The Rhoads Tannery, The Oldest Business in the U.S.

History Spotlight by Doug Humes

Photos courtesy of the Marple Historical Society

Marple Township is the birthplace of what was one of the longest continuously operated businesses in our country’s history. In 1702, Joseph Rhoads, son of one of the first Marple settlers, started a tannery business on his farm, turning cow, deer, sheep and hog hides into leather for buggy whips, shoes, boots, harnesses, saddles and aprons.

Original Rhoads tannery buildings

Joseph Rhoads' tannery, next to his farmhouse at the corner of what is now Reed and Sproul Roads, evolved from a sideline to a profitable business at that location, handed down for 166 years from generation to generation.

By 1800, the 4th Rhoads tanner, Joseph II, had a 550-acre farm, tanyard, and a scythe stone quarry along Darby Creek. With the Industrial Revolution, the firm began specializing in industrial belts to turn the moving parts of the machines in the new factories. A 1910 news article noted that a Rhoads belt had run without repair in a flour mill for 28 years, and another belt had lasted in a textile mill for 25 years, a much longer life than that of the skin’s original occupant!

Location of Rhoads tannery (1848 Ash Map)

A 1976 National Park Service report notes that “The tannery, before 1840, consisted of 16 handlers, 5 leaches, and over 40 vats, most of which were underlaid by wooden pipes or ‘trunks.’ A horse-powered pump facilitated the flow of liquids between vats through these pipes. …A brook running through the property was diverted into a ditch, to furnish the tanyard with water.”

The family adhered to its Quaker non-violence principles, and during various wars, it would not sell its products to the military, believing “war destroyed the inner light of Christ-like perfection in individuals.” The Rhoads family believed that their labor should be of practical use to mankind, and they lived by and sacrificed for those principles.

The 1702 Rhoads family home (right) and tannery buildings (left)

In 1868, the company bought a large tanning facility in Wilmington, and left Marple for those larger facilities. In 1977, they moved again, to New Castle, Delaware. In 1993, the Rhoads family sold their interests in the company, after eight generations of family ownership and management. And in 2009, the oldest continually operated business in America closed its doors.

The Rhoads house and tannery buildings in Marple Township were demolished in 1965. Those properties had been occupied by tenants since 1868, but the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, which had bought the property in 1914, no longer wished to maintain it.

What mysteries of history still lie undisturbed below the surface of the old Rhoads tannery?

For more on the history of Marple, visit the Marple Historical Society website and Facebook page, and join the Society to keep up to date on coming events:

www.MarpleHistoricalSociety.org