PENNSYLVANIA HISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY FORM--PHOTO/SITE PLAN SHEET 89 Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission

Bureau of Historic Preservation Box 1026, Harrisburg, PA 17108-1026

Survey Code/Tax Parcel/Other No.: 60-6-18 County: Chester Municipality: New Garden Township Address: 162 Sheehan Road Historic Name/Other Name: William Walter House and Chestnut Green School

SITE PLAN See attached site plan

p-IflTfl INFORMATION

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Ii-1 - 4 '

Number Description of View Direction of Camera

1801-23 East elevation of house West 1801-24 North elevation of house South 1801-25 Garden on north end of house West 1801-26 Shed #1 South 1801-28 Shed 92 West See attached photo list -.-

Photographer Name: Gail Walls Date: July 14, 1999

Negative Location: KCJ Technologies, 5001 Louise Dr., Ste. 201, Mechanicsburg, PA 17055

PENNSYLVANIA HISTORIC RESOURCE SURVEY FORM--DATA SHEET C 89B Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Bureau for Historic Prese'vatión

IDENTIFICATION AND LOCATION Survey Code: Tax Parcel/Other No.: 60-6-18

County: 1. Chester 0 2 9 2.

Municipality 1. New Garden Township 2.

Address: 162 Sheehan Road

Historic Name: William Walter and Chestnut Green School

Other Name:

Owner Name/Address: Jeffrey and Madeline Lucht, 162 Sheehan Road, Avondale, PA 19311

Owner Category: X Private Public-local Public-state Public-federal

Resource Category: X Building -

District Site Structure Object

Number/Approximate Number of Resources Covered by this Form: 2

USGS Quad: 1. Kennett Square, PA-DEL 2.

UTM A. 18 437680 4405490 C.

References: B. D.

HISTORIC AND CURRENT FUNCTIONS Historic Function Category: Subcategory: Code:

Domestic Sincle dwelling 0 1 A

Education School 0 5 A

Domestic Secondary structure 0 1 C

________________________________________

Particular Type: A. Schoolhouse Sheds

Current Function Category: Subcategory: Code:

Domestic Single dwelling 0 1 A

Domestic SecondarY structure 0 5 A

Domestic Secondary structure 0 1 C

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION

Architectural Classification: A. Federal 2 1

B. C.

D. Other________________________________________

Exterior Materials: Foundation Stone 40 Roof Wood shingle 22

Walls Brick 3 0 Walls Wood 20

Other Metal rolled seam roof on addition 5 0 Other Wood shutters and trim 20

Structural System: 1. Unknown 2.

Width: 3 bays C Depth: 2 rooms B Stories/Height: 2 stories B

HISTORICAL INFORMATION

Year Built: X C. 1830 to -

C. Additions/Alterations Dates: X C. 1985 ; C.

Basis for Dating: X Documentary X Physical

Explain: The present owner stated that the dwelling was constructed during the early 1830s. Also, newspaper clippings provide

information on the restoration of the house by the previous owner.

Cultural/Ethnic Affiliation: 1. 2. Associated Individuals: 1. 2. Associated Events: 1. 2. Architects/Engineers: 1. Unknown 2. Builders: 1. Unknown 2.

MAJOR BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

See attached bibliography

PREVIOUS SURVEY, DETERMINATIONS

EVALUATION (Survey Director/Consultants Only)

Individual NR Potential: X Yes No Context(s): Context A and C

Contributes to Potential District Yes X No District Name/Status:

Explain: The dwelling and schoolhouse both retain a high level integrity and possess high amounts of historic significance to the local

events of New Garden Township

THREATS

Threats: 2 1. None 2. Public Development 3. Private Development 4. Neglect 5. Other

Explain: State Road 0041 Transportation Improvement Project

SURVEYOR INFORMATION

Surveyor Name/Title: Gail Lin Walls/Architectural Historian Date: 14 July 1999

Project Name: State Road 0041 Transportation lmrprovement Project

Organization: KCI Technologies, Inc. Telephone: 717.691.1340

Street and No.: 5001 Louise Drive, Suite 201

City, State: Mechanicsburg, PA Zip Code: 17055

Additional Survey Documentation:

Associated Survey Codes:

PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL RESOURCE SURVEY FORM--NARRATIVE SHEET 89C Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Bureau for Historic Preservation

Survey Code: Tax Parcel/Other No.: 60-6-18

County: Chester Municipality: New Garden Township

Address: 162 Sheehan Road

Historic/Other Name: William Walter House and Chestnut Green School

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: The property at 162 Sheehan Road is a three acre, 125 perch parcel with a dwelling, schoolhouse, several outbuildings, and a barn relocated from Odessa, Delaware. The dwelling is a two-story, three bay, brick Federal structure with a one story, rear (west-end) addition that extends the width of the original section. The dwelling faces northeast toward Sheehan Road.

The foundation is constructed of stone that supports the ten-course, common bond brick walls. The sunroom is constructed of wood. The gable roof is covered with wood shingles and is decorated with a simple frieze band. No traces of the chimneys remain.

The windows retain their original spacing. They are a mixture of six-over-six and six-over-one, double-hung, replacement. They are trimmed with wood surrounds and capped with wood hoods. Wood paneled shutters flank the lower story windows while wood louvered shutters flank the second story windows. The sunroom located on the south end of the house has single and ribbon, twenty-pane fixed windows. Three-paned awning windows pierce the cellar.

The northeast (front) door is a wood paneled door with transom and sidelights. A screen door covers this door. A small pent overhang shingled in wood extends over this entryway. A paneled wood door with nine fixed panes leads into the east elevation of the sunroom. The only porch is located at the front (northeast) elevation and constructed of brick.

The second contributing building on the property is the Chestnut Green School constructed circa 1807. The school house is one story, three bays wide, and one room deep. It faces southeast toward the north elevation of the dwelling. The foundation was not visible; however, the exterior walls are constructed of field stone that appear to have been covered at one time with stucco.

The gable roof of the school is covered with asphalt shingles. The brick exterior chimney is located along the southwest walls. The windows are single, one-over-one, double-hung replacement. The doors are wood batten. The door on the north elevation has a small gable overhang. Both the windows and doors are trimmed in red-painted wood surrounds.

The outbuildings located to the south of the dwelling are a wooden shed with a wood batten door and six-pane fixed windows with a wood-shingled gable roof. The carriage house is covered in stucco and has a front gable roof covered in wood shingles. Its windows are six-paned fixed; the door is a wood batten.

A modern shed with wood siding, a gable roof covered with wood shingle, paired, eight-pane fixed windows, and two shed doors is located west of the school. A privy is located west of the school.

Located north of the school is a barn moved from Odessa, Delaware by the previous owners. It is a transverse barn and faces northeast. It is two stories high and three bays wide. The stone foundation supports frame walls

covered with batten boards. The gable roof is covered in wood shingles. The only ornamentation is the ridge pole that extends beyond the gable. The windows are single, twenty-pane, fixed. The north gable has half a fanlight flanking each side of the twenty-pane fixed window. The northeast elevation has a dutch barn door. A hay door pierces the second story of this elevation. Another hay door pierces the gable on the south elevation and is ornamented with a hex. A set of double barn doors pierce the south elevation.

The setting is flat and heavily wooded. The property is well-landscaped with shrubs and flowers. Brick paths lead one from building to building on the property. The property sits very close to Sheehan Road (an old section of Gap-Newport Pike) on the east and cliffs over Route 41 (Gap-Newport Pike) on the west. The condition of the buildings is excellent while the integrity is very good.

The William Walter House and Chestnut Green School is located in New Garden Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania. New Garden Township was formed from land that had belonged to William Penn's daughter, Letitia (Futhey and Cope 1881:179-80, 187). In 1700 the land was surveyed and settled by a large number of Friends who came from New Garden, Ireland. (Heathcote 1926:28-9). Because of the rich soil, agriculture quickly became the leading industry (The Grafton Association 1992a: 1.1). Farmers grew corn, wheat barley, and rye; livestock consisted of horses, sheep, cows, and pigs (Chester County Historic Sites Survey Preliminary Research Report:7).

By 1800 the population of New Garden Township was 785 (Census Bureau 1800). Twenty years later, the population of New Garden had grown 1,199 with 98 people employed in agriculture and 18 employed in manufacturing (Census Bureau 1820a). Milling and quarrying also contributed to the township's economy (WPA 1935). The township had three blacksmiths, a wheelwright, a carriage works, a hardware store, a furniture store, and a machinery shop. Wages ranged from one dollar a day to two-and-a-half dollars a day. A lumber mill that was in the township was located on Broad Run. (Census Bureau 1880b).

Social issues were extremely important to the citizens of New Garden. In 1780, the Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act for the gradual emancipation of slaves (Hagerty 1977:22). With their beliefs in the freedom of all, Quakers in New Garden helped thousands to escape slavery between 1831 and 1863 (Taylor 1975; 1995).

In the late nineteenth century, another agricultural product was gaining importance. By the end of the century, mushrooms were increasingly essential to the county's economy (Chester County Historic Sites Preliminary Research Report:8). Mushroom growing continued its importance during the early twentieth century and continues to prosper today (Hagerty 1977:162).

The architecture that reflects the growth of New Garden Township is a mixture of eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth century farmhouses and other outbuildings, residential neighborhood homes, Quaker Meetinghouses, and mushroom houses.

The William Walter House and Chestnut Green School is located along a developed section of Sheehan Road that had been a part of the Gap-Newport Pike before the construction of Route 41 in 1941. In 1807 a new school was proposed on William Thompson's land (Hagerty 1977: 141). However, according to deed research, the school directors were given 36 perches of land by Jonathan Moor and his wife for the "purpose of erecting a schoolhouse" in 1808 (Deed Book C3, page 227). In April of 1809 an act in the Commonwealth was passed that would provide a free education to children between ages five and twelve whose parents could not otherwise afford it. The name "Chestnut Green" was first associated with the school in 1822 when the district received a bill from Aaron P. Osmond for teaching at the school for poor children. The last teacher of the school was William Foote (Hagerty 1977:142-3). In 1866, Benjamin Thompson, the president of School Directors of New Garden School District sold George B. Pierson the school tract (Deed Book C7, page 400). Since then, the school and the dwelling immediately south have been a part of the same tract.

The parcel that the dwelling sits on dates prior to 1817 when Brinton Walter purchased two tracts of land with a messuage (Deed Book 03, page 186) Within the next five years, the property went through a succession of owners. In 1828 William Walter purchased nearly 100 acres of property containing two tracts. The larger tract possessed a dwelling while the smaller, two-and-a-half acre tract, did not (Deed Book B4, page 585). The next year Nathaniel Wilkinson purchased the property now with two messuages for $2,941.99 from William Walter (Deed Book B4. page 587). The next year Mr. Wilkinson sold the two-and-a-half acre tract with messuage to Thomas Elbert (Deed Book D4, page 198). For the next twenty years, the property went through a succession of owners once more. In 1853, Isaac Elbert sold the property for $450 dollars to Nathan Miller who sold it in

turn to Hamilton Graham in 1856 (Deed Books U5, page 100; P6, page 175). The dwelling for a third time went through a succession of owners until 1861 when George B. Pierson purchased it (Deed Book R6, page 469). Five years later, Mr. Pierson purchased the school lot (Deed Book C7, page 400). In 1868 William Foote, Jr. purchased the property (now with the school lot included) for $2,905 (Deed Book M7, page 201).

In 1897 he sold it to John George Foote for $2,000 (Deed Book V13, page 166). Mr. Foote owned it until 1923 when he sold it to George H. Duncan who only owned it for two years and then sold it to Agnes O'Neal (Deed Books G 16, page 302, V16, page 75). In 1981 the executrix of M. O'Neal sold the property for $53,000 to Julian L. Butler, Jr. (Deed Book D65, page 552). Mr. Butler did extensive restoration of the property including addition of the outbuildings and the barn. The formal garden was also designed during his ownership (Philadelphia Inquirer 9/27/1987). In 1991, the property was sold for $197,500 to the present owner (Deed Book 4085, page 1806).

Bibliography

Breou 1883 Breou 's Official Series of Farm Maps, Chester County, Pennsylvania.

"New Garden." Bridgen 1874 Atlas of Chester County Pennsylvania. "New Garden." Safe Harbor, PA:

A.R. Witmer.

Census Bureau 1800 Federal Population Census. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives.

1820 Federal Population Census. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Archives.

1880 Manufactures and Industrial Nonpopulation Schedule. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania State Library.

Chester County Archives Deeds

Chester County Historic Sites Survey Preliminary Research Report. n.d. Chester County Historic Sites Survey Preliminary Research Report.

Harrisburg: Bureau of Historic Preservation.

Chester County Recorder of Deeds Office Deeds

Daily Local News 2/15/1972 Newspaper Clippings File. West Chester, PA: Chester County Historical

Society Library.

Futhey, John Smith and Gilbert Cope 1881 History of Chester County, Pennsylvania. Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts

[Reproduced by Unigraphic, Inc. Evansville, Indiana 1974].

The Grafton Association 1992 London Grove Township Comprehensive Plan. Chadds Ford,

Pennsylvania.

Hagerty, Ann 1977 Once Upon a Time in New Garden Township. West Chester, PA: Chester

County Historical Society Library.

Heathcote, Charles William 1926 History of Chester County. West Chester, PA: Horace F. Temple, 1926.

Kennedy's Atlas 1856 "New Garden." Chester County Archives. West Chester, Pennsylvania.

1860 "New Garden." Chester County Archives. West Chester, Pennsylvania.

McAlester, Virginia and Lee 1993 A Field Guide To American Houses. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.

Philadelphia Inquirer 9/27/1987 Newspaper Clippings File. Chester County Historical Society Library.

West Chester, Pennsylvania.

Poppeliers, John C., S. Allen Chambers, Jr., and Nancy B. Schwartz 1983 What Style Is It?. A Guide to American Architecture. New York: John

Wiley and Sons.

Taylor, Frances Cloud 1976 The Trackless Trail. Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

United States Geological Survey 1954 Kennett Square, PA-DEL, 7.5' Quadrangle. Photorevised 1986. United

States Geological Survey, Reston, VA.

Works Progress Administration (WPA) 1935 Historic Markers Survey of Route 41. West Chester, PA: Chester County

Historical Society Library.

EVALUATION OF NATIONAL REGISTER ELIGIBILITY

The William Walter House was constructed circa 1 830 while the Chestnut Green School was constructed circa 1807 during the "Chester County During the Early Federal Years, 1785-1834" era. After the Revolution, Chester County began to see growth in its population. In 1790 the population of the county was 29,937 (Daily Local News 2/15/1972). By 1820, this population had increased to 35,388 (Census Bureau 1820a; CCHSS c. 1980:39). Agriculture continued to dominate the local economy. In response to the growing anti-slavery sentiment, the production of cotton was introduced into the county. Mills continued to grow in abundance throughout the APE. Other industries included lime quarrying, cotton yarn manufacturing, taverns, and shops. Local communities were developing into villages establishing post offices and schools. The Gap-Newport Road was improved and officially became a turnpike during the first decade of the nineteenth century. As an example of the type of housing and schoolhousing built during the early-nineteenth century, the William Walter House and Chestnut Green School contributed to t the architectual and the educational heritage of New Garden Township and the region.

Situated in its original location along a busy section of Route 41 in New Garden Township, the William Walter House and Chestnut Green School retain their historic setting. The dwelling and school do retain many of their original materials such as the original window configuration and wood trim that contribute to the integrity of design and workmanship and the property's historic feeling of an early-nineteenth century residence and school and its ability to communicate its historic significance (association).

The William Walter House and Chestnut Green School are a part of the agricultural, kaolin, and educational communities of New Garden Township (Criterion A). They are intact examples of a Federal house and an early nineteenth schoolhouse in Southern Chester County (Criterion Q. They are not the work of a master architect or builder, however (Criterion C). The property has no known individual association with a historic person or persons (Criterion B) significant in the development of the nation, state or region.

Until archaeological investigations are conducted, it remains unclear as to whether any historic remains exist (Criterion D). However, given the date of the construction of the original house and school, it is possible that historic archaeological resources may be present on the property.

The William Walter House and Chestnut Green School are intact, local examples of a Federal dwelling and an early-nineteenth century schoolhouse The house possesses a moderately-steeped gable roof, multi-paned windows, an elaborate door surround, and moldings. The schoolhouse possesses original openings and stonework. Although the dwelling does have a modern addition, it does not detract from the original section of the house. Both the house and the school are very good examples of Federal and early nineteenth century architecture.

The Federal period of architecture was a predominant style constructed throughout the county during the early years of the United States. It was introduced into the country by wealthy sea merchants in New England (McAlester 1993:158; Poppeliers et al:1983:3 1). In southern Chester county, agriculture had become the primary income source (Census Bureau 1820a). The

dwelling's size and evidence of details suggest that the original owner had become somewhat affluent in agriculture or another trade that contributed to the region's economy.

The school is representative of the form that was popular in the region at this time, and its history reflects the importance that education has played in Pennsylvania. During the first years of the Pennsylvania's settlement, William Penn had encouraged the formation of schools (Heathcote 1926:99). In April of 1809 an act in the Commonwealth was passed that would provide a free education to children between ages five and twelve whose parents could not otherwise afford it. The name 'Chestnut Green" was first associated with the school in 1822 when the district received a bill from Aaron P. Osmond for teaching at the school for poor children. The last teacher of the school was William Foote (Hagerty 1977:142-3).

This property is recommended as eligible for the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion A for its contribution the to the local events of New Garden Township and under Criterion C for its architectural design or construction as it embodies distinctive characteristics of type, period or method of construction.

The property originally possessed only two-and-a-half acres of land; however, through the years the parcel has grown to its present size of 3 acres, 125 perches. The recommended National Register boundary includes the entire current tax parcel (60-6-18) and is visually described by the bold line on the attached site map. Contributing resources include the dwelling and the school. Because the barn was move to the site from Delaware, it is a non-contributing resource.

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RECOMME DED NATIONAL REGISTER BOUNDARY

NOT TO SCALE

=b- _________ Site Map of the William Walter House and Chestnut Green School

KCICIES

Section of the 7.5' Kennett Square, PA-DEL Quadrangle

KCI (USGS 1954) Illustrating Location of the William Walter House and Chestnut Green School

TECHNOLOGIES

Photographs (continued)

1801-29 Carriage South

1801-30 School house North

1801-31 South and west elevations of school house Northeast

1801-32 North and east elevations of school house Southwest

1801-33 Storage shed immediately west of school house Northwest

1801-34 Gardens with north elevation of house in background South

1801-35 Privy West

1801-36 South and west elevations of barn from Odessa, DE Northeast

1801-37 North and east elevations of barn from Odessa, DE Southwest

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