Like many communities, the village that grew on this site began in 1734 with a gristmill. The 1772 newspaper advertisement that caught the eye of prosperous merchant trader and Philadelphia Quaker, Richard Waln, offered a grist mill, saw mill, fulling mill, blacksmith and cooper’s shops, a large 2-family brick house, five tenant houses, farm buildings, 100 plowed acres and two orchards. Richard Waln purchased the site, renamed it Walnford, and moved in with his wife Elizabeth and children in 1773, as soon as their elegant home was constructed.