{"nrhp_refnum":"90000704","name":"Hamorton Historic District (Additional Documentation)","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Jct. of US 1 and SR 52","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kennett Square","county":"Chester County","state":"PA","lat":39.86989207800005,"lon":-75.6553070853787,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1990-04-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Hamorton is a village historic district at the junction of Baltimore Pike (Route 1) and the Wilmington Road (Route 52) in Kennett Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania, made up mainly of brick, frame and stone residences built between about 1780 and 1930. It contains an older village laid out in the 1830s and a planned group of company houses built by P.S. duPont in 1928-1930 for Longwood Gardens employees.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Hamorton was a commercial center in the mid-1800s and a focal point of abolitionist activity in Chester County, with a free store, a public hall used for anti-slavery meetings, and a Quaker-linked school. It also argues that the 1928-1930 suburban addition by P.S. duPont is a well preserved group of Colonial and Georgian Revival houses with a designed utility system.","narrative":"Hamorton is a village of brick, frame and stone houses on a plateau at the crossing of Baltimore Pike and the Wilmington Road in Kennett Township, Chester County. Its older core was laid out in the 1830s on narrow lots from the Ezekiel Webb estate, with houses fronting the pike and service alleys behind. Abraham Hamor, who gained a post office in 1831, built many of these houses, and the village grew into a trading centre with a general store, a doctor's office and craft workshops. In the 1840s and 1850s it became a centre of abolitionism in Chester County. Dr. Bartholomew Fussell's public hall, dedicated in April 1846, hosted anti-slavery speakers, and Sarah Harvey Pearson ran a free store that refused goods produced by slave labour. In 1928-1930 P.S. duPont added about eighteen detached houses on treed lots to the north, designed by Edward William Martin. Several are Georgian Revival and the rest Colonial Revival.","period_of_significance":"1830-1930","architect_builder":"E. (Edward) William Martin (architect) for the 1928-1930 houses","architectural_style":"Gothic Revival; Colonial Revival; Georgian Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"The 1928-1930 houses remain in nearly original condition and many are still occupied; the 1830s-era village has modern siding and some sealed doors.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:36.705492-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/90000704.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000704/97d7f0cf90-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/90000704/97d7f0cf90-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones at en.wikipedia","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hamorton_HD.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones at en.wikipedia</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hamorton_HD.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"72001105","name":"Longwood Gardens District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/pennsylvania/longwood-gardens-district-72001105/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996022","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamorton_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5645946"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/chester-county/hamorton-historic-district-additional-documentation-90000704/"}