In the early days of West Chester Pike, farmers from Newtown Square and surrounding communities brought their milk to be sold in Philadelphia each day via horse and wagon. The trip to the city and back took all day.
Farm in Newtown Square
Then, beginning in 1895, the Philadelphia & West Chester Traction Company started to run a trolley car between Philadelphia and Newtown Square (eventually going all the way to West Chester). By January of 1897, the company added a daily “milk run.” A special trolley car would travel out to the end of the line, drop off the empty cans from the previous day’s run, and then pick up full milk cans from farmers on the way back to Philadelphia. Farmers had cans custom-made to identify their brand and location. Once the trolley reached 63rd Street, the milk would be purchased by local dairies lined up with horse-drawn wagons.
one set heading off to the Farmers Siding next to the Hotel on
the left. Rt 252 north is at far right
The service was a boon to the farming families, and over one million quarts of milk were transported in just the first year. The farmers built platforms along the route of the trolley where their milk could be easily picked up. Newtown Square was such a busy pickup location that a special siding off the main line was built next to the Newtown Square Hotel, at the corner of West Chester Pike and Newtown Street Road. Known by the locals as the “Farmers Siding”, it became the convenient location for pickup and delivery of milk destined for Philadelphia for many years.
by PennDOT in 2020 when
excavating near former site
of Newtown Square Hotel
However, in 1924 the milk companies started sending their own delivery trucks down West Chester Pike directly to the farmers. By January of 1925, the “milk trolley” was done and milk service was discontinued. The siding next to the Newtown Square Hotel was eventually ripped out and its history was forgotten. With West Chester Pike and Newtown Street Road widened several times since then, all traces of the “milk trolley” siding were buried in history.
In 2020 during the latest widening of West Chester Pike, two small pieces of rail from the Farmer’s Siding were unearthed. The artifacts are proudly displayed at the Newtown Square Railroad Museum at Drexel Lodge Park, along with one of the later trolley cars that continued to carry passengers to Newtown Square. The artifacts and the trolley are tangible evidence of how technology began to change a small farming community. Kudos to the Railroad Museum for helping to preserve our past!
For more history on Newtown Square, Delaware County, and membership information, please visit our website at: https://nshistory.org/