Willistown Township
Willistown Meeting House
The Willistown Meeting was founded in 1753, yet it wasn't until 1769 they built their meetinghouse adjacent to the Okehocking Indian preserve of 500 acres which Penn had granted to the Lenape Indians in 1701. The Quakers built a new meetinghouse in 1798 that is currently standing.
Historic Sugartown
"Shugart’s Town" became a vibrant community with a school, general store, businesses and meeting places. The place was named after Eli Shugart, a Revolutionary War veteran who became sheriff after settling in Chester County. He was also a tavern keeper while in the area. Over the years, Sugartown became a major hub for travelers when they needed a place to stop. It continued in that role throughout the 19th century.
Joaquim Bishop and Platinum
Joaquim Bishop (1803-1886) was born in Portugal and emigrated first to Baltimore, then to Philadelphia where he served as an apprentice at a jewelry store. After the business failed he worked as a finisher at a brass-foundry, and then was hired at the University of Pennsylvania as an assistant to chemist Dr. Robert Hare. His skills in chemistry and instrument-making focus is attention on a new material: platinum. With that, he established the J. Bishop & Company Platinum Works in Philadelphia, and earned the Premium Award at the Franklin Institute for his work with platinum. In 1858, Joaquim moved his business to Radnor. At the end of the Civil War he moves further west to Sugartown. There he produces 20 oz ingots of platinum (about $24,000 per bar at today’s prices) with the help of 2-3 assistants. Bishop would make the deliveries to Philadelphia customers himself rather than risk having material lost or stolen.
Bishop's business would continue in various forms in the county until the 1990s when the Johnson-Matthey manufacturing and processing site in Exton, Pennsylvania was closed.
Radnor Hunt
Although the sport of fox hunting dates to the 18th century in this region Radnor Hunt is the oldest continuously active fox hunt in the United States. With so many packs of hounds owned by wealthy landowners and local farmers in the Philadelphia western suburbs, there was an opportunity to bring in fellow hunters together, especially after World War II when farmland outside Philadelphia grew scarce. The Radnor Hunt was founded in 1883 in Radnor by Thomas Mather and his friends. In 1931, the organization moved to the White Horse village in Willistown, and purchased 139-acres of land originally owned by the Hibberd family. The residence was converted to a clubhouse.
Bibliography
Bradsby, Henry C. History of Bureau County, Illinois. (Chicago: World Publishing Company, 1885): 651.
Futhey, John Smith and Gilbert Cope. History of Chester County, Pennsylvania: With Genealogical and Biographical Sketches. (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1881): 241, 481-482.
"Historic Sugartown." Historic Sugartown. Accessed July 24, 2025. https://historicsugartown.org/.
"History of Radnor Hunt." 1883 Foundation. Accessed July 24, 2025. https://1883foundation.org/history/.