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The
Cradle of Pennsylvania

THE
CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

THOMAS WILLING BALCH
A Vice-President

OF THE

Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia

ALLEN, LANE AND SCOTT

1921

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Copyright 1921

BY

Thomas Willing Balch

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^A 27 iS£2

AN APPEAL TO THE

PATRIOTIC COLONIAL SOCIETIES

OF PENNSYLVANIA

TO SAVE

THE CRADLE OF OUR STATE
BY URGING THE FOUNDING OF
THE GOVERNOR PRINTZ PARK

The
Cradle of Pennsylvania

I.

IN 1907, Virginia celebrated the
tri-centenary of the settlement on
Jamestown Island, the first birth-
place of the United States of America.
In 1920 and 1921, Massachusetts
commemorated the third centennial
of the landing of her Pilgrim Fathers
at Plymouth Rock, another birth-
place of our country. The peoples of
those two Commonwealths did well
to recall to the attention of the whole
Nation the early settlements of Vir-
ginia and Massachusetts by men and

(I)

2 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

women of English stock. For with
the settlements at Jamestown Island
and Plymouth Rock began respec-
tively the settlement by the English-
speaking race of the five colonies
south of Mason and Dixon's line —
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, and Georgia — and
the four colonies in New England —
Massachusetts, New Hampshire,
Rhode Island, and Connecticut.
Two other European Nations be-
sides England joined in the work
of colonizing the Atlantic seaboard
of our country embraced within
the area of the original Thirteen
Colonies. Those two powers were
the United Netherlands and Sweden.
Three other European Nations be-
gan settlements in other parts of

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 3

the territory comprised within the
present bounds of the United States.
In the order of their occupancy and
colonization of American lands, those
three Nations were Spain, France and
Russia. But none of these last three
had a hand in the founding of our
Nation. Their contributions were
subsequently absorbed either by pur-
chase or conquest.

The Hollanders made a settlement
in 1612 far up the North or Hudson
River and built two years later in
1614 at the same place a fort to which
a few years afterwards was given the
name of Fort Orange. The mer-
chants of the United Netherlands
began trading annually as early
as possibly 1613, certainly 1614,
with the Indians on Manhattan

4 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

Island. And since that time trade
has been kept up every year be-
tween Holland and the valley of
the Hudson. From that trade re-
sulted the settlement of Amsterdam
or New Amsterdam in New Nether-
land. Fort Orange and New Am-
sterdam are now respectively Albany
and New York. From the Dutch
settlement on Manhattan Island, the
Hollanders began to cross over and
settle in what is now northern New
Jersey. Meanwhile under Captain
Cornelius Mey, whose name is per-
petuated in Cape May, the Holland-
ers also began effectually to occupy
what is now southern New Jersey.
Those lands that the Hollanders had
occupied and settled, passed by right
of conquest in 1664 under the sover-

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 5

eignty of the English Crown. So
both the present States of New York
and New Jersey, which were born out
of New Netherland, look for the be-
ginning of their sovereignty to the
United Netherlands.

Likewise, a third one of the origi-
nal Thirteen Colonies or States de-
rives her sovereignty from the States
General of the United Netherlands:
Delaware. And like New York and
New Jersey, Delaware eventually
passed by conquest in war under the
sovereignty of the English Crown.
But unlike those two colonies, Dela-
ware belonged for seventeen years
after the Dutch period to the Swed-
ish Crown and then again came as
the result of war under the sover-
eignty of the States General of the

6 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

Netherlands before she passed by
right of conquest under the English
Crown.

The Hollanders were the first white
people to occupy and settle upon the
land which now constitutes the State
of Delaware. They established a col-
ony on a stream near the mouth of
the Delaware River in 1631. The
Hollanders named the creek on which
they settled, Hoornkill, most prob-
ably in memory of the city of Hoorn
on the Zuyder Zee. They built a fort
and called it Oplandt. The surround-
ing country they named Zwaandael,
very likely on account of the number
of swans that then abounded in the
region. But owing to the inability
of the Hollanders to live on amicable
terms with the red men, the latter

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 7

rose in their wrath six months after
the founding of the Dutch settlement
and wiped it out of existence by kill-
ing all its members except, according
to tradition, one sole Hollander.
That effectually ended that early
Dutch effort to actually occupy and
possess the land of present-day Dela-
ware. While the Hollanders had
with the destruction of the settle-
ment on the Hoornkill by the Indians
thereby lost the actual possession of
the land of Delaware, they still had
by the rules of the Law of Nations an
inchoate title to that country which
they could change into possession
once more by occupying the land
within a reasonable time again. But
the Dutch did not reoccupy the coun-
try along the Delaware in the next

8 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

few years. And in 1638 a Swedish
colonial expedition, sent out in the
reign of Queen Christina by her
Chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna, began
a Swedish settlement at a point
within the bounds of the present
City of Wilmington. The creek on
which they located they named in
honor of their Queen, Christina
Creek, and the fort they built they
likewise called after their sovereign
lady. Fort Christina.

In 1642 Oxenstierna sent Colonel
Johan Printz, who had served in the
Thirty Years's War in the Germanic
Empire, to New Sweden to be the
Governor of the colony. Printz
sailed to cross the Atlantic from the
port of Goteborg on the west coast
of Sweden with two vessels, the Fama

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 9

(Fame) , and the Svanen (Swan) . He
took with him new colonists and ad-
ditional supplies to reinforce the in-
fant Swedish colony. The expedition
touched on its transatlantic voy-
age at the English West Indies, then
ascended Delaware Bay and River,
and reached Fort Christina early in
1643. Governor Printz had received
from his sovereign queen and her
chancellor full powers to establish
the capital of the colony wherever he
thought best. Printz was not satis-
fied with the site of Fort Christina a
few miles up a narrow creek, a tribu-
tary of the broad Delaware River.
While it was a convenient place to
trade with the surrounding Indians
and afforded secure anchorage for
the Swedish vessels, it did not enable

10 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

the Swedish governor to control the
passage up and down the Delaware
River with his cannon. So Printz
started out very shortly after his
arrival at Fort Christina on a voyage
of exploration. He sailed up the
Delaware River as far as San Kikan,
the modern Trenton.

As a result of the information
which he gained on that trip, Gov-
ernor Printz decided that the lower
end of Great Tenekongh or Tinicum
Island was the place to establish the
site of the capital and government
of New Sweden. Great Tinicum
Island was protected either by water
or marshes on all sides from a
direct attack from the mainland.
Opposite in the middle of the Dela-
ware River, Little Tinicum Island

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA II

lay, as it were, on the waters. Be-
tween Great and Little Tinicum
Islands there was an excellent natu-
ral harbor, the best for the small
vessels of the seventeenth century on
the whole course of the Delaware
River from San Kikan to the At-
lantic Ocean. So Governor Printz,
using the plenary powers reposed in
his good sense and judgment, de-
cided to remove in 1643 the capital
of New Sweden from Fort Christina
to Great Tinicum Island. On that
island, looking out over the Dela-
ware, he built a fort which he named
in honor of the Swedish port from
which he had sailed with his
expedition, Fort Nya Goteborg.
He built houses for the settlers,
and a house for himself, which

12 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

was known as Printzhof. He
had Swedish reHgious services. In
November, 1643, in a patent in
which Queen Christina granted the
whole island to Printz and his
descendants, the island was called
like the fort, Nya Goteborg. Sub-
sequently, in 1646, Printz built a
chapel near the fort. In September
of that year Magister Campanius
consecrated this small wooden
church on Tenekongh. It was the
first church of the historic church
of Sweden and also the first church
of any branch of the universal
church built within the bounds of
Pennsylvania.

When Governor Johan Printz, act-
ing by official authority for and on
behalf of his sovereign liege. Queen

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 1 3

Christina of Sweden, established in
1643 on Great Tinicum Island the
seat of the sovereignty of which he
was the personal and actual repre-
sentative in America, the lower end
of Great Tinicum Island became the
cradle of what is today the Com-
monwealth of Pennsylvania. It was
the first permanent white colony set-
tled within the area of our State. And
then for the first time the Governor
of a European colony, the personal
representative of a European sover-
eign, established the capital of his
colony within the bounds of our pres-
ent Commonwealth.

Before that day no white people
had effectually occupied the lands
that now form Pennsylvania. A
French voyageur, Etienne Brule, a

14 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

companion of Champlain, very prob-
ably had traversed about 1614 from
north to south our present State in
coursing down in a bark canoe the
Susquehanna River. Later the Hol-
landers had established one or two
temporary trading posts to collect
furs from the Indians but had never
attempted to occupy the country
permanently, as they had done in
the settlement of Fort Oplandt in
Swaandael at the southern end of
what is now Delaware.

Thus it was that Johan Printz in
his official capacity of Governor of
New Sweden, became the first execu-
tive in that line of Governors which
today actually and actively is repre-
sented by the Governor of Pennsyl-
vania. The sovereignty that Printz

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 1 5

established over the land — that sub-
sequently was named Pennsylvania
— by actual occupation and posses-
sion in 1643, was absorbed by con-
quest in 1655 by the States General
of the United Netherlands, from
whom in turn it was taken in 1664,
likewise in war, by the King of Eng-
land, by whom, subject to his royal
authority, it was delegated to Wil-
liam Penn as Proprietor. And there-
fore it is, that the permanent Swedish
settlement of Governor Printz at Tin-
icum in 1643 makes Tinicum Island
one of the birthplaces of the Ameri-
can Nation. And Pennsylvania
should not lag behind her sisters of
Virginia, New York and Massachu-
setts in pointing out to the whole
Union, nay to the whole world, where
her early history begins.

1 6 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

The memory of William Penn has
been preserved in the name of our
Commonwealth and in other ways.
But too many of Pennsylvania's he-
roic dead have not as yet received
their proper due on the scrolls of
history. And that is true of the
original founders of our Province.
With the passage of years, Governor
Printz and his Swedish settlement on
Great Tinicum have been all but for-
gotten in the great and immense
commercial development that has
come to our beautiful and splen-
didly endowed land of Pennsylvania.
While the people of Pennsylvania
have heard much of how Virginia had
a code of laws in 1611 and began
representative government in Ameri-
ca in 1619, how Fort Orange was

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA I J

built in 1614 and trade started in
1613 or 1614 between the United
Netherlands and Manhattan Island
and kept up every year since, and
how Massachusetts in the Mayflower
compact of 1620 made a valuable
contribution to the development of
our Nation, the people of Pennsyl-
vania have heard little of many of
the great contributions that this
Province and State have made to the
formation and upbuilding of the
United States of America.

For instance, it is all but forgotten
that the policy of fair dealings with
the Indians inaugurated at Tinicum
by Governor Printz and the Swedes
prevented the breaking out of war
between the pale faces and the red
men in the area of our State through

1 8 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

the Dutch period and the English
period until the coming of William
Penn in 1682. That was a precious
beginning upon which the great
Quaker statesman knew well how to
build and under his leadership peace
with the Indians continued for many
years more. That was a notable and
practical contribution to the cause of
peace on the part of Printz and Penn
of which our Commonwealth may
well be proud, and it was in sharp
contrast with the policy of war that
marked the beginning of some of the
other colonies. And Pennsylvania
has made other important contribu-
tions to the progress of mankind.

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 1 9

II.

ORE than a dozen years ago,
when the Society of Colonial
Wars decided to commemorate the
settlements of the Hollanders and
the Swedes in the valley of the
Delaware the present writer's in-
terest in Governor Printz and the
Swedes was awakened. On Satur-
day, the 6th of February, 1909,
at the banquet which the Society of
Colonial Wars gave to the Swedish
and the Netherlands Ministers in
the Assembly Hall of the Historical
Society of Pennsylvania, on the occa-
sion when the two bronze tablets on
the south side of the City Hall to the
memory of the Dutch and the Swed-

20 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

ish settlements in the Delaware Val-
ley were unveiled, I spoke to Mr. de
Lagercrantz, the Swedish Minister,
about the Swedish settlement on
Tinicum Island and Governor Printz.
He knew practically nothing of either.
Then I explained to him that that
was the first permanent settlement
of Europeans within the area of pres-
ent day Pennsylvania, and further,
that Johan Printz was the first Gov-
ernor in the line of executives that
had developed into the Governors of
Pennsylvania. I told Mr. de Lager-
crantz that while we had in the His-
torical Society portraits of Gustavus
Adolphus, Queen Christina and Axel
Oxenstierna who favored and sent
out the Swedish colonial ventures to
America, we had not a picture of

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 21

Governor Printz, not even a small
print or wood cut. And then I said
to Mr. de Lagercrantz that if a por-
trait of Printz existed in Sweden, and
that if either an original or a copy,
no matter how small, could be pre-
sented to the Historical Society, it
would be a notable contribution to
American history.

In addition, I urged upon Mr. de
Lagercrantz, that if such a picture or
portrait could come to the Historical
Society as a gift from the King of
Sweden, it would be better still. Mr.
de Lagercrantz was greatly interested.
He asked me to write him in a letter
all that I had just told him so that
he could send it on to Sweden to see
if a portrait of Governor Printz could
be found. Accordingly, I did write

22 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

him the next day, as he requested,
and in a few days received the follow-
ing reply:

* legation de Suede

'Washington the 11 of
February, '09.
''My dear Mr. Balch:

"Many thanks for your kind letter
and for all kindness shown me at
the splendid entertainment by the
'Society of Colonial Wars.'

"I have already copied your letter
and sent it home to start a search for
Printz's portrait.

"It is sure to be somewhere, but
there may be some difficulty to find
it. Probably there is one in Chem-
nitz. The case is in the best of hands
now and I will let you know as soon

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 23

as I hear something of interest in the
matter.

"I am, my dear Mr. Balch, your
cousin from the 17th Century.
'^Truly and respectfully

'Tagercrantz/'

The investigation thus begun re-
sulted in the finding of a portrait of
Johan Printz in the church of Jon-
koping. It had been discovered a
few years before by Dr. Amandus
Johnson. A copy of this picture was
made and sent over as a gift from
King Gustavus the Fifth, not to the
Historical Society, as I had sug-
gested, but to our Swedish Colonial
Society, then recently organized by
the vision and energy of Messrs.
Gregory B. Keen and Amandus John-
son. And to that society it still

24 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

belongs. That was the first practical
step to recognize here Printz's his-
torical importance.

As time went on, I looked further
into the subject of that early begin-
ning of our Province. I presented a
paper at the annual meeting of the
American Antiquarian Society at
Worcester, Massachusetts, on Wed-
nesday the 21st of October, 1914, on
"The Swedish Beginnings of Penn-
sylvania.'' ^ 1 told the gentlemen from
Massachusetts and other New Eng-
landers there assembled how the sov-
ereignty of our Province and State
began with Johan Printz, Governor
of New Sweden in 1643, how he had
established the capital of his govern-

^ ** Proceedings of the American Antiquarian
Society for October 21st, 1914," "Worcester,
Massachusetts, New Series, Volume 24, page 305.

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 25

ment on Great Tinicum Island, which
was the first capital representing a
European sovereign planted within
the bounds of what is now Pennsyl-
vania, and how Pennsylvania alone
of the Thirteen Colonies looked for
the beginning of her sovereignty and
Christianity to Sweden.

The next year, in a paper which I
read before the American Philosoph-
ical Society on the 5th of March,
1915,^ I again spoke of Governor
Printz and his pioneers on Tinicum
Island as having been the founders
of what eventually became our pres-
ent State of Pennsylvania, and urged
that, ''first a bronze tablet should be

^ "Proceedings of the American Philosophical
Society, January — April, 1915," Philadelphia,
Volume LIII., No. 216, page 12. '

26 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

erected in memory of Governor Printz
and his capital called Nya Goteborg
on Great Tinicum Island, and sec-
ond, a bronze statue ot Governor
Printz, either of life or heroic size,
should be placed at some conspicuous
place in the city of Philadelphia/' I
presented the same idea a month
later in another paper before the
Society of Colonial Governors of
Pennsylvania.^

Owing to the war I let the subject
remain quiet for a time. But the
20th of March, 1920, I wrote to
Governor Sproul and called his at-
tention to Johan Printz and urged
upon him that the Commonwealth
should erect a monument in memory

-^ Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Governors,"
Philadelphia, 1916, Volume I, page 300.

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 27

of Governor Printz at Harrisburg.
As a result, Governor Sproul became
interested in the idea of commemo-
rating Printz and had the copy of
Printz's portrait, belonging to the
Swedish Colonial Society, copied by
Madame Van Helden in the spring of
1921, and this last copy now hangs
in the Governor's mansion at Har-
risburg with this interesting inscrip-
tion upon it for all future Governors
to read: '*Johan Printz, Governor of
New Sweden, 1643-1653, who estab-
lished at Tinicum Island, on the
Delaware River, the first permanent
seat of government in Pennsylvania/'
That was a second practical step in
recognition of Governor Printz and
his government at Tinicum, this time
carried into effect by the executive of
the Commonwealth.

28 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

Since then I have called attention
many times to Governor Printz and
urged that Pennsylvania properly re-
call his memory and his times to the
knowledge of the people of Pennsyl-
vania and consequently to the world
at large. For if Pennsylvanians do
not do it, it is not likely that stran-
gers will.^

^ Concerning the Colony of New Sweden, the
reader is referred to the monumental work of
Dr. Amandus Johnson, "The Swedish Settlement
on the Delaware, 1638-1664," Philadelphia, 1911,
published by the Swedish Colonial Society.

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 29

III.

OW what can be done to bring
to the notice of the Ameri-
can people the Swedish settlement
planted on Great Tinicum Island
by Governor Printz as one of the
birthplaces of the American Nation
and the cradle of our Pennsylvania?
Here are a few suggestions. The
quickest and least costly way to place
Johan Printz prominently before the
American public would be to name
the highway between Wilmington
and Philadelphia the GOVERNOR
PRINTZ HIGHWAY. It was at
Fort Christina, whose site is now
within the bounds of the city of
Wilmington, that Printz landed

30 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

upon^^his arrival in New Sweden.
And it was at Tinicum, only a few
miles below Philadelphia, now the
chief city in the lands over which
Printz ruled, that he established the
seat of his government. If the high-
way connecting those two towns were
called after him, it would help greatly
to make him known in the localities
in which he ruled and it would not
cost anything beyond the price of a
few signs.

Trees could be planted to Printz's
memory in Fairmount Park, at Es-
sington, at Harrisburg and other
places by patriotic societies, or other
associations, or the school children.

In addition, Johan Printz should
be visualized in bronze for the people
of Philadelphia, the largest city in

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 3 1

the territory that once was New
Sweden, and also for the inhabitants
of Harrisburg, the present capital of
the Commonwealth.

Over and above these various ways
of recalling to the present and future
generations the beginning of the sov-
ereignty of our State, there is some-
thing else that Pennsylvania could
and should do. Pennsylvania should
preserve for all time its cradle. This
could be accomplished by the State
acquiring for an historic State Park,
the plot of ground, about four and a
half acres or so in size, upon which
Printz's castle formerly stood and on
which now is the Tinicum Inn. It
faces on the Delaware River and di-
rectly opposite. Little Tinicum Is-
land, rising out of the Delaware

32 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

River, seems to float upon the waters.
Little Tinicum should also be ac-
quired by the State, for it was because
of the natural harbor existing be-
tween Great and Little Tinicum Is-
lands, that Printz decided to estab-
lish the seat of his government on the
lower end of the greater island. In
that way he secured not only an ad-
vantageous position to command the
passage up the river, but also at the
same time a good harbor for his sail-
ing vessels. Upon the Tinicum Inn
plot of ground on the main island,
Printzhof could be restored exactly
as it stood originally if any plan or
drawing of it remains. Or in case
there is no picture of it extant, then
a Swedish house of the middle of the
seventeenth century and of the prob-

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 33

able size of Printz's castle, could be
reproduced at the spot where Printz-
hof was located and so visualize as
far as possible for the people of this
Commonwealth, the American home
of Governor Printz.

Immediately adjoining the Printz-
hof or Tinicum Inn plot of ground,
the Corinthian Yacht Club owns the
land lower down the river. Upon the
grounds of the yacht club stood for-
merly Fort Nya Goteborg and also
the Swedish chapel. So long as the
Corinthian Yacht Club wishes to re-
tain their beautifully kept grounds,
they should not be disturbed. They
have preserved the memory of the
early Swedish settlement under
Printz with care. The large flat stone
at the entrance of the club house was

34 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

originally a part of the Swedish
chapel. And the club possesses some
other more modest relics of the
Swedes. Indeed, if it had not been
for the Corinthian Yacht Club, their
land even before now might have be-
come merely a factory site, and what
a comment that would be for Penn-
sylvania. So long as the Yacht Club
wishes to retain that land, it is safe
from desecration and the club should
be thanked by every one that takes
an interest and pride in the history
of our State.

The Tinicum Inn plot, however, is
not safe for the future. It might be
bought for a factory site. The State
should acquire it as soon as possible,
as well as Little Tinicum Island. To
the two should be given the name

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 35

of GOVERNOR PRINTZ PARK.
Such a historic park, like the park
at Valley Forge, would then take its
place naturally in the metropolitan
park system of a greater Philadel-
phia.

All such efforts here in Pennsyl-
vania to commemorate the governor-
ship of Johan Printz over New Sweden
and the establishment of the capital
of the colony at Tinicum, would
naturally attract interest in Sweden
to him and his expedition. And it
might well be that by 1942 the tri-
centenary of the sailing of the expedi-
tion under his command from the
port of Goteborg would be celebrated
in that seaport town. For instance,
a bronze memorial tablet could be
unveiled in that year at an appro-
priate place in that city.

36 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

Then looking into the future a
score of years from now, in 1943 the
city of Philadelphia and the State of
Pennsylvania could join together to
appropriately celebrate the tri-cen-
tenary of the landing of Governor
Printz and the Swedes at Tinicum
and the establishment of the capital
of New Sweden there. A pageant
could be staged on the Delaware
River and Tinicum Island showing
Governor Printz and the Swedes
sailing up the Delaware River, dis-
embarking at Essington, the hoisting
of the Swedish flag, and the re-enact-
ment of other appropriate events con-
nected with the beginning of the set-
tlement at Tinicum. A series of spe-
cial stamps could be issued by the
Federal Government showing the

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 37

Swedish pioneers landing at Tinicum,
the portrait of Governor Printz, Old
Swedes's Church, and so on.

38 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

IV.

THIS great and powerful country
of ours was built out of Thir-
teen separate and distinct Colonies.
Fused by the stress of war into a
common league for defense, they all
called alike on the past experience of
humanity in general and on their
own experience as individual colonies,
in forming and establishing our gov-
ernment. Each and every one of
those Thirteen Colonies or States
did its share in the construction of
the Nation. To no one of them
alone, nor any two or three of them,
but to all Thirteen together belongs
that glory. As one of the Thirteen,
Pennsylvania did her full share in
building the Union.

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 39

Pennsylvania, however, unfortu-
nately, has not made a large part of
her history adequately known. She
has done well by William Penn in
writing his name in large letters^upon
the tablets of history. The fame of
the great proprietor is assured as
long as history shall be written and
taught. Many others connected
with the founding and development
of Pennsylvania, however, she has
allowed to be forgotten, while she
has forged forward successfully in
her wonderful commercial career.
Among those who have been per-
mitted to fall into oblivion is Johan
Printz and the early Swedish settle-
ment which he founded at Tinicum.
But Pennsylvania can ill afford to
let Printz and that early settlement

40 THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA

be all but forgotten. In that settle-
ment at Tinicum, Pennsylvania pos-
sesses one of the birthplaces of the
American Nation. It is one of the
birthplaces of the country as truly
as Jamestown Island, Fort Orange,
Plymouth Rock and other revered
and sacred historic points in the origi-
nal Thirteen States are the birth-
places of America. Pennsylvania
should make as widely known that
first little settlement within the
bounds of our State as Virginia and
Massachusetts have brought into
public view respectively the early set-
tlements at Jamestown and Ply-
mouth Rock. If we do not make
it known, nobody else will. The
easiest and least costly way to take
the first step to that end is to begin

THE CRADLE OF PENNSYLVANIA 4 1

by naming the main highway be-
tween Philadelphia and Wilmington
the Governor Printz Highway. Then
as soon as possible the State should
secure the four-and-a-half acre lot on
which Printzhof was located and also
Little Tinicum Island, and make
them into a State Park bearing the
name of the first white ruler in the
land comprised within the bounds of
what is today the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania —

GOVERNOR PRINTZ PARK.

Philadelphia, 1st October, 1921.

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