THlv SYCAMORE MILL. lOI 



Painter, George B. Howard, Baldwin Howard, John Miller, 

 Sarah L. Miller, Levis Miller ( father of Edgar T. Miller, of 

 Media), Jeremiah Bishop (father of Henr>' C. Bishop, of 

 Media), Thomas Reece, and many others. 



The date of the organization and establishment of the 

 Library does not appear to be definiteh' known, but it must 

 have come into existence early in the last century.* The 

 farmers of the neighborhood, living- far removed from the 

 large communities and at a time when books were rare, no 

 doubt early felt the need of some educational centre. This 

 praiseworthy desire it was, no doubt, that brought the Union 

 Library Company into being. 



The building occupied by the Library was originally 

 erected by Amor Bishop, father of Pratt Bishop, the latter at 

 the time of his death a resident of Media. The first floor was 

 used as a sort of office in connection with the mill, while the 

 second story of the building was occupied by the library. 

 The association flourished and soon became the possessor of a 

 number of valuable works. In addition there were on exhi- 

 .bition in the building many scientific specimens, including 

 minerals, stuffed birds, foxes, 'coons, squirrels,! etc. 



The library early became the centre of scientific knowledge 

 of the neighborhood, and would probably have existed many 

 more years as such had it not been for the advent upon the 

 scene of a more pretentious organization. This was the Dela- 

 ware County Institute of Science, organized in 1833, and 

 which, previous to coming to Media in 1867, had its home 

 near the Rose Tree Inn, not so very far from Sycamore Mills. 

 The rising Institute of Science soon became the educational 

 centre of the neighborhood, and the activity of the Library 

 waned. Despite this, however, the latter association kept in 



*:\Iiiisliall PaiiUer, in a letter to Caleb Yaniall concerning, the Union 

 Library Company, written in 1868, speaks of its liavinj^ been oroanized 

 about fifty years previonsly ; that is, abont i8t8. 



tTlie latter were the handiwork of Thomas Hishoj), one of the sons 

 of Amor Bisho]), a school teacher and a taxidermist of some skill. 



