was
bruned donn to hicle the crine.
The STILLS
Moonshine - Bootleggers
lr,{anv of the farms had "stills" sorne place on their propeg.-. The "product" las sold localll' and in Trenton. One night the
Fireman fell asleep, flre still boiled over. blerv-up and took out tlre side lall of the building. The stone masons frorn
Philadglphiu came up and restored the rrall "like new" before 8 AM the nert morning. These operations continued through
Prohibition. Tlrere ras a case lihere the Federal Agefis raided a still in 1956" broke up all the still equipment and heavily
fined the
3)
-
operatoff.
OTHER ITEMS OF INTEREST
Land Donation and Sale
John McNabb donated theland for the Presbyterian Mission Chapel. Agnes Hlllbom donated the 5 acres for the Grange
Ilall, and sold 5 acres to the Masonic Lodge and 5 acres to the Presbyterian Church.
Progression of Transportation
Feet, horse andwagon, txactor, bicycle, farmtruck andthe carand one even used a Kushman motor scooter.
Wodcing two jobs was common. It was too difficult to make a living by just farming the land. Many men walked across on
the railroad bndgeto work in Trenton Walking across the railroad bridge was a mflrmon route.
AirplanesUsed for pleasure, aerial photography and crop dusting ...Johnnie Wanen, Phil McClister, Virgil Kauftnan
and Sue Van Orden-
Cantaloupes
Were sought after by people from far and wide. The only farm you could find these "pl1rz.d' melons was on the Tom
Pafferson Farrn, where he saved the seeds (heirloom) from year to year for the best crop ever.
Deep \ilaterA river runs deep under the Mill Development formerly the Ronaldo Farm.
BrockCreek
Was once 3 to 4 feet deep. Now it is just atrickle.
PA. Northern TobaecoBlue Leaf tobacco was gro$'n down on the King Fann (US Steel and Waste b{anagement land). This type of tobacco was
used to make cigars, the best in Permsylvania.
AsparagusMost wery farm planted some. Many a youngster cut their share before going to school in the mornings and it was shipped
offto New York daily. The King farm had 200 acres of aqparagus.
Belgium HorsesPmchased in l,ancaster, Pa. and were owned by Israel Bray. These were not work horses, just a hotiby and used to give
Pleasure rides in the area.
Just aHarding Working Mom
Elizabeth V. Hicks, a niece of the famous Newtown painter, Edwmd Hicks (Peaceable Kingdom) was
Chief Ronaldo' s mothsr.
Tomatoes
Campbell Soups and StoHey-Van Camps boughf all lhe tomafoes the local farms could produce. The tnrcks had to drive
through a "Riyer of Red" (make thal tomato juice) to make the delivery. The *wait lind' rras long no matter what time you
got there.
The average farm
was 40- 60 acres. Some of the larger famrs spread out over 158 acres.
MISSED OPPORTT]IYITIES
Ford Phillco wanted to built an asseribly plant
here.
An airport wanted to build here.
Abrewerywantedto locate here- TrpLine Road
The SCHOOLS attended 50 Years ago in this AREA
Makefield - k-6
Yardley - College Avenue
Woodside -7-10
Morrisville 11 & 12 th
Council Rock- Newtown 11 & 12th
LAND MEASIIREMENTS
(irzritten in old deeds)
perch = 16.5 feet
t chain = 4 poles = 4 rods = 4 perches = 100 links - 66 feet
I link = .66 feet
2 poles chain = 50 links
flulone = 660 feet
1
squme fir1ong
=
10 acres
mile = 8 firlongs = 80 chains
I squme mile = 640 acres
2 pole chain = 50 links
4)
AND
Lower Makefield Township is home to the Garden of Reflection, dedicated to the memory of Bucks County community
members who lost their lives on September lI , z00l . Located on Lindenhurst Road, the Garden of Reflection was dedicated on
September 30,2006.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Lower Makefield Township has a tolal area of 18.3 square miles (47.4 km),
of which 17.9 square miles (46.5 knr) of it is land and 0.4 sq2uare miles (9.9 km) of it (1.97% is water.
The Delaware Canal passes through Lower Makefield and provides year-around scenic serenity.
One of the original five townships in Bucks County, (the others were Falls, Bensalem, Bristol, and Middletown) Makefield
Township was formed ia1692 and split into Lower and Upper Makefield Townships in 1737.
Lower lMakefield remained primarily agricultural until after WWII, despite the coming of the Reading Railroad in 1876.
Since theq Lower Makefield has become a mostly suburban community
Lower Makefield Football Association has been active since 1994 and,was incorporated on July l6,2ao1.The LMFA is
affiliated withPop Waner Footbdl and atl participants are guaranteed a starting position and the opportrmity to play the entire
game.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized lower Makefield Townslnp n2007 as a leader in promoting
envkonrnentally-friendly development that controls storm water runoffand helps protect the environment.
Fr
The Scudder Falls Bridge (I-95) between Bucks County, PA. and Mercer County, NJ currently carries about 59,500 vehicles
day (2003). By 2030, traffc volumes are expected to increase an additional 30 % to about 76,500 vehicles per day.
The Lower N4akefield Township Swim & Dive Team is a competitive community swimming ancl diving program which
dwelops physical skills for children of all abilities, fosters positive social interactions, and instills a life-long appetite for exercis€
in our youth, in a fun-filled atmosphere.
In 1998, Lower Makefield Township purchased the 233-acre Patterson Farm for presewation
as an
agricultural landmark.
Yardley-Makefeld Emergency Services SvIEMS) has served Lower Makefield Township, Yardley Borougfr" and portions
if Upper lvlakefield To*nship since 1955.
The Lower makefield Co'rporate Cerrter is Bucks County's primer corporate office campus which is located within
of the intersection of I-95 and Route 332 in Pennsylvania.
l/2mile
Shady Brook Farm was founded by T. Herman Fleming in 1913 in Andalusi4 PA. as a farm that grew crops for wholesale
to markets in the Philadelphi a
In 1 960, the
9A acaes in Shady Brook Farm's presenl location of Lower
Makefield. Today, Shady Brook is being run by the fourth generation of Flemings.
ra.
Flemings
Makefield Highlands Gotf Clutt is Bucks County's primer public golf experience.
The Lower Makefield Barmers Market is open on Thursday from May tfuough September at the intersection
Edgewood and Heacock Roads.
of
Yardley Borough seceded from Lower Makefield in 1895.
The Yardley-Makefield Branch of the Bucks County Free Library is located at the toxnship complex on Edgewood Road.
in 1990 and is on land owned by the township.
The Library building was completed
Then Present George W. Busch visited Lower ldakefield Township on October 28,2004. An estimated crowd of 23,000
attended a campaign rally at Ru& Wriglrt's &4-acre '?roadmeadows Fam" during the 2004 Presidential election campaign.
o