Meetings held on:
2nd Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m.

Members: 
Sarah Mims, Chair                          Pat Burnett                              Jean Conary                                  
Peggy Conaway                             Mary Beth Drobish                  Doug Fearn                                   
Kris Firey-Poling                            Alta Hoffman                           Barbara Holmes
Randy Mims                                   Dan O’Neill                            Sue Woodward                      
 

2012 Meeting Notes:

Please click here to read the first issue of the Pocopson Township Historical Committee newsletter.

Locust Grove Lyceum
The Locust Grove Lyceum was a group of citizens that met from 1850-1854 looking to increase their education and knowledge through writing, debate and discussion.  The group met in various places including the Locust Grove Schoolhouse. The Historical Committee recently discovered many of the Lyceum’s original writings and notes from their meetings which give us an interesting look into mid-19^th century life in our community.  The following is a summary of those papers:

• Lyceum Narrative History
• Lyceum title page
• Lyceum pages 1-48
• Lyceum page 49
• Lyceum pages 50-53
• Lyceum pages 54-58
• Lyceum pages 59-60
• Lyceum pages 61
• Lyceum pages 62-end
• Lyceum Index
• Lyceum Dramatis Personae

The East Marlborough Township Historical Commission web site includes links to numerous web sites with historical information.
         

Previous Years' Meeting Minutes:

• March 11, 2009
• February 11, 2009
• January 15, 2009
• November 12, 2008
• October 8, 2008
• May 14, 2008
• April 9, 2008
• March 12, 2008 meeting was cancelled
• February 13, 2008
• January 9, 2008

Historical Committee News:

The Pocopson Township Historical Committee (PTHC) is renovating the Locust Grove Schoolhouse for the benefit of residents of the Township and surrounding Townships.  Rehabilitation of this historic structure, and its preservation, will provide myriad benefits to these communities:

• Assist school children in the Unionville-Chadds Ford and neighboring school districts in understanding the importance of the history of one room school houses
• Reinforce village atmosphere of Locust Grove
• Promote preservation of historical sites within the Township
• Expand current open space at Pocopson Park
• Provide a Location for Civic and Governmental Meetings
• Regentrification of a currently uninhabitable building
• Provide a link to the past

Locust Grove Schoolhouse has been a fixture in our community since 1865, providing education to the children of the Township for over fifty years. It symbolizes the importance of public education in the development of Chester County.

Concerned that future owners might alter or destroy or degrade the historic integrity of the structure, the Township purchased the Schoolhouse, on behalf of the Historical Committee, in the summer of 2004.  The modest cost of the Locust Grove Schoolhouse, and the willingness of its former owner to participate in this project, created a unique opportunity for local government involvement in historic preservation.

The Schoolhouse is currently in poor condition and our intent is to restore it as soon as necessary funds are received. The goal of the current project is for PTHC to restore the Locust Grove Schoolhouse, on behalf of Pocopson Township, through private, state, and Federal funding by 2009.

In conjunction with the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, PTHC has developed a school curriculum to help teachers show children what it was like to learn in a one room school house in Chester County.  We have used the Pennsylvania Department of Education Academic Standards for History for Grade 3 and the recently revised Unionville-Chadds Ford Social Studies Curriculum Grades K-12 as our guides.   The goal is to have the Locust Grove Schoolhouse restored to be available for field trips to assist with this curriculum.  The time period that will be depict in our curriculum and in our restoration is the 1890’s.

The Schoolhouse will also serve as a permanent exhibit of Township historic artifacts and host community programs such as school tours and day-in-the life exhibits.  Also, the Schoolhouse could serve as much needed meeting space for Township committee meetings and community organizations. A grant awarded in the Summer of 2009 from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services will allow us to expand our collection of historical items and ensure that they can be displayed and stored properly.

We have discovered a lot of information, including photographs, that we intend to share with the Community about our Schoolhouse.  We have original teacher contracts, teacher and enrollment lists, and minutes from school board meetings.  We also have copies of invoices from the construction of the building.  One of our most famous citizens, Christian Sanderson, was a teacher at the school.

In 2008, we replaced the windows, using private funding from the Fair Play Foundation and generous donations from several Township residents. In 2009, a new handcrafted wooden door with historically accurate hardware was installed. We continue to budget for architectural plans for the remaining renovations, which will cost approximately $200,000.

For more information or to make a contribution, please contact the Township Office.

To read excerpts from historic diaries of Pocopson residents click below:

Jennie Sellers

Edward Marshall