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B−History
History · Eddystone

Eddystone was first counted by the census in 1880, and 32% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 50% of U.S. towns. What drives it

Below: 16 old photos and papers, maps from 1894 on, and the census since 1880.

1880first census
0on the National Register
32%homes built before 1940
16old photos & papers
2famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Eddystone’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Eddystone began, and where its name came from

When was Eddystone founded?

1880

Eddystone first appears in the census in 1880.

First census: 582 in 18802020 census: 2,459146 years

How did Eddystone get its name?

Eddystone took its name from William Simpson, who was so impressed by the Eddystone Lighthouse on a visit to England that he named the town and print works he had founded after it.

How historic is Eddystone?

B−

More historic than 50% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓
Founding year: the first census. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓
History grade

What drives Eddystone’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Eddystone is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.

B−
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Eddystone’s overall grade.
Founding era1880, from the first census: founded 1850–1899, an older era than 37% of U.S. townsC+Homes built before 194032.1% of homes (±12.2) · typical PA town 17.7% · U.S. 8.4%ANational RegisterNo listings counted · typical PA town 2.1 per 10,000 · U.S. 2.4C−
All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 50%
NewerOlder

Pennsylvania towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Pennsylvania town has 2.1 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Eddystone’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (25% of Pennsylvania towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from C− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±12.2 points).

Founding year: the first census (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Eddystone’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

On the map since 18946 editions of the USGS map, 1894 to 1994. Watch Eddystone change.A town in old photos16 old photos, postcards and papers, 1914–1999.Old housesHalf of Eddystone’s homes were built before 1948.
★ What stands out · On the map

Eddystone on the map, 1894 to 1994

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Eddystone. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Eddystone on the 1894 USGS mapEddystone on the 1940 USGS mapEddystone on the 1953 USGS mapEddystone on the 1967 USGS mapEddystone on the 1986 USGS mapEddystone on the 1994 USGS map1894Chester sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Eddystone.

By decade

Eddystone, decade by decade

3 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1990s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s5 items
Edystone (sic) munitions plant, milling primers1914Edystone (sic) munitions plant, milling primersProfiling extractors - Eddystone Rifle Plant1914Profiling extractors - Eddystone Rifle PlantWoman broaching key seat in front sight carrier for rifle1914Woman broaching key seat in front sight carrier for r…Edystone [sic] munitions plant, milling primers1914Edystone [sic] munitions plant, milling primersOrdnance - Test - Eddystone Proving Grounds - Pennsylvania [165-WW-393D-9]1917Ordnance - Test - Eddystone Proving Grounds - Pennsyl…
1940s2 items
EFCB 2-10-4 1940 BLW1940EFCB 2-10-4 1940 BLWProduction. Locomotives. Crouched in a turbine intake casing, a welder does his bit in the production of essential war …1942Production. Locomotives. Crouched in a turbine intake…
1950s–1980snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
1990s9 items
Bishop Williamson Confirmation 19911991Bishop Williamson Confirmation 1991Detail view, looking NNW, showing underside of counterweight and main trunnion bearing for bascule leaf of Philadelphia…1999Detail view, looking NNW, showing underside of counte…Elevation view, looking SSW, showing bascule leaf, counterweight, and operator's house for Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge…1999Elevation view, looking SSW, showing bascule leaf, co…Perspective view showing counterweights of both bridges and operator's house for Pennsylvania Railroad Bridge, looking …1999Perspective view showing counterweights of both bridg…Perspective view, looking NNW at Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Bridge. - Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Rai…1999Perspective view, looking NNW at Philadelphia and Rea…View looking SSE by 160 degrees, toward Delaware River. Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Bridge in foreground, Pennsyl…1999View looking SSE by 160 degrees, toward Delaware Rive…View looking SSE by 160 degrees, toward Delaware River. Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Bridge in foreground, Pennsyl…1999View looking SSE by 160 degrees, toward Delaware Rive…View looking due east along Pennsylvania railroad, showing underside of bascule leaf. Note that reduction gears and pin…1999View looking due east along Pennsylvania railroad, sh…View looking due east along Pennsylvania railroad, with bascule spans raised. - Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington …1999View looking due east along Pennsylvania railroad, wi…
Today8 recent
Untitled photo2015Untitled photoEddystone PA factory2015Eddystone PA factoryEddystone PA United Methodist2015Eddystone PA United MethodistEddystone, Bandages for wounded2011Eddystone, Bandages for woundedPipeline Bridge over Crum Creek, Eddystone, Delaware County, Pennsylvania 20100625-jag98892010Pipeline Bridge over Crum Creek, Eddystone, Delaware …Confirmation, June 21, 20102010Confirmation, June 21, 2010Eddystone, Delaware County, Pennsylvania2007Eddystone, Delaware County, PennsylvaniaAcela 20092007Acela 2009
The story

How Eddystone came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Eddystone.

Read it all →

The area at the mouth of Ridley Creek was first called "Tequirassy" by Native Americans. The land was owned by Olof Persson Stille, one of the early settlers from New Sweden, who had immigrated in 1641. Olof Stille, a millwright by trade, came from Penningby Manor in Länna, north of Stockholm, Sweden. After the conquest of the colony by the Dutch in 1658, Stille was one of the four commissaries or magistrates appointed to administer justice among the inhabitants, and thus became a judge of the first court on the banks of the Delaware.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Eddystone, 1884–1914

Passages that mention Eddystone, cut from the printed page as they were published.

next ten years was connected with St. Ann's in Port Richmond, Philadelphia, with the exception of one year spent as chaplain of Fifth Regiment United States Cavalry during the Spanish war. On November 20, 1903, he was appointed pastor in charge of the Parish of St. Rosa Lima at Eddystone, Delaware …
A history of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and its people1914 · page 994Read the page →
Read the text

next ten years was connected with St. Ann's in Port Richmond, Philadelphia, with the exception of one year spent as chaplain of Fifth Regiment United States Cavalry during the Spanish war. On November 20, 1903, he was appointed pastor in charge of the Parish of St. Rosa Lima at Eddystone, Delaware county, where his labors have been greatly blessed and he still remains. During the nine years he has been in charge of the parish he has been instrumental in having a church erected in Ridley Park costing twenty-five thousand dollars, now fully paid and now a separate parish. The church at Nor-

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The parish before its division about ten years ago contained an area of fortytwo square miles and about three hundred souls that depended on the Catholic church for their spiritual food. Now the parish of Eddystone alone contains three times that number, the new church providing for the accommodati…
A history of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and its people1914 · page 995Read the page →
Read the text

The parish before its division about ten years ago contained an area of fortytwo square miles and about three hundred souls that depended on the Catholic church for their spiritual food. Now the parish of Eddystone alone contains three times that number, the new church providing for the accommodation of nine hundred. A faithful minister of God must often await the final judgment for the fruits of his labor, but to Father Ryan has it been given to see much good resulting from his labors. Scholarly, cultured and in social intercourse, the genial, courteous gentleman, he is the forceful, eloquent, earnest orator in

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
ott'its abutments and broken. Farther down the creek, at the Queen's Highway, the eastern abutment was washed out and the bridge whirled down the current, while the railroad bridge at the present Eddystone Station was greatly damaged and the tressel-work on the eastern side swept away.
History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania1884 · page 103Read the page →
Read the text

ott'its abutments and broken. Farther down the creek, at the Queen's Highway, the eastern abutment was washed out and the bridge whirled down the current, while the railroad bridge at the present Eddystone Station was greatly damaged and the tressel-work on the eastern side swept away.

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Eddystone, 1889 to 1991

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1889Post officeThe Eddystone post office opens
  3. 1894On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  4. 20th century
  5. 1901Born hereSamuel Kerns McConnell, Jr. is born here
  6. 1914In the archiveEdystone (sic) munitions plant, milling primers
  7. 1916Post officeThe Eddystone post office closes
  8. 1917Born hereJohn McGillen is born here
  9. 1940In the archiveEFCB 2-10-4 1940 BLW
  10. 1991In the archiveBishop Williamson Confirmation 1991
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Edystone (sic) munitions plant, milling primers
Retake this viewEdystone (sic) munitions plant, milling primers, 1914

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Eddystone’s page.

Retake this view · +15
People over time

Eddystone, census by census

05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,00018801900192019401960198020002020Peak: 3,014

Between 582 and 3,014 people in every census since 1880.

14 censuses, 1880–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Eddystone’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

2 famous people were born in Eddystone

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →
Samuel Kerns McConnell, Jr.American politician · b. 1901
J
John McGillenAmerican baseball player · b. 1917
Places that used to be

Lost post offices and old corners

Eddystone had its own post office from 1889 to 1916.

Eddystone
1889–1916
18801950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Baldwin

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Help out

Finish Eddystone’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
3 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewEdystone (sic) munitions plant, milling…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Ridley TownshipIts storyCChester8 historic placesA+WoodlynIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Eddystone’s history

What year was Eddystone founded?

The Eddystone post office opened in 1880, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records). Wikidata gives 1888.

How does Eddystone rank for history?

Eddystone is more historic than 50% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

How old are the homes in Eddystone?

32% of Eddystone’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±12.2 points), against a typical 18% for a Pennsylvania town; the median home was built in 1948.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (20), the Library of Congress (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.