Photo courtesy of Delaware County Historical Society

The Mud Fort, or "The House that Jack Built" was an unusual building at Penn's landing in Chester, on Chester Creek at Front and Penn streets. Built in 1852 by John Martin Broomall 1st, it had one half inside the old marsh river bank, and one half outside of the bank. To prevent uneven settling, it was constructed on a timber crib tied together with iron rods. The building had a lovely view of the river, and at that time there were no industries nearby. The mansion was 50 feet fromting on the river and 40 feet on front street and originally had a two storey porch extending all the way around the building. A feature of this porch is that a circuit of twenty times around comprised one mile.

The house had two noted features, installed by its owner, who was very inventive. One was a tidal pond which used the difference in water levels to drive a hydraulic ram which supplied the house with water. It also had the first gas plant installed in this country for residential lighting. The gas was generated from rosin oil in the gas plant in the basement. The plant provided enough gas in one operation to last for to or three weeks. After the county seat was moved to Media in 1858, Broomall sold the house and it was torn down in 1915, since the neighborhood had become unsuitable for residential purposes.