Glen Mills is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Concord Township, Delaware County,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, United States, located approximately 27 miles west of

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. 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, religious thinker, and influential Quakers, Quaker who founded the Province of Pennsylvania during the British colonization of the Americas, British colonial era. An advocate of democracy and religi ...

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, Concordville, Pennsylvania built in 1704 by Nathaniel and Mary Newlin and operat ...

was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

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 ...

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 as 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. At its ...

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

SEPTA SEPTA, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people througho ...

until 1986. The

West Chester Railroad The West Chester Railroad is a privately owned and operated Heritage railway, tourist railroad that runs between Market Street in West Chester, Pennsylvania, in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Chester County, and the village of Glen Mills, Pennsy ...

, a

heritage railway A heritage railway or heritage railroad (U.S. 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) ...

, 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, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. He was the first officer on

Flight 175 United Airlines Flight 175 was a domestic passenger flight from Logan International Airport in Boston to Los Angeles International Airport in California that was hijacked by five al-Qaeda terrorists on the morning of September 11, 2001, as p ...

, the second plane to hit the World Trade Center.

Golf

The Golf Course at Glen Mills was designed by

Bobby Weed Robert Carl Weed Jr. (born April 13, 1955), known as Bobby Weed, president of Bobby Weed Golf Design ("BWGD"), is an American golf course architect, designer and builder. His firm specializes in design, renovations and repurposing. A protégé o ...

and is connected to the

Glen Mills Schools The Glen Mills Schools was a reform school for juvenile delinquents in the United States. It was located near Glen Mills in Thornbury Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States, for boys between 12 and 21 years of age. Founded ...

. 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 * Chadds Ford Township, Delaware County * Chester Heights

School districts

In order of land share: * Garnet Valley School District *

West Chester Area School District The West Chester Area School District (WCASD) serves the borough of West Chester, Pennsylvania, United States and its surrounding townships. The townships served are East Bradford, East Goshen, Thornbury Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, ...

Rose Tree Media School District Rose Tree Media School District is a school district in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, headquartered in the Borough of Media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or ...

* Unionville-Chadds Ford School District

Notable people

* T.D. Allman, American author, foreign correspondent and historian *

John Edwards Johnny Reid Edwards (born June 10, 1953) is an American lawyer and former politician who represented North Carolina in the United States Senate from 1999 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the vice presidential nominee under ...

, 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 Ap ...

, American reality television personality *

Victor Yerrid Victor Yerrid (born November 13, 1971) is an American actor and puppeteer for the Jim Henson Company and has performed Muppet characters in many films, television commercials and television shows. He is best known in the Muppet World for his wor ...

, American actor and puppeteer

References

External links

* {{Authority control Unincorporated communities in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Unincorporated communities in Pennsylvania