The first picture used in today’s column shows two pieces of motorized fire equipment that might well have their places of honor in some national museum had they been preserved for posterity. The Knox combined chemical and hose wagon at the right, which was purchased by the Radnor Fire Company in 1906, was the first piece of motorized fire fighting equipment to be put into operation in the United States.

Only one relic or this first fire engine has been preserved, the bell which was once attached to the front to warn all traffic of its approach. It now hangs on the wall of the upstairs assembly room of the fire house, where it is sounded to call fire company meetings to order.

The truck at the left is the first motorized pumper to be put into operation in the United States. It was the Knox-Waterous automobile gas-engine of the two-cylinder, air cooled type. It arrived in Wayne and was tested out in April, 1908. The two pieces of fire fighting equipment were the beginning of the Radnor Fire Company’s present efficient set-up.

The picture of the fire house as it looked in the early days is particularly interesting, showing that the left hand portion, where the engines were housed had a wide rear opening as well as a front one. Thus the engines could be driven out either onto the field at the rear or onto Audubon avenue at the front. This building was later moved backward from its original location and an addition was built to the front.

This picture, taken more than 45 years ago, shows several old timers seated in front of the fire house. They are (from left to right), William Bryans, Jack Clark, Charles Wilkins, Ed Holmes and Ralph Robson. Mr. Wilkins, father of Leslie Wilkins, one of the most interested and active members of the present fire company, was at one time the Fire Chief.

In May, 1912, a devastating fire occurred in the stable of the William T. Wright estate, located in the country south of Wayne. Due to a mistake in sending out the alarm from the Wright home, the fire had almost an hour’s start when the firemen arrived in the early hours of the morning. Realizing that the stables were beyond saving, the firemen worked heroically on the other buildings. Speed was important, in order to keep the flames from the garage, where a large quantity of dynamite was stored as well as boxes of fulminating caps and fuses. And in addition there was a large tank of gasoline under the floor of the building.

Tons of water were thrown on the blaze by the combined force of the Radnor and Bryn Mawr fire companies, their source of supply being a 36,000 gallon reservoir recently constructed on the Wright property. Dense smoke and intense heat almost suffocated the firemen who handled the nozzles in relays, being able to work for only a minute or two at a time.

Although horses, carriages, harness and other equipment were saved earlier by the neighbors and by servants on the Wright estate, the stable, a building which had been remarkable for its architectural beauty, was a total loss, with a value of about $50,000 placed on it. Most tragic of all was the death of Mr. and Mrs. James Stewart, employees of the Wrights, who lived in the second floor apartment of the stable.

The picture of the ruins of the once beautiful building is a remarkable one in the clarity and sharpness of its detail.

(To Be Continued)

One of the interesting occurrences in connection with the writing of this column is that occasionally a picture that tells more than several hundred words have done, turns up after a story has long since been written. So it is in today’s column, with three pictures that tell the story of probably the most difficult 18 continuous hours ever experienced by the men of the Radnor Fire Company. The description of these 18 hours was given in this column in the February 21, 1952, issue of “The Suburban.” The originals of these pictures have been lent to your columnist by Leslie D. Wilkins, one of the old timers among Radnor township’s fire fighters.

About two o’clock in the afternoon of January 10, 1912, fire broke out in St. Rita’s Hall, the oldest on the campus of Villanova College. It had stood there more than 100 years, having been erected in 1808, almost 40 years before it was purchased for use as the original monastery of the Augustinian Order.

January 10 was a bitter cold day, 10 degrees above zero. Of the five suburban fire companies called into action, when it was evident that the efforts of the students were inadequate, Radnor was the first to get water on the blaze. With its line of hose turned right into the midst of the flames, thousands of gallons of water were poured where it was mast effective.

By six o’clock that evening it was evident that the fire was under control, with most of the contents of the building saved except those on the fourth floor. The loss was still a heavy one, estimated at $75,000. However, the heroic work of the Main Line fire companies had kept the flames from spreading to the chapel and to other neighboring buildings. In intense cold many of the firemen still remained on the scene for some hours in order to watch smoldering embers that might burst into flames again.

Some of the Radnor firemen had scarcely gone to bed after putting their equipment into shape, when their siren sounded for another fire that broke out shortly before midnight. In spite of their weariness, they were in Devon seven minutes after this alarm was sounded for a fire that gutted the stable and garage on the John A. Brown estate, as shown in the accompanying picture.

Since the stables were about 1500 feet from the source of water supply, it was necessary to keep the fire in check with chemicals at first until the Radnor Fire Company could borrow additional hose from Berwyn. After that, several hours of unremitting effort were necessary before the flames were out, leaving only the gutted building.

Back once more at the firehouse, exhausted, firemen were just beginning to thaw out their hose when John Purnell, who was working for Dr. Robert P. Elmer at that time, rushed across the street to say that the second floor of the Elmer stable was on fire. Awakening from sleep, Purnell had found his bed smouldering from the heat of a nearby coal oil stove. First carrying the stove outside, he had run across Audubon avenue to summon help from the fire company.

About a dozen of the firemen who were still attempting to thaw themselves and their frozen hose out soon brought the fire under control, thus saving not only that property, but the George M. Aman stable as well, since it practically adjoined that of Dr. Elmer. (The Aman house stood on the site of the present post office building.) Damages to the Elmer stable were repaired to such an extent that the building still looks much as it originally did, more than 40 years after the fire.

Brief hand written notations on the three pictures are interesting. That on the first picture states. “10 degrees above zero. 2.09 P.M. to 8:40 P.M., Jan. 10, 1912. Cause, defective flue.” The second reads, “11:20 P.M. to 3:15 A.M., January 11, 1912. Thermometer 5 above zero. Snowing very hard. Caused by crossed electric wires. 1700 feet hose in service.” The third says, “6:20 A.M. to 7:30 A.M., Jan. 12, 1912. Temperature about zero. Snowing very hard. Cause, oil stove. 500 feet hose in service. 2nd story badly burned inside.”

Unusual as is the circumstance of three fires in such a short space of time perhaps more unusual still is the fact that this story should be preserved by way of pictures more than 40 years later.

Recently, this column featured architect’s drawings and descriptions of the first Wayne Estate houses, all taken from an early brochure published to advertise a suburb that, in the 1880’s, was developing from a small hamlet, under the guiding hand of a Philadelphia financier, George W. Childs.

Starting in North Wayne, this building operation was carried on by the firm of Wendell and Smith, Wayne representatives of Mr. Childs. It spread rapidly to the south side of St. Davids and then to South Wayne.

This series in “Your Town and My Town” had not been entirely completed, and since so much interest in it was evinced by readers it is with pleasure that your columnist describes the last two houses.

Houses built in North Wayne had descriptive names given them, such as “Gabled Inn”, “Flemish House”, “Round End House”, etc., while those in St. Davids and South Wayne had alphabetical designations, beginning with “House A.” The last house described and pictured in this column was “House E.” Just why the next house in the booklet was “House P” is not clear unless there were a number of others planned. To add to the mystery, the last house in the booklet is “House F.”

The price of “House P” was $7,000, a lower price than for any that has been shown before for St. Davids and Wayne. Others had ranged up to $9,000 “and upwards”, a figure that was high for the 1880’s and 1890’s.

The description reads, “This class of house is an improvement over the ‘Pillar Houses’ built last season. The parlor has been enlarged, and some changes made to obtain better interior arrangements. In offering this house, we say enough in stating that 15 houses just like it have been sold and those who live in them are highly pleased with their investment. In our St. Davids work, a house of this plan sold before finished.”

Sketches of the interior plans for this house show the usual vestibule with an outer and an inner door, the latter opening onto a hallway which gives entrance on one side to the parlor, and on the other to the library.

In one corner is a fireplace, a home-like feature which marked every one of these early Wayne houses. The dining room and library are identical in size, 13 x 18 feet.

Upstairs there are five good-sized bedrooms of which four are corner rooms. While the third floor is not described or illustrated, your columnist’s memory of one of these houses, in which she lived but briefly before moving into a “House B”, is that originally only the front room was finished, with the remaining space used for storage. The bathroom that is now on the third floor of practically all of the houses of this type was added at a later date.

“Our Latest Plan” is the foreword of the description of this very elaborate house, for which “no price can be named until the ground it will occupy is first known.” Obviously houses of this type would require a spacious setting to show them off to advantage.

Further comment in the Wendell and Smith brochure states that “this is one of several special plans we will build to order at a reasonable price, on any selected ground of our tract. We invite an interview with those needing homes of this high class order.”

Plans show an interior as elaborate as the exterior, with not only the conventional parlor and library on the first floor but a den besides. The second floor, in addition to the usual quota of five large bedrooms, also has a dressing room opening out of one of the front bedrooms. And yet even this house, elaborate as were the plans for it, had, like the other Wayne Estate houses, but one bathroom. No reference is made to third floor space in the description, but the numerous windows shown in the picture indicate that it was probably large, though all under a roof that slanted at a marked angle.

With this week’s column we have now shown the 13 houses illustrated in the brochure which has been lent to us by Miss Beatrice Tees and her brother, DeBourg Tees. Our readers need take only a casual walk along the streets of Wayne and St. Davids to see many examples of all these houses. No greater tribute can be paid to the enduring quality of the workmanship than their appearance 60 years later.

The attractive Tea Room of the Woman’s Exchange, which is located directly over the Exchange at 185 East Lancaster avenue, was opened by the Neighborhood League in 1945. Here luncheon is served each Monday through Friday from 11:30 A.M. to 2 P.M. A new feature recently added is the Friday Fashion Show, which is put on each week through the courtesy of Fanslow’s Corner Shop.

The two women whose enthusiasm, backed by hard work, was largely responsible for the organization of the newest in the series of the Neighborhood League Shops, are shown in the above picture as they stand at the doorway of this quaint little place and look at the new sign which advertises the successful culmination of their efforts. They are Mrs. A.V. Purinton (left), and Mrs. F. Warren Marshall.

Credit should go to Mrs. D.L. Trouant, pictured above, chairman of all the Neighborhood League shops, to which your columnist has been devoting her recent columns.

Mrs. Trouant went into office last September for a term of two years, succeeding Mrs. E. Mortimer Newlin. With her and the vice-chairman, Mrs. Kilshaw M. Irwin, rests the responsibility for the coordination of the work of all the shops.

With today’s pictures this series comes to a close in “Your Town and My Town.” It has been the story of 27 continuous years of effort on the part of many women, who have worked earnestly to aid Wayne’s own social service agency, The Neighborhood League.

Without the profits from these shops it would have been impossible to maintain the League’s high standard of service as they were established in simple fashion 40 years ago, services that have increased steadily with the increasing demands of an ever-growing community.

(Photos by Ansley)

No matter what the hurry or the pre-occupation of the pedestrian who is making his way along the north side of East Lancaster avenue in the 100 block, it is almost impossible to pass the Neighborhood League Shop without at least a sidewise glance into the window.

Perhaps the pair of small Staffordshire china dogs that were there last week has now been replaced, or the lovely old Sheffield tray has given up its place to a charming clock a hundred or more years old. In which case, are the small Staffordshire dogs and the Sheffield Tray inside the shop, or have they been sold?

Frequently, the passerby turns aside long enough to find out the answers. However, with her hand on the latch of the door she still has to pause a moment to examine the array of fascinating small objects on the shelves in the side window, the small glass pitchers or vases, the bits of chinaware, antique or modern, the intriguing little boxes. And that passerby may as easily be “he” as “she” – for are not the ranks of searchers after antiques made up of as many men as women?

The Neighborhood League Shop has not only antiques for sale – some of the merchandise is at least as new as yesterday… perhaps a lamp shade that did not look just right in the living room after it was lit… perhaps the bedspreads did not match the curtains, or the table did not fit into the space for which it was bought.

One look at the interior of the shop, as shown in today’s picture, tells the story of the variety of its merchandise, old and new. There is in sight a chest of drawers, a rocking chair and a coffee table. There are table linens and bed linens, curtains, lamps and lamp shades of all kinds and descriptions; pictures and picture frames, electrical equipment, chinaware, glassware, and many pieces of brass, both modern and antique.

All this has been assembled in one small, but attractive shop, to provide a means of buying and selling on a commission basis, with the net profit going to the vitally needed work of the Neighborhood League in this community.

Mrs. Gibbons Tatnall is the present chairman for the Neighborhood League Shop. Mrs. C.W. Hess, assisted by Mrs. George W. Wilson, is its manager. And each day a different volunteer assists these two in the sales end of the business.

Just to the left of the entrance to the Neighborhood League Shop is a door that leads up a flight of steps to a hallway running the length of the second floor. This houses the Commission Shop, of which Mrs. C.H. Whittum is chairman; Mrs. Robert G. Wilson is manager, and Mrs. Kenneth Foster, assistant manager. With the help of interested volunteers, clothing is sold to men and women, as well as to boys and girls over 12 years old, who cannot be fitted in the Children’s Shop on Louella avenue.

The stock of clothing sold here is large and diversified. The front room, pictured below, holds women’s dresses, hats and accessories. A new sales room has been added recently, just back of this first room, where smaller size suits, coats and “formals” are on display. And at the far end of the hallway is the room devoted to men’s and boys’ suits, jackets, overcoats, tuxedos, and dress suits. Sweaters, shirts and shoes are also in stock.

All these articles, many of them practically new and all of them in excellent condition, have been placed here to be sold on commission. The benefit is three-fold. The original owner receives adequate returns on good clothing, the buyers have the advantage of obtaining many excellent articles at very moderate prices, and the Neighborhood League reaps the profits, which, like those from its other shops, go to the work of that organization.

(To be concluded)

Looking down the vista of the years ahead, not one among that small group of ambitious women who started the Woman’s Exchange in Wayne in 1931 could have visualized the beautiful shop and tea room at 185 East Lancaster avenue as it looks today.

At that time, only some 50 consignors brought their handicraft to the small and unpretentious shop on Audubon avenue, since renamed South Wayne avenue. Now there are more than 300 consignors, who bring what they make to an Exchange that by 1940 had reached fifth place in gross sales among the 35 member organizations of the Federation of Woman’s Exchanges in the entire United States.

In May, 1950, this Federation held its annual meeting in Wayne, with the local group serving as host, and with delegates from as far away as Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Richmond, New Haven, New York, Scarsdale and Stamford.

Almost phenomenal as the growth of the Wayne Woman’s Exchange seems, it was closely connected with national economic conditions in the early 1930’s. In the period of a national depression, heads of families were losing jobs, family savings were rapidly used up, with some disappearing overnight with the closing of banks. What the women in these families could earn, even in a small way, was all that kept many from actual need.

The Wayne Exchange, like many similar organizations throughout the country, helped these women to help themselves by providing an outlet for their products. Some sewed, others knitted, while still others baked. There were ways to earn a bit of money that some had never dreamed of until necessity called forth talents to which their owners had given little heed previously. Off to an auspicious beginning in the 1930’s the success of the Exchange continued on into the more prosperous years that followed. Then came the war with its various shortages, among them that of sugar. While the ordinary housewife could obtain perhaps barely enough of that commodity to meet her family’s everyday needs, the Exchange was able to obtain it in larger quantities for the use of its consignors. And while the supply of cakes and cookies never met the demand for them, nevertheless the situation was somewhat relieved.

The charming interior of the Exchange is shown in the picture illustrating this week’s column. On every side are showcases, full to overflowing with the handiwork of more than 300 consignors. Hand knitted afghans, bootees, sweaters and caps for the youngest member of the family, smocked dresses and pinafores, and for little brothers, suits, hand knitted sweaters and socks – all are of unusual design and painstakingly made. For older sisters and their mothers there is a charming line of handmade sweaters, as well as skirts and blouses.

Clothes form but one part of an extensive stock of articles. To name but a few of the hundreds of these, there are lamp shades, hooked rugs, knitting bags, crocheted mats, aprons of all descriptions, children’s toys, handmade jewelry, pincushions, lingerie cases, etc. Hand monogramming is done on order, dolls are dressed, baby bassinettes are trimmed, rugs mended, and men’s shirt collars turned.

As to food, the long list includes casseroles, sandwiches, cutlets of all kinds, chicken pies, roast turkey, baked ham, etc. There are cakes of all kinds, including special birthday ones, and cookies, too. Many of these items are served in the charming small tea room on the second floor, as well as being sold over the counter.

The Exchange is a non-profit organization, run entirely for the benefit of women who need to add to their incomes, many of them in the older age group. For some of them this additional income means the chance to contribute to their church work or to favorite charities. It means, too, family gifts that could perhaps otherwise not be afforded. And best of all, there is the opportunity to make use of their talents.

Mrs. Edward H. York, Jr., is the present chairman of the exchange, with Mrs. Robert A. Apple as her vice-chairman. Mrs. DeWitt C. Clement serves as executive secretary and manager, with Mrs. Arthur C. Sherman to assist her. Mrs. William T. Grugan is secretary and Miss Marguerite Johnson, assistant secretary. Miss Elizabeth Adams manages the Tea Room, with Mrs. Ann Friel as her assistant. Since the budget does not permit a large paid staff, there is need for many volunteers. Among those who give generously of their time are a number of Junior League members, earning their credits for the League by working in three-hour shifts in the various departments of an enterprise that, for the last 20 years, has meant much to many people.

As they make their way to “The Alley Door”, that newest of the Neighborhoord League Shops, visitors and customers have a nostalgic feeling of half-remembered other small shops in Old World settings. With its fresh paint and shining windows, this tiny place has an air of quaintness in its picturesque setting at the end of the alleyway running to the east of 191 East Lancaster avenue.

Hours of hard work created this charming little shop out of a once dingy basement room. Exterior brick walls have been painted gray with old rose trim. On the wall at the top of the two steps that lead downward to the door itself, is an attractive, oval-shaped wooden sign, advertising the fact that this is “The Alley Door”, and that “clothing, furniture and bric-a-brac” are sold there. Several small wooden casks, also painted in old rose and planted with trailing ivy, add a touch of freshness.

In the well-lighted room which constitutes the interior of the shop, vases of pussy willows set a springtime note. Walls are in a soft beige tone which make a pleasant background for several cabinets of various kinds. Behind the glass door of one are pieces of costume jewelry. Other cabinets and shelves hold such things as candlesticks, plates, vases, lamp shades, bric-a-brac and even a radio, and these articles are but a forerunner of what will come in from time to time.

Just to the right of the door as one enters is an alcove, containing racks well stocked with dresses of various sizes and kinds. Also on display are coats, sports jackets, blouses, shoes and other articles of wearing apparel. And these clothes, too, are only the beginning of large stocks that will be replenished day by day by interested patrons of this new shop.

“Come in with a gift – go out with a bargain” is the slogan for The Alley Door, an invitation for everyone to participate, both in donating and in buying. For, unlike its sister shops, The Commission Shop, The Children’s Shop and The Neighborhood League Shop, which sell on consignment, The Alley Door accepts for sale only such articles as are donated to it. This follows the original plan of the first small Neighborhood League Shop, established on North Wayne avenue 26 years ago. Like its sister shops, all profits go to the work of the Neighborhood League in the maintenance of the community services of that organization.

An informal “open house” was given at The Alley Door on Tuesday of last week for board members and the staffs of the other shops, and on Tuesday of this week, the Shop opened to the public for business. Hours are from 10 A.M. to 4 P.M., Monday through Friday of each week, with volunteer saleswomen on duty. Donations are greatly appreciated by those in charge. Pick-up service for donations will be provided when needed if a telephone call is made to Wayne 0312.

Remember to “come in with a gift and go out with a bargain.”

In spite of the fact that it was in the midst of the depression in the early 1930’s that the Neighborhood League Shop and the Woman’s Exchange moved into their present quarters on East Lancaster avenue, both shops flourished from the beginning. Then came the third selling venture, the Commission Shop, started because of the depression. With quarters located on the second floor just over the Neighborhood League Shop, this new shop soon became an integral part of the group. All worked toward the common goal of raising funds for the Neighborhood League, to carry on its work at a time when demands upon it were steadily increasing.

The inspiration for the Commission Shop came originally from the idea that it could be operated to help many people, and in so doing also be of financial aid in the work of the Neighborhood League itself. Many people might be willing to sell good clothing for which they had no immediate use, while others might be eager to buy these very things if they were moderately priced.

From the beginning, trade in the shop was brisk, quality of clothing sold on commission was good, and the prices were reasonable. Customers were never lacking.

Less than ten years after the start of the Commission Shop, a tea room was opened above the Woman’s Exchange, where attractive luncheons, at moderate price, are served daily. This venture, like those that preceded it, has proved more than successful.

Then, in May 1946, the fifth project got under way, with the opening of the Children’s Shop on Louella Drive. Like the other shops, it has grown steadily and prospered greatly. In the beginning it was an outlet for the congestion in the Commission Shop, but has now become a well-established unit in its own right, with a particular appeal all its own. Sizes range from the tiniest of infants’ wear up to clothes for the 12-year-old boy or girl. From there on, the Commission Shop takes over.

Those who place their clothing to be sold on commission in these two shops come mostly from the Philadelphia area, many of course from the immediate Main Line section, some few even from out of the state. Customers in the Children’s Shop are mostly mothers of families on the lookout for good clothing at bargain prices, and among the most consistent buyers are fond grandmothers with even better trained eyes for good buys. One of the special services of this shop is the maintenance of charts, giving ages and sizes of children in the various families who are customers of the shop.

No one walking along the west side of Louella Drive can fail to notice the attractive window displays in the Children’s shop. One day there may be a gay little party dress as pretty and dainty as if it had never been worn. And in the other corner perhaps a fur collared winter coat of excellent quality, while in between there are shoes and slippers that have scarcely been worn. Another day there may be corduroy overalls and T-shirts, or garments and small warm blankets for the newcomer.

Interestingly enough, much good clothing is bought in both the Commission shop and the Children’s Shop for shipment outside of the United States. Some has gone as far as Japan and Africa; there have been shipments to England and Europe, and to our neighbors in South America. Following major catastrophes in our own country,clothing for both adults and children has been purchased by local customers for shipment to relatives and friends in these areas.

It is impossible to estimate the widespread benefits that have come from the establishment of all the Neighborhood League shops from that day just 26 years ago, when the first small one was started in the little shop on North Wayne avenue, down to the present. “The Alley Door”, which ls about to open, will have purposes and objectives different from those of the shops that have opened previously.

(To be continued)

An unusual sort of an advertisement made its appearance on page eight of last week’s “Suburban” under the heading of “History Repeats Itself.” The Board of Managers of the Neighborhood League Shops announced the coming opening of “The Alley Door”, the fifth shop in its “chain”, on Tuesday, March 9.

It was exactly 28 years ago that “The Suburban” carried a story describing a “new kind of store.” And it, too, had its opening on a Tuesday, March 9. This ‘new kind of store”, the first small Neighborhood League Shop, was located in the DiFerdinando building on North Wayne avenue.

At an organization meeting held previous to the announcement, Mrs. F.H. Diament had been chosen president of the new undertaking; Mrs. E.H. Molthan, vice-president, and Mrs. H.L. Seiple, secretary and treasurer. Mrs. A.H. O’Neal, who later succeeded Mrs. Diament in the presidency, was also instrumental in starting the enterprise that has proven so successful during the years following its inception.

Those who followed Mrs. Diament and Mrs. O’Neal have been Mrs. Molthan, Mrs. Seaton Schroeder, Mrs. C.J. Brooke Young, Jr., Mrs. E. Mortimer Newlin and Mrs. D.L. Trouant, present incumbent. Originators of the plan for this newest shop are Mrs. F. Warren Marshall, and Mrs. A.V. Purinton.

The “newest shop in Wayne” in 1926 had “almost everything imaginable” on sale when it opened its doors on March 9. Even before it was a shop, the Neighborhood League headquarters had accumulated donations from its well wishers for its work among the needy in this vicinity. Now, however, there was to be a change in the manner of this distribution.

To those who could not afford to pay anything for clothing and household articles the shop would gladly turn over, through the Neighborhood League, anything that would fill their needs. But there were others, more financially fortunate, “who were not in the least looking for charity, who had the money, though not very much money to be sure, to buy the baby new leggings, or a sturdy pair of shoes for sister.” And to such families as these, the League Shop was welcome, with its low prices. While the primary purpose of the new shop was not to make profit, it bolstered the self respect of those who wanted to pay their own way.

Soon this first small shop on North Wayne avenue needed a paid worker to head the volunteers who were busily selling the constantly increasing stock of household articles, furniture, bric-a-brac and clothing donated by friends of the Neighborhood League. Shop funds were now making possible monthly contributions to the Neighborhood League, and even after the purchase of an automobile for the use of the League nurses, there was still money left in the bank.

After discussing their plan with the director of the Neighborhood League, the shop managers decided on still another venture. This would be in the way of a Woman’s Exchange. Here those who needed to augment their incomes and who could not go outside their homes to do so, would be given the opportunity to sell what they could make at home. In October, 1931, a second shop was rented, this one on Audubon avenue, in the store now occupied by the Yorke Pharmacy. With some 50 consignors bringing in their products, this new venture was an immediate success.

It was not long before those in charge realized that the combined rent of their two separate shops was high, in proportion to the returns of them. A search was instituted for more reasonable, as well as more suitable locations for the shop, and in 1932 the Woman’s Exchange moved into its present quarters at 185 East Lancaster avenue, with the Neighborhood League shop as its immediate neighbor at 191 West Lancaster avenue.

The story of the Commission Shop and the Children’s Shop will be told next week, beginning with the Commission Shop, which came into existence because of the depression.

(Note: The series of illustrated articles on the Wayne Estate houses will be resumed later.)

Perhaps none of the Wayne Estate house designs was more popular than that of House ”D” as shown above. Such houses appear with great frequency on the south side of St. Davids and Wayne, particularly on Lancaster, Midland and Windermere avenues.

Many may have seen interior changes, but few, if any, now look any different on the exterior than they did when they were built. They do have a very pleasantly symmetrical appearance, and in this particular sketch, a home-like touch has been added by the circular seat around the trunk of the large tree at the left and by the rope swing.

This house could be built for “$8,000 and upwards”, including the ground on which it stood. The Wayne Estate brochure carries the notation that it is “an improvement on the ‘Round End’ house… made larger in some ways, and with a different class of finish. This plan seems to have met a need, and gained popularity “with those requiring a spacious home in the country. This house recommends itself.”

Although the customary flowery description of the interior is lacking, architect’s plans show that it contained a parlor, 24 x 14 feet; a reception room 18 x 13 feet and a dining room of identically the same size. Across the second floor front were three square bedrooms, the largest of which was 16 x 13 feet. Another bedroom at the back was of the same dimension and across the hall from it was a slightly smaller one. Although no third floor plans are given, presumably there were at least two bedrooms and storage space there.

House “E” embodies “a plan that is a unique model of cosiness”, according to the brochure, which goes on to say that “the rooms are fair sized and well arranged for light and comfort. A shady porch all along one side with a return to the front entrance… This house will suit any ordinary family.” Downstairs floor plans show that this house differed decidedly from several of the others in that the three main rooms were all on one side, rather than with the parlor and reception room across the front. The reception room was directly back of the parlor, connecting with it through a wide archway, and back of the reception room was the dining room. On the second floor were the usual five bedrooms and one bath.

Originally there seems to have been no variation in this number of second floor bedrooms. As time went on the number of bedrooms tended to decrease to four, as it became necessary to change a bedroom into a second bathroom, now considered practically an essential in houses the size of the Wayne Estate ones. On the third floor, either the second bedroom or store room space has often been utilized for another bathroom.

Like House “D’’, the cost of House “E” was “$8,000 or upwards”, depending on the size of the lot. Your columnist neglected to give the original prices for Houses A, B and C in writing of them during the past two weeks. This omission she now hastens to correct, as she finds that to present day owners these prices are almost incredible. The price of House A was “$8,250 and upwards”, that of House B, “$9,000 and upwards”, and of House C, “$8,500 and upwards.”
(To be continued)