Eddystone

History

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. The borough of Eddystone was formed around the Eddystone Print Works. William Simpson & Sons established the Eddystone Print Works on the land that is now Eddystone in October 1873, after the land on which their previous factory had operated was condemned to make way for Fairmount Park. Eddystone Borough was incorporated on December 7, 1888. On December 3, 1888, the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas issued an opinion rejecting these claims, noting that while Ridley's "revenues...will be diminished, so will its burdens."

Geography

Eddystone is located in southern Delaware County at (39.859345, -75.340920), on the north bank of the Delaware River. It is bordered to the east by Crum Creek, to the west by Ridley Creek. Ridley Township borders Eddystone to the north and east, the city of Chester is on the western border, and Gloucester County, New Jersey, is to the south across the Delaware. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Eddystone has a total area of , of which is land and , or 34.70%, is water, primarily the Delaware River.

Race & ethnicity