In writing this column each week, there are often two stories involved. One story is the published story; the other is the unpublished background which concerns the means by which the information and the pictures for the column have been obtained. Pictures and information are rarely supplied together. More frequently, the writer must seek to relate one to the other. This second “story” is often as interesting as the final combination of pictures and story, as it appears in “Your Town and My Town.”

For some time the writer has had in her possession eight pictures, lent to her by Otis G. Hunsicker, of Conestoga road, one of Wayne’s old-time citizens. Mr. Hunsicker’s memories of the community go back to 1906 when, as a young man, he came here from Conshohocken to drive for the late Herman Wendell.

Recently, Mr. Hunsicker and the writer got together to discuss these pictures, all eight of which obviously portray a big festival of some type, which was held on the school field on a holiday of some year now long past. But what holiday? What year? And where to get more information about one of the largest and most interesting groups of pictures that had recently came our way? Mr. Hunsicker had narrowed the choice of holidays down to the Fourth of July or Labor Day. Beyond that we could not go.

And then came our clue when a magnifying glass showed that the license plate on the grocery and meat delivery truck of T.T. Worrall and Sons was of the year 1912! Your columnist immediately turned to the files of “The Suburban” for that year, and found a complete story that included both the Fourth of July and Labor Day. It seemed that this big, day-long, outdoor event was planned for Labor Day, 1912, because of a feeling of discontent on the part of the townspeople of Wayne that there had been no general celebration of any kind on the Fourth of July.

During July and early August, 1912, a small article appeared in the columns of “The Suburban” each week, all indicative that come Labor Day, which fell on September 6 that year, there would be a celebration that would more than make up for a quiet and uneventful Fourth of July.

In the August 16 issue of “The Suburban” came the announcement that “all arrangements which had been under way for the big event had been completed by the ladies in charge.” It would be “a day given over to sports, beginning early in the morning and continuing all day… events open to all… handsome trophies now on exhibition at LaDow’s drugstore… in the afternoon, Narberth and Wayne will meet in a regular championship baseball game… special feature of the day to be the fine music rendered by the Bryn Mawr Band, under the leadership of Director Giersch… events of the morning to be principally for the children, consisting of hoop and pushmobile races and a ‘bicycle parade.’ ”

Also there were to be “tennis tournaments with men’s and women’s singles… track sports and midget relay races.” And last, but not least, there was to be “a parade of gaily decorated automobiles,” of which vehicles Wayne, in the year 1912, possessed only a few!

Names of the active workers on the committee for the big celebration are those still remembered 43 years later as among the public spirited men and women of their time. Among them were Mrs. W. Allen Barr, Dr. Joseph C. Egbert, S. Warren Hall, Mr. and Mrs. A.N. Hosking, Walter S. Mertz, Mrs. W.A. Nichols, Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Randall, Mrs. William B. Riley, Mrs. Parke Schoch, Fred Treat and Walter Whetstone. The list of judges for the events included such well-known men and women as Eugene C. Bonniwell, Major Duval, General W.A. Wiedersheim, Mrs. Thomas A. Walton and Miss Nina Miel.

And as a final publicity-blurb in the August 30 issue of “The Suburban” – The week before the eventful Labor Day – the following had a prominent place in the columns of the paper:
“If visible movement is an indication of life, we may definitely say Wayne is an active corpse. Everyone seems to have a move on since the Carnival idea sprang up. From little folks to grown-ups, they are all sending in their applications.”

(To be continued)

The Antique Auto Club of America is now an organization with a membership of well over 5,000 men and women, scattered over the entire United States, extending into Canada and England. When it was founded in November, 1935, it had but 14 members. Theodore B. Brooks, of Windermere avenue, known to his host of friends everywhere as “Ted,” was one of this group.

Always a familiar figure in and around Wayne, he is little short of a sensation when he drives his 1912 White touring car. Especially is this true when there are any strangers in our midst. To old timers, Ted’s love of antique automobiles is a familiar thing, dating back to his ownership of a 1913 Buick roadster, given him by the late Dr. Charles D. Smedley.

Even as a youngster Ted was always interested in old cars. He tells us that he came into possession of the Smedley car because he looked at it so often and so longingly, after it had gone into retirement, that the doctor gave it to him. At that time, it was on blocks in the stable at the rear of what is now the Township Building, on East Lancaster avenue. This was Doctor Smedley’s second car, the first having been a two-cylinder Autocar in which he sometimes took Ted and his sister for rides “down the Pike” at what was then considered the breathtaking speed of about 25 miles per hour.

The picture of the old Buick roadster was taken some years ago by Ted Brooks, after be had taken two of his neighbors, Mrs. William Gookin and the latter’s son, Bill Gookin, for a ride. At that time the Brooks and Gookin families both lived on Brookside avenue. His recollections in connection with his first car, include the day in 1935 when he won a prize by covering the distance between Coatesville and Convention Hall in Philadelphia in 59 minutes. He was supposed to have had a motor escort, but somehow connections were missed.

The car was in many parades while it was in his possession, among them Hallowe’en celebrations in Wayne, and a Philadelphia parade for Alfred M. Landon, when the Kansan was Republican presidential candidate.

Among other interesting events in which Mr. Brooks took part were three of the well-known “Glidden Tours” for old automobiles, upon their revival in 1946, after a lapse of more than 30 years. This year’s Antique Auto Club of America tour will take its participants into Canada.

Eventually, the Buick roadster was sold by its Wayne owner to a man in Downingtown, who later took it to Virginia. Mr. Brooks then bought a 1912 Haymes car, in Ambler, for $25. His third purchase was a 1909 Buick, which had belonged to Charles H. Stewart, of St. Davids. In 1941 he acquired his present car, “sight unseen,” from another member of the Antique Auto Club, driving it back to Wayne from New York the night of its purchase.

This current antique of Mr. Brooks is a handsome car, always kept at its shining best, although used fairly frequently. It is a 1912, six-cylinder White touring car with four forward speeds and 60 horsepower. It can maintain a speed of 65 to 70 miles per hour in fourth gear. Its original cost was $5,000, with the top and windshield as extras. In the picture shown at the head of this column, this impressive old car is shown, with its owner, at the “Dutch Cupboard” in Downingtown, at one of the meets at the Antique Automobile Club of America around 1941.

(To be continued)
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While Mrs. Patterson has pictures of other old automobiles on hand for use in this column she would welcome still more from this locality, especially if they are accompanied by descriptions and stories of the cars.

Among the most interesting aspects of writing “Your Town and My Town” are the letters and telephone calls that come to this writer as a result of various pictures and stories used in the column from week to week.

The picture of the little railroad station of the 1860’s, as it looked in the middle of the cornfield, as shown in “The Suburban” of March 11, has aroused nostalgic memories among more than the usual number of readers of “Your Town and My Town.” A letter received from Portland, Ore., from one of Wayne’s “old timers” is of such general interest that we are giving it in full in this week’s column.

Mrs. Frederick A. de Canizares, the writer of this letter, lived in Wayne with her husband for many years before his death. She now lives in Portland, with her daughter, Mrs. Alfred Corbett, and her five grandchildren. Before her marriage Mrs. Canizares was Miss Jane Johnson, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Richards Johnson. (Mr. Johnson was the founder of the contracting firm of R.H. Johnson.) Mrs. de Canizares’ letter reads:

“Your column of March 11, with the picture of the first Wayne Station building, interested me very much. It brought back so many recollections that I felt like writing to you.

“After the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks were moved in Wayne, the building that is now the station at Strafford was moved from the Centennial grounds to the present site of Wayne Station. The little building in your picture, I remember, was for a short time used as Wayne’s first private school.

“This was a long time ago, however. I recall the children that attended the school were the Pinkerton family, the Johnson girls, Anna and Jane (sister Helen had not yet arrived in this world), the Peterson children, Emma and Tony, and the Sayen children, Emily and, probably, Osgood. A sweet little red-haired young lady, Miss Emma Lane, came out on the train each morning to teach us.

“One of the clearest things that stands out in my memory (I must have been between six and seven years old) was our having a blizzard, with the trains not running. No Miss Lane arrived; however, most of the children did. The older children decided that they would conduct the school themselves. Just who took charge, I cannot recall.

“One of the special features of the morning was that the school voted we would have recess every five minutes. It is not hard to imagine what a riot the morning turned into, before our parents appeared and took us home.

“The next private school was started by the Misses Emma and Addie Eldredge, on Bloomingdale avenue. This was an excellent school and extremely convenient for the Johnson and Peterson children.

“We lived on the corner of Bloomingdale and West Wayne avenues, in the home directly back of Dr. John W. Henefer’s present office. All the old trees that are left on the property were planted by my mother, some 73 years ago.

“The Petersons lived directly opposite us on Bloomingdale avenue. This was a wonderful place for children to play. The old reservoir was in the back of where the Chalfant house now stands, and the old Boyd property. We could range around (and we did) with perfect safety.

“When Mother and Father moved to Wayne, in 1879, we lived for a time in the large storehouse that burned down, on the present site of the Lengel home, on Conestoga road. At this date. Wayne was called General Wayne, later changed to Wayne.

“Just one more name added to your list of three…”
(Signed)
JANE JOHNSON de CANIZARES

In discussing this interesting letter with Mrs. de Canizares’ niece, Mrs. Charles E. Martin, of Bloomingdale avenue, several bits of additional information came to light that will be of interest to present day readers. Of the two sisters of whom Mrs. de Canizares speaks in her letter, Anna married Frazier Bard. Her son, Richards J. Bard, now lives in Sumatra, and her daughter, Katharine Bard, is now Mrs. Charles E. Martin. Miss Helen S. Johnson now lives in Weston, Mass.

The Eldredge sisters, who ran the “second private school” to which Mrs. de Canizares referred in her letter, lived on the corner of Bloomingdale and Lenoir avenues. The old Johnson homestead, of which Mrs. de Canizares speaks as being “directly back of Dr. Henefer’s present office,” was known for many years as the home of the Marshall Smiths. It is now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. George H. Borst.

The Peterson house stood on the northwest corner of Bloomingdale avenue and West Wayne avenue. The “old Boyd property” is now the home of Captain and Mrs. James H. Bones. Mrs. Martin says that the size of the old reservoir is now marked by what she describes as “a big bump,” lying between the Thomas M. Chalfant home and the Bones residence.

“The large stone house that burned down,” as Mrs. de Canizares describes the first home or her parents, Mr. and Mrs. R.H. Johnson, as located, as Mrs. Martin thinks, somewhat to the west of the present Lengel homestead, which looks directly down “Bloomingdale Hill.” She has always heard its location described as being on the site of the rose gardens of the last house occupied by Mrs. F.A. Canizares, before she went to Oregon to live. This house stands just to the west of the Lengel home. The fire which destroyed this “large stone house” was particularly disastrous, since it ruined many beautiful possessions of the Johnsons which they had just brought from Europe.

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Mrs. Patterson welcomes letters like the above which she can use in “Your Town and My Town.” A recent one received from Mrs. Isabel Lyons, of Concord, Calif., daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John M. Gallagher, long-time residents of Wayne, will be used shortly in connection with a picture of the old Gallagher homestead, on the corner of Lancaster avenue and Conestoga road, which has recently been torn down to make room for a gasoline station.

When the Saturday Club of Wayne celebrates the 69th anniversary of its founding next Tuesday, March 29, it will be doing honor to one of the most outstanding women this community has ever known – Katharine Barling Longstreth Sayen.

It was Mrs. Sayen who, in an era when women’s clubs were almost unknown organizations, invited to her home on West Wayne avenue “on a sunny Saturday afternoon” early in the year 1886, “several bright congenial women, who, over steaming cups of tea, dared to discuss the subject of women’s clubs, then almost a tabooed subject.” And when on March 27, 1886, the Saturday Club adopted its constitution and by-laws, there was indeed in the entire state of Pennsylvania but one other departmental woman’s club, the New Century Club of Philadelphia, formed from the Women’s Committee of the Centennial.

lt is on Tuesday, March 29, the 1955 meeting date of the club closest to that memorable March 27, 1886, that the Saturday Club will hold its annual birthday luncheon party. As usual, it will be a gala event, set against the background of spring flowers and candlelight, all enhanced this year by the freshly decorated interior of the clubhouse.

Katharine Longstreth Sayen was in the forefront of a movement that, in the last quarter of the 19th century, was to be responsible for much of the position and privilege of women today. No words written in 1955 could perhaps so well express what was taking place then as those of Mrs. George R. Stocker’s inaugural address when, in the spring of 1891, she was made president of the Saturday Club.

“The Club movement for women is a factor for modern progress,” Mrs. Stocker said. “It has stimulated an intellectual and social life without in the least detracting from the duties of wifehood and motherhood. It is impossible for men to comprehend the narrow groove in which the majority of women have been forced to live, move and have their being in the past. Club life has revealed women to each other, it has established fellowship on purely human foundations… The Federation proves that they built upon a purely peaceful basis, composed of home loving women who are delighted to renew their youth in their eagerness to know whatever there is interesting to be known, and who, whatever is their status or degree of cultivation, still find in their interchange of club life, food for mind and soul.”

But even before Mrs. Stocker’s presidency, the Saturday Club was taking part in this ever widening “club movement for women.” In October, 1890, its president was requested to attend a meeting of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, which was just then being formed. And a few months later the Saturday Club became a member of that Federation which is now the most powerful and influential group of organized women in the world. With its membership in the United States and with its affiliated membership in foreign countries, this group now number more than six million women.

The Saturday Club was also a founding member of the Pennsylvania State Federation of Women’s Clubs when it was organized in 1895 under its first president, Mrs. Ellis Campbell, of Wayne, a former Saturday Club president.

Looking back over the vista of almost 70 years we try to envisage the woman who was responsible for the Saturday Club’s early part in this great organization of women throughout the world. That Katharine Longstreth Sayen was a beautiful woman is evidenced by the picture shown above, a picture that, along with the first Minute Book and the first Treasurer’s Record, is among the Club’s most cherished possessions. And that she was a much loved woman is evidenced by the memories of her, held not only by her children and her grandchildren, but by all who knew her.

Mrs. Sayen was also a woman of widespread interests. Among Wayne’s other institutions, besides the Saturday Club, which will always bear the imprint of her early efforts, is the library, for the establishment and maintenance of which she worked long and faithfully. Still remembered by a few of the older residents of the township are the plays she gave to help raise funds for the purchase of books and equipment for the library.

She was also deeply interested in the welfare of the community in which she lived. There is a story told of her concern for the children of foreign-born parents, where the father was employed in the quarries in Wayne. It is said that she regularly gathered these children into her home on West Wayne avenue, where she gave them some elementary instruction in the language of their new homeland.

Her house still stands at the intersection of West Wayne avenue and Conestoga road, where it is now the club house of the Society Italian-American Club. For the young people of her family and their friends there were always Saturday afternoon tennis parties in season, in the spacious grounds surrounding this house. And for this same group there were dancing classes at the Saturday Club, sponsored by Mrs. Sayen.

And so, next Tuesday’s gala day at the Saturday Club will pay tribute not only to Katharine Longstreth Sayen as its founder, but to a woman who will long live in the memories of a community which she loved and served in so many ways.

This week’s column returns to the 1928 copy of “The Main Line Beautiful” magazine, given to us several years ago by Miss Harriet E. Weed, from which we recently used two stories with their accompanying pictures.

Today we turn to an early picture of Windermere Court, one of the most popular apartment houses in this vicinity. Even to your columnist, who has made her home in Windermere Court for some years, it came as a surprise to learn that the intention of the property’s original owner was to sell the apartments, rather than rent them. But, according to a Wayne realtor to whom we showed the booklet, “selling apartments was quite a stunt when Windermere Court was built.” Unfortunately for the success of this plan, the depression of the early 30’s was just around the corner and it was difficult at that time to rent the apartments, much less sell them.

In a double page advertisement in the middle of the “Main Line Beautiful” magazine, there is shown the picture reproduced for this column. It has an unusual look to those who are familiar with the setting of Windermere Court, probably because the architect has not shown the elevation of the Windermere avenue side of the apartment house, where the first floor apartments are almost on a level with the second floor rooms of the Wayne Grammar School across the street. The site of Windermere Court was at one time known as “the Rose property.” Later the house was the home of the Joseph Stockwell family. It was demolished when Windermere Court was built.

To the many people who are making their homes in Windermere Court at present, as well as to others who have done so in the past, the description in the advertisement is interesting. It reads as follows:
“What will probably prove to be the most popular apartment house on ‘The Main Line Beautiful’ is Windermere Court, located at the corner of beautiful Louella and Windermere avenues, Wayne.

“The structure is of a modified English style of architecture and overlooks the campus and athletic field of the new $400,000 Radnor High School. The location is ideal – churches, stores, clubs and railway station being almost within a stone’s throw, and numerous golf courses within a convenient distance.

“The interior of this beautiful new apartment house has been planned to bring about the height of efficiency, convenience and beauty. Every room has plenty of light and sunshine and each apartment an unobstructed outlook of beautiful terraced and landscaped lawns. Each apartment has its service entrance, a kitchen completely equipped with ventilated cabinet gas range, electric refrigerator, domestic-science cabinet and the most modern fixtures. Ample closet space is provided, including a cedar lined closet in each apartment. Floors are of hard wood, and each living room has a Murphy-in-a-door bed to provide emergency sleeping accommodations.

“Laundries, completely equipped with modern appliances and especially constructed drying apparatus are available for the use of tenants. There are individual storage rooms and a number of maids’ rooms and bath for those with servants. Maid, janitor and porter services are available. All apartments have direct telephone communication with the resident superintendent’s office, and hot water and heat from a thermostatically controlled oil heater are supplied. Underneath the main wing and central court is a large and especially fire-proofed garage, providing convenient housing for the occupants’ cars.

“The apartments will sell for prices ranging from $8,000 to $12,000, with normal rentals ranging from $100 to $135 a month, with garage privileges, for those who desire them, at $10 a month.”

(If any prospective tenants of Windermere Court ever contemplated buying their apartments, it is something of which this present tenant knows nothing! And as to the “maids’ rooms and baths for those desiring their private servants,” they are of no interest to the tenants of 1955, who consider themselves fortunate to obtain the services of a cleaning woman once a week.)

Roy G. Pratt was the architect of these “cooperative apartments” and the late Fred H. Treat, prominent Wayne real estate dealer, was the general rental and sales agent.

From the book of priceless old pictures which Herman P. Lengel has lent to the Radnor Historical Society, and from which pictures for this column have been reproduced from time to time, the first one shown in the book is that of the railroad station. In the 1860’s, the station provided the first view of Wayne for most newcomers.

The small edifice shown in the picture above might be called the third station, in point of time. The first was a large, square wooden pillar, laid on its side, where passengers sat while they waited to flag the train. The second was an old wagon bed.

In those days Wayne was called “Cleaver’s Gate” or “Cleaver’s Landing,” since trains stopped there to pick up milk from the Cleaver Farm. This farm was situated on a large acreage of which the Caley Nursing Home, on Lancaster avenue, is now the approximate center. The name, “Cleaver’s Gate,” gave way to that of “Louella,” which in turn became “Wayne.”

By the middle 1860’s, when Mr. Askin was building his Louella Mansion in the middle of his farm lands on the old Lancaster Highway, the present Pennsylvania Railroad had built double tracks along its Main Line. In Wayne the tracks ran somewhat to the south of the present road bed.

Joseph M. Fronefleld, Jr., father of J. M. Fronefleld, 3d, wrote in some of his reminiscences of Wayne as he knew it in the 1880’s, that “Hall lane led directly to the station from the intersection of Conestoga road and West Wayne avenue.” Hall lane was so called because it started from Radnor Hall, a small place where public meetings were held, located on the site of the recently demolished First Baptist Church, at Conestoga road and West Wayne avenue. It “went in a northeasterly direction from the old church… passed over the ground where LaDow’s Drug Store (now Sun Ray Drug Store) and Lienhardt’s Bakery stand, crossed Lancaster pike diagonally, passed over the ground upon which the Presbyterian Church now stands and terminated at the station. The station was close to the point where the back of the Waynewood Hotel (now The Wayne House) stands.” Your columnist has often thought that this is the explanation of the fact that the front of the Presbyterian Chapel is not on a line with either the pike or the Presbyterian Church. When it was built, it undoubtedly faced on Hall lane.

After the Wayne Presbyterian Church acquired possession of the former Wayne Hotel, the frame building pictured above was demolished. Standing to the rear of the hotel, it had for some years been used as sleeping quarters for servants of the hotel.

And so passed into oblivion one of Wayne’s old landmarks, its first real railroad station.

In the table of contents of the old book is the information that this picture is the “Penna’s R.R. Station – Wayne – at the 14-mile stone – with adjoining cottage, the latter now being the residence of Mrs. Jane Kissick, whose late husband, John Kissick, and Fred’k Graeff were engineers of the old Centre Square Water Works, as well as of the present works at Fairmount, Philadelphia.”

At any rate, tradition has it that for many, years the approach to Wayne’s railroad station, with its adjoining cottage, was through a large cornfield!

The other two pictures illustrated in today’s column show spring houses located along the Lancaster pike in the 1860’s, the first (above) being located to the east of Louella Mansion and on the same side of the highway. Although no description is given in the old book, both the residence in the center of the picture and the spring house to the right were, undoubtedly, the property of Mr. Askin. The former was probably the picture of the home of one of the farmers, with the farmer’s wife standing at the gate of the neat picket fence, with the large milk can in front of her.

The spring house at left was across the pike from its farm house, since the latter is identified in the table of contents as the large house on the north side of the pike which is now the home of Walter B. Lister. The Barber farm house was later the Presbyterian parsonage, and still later, the home of the Lofland family. A subsequent note on this picture places the spring house as being located in the rear of what was for many years the W.A. Nichols home. Located on the south side of the 400 block of Lancaster pike, this house is now occupied by the George W. Huggler family.

After seeing the various pictures of the exterior of the old Louella Mansion, shown from time to time in this column, it is particularly interesting to have this detailed one of the front doorway, which faced directly south, with a view of the then narrow Lancaster pike and the farmlands beyond.

The picture shows two sets of massive double doors, the outer pair opened to reveal the long glass panels of the inner ones. The table of contents, at the front of the book from which illustrations for this column have been taken for several weeks, lists this picture as the “main entrance and vestibule, taken from the interior, showing in the ornamented and ground glass of the vestibule doors, reflections of the flower vases on the terraces beyond.” The caption ends with the description, “a work of art.”

In all of its details this picture is indeed an interesting one, showing as it does the real elegance of the architecture of the period in which Henry Askin built one of Wayne’s outstanding landmarks, now almost 80 years old. The delicately etched glass of the doorway has intricate beauty of design extending the entire length of the panel.

The original picture from which this newspaper reprint is taken shows clearly a secondary picture, the reflection in the glass of part of the terrace gardens. Flanking the inside doors, on either side, are stone pedestals on which bronze figures are mounted. The tiled floor has a large geometrical design, probably in black and white. One amusing note in the midst of all this elegance is the mosquito netting covering the large glass globe of the vestibule light, which undoubtedly served the purpose of keeping the globe from becoming fly-specked!

Of what was just beyond these wide double doors, your columnist wrote in one of the earliest articles in this series published in March, 1949, in connection with an interview with the late Miss Josephine Scott, one of the tenants in the Louella Apartments. Miss Scott, who had made a study of the history of Louella Mansion, said that she had always visualized the front parlor as “a very elegant and formal room, with its heavy hangings, its massive furniture, its steel engravings on the walls and probably its wax flowers under glass.”

Although the size and arrangement of the rooms had to be altered to some extent when the building was made into an apartment house the height of the ceilings was not changed. Because of this feature, and the fact that many of the rooms are still large ones, the present tenants are opposing many of the alterations recently proposed by the owners of the building.

But even though the Louella Mansion of Mr. Askin’s time may have vied in elegance with any of the large contemporary Philadelphia houses, its surroundings were rural, as has been shown in the other three pictures in this column. The hay wagon with its “rustling fragrant load,” as it is described in the index, might have belonged to any large farm; the sheep pen with its neat white picket fence was a model of its kind, while the hennery, with more of the white fence around it, was equally adequate for its purpose.

(A note in the old book, added subsequent to its publication, states that this hennery and the house adjacent to it stood about where Hale’s garage was later located.)

(To be continued)

In the big volume of old pictures, which we described last week as being in the possession of the Radnor Historical Society, there are several pictures of the Askin Cottage, one of which is shown below.

By modern standards, this would be a good-sized house rather than a cottage, although by comparison with the mansion which Mr. Askin called “Louella House,” the smaller place was well named. It stood northeast of the big house and faced directly south.

This picture shows the large circular garden, directly in front of the house, with two gardeners at work. The driveway goes completely around the garden. The table of contents in the front of the book describes the place as the “Old Maule Manor House,” bought from the Richards family, who paid five shillings per acre for the land, which they held under the “Penn Patent.” Mr. Maule was among the oldest landowners in this part of Radnor township.

At right is a rear view of the same house, taken from the northwest corner of the lawn. The railroad tracks ran to the rear of the house, just out of sight in this picture. In addition to another view, which was shown in “Your Town and My Town” in the October 10, 1952, issue, there is still another picture in the old book which shows an ornate circular summer house, open on all sides, with a bench all around its interior.

This well-known landmark of its time stood between the cottage and the mansion.

Although the house shown below was not part of Mr. Askin’s holdings, the picture is included in the album because of its connection with the Richards family, who at one time owned “Maule Cottage,” which Mr. Askin occupied while he built the mansion.

Again referring to the table of contents, the album states that this is “a view from the northwest of the old John Richards Manor House, built in 1792, and probably the only remaining dwelling of the Richards family, who emigrated from Wales in 1687 and settled in Radnor, and who purchased directly from William Penn about 3,000 acres in the neighborhood. Their last lineal descendant and heir, Enoch Richards, died on the adjoining property in 1807, aged 88 years. He was born upon the farm (old house in picture shown above) and passed 82 years of his life upon it.”

This picture has been tentatively identified by one of Wayne’s old timers, who saw the album, as an old stone house on the left-hand side of Radnor-Chester road, just before the road goes under the overpass at Radnor station. If so, it was occupied for some time by members of one of the Torpey families of Radnor, and has been recently remodeled by the James F. Bodines and occupied by them. Positive identification from any of our readers would be interesting.

With proposed changes and additions to the Louella Apartments providing front page headlines in last week’s “Suburban,” your columnist has turned back to the series on old Louella House which she wrote for this column in October, 1952. The first article showed a front and a back view of one of Wayne’s early landmarks as it looked in 1867.

By an unusual coincidence your columnist is able to show more of the Louella pictures in this week’s column, since the book in which the originals are bound is in her temporary possession. It had been lent to her by the Radnor Historical Society for a Saturday Club meeting on Tuesday, February 8, which featured a talk on “Wayne and the Saturday Club in 1886.”

Three handsome books, all filled with the same pictures of “Louella, Home of J. Henry Askin,” were compiled in 1812 by F. Gartekunst, 712 Arch street, Philadelphia. One remained in the possession of the Askin family; a second was presented to the John L. Mather family, while the third was given to Frank Smith, private secretary to George W. Childs, who, with Anthony J. Drexel, founded the Wayne Estate in the 1880’s. Mr. Smith presented this volume to Herman P. Lengel, through whose generosity it has been placed in the archives of the Radnor Historical Society.

Mr. Askin is often called the founder of Wayne, having come here to live with his family in the early 1860’s. Wayne was then the little hamlet of Cleaver’s Landing, so called because trains of the old Lancaster and Columbia Railroad stopped just west of the present Wayne station to pick up milk to be shipped to Philadelphia from the Cleaver farm. The name “Louella,” which succeeded Cleaver’s Landing, was a combination of Louise and Ella, Mr. Askin’s daughters’ names. Later, Louella was changed to Wayne, but the former name has been perpetuated in Louella Court Apartments, about which the present controversy centers; Louella drive and Louella court. Louella drive is the two-way automobile entrance and exit from Lancaster avenue to Louella court. On both sides of the drive are a number of small shops, while various attractive homes face on Louella court itself, the driveway of which completely encircles the apartment house.

Opposition to remodelling plans of Herman Grossman, present owner of Louella Court, were vigorously voiced at last week’s public meeting in the Township Building, not only by tenants of apartments, but by owners of these Louella court houses as well. The plans, which would include the erection of a number of garages on the site of the present apartment house lawn would, in the opinion of protesting property owners, constitute a traffic hazard, decrease visibility and deprive children of the area of a recreation spot.

(To be continued)

In writing of the Wayne Estate houses from time to time, your columnist has often quoted from the booklets which advertised the building and the sale of these houses. The descriptions were flowery ones indeed, but they were unequalled, if not outdone, some 50 years later when J. Howard Goodwin, in 1928, brought out his “Main Line Beautiful,” the real estate magazine about which we wrote last week.

In this magazine the Main Line is described as the spot “Where Nature Smiles,” a slogan which the magazine apparently adopted. It was also described as “The Residential Gateway to Philadelphia” which has no equal on the American Continent. The undulating country from West Philadelphia to Paoli is rich in natural scenery, which has from time to time been enhanced by the magic touch of the landscape gardener, whose artistry has made either side of the railroad a kaleidoscopic picture, not only pleasing to the eye, but winning the visitor, and he immediately becomes a booster.”

A few pages farther on in the magazine, the Wayne Chamber of Commerce, not to be outdone in descriptive powers, runs a full page advertisement which proclaims that “There is no place like Home, if your Home is in Wayne,” a very neat and compact little slogan indeed! “It was, and still is, Philadelphia’s first suburb” is the introduction to a statement in regard to the founding of Wayne by George W. Childs and Anthony J. Drexel. Among its attractions in 1928 were “clean modern stores, providing the finest parking space on the Main Line; a masterpiece of moving picture theatres, golf courses, community activities to the liking of men, women and children, colleges close at hand, churches of all denominations, drives such as can be found only in the beautiful Chester Valley and historic Valley Forge, finest of fire and police protection, pure sparkling Springfield water, an excellent community newspaper, and best of all genuine community spirit and hearty welcome to all newcomers.”

Officers of the Wayne Chamber of Commerce, which authorized the advertisement, were Charles D. Lyman, president; Charles R. Meyers, vice president, and C. Walton Hale, secretary-treasurer. All are still well-known citizens and businessmen of this area.

Among the local real estate firms which advertised in the 1929 ”Main Line Beautiful” magazine was that of Joseph M. Fronefield, father of J.M. Fronefield, 3d, located in the office building which was erected in 1927 on West Lancaster avenue. The firm specialized in the sale of “Country Homes and Farms.” George M. Aman, Sons, a firm consisting of Ralph L. Aman and George M. Aman, Jr., had two offices, one at 1218 Chestnut street in Philadelphia, and the other at 114 Audubon avenue, Wayne. Their specialties were “Insurance and Mortgages, Building and Loan Association.” Fred H. Treat, who listed “Main Line Homes and Farms,” was also the general rental and sales agent for the Windermere Court Apartments, which had been completed at that time.

C. N. Agnew, on the Lincoln Highway, advertised “Homes Built to Order and Financed” and “Suburban Homes, Farms” for sale. Hallowell and Johnson, 108 North Wayne avenue, were “specialists in Main Line Homes and Properties, Insurance and Mortgages.” C. Walton Hale, 104 North Wayne avenue, specialized in “the building, selling and rentlng of Main Line Homes of a selling value under $10,000 – providing comfortable living quarters for the average family at a monthly cost of $50 or less.”

J. Howard Mecke, Jr., with offices in the Packard Building, Philadelphia, was advertising “Something Unusual at Wayne” with the explanation that “In the Martin’s Dam Section, just five minutes by motor north of Wayne Station on the Main Line, a Colonial Village has been started.” Houses were to occupy sites varying from 1½ to five acres, having five and six bedrooms and three baths, and selling from $25,000 to $45,000. Among the unusual features of these houses were “old cranes in each fireplace (not reproductions); old wood carved mantels – some 100 years old (not reproductions) and individual built-in telephone booths (not coat closets).” At the time this advertisement was published 37 plots had already been sold.

Two real estate dealers who operated close to Wayne were A.H. Crockett, of King of Prussia, “the Gateway to Valley Forge,” and G.B.Wheeler, of Devon, who advertised houses “not just built to sell, but built to live in for generations… Anticipating Tomorrow, but realizing Today.” Unfortunately the “Tomorrow” was not the one to be anticipated with pleasure, for that “tomorrow” brought the depression of the early 1930’s.

(To be continued)