Media, Pennsylvania, was established in 1850 to become the county seat of Delaware County, but there’s much to learn about what transpired in “Everybody’s Hometown” before 1850 and right up to the present day. Our area was part of the homeland of the Lenni Lenape people, then became the site of some of the earliest colonial settlements under William Penn’s charter. There are many stories of farming and industry, competition and cooperation, and endings as well as beginnings. MHS’s home, Minshall House, was once a business in the village of Providence, which could not survive once a commercial center grew up around the new courthouse, only a half-mile to the west.
Media residents played important roles in helping people escape slavery via the Underground Railroad, and descendants of those Freedom Seekers live in our community today. Mediaites were and are active in many national movements — temperance, anti-slavery, women’s suffrage, desegregation, civil rights, anti-war, to name a few — and their actions had impact not just on our local history, but on the nation’s.
The Media Historical Society is dedicated to making these stories known. You can help us by letting us know what you are most interested in learning about our community and by contributing to research and exhibit creation.
