Benjamin Franklin Messick House, 1881
Map #7

Benjamin Franklin Messick was a merchant, farmer and carpenter, in the village of Upper Trappe in the second half of the ninteenth century. His father, Philip Messick had owned much of the property on the east side of the county road in the first decades of that century. In addition to farming, B.F. Messick had a store in the village form many years and also operated the grist mill. He and his neighbor Peter A. Malone built to steeple for Asbury M.E. Church in 1884. One of his sons, Harry Messick, operated a tomato canning factory in the village in the 1920's, and another son, William F. Messick, founded the Messick Ice Company in Salisbury. This house replaced an earlier dwelling which was moved to the opposite side of the road and which dated to the early 19th century. It was recently torn down.