Wawa is an unincorporated community located in Delaware County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania in Greater Philadelphia, partially in Middletown Township and partially in Chester Heights Borough.
History
In the 1700s, people from Philadelphia and New Jersey settled Wawa due to the community's abundance of water. Various mills, including gristmills and paper mills, opened on area creeks. Wawa was originally known as Pennellton and Grubb's Bridge. When Edward Worth built an estate here, he named it "Wawa", the Ojibwe word for "wild goose", because of the flocks of geese attracted to the still water behind Lenni milldam. The name had been transferred to the town by 1884. Forge Hill was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 7, 1973.
Cynthia Mayer of the Philadelphia Inquirer said in 1989 that there was an "...indignity of being from a town now associated with [a] convenience store. Unlike, say, Hershey, Pa. - or Wawa's cherished dairying past - outsiders now tend to associate Wawa with Cheetos, emergency toilet paper errands and Super Squeezers."
In 1989, Wawa Inc. announced that it planned to expand its Wawa dairy, which is located in Middletown Township. Walter Kirby, head of the Wawa Farms Association, alerted residents of the Wawa community, and they appeared in large numbers at a meeting. Kirby said that residents did not want the dairy to expand, but they preferred having a dairy to other types of development.
Geography
Wawa is located in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, partially in Middletown Township and partially in Chester Heights Borough. Cynthia Mayer of the Philadelphia Inquirer said that Wawa "doesn't bother to conveniently contain itself within either municipality" because the community predates that of the county and both municipalities. As of 1989 Wawa has several open fields, various estates, the Wawa Inc. corporate headquarters, and what Mayer said was "what may be the last dairy farm in Delaware County." Mayer said that the dairy "gives Wawa its flavor" and, in 1989, it "both preserves Wawa as a neighborhood and threatens it, according to some residents."
Baltimore Pike splits Wawa into east and west sections. As of 1989, according to Cynthia Mayer of the Philadelphia Inquirer, "traffic clogs" Baltimore Pike.
Cityscape
Cynthia Mayer of the Philadelphia Inquirer said that open land "characterizes" the community and that Wawa overall is "quite simply, beautiful." She attributed the overall aesthetic to the Wawa Inc. dairy and the Wood family, which had a long history with the Wawa company. The houses within Wawa are mostly stone houses erected in the 18th century. Some houses are 19th-century wooden houses which have large porches. Mayer said that the roads, such as Valley Road and Wawa Road "are narrow and winding and take you through dappled woods, only occasionally interrupted by a house." Mayer said that many residents lived on acres formerly occupied by Wawa farmland. In 1989 Walter Kirby, the head of the Wawa Farms Association, recalled that the Wawa dairy began selling lots of what was its farmland beginning in 1940. In 1989 Kirby said, as paraphrased by Mayer, that "Wawa residents are both grateful to the dairy and wary of its success" because they "realize Wawa has remained a pocket of green space because the Wood family owns so much land."
Boundaries
In 1989 Cynthia Mayer of the Philadelphia Inquirer said that "In fact, the most remarkable thing about Wawa [...] is that no one can agree on where it is, really. It is a place where a lot of people would like to live, and so a lot say they do. But ask them where the boundaries of Wawa are, and, well...." W. Bruce Clark, the manager of Middletown Township, said that "No one's ever drawn a line on a map saying this is where Wawa begins and ends." Fritz Schroeder, the vice president of Wawa Inc. and a resident of Wawa, said "Wawa is a state of mind. If you want to be in Wawa, you can be in Wawa." In 1989 Mayer said that many residents, including Walter Kirby, the head of the Wawa Farms Association, said that because they lived on land formerly occupied by cows, they lived in Wawa.
Demographics
According to Cynthia Mayer of the Philadelphia Inquirer, as of 1989, population estimates ranged from five families to 265 families. Mayer said that "one longtime resident on Wawa Road" estimated that it was five families, while 68-year-old Walter Kirby, the head of the Wawa Farms Association, estimated that it was 265 families.