A jewel set in 30 acres

Reflections by Anthony Francis

Chadds Ford, well endowed with historic and cultural assets that have given it a unique attraction and allure, is in the enviable position of having yet another asset, still to be developed.  It’s a diamond in the rough on a prime piece of real estate and has its own claim to a place in local art and history. 

The township has owned what is known as “Howard Pyle’s Studio” since 1976 but has no visible plan to implement the purpose for which it was acquired.  Succeeding boards of supervisors have taken no action to restore the studio or develop its grounds for public use. 

The two-story empty building is on about 30 acres, which the township also owns, along Route 1 across from Washington’s Headquarters.  Once a grist mill, it was previously known as Turner’s Mill until it came into disuse during the 1890s when Howard Pyle, an art teacher and painter, rented it as an ideal site for his students during the summer.  Pyle, who lived from 1853 to 1911, became one of the most influential illustrators of his time and is credited with enriching the tradition of American illustration. 

Besides his own credentials in the art world, the claim to fame of the mill-turned-art-school is the fact that one of Pyle’s students was the young N. C. Wyeth, who became a giant in the field of illustration and the patriarch of the Wyeth family and its highly talented members.  In addition, critics say Pyle himself produced some of his best work during 1898-1903 when his summer studio was on the second floor of the old mill.  His students occupied the first floor and in good weather moved their easels outside for better light near a sycamore tree that still stands.  Its trunk was recently measured at 23 feet, 9 inches in circumference.

The old mill is now a hollow shell but its stone walls, about 18 inches thick, are still sound according to architect John Milner, the noted restorer of historic buildings.  Records reveal that sometime during the early part of the 1900s it was converted into a residence.  The two floors and roof of the mill-now-residence were burned out by a fire, date unknown, sometime in the 1950s.  The interior of the structure is “clean,” free of all debris, which was removed after the blaze. 

The gray walls rise about 35 feet from the dirt cellar floor to their peak.  Township (then Birmingham) supervisors thoughtfully installed a new roof and boarded up doors and windows to keep out the weather.  Vines and brush were chopped away this year, revealing the structure’s dimensions of about 30 by 40 feet. 

Interest in Pyle’s studio, and the land around it, was raised recently by several articles in The Chadds Ford Times, as well as by the current exhibition at the Brandywine River Museum, which features works by Pyle along with those of the Wyeths, N. C., Andrew and Jamie. 

When the township bought the property 22 years ago, the records state it was acquired “for use as a park, playground, recreation area, and other public purposes.”  A “Park and Recreation Board” was authorized but no action was taken. 

A possible use for Pyle’s studio was raised by James Shipley, president of the Civic Association of Chadds Ford Township, in a report to township supervisors at their Dec. 2 meeting.  A crowd estimated at 100 to 150 residents who attended the association’s November meeting overwhelmingly agreed that the present township hall was both “inadequate and unsafe,” Shipley said. 

Pyle’s studio could become an adequate and safe township hall.  Restoration could provide more than 1,000 square feet of space on each of two floors.  The land around it offers acres for parking, now limited and regarded as unsafe at the present township hall on Station Way Road. 

Whatever use may materialize, it will take a special group to polish this diamond in the rough and to seriously plan for its public use. 

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Anthony A. Frances, a retired journalist who has lived in Chadds Ford for 30 years, is active in civic and political affairs in the township.  He has been a reporter, radio news broadcaster, writer, editor, public relations executive and mass media expert for the federal government.  He worked in the United States and abroad.

The above article appeared in the Kennett Paper, December 17-23, 1998. Reprinted with permission from the Kennett Paper.