Before the Bucks County Playhouse came to be, there once existed a previous building known as Hope Mills that was owned by Benjamin Parry who, simultaneously, also owned numerous other mills on both the New Jersey and Pennsylvania sides of the Delaware River. However, soon after the mill was built a fire demolished it along with  all of New Hope (previously known as Coryell's Ferry). In 1790, though, Benjamin Parry rebuilt the mill and renamed it the New Hope Mill.

In light of the mills' new name change, the town's name was also changed from Coryell's Ferry to New Hope. The New Hope Mill remained in operation as a grist mill until it reached a point in the 1930s where it was threatened of being decimated due to the disrepair the building was in. With help and support from the community, though, the mill was renovated and turned into the Bucks County Playhouse where, in 1939, it opened for the first time. The Playhouse, which was once again renovated in 2010 and reopened in 2012, continues to provide quality entertainment to this day.