Timeline of the Washington 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.
  • The Hench family is recorded to have purchased the property from another “Old Pikeland” family, the Milhouses.
• 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

• 1750– Joseph Pritchard submits and is granted a tavern license at the Yellow Springs. The original tavern was probably built out of logs, as were most buildings in this area at that time. By 1750, the inn is now made of stone and is increasing in notoriety as a healing spa as well as a tavern.
  • This stone structure would later be part of the Washington Building, known as the Brick Room.
• 1753– David Rittenhouse comes to Yellow Springs to seek treatment for his ulcers
• 1761– James Martin acquired the license to the tavern and the 160 acres of property surrounding it. The tavern that was on his property is now part of the Washington, and is known as the Brick Room.
• 1763– Facing financial difficulties, Martin offers to sell 150 acres and a two story stone dwelling. At this point, the tavern does not seem to be included in the plot of land that Martin is offering for sale. By May, though, the sheriff is selling it all to satisfy Martin’s debts.

• 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.

• July 26, 1764
  • An advertisement for the public sale of two large plantation tracts in Great Valley (about 19 miles from Philadelphia) includes sale of the tavern known as the Sign of the Boot, on the “main road from the Yellow Springs”- signifying that the tavern was well known by this point.

• 1765– The 1765 Minutes of Uwchland Meeting House describe the village at Yellow Springs as a “promiscuous Resort”. Quakers are advised to keep their children away from the area.
• 1767– George Maxton, who is operating the tavern at this time and leasing from Bayly, offers reward for a runaway Irish indentured servant named Thomas Haggerty

• 1767– Dr. John Morgan, renown doctor from Philadelphia, sends his patients to Yellow Springs to drink the water to improve their health. One of those patients is Mrs. Hannah Skelton.
• 1770– The Yellow Springs property is to be auctioned. Village attracts 200-500 daily in season, thanks to the popular mineral baths and tavern.

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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. The Kennedy family owns several other properties, and leases the tavern and management of the property to Samuel Culbertson.
• March of 1776– John Seaton announces he will teach how to make salt petre (gunpowder) at Yellow Springs on the 3rd and 4th of the month.

• 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)
• January 28th, 1779– Advertisement to Let Property by Sarah and Montgomery Kennedy
  • In the newspaper the Poulson’s American Daily Advertiser, Sarah Kennedy (Dr. Samuel Kennedy’s widow) and Montgomery Kennedy (Dr. Kennedy’s brother) advertise that they are seeking tenants for a number of houses on the Yellow Springs property. Included in this advertisement is the tavern. It also indicates that the Kennedy family may have been living there during the more harsh periods of the war, and this is where Dr. Kennedy may have died.

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Fashionable Health Spa

1782 – 1867

• 1783– Captain Alexander McCaraher (a family friend of the Kennedy family) reopens the tavern at Yellow Springs and repairs “the baths and bath houses.”
• March 31st 1784– Advertisement for Tenants in the Tavern
  • By 1784, the tavern at Yellow Springs seems to be known as “The Sign of the United States”. In this newspaper ad posted in the The Pennsylvania Journal, or, Weekly Advertiser, Sarah Kennedy (on behalf of her son, Thomas R. Kennedy, who owned Yellow Springs at the time) advertises that the tavern (as well as the Red House where she is staying) is seeking a tenant

• 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 (what the tavern was known as at this time) 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.
• 1816- Colonel James Bones, now the owner of the Yellow Springs property, sold the inn to Frederick Holman, who had owned the Tavern License for the Yellow Springs Tavern since 1793. Holman’s widow, Mrs. Margaret Holman, would run the inn very successful and turned it into a flourishing resort, though she and Bones had a longstanding “business feud”.
• 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 her management of the Yellow Springs Inn, notable figures such as P.T. Barnum, Chang and Eng Bunker, Jenny Lind, and Fanny Kemble would visit Yellow Springs to relax and enjoy the springs
• 1836– A second railroad planning meeting. Abraham Olwine, Esq. is appointed secretary of the group headed by Jos. Whitaker. Olwine takes on a partner Joseph Wood. Weekly stays for a family cost $5.00. Samuel and Frederick Holman acquire Mansion House Hotel at Market and Church Streets in West Chester. Margaret continues to operate Yellow Springs. Chang and Eng Bunker (the Siamese Twins) appear for as entertainment at the Holman hotels in W. Chester & Yellow Springs
• 1843– Frederick and his son, Samuel Holman offer their West Chester hotel for sale. Fanny Kemble is a guest at Yellow Springs and writes a poem about it.
• 1846– Dr. George Lingen acquired the Yellow Springs property and uses it as a homeopathic facility.

• 1849– Capt. Henry Neff  and Dr. Charles Hoffendahl operate the Springs. Emphasis returns to luxurious accommodations.
• 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

• 1876- During the period when Yellow Springs was part of the Pennnsylvania Soldier’s Orphan School, the original Yellow Springs Inn was used as a boy’s dormitory and the students’ dining room. In 1876, the Inn was destroyed by fire. When rebuilt the same year, it is combined with the original tavern’s structure, creating the modern appearance of the Washington Building. 
• 1880s– Eleanor Moore, niece of the abolitionist Kimberton Lewis Sisters, is the principal of the Orphan School at Yellow Springs. She is the first (and only) female principal of a school in the Orphan School system.

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Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts: Country School

1916 – 1951

1927-1933 The Washington Building functions as the men’s dormitory and dining room for the students at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts’ Country School

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Good News Productions

1952 – 1965

1959- The Washington Building is recorded in the Historic American Buildings Survey

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Early Years and Formation of the Yellow Springs Association

1965 – 1977

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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Yellow Springs Inn

1977 – 2005

1977– “The Yellow Springs Inn” restaurant opens in the Washington Building. This restaurant closes in 2005.

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Historic Yellow Springs

2005 – today

2012- Now part of Historic Yellow Springs, the Washington Building restored and reopened as a Wedding Venue

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Further research is ongoing!