St. Thomas the Apostle Church is a Catholic parish in Glen Mills, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its historic church, located at 430 Valleybrook Road, was built in 1856.
It was the first parish in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and the oldest in the state of Pennsylvania. [1]
St. Thomas the Apostle Church began as a Catholic mission in Delaware County, Pennsylvania in 1730 in Concord Township at the home of the Thomas Willcox family. [2] [3] In 1837, Saint Mary's Chapel was built as part of the new Willcox mansion. The mansion was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972 as part of the Ivy Mills Historic District.
A tract of land was purchased from Nicholas F. Walter for the construction of a church on August 26, 1852. [4] [5] The cost of the new church was carried chiefly by the proprietor of Ivy Mills, James M. Willcox. [6] Construction was completed in 1856 and the cornerstone was dedicated by Bishop St.John Neumann. In 1957, an elementary school and convent were built. In 1991, a larger church was built next to the original St. Thomas' Church. [1]
Chester Heights is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,531 at the 2010 census. Most of the borough lies south of U.S. 1, about a mile southwest of Wawa.
Concord Township is a township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 17,231 at the 2010 census. It contains the unincorporated communities of Concordville and Glen Mills.
Media is a borough in and the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located about 13 miles (21 km) west of Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in the nation with 1.6 million residents as 2020. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan statistical area.
Ridley Park is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The population was 7,002 at the 2010 census. Ridley Park is the home of The Boeing Company's CH-47 Chinook helicopter division.
Springfield Township, or simply Springfield, is a township in Delaware County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The population was 24,211 at the 2010 census. Springfield is a suburb of Philadelphia, located about 4 miles (6.4 km) west of the city.
Upland is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Upland is governed by an elected seven-member borough council. The population was 3,239 at the 2010 census, up from 2,974 at the 2000 census.
Radnor Township, often called simply Radnor, is a first class township with home rule status in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2019 United States census estimate, the township population is 31,875. Radnor Township is the largest municipality in Delaware County by land area and the fourth-largest by population, following Upper Darby Township, Haverford Township, and Chester.
Fox Chase is a neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Diocese of Wilmington is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in the eastern United States and comprises the entire state of Delaware and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. The Diocese of Wilmington is one of four Catholic dioceses in the United States to have territory in more than one federal entity; the Diocese of Gallup and the Diocese of Norwich each span two states while the Archdiocese of Washington spans Washington, D.C. and five counties of Maryland.
Holmesburg began as a Village within Lower Dublin Township, Pennsylvania. It is now a neighborhood in the Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Holmesburg was named in Honor of Surveyor General of Pennsylvania Thomas Holme, who was a cartographer.
Ridley Creek State Park is a 2,606-acre (1,055 ha) Pennsylvania state park in Edgmont, Middletown, and Upper Providence Townships, Delaware County, Pennsylvania in the United States. The park, about 5 miles (8 km) north of the county seat of Media, offers many recreational activities, such as hiking, biking, fishing, and picnicking. Ridley Creek passes through the park. Highlights include a 5-mile (8 km) paved multi-use trail, a formal garden designed by the Olmsted Brothers, and Colonial Pennsylvania Plantation, which recreates daily life on a pre-Revolutionary farm. The park is adjacent to the John J. Tyler Arboretum. Ridley Creek State Park is just over 16 miles (26 km) from downtown, Philadelphia between Pennsylvania Route 352 and Pennsylvania Route 252 on Gradyville Road.
Ridley Creek is a tributary of the Delaware River in Chester and Delaware counties, Pennsylvania in the United States.
Samuel Sloan was a Philadelphia-based architect and best-selling author of architecture books in the mid-19th century. He specialized in Italianate villas and country houses, churches, and institutional buildings. His most famous building—the octagonal mansion "Longwood" in Natchez, Mississippi—is unfinished; construction was abandoned during the American Civil War.
Theophilus Parsons Chandler Jr. was an American architect of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He spent his career at Philadelphia, and is best remembered for his churches and country houses. He founded the Department of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania (1890), and served as its first head.
St. Patrick Church is a Catholic church located at 212 Meredith Street in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. Named in honor of Saint Patrick, it is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. It was founded December 1869.
The Ivy Mills Historic District is a national historic district located in Concord Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. It encompasses the ruins of a paper mill, a clerk's house, and the Ivy Mills Mansion House. The mansion house is a 2 1/2-story, five bay wide, stuccoed masonry structure, which includes a saltbox wing and a wide verandah. The original paper mill was erected in 1729, and the original mansion house in 1744. Both of the original buildings were replaced in the early-19th century by the present buildings.
Richardson Brognard Okie Jr. (1875-1945) was an American architect. He is noted for his Colonial-Revival houses and his sensitive restorations of historic buildings.
Girard Avenue is a major commercial and residential street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For most of its length it runs east–west, but at Frankford Avenue it makes a 135-degree turn north. Parts of the road are signed as U.S. Route 13 and U.S. Route 30.
Thomas Willcox was a colonial-era paper mill owner in Concord Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The Ivy Mills supplied paper used for currency for the Continental and United States governments as well as many South American governments. Willcox was a friend of Benjamin Franklin, made printing paper for him and received the first orders for paper used in colonial American currency from him.
St. Martin's Church is an Episcopal church founded in 1699 in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located at 22 Church Street, only 500 feet from the Delaware River. It is one of the earliest and last riverfront churches in Pennsylvania. The cemetery at St. Martin's Church contains a memorial commemorating war veterans from the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican–American War, the American Civil War, and the Spanish–American War who are buried in the cemetery.
