Hopewell, Chester County, Pennsylvania

Hopewell's founding is directly linked to the history of the Dickey family, who arrived in East Nottingham Township from Northern Ireland in the 1730s.^[2][5][7] The first Dickey, Samuel Dickey, Sr., acquired a property in the township and built an estate he called "Palmyra".^[2][5][7] His son, Samuel, Jr., inherited the estate and expanded it to include a carpenter shop and a brick oven.^[5] Samuel Dickey, Jr., raised four sons: John; Samuel, III; Ebenezer (father of John Miller Dickey);^[2] and David.^[2][5] After his death Palmyra was split between Samuel, III, and David.^[5] Samuel, III, continued the property's development and built a small cotton mill in 1809.^[5] By 1812, Samuel, III, had built another cotton mill northeast of Palmyra on Tweed Creek, the future site of Hopewell.^[2][5] David had also built mills in this area for manufacturing flour and wood products.^[2][5][3] The two brothers later combined their commercial efforts and formed the Hopewell Cotton Works.^[5] Around 1816, Ebenezer joined his brothers' enterprise, and the group began doing business as S. E. & D. Dickey.^[2][5]

The Hopewell Cotton Works originally produced cotton yarn, but at its height also produced around one hundred different varieties of fabric.^[5] The mill began to recruit skilled labor, such as carpentry and masonry, which drew talent and settlers to the region.^[2][3] As their business thrived, the brothers built new estates around the mills and began building homes for their workers to rent.^[2][5] Hopewell received a general store at this time as well.^[5] Hopewell’s public school opened in 1826, and, in 1830, the Hopewell Post Office opened within the general store.^[5] When David and Ebenezer died in 1831, Samuel assumed full control of the Hopewell Works.^[5]

Village resident Thompson Hudson opened Hopewell Academy in 1834, a private school he operated on his property.^[5]

Samuel Dickey, III, died in 1835 and left most of his businesses to his sons Samuel J., Ebenezer J., and David J.^[2][5] At the time of Samuel’s death, the Hopewell Works consisted of two cotton mills, a sawmill, a gristmill, the general store, a wheelwright shop, a blacksmith shop, and a machine shop.^[2][5]

The new generation of Dickeys, known commercially as S. J. Dickey and Brothers, began buying up large swaths of farmland in the region.^[2][5][3] The brothers were accomplished farmers, and Ebenezer J. even patented a seed drill he had invented to ease the planting of crops.^[2][7] He also patented a “butter worker” that he claimed could produce one hundred pounds of butter in fifteen minutes.^[2][5][7]

The first Hopewell Academy shuttered in 1841, but a former teacher, Jesse C. Dickey opened his own educational institution shortly thereafter.^[2][5] His school, also called Hopewell Academy, offered lessons in mathematics, Latin, Greek, botany, chemistry, and many other subjects.^[2] The academy offered an education equivalent to two years of college and drew students from all over southern Chester County.^[2][5][3]

Hopewell continued to prosper; and, in 1848, residents of the village petitioned the county government to shift the border of Lower Oxford Township south to include all of Hopewell in one municipality.^[5] When their effort failed, they petitioned for Hopewell to receive borough status.^[5][3] This succeeded, and two square miles were erected from Lower Oxford and East Nottingham Townships on 2 May 1853 to form the Borough of Hopewell.^[2][5]

By 1860, the Hopewell Mill had become the fourth most profitable mill in Chester County; however, 1860 was also the year that marked the beginning of Hopewell’s decline.^[2][3] In the 1850s, Oxford and Hopewell had been similar in size, but this changed when the Philadelphia and Baltimore Central Railroad was laid in the region.^[3] The railroad bypassed Hopewell and instead went through the center of Oxford.^[3] The population of Oxford ballooned, and Hopewell’s began to decline.^[3] Many people left the town for Oxford, where they saw more personal opportunities.^[2] The second Hopewell Academy closed its doors in 1861, leaving the town with only its small public schoolhouse.^[5] The beginning of the Civil War also damaged the borough’s prospects.^[2] S. J. Dickey and Brothers suddenly went in early 1862 due wartime cotton shortages and years of mismanagement.^[2][5][7][3] Its assets were sold off, and despite some of the works reopening, agriculture became the main driver of the Hopewell economy.^[2][7]

In the late 1860s and early 1870s, there was some short-lived hope of a revival.^[5] The Hopewell Cotton Works briefly rebounded around 1869, and the borough finally received a railroad connection in 1872 with the completion of the Peach Bottom Railway.^[2][5] Another positive development occurred in 1875 when the Hopewell Lyceum was founded.^[2] The social club drew large crowds but did not disrupt the general trend of decline that the borough was facing.^[2]

By 1870, almost all of the Dickey family had left Hopewell, with many resettling in Oxford.^[5] The Chester County Milk Company, located in Hopewell, shuttered by 1879, and the grist mill burned down at this time as well.^[2] The Hopewellian identity began to die, as residents increasingly considered themselves members of the greater Oxford and Nottingham communities as opposed to a distinct Hopewell one.^[2] By 1897, thirty-five of the forty-five people in Hopewell who were eligible to vote held some borough office.^[5][3] Even women held some positions in the local government, which was unheard of at the time.^[3] The dying borough had become little more than a small cluster of buildings.^[5][3]

Some residents of Hopewell, led by the president of Hopewell’s Board of Health, Elwood Webster, began petitioning the Chester County government to revoke the borough's charter in the mid-1890s.^[2][3] They were unhappy with the high borough taxes and the poor state of the village's roads.^[3][8] The borough officers’ salaries were expensive, and the cost of hosting local elections once a year was high as well.^[3] Those in favor of maintaining the borough were led by Squire Thompson Hudson.^[3] The first effort at annulment ultimately failed.^[2]

The second attempt, begun in 1913, was led by Burgess David F. Cope, while Hudson again commanded the opposition.^[1] Two thirds of taxable residents had to agree to annulment for the petition to go to the county, and the signatures were successfully collected.^[1] After Cope’s death in mid-1913, borough resident W. D. Harra assumed the task of presenting the formal petition for annulment.^[1] He brought his work before the county court in West Chester on August 25, 1913.^[9] Despite Thompson Hudson’s best efforts to change the court’s mind, West Chester granted annulment on December 23.^[2][8] Squire Thompson Hudson continued to appeal the decision into August of 1914, but it was to no avail.^[10]

The Borough of Hopewell was dissolved in early 1914, and its territory was returned to East Nottingham and Lower Oxford Townships.^[2][5]

In 1991, the Hopewell Historic District was created to preserve the remaining buildings of the former borough.^[2][5]

Many of the buildings in the former borough, such as the Academy and Hopewell Post Office, are now contributing properties of the Hopewell Historic District.^[2] It is now also home to Hanover Farms, Hopewell UMC and Boy Scouts of America Troop 8.^[4][6]