“Wayne’s most modern building”, as the Colonial Building has been called in advertisements pertaining to office space therein, is in reality one of Wayne’s oldest edifices. Lyceum Hall, a small, square building erected on the northeast corner of Lancaster avenue and North Wayne avenue in 1871, forms the nucleus of this structure.

J. Henry Askin, one of the founders of Wayne, whose original home was “Louella House”, now the Louella Apartments, donated the ground on which the Lyceum was built.

When the building was dedicated on October 24, 1871, Mr. Askin was the first speaker on a program which marked a great occasion in the history of early Wayne. More than 500 men, women and children filled to overflowing the large hall on the second floor. The weekly “Wayne Gazette”, in describing the occasion, stated that “we certainly must not be considered egotistical in saying that the dedication of Wayne Lyceum Hall was most successful. We doubt if an audience larger in members or one so highly intelligent has assembled in any public hall in Delaware or Chester county on any occasion”.

The building was described as “built of brick, rough cast in imitation of granite, three stories high… The first floor contains two large stores each 20 by 40 feet, and an office of the same size. The other room on the same floor, which is the reading and library room of the Lyceum, is 55 by 40 feet. It has a gallery and stage with rooms for the president and secretary… The third floor is being finished as a Masonic Hall and is intended to be used for a new Masonic Lodge”. This was the first home of Wayne Lodge 581, F. and A.M.

In 1889 the Wayne Estate enlarged the store, adding a new proscenium and scene shifts. Then again, in 1903, the building was remodeled and enlarged, provision being made at that time for the housing of the Wayne Post Office. Thereafter it became the center of community activities for Wayne, with the European concerts and other events of social and musical interest being given there. The Opera House, as it was called by this time, rented space to the first motion picture theater in Wayne, which was run by the Messrs. Allen.

In the early morning hours of December 30, 1914, the worst fire that Wayne had experienced since the old Bellevue Hotel burned to the ground in March, 1900, partially destroyed the Opera House. Starting in the office of the Counties Gas and Electric Company on the west side of the building, the fire spread rapidly to the Post Office and to the Welsh and Park Hardware store, as well as to the Auditorium, the Wayne Plumbing and Heating Company office, the Wendell and Treat office, and the quarters of the Wayne Lodge.

The Radnor Fire Company had but two engines at that time. However, reinforcements arrived on the scene so speedily that eight streams of water were soon playing on the fire.

The losses of the tenants in the building mounted into many thousands of dollars, in addition to the losses suffered by the owners of the Opera House. However, within a comparatively short time the extensive repairs were completed and tenants returned to their former quarters. After the completion of these repairs the appearance of the Opera House was very much as it remained up to the time of the extensive alterations made in 1950-51 by Main Line Investments, Inc.

 

The large, well-worn family Bible of the Martin family, which was lent to this writer by Mrs. Emily Siter Wellcome in order that the history of original members of the family, who owned Martin’s Dam, might be traced back to England, was a repository of various newspaper clippings, several dating back almost sixty years, others not so old.

Among these are several issues of “The Suburban” containing a column headed “Historical Notes” with the sub-heading “Reminiscences of the Neighborhood of Wayne and Strafford in the Early Part of the Last Century”. This would give evidence that more than half a century ago “Your Town and My Town” had a predecessor in “The Suburban”.

Allthe newspaper clippings in the old Bible were not of an historic nature, however. Three of them have to do with an event of such contemporary interest at the time they were published, that it was given much space in the “Evening Bulletin” of December 21, 1897, in the “Philadelphia Inquirer” and in the now defunct “Morning Ledger” of December 22. This was a fox hunt given by the Messrs. Siter and Barrett, of Wayne, on December 21, for which over 200 invitations were issued, and at which “many of the foremost huntsmen around Philadelphia were present on their best mounts to join in the lively chase after Master Reynard”. In addition “75 hounds filled the air with strains that delighted the huntsman’s ear.”

Mrs. Wellcome explained that these particular clippings were of sufficient interest to form part of the Martin family history, since her mother, Miss Sally Martin, married William Siter, one of the two hosts at the famous fox hunt of which we are writing. The livery stable of Siter and Barrett was located slightly to the rear of the present Buick agency building. It later became the Kromer livery stables.

The “Bulletin” devoted almost a column to this event, which took place around “the snow-clad hills of Wayne” and which was participated in by the Radnor, Rose Tree, Royersford, Gulph Mills, Phoenixville, Lower Merion and Strafford hounds. Before the hunt “a stand-up breakfast of excellent cheer was given by Messrs. Siter and Barrett in the large carriage house in the rear of their livery stable. The whole place was prolfusely decorated with laurel branches, and a regular old-fashioned time was indulged by the pink-coated huntsmen preparatory to the start.”

Breakfast over, Mrs. William Barrett liberated the fox in the field in front of the livery stable just across the Lancaster Pike. She was immediately presented with a handsome bouquet of American Beauty roses as the fox, to the shouts and yells of several hundred spectators, sped rapidly away in the direction of St. Davids.”

A vivid description of subsequent events then follows. “Twenty minutes later”, according to “The Bulletin”, “the blast of a bugle rang out merrily on the morning air. In an instant came the answer from the seven packs of hounds fastened up in the stable. It was one joyous yelp. At the same moment the doors were thrown open and away they dashed across the pike to find the scent. No time was lost. A young English hound imported by Charles E. Mather for the Radnor Hunt Club gave lip, and away it sped in the direction the fox had gone, followed by the combined packs.

“The sight was an inspiring one, and many many a looker-on sigh for a moment as the pink-coated huntsmen dashed across the meadow, right in the wake of the hounds. The atmosphere was filled with music, and as hunters and hounds disappeared over the brow of the hill, it was as if the light had gone out where a minute or two before all was gladness and pleasurable excitement.”

The chase that followed was a memorable one in the annals of “that far-famed fox-hunting country around Wayne.” It was, however, a brief one, since it was only 45 minutes after the fox was liberated that it was run to earth within three miles of the starting point, on the farm of Mrs. Ramsey, and just at the back of St. David’s Church. The chase had led over the farms of Joseph Childs and Thomas Watson to Newtown Square, after which it circled back toward Wayne.

Brief in time though it was, this chase was still a good one while it lasted, according top our “Bulletin” reporter. The latter describes it as “much faster than the ordinary Pennsylvania fox hunt… it partook of the character of a Melton Mobray Meteon, one of those swift Lancastershire hunts in England that try the mettle of man and horse… The country over which the fox made his tortuous course was well calculated to arouse the fearless instincts of the followers oi the chase.

It was up hill and down dale, through scrub and brush and dense woods frosted with silver and dangerous to the riders. The wet snow balled under the horses’ feet, and rendered jumping dangerous, but to such old-timers as Edward Crozer, Lemuel Altemus, Frank Barrett, David Sharp and a few other well mounted huntsmen, the element of danger only lent an additional pleasure to the chase. Some jumps were made from slippery rising places that would have brought down the wildest applause had they been made before a Philadelphia or New York Horse Show gathering.”

The honor of being first at the finish fell to John Torpey, of Radnor, who was mounted on “Plunger”. Secvond to reach the scene was Master Billy Holloway, of Wayne, on his imported Irish pony, “Connemarra”. Among other well mounted riders were Lemuel Altemus on “alonzo”, David Stevenson on the imported Canadian hunter, “Gold Blade”; Edward Crozer on “Peter” and Frank Barrett on his bay mare, “Aggie”. John Mather, of Wayne, was master of the hounds.

The quarry was a handsome dog fox holed a short time previously by John Torpey and Wallace Henderson, master of the Gulph Mills hounds. It was presented by them to Messrs. Barrett and Siter after it had been captured at Easttown near Paoli. “It was”, according to our reporter, “perhaps an oversight on their part that they did not anticipate Master Reynard would make his old diggings by closing up the entrance on Mrs. Ramsey’s farm, which communicated with the burrow at Easttown.”

Among the several hundred participants and spectators of the hunt were many well known in Wayne, among them Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Egbert, Dr. and Mrs. C.W. Smedley, Mr. and Mrs. I. Walter Conner, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Smith, Mr. and Mrs. William Siter, Penn Smith, Henderson Supplee; John, Mason and Nathan Pechin’ Frank Barrett, Thomas Fleming, Christopher Downes, D.B. Turner, Samuel Altemus, H.B. Hare, William Rowan, Paul Lamorelle, Mr. and Mrs. Frank Dallett, Andrew Sellers, Harry Childs, Joseph Childs and Joseph Childs, Jr., Millord Pugh and many others.

Still others came from as far away as New York, while more nearby localities such as Philadelphia, Phoenixville, Duffryn Mawr, Gulph Mills, Devon, Media, Berwyn and Merion Square were well represented. December 21, 1897, must indeed have been a gala occasion in Wayne!

In January, 1900 “The Suburban” started a column of “Historical Notes”, which had a prominent place on the front page. Just how long the series continued, this writer does not know. However, there are three clippings from this column among the many interesting ones to be found in the old Martin family Bible, to which we referred last week.

The first sketch was written by a member of the family well known in this section for many years, Joseph Levis Worrall, who was born in April, 1817. Another writer came from a family equally well known locally then and now, Margaret Cornog, born in October, 1810, who must have been ninety years old when her reminiscences appeared in 1900. Still a third writer was Joseph Fisher Mullen, then of Upper Merion township, who had been born in March, 1824, in Downingtown.

All three writers had one thing in common. Each had attended Old Eagle School which, in its restored condition, still stands on Old Eagle School road in Strafford.

The ground on which the school was built formed part of an original grant by William Penn to Richard Hunt, of Brome Yard, Hereford County, Wales. This grant was dated March, 1683.

By the time Jacob Sharraden purchased the 150 acres in 1765, it had become the property of Sampson Davis and his wife. In 1767, Sharraden deeded this property to his son-in-law, Christian Werkhizer. However, on the tax lists of Tredyffrin for 1768, Werkhizer is taxed for only 149 acres. This discrepancy lends credence to the belief that somewhere between 1765 and 1768 Sharraden had donated one acre of his holdings as a site for a German Protestant Church and School.

A stone set in the south gable shows that the Old Eagle School house was erected in 1788. This may, however, refer to the original old log building, used as church and school, which stood a few feet to the north of the present structure. “Local tradition has it”, according to Mrs. Martha Wentworth Suffren, now one of Strafford’s oldest residents, “that the two structures stood side by side until 1805, when the first one was pulled down and the huge logs were used in the remodeling of the other building, which is still standing.”

When small Margaret Cornog was eight years old in 1818 she began to attend the Old Eagle School, and here she remained for several years. “Because I studied hard and liked to do my lessons, I was never slapped or punished in that school” this 90-year old woman wrote in 1900. “However, the ‘birch’ was not spared in those days,” she continued. “The teacher, who was called the ‘master’, used to walk around the room, and if a child was not doing right he would give a cut with the switch. I have often seen children sent out to cut switches with which they were to be punished. The boys had a way of giving the switch they were obtaining a cut with their knives so that they would not last for more than a few strokes.

“I remember that once three boys and three girls played truant while Adam Siter taught, and he called them up and sat them on a bench preparatory to ‘birching’ them, and called for the boys to take off their coats. But they said it was not fair unless the girls took off their dresses, and this made a laugh and all got off.”

In those days the school room was heated by a “ten plate stove” which stood in front of the chimney place. A bucket of water for drinking purposes was kept on a jamb which was almost as high as the small Margaret’s head. Benches were arranged around the walls of the building, with shorter ones in the center for small children. For writing they used quill pens, which they made themselves. Three dollars per quarter was the tuition for pupils at that time.

Committeemen visited the school frequently, according to Miss Cornog. Their names she did not recall, but more than 80 years later she did remember the names of four of her teachers. One was William Simpson, another was Evan Jones, “who subsequently went west as a missionary” while still another was George W. Lewis, “a young man who was courting Sarah Grover”. A later teacher was Adam Siter, “a lame man and partly paralyzed.”

Much interest was manifested always in those, who like Evan Jones, went west as missionaries to teach the Indians. Miss Cornog writes, “I remember seeing Peter Clyde and wife and two children start in a one-horse dearbourne in which their things were stored away… I was very fond of the little children, and went up to my uncle’s, James McMurray, who lived at the foot of Devon Hill on the pike, to see them go past and to say good-bye. No one ever heard of them again after they reached their destination.”

Miss Cornog’s reminiscences also include seeing the first car go over the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, early predecessor of our presenr Pennsylvania Railroad. “I was working”, she writes, “at my business of dressmaking in my present home, and heard the noise and ran to the hill to see it pass. It was one car with two horses – the steam cars came later. The horse-drawn cars would stop anywhere to get passengers.”

Shoemakers in those early times went around “from house to house with their kit of tools and leather to do up all the cobbling and making of new shoes… I remember John Aikens, son of James and Roseanna, who lived on Kelly’s place in Upper Merion, going about in that way.”

Of the building of the Radnor Scientific and Musical Fund Hall, which has been described at some length in this column, Miss Cornog had vivid recollections. It was built on the site of the First Baptist Church on Conestoga road, which was recently torn down. “It was built for general meeting purposes”, Miss Cornog writes, then continues, “I don’t remember that it was actually built for irreligious purposes, although several persons were active in securing its erection who were not religious characters. But Emily Siter… refused to sign a deed conveying it for worldly purposes, and the persons who had been instrumental in securing its erection abandoned connection with it… when William Siter united with the Baptist Church he and his wife joined in a deed of it to the Radnor Baptist Church, an offshoot of Great Valley Church. I have an invitation to the first entertainment at the hall which was sent me.”

Thus ended the reminiscences of a woman who at the age of 90 years must have been a remarkable person, with her keen memory of days long past, and with a gift for telling of these days. Subsequent articles in this series will tell of Mr. Worrall’s school days in the Old Eagle School, as well as those of Mr. Mullen.

Joseph Levis Worrall first attended the Old Eagle School in 1826, when he was nine years old. This was several years after Margaret Cornog, whose experiences in the school were related in last week’s column, went to classes there. Two of their teachers were the same, Adam Siter and George W. Lewis.

Two others whom Mr. Worrall recalled when he was writing his reminiscences in 1900 for “The Suburban” were Thomas Ward and Calvin James. After a year or two of early schooling he left, returning again in 1832 to remain for two years. This was when he was an apprentice in Philadelphia, and later at Mark Brooks’, near Radnor Station.

In April, 1839, he came to live in a house in Radnor, which his father had purchased from Edward Siter. Here he was still living some 61 years later, when he wrote his boyhood reminiscences.

By the time Joseph Worrall came to the school, there was an interesting innovation in the interior arrangement from the period when Margaret Cornog was a pupil there. This was a board partition through the school house, with the north end for the girls and the south end for the boys. The teacher sat in the girls’ end, close to the partition by the window without glass in it. Thus he could keep a sharp eye on the boys also.

“When we recited”, Mr Worrall writes, “we came through a door in the partition and lined up along the partition while we said our lessons, moving from tail to head as we answered right or wrong. We had as many as 70 girls and boys in the school, but not generally over 40. Among the pupils were a number of apprentice boys sent there by John Meredith, a builder in the neighborhood, at that time employing as many as 120 men at a time. In winter he has a sash and door factory close to where Lobb’s ‘board yard’ was later located.

“When I was first at the school there was nothing but the old open fireplace in the northwest side to heat the building. But it did well, though it was sometimes pretty cold across the partition in the boys’ end. Some complained, and some children were kept at home on that account in severe weather. But by making a hickory fire early, the building was generally quite comfortable.”

Until the school law came into effect, tuition for those whose families could afford it was $2 a quarter. This, however, did not include books, paper, or quills for pens. If, however, parents were too poor to pay for schooling, a justice of the peace could give a certificate to that effect. This was handed to the teacher when the child was admitted. The expense was charged to the director of the poor, who in turn charged that amount to the Township.

The first school trustees whom Mr. Worrall knew in his boyhood days were Edward Siter, “one of the Beavers”, Mifflin Lewis, Lewis Rush, John Ivester, John Pugh and John Meredith. When the committee met to consider Eagle School business, neighbors often joined them at the schoolhouse. “The lighting of the building at night was almost all done by candles. When we had debating and singing school, each of us would take a candle along. Some few occasionally took a sperm oil lamp. Edward Siter had one, as did some others.”

During the winter of 1832, a noteworthy event took place in the Eagle School, when an exhibition of the telegraph was given there one evening. Permission for the exhibition was obtained in advance from Edward Siter, who at that time was proprietor of the Spread Eagle Inn. The exhibition was to be a free one, the ultimate object of which was to obtain an appropriation from the Pennsylvania Legislature, if reports on the exhibition were favorable.

In order to spread the news of such an important event as this, Edward Siter went around on horseback to different stores, blacksmith shops and taverns with information about it. He also put a notice in the “Upland Union”, the Delaware County newspaper of which Alex McKeever was editor, and in the “Village Record”, Chester County’s publication.

When the eventful evening arrived the crowd was so large that many could not even get into the school building. “Dr. Joseph Blackfan and my father, Fred Worrall,” Mr Worrall writes, “were chosen by the people to sit by each telegraph operator, who took their positions at opposite corners of the room. Edward Siter, John Pugh and others stood in the door of the board partition as judges, to see that no sign was given of what was written, and then a message was sent across, the machine writing by dots and dashes on paper.

“Dr. Blackfan wrote down a message which his operator sent to the man at father’s end, who read it out loud, and then a message was sent back. The judges were first given the message Dr. Blackfan wrote down to see that no fraud was practiced. The message was always read off correctly, and the effect on the audience was astonishing. They carefully inquired of Dr. Blackfan and father to know if there was any collusion. Father and many others thought the exhibition was of supernatural powers. Edward Siter stated that he could not account for it. Others thought it was the work of the devil.

“The arrangements for the exhibition had been made with much care. The batteries were concealed in boxes. John Meredith sent men to do all the necessary carpenter work without charge. The school was dismissed at noon, so that they had the full afternoon for making their arrangements. The door was locked until the time of the exhibition.”

Whether the success of this meeting had the desired result of obtaining an appropriation from the Pennsylvania Legislature is not recorded in Mr. Worrall’s reminiscences. However, he does go on to say that, by special request, the exhibition was repeated at the schoolhouse at old Radnor Church, as well as at Friends Meeting School and at John Evans’ schoolhouse, south of Radnor Friends Meeting.

Another event of tremendous interest followed this meeting, when it was found that the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad would lay its tracks almost within sight of the old Eagle School.

Many of the residents were ambitious to obtain better facilities for neighborhood meetings by erecting a large building on the school grounds “for scientific purposes”. A public meeting was held and much money was pledged for the proposed new meeting house. However, according to our historian, Joseph Worrall, “the influence of the Siter family, which was then very great, secured the improvement and erection of a hall down in Radnor, then called ‘The Radnor Scientific and Musical Fund Hall.’ Later this became the Radnor Baptist Church at the southwest corner of Wayne avenue and Old Lancaster road (Conestoga road), now the First Baptist Church.”

(The third and concluding article of this series on “Historical Notes” as they appeared in “The Suburban” in 1900 will be given next week, when Joseph Fisher Mullen’s reminiscences will be presented.)

Of the three early residents of this section whose reminiscences of their school days at the Old Eagle School in Strafford have been made available to us through clippings from the January, 1900, issues of “The Suburban”, all were born in the first quarter of the 19th century.

The youngest of these was Joseph Fisher Mullen, living in Upper Merion Township at the time he wrote of his early life. He was then 76 years old, having been born in Downingtown on March 31, 1824. He was only a year old when he came to “the hill adjoining the Eagle School”. And here he lived for 59 years, not leaving that section until 1883.

Mr. Mullen’s first schooling was at “The Eagle”. Later he went to “The Carr”, subsequently known as Mt. Pleasant School. He was about 20 years old when he finished there, and at 27 he returned as a teacher. His recollections of the interior of the Eagle School are vivid ones. “The walls of the old building at The Eagle”, he writes, “were pointed, with the door on the west side toward the road. It was a double door divided in the middle and swinging each side, with a string latch and wooden bolt like a barn, which we turned by a crooked piece of iron through a hole in the door…

“The whole building and furnishings were of the roughest material. The benches consisted of the first slabs cut from the logs with the bark on them and holes in which were stuck the legs on which they were mounted. In winter we often used them as sleds on ice. In the schoolroom they were arranged around the sides of the building. The sashes of the window slipped past each other side-ways, as is now often seen in blacksmith shops, on the inside of the opening, so as to leave the rough unplastered ledge of the window outside of the sash.”

In true, small-boy fashion, Joseph Mullen was always curious about “a hole like a cup” in one of the outside stones at the northeast corner of the school building. It looked to him as if it had been made by a cannon ball. “But”, as he added, “I never knew what it was.” Although he had known little about the old log Lutheran Church, which supposedly once stood at the side of the school, he could readily believe that the great logs, used as joists in the Huzzard house, had originally come from the early church. Joseph Mullen’s mother had been Elizabeth Huzzard before she married John Mullen. The Huzzard house stood on Eagle road near the school.

From his grandmother, Roseanna Augee, who married Jacob Huzzard, small Joseph heard that the ground on the west side of Old Eagle School road, opposite the school itself, had been given by one Nancy George for “a church free to all except Catholics and Baptists”. This church was never built, however, and all that Joseph Mullen remembered of the property was that in his youthful days there were the ruins of the cellar of an old house on it.

Like Joseph Levis Worrall, Mr. Mullen remembered the “singing school” at the Eagle, where “we always carried candles with us for light, and sometimes put a wick in a bowl of lard and lighted this. Lamps were almost unheard of. We used delftware, china was almost unknown, and we used pewter mugs and gourds of pumps, and coconut shells.”

Adam Siter was one school master who seemed to make a great impression on all three of these writers of school day reminiscences, perhaps because he took care of his duties so well, in spite of his partially paralyzed condition. “Father paid him three cents per day for our schooling, each, and we found our books, etc.,” Mr. Mullen writes. Among these books were Pike’s Arithmetic and Comley’s Spelling, and for later use “The American Tutor”. In arithmetic, when I was a boy, we did not study in classes; some studied in one book and others in a different one,” Mr. Mullen remembers.

Like the other two pupils of whom we have written, Joseph Mullen’s recollections were particularly vivid in the matter of school discipline. He speaks in sincere admiration of one David Rogers, who taught at the Carr School and who “kept splendid order.” This “Master”, as all teachers of that time were called, “had two straps called ‘Constable’ and ‘Sheriff’. When a boy behaved badly he threw the ‘Constable’ at him, and the boy had to bring it up, and then he warned him, and perhaps struck him once. If he repeated the offense, then he threw the ‘Sheriff’ at him and when the boy brought it up, made him give security through another boy that he would behave himself. If he failed to do so, then both he and his security were soundly thrashed”. We might add that, perhaps any master who thought out his disciplinary methods as carefully as did Mr Rogers, deserved the admiration one of his pupils gave him!

Among other occasions that were vivid in the memory of the 70 year old Joseph Mullen was when Adam Siter took all the school children to see Maul’s bridge, which was then being built “above the present St. Davids Station and was a great curiosity because it was so high. The old culvert and bank near Newhall’s, at Strafford, was constructed by use of wheelbarrows entirely”. The military parading in corps around the schoolhouse and the firing of cannon under the direction of Captain John Yocum also left their vivid imprint on a young schoolboy’s mind.

Like Miss Cornog and Mr. Worrall, Joseph Mullen recalls with much interest those first horse-drawn cars on the old Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. “I remember,” he writes, “ that Matthew Ferguson, an Irishman on Pechin’s place, outran the first engine with a blind horse. He used to boast of it.

“Many persons at first owned cars, which they hitched onto the train, paying so much for the privilege, and charging others for what they hauled. The first engine was called “The Crab”. The smokestack was in the center. At that time it was usual to let cattle go at large on public roads. Each owner knew the tinkle of his own bell. However, this became a great danger to all kinds of public travel.”

Mr. Mullen remembers that when the first engine appeared, the roads were lined with people to see it. The great changes made, not only by the railroad, but by the telegraph as well, met with much opposition. He quotes some of the older people as saying, “It was bad enough when the railroad came, but now with telegraph, no poor man could keep a cow.” It is a little difficult to follow the thought here. However, it is plain that neither the railroad nor the telegraph were popular in this locality, when they made their appearance in the early half of the 19th century.

(For the use of the material in these last three articles centering around the Old Eagle School, and its immediate environs, the writer is indebted to Miss Emily Siter Wellcome, who has preserved not only the old Martin family Bible, but numerous clippings that have been kept in it for many years.)

Among the first gifts to be presented to the Radnor Historical Society when it was founded several years ago, is a priceless book of old photographs of “Louella, Home of J. Henry Askin, Wayne Station, Pennsylvania Railroad”. The pictures include “Views of Mansion, Farm Houses, Surrounding Scenery, etc.” These pictures were taken about 1872 by F. Gutekunst, of 712 Arch Street, Philadelphia, well-known photographer of his day.

Three of these books of photographs were ordered by Mr. Askin, whose name has come down through the years as the founder of Wayne. One remained in the possession of the Askin family with one of the Askin daughters as its custodian. The latter died in Media only a few years ago.

Another was placed in the possession of the John L. Mather family. The third was given by Mr. Askin to Frank Smith, of the old real estate firm of Wendell and Smith. [This was later corrected by Mrs Patterson in her 10-24-1952 article to confirm this was a different Frank Smith, not of Wendell & Smith. She points out that the correct Frank Smith was originally private secretary to George W. Childs who, with Anthony J. Drexel, founded the Wayne Estate. He later became the manager of this building operation for Drexel and Childs.] He, in turn, presented it to Herman P. Lengel. And through the generosity of Mr. Lengel, this book of photographs has become the possession of the Radnor Historical Society.

“Louella” was the second name to be given to Wayne, the first being 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” is a combination of “Louise” and “Ella” as Mr. Askin’s two daughters were called. Though Louella later became Wayne, the former name still lives on in the community, “The Louella Apartments”, and “Louella Avenue”.

Our first picture shows one of the two Askin daughters mounted on “Billy Button”. Whether Billy’s owner and rider was Louise or Ella Askin is not recorded, but charming, indeed, is this rider with her small front-tilted hat and her riding habit with its graceful, full skirt.

In the background of this picture of “Billy Button” and Miss Askin are the Askin Cottage and the Summer house. The former is shown in more detail in our second picture. Presumably the gentleman on the porch is Mr. Askin himself.

The cottage, which was occupied by the Askin family during the period when the more pretentious Louella Mansion was under construction, stood well to the northeast of the latter, with its back to the railroad. The small summer house was located between the Cottage and the Mansion.

The third picture shows the front of the original Louella Mansion, which forms the nucleus of one of Wayne’s landmarks, now the Louella Apartments. This faced on Lancaster Pike at the 13-mile stone. This main building, as well as the surrounding improvements were laid out and completed in 1866-67, the time occupied in erection being one year, less two days.

The two wings, one to the east and the other to the west, were added later, the former taking the place of the greenhouse shown in this picture. With its mansard roof and its tower commanding a far flung view over what were then farmlands in all directions, it was an imposing building of its period.

To the present day onlooker the picture has a singularly bare look, since in the years succeeding the building of the Mansion, great trees have grown up on all sides of it. What was then the long central flower garden is now the pathway flanked with trees that leads from the apartment house to the right and left of this walk. Louella Drive with these shade trees is somehow reminiscent of the more gracious living of a century now past.

The fourth picture shows Louella Mansion as it looked from the railroad side, with its long French windows opening onto the wide porch in front of the mansion. In the far background the ploughed fields across the Pike are discernable. The large iron dog to the right of the porch is still one of Wayne’s landmarks. Known as “Caesar”, it was given at a somewhat later date to Mr. and Mrs. Wiliam D. Hughs, when they lived with their young family on what was later known as the William Wood property on Lancaster Pike, west of North Wayne avenue.

Within the past few years “Caesar” has been transferred to the grounds of the old Dr. George Miles Wells property, north of Wayne railroad station, now a small apartment house where the Hughs daughters, Mrs. William A. Scott, Mrs. Frederick J. Higgins and Mrs. Malcolm Sausser live. He is still an object of much interest to all passers-by, including any real dogs, who actually bark at him.

(To be continued)

As Mr. Askin stood on the large front porch of his beautiful home, “Louella House”, of which we showed pictures in this column last week, he could look up the hill to the south and see the wide-spreading acres of the Siter, the Fritz and the Mifflin farms.

The Mifflin farm faced on Conestoga road, with its main buildings located about where the Donald C. Mills family now lives on Upland Way. The farm had an entrance lane from Lancaster Pike which left the Pike at the site of the big tree where St. Mary’s Church now stands. Mrs. William H. Badger’s house on Windermere avenue was built directly on this old lane, which was lined on either side by some of the magnificent trees still on Mrs. Badger’s lawn.

Our first picture in this week’s column shows a large double frame house which, in Mr. Askin’s time, stood about where Mrs. John H. Stone’s home is located at the southeast corner of Louella avenue and Upland Way. While the picture is included in the large book of handsome photographs of “Louella House”, given to the Radnor Historical Society by Heman P. Lengel, ownership of the house is not on record. It seems likely it was part of the Mifflin holdings.

The interesting part of this house, with its mansard roof and its neat, white picket fence, is that some years after this picture was taken, it was lifted from its foundations and placed on rollers to be moved to the Bellevue Hotel, the fashionable summer hostelry which was located on the site of the Helen Kellogg dining room. Joined to the hotel, it was to serve as additional kitchen quarters.

Apparently all went well with this moving job, until the movers reached a point on South Wayne avenue, about where Mrs. Robert P. Elmer’s house now stands. It may have been caused by the momentum gained on the down grade on Windermere avenue just before it reached this point, but at any rate, the big farm house completely collapsed there. And the Bellevue Hotel did not have the additional kitchen space on which it had counted!

The site on Louella avenue made vacant by his moving, is approximately that of Mrs. Stone’s home. This house was originally occupied by the father of the late Mr. Louis Watt, who was president of the Wayne Title & Trust Company. John H. Stone bought this house from Mr. Watt.

The second picture shows what was described as the “New Reservoir” in the early seventies, when these pictures were taken. This was located to the southwest of the grounds at the corner of Louella and Windermere avenues, on which the Windermere Court Apartments now stand. The “Table of Contents” in the book of photographs states that “this was erected on the hill, with sufficient elevation to furnish all the rooms in the Louella Mansion (even the highest) with a plentiful supply of water, as well as the barns and other buildings.”

The third picture shows the pump house located, according to the picture caption, “on Midland avenue, near the Willow trees”. This contained the wheel and the pump to force water into the Mansion house and its surrounding buildings. The man in the picture is identified as David H. Lane. Now, 80 years after it was taken, it would be interesting to identify also the small boy with his round brimmed hat, his tight, below-the-knees trousers, and his high buttoned shoes.

In connection with the pictures of the reservoir and the pump house, Harry W. Slaw, of Pennsylvania avenue, tells your columnist that his father, the late Mr. Benjamin F. Slaw, of Newcastle, Del., was the first engineer of the Water Works System in Radnor Township.

The second pump house to be built after the one shown in the picture was also located on Midland avenue, near its western end. This was a good sized brick building, with a stack. It was through Isaac F. Cassin, who built this, that Mr. Slaw, a friend of his, obtained his position as engineer. A later reservoir was located on Bloomingdale avenue, about where Mr. Thomas C. Chalfont now lives. Later, the reservoir used until the Springfield Water Company came into operation, was built on Radnor road, opposite the Valley Forge Military Academy.

The fourth picture Mr. Slaw did not recognize at first. Then on closer scrutiny he exclaimed, “Why, I could put my foot on that identical spot on Vance Hale’s backyard… I recognize it by the rock!” When the picture was taken, it was the famous drinking spring in the meadow just south of the Pike, opposite Louella Mansion. The big rock was known as “Frog Rock”. In the background of the picture is the big frame house on the hill shown in our first pictures, while to the right is a glimpse of the white, covered reservoir. The great expanse of ground that was then cornfields is now occupied by the Wayne Schools and by Windermere Court.

(to be continued)

Last week’s column described what J. Henry Askin, founder of Wayne in the middle 1860’s, saw to the south of his handsome mansion, “Louella House,” as he looked up the hill along the line of what has now become Louella avenue.

Beautiful as that hillside view was, it was not comprised of his own properties. However, as Mr. Askin looked to the east, the land on the north side of the old Lancaster Pike was his as far as the eye could reach. The eastern boundary of his holdings was marked by the small cottage shown in the first picture of this week’s column. The spot on which it stood is about where the ninth hole of the Main Line Golf Club course is now located.

The first buildings that Mr. Askin saw eastwardly along the line of the Pike were the main barn, the granary, the stables for the “pleasure horses” and the coach house. These are shown in the second picture. The neat main buildings, topped by its cupola and its weathervane, stood very close to the Pike, the narrow road shown in the picture just this side of the whitewashed fences. Several old fashioned equipages are plainly discernable in the doorways and and in front of the gate, with a coachman standing beside the one on the left. The farm clock is in the immediate center of the coach house. This coach house later became the Siter and Barrett Livery Stables. At present, this is the approximate site of the Kromer warehouses and the Lewis Upholstery Shop.

Our next picture is that of Wayne Hall, a building famous in its day. It stood on what is now the northwest corner of the Pike and Pembroke avenue, on approximately the site of the Wayne Iron Works. There are vague rumors to the effect that this was one of the Centennial buildings moved out from Philadelphia after the Centennial was over. Other sources have it that the Hall was built by Mr. Askin. But whatever its origin, Wayne Hall was of a unique style of architecture, certainly forbidding in its outward appearance. (Ed. Note – Readers can see why Philadelphia wanted to be rid of this monstrosity.) The table of contents of the book of pictures explains that it was “erected for public uses, a Library Company, for Lectures and other secular purposes during the week, and for worship on Sunday.”

The late Joseph M. Fronefield, Jr., in some notes on early Wayne, says of the old building, “it can be credited with the birth of Radnor Library (afterwards known as the George W. Childs Library and the Merryvale Athletic Association, afterwards changed to the Radnor Cricket Club.” And not least among Wayne Hall’s distinctions is the fact that the “Wayne Times” was at one time printed here! Some recall that elections were held here, and still others remember that Fourth of July celebrations took place on the grounds.

The small house shown in the first picture in this week’s column was one of the Askin farm houses, located, as we have previously stated, on the present Main Line Golf Club course. Later in its career it was moved to the northwest corner of what is now Chamounix road and Lancaster Pike, where some of the old time residents still remember it as one of the Pike’s numerous toll houses.

Originally the only building between Wayne Hall and this small farmhouse, as it stood on its first location, was the parsonage of the old Presbyterian Chapel, known as “The Manse.” This is shown in the fourth picture of our series. The fifth picture shows the house after it was remodeled by John H. Lofland, in 1906. The latter bought it from Samuel S. Ellis in 1889. In the 17 years between 1889 and 1906, Mr. and Mrs. Lofland and their two young daughters used it as their year-round home until about 1919, when they sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Richardson. It is now the property of Walter B. Lister, managing editor of the Evening Bulletin. It still looks very much as it did after Mr. Lofland remodeled it. Mrs. Florence Lofland Williams, one of the Lofland daughters, who now lives with her sister, Mrs. Daniel M. Sheaffer, on Audubon avenue, recalls that the remodelling of the old Presbyterian Manse was so extensive that it required about a year to accomplish. The entire inside portion was removed, with the second arrangement of rooms an entirely different one from the original. A large addition was also put on the back, and, as the second picture shows the roof line was changed.

With its extensive and beautifully planted ground, this was, indeed, a gracious home for Mr. Lofland and his family. In recalling the house as it was then, Mrs. Williams remembers especially two wells on the place, one near the house, which furnished all the water for household use, and the other near the Pike. Many stopped at the latter for a drink of the cool well water, including numerous bicyclists who frequented the Pike.

Although in the very early days there were no buildings between the stables and Wayne Hall, Mrs. Williams recalls that later “the ten bricks” were built there. These were five two-family brick houses, which are still standing.

In closing this series of three articles and pictures of the Askin estate and other properties in the immediate vicinity of Louella Mansion, your columnist wishes to thank Herman Lengel and the Radnor Historical Society for the use of the well-preserved volume of pictures, copies of which have illustrated these articles. She also desires to thank Henry Slaw and Mrs. Williams, as well as Mr. Lengel, for the information they have given her. Mrs. Williams calls attention to the fact that the Frank Smith mentioned in the first article was not the Mr. Smith of the firm Wendell and Smith, as erroneously stated. Frank Smith was originally private secretary to George W. Childs who, with Anthony J. Drexel, founded the Wayne Estate. He later became the manager of this building operation for Drexel and Childs.

Saturday, December 14, 1935, was “Anthony Wayne Day” in this Main Line town which bears the “mad” General’s name. With a parade, pageantry and patriotic mass meeting the citizens of Wayne on that day honored their own particular Revolutionary hero.

More than 2000 marched in the parade along the Lancaster Highway, which began the day’s celebration. From the stand opposite the Wayne Library, the parade was reviewed by Major General Edward C. Shannon, 28th Division, Pennsylvania National Guard, and Colonel Clarence R. Day, Chief of Staff, 79th Division, U.S. Army. Afterwards, many of them joined other Radnor Township citizens at the mass meeting held in the High School Auditorium.

Among the speakers at this meeting were the late W.W. Montgomery, Jr., of Radnor, who talked on the “Life and Times of Anthony Wayne”. A special musical program was provided by the Wayne Musical Coterie, the “Merriemen of Wayne”, and by Welsh singers in their native costume. The focal point of their festivities was the presentation to the Township by the “Wayne Committee for Civic Progress” of a set of eight highway signs, designed in the manner of the Colonial period.

These signs were the work of Arthur Edrop, of the Wayne Art Center, and of Wayne Martin, of the Art Department of Radnor High School, with assistance from Herbert S. Henderson on the design and construction of the posts with their decorative Welsh dragons. The presentation was made by the late Rev. Crosswell McBee, the rector of Old St. David’s Church, with formal acceptance of the signs made by Joseph M. Fronefield, 3d, at that time president of the Radnor Township Board of Commissioners. Until a few years ago these signs, eight in number, had their places along Conestoga road as well as the Lancaster Highway. Two of them marked the confines of Ithan while two defined the Radnor Township limits, and four marked the towns of Wayne and St. Davids.

The story of these highway signs is an interesting one, dating back several years before their presentation to the Township. In the early days of its existence as an organization, the Wayne Art Center had discussed the appearance of the town’s business section and the need for planned consideration for future building. Realizing their responsibility as an influence in the life of the community, the members deemed themselves justified in “stepping out of the classroom and lecture hall” and warning their fellow townspeople of what their community faced if they permitted it to have “a mere topsy-like growing-up”. Thus, they might be threatening it with “the fate of other towns, with their gas stations, hot dog stands and the like, already a blot on the highway.”

After discussion at several of its own meetings, the Art Center members decided that they should bring the matter before a larger audience, at which a spokesman from their group would express their views. With the help of the local Chamber of Commerce, a meeting was called.

Frederick Richardson, then president of the Wayne Art Center, was the main speaker. He addressed the meeting on the relationship between a well-planned and well-kept business section and a residential area such as Wayne.

Mr. Richardson, an art collector and connoisseur, as well as a man widely known in insurance circles in Philadelphia, warned his listeners that the township of Radnor risked being dubbed “a community with a Mary Ann front and a Queen Ann back”. It would be a pity, Mr. Richardson continued, if a community rated as one of the wealthiest in the world, priding itself on the attractiveness of its homes, “should so neglect its front, the shopping sections along the highway, that it repelled, rather than attracted the motorist who drove past.”

Looking into the future, the president of the art center said that he thought Wayne might well become “the most important town between Philadelphia and Lancaster” with its strategic location on the highway, its relation to Philadelphia and Valley Forge as well as its proximity to well known colleges and schools. He stressed the importance of building with thought for the future, emphasizing always the Colonial style of architecture.

Mr. Richardson’s talk was followed by one given by George Howard Bickley, a prominent Philadelphian, member of the firm of DeArmond, Ashmead and Bickley, well known firm of Philadelphia architects. To illustrate his talk, Mr. Bickley had shown a sketch showing possible improvements on one of Wayne’s busiest streets. This sketch was afterwards reproduced in “The Suburban”. On continuing his talk, the speaker emphasized the historical association of the Township, in urging that in future building the Colonial motif might be followed. This would not necessarily be by way of “a set pattern to be followed by all, but rather a working out of the problems with the Colonial tradition as an inspiration.”

The audience which Mr. Richardson and Mrs. Bickley addressed showed great interest on many related subjects, such as playgrounds, a community house, and more adequate housing in less favored sections. As a result, it was decided to form a general committee with its members representing various civic and social organizations in Radnor Township. And thus the Wayne Committee on Civic Improvement came into existence.

The organizational meeting of the “Joint Committee on Wayne Development”, as the group was first called, was held on Wednesday, November 1, 1933, in the Library of the Radnor High School. Fourteen members of this Joint Committee were present, including Arthur Edrop, from the Wayne Art Center, who called the meeting to order.

Others were Miss Mary L. Walsh, Charles A. McClure and Clarence J. Tolan, from the Art Center; Miss Velma Turner, the Neighborhood League; Miss Susan Dorothea Keeney, Mrs. Duffield Ashmead and Mrs. Charles W. Bayliss, the Garden Club; Mrs. Lilian B. Aman, the American Legion Auxiliary; Mrs. T. Magill Patterson, the Saturday Club; Charles H. Shepler, the Wayne Public Safety Association, and Dr. Seneca Egbert, C. Lawrence Warwick and Harlow H. Loomis, from the North Wayne Protective Association.

Nominations for permanent officers for the newly formed Wayne Civic Improvement Committee, as this organization was henceforth known, resulted in the election of Mr. Edrop as chairman and of Mrs. Patterson as secretary and treasurer.

The objects of the Committee were summed up as follows: “To make Wayne as attractive a community to shop in as to live in… architecturally in harmony with its Colonial and Revolutionary tradition… to plan for its further development with a proper regard for beauty, dignity, economy, and efficiency in all those things affecting its many sided activities… to build for the future rather than for the immediate present”.

(To be continued)

A little more than two years elapsed between the organizational meeting of the Wayne Committee on Civic Improvement, held on November 1, 1933, and the formal presentation of the roadside markers to Radnor township, a ceremony held on Saturday, December 14, 1935.

But these two years were not idle ones for the Committee. For one thing, their original ranks were augmented by representatives from several Township organizations not on the first roster. In addition, the original sponsoring groups added to their representation, increasing the total of active members on the committee.

Besides those named in last week’s column, the American Legion Auxiliary added Miss Margaret Cornog to the list, while the Neighborhood League did the same with Adolph G. Rosengarten, Jr. Matthew Randall joined the original three for the North Wayne Protective Association, as did Dr. A.J. Culver for the Wayne Public Safety Association.

The Wayne Art Center, the originator of the project, added Dr. Addison S. Buck and Frederick Richardson to its representation. Mrs. W.N. Stilwell became the second member from the Saturday Club. Three other groups showed their interest in the proposed objectives of the Committee by sending representatives to the meetings. These included Mrs. Edward W. Higgens and Mrs. E. Bisbee Warner from the Musical Coterie; George L. Harrison from the Wayne Library and A.A.H. de Canizares and M. Lester Vail from the Wayne Chamber of Commerce, and finally there were three members at large, Joseph M. Fronefield, 3d, Frank Paul Kane and Horace B. Montgomery, Jr.

These were the men and women who met together, during a period of several years, to discuss how the organizations they represented might cooperate in beautifying Radnor township, in particular its business district, which all felt compared disadvantageously with the residential districts.

Not all that they attempted to initiate was accomplished. But as time went on, their first ideas met by Arthur Edrop, a resident of Radnor, who is well known as an illustrator thoroughly conversant with military uniforms and accoutrements of many countries, and of many periods of history.

From these designs Wayne Martin, former art instructor at Radnor High School, painted the two signs which hung in the St. Davids section, while Mr. Edrop painted the remaining six. “Though each one of the signs”, according to Mr. Edrop’s account, “has a different inspiration, the entire eight are similar in shape and are swung from a uniform set of red cedar posts.

“These have been designed by Herbert S. Henderson, an engineer and artist. Each is topped by an heraldic Welsh dragon. This engaging reptile proclaims that the original settlement of Radnor township, as well as much of the rest of the Main Line Section, was made by the men of Cambria, on land purchased by one Richard Davies from William Penn in 1681”, said Mr. Edrop. Mr. Henderson is still a resident of Wayne, and now lives on Brookside avenue.

The first picture in today’s column shows a jolly British officer taking his exercise on a gray steed, while in a coach in the background rides a belle of the period, and attended by coachman and footman. This picture is entitled “Colonial Days”. The second picture is of a more serious type, showing a Continental officer, mounted on a bay charger, against a background of troops and Conestoga wagons, all half hidden by a swirling snow-storm. Its title “On to winter quarters at Valley Forge” is particularly interesting, in view of the re-dedication in June, 1950, of an old stone marker commemorating the march of the American army under General Washington along Conestoga road, following the Basttle of the Brandywine.

Legend has it that it was on the last day of Washington’s march to Valley Forge in December, 1777, that he passed along Old Conestoga road. Legend also has it that the last night of the encampment of his troops along the way was spent in the meadow near where the present overpass of the Philadelphia and Western Railroad crosses Conestoga road.

(to be continued)