World War Era (1930-1950)

Lenape over the years

The corner of Denton Hollow Rd and Rt. 52 has seen many evoluations over the years as a store and/or gas station.  

 

Lenape

Lenape is another village associated with Pocopson, although the formation of the township out of part of Birmingham Township essentially divides the village.  It grew from a locality named Wister’s or Shunk’s Ford before a bridge was built over the Brandywine.  Then John P. Sager erected a mill on the east side of the creek, and the name changed to Sager’s Mill.  Eventually, that name changed to Sager’s Station when the Wilmington and Northern Railroad built a station on the west side of the creek.

Locust Grove

The village of Locust Grove was the dream of businessman Pennock Marshall, who wanted to establish a settlement that would resemble William Penn’s “greene country towne.”  He laid out three streets in a stand of locust trees and planned a total of twenty-nine lots.  But he was to be disappointed, and the village never had more than two dozen families. By 1847, the village could boast only a smithy and wheelwright shop, a shoemaker shop and a general store. 

Locust Grove Schoolhouse throughout the years

Locust Grove Schoolhouse in the 1930's:

 

Locust Grove Schoolhouse in 1943 as a private residence owned by the Broadbelt family:

Lenape Park

At the turn of the 20th Century, Pocopson was home to one of the region’s popular recreation spots—Lenape Park, on the Brandywine.  Reports differ on its early history.  As early as 1858, according to one source, picnics were held on the site, even though the ground was overrun with bushes and vines.  The more organized site started in 1877, in the middle of a hickory grove on Sager’s Island, when a group of local residents got together with hatchets and saws and constructed an open-air dance platform.