After Delaware County was split off from Chester County in 1789, a new road was needed to take travelers west from Newtown Square to the new county seat of West Chester, and so the West Chester Turnpike was laid out. As the new road gained travelers, several new inns appeared along the road, including Beaumont’s Tavern in Newtown Square around 1792. In 1806, the President Tavern, at the intersection of the new Turnpike and Providence Road in Edgmont was opened.
Photo courtesy of Newtown Square
Historical Society
The President Tavern was located in a log house that Joseph Griffith had built at that intersection in 1798. James Jeffries saw the opportunity provided by the new road, and so rented the house and applied for a tavern license. An 1806 datestone was added to the large stone building that was constructed to accommodate expected travelers. Jeffries’ business instincts were good – the tavern continued to serve thirsty travelers under a variety of keepers up until 1863, after which by one account, “the President ceased to be kept as a public house.”
The President Inn disappeared from the pages of history until after Prohibition, when by 1936 the Edgmont Inn opened in the historic old building, offering floor shows and a live orchestra. The Edgmont Inn had a good run for about 40 years, and was referred to as a country and western hangout in the 1960’s when operated by Walter Haly as Haly’s Edgmont Inn. The old Inn miraculously survived a 1966 fire-bombing, when a regular patron, disgruntled at being thrown out of the bar so often, convinced an accomplice to break a side window and throw home-made Molotov cocktails into the building. The old inn survived.
“Evening at Edgmont”
Photo courtesy of Nick Santoleri
Inn in 1968
Newtown Square Historical Society
In 1975, Bill Daley, who had been partners at the Lamplighter Tavern in Havertown, bought the building, and after renovations re-opened it as “Bill Daley’s Olde Country Tavern,” and ran it for about 20 years. In 1994, Bob Palumbo took over and changed the name back to the Edgmont Inn for several years. In 1997, Mary Lou and Joe Moro took over, and made extensive renovations to give the old country tavern an Italian flavor. They named the restaurant “La Locanda”, Italian for “inn.”
The weary traveler from 1806 would recognize the old building at the same intersection, but would be amazed at the Italian cuisine that continues to be served there today, more than two hundred years later.
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