The roadside signs shown in today’s column are two of the eight presented to Radnor township by the Wayne Committee for Civic Progress in December, 1935.

Both were hung on standards on the Lancaster highways and marked the boundaries of St. Davids, just as the two shown in last week’s column marked the boundaries of the settlement of Ithan, along Conestoga road. As stated in last week’s column, all eight were from designs made by Arthur Edrop. The two shown today were painted by Wayne Martin, at that time an art instructor in Radnor High School.

Since Radnor Township was originally a Welsh settlement, it is natural that the name of the patron saint of Wales should be perpetuated in the community, notably in the little Episcopalian Church, “Old St. David’s”, founded very early in the 18th century, and also in the community of St. Davids, lying to the east of Wayne. Separate in name only, the two form a continuous whole, with Pembroke avenue as it runs north and south at right angles to Lancaster Pike, a boundary line that is perhaps not generally known.

Most impressive, indeed, is our good patron saint as he is shown in all the glory of his ecclesiastical robes, with his personal coat of arms and the device of the Seal of St. David.

David, or “Deii”, patron saint of Wales, born about 601 A.D., is, according to tradition, the grandson of Ceredig, king of Cardiganshire. According to the “New Standard Encyclopedia” (Funk and Wagnalls) he was “educated by monks and founded monasteries, in particular the one at Menevie, now called St. Davids, in Pembrokeshire, where he became abbot, which office was equivalent to bishop… and his shrine became a favorite place of pilgrimage. He was canonized in 1120. His festival is held on March 1.”

The cathedral village-city of Pembrokeshire, known as St. Davids, is situated near the sea to the southeast of St. David’s Head, the most westerly promontory of South Wales. According to the encyclopedia this little town, locally known as “the city”, stands in a lofty position near the cathedral close, and consists of five streets focusing on the square, called Cross Keys, the ancient market place still possessing its market cross.”

Even in pre-Christian times this general locality seems to have been an important one, being on the route frequented by pre-historic traders from the Mediterranean to Ireland. As their small boats were driven hither and thither by the wind and the tide, they had their alternate landing places along the coast of Wales.

The encyclopedia continues its account by saying that “the pre-Christian tradition was continued by the Celtic saints moving between Ireland and Wales… The little landing places on the shore now had Christian chapels, where prayers were possibly said for safe voyages. At a focus behind a group of these small ports, in the quiet, sheltered, well watered valley of the Alun, the fine cathedral of SS. David and Andrew was built. Throughout the middle ages the cathedral was the center of pilgrimages. Two pilgrimages to St. David’s were popularly thought to equal one to Rome itself.” This old cathedral was restored in 1862-78, and is now the most important and interesting church in Wales.

And so, deep-seated in history is the origin of the name of one of the oldest churches in Radnor township, and of one of its smaller, but still important communities.

Our second illustration, according to its originator, Arthur Edrop, is “an heraldic arrangement, including the name of St. Davids in Wales and the Welsh dragon holding an ostrich feather, as he did on the shield of Arthur Tudor, Welsh prince”. This same decorative dragon is repeated atop the bar of oak which protrudes at right angles from each of the eight posts of red cedar which support the highway signs. As their contribution to the project, the Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company, of Philadelphia, cut these dragons from “Everdue”, which was donated by the American Brass Company.

(to be continued)

Just as the community of St. Davids took its name from an individual, as explained in last week’s column, so also did the community of Wayne. The stories, however, concern two people widely separated by time and circumstance.

St. David, the patron saint of Wales for whom a Cathedral City in that country was named, was born in the early part of the seventeenth century, while “Mad” Anthony Wayne, one of the heroes of the American Revolution, was born in Easttown township on January 1, 1745. His old home, “Waynesborough”, still stands by the side of the road near Paoli, a stately house built by General Wayne’s grandfather in 1724, and still occupied by a descendant of the family.

As we look at the handsome and dashing general, as pictured in the first roadside sign illustrating today’s column, we can readily agree with Amy Oakey when she says in her recent book, “Our Pennsylvania”, that, after all, “Mad” Anthony Wayne’s “madness consisted of fearlessness”. Every act of his long public career justifies that statement. The defeat of the Continental forces at Chadds Ford in the Battle of the Brandywine only gave him fresh courage to go on to Stony Point, where, on the night of July 15, 1779, he achieved the most brilliant victory of the Revolutionary War.

The second picture in today’s column shows Anthony Wayne on horseback as he led his troops at Chadds Ford. The two signs were designed and painted by Arthur Edrop.

Wayne’s private career as a farmer in Chester County, after his marriage to Polly Penrose in 1767, was a short-lived one. When small Margaretta was six years old and Isaac three, their father was elected to the Pennsylvania Convention and Legislature, serving on the Committee of Safety. But his activities in Philadelphia were not long-lived, either. In 1775 he raised a regiment, with which he took part in a campaign against Canada. Although he was wounded at the Battle of Trois Rivieres, in January, 1776, he soon went on to the command of Ticonderoga and Mt. Independence. By September he was made a Brigadier General and had a Division at the disastrous Battle of the Brandywine at Chadds Ford. The following month he commanded the right wing at the Battle of Germantown.

For his part in the great victory at Stony Point, Wayne received a Congressional Gold Medal. Later highlights of his career were the bayonet charge by which he rescued Lafayette in Virginia in 1782 and his daring attack on the British Army at Green Springs later in the same year.

Once he had done his share in winning the Revolutionary War, Anthony Wayne retired quietly to his Chester County farm, but it was not for long.

Soon he was summoned by General Washington to take care of counter-attacks against the Indians in their frontier raids. And so, in June, 1792, Wayne moved westward to Pittsburgh and then proceeded to organize the army which was to be the ultimate arbitrator between the Americans and the Indian confederations.

The years of border warfare that led up to the Treaty of Greenville were full of hardships for both Americans and Indians. Before the treaty was fully concluded General Wayne died on December 15, 1796, in Erie, as a consequence of severe leg wounds. His mission, however, had been fully accomplished.

The reconstructed block house at Fort Erie, originally built in 1795, is now a monument to the greatness of one of America’s early generals. Here, also in Erie, was Wayne’s original burial place. Some years after his death, his son, hearing of the neglect of the grave, rode on horseback from his home in Chester county to bring back the remains for re-burial in Old St. David’s churchyard, a spot close to the birthplace of his father. Although many of the old stones in the church burial ground date back to the early 1700’s, none is so famous as that of the Revolutionary hero from whom the community of Wayne takes its name. The south front of the tall and impressive monument bears this inscription:
“In honor of the distinguished military services of Major General Anthony Wayne and as an affectionate tribute to his memory, this stone was erected by his companion in arms, the Pennsylvania State Society of the Cincinnati, July 4, A.D. 1809, thirty-fourth anniversary of the Independence of the United States, an event which constitues the most appropriate eulogium of an American soldier and patriot.”

In erecting their roadside markers in December, 1935, the Wayne Committee for Civic Progress gave outward expression to their pride and that of the community in the man for whom Wayne was named. Perhaps too, they expressed their satisfaction in the foresight of the generation that, discarding the earlier and less significant names of “Cleaver’s Landing” and “Louella”, finally chose the one that commemorates the name and fame of one of the greatest of Revolutionary War soldiers.

Of the eight roadside signs which were presented to Radnor township by the Wayne Committee for Civic Progress in 1935, six have illustrated recent columns of “Your Town and My Town”.

The final two of the series, as shown in today’s column, are those marking the limits of Radnor township along Lancaster pike. One, placed near County Line road as it crosses the Pike at the bottom of the Rosemont hill, marked the eastern boundary, while the other stood on the Pike near the Covered Wagon Inn to mark the western boundary. Two others showed the boundaries of St. Davids, while two more did the same for the Wayne district. All of these were along the Pike while the remaining two of the series were on Conestoga road to mark the boundaries of Ithan.

The first picture shown in today’s column has been named “the Toll Gate” by Arthur Edrop, the artist who designsd and painted it, while the second is called “Old Lancaster Pike”. The first is one of the most attractive of the eight in the series, showing, as it does, a fair equestrienne in a riding habit typical of the late 1700’s. Sitting very erect on her spirited black horse, her riding crop in her hand, the lady is apparently receiving homage from four of her admirers. Whether they were awaiting her at the toll gate, or just happened by, is not quite clear in the picture’s title.

The word “toll” dates back through the centuries, a word of Greek derivation originally meaning “something counted”. Later, as tax collectors had to count sheep and many other things, the idea of counting became associated with taxes. At first any kind of tax was a “toll”, although later it was only a special tax as defined above.

During the 18th and 19th centuries it was a word that every traveller over the turnpikes of America came to know. Toll gates were placed at regular intervals along the roads to halt passing horsemen or vehicles. These gates were raised only after the traveller had paid a toll, the amount of which varied, that for the man on horseback being about five to ten cents, and possibly twice that sum for a team and a wagon. The proceeds of this tax were used to pay for road repairs, such as they were, in those early days of travel along the highways of America.

Our own Lancaster pike, as it goes through Radnor township, is the first stone turnpike in the United States. Replacing the old Conestoga road which connected Philadelphia with Lancaster, construction on it was started in 1792 and finished in 1794 at a cost of $465,000, financed by a private company. Along its 62 miles, between Lancaster and Philadelphia, there were originally nine “toll bars”, beginning two miles west of the Schuylkill River. To the many German travellers who passed along this early stone turnpike, these toll stops were known as “Schagbaume”.

John T. Faris, writing in “Old Roads out of Philadelphia”, tells of “the Conestoga wagons, stages, pack horses and private conveyances that at times made an almost continuous procession” along Lancaster highway. He writes, too, of a traveller of 1810 who relates, “at the toll gates the keepers were usually busily engaged in taking the toll, for sometimes three or four conveyances stood in waiting. Some of the gatekeepers kept tally on a slate of the money they took in. Coming early to a toll gate we had to wait until the sleepy keeper, rubbing his eyes, came out for our toll. Generally, these gatekeepers were taciturn, sour looking men. Indeed, they seemed to me to resemble each other so much that I almost believed them to be of one family, sons of one father.”

This same author tells of difficulties with travellers who sought to escape the payment of toll. Finally a provision was included in the act of incorporation “for the fining of any one who should pass a toll gate without paying the required fee, or who should evade payment in some other way.”

Writing in “The Old Main Line”, J.W. Townsend tells of later days in the history of toll gates in this immediate vicinity. All the roads in the early 1870’s in the Bryn Mawr section were dirt, except Lancaster pike “which was very rough and ridgey, without any smooth surfacing”. When Mr. Cassatt, then vice-president of the Pennsylvania Railroad, who “was fond of driving his four-in-hand coach” was finally prevailed upon to accept the position of township road supervisor, things changed for the better.

He was not only instrumental in obtaining macadamized roadbeds on Bryn Mawr roads, but he got a company of his friends to buy Lancaster pike as far as Paoli, in order to make a macadamized road of it also. Toll was charged “to keep it in order… and it was a great boon to the driving public for many years.” When the pike was purchased by the State in later years the toll gates were abolished, as all state owned roads were maintained by taxes.

Many residents in this vicinity remember those toll gates which, as a matter of fact, were not abolished until some years after the turn of the century. A picture of the small cottage which once served as a toll house at the northwest corner of Lancaster pike and Chamounix road illustrated this column in the October issue of “The Suburban”. Another house, which is said to have served as a toll gate along the Pike in Revolutionary days, is the small white stone house just to the west of the Spread Eagle Mansion, on the Pike in Strafford. Standing as it does just at the line of the roadway itself, it is a very likely spot for a toll house.

It will be 17 years ago next Sunday, that Wayne celebrated its never-to-be-forgotten “Anthony Wayne Day” with some 2000 people marching in the largest parade this community has ever known.

The eight highway signs which have been pictured and described in this column during the past few weeks had been completed and put in place ready for their unveiling, and for their formal presentation to Radnor Township. Already they had been on public exhibition in the John Wanamaker store, with many miniature wagons and coaches of Colonial and Revolutionary days furnished for the occasion by the Franklin Institute. Now they were in their permanent places on Lancaster Pike and on Conestoga road, each of the eight swinging from a red cedar post, topped by an heraldic Welsh dragon.

The posts had been designed by Herbert S. Henderson, an engineer and artist who is still a resident of Wayne. The eight signs, similar in shape, as were the posts from which they swung, had all been designed by Arthur Edrop, now a resident of Radnor and a recent president of the Wayne Art Center.

Of the eight, six had been painted by Mr. Edrop, while the remaining two were the work of Wayne Martin, at that time an art instructor in Radnor High School. The Welsh dragons which topped the red cedar posts were also designed by Mr. Edrop, chosen by him to commemorate the fact that this section of the Main Line had been originally of Welsh origin.

Two years previous to this occasion a movement originating in the Wayne Art Center had resulted in the formation of the Wayne Committee for Civic Progress. This group, made up of representatives from almost all of Radnor Township organizations had chosen for a statement of its purposes this slogan “To make Wayne as attractive a community to shop in as it is 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.”

Of the various projects successfully undertaken by the group up to this point, perhaps the most noteworthy had been the planting of some 800 dogwood trees by such groups as Valley Forge Military Academy, the Wayne Hotel, the Central Baptist Church, Colonial Village Women’s Club, St. Katharine’s Church, American Legion Auxiliary and the Wayne Presbyterian Church.

Other groups later joined these original ones. And so to the Wayne Committee for Civic Progress goes much of the credit for the profusion of dogwood which blossoms in the spring of the year throughout Radnor township.

All stores in the township were closed on the Saturday afternoon of December 14, 1935, in honor of Anthony Wayne Day. Spectators lined the sidewalks as the various divisions of the parade marched westward along the pike to the stand opposite the Wayne Library. Here the 2000 who participated in it were reviewed by two military notables, Major General Edward C. Shannon, 28th Division, Pennsylvania National Guard, and Colonel Clarence R. Day, chief of staff, 79th Division, U.S. Army.

Heading the parade were the Radnor Township police, with Colonel F.A. Warner and staff; the band and battalion of the 11th Infantry; a company of the 103rd Engineers, the 103rd Cavalry Troop; Battery C, of the 107th Field Artillery; the staff of Valley Forge Military Academy; six army trucks and four cannon, all making up the First Division of the Parade.

In the Second Division were Colonel Horace W. Shelmire and staff; Anthony Wayne Post, American Legion; Bateman-Gallagher Post, American Legion; John Winthrop Post, of Bryn Mawr; Dalton Wanzel Post, of Paoli; Sons of Veterans Squadron, of the American Legion; Auxiliary of Bateman-Gallagher Post and the Auxiliary of John Winthrop Post.

In the Third Division were Lieutenant Richard F. Warren and staff, Colonial and Revolutionary Orders Color Guard. The Fourth Division was made up of the Radnor High School Guard with the High School Band. Comprising the Fifth Division were the Valley Forge Memorial Chapel Washington Guards, District Boy Scouts with Henry Soleliac, commissioner in charge; Rover Scouts, Paoli Troops 1 and 81; Malvern Troop, Berwyn Troop, Devon Troop, Willistown Troop and Rosemont Troop. In the Sixth Division were Wayne Girl Scout Troops 131 and 224; Aberdeen Avenue Boys’ Club and pupils of St. Katharine’s School. The Seventh Division was an equestrian group, while the Eighth Division was made up of members of the Radnor Fire Company, Old Pump Engine, LaFrance engine and various old-time vehicles.

As this huge parade marched along, headed by its chief marshal, Colonel Shelmire, of Wayne, they paused at the site of each of the roadway markers. At each of these posts a guard of Boy Scouts was stationed. Betsy Ross flags, which draped the highway signs, were drawn aside by Girl Scouts and by members of the American Legion Auxiliary as the parade came abreast.

Once the parade was over, spectators and paraders alike crowded into the auditorium of the high school, where a mass meeting was held. Chief feature of the meeting was the formal presentation of the eight roadway signs to the township. The ceremony of presentation was made by the late Rev. Croswell McBee, then rector of Old St. David’s Church, while their formal acceptance was given by Joseph M. Fronefield 3d, at that time president of the Board of Township Commissioners.

Prior to the presentation, the late W.W. Montgomery, Jr., of Radnor, paid tribute to “Mad” Anthony Wayne for his fidelity to the cause of the American Revolution. The afternoon closed with a special music program presented by the combined glee clubs of the High School, the Musical Coterie, the Merriemen of Wayne and a group of Welsh singers in national costume. In the evening Frederick Richardson was host to the reviewing officers at a dinner at St. Davids Golf Club.

At the time of this presentation of the roadside markers to the township, 12 local organizations supported the work of the Wayne Committee for Civic Progress. These were the American Legion Auxiliary, as represented by Mrs. Lillian B. Aman and Mrs. Channing W. Daniel; the Garden Club, by Mrs. Duffield Ashmead, Jr., Mrs. Charles W. Bayliss and the Misses Susan Dorothy and Virginia Keeney; the Musical Coterie, By Mrs. Edward Higgens and Mrs. E.B. Warner; the Neighborhood League, by Miss H. Velma Turner and Adolph Rosengarten; the North Wayne Protective Association, by Dr. Seneca Egbert and C. Laurence Warwick; the Saturday Club, by Mrs. W.N. Stilwell and Mrs. T. Magill Patterson; the Wayne Art Center, by Dr. Addison S. Buck, Charles A. McClure, Frederick Richardson, Clarence J. Tolan, Arthur Edrop and Miss Mary Walsh; the Wayne Chamber of Commerce, by A.A.H. de Canizares and M.L. Vail; the Wayne Library, by George L. Harrison; the Wayne Public Safety Association, by Dr. A.J. Culver and Charles M. Shepler. Members-at-large were J.M. Fronefield, 3d, and Frank Paul Kane. Mr. Edrop was chairman of the Wayne Committee, while Mrs. Patterson was secretary.

An outstanding and unusual organization for the few brief years of its existence, the Wayne Committee for Civic Progress is now inactive. The handsome roadside signs hung from their posts until a few years ago. Then winds and weather made their removal seem advisable.

The posts still stand, the Welsh dragons still atop them. The signs are safely stored in the studio of the Wayne Art Center. Their colors have been dimmed by time. Otherwise they are intact, with repainting their only requisite. It will be interesting to know whether there is enough public interest in these handsome roadside markers to have them swing again from their old posts along two of the oldest highways of America – the Lancaster Pike and Conestoga Road.

As the lovely notes of ”Oh Come All Ye Faithful” rang out into the wintry twilight of last Sunday afternoon from the group of carollers, young and old, who were assembled around the newly planted Community Christmas tree, the memories of some few among them went back over the years to other Christmas trees in other parts of Wayne.

First of these community Christmas trees was the one planted to the right of the Wayne Primary School, at the instigation of a woman always deeply interested in civic affairs, Mrs. James B. Riley, who lived for many years on Pembroke avenue. In the early 1900’s she arranged for the planting of this fir tree in a spot where there would be ample space for carollers to gather around it.

Though never a lighted tree, it created a center for outdoor Christmas music for several years. After it was deserted for a more centrally located tree, it became the “birds’ Christmas tree”, decorated with choice tid-bits of food for the small feathered friends of the children of the Wayne Primary School. This trimming of the tree for the birds remained a custom until a few years ago.

Then there was the big fir tree on the Louella grounds near the mansion. Groups of young carollers gathered around it as they made their rounds along the streets of Wayne and St. Davids, before arriving at St. Mary’s Church in time for the Christmas Midnight services there.

Later, in December, 1922, carol singers gathered for the first time around the well-remembered, beautiful, tall fir tree, located where Halligan’s toy store now stands. For many years it was one of the Christmas landmarks of the Main Line, as its many lights shone out along Lancaster Pike. That Christmas season of 1922, when it was first lighted, Edgar L. Hunt, organist at St. Mary’s Church and music instructor at Radnor High School, led the singing around the tree. Many felt that this tree and the ground around it should in some fashion have become the permanent property of the Township, in order that its lights at Christmas time should continue to shine down through the years. But that was not to be.

And now again Wayne has a handsome Christmas tree of its own, which may be seen on page 1 of this issue – the gift of Mr. and Mrs. E. Mortimer Newlin, given in memory of their young son, Frank Battles Newlin, who was killed in an automobile accident during the year just past.

Three members of the Community Garden Club were on the committee to select the variety of tree which should be chosen and the site which it was to occupy. Much thought was given to both questions by Mrs. P.H. Mell, J. Armstrong Mills, and Roy Kersey. Finally, a Douglas fir of the largest dimensions that could be transplanted, was chosen from the stock of William H. Doyle, of Berwyn, a well known nurseryman. Many sites along Lancaste Pike had to be ruled out because of plans for future widening of the roadway.

The location finally chosen is just to the left of the entrance of one of the community’s oldest churches – the Chapel of the Wayne Presbyterian Church, built more than 80 years ago on ground donated by J. Henry Askin, founder of Wayne. With its twinkling, multi-colored lights below the clear white star at its tip, it is indeed a beautiful sight to be enjoyed alike by Wayne residents and the many passers-by along the highway.

The gratitude of the community goes out to its donors, Mr. and Mrs. Newlin, to the Presbyterian Church and to the Garden Club members, who are the custodians and caretakers of the tree. This gratitude the community is expressing in some small way by its lighting of the tree.

(The North Wayne tree, the Wayne Terrace tree and the Rosemont tree will be discussed in next week’s column.)

While ALL Wayne has its community Christmas tree, as reported in last week’s column, North Wayne has its own tree, located on a spot that seems built to order for that very purpose – the triangular piece of ground in the center of the wide opening of Walnut avenue onto North Wayne avenue. Last Sunday, December 21, there was carol singing around this tree and a program of Christmas music arranged by Frank Felske.

This is the second Christmas that the lights from this tree will have shone out onto Walnut and North Wayne avenues, the first street to be laid out back in the 1880’s in the section north of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Sponsored by the North Wayne Protective Association, which financed its purchase, this beautiful Nordman fir was finally chosen by a committee from the Association, after a tour of all the nearby nurseries had been made. Even after a selection had been made at the Doyle Nurseries by one group, a second group was delegated to verify the choice.

After the Nordman fir was puchased it became a very personal belonging of the neighborhood. During the dry summer of 1952, members of the North Wayne Protective Association took turns watering it through pipes secured deep into the ground for that purpose.

The Christmas lights come on from a switch in the home of Mrs. Helen H. Breining on the south side of Walnut avenue. Water comes from a spigot in the yard of Dr. Lee Porter’s home, on the other side of the street – the Porter children call it “our tree”.

This permanent Christmas tree was preceded by a temporary one, a 60-foot fir which was blown down in the November, 1950, windstorm on the old McFadden place in Rosemont, then owned by Thomas A. Wood. In their eagerness to have a tree of some sort, members of the North Wayne Protective association went down to Rosemont in several cars to drag it up to the triangle in the middle of Walnut avenue.

The return trip was a hazardous one with the car on which the tree was loaded closely guarded by other cars to the rear. The route had to be a circuitous one since there were only a few corners which were wide enough to permit a turn.

Finally, however, the destination was reached, and the trunk of the tree was sunk into a big pipe provided by the township for that purpose. Some ten feet of the original hemlock had to be cut off to make the planting possible, and numerous branches were broken off in one way or another. Undaunted members of the tree planting committee then nailed the original branches back, or chose still others to be nailed in place. And then, several nights before Christmas of 1950, lights shone out from North Wayne’s first Christmas tree. Needless to say, this tree was a short-lived affair. But by Christmas 1951, the big hemlock was permanently in place. This year, for the second time, its lights twinkle in the darkness.

Now there is a brand new tree in the community – the one on Morningside Circle in Wayne Terraces. On Saturday afternoon Santa Claus arrived there in one of the shiny red fire engines of the Radnor Fire Company to seat himself on his throne beneath the tree. From there he distributed his gifts to all the children of the Terraces. This was followed by singing of carols.

On Monday evening, December 22, the Rosemont Community Association had its fourth annual Christmas celebration on the grounds of the Rosemont School. A nativity scene near the Christmas tree formed the background for the carollers. In the spirit of giving rather than receiving those who came to the celebration brought gifts to the creche in the form of toys and of food.

And thus throughout Radnor township Christmas is being celebrated not only in its homes, but in gatherings throughout our community in the true spirit of “Merry Christmas to All”. It is this spirit that prevails in our community not only at the Yuletide season, but throughout the year – that spirit of true neighborliness.

And now Merry Christmas to all her readers from this columnist with an especial greeting to the increasing number of those of school age who are showing such interest in the history of Wayne and its surroundings. May we all spend another happy year together – your columnist in writing and you in reading!

Emma C. Patterson.

Quite frequently, after a column in this series has appeared in print, additional information that might have been used in connection with it comes the way of your columnist. So it was with the recent brief story on toll gates, which appeared in the column of December 5 in connection with the description of the painted highway markers on Lancaster Pike.

Following the publication of this particular column, Herbert S. Casey, of Wayne, former president of the Radnor Historical Society, lent the writer several books of historical interest, among them one entitled “Overbrook Farms”, by Tello J. d’Apery, M.D. In it is a picture of a toll gate at the intersection of City Line and Lancaster Pike, which Mr. Casey tells us was the first one on the Pike as it left the City limits.

It is particularly interesting to him because it was just across the road from the old Casey homestead, a large frame house which stood near the site occupied in recent years by the Green Hills Farm Hotel property, and where Mr. Casey spent his boyhood.

Important as was the location of this toll house, since it was just on the boundary between Philadelphia and the suburbs, it was merely a little square box of a structure. Mr. Tobin kept the toll house for some years, and Mr. Casey recalls the amazement of all the neighbors that somehow the Tobins fitted their family of ten children into such a house.

The next toll house to the west on the Pike, according to Mr. Casey, was one located at the northeast corner of Church road and Lancaster Pike, where an automobile repair show is now in operation. Still another was at Bowman avenue and the Pike . . . “a little sentry box” run by one John McGinley, which was not kept open at all times. And still another was in Rosemont, where County Line crosses the Pike near the new diner, at the foot of the long Rosemont hill.

Two local toll gates, mentioned in this column under date of December 5, were the small cottage, once located at the northwest corner of Lancaster avenue and Chamounix road, in St. Davids, and the little white stone house, still standing, just to the west of the Spread Eagle Apartments, on Lancaster Pike in Strafford.

Mr. Casey recalls the manner in which boys of various ages went “roaring” past these Lancaster Pike toll gates on their bicycles in order to avoid the payment of the large sum of one penny toll! John T. Faris, in “Old Roads Out of Philadelphia”, another book lent the writer by Mr. Casey, lists the rates posted at a toll gate at a bridge built over Ridley Creek in post-Revolutionary days:

Coach, light waggon, or other pleasure carriage, with four wheels and four horses: 25c
Ditto, two horses: 15c
Chair, sulky, etc.: 10c
Sleigh, with two horses: 6c
Man and horse: 2c
Waggon with four horses: 12c
Wagon, with two horses: 8c
Cart and horses: 4c
For every additional horse to carriage of pleasure: 4c
Do to carriage in burden: 2c

“But perhaps it was a good thing, after all”, Mr. Faris goes on to say, “to have these charges at the small stream; they prepared one for the larger charge at such a ferry as that over the Susquehanna, 63 miles from Philadelphia. There the charges ranged from $2 per “Coach, etc. with four horses” to 25 cents for an empty wagon and 50 cents for a cart and two horses.” . . . No wonder an early traveller carefully records the number of streams of all sizes crossed while making a journey.

However toll bridges and ferries were but two of the places where the traveller had to spend his money, For, at every tavern, there had to be a blacksmith shop. Since rough roads made for many repairs to vehicles en route, many times there was a waiting line for the services of these blacksmiths. The traveller who planned to make a long journey in his own conveyance usually had it thoroughly overhauled even before setting out on the road.

A third book, now temporarily in my possession through the courtesy of Mr. Casey, is a thick and beautifully illustrated volume, “Early American Inns and Taverns”, by Elise Lathrop. In the chapter on Pennsylvania Inns she writes, “Pennsylvania, undoubtedly, during Colonial days and later, had more inns than any other state, and of these many still used as hotels survive . . . certain typical features make even those that have been somewhat altered quite easy to recognize . . . more than in any other part of the country, the old Pennsylvania inns recall those of England, with their quaint names and signboards, and almost all of the old English names have been repeated here . . .” A propose of these names, Miss Lathrop quotes a quaint old toast as follows:

“Here is to the Sorrel Horse that kicked the Unicorn, that made the Eagle fly; that scared the Lamb from under the Stage, for drinking the Spring House dry; that drove the Blue Ball under the Black Bear, and chased General Jackson all the way to Paoli.”

The Blue Ball, at Daylesford, which is mentioned in this toast, is now the home of Mr. and Mrs. Paul M. Warner, for many years residents of Wayne. The history of this tavern was given at some length in this column last Spring. One detail which was omitted concerned a heifer which was owned by Prissy Robinson, one-time owner of the old inn, who, according to Miss Lathrop, “quarreled with the railroad by greasing the tracks until they were glad to settle”.

Another nearby inn described by Miss Lathrop is the King of Prussia, so popular for its well cooked meals until recently, when the new turnpike has necessitated its closing. Miss Lathrop writes of its venerable signboard, supposedly painted by Gilbert Stuart, showing the King of Prussia “somewhat marred by wind and weather, astride a horse, decidedly wooden as to legs”. The author’s description of the building as it was up until a few years ago, brings back nostalgic memories to former diners there.

“The original two rooms on the right as one enters”, she writes, “have old fireplaces across adjoining corners, as have the rooms above . . . on the left downstairs the rear room is the old kitchen, with an enormous fireplace in which two persons may sit comfortably in chairs. The old crane is still in place, as it the old oven, and up the wall of the chimney is a small niche for keeping food warm. In front of the kitchen is the old bar. From the kitchen, a steep narrow flight of stairs testifies to its age, and one may admire massive old beams, and some of the old doors and hinges.”

And no story of old inns in Pennsylvania would be complete without mention of the Spread Eagle Inn, which has been so fully described in these columns that there is little to add from Miss Lathrop’s book. And last, but not least, is the famous old sorrel Horse Inn, once located on Sprout road, of which your columnist wants to write at a future date.

From time to time reference has been made in this column to one of the most interesting historical landmarks of rural Pennsylvania, the Old Eagle Schoolhouse. In its restored state it still stands on the hill north of Strafford Station, on the east side of Old Eagle School road.
This road, one of the oldest in this section, starts at Lancaster Pike at the Covered Wagon Inn, and goes in a northerly direction under the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks. It was along this road that the first German settlers in Tredyffrin township made their homes, on a tract of land which was part of an original purchase by Richard Hunt, of Brome Yard, Hereford County, Wales, from William Penn in 1683.

In October and November, 1950, three of these columns of “Your Town and My Town” were devoted to the early days of this German settlement, and to the building of the first crude structure for church and school purposes in about the year 1767. The stone, inscribed 1788, which is now set in the south gable of the restored building, supposedly belonged to a second building which was erected close by the first. Later on the two buildings were apparently made into one.

In September and October of the year just past, three columns of “Your Town and My Town” were devoted to the reminiscences of three of the one-time pupils in the old school. One was Margaret Cornog, who was 90 years old when she wrote of her school days, which began in 1818, at the age of eight years. Another was Joseph Levis Worrall, born in 1817, who started his schooling in 1826 when he was nine years old. And still a third old-time pupil, who was born in 1824 and who attended Eagle School at an early age, was Joseph Fisher Mullen.

Quite recently several pictures of this qaint old building have been made available to your columnist. And so, after a brief resume of what has already been written in regard to its early days, we shall bring the story down to the present with the aid of these pictures.

In his book “The Making of Pennsylvania,” George Fisher says that Pennsylvania was altogether different from the other early colonies, in that it had a much greater “mixture of languages, nationalities and religions; Dutch, Swedes, English, German, Scotch-Irish, Welsh, Quakers, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Lutherans, Reformed, Mennonites, Dunkards, and the Moravians, all had a share in creating it”.

Of these settlers. the Germans were decidedly the most numerous. Two divisions among them stand out prominently, the sects of Pietists, and the Church people. The first included the Amish, the Mennonites, Shakers, Schwenkfelders and many others. The Church people were divided between the Reformed and the Lutherans, the latter of especial local interest, since it is of them that the settlement in Tredyffrin Township seems to have been mainly composed.

Most of these original German pioneers were immigrant peasants, the first of that class to land in America. Many of them were rough in manner and in dress, and spoke a dialect that was almost unintelligible to those outside their immediate group. But they were a hard working lot, thrifty and frugal, who took their work of settlement in a new land seriously. For the most part they became farmers, who took good care of their cattle and of their property.

The particular group of these German settlers along what is now Old Eagle School Road followed Welshmen who were the original settlers. With these Germans were a number of Swiss and even a few of the unfortunate Acadians driven from Nova Scotia. Following a custom of the homeland, these Germans probably built their combined church and school before they had even completed their homes. For tradition has it that the first small log structure to be erected on the approximate site of the present restored one served both of these purposes.

The first authentic evidence of the existence of the German colony in Tredyffrin Township is found in the deed books of Chester County which, according to Henry Pleasants’ “History of the Old Eagle School”, indicate “the purchase by Jacob Sharraden… from Sampson Davis and wife on March, 1765, of 150 acres of land in Tredyffrin”. It is followed, in March 1767, by a deed from Jacob Sharraden to his son-in-law, Christian Werkiser. These two men were undoubtedly the most prominent of the German pioneers connected with the establishment of the Old Eagle School.

Jacob Sharraden died in 1774, leaving a will which indicates that he was “a religious German of some education and property”. Tax lists of Tredyffrin Township show him to have been the proprietor of a grist mill and owner of 150 acres of land. His son-in-law, Christian Werkiser, also owned a considerable amount of real estate in Tredyffrin. The tax list of Tredyffrin in 1768 shows that he was taxed with only 149 acres instead of the 150 which Jacob Sharraden originally held. This seems pretty direct evidence that the latter established “what was then a distinctive feature of German Protestant settlements – a place of church and school purposes; and that he was the donor, at least of the ground on which it was located”. This fact has been confirmed by several of the very early residents of both Tredyffrin and Willistown townships.

According to Mrs. Martha Wentworth Suffren, one of Strafford’s old-time residents who still lives on Homestead road, the original school house was only about half the size of the present reconstructed one which is about 33 feet by 19 feet. One of the pictures illustrating Mr. Pleasants’ book is from a drawing which has, according to him, “been carefully prepared to conform as far as possible to the most authentic traditions of its appearance. Built of stone and one story in height, it had a door set between the two westward-facing windows, the window on the right being much larger than the one on the left for some reason. These windows, with two others on the northeast side and two on the southeast side, lighted the interior.”

Benches for the pupils were arranged in double rows around the side of the building, making a hollow square space by the fire- place. Here stood the schoolmaster’s desk. At first heat came only from this open wood fire, though later this was replaced by a stove, an innovation which was of distinctly German origin. Inside walls were entirely without plaster, while window sashes “slid sidewise on the inside, as is yet often done in old barns… there were no shutters to these windows. The front door was secured by a long wooden bolt, slipped into place by a crooked piece of iron, passed through a hole”.

(To be continued.)

The first picture shown in today’s column has been taken from an interesting collection of old photographs in the possession of F.G. Farrell, of Upper Gulph road, Strafford.

It shows the little old Eagle School as it looked in the 1800’s, before it was restored to its present-day condition in 1897. This restoration was done by a Board of Trustees acting for an interested group determined on the preservatlon of one of the most historic landmarks in this section.

The fund raised for this purpose was made up for the most part from a large number of small contributions, as related by Henry Pleasants in his book “Old Eagle School, Tredyffrin, 1767-1909.”
Mr. Pleasants writes: “The interest of practically the whole community in the old place was substantially manifested in the many contributions offered to aid the work of restoration. None of these individual contributions exceeded $25. Up to this amount they varied from the unique contribution from 20 boys of the Malvern Grammar School, who at the instance of their teacher, Miss Hannah Epright, of Berwyn, contributed five cents each… the average amount of all contributions was $6.71. But the spirit behind the contribution, manifested in many ways, was perhaps the most inspiring feature in the unusual enterprise”. A picture of this restored building, as shown in contrast to today’s picture, will illustrate next week’s column.

When it was established, Eagle School was placed under the control and management of trustees, or “committeemen” as they were sometimes known. These men held a position similar to that of our present day school directors. The last formal election of these trustees is said to have taken place in the old building about 1835, at a meeting held “for the purpose of securing better educational facilities for the neighborhood.”

Many of the names of these trustees have been preserved, not in record form, but in the memories of those who have passed their names down from generation to generation. Among those from this neighborhood were William Siter, John Pugh, Nathaniel Jones, Samuel Cleaver, Robert Kennedy, landlord of “The Unicorn”, and Edward Siter, landlord of “The Spread Eagle”.

Among other rural schoolhouses of an early date that have been preserved to the present generation are the Camp School, at Valley Forge, restored by the Valley Forge Park Commission; Diamond Rock School, near Howellville, and the Octagon School House near Newtown Square.

From the time that the first small crude building, known as the Eagle School, was built, it was not only school and church, but also a social center of the rural life of the neighborhood. It was a public meeting place when militia companies were organized and drilled and when political meetings were held. On the lighter side of life it was the meeting place for singing groups and debating clubs.

A quaint invitation, still in existence, to a debate to be held at the school in March, 1822, is early evidence that the Eagle School was among the pioneers in the “lyceum movement” which was to become an integral part of the life of the early settlers in this section.

Records show that, as early as 1835, the Chester County Education Convention organized a County Lyceum, with a full roster of officers. And only a few years later the Radnor Lyceum was organized, with Hugh Jones Brooke, as president. Perhaps the most outstanding of these Lyceum meetings to be held in Old Eagle School was one already described at length in this column, the free exhibition of the telegraph in 1832.

The second picture illustrating this week’s column has been taken from Mr. Pleasants’ book. It is that of the “Sentinel”, the chestnut tree that was taken down when the Strafford drug store was built at the corner of Old Eagle School road and Lancaster pike. During the encampment of the American army at Valley Forge, the Spread Eagle Inn was used as an outpost, and this great tree, over six feet in diameter and some 75 feet tall, was utilized as a signal station for that picket.

The next signal tree was just at the top of the hill north of the Doyle Nurseries. Other trees stood at intervals all the way from the one near the old schoolhouse to Valley Forge itself.

L. E. Davis, of Weadley road, Strafford, still remembers the stories his grandfather told him of these old trees. When the big chestnut shown in today’s picture was taken down to make room for the drug store, it was rescued from burning by a Mr. Barr, of Phoenixville, who still has much of it stored in his barn. Mr. Davis himself has a piece of the old tree. And from parts of it Mr. Barr made bootjacks which were sent to the museums of a number of large American colleges.

(To be Continued)

Old tax lists of Tredyffrin township are warrant for the belief that between 1765 and 1767 there “was established by Jacob Sharraden, what seems a distinctive feature of German Protestant settlements – a place for church and school purposes; and that he was the donor, at least of the ground on which it was located.” This is the conclusion to which Henry Pleasants came in his exhaustive study of the early German settlers around Strafford when he was preparing to write his “History of the Old Eagle School”.

Mr. Pleasants’ study of early records and of traditions led him to believe that there was considerable rivalry between this early German congregation and the Welsh one that centered around
old St. David’s Church.

“It was possible,” Mr. Pleasants writes, “that the establishment of the Lutheran settlement near “The Eagle” had aroused the church members of old St. David’s Church, Radnor, from their temporal, if not their spiritual, apathy by an apprehension lest these Lutherans should develop into formidable rivals who might draw away support from their own church”. At any rate these Welshmen seem “to have been spurred on to increase their accommodations and conveniences at Radnor”.

Tradition has it that the rigorous religious tenets of these first German settlers made it difficult to obtain additions to the membership of the first small log church. Apparently the old members removed to more congenial surroundings, and before their departure the combined church and school property was transferred to “a few chosen representatives of the neighborhood as trustees, who were to hold it for religious and educational purposes and the re- pose of the dead.” Jacob Sharraden, who had given the original acre of land on which the first little log building stood, was among them, moving from Tredyffrin township to Vincent township in 1771.

It was probably in the year 1788 that the stone building, used for school purposes alone, was built, a date that is substantiated by the large stone now high in the south gable. It is held that the two structures stood side by side until 1805, when the log one was demolished.

Some of the massive logs are said to have been utilized in the construction of the old Hazzard house about a half mile north of the School House. Still later these same logs were used in the house built by the late Murdoch Kendrick, Esq., at the corner of Eagle and Gulph roads, and still occupied
by Mrs. Kendrick.

Regarding the erection of the stone building in 1788, there is a meager record. The residents of the neighborhood united to furnish the necessary masonry and carpentry work as well as the materials. Among these pioneer philanthropists were John Pugh, William Siter and Robert Kennedy, of Radnor, and Jacob Hazzard and Robert Grover, of Tredyffrin.

In 1842, six years after the common school system of Pennsylvania came into full operation, the school boards under the new system succeeded the trustees in the management of the property. This probably was the main cause for the renovation of the small structure in 1842. It provided for the addition of the southeasterly end, which about doubled the school’s capacity. At this time the old door was walled up and an entrance made from the southeast end.

The reminiscences of the three early pupils of the old Eagle School, Margaret Cornog, Joseph Levis Worrall and Joseph Fisher Mullen, as given in this column in September and October, 1952, were of the period previous to this renovation, while the school was still very small.

During the period of the Civil War, the building continued to be used as a schoolhouse, but by 1872 the School Board of Tredyffrin township had completed the erection of a new schoolhouse at Pechin’s Corner, about a quarter of a mile northwest of the Eagle School. As the only badge of ownership, the key to the old building was presented to the little Union Sunday School, then holding weekly services there. During the year 1873, the Sunday School organization was the only custodian of the property, and apparently there was no prohibition here against denomination.

It is said that the building from time to time was used by preachers from the Christian Church, by Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians and possibly Quakers. The last Sunday School service was held on October 12, 1873, when the School closed its sessions for the winter. For a few weeks previous, teachers of the Sunday School had brought with them supplies of wood and of coal from which they built their fires.

Just before the usual time for reopening the Union Sunday School in the spring of 1874, a well-known colored man of the neighborhood took possession of the small building as a dwelling for his family, claiming that its use was given him in return for his care of the graves in the surrounding churchyard. Much litigation ensued, finally ending in a fruitless attempt by the school board, to dispose of the
property through a sale.

When they found that they could not sell property, the Board rented the building to one Elizabeth Dickensheet, who was better known as “Chicken Lizzie” because of the “members of the feathered tribe who shared her home”. The appearance of squalor and dilapidation which the whole property, including the graveyard, presented at this time was shameful. The occupation of the old building as a dwelling terminated after “Chicken Lizzie” was set upon by someone whose identity was never discovered.

In May, 1885, a formal decree was entered, appointing Thomas R. Jaquette, Elijah Wilds, John S. Angle, M.D., Daniel S. Newhall and Henry Pleasants, as trustees. From this group Mr. Wilds was named president and Mr. Pleasants, secretary and treasurer.

Funds to meet the preliminary expenses of restoration were obtained by contributions from interested neighbors and also from the sale of an historical account of the old school, as prepared by the secretary, Mr. Pleasants.

The restored building is described by the ”Evening Bulletin” of September, 1897, as “quaint and venerable looking… with painted walls, shadowed by many fine old trees. A Colonial doorway and low cornice suggest a history co-extensive with the nation, and the inscription, 1788, in quaint lettering on the old date stone, high in the south gable, confirms the suggestion.”

During 1897-1898 further improvements were made by excavating a cellar under the entire building, by grading the reclaimed road bed, and by enclosing, with stone walls, that part lying west of the graveyard, along with many other extensive outside changes to the grounds.

The first picture shown this week was made expressly for this column by F. G. Farrell and shows the school building as it looks today. The second picture is from an illustration in Mr. Pleasants’ book, showing the interior of the schoolhouse after its renovation in the late 1800’s.

(to be concluded)