Matt Schickling, the Wire
Hatboro is an old place. There’s no doubt about that.
In its 300 years of existence, borough historian David Shannon places the most significance on three “touchstones” in time. They are the founding of the Union Library, the establishment of classical education at Loller Academy and the Battle of Crooked Billet, a seemingly insignificant Revolutionary War battle that took place on the grounds of the borough on May 1, 1778.
While Union Library and Loller Academy, now Borough Hall, remain front-and-center in the borough’s landscape, the Battle of Crooked Billet exists more subliminally.
People know it happened, but rarely is it called to mind. There’s hardly a tangible sign of its existence, save a monument outside the Crooked Billet Elementary School located on the periphery of the borough.
The monument, originally built in 1861, existed on the corner of N. York Road and Monument Avenue — it’s actually the reason for Monument Avenue’s name, according to Shannon. This spot marked the southwest corner of General John Lacey and his Pennsylvania militia’s encampment. This is a prominent place in present-day Hatboro. Thousands of cars and people on foot from main street pass through every day.
“The monument had been there for a specific reason: all the traffic in Hatboro had to pass right by it,” Shannon said. “People would say, ‘Meet me at the monument.’ “
The tall, thin stone monument existed as a de facto symbol of Hatboro, a reminder that something historical happened here, something important to the genesis of the United States of America.
On April 11, 1967, it was moved to the grounds of Crooked Billet Elementary, the actual battle site. It may even be the only public school built over the battlefield of the Revolutionary War. It makes sense that there would be a monument here to commemorate the soldiers and the battle.
But it doesn’t make sense for it to be remembered only there.
“In the process of moving the monument, they basically hid it,” Shannon said. “They put it in such a location that only students or residents of the immediate neighborhood knew where it was.”
So for the past 48 years, the monument has been tucked in the corner of town, not forgotten, but certainly not shown off. Perhaps with the 300th anniversary, Hatboro’s history will become more prominent in the minds of residents, but perhaps it will stay the same.
“It is assumed that everybody knows. You tend to put it on what you might call the backburner,” Shannon said. “You can’t take for granted history, you have to be reminded of it.”
This is the main reason Shannon headed the initiative of getting Borough Council to place a historical marker on the former site of the monument. Earlier this month, that marker was installed, recalling the battle and pointing people to Crooked Billet Elementary to see the monument, just a two-minute drive away.
Though the Battle of Crooked Billet appears as more of skirmish compared to the Battle of Bunker Hill or Lexington and Concord, it was vital to the overall scheme of General George Washington, who, according to Shannon, marched through the borough with an 11,000-man army more than four times.
“Hatboro people have seen the British army, they have seen military,” Shannon said. “It is a known fact that the British army used York Road before the Revolutionary War to move north and south.”
So these people saw the show of war, but never its reality.
The same could probably said of Lacey’s militia: it was more of a nuisance than an actual threat. He would disrupt the transport of goods to British troops in Philadelphia, and instead send them to Revolutionary troops in Valley Forge.
On the day of the battle, Lacey’s army was taken by surprise and driven into what is now Warminster with heavy casualties. The event wasn’t important to the grand scheme of the war, but had an important psychological effect on those local to the area.
“It brought to Hatboro, which was a small farming community, what was going on in the colonies,” Shannon said. “They came face-to-face with the brutality of the Revolutionary War.”
The monument was erected the same year the Civil War began as a symbol of patriotism that recalls the original fight for American independence. This was pivotal in Shannon’s reasons for pushing for the marker.
“We’d like to instigate that feeling in Hatboro,” he said. “Get back to the point that they feel the same way as the people who erected the monument in the first place.”
May 1, also known as Crooked Billet Day, is celebrated by the elementary school. There is a gathering at the monument. Students dress in colonial attire and place a wreath at the monument to commemorate the soldiers who fought there. The public is always welcome to attend.
The loss there wasn’ t massive — 26 Americans died in the battle — and maybe that’s reflected by the small ceremony at the small monument in a small town, but maybe that’s what it means to not take history for granted.
