Stump Grinding Phoenixville

The Phoenixville area was originally known as Manavon, after early-Chester County judge and politician David Lloyd bought a tract of land he named “Manavon” (believed to have come from Lloyd’s home parish of Manafon in Wales) in 1713. The town was originally settled in 1732. In its early years, Manavon developed around a grist mill situated upon the banks of the French Creek. In 1790, the French Creek Nail Works (later the Phoenix Iron Works) opened as the first nail factory in the United States, and would become the economic center of the town for nearly the next two centuries, producing notable products such as the Griffen gun and the Phoenix column.

During the early 19th century, Manavon saw an influx of Irish immigrants, mainly from County Donegal, who would construct a neighborhood on the banks of the Schuylkill River named “Sceilp Level” (an Irish term meaning “water flowing over rock’s edge”). These immigrants would help in the construction of the Schuylkill Canal in 1827 and the Black Rock Tunnel in 1838, which gave the north side of the town the name “Tunnel Hill”. On March 6, 1849, despite public opposition, Manavon was incorporated as a borough and was renamed to “Phoenixville”, officially separating from Schuylkill Township.

In the late 19th century and into the early 20th century, Phoenixville experienced at the arrival of a second wave of immigrants, this time mainly Poles, Italians, Ukrainians, and Slovaks. By the early 20th century, other manufacturing and retail industries would arrive in Phoenixville, joining with the Phoenix Iron Company (formerly the Phoenix Iron Works). One notable type of manufacturing in Phoenixville during this time was famous (and now highly collectible) Etruscan majolica pottery.