Timeline of the Lincoln Building at Yellow Springs

Colonization of Yellow Springs

1600 – 1722

1630s – 1680s

• 1630s– Swedes and Finns begin to dwell as traders along the Delaware River to trade with the Indigenous peoples, including what would become Pennsylvania
• 1681– William Penn is granted the land we know today as Pennsylvania
• 1690– One of the oldest recorded permanent settlements in the area, now located at 1461 Art School Road, appears in records as early as 1690. Today, the site is home to the Fagley homestead, built in 1860 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Although outside modern-day Yellow Springs, the property reflects the broader settlement of the Pikeland area and once contained a major iron deposit owned by Phoenix Iron Co.

Early 1700s

• 1700s– European settlers (especially German immigrants) began living on this land more permanently. The Hench property, for example, at 1446 Clover Mill Hill just outside modern-day Yellow Springs, is said to date to 1715 and was purchased by the Hench family, German immigrants who were part of a migration from Lehigh, Berks, and Montgomery Counties that began in 1709.
• 1705– William Penn granted a tract of over 30,000 acres to Matthias Vincent, who then leases over 10,000 acres, known as “Pikeland,” to Joseph Pike
• 1721– The “Iron Springs” are first noted on a map of the Township of Pikeland by Isaac Taylor.
  • Another house in the neighboring community of Yellow Springs, the Dietrich House (at modern-day 1337 Art School Road, previously known as Arkadia) has an original construction dating back to 1721.
• 1722– the American Weekly Mercury out of Philadelphia reports on a letter from New York about a mineral spring in the Great Valley about 30 miles away from Philadelphia. This mineral spring would later become known as “Yellow Springs”

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Colonial Era Tavern and Spa

1722 – 1770

• 1737- The “Walking Purchase” dispossessed the Lenape of vast territories in Pennsylvania and forces them out of their ancestral homeland

• 1764– Philadelphia silversmith John Bayly acquires the village and leases the property. He improves and enlarges the tavern (which is currently known as the Brick Room in the Washington Building). Stagecoach service established to the Springs.

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The American Revolutionary War

1770 – 1781

• 1771– In April of 1771, the entire property of John Bayly is to be sold by the sheriff to pay off Bayly’s debts.
• February 27th, 1772– Dr. Samuel Kennedy and John Bayly advertised for a tenant at a house at Yellow Springs. This notice predates our earliest records of Kennedy’s purchase of the property and may suggest that the Kennedy family acquired Yellow Springs before 1774. Notably, Bayly was still connected to Yellow Springs at this time.

• 1774– Dr. Samuel Kennedy of East Whiteland purchases the Yellow Springs plantation after the property was sold in foreclosure. Though the Lincoln building has not been built yet, the land that it was on would be part of aa hospital complex at Yellow Springs that served the sick and injured soldiers from Valley Forge
• September 11th, 1777– Battle of Brandywine
  • In the aftermath of the Battle of Brandywine, soldiers fleeing the battlefield are treated and housed by several of the immigrant farmers whose properties neighbored Yellow Springs. In 1776, Hessian soldiers noted the presence of several “rebel hospitals” operating in the town (out of barns) at this time.
• September 16th, 1777– Battle of the Clouds
  • Battle of the Clouds in Frazer is aborted by a nor’easter and the American army marches from Frazer to Yellow Springs to camp in the blinding rainstorm. George Washington stays in the Tavern while 11,000 troops camp overnight on the Yellow Springs property and leave the next day for Warwick and Redding Furnaces (Elverson)
• 1779– The Yellow Springs property has been well-known as a popular spa destination since before the Revolutionary War. During the war, the property belonged to the Kennedy family, and it was used as a hospital complex. After the death of Dr. Samuel Kennedy, Sarah Kennedy (Samuel’s widow and the executrix of his will before their son reached the age of majority) offers the village for lease. Samuel Culbertson, who had leased the tavern from Dr. Kennedy and operated it during the war, advertises that the widow Kennedy does not own the property, but he does.

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Fashionable Health Spa

1782 – 1867

• 1789– All of Pikeland Township (East & West) to be sold at auction to satisfy the debts of Andrew Allen owed to Samuel Hoare. 115 terre tenants (persons holding titles to the property but who were not the original debtor who incurred the lien) held land at that time. A man named John Harper operates the inn.
• 1793– the Tavern License for the Yellow Springs Inn (later known as the Washington Building) was granted to Frederick Holman. The tavern is run by Frederick and his wife, Margaret.
• 1806– Col. James Bones acquires a property contiguous to the Holmans, who were leasing the hotel that contained the original Yellow Springs tavern at this time, starting a competition that will continue for three decades.
• 1810– Yellow Springs profiled in The Portfolio, a national magazine. Bones offers to sell his property at auction but it never goes through. In 1816, Bones sells the inn to Frederick Holman after less than half the lots were sold.

• 1823– Bones, the owner of the rest of the Yellow Springs property, starts building the “Cottage”, a hotel which is today known as the Lincoln Building. Bones was eventually bought out by Margaret Holman, who announced a new 3 story cottage with 20 rooms. This renovated version of the Cottage would be the later known as the Lincoln Building. 
• 1826– Advertisements indicated Yellow Springs can now be reached by packet boat. Meanwhile, steamboats are beginning to offer vacations at the seashore (Cape May). 
• 1828– Mrs. Holman indicates that she has erected a 3 story house and connected it to the adjacent hotel with a piazza. The road via Kimberton is now graded and three stages a week come from Philadelphia.
  • During the era in which Mrs. Holman ran the Yellow Springs resort, it played host to notable people of the era, including Jenny Lind, Fanny Kemble, 
• 1828– Col. Bones sponsors a rally in support of Andrew Jackson and local candidate James Buchanan. No less than famed physician Dr. Philip Syng Physick proclaims the waters of Yellow Springs to be the healthiest. 
• 1829– Village of Bath advertised again by Bones, but now as 30 rather than 100 lots. A newspaper, known as the Literary Casket is published at the Springs. It later moved to West Chester.
• 1830– Anthony Olwine acquires Bones interest in Yellow Springs, buying him out– including what is now the Lincoln Building. 
• 1832– Horse drawn rail service was now available from Philadelphia to Malvern. A.W. Olwine advertises rumors of cholera at Yellow Springs are unfounded. At the time New York was reporting more than 100 cholera cases daily with a 30% death rate
• 1846– Dr. George Lingen acquired the springs as a homeopathic facility.

• 1849– Capt. Henry Neff  and Dr. Charles Hoffendahl operate the Springs. Emphasis returns to luxurious accommodations.
• 1850– Margaret Holman dies in Chester Springs
• 1851– Newspapers announce Mrs. Neef will be operating the village this year. David Zook offers to lease a 2 story dwelling with millinery and an Ice Cream shop attached.
• 1856– Foreclosure sale of Dr. Lingen’s interests in Yellow Springs. August Snyder acquires the Springs.
• 1867– Final season as a resort. After changing hands a number of times, Yellow Springs would eventually be purchased for use as a school for Orphans of the American Civil War.

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Pennsylvania Soldiers’ Orphan School

1868 – 1912

• 1880s– Elenor Moore, niece of the abolitionist Kimberton Lewis Sisters, is the principal of the Orphan School. She is the first (and only) female principal of a school in the Orphan School system. 
• 1899- During the Orphan School period, the Lincoln Building was being used as a girl’s dormitory. It burned down due to an accidental fire and was rebuilt by 1900 with the addition of a hipped roof.

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Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts: Country School

1916 – 1951

• 1927-1933 The highly successful art school is opened year round. The Lincoln building functions as the women’s dormitory.

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Good News Productions

1952 – 1965

• Good News Productions, an evangelical film-making studio operated by Shorty Yeaworth, purchases the Yellow Springs Village
• 1965– Yellow Springs Association, a board based community membership organization, is founded to sponsor artistic and cultural programs, and foster interest in the village and its history

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Early Years and Formation of the Yellow Springs Foundation

1965 – 1978

• The Yellow Springs Association morphs into the Yellow Springs Foundation. These organizations would later become Historic Yellow Springs

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Historic Yellow Springs

1978 – today

• 1984– Lincoln Building is restored. It is now used as the offices for Historic Yellow Springs
• 2016- The Chester Springs Library moved from the Lincoln Building, where it had previously been housed, to the Yeaworth House, formerly the Orphan School infirmary and now known as the Library Building.

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Further research is ongoing!