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History of Three Arhces
Three Arches dates to 1684, when farmers Thomas Atkinson and his wife, Jane,
lived in the log cabin that became the foundation for the existing stone house,
according to Three Arches Inc. records. The Atkinsons farmed the 156-acre plot.
In 1696, William Biles, who later served as Bucks County sheriff and clerk of Falls'
monthly meeting, bought the property. Three Arches stayed in the Biles family until 1702,
then changed hands several times. It was bought by Solomon Warder in 1702 and
William Paxson in 1704.
The first stone section of the house was built after 1712,
when John and Mary Sotcher bought the property. The Sotchers had saved money from working
as caretakers of Pennsbury Manor from 1701-1712 and from operating the Bristol-Burlington Ferry
in 1712.John Brown, a descendent of John and Mary Sotcher, built the three-arched addition after 1762.
The farm was called Clover Hill, according to an 1858 map. Other owners were Peter Williamson and
daughter Anna (1849), William Hibbs (1881), Emily Bailey (1899) and Rachel Bailey Carver (1912).
The Bailey-Carver family sold the property to the Ohio-based Danherst Corp. in 1951.
Danherst was the builder of Fairless Hills, a community built to provide housing for thousands of workers who had moved
to Bucks County to work at the new U.S. Steel plant. Danherst deeded the property to Bucks County in
1967. In 1974, the Falls Township Bicentennial Group (now Three Arches Inc.) was formed to raise funds
to preserve the building. It has been on the Pennsylvania Inventory of Historic Places and the National
Register of Historic Places since 1977
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