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Northampton Township
Historical Commission 55 Township Road Richboro, PA 18954 
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Northampton
Historical Commission
(215) 357-6800 |
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From Farmland to Suburbia NORTHAMPTON Some local residents talk about the rural Northampton of old and the sprawling suburb of today. By James E. Stanton Northampton has changed a hundredfold in the past century. The population has soared from 1,500 in 1900 to 39,000 as the century comes to a close. Homes are continuing to spring up like daisies as buyers seek the amenities of suburban life, close to their jobs and the city - but not to close. The once-well-defined neighborhoods of Holland, Churchville and Richboro are closing in on one another as developments continue to sprawl over the landscape. Motorists languish in traffic jams in once-bucolic Northampton and its environs just as they do in the city. Yet despite the enormous changes, there remain slender threads that tie present-day Northampton to its rural roots. These threads are represented primarily by the descendants of the old families that lived in the township as the 20th century began and the historic homes and other structures that remain today. One woman's memories In her Churchville living room, Betty Luff is showing a visitor home movies and pictures of what life was like here in the early part of the century. Luff, whose maiden name is Cornell, came from a big farming family. So naturally, many of her photos and movies show farm life, a silent black-and-white tribute to the Northampton of old. There are men bailing hay, milking cows, hauling bags of grain and delivering milk to customer's doorstep. Luff showed a visitor a photo of her father with his horse and buggy, circa 1908. When he was a young man, her dad worked on the farm from dawn to dusk, then spent the evening socializing, she recalled him telling her. He told tales of growing so weary that he fell asleep at the reins of his buggy as he "came home after courtin'." Luckily, "the horse new its way home and would just continue going, so my father wouldn't have to worry," Luff said. Luff's collection also contains silent home movies of the Memorial Day parades of the 20's and 30's, with the marchers striding up Second Street Pike then West on Almshouse Road to Union Cemetery. A May Queen celebration in front of the old Richboro Elementary School, with Second Street Pike in the background, was also captured on film. At times, the film runs for minutes before a car is seen on the now-busy pike. The late Harry Gill, a local businessman, did much of the filming, Luff said. "There is my sister," she said, pointing to a young girl. "And there is Harry himself, in his three-piece suit." Luff said she occasionally shows her films to schoolchildren during local history lessons. "(The kids) can't figure out why there is no sound," Luff said with a smile. Amid all the development, some buildings from Luff's childhood are still standing, although their purposes have changed. "The house I grew up in (on Second Street Pike in Richboro) is now a barber shop," she said. "The Churchville General Store is now a deli." Richboro Elementary School, another building near to her heart, may change too. A developer wants to raze it and build anew on the property. Luff, as a member of the township's Historical Commission, is helping to wage a campaign to save the school's original stone portion, which dates to 1913. Population boom prompts recreation boom The boom is summer recreation programs is another major change in Northampton. Local recreation programs grew with the population and its increasing demand for leisure activities. Don Feaster remembers being so bored in the summer that he could hardly wait for school to open. "There was not too much to do in the summer in those days (the '30's)," said Feaster, who lives in Churchville. "When school was over, that was about it." The only organized sports were the school system's soccer and baseball teams for boys and softball and field hockey teams for girls, he said. And those sports ended when school closed for the year. Feaster said he busied himself mowing lawns (charging "maybe $1.50 to $2.50 per lawn") and swimming in Ironworks Creek. He has an 1896 photograph of the old Tinsmith Shop, which he believes is the only photo of that building from that period. The Second Street Pike in Richboro, once housed a craftsman who made tin roofs and tin pans. It is now a home. "That's my grandfather and his two sons, both my uncles, standing in front of it," Feaster said, pointing to a man and two young boys in the photo he held. "As a boy, I played in the shop," said Feaster, who was born in 1922. "My grandfather (Silas B. Davis) was a friendly guy. Everybody knew him." A one-cop town Retired businessman J. Stanley Davis, Feaster's cousin, said he remembers when Northampton had a volunteer police chief and just a handful of part-time officers. And it wasn't all that long ago. "His name was Jack Frey, and he was the constable as well as the police chief," said Davis, who ran the Davis Pontiac dealership for a number of years. Frey made his living by running a machine shop. He donated his time to police the community, serving from 1922 until he retired in 1964. During most of that time, he had a force of just five part-time officers. The township's police force numbers 32 today. Frey, who has since died, even provided his own car, Davis said. "Northampton was the only township with a police chief driving a Lincoln Continental," said Davis, who is retired and living in Florida. Frey retired in 1964. Living in Richboro 50 years ago was much simpler than today, Davis observed. Neighbors looked out for one another, for one thing. "You could leave your home unlocked or your keys in your car with the feeling that nothing would be disturbed," said Davis, who graduated from Richboro High School in 1944. Davis said he's saddened by the fact that Richboro has had many historic homes taken over for professional offices or razed to make way for shopping areas. "Nobody seems to be living in Richboro anymore," he said. "There are not many of us left who grew up in town." Milestones in Northampton's history Pre-1681:
The Lenni Lenapes, a branch of
the Delaware tribe, sold 1681:
Holme's map of Pennsylvania is
the earliest showing land 1710:
English, Dutch and French Huguenots
settle in Northampton. 1732:
Court approval is given to establish
the township of 1737: The first school in Northampton is opened. 1776:
Gilliam Cornell is appointed
to distribute allowances to 1815: The first covered bridge is built at Spring Garden Mill. 1832: Northampton celebrates its 100th anniversary. 1914: Richboro Fire Co. No. 1 is chartered with 60 members. 1932: Northampton celebrates its 200th anniversary. 1932:
Road paving proceeds at a snail's
pace, with 18 of 49 miles of 1991: Schofield Ford covered bridge is destroyed by an arson fire. 1997:
The bridge reopens after a massive
volunteer effort to raise About Northampton 1900 Population: 1,522 1998 Population: 38,972 2020 Population Projection: 53,520 Median Home Price: $175,500 Size: 26.27 Square Miles Pioneer
European Families: The
Addis, Bennett, Cornell, Corson Historic
Landmarks: The Bennett House
at the intersection of Origin
of Name: Believed
to stem from the ancient city and county
Group
wants to preserve The
Pleasant Plains Public School People
Are Flocking to Northampton Cornerstone
Reveals Old Memories History
Set In Stone Landmark
Restaurant to Make a Move A
Tale of Two Buildings A
Lightning Move for the Spread Eagle Spread
Eagle's Move Went Well 'Citizen
of the Month' Knows Her Town's History
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