Special to Bucks County Courier Times
It surprised me several years ago to learn Morrisville nearly became Washington, D.C. I got another jolt lately: Bristolians once expected their village to become Philadelphia which for a time was the U.S. capital. That bit of trivia got me to envisioning the impact on Bucks County had those dreams come true.
Bristol as Philadelphia and D.C.
In 1672, Quaker founder George Fox and companions forged their way on horseback on wilderness paths from Long Island through New Jersey to reach Maryland. At Burlington Island, Lenape Indians ferried them across the Delaware River in canoes. Their horses swam across. The travelers landed at what George deemed an ideal site for a settlement.
Within a decade, English Quakers took the hint. They got to work building Buckingham village (the future Bristol) in the new colony of Pennsylvania. Just upstream, William Penn purchased 8,431 acres from the Lenape for his Pennsbury Manor home plus territory that would become Buckinghamshire (the future Lower Bucks).
Buckingham residents believed Penn would build out their hamlet as the provincial capital. “Strong expectations had been entertained that the City of Philadelphia would be founded at Buckingham,” according to Bristol historian Doron Green in 1911. “The cherished hopes of the citizens were overruled, mainly in consequence of the river navigation being more favorable to heavy shipping further down.” Sorry, no steam-powered dredges for rent back then. Dang!
There is no sourcing to Doron’s claim. We’re left to imagine how Bristol would have changed had it become Philly. City hall would have risen where the Grundy clock tower is today. Rocky would have jogged up the steps of the Art Museum in Croydon. Philadelphia’s northern neighborhood of endless row homes and factories would have stretched as far as Doylestown and New Hope. Had Bristol become the nation’s capital, the Capitol building, the White House and Washington Monument would have taken up all of Bristol. The Lincoln Memorial would be in Bensalem and the Pentagon in Yardley or New Hope. You get the picture.
Morrisville as Washington
A century later Morrisville stepped to the plate.
The year was 1783. Congress representing all 13 states met in Trenton to resolve where to build a “Federal town” for the new republic. Representing Pennsylvania was Robert Morris, wealthy shipping magnate and Philadelphia banker who financed the American Revolution. He campaigned relentlessly to establish the capital at the “Falls of the Delaware”, the rapids between Trenton and Morrisville that separate the Delaware River estuary from its fresh water source.
Morris preferred the Pennsylvania side for the capital where he owned property. Congress agreed and appointed three commissioners including Morris to enter contracts for public buildings “in an elegant manner.” The location seemed logical since this is where George Washington headquartered at Summerseat Mansion before his legendary crossing of the Delaware to attack Trenton in the Revolution.
Financial problems delayed construction for several years. That gave Southerners second thoughts. They insisted the capital be built in Maryland or further south to preserve political balance between North and South. Alexander Hamilton of New York and James Madison of Virginia brokered a deal: Let George Washington decide. By a two-vote margin in both the Senate and House, the new president gained sole authority. He chose swampland on the Potomac near his Virginia plantation.
For local citizens and Morris, dreams of glory went puff. It’s left to us to imagine what might have been. The Capitol building would have replaced downtown Morrisville where Robert Morris’ statue stands. The White House likely would have gone up in Fallsington and the Washington Monument at Graystone on the northern edge of Morrisville. Twenty-five square miles of Lower Bucks would have become the District of Columbia.
In the end, we lucked out. We still have the beautiful landscape of Bucks County. It’s more or less intact and admired around the world.
Sources include “A History of the Old Homes on Radcliffe Street” by Doron Green published in 1938, and “Robert Morris: Financier of the American Revolution” by Charles Rappleye published in 2010.
Carl LaVO can be reached at [email protected]. His signed coffee table books “Bucks County Adventures” are available at bookstores in Newtown, Doylestown and Lahaska (Peddler’s Village).
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