As the writer looks back to the afternoon spent at the six houses in the Radnor Historical Society tour, her thoughts dwell on the guest of honor at the E. Brooke Matlack home, Mrs. Charles E. Suffren.

Mrs. Suffren was born in this lovely old home on Homestead road, Strafford, 97 years ago, on October 10, 1858. She now lives in the large white house built by her husband in 1908, to the east of the Matlack house.

As guests of the afternoon gathered around her, Mrs. Suffren told of a quiet, but happy childhood on her father’s farm, when the “seasons were her calendar.” There was strawberry time, raspberry time, peach, apple and chestnut time. Chestnut time she remembers especially, since it was then that “the children had to get up early to beat the turkeys.” For once started on their rounds, these lordly birds described a complete circle of the chestnut trees that brought them back to the barn at sundown.

This farm was part of a tract of 130 acres bought in 1857 by Mrs. Suffren’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Langdon Wentworth, for $10,000. This sum included not only the land, but two other houses in addition to the large one now occupied by the Matlacks. One of them was a small farmhouse on Conestoga road near the overpass, while the other was located on a 30-acre tract near the intersection of Gulph and Homestead roads.

A year after the family’s acquisition of this new property, their small daughter, Martha, was born. As she grew up she had no playmates in her family as “one sister was too old, the other too young, and the brother went off with the boys.” In winter she attended a school run by two well-known women of their time, Miss Anna Markley and Miss Anna Matlack. The school moved its location from time to time, which “made it exciting,” according to Mrs. Suffren. Later she attended school in Portsmouth, N.H.. where she lived in a Government House with an aunt, Miss Mary Frances Wentworth.

Except for these two schools, Martha Wentworth had no formal education. But she was an avid reader then as well as in her later life, with access to a wide selection of books from the library of the old Emlen family of Philadelphia, of which her mother was a member. While small Martha was too young to go to the nearby Old Eagle School in Strafford, her sister Katharine and her brother Charles did attend. However, even now she can remember the song they learned there and sang on the way home, one having to do with the one-time strained English and American relations in regard to taxes. The song ran as follows:

“There was an Old Lady lived over the sea
And she was an Island Queen.
Her daughter lived off in a far countree
With plenty of water between.
The Old Lady’s pockets were bursting with gold
But nevor contented was she.
So she thought up a plan and she levied a tax
Of three pence a pound upon tea.
Of three pence a pound upon tea.”

When the Pennsylvania Railroad abandoned Old Eagle Station and built a new one, its officials asked the Wentworth family’s permission to use the name of Strafford for it, since their nearby large estate was called “Strafford Hall” in honor of one Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford. Although Mr. Wentworth was at first reluctant to agree, he finally gave his consent when the officials of the railroad explained that they needed names of two syllables for conductors to call out when they came to stations.

On June 3, 1880, Martha Wentworth married Charles Suffren, a real estate lawyer of Rockland County, N.Y., where his father was a judge. The ceremony took place in old St. David’s Church with the Rev. Halsey and the Rev. Martin performing the ceremony, as they had done for the bride’s father and mother. After a honeymoon trip by train to the Delaware Water Gap, the young couple made their home in Rockland County, N.Y., where Mr. Suffren continued his practice of law for a time before going to New York City.

(To be continued)

The house, described as “the finest surviving example of Victorian mansard mansions erected in the 1870’s by James Henry Askin,” was so briefly described in last week’s column that the writer thought it would be of interest to readers to amplify that description in the current column.

Although torrential rains on Saturday morning undoubtedly lessened the numbers usually attending the annual “open house” tour of the Radnor Historical Society, there were still a goodly group of visitors at each of the six houses opened for the occasion. Perhaps none was more popular than the George H. Borst house on Bloomingdale avenue, not only because of its central location, but also because of the fact that this is the first year in which a house of the strictly Victorian style of architecture has been listed for visiting. It is a style of architecture well known locally since James Henry Askin, the community’s first builder of suburban homes, was responsible for the large number of these houses built on both sides or Bloomingdale avenue between West Wayne avenue and Lancaster pike. Many of these mansard roof houses which were sold by Drexel and Childs, have been described and illustrated in recent issues of this column.

A map made in 1908, still in the Borst house, shows that the owner was then Mrs. H.M. Rhoades. Before it was bought in the middle 1930’s by Mr. and Mrs. Irving F. Wolfgram, the house had been for many years the home of Mr. and Mrs. Marshall F. Smith, who were among Wayne’s best known residents of that time. A letter received from Mrs. Frederick A. deCanizares, a former Wayne resident now of Portland. Ore., identifies the house as a former home of her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Richards Johnson. The property then extended to West Wayne avenue on the south and included the lot directly back of it to the east. “All the old trees that are left on the property were planted by my mother, some 73 years ago,” Mrs. de Canizares writes.

Among beautiful authentic pieces in the music room which retains its 18th Century atmosphere are a pier glass mirror covering one wall of the room, two large Victorian chandeliers, a Sheraton and a Chippendale sofa, a Chippendale piecrust table, a Victorian fireside stool and a prie-dieu.

Among the other old pieces in this room in addition to a handsome grand piano is a double stand for violin music to be used by two musicians. This beautiful mahogany piece was the property of Mr. Borst’s father, a professor and composer of music as well as an organist, who came to America from England in the middle 80’s. Interesting decorations in this room include a pair of dark blue Sevres vases and a very old Waterford candelabra.

The original hallway in this house has been made into one with the now spacious living room with its many windows extending almost to the floor and its fireplace centered in the south wall. Among the many handsome pieces of old furniture in this room are a Chippendale chest-on-chest, and six Victorian chairs which were part of Mrs. Borst’s grandparents’ first parlor furniture.

It is from this room that the visitor glimpses the old stable at the back of the lot which is now remodelled into a large “party room” in which the main feature is a “walk-in” fireplace of the early American type. Originally the stable had a double stall and two single stalls. Of late years the building has served several purposes, besides that of party-giving. Among other things it had been the meeting place for the Radnor Township Council of Republlcan Women.

Last week’s column described two of the old houses to be visited in tomorrow’s pilgrimage of the Radnor Historical Society, details of which are given in the news columns of today’s, “Suburban.” This column continues with pictures of the other four houses.

This house on Homestead road, Strafford, now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. E. Brooke Matlack, was built in 1856 by the then well-known White family of Philadelphia. A year later it was purchased by Mr. and Mrs. John Langdon Wentworth, who named it “Strafford.” Later the Pennsylvania Railroad gave the name to the station, which had formerly been called “Eagle,” as was the entire settlement that once centered around the Spread Eagle Inn and the Old Eagle School. Saturday’s visitors will have the pleasure of meeting as special guest of honor Mrs. Suffren, the former Martha Wentworth, born in this house 97 years ago, who still lives on Homestead road.

When it was built in about 1880, the home of Mrs. Joseph B. McCall, Jr., on Gulph Creek road, Radnor, was the gate house of the old Mott homestead which burned down a few years ago. Among Mrs. McCall’s treasured possessions, which will be shown tomorrow, are portraits of Rembrandt Peale and his wife, done by the former; a doll house, dating back to 1868, belonging to Mrs. McCall’s aunt, Miss Louise Gibbons Davis, and a certificate concerning one of her ancestors, George Quincy White, assistant quartermaster (with rank of captain) who served during the Civil War. This certificate bears the signature of “Abraham Lincoln.” (The full name is much more uncommon than the “Abe Lincoln” signature.)

This house, at 125 Bloomingdale avenue, was built in the 1870’s as part of Wayne’s earliest residential development. Because of its interest as a perfect example of true Victorian architecture, it has been selected for tomorrow’s tour of historic homes. Although the rear of the house has had various additions and alterations, the front remains as it was when it was built. Mrs. Borst has endeavored to retain the Victorian feeling by keeping the furnishings of her music room strictly in that period, and the rest of the house in the 18th century era. Saturday’s visitors will see a rare collection of antique furniture, exquisite china, glass, pewter and silver.

The headquarters of the Radnor Historical Society is housed in the Colonial kitchen, with its old Dutch oven, of the home of Miss E. Dorothy Finley, on Beechtree lane. Dating back to 1789, this home was originally a tenant house on the large farm of a Revolutionary veteran, “Squire” John Pugh, whose own house still stands on the corner of Lancaster pike and Farm road. Members of the Historical Society and guests are urged to examine at leisure everything that is on exhibition in the headquarters part of the Finley home. The picture shown above was taken from northwest of the house, before trees and shrubs had grown to their present size. The entrance to the headquarters is at the southeast corner of the house.

With the annual tour of historic houses scheduled for Saturday afternoon, October 15, by the Radnor Historical Society, your columnist has thought that it would be of interest to her readers to know, in advance, something of the history of these houses. Two pictures, and brief stories appear in this week’s column. Others will appear next week to cover the six houses which will be open.

The original part of this spacious home was a small log cabin, dating back more than 150 years. It belonged to one of the members of the large Hughes family, a name famous in the Chester Valley section because of the old saw mill, once located on the Colonial Village Swimming Club parking lot. This saw mill, with its surrounding acreage, had been in operation for many years before it was purchased in 1800 from Isaac Bewley and his wife, Anne, by William Carver and Abner Hughes.

Abner Hughes’ first house was a log cabin located on the rear of the lovely old stone house on Croton road, now owned by Mrs. Dewitt P. Pugh. The stone house was Mr. Hughes’ second home, in which he died in 1844, leaving it to his son, William. Each of his three daughters inherited a house on Croton road, formerly called Reeseville road, which leads from Reeseville (now Berwyn) to the Schuylkill River at Old Swedes’ Church. It was one of these daughters who inherited what is now the old section of the present Apple house.

This house, located on Radnor Street road, is but a short distance from the Apple house on Croton road. The original part, dating back to 1648, is the oldest house in this section of which there is any record. The man who first cleared the land and built the small cabin, which was to endure for so many years, was a Welshman named Lavis. In 1702, one of his descendants, David Lavis, sold the property to John Davis, a silversmith of Philadelphia.

The first Lavis must have made his way by Indian trails to the spot where he built the house for his family, from materials close at hand. This original house, with its unevenly spaced windows, its floors at different levels and some of its ceilings higher at one end of the room than at the other, now forms the center section of the present structure. All the beams in it are hand hewn.

Four years after her purchase of the property, Miss Exley bought additional acreage. With wood from trees on this land and with stones from the old grist mill nearby, an addition was erected on either side of the small log cabin, to harmonize with the original primitive little structure. Now called “Cherry Garth” by its owner (“Garth” means an “enclosure”), its lovely gardens are planted almost entirely with flowers and shrubbery native to this section.

SAVE THIS DATE:
Saturday, October 15 – when the Radnor Historical Society will have its annual tour of old houses in the Wayne vicinity. The showing, with hours from 1:30 to 5:30 P.M., is described at length in Emma Patterson’s “Your Town and My Town” column.

When the story about two of the old Bloomingdale avenue houses, that were demolished some years ago, was first written for this column several weeks ago, the story was to have been accompanied by a picture of these houses. They were the former Benjamin F. James home on the southeast corner of Bloomingdale and Lancaster avenues, and the Fox home, immediately adjacent to it on the south. As it turned out, the houses were too much obscured by the heavy foliage of large trees to reproduce well. And so it is with regret that we must omit the picture lent to us by Mrs. Henry G. Fischer.

Mr. James tells us that he bought his Bloomingdale avenue house shortly after he came to Wayne to live in 1910, with the sale made through the real estate office of Wendell and Treat. Although it had then been unoccupied for some years, he recalls it as the former home of the Fallon family. Mr. Fox had bought the adjoining property some years prior to the James purchase.

Mrs. Fischer tells us that when the Bloomingdale avenue houses were built, those of identical architecture were placed opposite each other along the east and the west sides of the street. According to that plan, the James house must have looked similar to the Ramsey house, later the Charles T. Mather home. An excellent picture of this old house was shown in this column in the issue of July 1. It was recently demolished to make room for the Bell Telephone Company’s dial exchange building, now being erected on the southwest corner of Bloomingdale and Lancaster avenues. By the same token the Fox house was the twin to the Fischer house, a picture of which was shown in the June 17 issue of this column.

The results of the remodeling that Mr. James did, soon after his purchase of the house, are at least indicated in the picture lent us by Mrs. Fischer. For one thing, the front porch which went the entire width of the old house was replaced by a small portico entrance to the front door, thus giving more sunlight into the downstairs. Mr. James describes the stable at the rear as “quite a place,” with its second floor made into wood panelled quarters for the coachman’s family. These quarters were used as recreation rooms for families who later owned the house, and for their guests.

As Mr. James recalls the date, it was in about 1930 that these properties were sold to the corporation that erected the Kingsway apartment house. There was some controversy in regard to the location of the building itself, the decision being that it must be set back as far as the Fox property on which, as a matter of fact, it stands entirely.

Mr. James describes his former lot as “a pie shaped piece of ground,” with frontage on both Lancaster and Bloomingdale avenues. As the writer walked across that “pie shaped piece” recently she recalled Mr. James’ description of the many difficulties encountered in tearing down this well built structure with its hair-plaster walls. Evidently the new owners lost heart when they reached the foundation walls. For no demolition at all of any of these was done, the cellar rooms being merely filled in with dirt. Now, 25 years later, that dirt has settled to the extent that the tops of the cellar walls are slightly above ground, making the room plan of the old house again visible.

Several months ago this writer received from Concord, Calif., the 50-year-old picture used in last week’s column, showing the old Gallagher house, which, up until a short time ago, stood on the south side of Lancaster avenue where it is joined by Conestoga road. With the picture was a letter from Mrs. Isabel Gallagher Lyons, who, though she has not lived in this section for some years, is still a subscriber to “The Suburban” and a reader of this column. The letter reads, in part:
“For your section ‘Your Town and My Town,’ perhaps the photograph which I am sending herewith may be of some interest. This house was the residence of my parents, Mr. and Mrs. John M. Gallagher, of Lancaster and Conestoga roads, Wayne. The picture was taken about 1905. The corner was sold two years ago to the Gulf Refining Company for a gas station.

In the days of George Washington there was an Inn called ‘The Unicorn’ on this corner. Across the way the ‘Spread Eagle Inn’ housed Washington’s troops on their march along Conestoga road from Philadelphia to Valley Forge, while in the ‘Unicorn’ the English troops made their headquarters. The ‘Unicorn’ was later burned down. On its former site a residence was erected in the era when the houses on Bloomingdale avenue were built with their flat roofs, ten-foot high ceilings, long front windows and almost surrounded by porches.”

In a later letter, Mrs. Lyons has written:
“My grandfather, Edward Gallagher, bought the farm which included the large Brooks Parker field across the Pike, all along Conestoga road and along South Devon avenue to the top of the hill where the DeSchaunsee home is, for the now unbelievable price or $75 per acre. Now the selling price is around $200 per front! The house, recently torn down, in which our family lived, was on the property when my grandfather bought it, according to stories my mother told me (and they were as good as any stories!). She said one former owner had been the Chew family… they used it for a summer home only. For in those days Strafford was a summer resort… the house was very cool with its 12-inch stone walls. I never heard from whom my grandfather purchased it.”

For many years the Gallagher family has been well known throughout this entire section. The Bateman-Gallagher Post is named in part for a son, Edward Gallagher, who lost his life ln World War I. Mr. Gallagher was a prominent business man, being at one time the president of the Radnor Building & Loan Association. Mrs. Gallagher was not only the organizer and first president of the national Gold Star Mothers, but she was also instrumental in starting the Pennsylvania Chapter of War Mothers.

When the Gallagher house was built, the famous old Spread Eagle Inn, which had stood almost across the Pike, had just been destroyed, or perhaps was just about to be destroyed. As reported in last week’s column, the inn’s last owner, George W. Childs, used the stone in it for the Bloomingdale avenue houses, possibly even some of it for the very house that was about to be constructed at the intersection of Conestoga road and the Pike.

Built in 1796, the handsome four story stone building pictured above, with porches extending along the entire front, replaced a crude little structure of the same name which had been among the first of many inns to be built along the old turnpike.

Sixty-seven taverns lined the 62 miles of this turnpike before the Philadelphia and Columbia railroad was completed by the Canal Commission in 1820. With the coming of the railroad the stage coach travel along Lancaster Pike decreased until there was need for only the more spacious and better equipped inns. Some, however, and particularly those close to Philadelphia, remained open as summer boarding houses, as did the Spread Eagle for a number of years.

Of the gay days at an inn, J. F. Sachse in his delightful book, “Wayside Inns on the Lancaster Turnpike,” writes:
“Within the tavern all would be life and animation. On warm, fair nights, the porch as well as the piazza above was illuminated by large reflecting lamps, when on such occasions congregated the ladies and gentlemen who were stopping there, either permanently or temporarily, to while away the time and watch the life and bustle on the road in front of the Inn, as well as in the yard beyond. The shouts and activity of the hostlers and stablemen at the arrival or departure of the mail or post coach, the rapidity with which the horses were unhitched, or replaced by fresh relays after the passengers had refreshed themselves, the numbers of travelers on horseback or in private conveyances, the occasional toot of a stage horn or ring of the hostlers bell – all tended to form a continuous change of scene.”

It is a far cry from a description of such a scene to another, written by the same author in 1886 when he says, ”The old inn, though in good repair, is closed and without an occupant, and looms on the roadside like a dark and sombre relic of the past, with nothing to remind the present generation of its departed glories.”

It was then that it was torn down by order of Mr. Childs.

The second picture, taken only last week, in contrast to the one taken 50 years ago, shows more plainly than many columns can describe, the changes the years have made along Lancaster pike, at the junction of Wayne and its neighboring suburb of Strafford. It is only recently that the John M. Gallagher house, on the left in the first picture, has been demolished to make room for the new Gulf gasoline station shown in the second.

Old timers among us may look with a certain wistful nostalgia at the quiet peace of the scene in the first picture, with its one vehicle approaching the intersection, and that one a horse drawn wagon! Great trees line the highway and shade the large Victorian style dwelling with its mansard roof and, shuttered windows. Built by Drexel and Childs in the 1880’s, this dwelling is of the same style of architecture as those lining Bloomingdale avenue, between Lancaster pike and West Wayne avenue in the late 1880’s and 1890’s. The famous old Spread Eagle Inn, built in 1796 to replace a still earlier small crude structure, stood across the road from the Gallagher house and slightly to the west of it. By the time this picture was taken, it had been demolished, however, by George W. Childs, who needed the building stones for his Bloomingdale avenue houses. Besides, he feared – or so it was said – that liquor might again be sold there as in days gone by!

Directly across the road there already stood the building that is now known as the Spread Eagle Apartment, with shops on the first floor. Sheltered from view by the trees to the right in the first picture, the large house, with its stables and other outbuildings, was a private home of mansion-like proportions. Mrs. Charles Suffren, one of Strafford’s old time residents, recalls that the beautiful home had several owners, among them an early member of the George B. Thayer family. The George Wharton Pepper family also lived there at one time.

The second Spread Eagle Inn was still standing when the mansion house just described was built. Just to the west of the Inn was a small and very old stone house, recently remodelled by the Wayne Title and Trust Company as its branch office. Mrs. Suffren tells us that this was one of the most famous toll houses along the old Lancaster pike. One of its first rooms almost touched on the road, making a vantage point from which tolls of three cents per vehicle were collected by the woman in charge as she lifted the long bar that extended across the road – a procedure rather difficult to imagine in this era of fast moving traffic.

So much for what was once sheltered by the tall trees on the right hand side of the road in the first picture. The second picture is so new as to be self explanatory, even to the highway marker which sets a speed limit of 35 miles per hour at this point. Dave’s Bar, as its large sign shows, occupies the once vacant triangle bounded on one side by the pike and on the other by Conestoga road. Beyond that is the new Gulf station while across the pike is a Cities Service gas station, built a short time ago. In the picture it completely hides the smaller of the Spread Eagle buildings – a low and attractive structure which was once the stables for the mansion house. Now a part of the apartment house, it is not too many years ago that this building was a picturesque tea room.

The several storied white building just beyond the Cities Service as station is the Spread Eagle Apartment house, with its first floor display windows and shops. And beyond that is the old toll house, remodelled to meet the needs of the Branch Office or the Wayne Title and Trust Company.

(To be continued next week with the story of the Gallagher house and of the old Unicorn Inn, which once stood on this site.)

In writing the history of some of the old residences on Bloomingdale avenue, Wayne’s first real residential street, a number of deeds to those properties have come into the temporary possession of the writer of this column. These documents, commonly called “indentures” in the late 1800’s when these houses were being bought and sold, were impressive appearing records of the transfer of real estate. Although the word “indenture” as a synonym for “deed” is almost obsolete now, it is interesting to note that, according to the current Century Dictionary, it was defined as “a deed or agreement executed in two or more copies with edges correspondingly indented as a means of identification.” Thus from “indented” came “indenture.”

The first few lines of an indenture executed on August 25, 1881, is reproduced at the head of this column. It is a particularly interesting one because of the names still so clearly legible in it. “George W. Childs, of the city of Philadelphia, Publisher,” was the owner of the old “Public Ledger,” the man who in the 1870’s and 1880’s bough much Wayne property, on which he and Anthony J. Drexel built many of the sturdy and substantial homes still standing in this section.

Harry E. Corrie, whose name also appears on the indenture, was one of the first to purchase a home on Bloomingdale avenue. In May, 1881, he bought the house on the northwest corner of Lenoir and Bloomingdale avenues, recently described and illustrated in this column as the home of the late Dr. Henry G. Fisher and Mrs. Fisher [2016 note: written as “Fischer” in previous column].

A close perusal of this indenture indicates that it is a second deed to the property, made on August 25, 1881, about three months after the original deed was signed. It would seem that only the name of Anthony J. Drexel appeared on the first deed, whereas the ground on which the house had been built was held jointly by George W. Childs and Mr. Drexel. “Therefore doubt has arisen” according to a statement in the indenture “whether the said Anthony J. Drexel could grant and convey said tract of land… without the joinder of the said George W. Childs and Emma Bouvier, his wife.” So in order to “make the title of said premises sure and perfect,” Mr. Corrie presented Mr. and Mrs. Childs with “the sum of one dollar.” And in order that the Notary Public might in all good conscience affix his seal and signature to this second indenture, the latter states that “the said Emma Bouvier being of full age, by the previously examined separate and apart from her husband and the contents of said indenture being first fully made known to her, therefore declared that she did voluntarily and of her own free will and accord sign and seal and as her act and deed did deliver the said indenture without any coercion or compulsion on the part of her said husband.” (The language of lawyers is no less complicated today!)

But after a close perusal of our pages of legal sized paper on which the foregoing statements – and much more – had been written in a beautifully shaded and regular hand, this writer failed to discern the original price of the Corrie property! Presumably, it was approximately the same as that of the Eldridge [Note: spelt “Eldredge” previously] property, just across Lenoir avenue, which the original deed shows to be $6,000.

The indenture of June, 1881, conveying the property on the south-west corner of Bloomingdale and Lenoir avenues to Miss Emma Eldridge, from Mr. and Mrs. Anthony J. Drexel and from Mr. and Mrs. George W. Childs describes that property (which is now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Harry Black) as “all that certain lot or piece of ground with the brick messuage or tenement thereon erected…together with the free and common use, right, liberty and privilege of the said Bloomingdale avenue and the said 40 feet wide avenue with or without horses, cattle, carts and carriages at all times hereafter forever, but exclusive of the right and privilege of any roads or avenues not at present opened…” This “said 40 feet wide avenue” which is now Lenoir avenue, was evidently unnamed in 1881.

But if there were “privileges” unnamed in this indenture there were restrictions listed and described in no uncertain terms. Neither Miss Eldridge or her heirs were ever “to erect or build, or cause or permit to be erected or built upon the hereby granted lot of ground… any hotel, tavern, drinking saloon, blacksmith, carpenter or wheelwright shop, steam mill, tannery, slaughter house, skin dressing establishment, livery stable, glue, soap, candle or starch manufactories or other buildings for offensive purposes or occupations, nor shall any building thereon erected be converted into a hotel, tavern, drinking saloon,” etc. What is more, the Drexel and Childs interests reserved the right in case of any violations of these restrictions to “tear down, remove and abate all such buildings or manufactories as may be erected… or used contrary to the true intent and meaning of those present…” And in addition all the demolition would be “at the cost of the said party of the third part, her heirs or assignees,” etc.

Although the boundaries of their restrictions are a little vague, they seem to apply to all “said lots known and designated as Wayne” and sold by Drexel and Childs, which may well be news to their present day owners!

Until Wednesday of last week, two of Wayne’s best known landmarks were the twin oak trees that stood side by side on Radnor Street road, just to the south of its intersection with Poplar avenue.

Many times passers-by stopped to ask Mr. and Mrs. Russell B. Spencer, on whose property these trees stood, what they knew of their history. There was little to tell, except that they were apparently of great age, because of their obvious tremendous size and height. A few years ago, two representatives from the “Philadelphia Evening Bulletin” stopped to take pictures of the trees and to ask their owner’s permission to list them in the “250 Years Old Tree Club” of the “Bulletin.” This at least gave a date of sorts for the trees.

The Spencers, proud of these magnificent old trees, whose wide spreading limbs gave shade not only to their yard, but to the Cowan playgrounds and Radnor Street road, had them examined from time to time by tree surgeons to prolong their lives. Wind storms came and went, apparently without doing them material damage. Even “Hurricane Hazel,” as it cut its devastating swath through Wayne, last October, left the two trees little harmed.

And then last Wednesday, as Mrs. Spencer stood at one of the windows of her home and noted the quietness of the scene along Radnor Street road – the school bus had just departed and Cowan Play Field was now empty of children – she heard a small crackling noise in one of the old oaks. With startling speed this noise grew into a great roar as the tree closest to the field crashed to the ground, sending up clouds of sawdust, almost smoke-like in their density.

To Mrs. Spencer, her beloved old oak tree went down “just as if it were tired to death.” It would seem as if in the wisdom of its great years it had bided its time until there were no children playing in their favorite shaded corner of the school field; there was no school bus standing under it, and until there was a lull in the almost constant stream of traffic along the road, usually made even heavier on a hot summer day by swimmers on their way to and from Martin’s Dam and Colonial Village swimming pools.

From all sides neighbors rushed to the scene, worried by the thought of the devastation that the old tree might have wrought as it fell.

The heavy branches and limbs covered the area and electric and telephone wires were entangled in its reach. Hastily summoned crews of repairmen soon restored service while Radnor township workmen cleared the road for the passage of cars. By Thursday afternoon, the ten-man crew had cleared away all but the huge trunk, with one sharply pointed section pointed skyward. As a safety measure, the other old oak has also been taken down by township workmen.

With the passing of these old trees. Mr. and Mrs. Spencer will miss the visitors who rang the door bell to inquire about the age and history of the twin oaks. They will remember the old German scissors grinder, coming up the road ringing his bell, who stopped to ask if he might have the “tree mushroom,” big as a football, which was growing on the old oak. They will think also of the adventuresome lad, who called the tree “magnificent” and proceeded to walk straight up one of its largest limbs before Mrs. Spencer could stop him.

And they will remember the two occasions on which the Radnor Fire Company was called into action because of fires set in the hollow in the trunk of the one oak. The first of these fires enlarged the original hole to the extent that children could then comfortably “play house” in the old tree.

And thus, with the death of these old oak sentinels, we record the passing of an era.

The picture shown above was taken in 1934, eight years after the house, originally owned by Miss Emma Eldredge, passed into the possession of DeWitt P. Henry. Interesting old deeds, temporarily in the possession of the writer, show that in the years between 1881, when it was first built, and 1926, this house had passed through several ownerships. In 1946 it was sold by DeWitt Henry to his son, John Henry, who sold it to its present occupants, Mr. and Mrs. Harry Black, about six years ago.

Even looking back over a 74-year period of changing real estate values in Radnor township, it is still hard to believe that Miss Eldredge paid Drexel and Childs only $6,000 for “all that certain lot or piece of ground, with the brick messuage or tenement thereon erected,” as the original property was described in the deed dated August, 1881. Succeeding deeds show a steady increase in the value of the property – in keeping with other property values throughout the township.

When the DeWitt Henry family moved into the house, the blackboards used by the Misses Emma and Adelaide Eldredge, in the school they had conducted in this house for so long, still lined the walls of a large room on the north side, which the Henrys later used as their dining room. A door led directly into this school room from a pathway leading to Lenoir avenue. This door is still in use by the Blacks as a direct entrance from the outside into one of their apartments.

The extensive grounds must have provided generous play space for the pupils of the school. Still beautifully planted, in spite of the ravages of “Hurricane Hazel,” they now provide individual garden space for all of Mrs. Black’s tenants. In calling attention to the rock gardens on the southern boundary of her lot, Mrs. Black explained that it is said to be part of the old reservoir which originally extended from West Wayne avenue to the north, along the western boundary of the properties in this block. If so, this rock garden is the only relic of what was once one of the main sources of water supply tor Wayne.

Herman Lengel, one of Wayne’s old-time builders, described this reservoir to the writer recently as a “very handsome affair” amid surroundings so attractive that local churches held some of their outdoor festivals there. Brick steps led from the side wall of Bloomingdale avenue to the main level of the reservoir, from which another set of steps led to the top of it. Around the reservoir was a brick walk enclosed by an iron fence.

The inside of the reservoir itself was also brick lined. By the early 90’s this source of water supply had ceased to be used, however Mr. Lengel also reminisced about the source of the building supplies that went into the erection of the early Bloomingdale avenue houses. He remembers that the bricks were hauled from the Florey brick yard, near Garrett Hill, by dump cart, and that the timber came from either the Tryon Lewis saw mills or from the Edwards mills. But whoever the builders, or whatever the source of their supplies, time has proved the worth of their labors in the sturdy Victorian style houses that still give shelter to many of Wayne’s families.

(To Be Continued)