Settlements, Townships, and Boroughs
Before the European settlers came to this region it was populated by the Lenni-Lenape Indians. The name Kennett originates with Francis Smith who came to this region in 1686. He was a native of Devizes, in Wiltshire, England, in which there is a village called "Kennet." The name is first mentioned in court records in 1705. In the seventeenth and eighteenth century Kennett was a small village located where the road from Chester to Baltimore intersected with the road from Lancaster to Wilmington. It was at this intersection that the Unicorn Tavern was built in 1735 by Joseph Musgrave, the largest landowner in what is now Kennett Square. In 1776 Musgrave sold his property to Colonel Joseph Shippen, the uncle of Peggy Shippen, who became the wife of Benedict Arnold.
Travelers found the village a good place to stop, including Baron Wilhelm van Knyphausen and General Sir William Howell, who stayed for one night before marching to the Battle of the Brandywine against George Washington at Chadds Ford in 1777. By 1810 there was a village of about eight dwellings, five of which were log, but it was not until 1853 that a group of citizens petitioned the Court of Quarter Sessions of Chester to form a borough. After several petitions and objections from farmers, the court granted the articles of incorporation and Kennett Square held its first local elections in 1855.
Antebellum Kennett was an important region in the Underground Railroad, and many prominent citizens of Kennett Square and the surrounding region played an important role in securing freedom for runaway slaves.
It was in Kennett Square that the grain drill was invented by Samuel and Moses Pennock (patented on March 12, 1841), and improvements for the corn sheller and harvester (1857), and the first four-wheel road machine (1877). Their business, S & M Pennock & Sons, eventually grew into the American Road Machinery Company. Other local inventors included James Green, inventor of a hay knife, Bernard Wiley, inventor of the famous Wiley Plow, John Chambers, inventor of the asbestos stove plate, and Cyrus Chambers, who patented a machine for folding papers and a brick making machine. It was on the Chambers property that the first circular saw in Chester County was built in 1835. Another large business, still operating, was Fibre Specialty Manufacturing Company, now NVF Co., which built its first plant in Kennett Square in 1898.
Kennett Square’s most famous citizen was Bayard Taylor (1825-1878). A resident of Kennett Square, this nineteenth-century author, diplomat, poet, and journalist published over forty books, including Views A-Foot, Eldorado, a translation of Faust (which Mark Twain called the best of all English translations), and local favorite, The Story of Kennett. Bayard Taylor died in Berlin while serving as Minister to Germany under President Hayes.
Another famous citizen was Herbert Jefferis "Herb" Pennock (1894-1948). He was a great left-handed pitcher in the American League and later a Phillies’ executive. His active career was in the American League with Philadelphia, Boston and New York. During his career, he won five World Series games and never lost one. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1948.
Important Kennett Historical Links:
The Underground Railroad
Chester County
Historical Society
Historic Kennett
Square
