09/02/2026
🌟 DID YOU KNOW? 🌟
We did not BECOME Black History—
We ARE Black History in Bucks County!
From 1790…to today…and into future generations!
Our story reaches back to 1682, when the property now home to Gather Place was connected to Yardley’s early Quaker founders.
In 1790, Mary Derry—Lower Makefield Township’s oldest documented Black woman and matriarch of the Derry family lineage—began a legacy that continues through her descendants and their historic Yardley homes.
In 1817, a Quaker hay press barn became a place of worship for formerly enslaved and free Black people—later known as the Colored Church.
In 1877, the African Methodist Episcopal Church of Yardley was formally established, becoming the spiritual and cultural heart of Yardley’s African American community.
In 1977, Edward E. Robinson became Pennsylvania’s first African American mayor, serving Yardley Borough successfully for 12 years.
On March 1, 1985, Mayor Robinson presided over what was most likely Bucks County’s first publicly hosted Black History program—bringing Black and white neighbors together to preserve Yardley’s overlooked history.
In 2022, Shirley Lee Corsey looked beyond a “blighted and abandoned” building and saw a diamond in the rough. Through vision, faith and grassroots determination, she rescued and restored this historic church and opened Gather Place—“The Bucks County Community Space!”
Then, on September 1, 2026, HISTORY WAS MADE AGAIN! 👏🏽🇺🇸🎤
I spoke from my heart—and the Yardley Borough Council listened. By unanimous vote, Council officially named the Buttonwood Park pavilion:
THE MAYOR EDWARD E. ROBINSON MEMORIAL PAVILION
A lasting tribute ensuring future generations will know:
THIS IS WHERE HISTORY HAPPENED—
NOT SIMPLY WHERE HISTORY IS DISPLAYED!
Black History is Bucks County History.
Black History is American History.
We were here.
We are still here.
And our legacy continues into the future!
Look what a grassroots initiative can do! ✊🏽🌟
