In 1696, Thomas Kendall built a mill on the Cooper’s Creek which was named the Free Mill Lodge because farmers were granted free lodging while their grain was being ground.  In 1710 John Kay purchased the property and it remained in the Kay family until 1818 when Joel and Thomas Evans became the owners.  Then the mill acquired a new name, Evans Mill.  In 1779, Joseph Kay had erected the dam with the grist mill on one side and on the other side was the fulling mill that processed cloth and carpet was also woven.

At one time, the grist mill was the largest in the area, turning out 75 barrels of flour a day.  Larger western mills closed out the operation in 1897.  Fire destroyed the deserted old building in 1913 and an old landmark disappeared.

Haddon Mill ws erected in 1789.  The raceway form Hopkins Lane Pond was the source of power.  For its entire existence the mill remained in the Hopkins family.  By 1865, it had become an unused shambles and by 1880 another old landmark had gone.  John Estaugh Hopkins built the mill and operated it successfully and in 1794 his son, William moved into the mansion which his father had built for him close by the mill.  William then took over the operation of the mill.

So Birdwood, as the home was named, became the ancestral home of five generations of the Hopkins family.  It still stands across the lane from the pond.  The last Hopkins widow living in Birdwood raised five Hopkins boys.  Eventually it became the home of the late Alfred Driscoll, the governor of New Jersey.

In 1838, William Estaugh Hopkins ws digging marl for fertilizer in a ravine near the Mill at the end of the present Narberth avenue.  He uncovered some dark objects that were the fossils of a pre-historic monster which can be seen at the Academy of Natural Science in Philadelphia.