Walnford’s Tenant Houses - Allentown NJ
Posted by: 
Don.Morfe
N 40° 08.075 W 074° 33.542
18T E 537566 N 4442787
In the 1700s and 1800s millers, craftsmen, farm laborers, domestic servants and their families made up Walnford’s working population, which fluctuated in size and ethnic composition. The houses were later rented to families who worked elsewhere.
Waymark Code: WM12AE0
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 04/13/2020
Views: 0
Walnford’s Tenant Houses-Houses and shops once lined the road across from the mill. These are two of the six known tenant houses that were part of the small community formed by the people who lived and worked at Walnford.
In the 1700s and 1800s millers, craftsmen, farm laborers, domestic servants and their families made up Walnford’s working population, which fluctuated in size and ethnic composition. The houses were later rented to families who worked elsewhere.
The two tenant houses were destroyed by a fire in 1969. Archaeological investigations confirmed the locations of the buried foundations, and otherwise hidden yet important part of Walnford’s history.
(Inscription above the image in the upper left)
“…a large Brick-House two story high, commodious for two families; with a good Kitchen, large Barn, Stable and Cooper’s Shop, all new.” First developed around a mill in the 1730s by Allentown merchant Samuel Rodgers, this property was advertised for sale in the March 17, 1744 New York Weekly Post-Boy.
(Inscription below the image in the upper right)
The brick tenant house was built about 1740. Shown here in 1897,
the persons in front may be the miller, John R. Hutchinson, and his daughter Cora.
(Inscription below the image in the lower center)
“…a frame tenement story and a half high…There are likewise on said premises four other tenements (suitable for a miller, cooper, fuller and blacksmith and their families), a cooper’s shop smith’s shop and coal house…” This offer in the March 26, 1772 Pennsylvania Gazette caught the eye of Philadelphia merchant Richard Waln, who purchased the mill village and named it Walnford.
(Inscription below the image in the lower right)
The Tomlins were on of the families that lived here in the 1930s. Pictured are sisters Marie, Ella and Mabel with friends Ida Shibla and Donald Hornet
Group that erected the marker: Historic Walnford-Friends of the Park
Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary:
74 Walnford Road
On the grounds of the Historic Walnford and Crosswicks Creek Park.
Allentown, NJ USA
08501
URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: Not listed
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