Glen Mills is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

in Concord Township, Delaware County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

about 27 miles west of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

. The ZIP code for Glen Mills is 19342.

History

The area around Glen Mills was part of the original land grant given to

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

in 1681. George Cheyney was the first settler here, for which the nearby town of Cheyney is named. Later, this land was sold and divided. The name Glen Mills is taken from two paper mills built by the Willcox family, one in 1835 and the second in 1846. From 1864 to 1878, these mills supplied the United States government with a special, patented paper for the printing of government bonds and notes. The Glen Mills are no longer standing, but the grist mill built by Nathaniel Newlin in 1704 still stands and is a popular destination for picnickers and history buffs alike. A blacksmith shop was built on the former property in 1975. The

Newlin Mill Complex The Newlin Mill Complex, also referred to as The Newlin Grist Mill, is a water-powered gristmill on the west branch of Chester Creek near Concordville, Pennsylvania was built in 1704 by Nathaniel and Mary Newlin and operated commercially until 19 ...

was listed on 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 v ...

in 1983. The

West Chester and Philadelphia Railroad The West Chester & Philadelphia Railroad (WC&P) operated in the greater Philadelphia area from 1848 to 1881. It became the West Chester Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). It has been operated as the Media/Wawa Line on the SEPTA system sinc ...

arrived in Glen Mills c. 1858, and provided train service between Philadelphia and West Chester. The

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

took control of the rail line in 1880. Passenger trains through Glen Mills were operated by

SEPTA The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...

until 1986. The

West Chester Railroad The West Chester Railroad is a privately owned and operated tourist railroad that runs between Market Street in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in Chester County, and the village of Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, in Delaware County. It operates on of ...

, a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

, currently operates trains between Glen Mills and West Chester on weekends. A "wild west" themed restaurant/roadside attraction known as "The Longhorn Ranch" operated in Glen Mills during the 1960s. In the 1980s, that same site was the location of Pulsations nightclub. The site is currently the location of a retirement community. A Glen Mills resident, pilot Michael R. Horrocks, died in the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

. He was the first officer on

Flight 175 United Airlines Flight 175 was a domestic passenger flight that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on September 11, 2001, as part of the September 11 attacks. The flight's scheduled plan was from Logan International Airport, in Boston, ...

, the second plane to hit the World Trade Center.

Golf

The ''Golf Course at Glen Mills'' was designed by

Bobby Weed Robert C. "Bobby" Weed, Jr. (born April 13, 1955), president of Bobby Weed Golf Design, is a golf course designer and builder specializing in design, renovation and repurposing. A protégé of Pete Dye, he resides in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida. Wee ...

and is connected to the

Glen Mills Schools The Glen Mills Schools is a youth detention center for juvenile delinquents located near Glen Mills in Thornbury Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, for boys between 12 and 21 years of age. The school was founded in 1826 ...

. The golf facility is used to train students in golf operations and turf management."Vocational Training"
Golf Course at Glen Mills website

Geography

The Glen Mills zip code, 19342, is unusual in the numerous geographic boundaries it crosses. It is located almost entirely in Delaware County.

Townships

In order of land share: * Concord Township, Delaware County * Thornbury Township, Delaware County * Edgmont Township, Delaware County * Middletown Township, Delaware County *

Thornbury Township, Chester County Thornbury Township is a township (Pennsylvania), township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 3,017 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is adjacent to, and was once joined ...

* Chadds Ford Township, Delaware County *

Chester Heights Chester Heights is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 2,531 at the 2010 census. Most of the borough lies south of U.S. 1, about a mile southwest of Wawa. History The history of Chester Heights predates ...

School Districts

In order of land share: *

Garnet Valley School District Garnet Valley School District (GVSD) is a public school district based in Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, within the Greater Philadelphia area. GVSD serves the town of Chester Heights, Bethel Township and Concord Township. Founded in 1959, it is one ...

* West Chester Area School District *

Rose Tree Media School District Rose Tree Media School District is a school district headquartered in Media, Pennsylvania Media is a borough in and the county seat of Delaware County, Pennsylvania. It is located about west of Philadelphia, the sixth most populous city in t ...

Unionville-Chadds Ford School District Unionville-Chadds Ford School District (UCFSD) is a school district in southeastern Chester County and western Delaware County, Pennsylvania, a area encompassing seven townships and serving a total of abpproximately 4,000 students. The dist ...

Notable people

John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who served as a U.S. senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2004 alongside John Kerry, losing to incumbents George ...

- US Congressman *

April Margera April Margera (born March 28, 1956) is an American reality television personality who has appeared on MTV's ''Viva La Bam'' and '' Jackass'', as well as the ''CKY'' videos, ''Haggard'', ''Minghags'' and ''Bam's Unholy Union''. Biography Apri ...

- American reality television personality * T.D. Allman -American author, foreign correspondent and historian

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania