Land Acquisition

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Land Acquisition

The Pennsylvania Railroad acquired the land to re-engineer the Main Line through the use of eminent domain which facility was given to the company by an act of 1867 as described as follows:

Court of Common Pleas, Chester County

The Petition of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company respectively represents -

That your petitioners, by a certain act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, approved the tenth day of April 1867, entitiled "A further supplement to an act to incorporate the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, approved April 13th, AD 1846, authorizing the Pennsylvania Railroad Company to construct additional railraod tracks, sidings, depots, workshops, and other appurtenances, along, adjoining, or continguous to their own line of railroad, and the railroads now owned and leased or hereafter to be owned or leased by them, and to straighten and improve the same, and to acquire the property upon which to construct the same, paying therefore the value of the property to be used or occupied," are authorized and enpowered from time to time, as they may deem necessary, to construct and use, along, adjoining, or continguous to their lines of railroad, or to the lines of railroad now owned or leased, or that hereafter may be owned or leased, by them, additional tracks, sidings, depots, turnouts, water-ways, workshops, and other appurtenances requisit and needful for the prosecution of their business, and for the accomodation and transportation of the trade and traffic over and upon the said railroads, and also improve and straighten the said lines of railroads, and to construct the needful apputenances thereto; and for all and any such purposes the said Company are authorized to enter upon, acquire, take, and appropriate such land, tenements and property, along, adjoining, and contiguous with said railroads, or elsewhere, as they may deem necessary for the purpose of straightening or improving of the said railroads, and of constructing the needful appurtenancies thereto.

That your petitioners, for all and any of the purposes mentioned in the said act, deem it necessary to enter upon, acquire, take, and appropriate the following described premises, to wit :- [a description of the propeties then followed].

The process used in the acquisitions has not been found, but it is likely to be similar to the process used today - the condemner writes to the condemnee describing the land to be acquired, a copy of the letter being sent to the Prothonotary of the county court. The Prothonotary would then send the petition of the condener to the court but would defer the hearing to give time for the condemner and condemnee to agree a price for the land and any damages. Meanwhile, after 30 days if the legality of the acquisition was not contested then the condemner has the right to take the land for the described purposes. If the price of the land and dmages could not be agreed the case was heard by the court. Normally the court would assign 5 jurors to visit the property and decide on a price.

In the area between Strafford and Green Tree there were 7 condemnation cases heard by the court. These are reviewed below, starting at the eastmost and working westwards:

Owen Seery

Agreement was reached after the court case started. See deed K9-235.

Note that the 2 plans below are oriented differently. The southern part of Old Eagle School Road was also oriented differently from today’s road which is shown in the 1918 plan.

Owen Seery
Condemnation Plan