This area was originally a part of the “Thomas Baily Plantation” warranted by William Penn in 1739. At the time this area was still a part of Chester County and considered the “Back Woods” of the county. Thomas Bailey was sent to the “frontier” with an early settlement of the Donegal Church. He died in 1739 and eventually his widow Mary sold the property off in large parcels between 1749 and 1779.
In 1813 Christian Hertzler bought a large remnant of the Bailey plantation for $32,000. He laid out a village and named it Springville, because of the “wonderful always flowing spring”, which continues today to fill the horse watering trough in front of this restaurant.
The first reference to there being a Tavern on this site was a mortgage recorded in Aug. Of 1818 when the property was sold to Arthur Patterson for a “Tavern Stand and other buildings thereon erected.” Arthur Patterson was a gentleman farmer from Rapho township and he rented the tavern Stand out to be run by others. Each Tavern keeper had to apply to the county for a license to keep a “public house,” and to sell liquor. In 1820 Sameul Yetter presented a Petition for a Tavern License for the property referred to it as the “Old Stand”. The petition states that “if he is licensed to keep a public house, he will conduct himself with decency and propriety and keep up good order and regularity in his house”
Christin Hertzler divided his village into 421 lots and listed them for sale at $110 each. The village included a cemetery, 3 squares, and a meeting house. Hertzler stated that “Nature hath abundantly provided the area with all kinds of building materials such as limestone, clay for bricks, and timber.”
In 1864 the town’s name was changed to “Spring Garden”, but since there were other Spring Garden post offices in Pennsylvania, the name was changed once more to “Florin” in 1879. No one seems to know for sure why the name Florin was chosen, but the story goes that 3 men suggested the name Florin as it was a gold Dutch coin. I guess they were impressed by the fact that the coin was made of gold and valuable. In 1963 the village of Florin joined the Borough of Mount Joy and became the Florin Ward.
This Restaurant/Tavern/Inn has had may owners and names over the years: The Springville Inn, The Florin Inn, and The Watering Trough (just to name a few), and now it is Amato’s Woodfired Pizza and Italian Restaurant. They are carrying on a long tradition of serving wonderful food and beverages!