History: Local: Village of Lima, Middletown Twp, Chester (now Delaware) Co, PA Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Leslie Potter. lbp@axs2000.net USGENWEB ARCHIVES NOTICE: Printing this file within by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information is included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ____________________________________________________ STATEMENT OF HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE The Village of Lima is located at the intersection of North Middletown (laid out in 1686), North Pennell (laid out in 1750) and Barren Roads (laid out c. 1836). By 1798 The Village of Lima consisted of six log dwelling houses, two barns and a blacksmith shop. Early in the 19th Century all of the log structures were replaced with stone buildings. The Village of Lima is historically significant because its 19th Century residents were active in the anti-slavery and Washingtonian temperance movements. The involvement of ordinary citizens in both of these socially responsible causes was instrumental in shaping the cultural and political history of the united States. Philadelphia was the center of the early anti-slavery movement. Initially the Quakers were the most outspoken opponents of slavery. However, with the evangelical revival in the late 18th Century the Methodists and Baptists became very active in the anti-slavery movement. By 1790 the various anti-slavery societies were meeting in a yearly convention for the purpose of adopting plans and policies to encourage the manumission of slaves and to help the newly freed slaves to be assimilated into free white society in the northern states. The Quakers and Methodists of Middletown Township, Delaware County practiced what they preached. Beginning in the late 18th Century, several manumitted slaves were settled on small lots in the Village of Lima as free black tradesmen by their former owners. Other free black tradesmen purchased land and settled along Pennell Road. The free black community grew and prospered amongst their tolerant and supportive Methodist and Quaker neighbors. In 1802 Aaron Rattew began selling and leasing additional small lots to free black tradesmen as did other neighboring land owners. By 1810 free black tradesmen were resident owners of five of the ten houses within in the proposed Village of Lima historical district. The free black community expanded as more parcels of ground were subdivided from the Rattew-Fox farm and conveyed to free black men. By 1852 the free black community in Lima was sufficiently large and secure that it established its own house of worship near Lima. The Honey Comb African Methodist Episcopal Church still holds regular services in the building erected on a lot subdivided from the Rattew-Fox farm. In 1832, the Methodists living in and around the Village of Lima founded the Lima Methodist Church, despite the objection of and harassment by some of the more unruly patrons of the Blackhorse and Pine-Apple Taverns. By 1848 the residents of Lima and members of the Methodist Church established a temperance hall on North Pennell Road as part of the Washingtonian Temperance movement. The Washingtonian Temperance movement was different from earlier temperance and prohibition movements in that it was organized by former drunkards who told their own stories about the effect that alcohol had had on their lives to the people whom they were trying to get to give up alcohol. The Washington Temperance Society was by far more successful than any of it predecessors or contemporaries. The Washington Temperance Society provided food, housing, job training, and education to the recovering alcoholic. It also provided a much needed alcohol-free alternative in a rural township which had two rather notorious local taverns. The Lima Temperance Hall was dedicated on December 25, 1848. It remained in operation until approximately 1872 when the building was converted into a residence. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION In 1798 the village of Lima consisted of six log dwelling houses, two barns and a blacksmith shop. Early in the 19th Century all of the log buildings were replaced with stone buildings and three new frame houses were built around the intersection as well as further south on Pennell Road. These buildings had no particular style. One of these buildings house the Lima Store and Post Office. Between 1844 and 1857 four two and a half story Greek revival houses were built as the village continued to fill in the undeveloped ground between the intersection of Middletown and Penn ell Roads and Negro Cyrus' house. Two of the Greek revival houses were frame buildings, one was stone and the last was brick. In the late 19th Century the Temperance Hall lot was subdivided into two parcels. A late Victorian frame house was built on one lot and later a 1925 vintage bungalow was built on the he second. Although both sides of the roads were developed at the intersection, the east side of Pennell Road remained largely undeveloped until he early 20th Century. This fact produces a rather oddly shaped historical district. The Lima Store and Joseph Starr's 1833 house and the frame home on the north side of Middletown Road have all been razed. However the remaining buildings have retained their architectural integrity. The Joseph W. Parsons house anchors the proposed historical district on the north and the Middletown Free Library anchors it on the south. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE JOSEPH W. PARSONS HOUSE. The Rattew-Fox family owned the land on the north side of the Edgemont Great Road, a/k/a North Middletown Road. The Rattew-Fox was instrumental in helping to establish a permanent free black community of a sixty-nine acre section of their land. The Rattew-Fox family began leasing residential lots to free black tradesmen in the early 19th Century and continued the practice until all of the leases were extinguished by outright sales to the tenants. These lots were located along a private road that was later named Van Leer Avenue. William L. Fox and his wife, Eleanor Rattew Fox, settled on the Rattew property after the death of Aaron Rattew. The Foxes were founding members of the Lima Methodist Church. Initially the Methodists met for worship in the home of William L. Fox, which was located at the northwest corner of Barren and Middletown Roads. The Fox house, which was frame, burned in the early part of the 20th Century. Joseph W. Parsons also was a founding member of the Lima Methodist Church, and the Lima Temperance Hall and a staunch anti-slavery activist. Joseph Parsons was the next door neighbor of William L. Fox and his stone house stands at the northeast corner of Barren and Middletown Roads. In 1834, the Rattew-Fox farm was subdivided to settle a decedent's estate. Sixty-nine acres along, what is now, Van Leer Avenue was sold to John P. Van Leer who subdivided out the already built and leased houses with their 2 to 4 acre lots and sold them to the free black occupants or to people who were supportive of the free black community. The portion of the farm west of Barren Road was retained by William L. Fox and his descendants. The rest of the property that had frontage along North Middletown Road had a few small lost subdivided out and the rest was divided into two larger parcels. The Lima Methodist Church was built on one of the small lots that was carved out of the Rattew-Fox farm. Joseph Parsons bough one of the larger parcels and built his Greek Revival stone house. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TRIVIA ABOUT LIMA Originally the village of Lima was called Wrangletown because of the attacks on the Methodists by the patrons of the local taverns. Minshall Painter is credited with changing the name of the Village to Lima when he filed the application to have a United States Post Office established at the store owned by Dr. Richard Gregg in July of 1831. At one point in it history, the village of Lima also had a lumber as well as a general store and a school. The first public school house in the village of Lima was a log building at the intersection of Rose Tree Roads and Middletown Road. The second and third school buildings were located on Middletown Road just west of Pennell Road. Pilot Air Freight now occupies the building. A trolley car used to run from Media to Glen Riddle via Middletown and Pennell Roads.