Historic Sites in Newtown Square
Did you know that there are over 100 historic sites in Newtown Square? Over the next few months, we will be presenting a thumbnail sketch of a selection of these historic buildings in our community, and feature some of the owners who live in them.
David Pratt House (c. 1700)
3319 Spring House Road
This beautiful home is situated at the bend in the road that led down the hill to the sawmill on Darby Creek in Radnor, but set back from the road and surrounded by open wooded land. There are remains from an old stone barn, and Thomas Run crosses the property with a springhouse near the creek. It was owned by several generations of Quaker farmers.
This Federal stone farmhouse was built in 3 sections. The original part from the early 18th century is located on the early Philip England tract of 450 acres surveyed in 1684. Prior to 1848, the home was owned by John Lewis and wife Tamar Lewis Sr. They raised three children there. Their daughter, Tamar Lewis Jr., married Quaker farmer, David Garrett Pratt. She may have inherited the house, and then she and David built the addition, the east gable of which has a datestone which reads “D TL Pratt 1852”.
David and Tamar raised their family of two boys at the house. Years later, David and Tamer died within a few weeks of each other, she on January 26, 1882, and he on February 20th. The local newspaper noted the curious fact that they each died on their birthdays.
The house and 70 acres then passed to the Worrell family. By 1909, Alfred B. Worrell owned the house, outbuildings and 51 acres. An 1899 article noted a fire that destroyed the large barn on the property; the loss of building and contents valued at $5000, and fortunately Alfred had insurance valued at $4000 with which to re-build.
Wyola Tenant House (c. 1880)
563 N. Newtown Street Road
This simple clapboard farmhouse was built around 1880, in what was at the time the busting little village of Wyola. The row of buildings along the east side of Wyola, including the fine home at the corner and the wheelwright shop, were all part of the property of Caleb Y. Lewis. This house was likely a tenant house for the people who may have worked in the store, post office, wheelwright shop or blacksmith shop, or one of the dressmakers doing business there.
And who was Caleb Lewis? Here is the man as described by contemporaries at the time of his death:
“Caleb Y. Lewis, one of the more interesting characters in Delaware County, died last Tuesday from a paralytic stroke at Newtown Square in his 91st year. Mr. Lewis was a bachelor and accumulated considerable property in his lifetime. He was in earlier and later life a farmer, and for many years during middle life a merchant. He was in many respects a recluse, caring nothing for society, and rarely leaving home except to attend to necessary business. He was an excellent type of the old-time Friend, and never cared to keep up with the remarkable growth of the nation. His dress and manners were the same as in the first decades of the century were common in rural districts. He was honest and upright and was known throughout the county as being a man of few words, an unchangeable determination. His four brothers were all prominent men, one of them, James, having sat in both Houses at Harrisburg and refused a nomination to Congress. Mr. Lewis will be buried Monday in the quaint old burying ground at Newtown Square.”
Follow this link to see the full 80-page book "Newtown Square - Preserving Our History" featuring 27 historic homes in Newtown Square along with stories from some of the owners of these homes. A FREE copy of this book is available at the Paper Mill House Museum & History Center on Paper Mill Road.
https://online.fliphtml5.com/hplxj/bcod/