Kinter's Histories Corner East Marlborough Township Research Articles
By Lew Kinter
Four Histories of Unionville
The EMT Historic Commission is inventorying Unionville memorabilia collected by John and Patricia Montague and donated to the Township in 2024. Amongst the documents are four separate histories of the Village of Unionville written between 1896 and 2006, all authored by notable local female historians. The Histories and supporting documentation are available on the Historic Commission’s website.
‘Unionville. How It Is Pictured by a Fair Young Resident’ was written by Miss Jennie H. Wickersham while a member of the 1896 graduating class of the Unionville High School ‘To inspire some ambitious young person in another quarter of Chester County to begin historical research, and published in the West Chester Local News, Friday May 22, 1896. Wickersham’s topics includes Earliest History, Schools and Notable Graduates, Churches, Library, Post Office, and Village Buildings, and Occupations. Wickersham records that the original name of the village was ‘Jackson Town’ and provides 1896 local lore as to how the village’s name was changed to Unionville occurred in the early 19th century.
‘Old Jacksonville Now Unionville – An Historical Sketch of a Small Country Town’ is a thesis written by Joanna R. Bucknell while a Junior at Westtown School in 1947. Topics include Early History and Growth; General Stores and Small Businesses, Public Houses, Schools and Religious Institutions; Unionville’s Postal System; and Community Life. Bucknell’s thesis was quickly serialized in four consecutive issues of the Kennett News & Advertiser published in July and August 1947. Bucknell’s thesis includes maps of Unionville from 1860, 1873 and 1883 including individual properties and their owners. ‘Old Jacksonville Now Unionville’ was a critical document supporting recognition of the Unionville Village Historic District by the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission in 1976, and by the United States National Registry of Historic Places in 1979.
‘Approaching the End of an Era’ A Look at Unionville as it was between 1871 and 1887’ was written by Mrs. William (Ruth) Taylor circa.1980, perhaps for Unionville’s celebrations of America’s Bicentennial in 1976 or Chester County’s Tricentennial in 1982. The manuscript is largely based upon Taylor’s review of 19th century articles and letters published in the Daily Local News, West Chester PA, and provides a vibrant description of community life in Unionville before 1900. Taylor speculates upon Unionville’s gradual decline, stagnation, and return to a quiet country village in the early 20th century.
‘The Village of Unionville’ was written by Mary Larkin Dugan (1935-2013) of Marlborough Village, East Marlborough Township, a local teacher, historian, and founding member of the East Marlborough Township Historic Commission, and with editing by John Montague. The manuscript can be dated to 2006 based upon a specific reference to Catherine’s Restaurant and Grace Chaple in Unionville. Dugan acknowledges Bucknell’s ‘Old Jacksonville Now Unionville’ as a primary source for her manuscript. A major contribution of Dugan’s manuscript is description of Local Characters, for example Mrs. Lulu ‘Granny Lu’ Walls, foster mother of some sixty black and white children, and friend to all Unionville’s children during the mid-20th century.
The EMT Historic Commission is actively searching for additional versions of the above histories, publications in local newspapers or elsewhere, and additional histories of Unionville, Marlborough Village, and East Marlborough Township and photographs.
If you have any documentation, please contact us at emthistory@eastmarlboroughhistorical.org so that the Historic Commission can collect copies for its archives. Also visit us at www.eastmarlboroughhistorical.org and follow us, like, and share on