Jim Higgins wins award for Wayne Station work

Wayne Station

Congratulations to Jim Higgins, president of the Wayne Station Historic Preservation Association, who was awarded a Preservation Award from the Heritage Commission of Delaware County on May 4. In 1998 Jim founded the Association and worked towards the station’s restoration and inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places. Thanks to the efforts of this grassroots campaign, restoration work on the station began and ensured the future of the long-neglected 1882 structure. SEPTA is currently finishing their overhaul of the station, and Jim has continued to offer his insights and advice to the continuing work there. The Radnor Historical Society commends Jim for this award, and thanks him for his service to the historic Wayne Station!

Lower Merion Historical Commission: FREE Workshops

The Radnor Historical Society would like to promote the following free upcoming historic preservation workshops from the Lower Merion Historical Commission:

If you own an older home, the Lower Merion Historical Commission invites you to attend a series of free workshops to learn how to repair and restore original roofs and masonry.

– April 19th – Roofs: Learn about maintaining and restoring traditional slate, tile, wood and metal roofs.

– April 26th – Masonry: Learn about maintaining and restoring traditional stucco, mortar, pointing and stonework.

All workshops will be held in the Board Room of the Lower Merion Township Administration Building from 6-8 p.m.

More than just a series of lectures, these workshops will include demonstrations, practical advice, and ample time to ask questions. Refreshments will also be provided. For more information, contact Andrea Campisi, Senior Planner at (610) 645-6112.

Willow Avenue to Receive PHMC Marker for Wayne Natatorium: You Can Help!

The Wayne Natatorium

The Wayne Natatorium, which was located along Willow Avenue in Wayne from 1895 to 1903, was one of the largest fresh-water swimming pools in the United States. It was fed by the waters of Gulf Creek, and was a one of Wayne’s most recognizable landmarks in the heyday of the town’s early development. Today, houses stand where swimmers once used the pool, but the original Natatorium clubhouse still stands at the corner where Willow Avenue curves south towards Plant Avenue.

Thanks to the efforts of Carla Zambelli, and the archival resources of the Radnor Historical Society, the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission has awarded an historical sign to the corner of North Wayne where the Natatorium once operated. These signs are a common sight throughout Pennsylvania; they are cast iron, painted dark blue, with yellow embossed letters.

Read more about the PHMC Natatorium marker in this Main Line Suburban Life article.

Being awarded by the PHMC with one of these signs is a great honor, but it is not free. The Historical Society is accepting donations to make these signs possible. Any donations can be sent to the following address; please make sure they are earmarked for the Natatorium Marker fund.

Radnor Historical Society
Wayne Natatorium Marker Fund
113 West Beech Tree Lane, Wayne, PA, 19087


Update
Here is a video of Carla Zambelli’s presentation about the Natatorium marker at the October 26 Radnor Board of Commissioners Meeting.

Main Line Suburban Life: “Radnor Library unearths find for the local war-vet project”

See this week’s Main Line Suburban Life article about the discovery of Radnor veterans’ information here.

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As the Main Line Suburban Life article states, we were very excited to receive the email from the library director. A small group of us has been working on this project since last Fall and hope to have the website up by Veterans’ Day. The project entails finding as much information about each vet on the Memorial as possible, and we hope that from articles about the project, friends and relatives will come forth with more information. Please email us or give us a call. Thank you!

Ted Pollard
President, Radnor Historical Society

Web Updates: Video and Vintage Articles

Two major updates have just been made to the Radnor Historical Society website which will enhance the online research capabilities of anyone visiting our website.

• One of the Historical Society’s long-term projects has been to digitize the entire catalog of Emma C. Patterson “Your Town and My Town” articles. These articles appeared weekly in the Suburban & Wayne Times from 1949 through 1958. We are pleased to announce that all articles from the beginning of the series through April 1952 are now archived on our site (151 articles). You can read them here. They are organized by date, and are all searchable.

Say you want to find articles about the Wayne Opera House: simply type “Wayne Opera House” into the search box on the upper right of the “Your Town and My Town” page and all articles relating to that building will be shown.

We are continuing to digitize the articles, and all articles from the 9-year run will eventually be online.

• Videos of some of our programs are now in an easy to use Vimeo format. They play quickly and can be scrolled through easily. To view them, please visit the Podcasts page.

Welcome to Radnor Historical Society News

This news page has been created to keep the community informed on the happenings of the Radnor Historical Society. This news blog will include commentary from the Society’s President, news on our events, and updates to our website.Input from the Radnor community is always important to us, and it can add volumes to the news stories posted here. Visitors can contribute to this blog by commenting to the stories posted. If you have any comments about the blog, please write to webmaster@radnorhistory.org.