Obviously a college grad editor took about 2 hours and opened up the book, "Maple Shade A Story of 300 Years" by the Cutler family and summarized an account.
First of all their source contains many errors and they did the book 3 times up in misuderstandings.
I have tried off and on again to bring attention to the Township to change this webpage.
Others, including leading newspapers, have quoted it THINKING the MAPLE SHADE TOWNSHIP WEBSITE IS A CREDIBLE SOURCE! Ha!
Lets now examine what they have-
From the Maple Shade Township website-Maple Shade Township was first settled by the Roberts family in 1682 and developed in the early years, before the independence of the colonies, as primarily agricultural. For its first one hundred years, only Kings Highway served the area, providing poor travel, and residents chose travel by boat rather than overland as a result, until 1794 when the road that was to be Main Street was constructed to connect Kings Highway with the Cooper River ferry. Afterwards, new settlers and the families of the original settlers encouraged the division and sharing of the large plantations into smaller holdings, still agricultural in nature. The Settlement became more firmly established as a community in 1811 when the property was set aside by Joseph Burrough for the construction of a one-room brick school house, now known as the Little Red Schoolhouse, on Main Street, just west of Coles Avenue. The school served the residents of the Township for 97 years, closing in 1909. About the time of the establishment of the schoolhouse, a sawmill was built on the Pennsauken Creek where Mill Road now crosses Route 38. In 1847 a blacksmith shop and wagon works, constructed on the south side of Main Street just west of Spruce Avenue, operated until it was destroyed by fire in 1940. As in many settlements in the country, the coming of the railroad right-of-way purchased in 1864 and placed in operation in 1867 - brought identity to the area in the form of a station and a rail stop. The railroad also changed the complexion of the community, giving it the potential to have single family residents commuting by rail to employment outside of the Township. The railroad also brought other businesses and industry including brick making in 1867, butchering and meat processing , as well as clothing manufacturing in 1883. As the population grew, so
did the community. Naturally, the establishment of churches followed,
With the establishment of the community came the demand for public services which, in turn, required the creation of provisions to govern the methods of offering public service, the types of service to be offered to the community, and their future maintenance. The demand for a public water source let to the first water works in 1893; telephones in 1893; a local post office in 1887; and the first police officer in 1911. The first fire company formed in 1899, and it received its first hand pump in 1912. Following the closing of the Little Red Schoolhouse in 1909, in that year, a new two-room facility was opened on North Poplar Avenue. A second school was built in 1920 on Chestnut Avenue and, ultimately, two more grade schools and a high school. The community was known as
Chester Township, and existed essentially as a neighborhood of
The Committee form of government
continued from 1922 until 1975, when the Township chose by
Long established and recognized as a community, Maple Shade Township has retained a strong business presence with light industrial and commercial centers, in addition to having an identity which is suburban within the Philadelphia metropolitan area. The result is a broad spectrum
of local and regional amenities available to Maple Shade residents with
a strong sense of common interest and community individuality.
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Corrections and Insights-On November 14, 1682, land was surveyed for three pioneer Quaker families in the Indian town of Pennsauken. William Matlack finished his 4 years as an indentured servant to Thomas Ollive to pay for his voyage over from England, and had recently married Mary Hancock, the sister of Timothy Hancock. The Matlack and Hancock families were going to settle now each on 100 acre tracts between the two branches of the then called Cimsissinck Creek. Also with them was the Roberts family buying 267 acres. They had just been neighbors of Thomas Ollive in Willingboro and decided to move here now instead. Why do many people then say that the Roberts family were the first settlers to Maple Shade. Its all in the misunderstanding of the Roberts Monument which was erected by their family. Other pioneers came in 1684, such as the Clark and Rudderow families. John Rudderow married Lucy Stiles and the Stiles family bought land along side of his in 1695. The name for the area was Pennsauken, using the current spelling. Some pioneers found this to their liking. The name "Cropwell" was also used, as the south branch of the Pennsuken Creek was named Cropwell River after William Matlack's hometown of Cropwell Bishop, Nottinghamshire, England. In the late 1600s the government of the colony, the West Jersey Assembly, defined Burlington County and its, then large, townships. Chester Township was the name given to the area now Maple Shade, Moorestown, Cinnaminson, Palmyra, Riverton, and Delran. In 1849, the 1794 Stage Road, now our Main Street in Maple Shade, was made into a turnpike by the local farmers desiring an improved gravel road to take their produce to Philadelphia and Camden markets. Benjamin Stiles became involved in the "Moorestown and Camden Turnpike," and soon relocated to the corner of it and Fellowship Road. A toll house was erected across the street from him. There was a blacksmith shop nearby around this time. This was later owned and expanded by Christian, then William Frech as the Frech Wagon Co. This, along with there being several Stiles family farms around, brought about the area being called "Stiles Corners," as can be seen on a 1860 Lake and Beers map. The railroad later came through in 1867 and so named the station after the hamlet as "Stiles Station." In June of 1874 the railroad renamed "Stiles Station," probably still only a platform at the time, "Maple Shade" thereby changing the name of the area. If the depot wasn't already there, it was soon built. (Also note- Most of the Stiles family either died or left in the early 1870s.) OK, to correct a few things over there on the left. The brickyard was there as of 1860 and prior, and was bought by John Muffett & Son in 1863. The railroad did not bring it. Elam Brubaker might have come to live here in 1883, but when he died in 1919, his sons brought the business over after from Philadelphia. The Sauselein family slaughter house to serve their store in Merchantville (oral history I don't know about firsthand) didn't need the railroad whatsoever. CORRECTION to my correction- They might have started a overall factory here in 1917. ??? Lots of talk about it going to happen is all I find. Then they used the old Methodist Church later. In the late 1800s into the beginning of the 1900s Maple Shade was a "country village" Of 23 Scattered Residences. A series of Stiles house photos said to have been taken by historian George Decou in 1897 has this note to one of the photos- "Maple Shade is the present name of the railroad station and locality that twenty years ago was called Stiles's, from the number of families of that name who lived there. Now (1897) it is scarcely a village in pretence, but has two churches, two stores, a blacksmith shop and twenty-one scattered residences." I would say he is probably incorrect to the "23 Scattered Residences" at this point in time, in that it would be a little more. In the 1873 Chester Township Tax Assessor's book, under the "Chesterford School District" list of residences, the number is 23. The two churches would be the Episcopal Church on Linwood Avenue, and the former Methodist Church on the north west corner of Main Street and Forklanding Road. The two stores would be the Fahr's general store and the Klinger's shoe store.
There were several land speculation subdivisions such as the Shuster Tract and the Maple Shade Land and Improvement Co. tract along the railroad, which even had an artesian well to provide water. Not many people came as evidenced by the lack of that period of house styles in town. Industry also didn't broaden from brickyards and a blacksmith and wheelwright etc... to when the people came and had businesses and stores. The Mennel Dry Goods Store and Maple Shade Post Office was moved to Main Street and Spruce Avenue in 1909 from being in a house on South Poplar Avenue. This area of the Shuster Tract with several stores and the Frech Wagon Works was the beginning of "Main Street Maple Shade." In 1907 came the Edward Cutler Real Estate Co., later continued by younger brother Arthur Cutler, also the first President of the Maple Shade Historical Society. Also the Maple Heights Land Co. bought the Mason farmland and Thomas Barlow came to town in 1908 as their President and soon formed Barlow & Co. with his sons and son-in-law. Thomas Barlow was so instrumental in the development of Maple Shade and its huge population increase that he for a time in the 1920s was often called "the founder of the town." Today many bungalows throughout the town carry the name "Barlow Bungalows." Cinnaminson, along with the townships which came out of it, separated from Chester Township in 1860. This left the village of Moorestown and now the newly emerged suburban villages of Maple Shade and Lenola centered around train stations along the Pennyslvania Railroad. William Brown started the Maple Shade Progress newspaper in 1916 and it is stongly evidenced what the term "Progress" meant. Maple Shade people pay taxes. Why aren't they getting More street lights? Why aren't we connected to Moorestown's water works? Why aren't we getting better roads? Moorestown thought along the opposite mindset, as their money was going to pay for Maple Shade. Moorestown also voted "dry" in 1918, was filled with many millionaires and wealthy families, and saw their improvements, including a new High School as their own achievements. Moorestown tried to separate from Maple Shade in 1917 as "East Chester Township," but didn't get the votes. It all just kept going on then for years with Maple Shade needing Moorestown and Moorestown wanting to separate. Lenola went with Moorestown from 1917 on, and when the separation happened in 1922, Moorestown voted alone 12 to 1 to leave Chester Township as "Moorestown." Chester Township finally incorporated as "Maple Shade" in 1945, having had two names since 1922. The 1920s saw hundreds of bungalows constructed, a water works and sewer system built, and a Municipal Building housing the police and fire departments. The police station had previously been the small Cutler Real Estate Field Office building which was located at several places at the northeast corner of Main Street and Forklanding Road. The 1930s spelled disaster for many home owners and real estate people such as Barlow & Co., and brought the township into having the highest tax rate in Burlington County and also probably the largest amount of bars, there reaching twenty liquor licenses. Post World War 2 brought things back around, and Maple Shade did what it always knew how to do best, build housing developments! In the 1950s Maple Shade had the second largest population of any town in Burlington County! Nearby towns such as Cherry Hill, Mt. Laurel, and Cinnaminson were still farms. Later on the 1960s and 70s this trend turned to apartment complexes. One underlying reason besides the developer's standpoint of profit is that this was the best way for Maple Shade to generate tax revenue- affordable housing. Maple Shade before shopping malls and department stores along highways had a thriving Main Street and strong local business makeup of Mom and Pop stores. Today's Main Street and local township eateries continue to stand and that is part of the spirit of this town. Over the years the groups such as the Lions Club and the Jaycees along with the Churches have brought about a well deserved pride of the township as being a community.
Well some corrections and ideas. |