Amos Stone House to the Mesquito Grille. In 1849 Amos Stone (1819-1897), a shoemaker by trade, bought the property at the intersection of West State Street and West Court Street for $200 and built a house.
The property was once part of the “Riale Farm,” which descended from Edward Doyle’s 150 acres that he purchased from Jeremiah Langhorne in 1730. Amos and his wife Phoebe lived there until 1853 when they sold it to William Eisenhart for $1,400. Eisenhart was a successful tailor by trade who advertised with the slogan “No fit, no pay.”
William K. Large (1824-1876), who patented the “William K. Large Washing Machine,” bought the property in 1856. The house was advertised as a “3-story stone dwelling with 2 rooms on each floor, fruit trees and good water.”
The next owner was Theodore P. Harvey (1833-1886) who grew up in Doylestown and was one of the first telegraphers in the United States. Harvey rented the house to Reverend Wood, pastor of the First Baptist Church across the street. Jacob Haldeman bought the house in 1886 and owned it until 1906 when he sold it to Mary Lehman.
It was kept in the Lehman family until after the death of Mary’s daughter, Bertha, in 1948. Raymond L. Young (1903-1988) and C. Ralph Bowman (1913-1985) purchased the property and converted it into an appliance store.
Young and Bowman Plumbing and Heating Contractors then occupied the space until the early 1970s. The 1776 Tobacco Shop opened a storefront there from 1975-77; and then Second Serve, a store for tennis apparel, occupied the space for five years. An antique shop, The Frog Pond, owned by Karen Young, opened in 1982. In 1997 the antique shop moved down the street, and for the first time the building at 128 W. State St. became a restaurant.
Today the site is occupied by the Mesquito Grille which specializes in “Original Mesquite Smoked Bar-B-Q” and craft beers.
Source: Wilma Rezer and Jean Dawson, Doylestown Historical Society, 1988
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