Who was Gradyville named for? The simple answer is State Senator John Cadwalader Grady. But the back story is more complex. And interesting. And like so many interesting stories, it begins with a tavern.
In 1813, Nathan Baker was licensed to open a tavern at an intersection on the Edgmont road. His Rising Sun Tavern was located at today’s Gradyville, though in 1813, it was simply a nameless intersection. The tavern was a great success – one resident remembered that “It was a honey of a place, the king of all places.” Other businesses sprang up nearby – a store, blacksmith shop and wheelwright. The intersection became a village: Rising Sun. Israel Howell, a Philadelphia leather merchant, bought a tannery property near the village and built a store at the intersection. To give the village respectability, the citizens petitioned to have a post office established, named for its most prominent citizen. In 1832 the village became Howellville, with the post office at Howell’s store.
Israel and his wife Elizabeth Rowland Howell took up residence and expanded on an elegant home, Forest Hill, just north of the store on Middletown Road. They raised their family of six children, with Israel splitting time between his country house and his business in town. His eldest son Arthur joined him in his leather goods business but died suddenly in 1845 at age 28. By 1848, Israel had dissolved the leather business and moved from Edgmont.
In the 1880s, John C. Grady, a rising star as a state Senator from Philadelphia, bought the 164-acre Gradyville Stock Farm, the Howell mansion and 22 acres of downtown Howellville, including the Howellville Hotel. In 1890, he proposed to change the name of the village post office to Gradyville. There was a notice in the local newspaper that some residents were upset about this. But by this time 40 years had passed since Israel Howell had moved on. And as the powerful president pro tempore of the state senate, Grady could give the word, and it happened. No further complaints were heard.
Grady had a lot of legislative achievements – a career the village can be proud of. When he retired in 1905, he held the record for the longest service as a state senator: 28 years. He died in 1916, unmarried with no children. His greatest legacies are the Pennsylvania Superior Court – created through legislation he sponsored, and Gradyville, Pa 19039.
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