Newtown Historic District is a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from cer ...

located in Newtown,

Bucks County, Pennsylvania Bucks County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 646,538, making it the fourth-most populous county in Pennsylvania. Its county seat is Doylestown. The county is named after the English ...

. The district includes 293 contributing buildings in the borough of Newtown. They date from the late-17th century to the early-20th century and are reflective of a number of popular architectural styles including

Greek Revival The Greek Revival was an architectural movement which began in the middle of the 18th century but which particularly flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in northern Europe and the United States and Canada, but a ...

Late Victorian Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...

, Federal, Queen Anne, and

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

. Notable buildings include the Chapman Buckman House and mill, Hart House, Newtown Hardware House, Keller Building, Jenks House (1828), White Hall Hotel, Temperance House (1774), Smock House (1792), the Brick Hotel, St. Luke's Church, LaRue Apartments (1838), and the Edward Hicks House. Located in the district and listed separately are the Half-Moon Inn and

Friends Meeting House A Friends meeting house is a meeting house of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), where meeting for worship is usually held. Typically, Friends meeting houses are simple and resemble local residential buildings. Steeples, spires, and ...

. ''Note:'' This includes , ; and It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1979, with two boundary increases in 1986.

District listings

Newtown Hardware House

The Newtown Hardware House is an independently owned

hardware store Hardware stores (in a number of countries, "shops"), sometimes known as DIY stores, sell household hardware for home improvement including: fasteners, building materials, hand tools, power tools, keys, locks, hinges, chains, plumbing suppl ...

located at 106 S. State Street that was included as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distric ...

in the original listing of the district on the

in 1979.

History

The Newtown Hardware House was built in 1869 by Cyrus Hillborn and Harrison C. Worstall at 106-108 South State Street. 108 South State Street was a hardware store operated by Hillborn and Worstall, and 106 South State Street was a

dry goods Dry goods is a historic term describing the type of product line a store carries, which differs by region. The term comes from the textile trade, and the shops appear to have spread with the mercantile trade across the British Empire (and forme ...

store operated by George E. Dolton. Mr. Dolton sold his side to George H. McMaster in 1908. When McMaster died in 1927, both sides of the store were taken over by H.C. Worstall, and later bought out by John J. Burns. When Burns died in 1955, Robert M. Davis bought the business and operated it until 1985, when it was taken over by C. David Callahan. In 2012, C. David Callahan sold the business to William Newell of Newtown and remained on as a part-time employee.

Fire

The Newtown Hardware House was destroyed by fire on March 1, 1899. In addition to the Hardware store another store was completely burned. The loss was estimated at $80,000. The fire was one of the worst in Newtown's history. It is thought burglars set the building on fire. The building was rebuilt to the exact specifications of the original building and was reopened by Christmas of the same year and is still in operation. Today, when looking at the rear wall, lower left(Northern) portion of the structure, a distinct brick line exists that outlines surviving brickwork dating before 1899.

Oldest business in Newtown Pennsylvania

The Newtown Hardware House has been in continuous operation for over 151 years, which ranks as the longest tenure for any single business in Newtown.Rounsavill, Brian E. Newtown Past and Present. Ed. C. David Callahan and Paul M. Gouza. Newtown: The Newtown Historic Association, Inc., 2006. The hardware store announced it was going out of business in 2012: City residents heard about the possibility that the hardware store may go out of business, so they organized a "

Cash mob A cash mob is a group of people who assemble at a local business to make purchases. The purpose of these mobs is to support both the local businesses and the overall community. They may also serve a secondary purpose in providing social opportuniti ...

": a crowd of people arrived at the business to pump up sales. In 2011 the store was in trouble, and by 2012 the store's owner Dave Callahan decided to go out of business. Bill and Peggy Newell took over the hardware store. They purchased the business from Dave Callahan.

Gallery

File:Newtown, Bucks Co PA HD Library 01.JPG, Newtown Library Company. File:Newtown, Bucks Co PA HD Lower House.JPG, The Lower House. File:Newtown, Bucks Co PA HD Margaret Thornton House.JPG, The Margaret Thornton House. File:Newtown, Bucks Co PA HD Godwin Bldg.JPG, The Godwin Building. File:Newtown, Bucks Co PA HD 11.JPG, Court St.

References

External links

Newtown Hardware House
{{National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Historic districts in Bucks County, Pennsylvania Federal architecture in Pennsylvania Greek Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Gothic Revival architecture in Pennsylvania Queen Anne architecture in Pennsylvania Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Bucks County, Pennsylvania