In this, the concluding column on the history of the Wayne Methodist Church, we shall present a few highlights from its dedication down to the present day.

The lot on which the parsonage stands was a gift to the church from George W. Childs, as was the ground for the church itself. When some of the far-sighted members saw the advantage of owning the lot immediately adjacent to the church on the west for use when they should need it, A.M. Ware was delegated to contact Mr. Childs.

Another gift from Mr. Childs was a generous donation to the organ fund. Following his death early in 1894, a copy of the minutes enumerating these three gifts was sent to his widow.

However, it was not until 1909 that a parsonage was built on the lot to the right of the church. Most of the church’s first ministers, early in the 1900’s, were single men. When the Rev. L.A. Parcells was invited to the Wayne charge, it became necessary to provide a house for him since he was married. At a rent of $25 monthly – a concession to the church since the regular rent was $35 – a house at the corner of West Wayne avenue and Bloomingdale was obtained. Even this moderate rental was evidently a strain on the church’s finances, for the January minutes contain instructions to the Committee on Pastoral Relations “to use every means in their power to procure a single man for pastor for the coming year as the financial condition of the church at present was not such as to warrant the support of a married man as preacher.”

Fortunately for the pastor, however, the rent was paid by the church, since a minister in 1904 received $900 per annum, a raise of $100 over previous years. Many figures given in the old Minute Book of 50 years ago are amazing to us in 1953. The June 1892 entry in the book states that the building committee “was to have a fence around the property painted at a cost not exceeding five cents per foot.” The Wayne Steam Heat Company had a contract to heat the building for $150 yearly. And the Committee on Parsonage Property reported “employment of new janitor at a salary of eight dollars per month until spring and if satisfactory is given thereafter at ten dollars per month.”

The small organ originally used in the church was replaced a few years later by one built at a final cost of $2215.11. In 1936 the very beautiful organ now in use was given in memory of Richard J. Freeman by his wife and sons. By September 1893 the wagon sheds built at the back of the church were completed at a cost of $538.50. All of these expenses and many more kept the board of trustees of the church in a constant state of financial anxiety. But faithful to their trust they must have been, for in the records the same names appear over and over again – many those of men who had been charter members. Ever faithful, too, was the Ladies Aid Society, which apparently worked continuously in order to give help to the church in any financial emergency.

On June 30, 1907, the 17th anniversary of the church was celebrated both at the morning and evening services. A most attractive and well illustrated booklet marking the occasion has been preserved in the old Minute Book. Six months later on January 5, 1908, the ceremony of the burning of the mortgage took place. The ceremony was participated in by Mr. Thompson, the pastor, “assisted by President Brown of the Board of Trustees, together with Miss Maude Hayden of the Intermediate Department of the Sunday School… while the flame of the burning papers was dying out, the congregation joined heartily in the singing of the Long Meter Doxology.” And, best of all, the financial report showed that at the close of the conference year in February, 1908, there would be a comfortable balance in the bank.

In May, 1909, definite plans were made for building the parsonage “at a sum not to exceed $6000, not including furnishings.” Meanwhile, “the Ladies Committee was of the opinion that the Ladies Aid Society would consider favorably the proposition to raise the money necessary to furnish the parsonage, and to carry any interest that might accrue until the end of the conference year.” Two pictures in the yearbook dated February 28, 1910, show the completely furnished parsonage looking then just as it does today.

So much has transpired in the more than 60 years since the dream of early Wayne Methodists became a reality that it has been possible to touch upon only the highlights in this series of articles. In closing them, however, it is interesting to add that the church has recently acquired the Herbert L. Badger property just to the south of it for a Parish House. With constantly increasing Sunday School membership, provision for that branch of church work will be made in these newly acquired quarters.

During the past week there has come into the temporary possession of your columnist a book of priceless old pictures of Wayne of the 1900’s, lent to her by George W. Schultz.

Mr. Schultz first came to Wayne in 1888, when his father and mother, Mr. & Mrs. G.H. Schultz, with their four children, settled in the 200 block on Walnut avenue, in one of the first houses built by the Wayne Estate. Now Mr Schultz is again making his home in Wayne, after an absence of some years.

The pictures show a number of Wayne’s landmarks in the way of the early homes, buildings and outdoor scenes and are beautiful examples of photography. All were taken by Mr. Schultz, who has preserved them so carefully that they are clear in every detail. From time to time various of these pictures will be reproduced in this column.

The first of the two pictures this week is an interior view of the Merrivale Club and the second is one of Kelly’s Dam, with the John P. Wood house on the corner of Walnut avenue and Radnor road shown in the distant background.

In the spring of 1949, when this column was just getting under way, descriptions of the clubs and the dam were presented, based on articles written by Mr. Schultz. It is interesting now to turn back to these early columns for a brief resume of the stories of both the club and of the dam.

The Merrivale Club played an important part in the annals of Wayne’s early sports and recreation. The first clubhouse was a frame building situated near the railroad in North Wayne. In its early days it had a baseball diamond and two tennis courts outside, with rooms for billiards and bowling inside. Among the members were Robert Hare Powel, Jack Claghorn, Morris Wetherill, Frank Howley and George and William Schultz.

Some of the Merrivale Club members also formed a group called “The Walkers”, who took early Sunday Morning hikes. In addition to those already named, the group had among its members David Knickerbocker Boyd, later a well known architect; Billy Brown, son of the publisher of the “Wayne Times”; Charles Gleason, Lee Harrison and Bill Everly.

After this first clubhouse was destroyed by fire, activities were resumed in a building on the Francis Fenimore property in St. Davids. This was called the Radnor Cricket Club, since interest in the game of cricket had by this time succeeded that in other and older sports. By this time Philadelphia was the center of this new English game in the United States, and for several years matches were played at the Radnor Cricket Club with other teams in the Philadelphia area. Tom Credican was the professional for the local team, which was so good that one season they won all matches except that against the Merion Cricket Club.

After a time, interest in the English game waned, and local activities ceased after this clubhouse also burned to the ground. Golf superseded cricket, and the St. Davids Golf Club, one of the oldest institutions of its kind in the United States, was formed.

Meanwhile two other sports had been flourishing – bicycling and swimming. The bicycle craze struck Wayne in the late 90’s, and a bicycle club was formed on the pike in South Wayne. Karl, the German steward, provided excellent meals for club members and their guests, before many a long bicycle jaunt.

The picture of Kelly’s Dam shown in this column was taken in its early days, when it was merely a body of water down in a hollow in the general vicinity of what is now Willow avenue. Later, an interested group rented the rights to the dam and began to make some improvements. A dressing room was built on piles and equipment included diving boards and a slide. It was enclosed by a high wooden fence with a boardwalk along one side, and there was a filtering system to keep the water clean.

In winter, when the pool froze over, there was skating by lantern light, with a stove for heat in the small clubhouse. Summer activities were under the supervision of Kistler, then swimming coach, who later became an instructor at the University of Pennsylvania. From time to time swimming meets were held that were quite large, considering the size of Wayne.

In the light of present day methods of teaching swimming, those of an earlier period are interesting by way of contrast. A telegraph pole was sunk in the ground at each end of the pool, with a heavy wire cable stretched between. To this was added a rope on a pulley wire with a belt attached at the water line. The candidate for swimming lessons was strapped into the belt and thus taught the art without danger of going down.

Among the early members of the swimming club were the Wendells, the Heilners, the Spiers, the Conkles, the Hallowells, the Fulweilers, the Reginald Harts, the Canizares, Frederick Jones, Louis Erben, Charlie Maguire, the large John P. Wood family, and many others.

In time Fenimore’s Pond in St. Davids replaced Kelly’s Dam in popularity. “Billy Pump”, so named because he ran the pumping station for the Pennsylvania Railroad, was in charge here. Though he could not swim a stroke himself, Billy patrolled the pond in his rowboat so conscientiously that he never had a drowning. Both Kelly’s Dam and Fenimore’s Pond were the scenes of numerous baptisms. Indeed, it is said that the crowd at the former place on one occasion was so great that the boardwalk gave way and some of the spectators were tumbled into the water.

So much for early day sports in Wayne as brought to mind by these pictures of the Merrivale Club and of Kelly’s Dam.

On Wednesday, October 21, the Annual Ingathering of the Wayne Branch of the Needlework Guild will be held in the Parish House of St. Mary’s Church on Lancaster Pike and Louella avenue. This pleasant occasion will mark the 63rd annual meeting of Wayne’s needlework Guild, one of the oldest groups of that great national organization aptly described as the “charity that helps other charities”.

The first small beginnings of the Needlework Guild were not in this country. They go back to a day in Wales in the early 1880’s when a mine disaster left scores of children homeless. A generous hearted English woman, Lady Wolverton, solicited the aid of her friends in founding an orphanage at Iwerne, Dorchestershire, England, where these children could be fed and sheltered.

With the completion of this building in 1882 there came the problems of clothing, bedding and other articles essential to even the meager existence they would have there. Once again Lady Wolverton turned to her friends for aid with this plea, “Help to make and care for the children’s wardrobe by giving two new garments”. It is said that these friends knitted and sewed until the children were completely outfitted.

Lady Wolverton’s little group of sewers and knitters, whom she had named “The Needlework Guild”, attracted attention not only among the townspeople, but throughout all England as well. Finally, under royal auspices, the London Needlework Guild was formed. And then an American woman, Mrs. Alanson Hartpeuce, as she traveled through England, became so impressed by the work of this group that she brought back to America word of its activities. In consequence her niece, Miss Laura Safford (later Mrs. John Wood Stewart) with the help of her friends formed “The Needlework Guild of Philadelphia”, the forerunner of the present national organization.

This Philadelphia group aimed to have each one of its members contribute annually two or more new articles of wearing apparel or household linen. The principle of contributing “new” articles was important since the pride of possession of a new garment served to boost the morale of the needy recipients.

By 1891 the charitable work of the Needlework Guild of Philadelphia had spread to such an extent that its leaders decided to change its name to the more comprehensive one of “The Needlework Guild of America”. Five years later this non-sectarian organization was formally incorporated “for the purpose of collecting new garments and distributing them to hospitals, homes and other charities and of forming and governing branches of the said Guild organized for similar work”. By the turn of the century many new branches were being formed in towns and cities throughout the United States. To meet the financial problems of this expansion, membership was now granted to those who wished to contribute towards the extension and maintenance of the work. Thus many men became supporters of the Needlework Guild.

By 1907 the Guild had become affiliated with the American Red Cross in order to cooperate with the latter “in times of international, national and local disaster”. In 1909 it also became affiliated with the General Federation of Women’s Clubs and in 1906 had become a member of the National Conference of Social Work.

Its activities were far from routine, as witnessed by the part it played in relief work during the Johnstown and Dayton floods, the San Francisco earthquake and fire and many other lesser known local disasters. At the outbreak of World War I workrooms were set up in Lyons, France, to help those left homeless, while in New York the War Relief Department was established, continuing to render assistance to the Allied countries as late as 1931. During World War II the most important work of the Needlework Guild was to provide clothing for the families of American servicemen. This was a gigantic project which required the combined efforts of all the branches of the Needlework Guild.

Wayne’s part in the work of this organization dates back more than 62 years, for it was at a meeting in the room of the Wayne Library on March 19, 1891, that the local branch was formed. On this occasion Mrs. Thomas H. Morrison, president of the Parent Guild, was present and explained the object of the work, after which the meeting was organized.

The first president was Mrs. Arthur W. Howell, who served in that capacity for several years. The first vice-presidents were four in number, namely Mrs. Edward Pugh, Mrs. Henry Pleasants, Mrs Joseph W. Paul and Miss Anna C. Matlack. Miss Agnes Ellis Boyd became the first secretary of the Wayne organization.

The list of the first directors is made up of names of women well known for their interest in community and church work in Wayne in the 1890’s. They were Mrs. Samuel A. Abbott, Mrs. A.M. Ware, Mrs. John Miller, Mrs. I.K. Conrad, Mrs. R.C. Peterson, Mrs. F.W. Farrell, Mrs. George M. Wells, Mrs. George W. Chapin, Mrs. George R. Stoeker, Mrs. A.J. Wiltburger, Mrs. W.A. Wiltburger, Mrs. H.D. Hughes, Mrs. Alfred Wetherall, Mrs. J.L. Wentworth, Mrs. Louis Johnson, Mrs. Joseph Shock, Mrs. J.P.P. Brown, Mrs. R.B. Okie, Mrs. W. Livingston Boyd, Mrs. John Adler, Mrs. Henry Pleasants, Mrs. William Goodrich, Mrs. William Stroud, Mrs. Frank Smith and Miss C. Pleasants. Then, as now, each of these directors was responsible for the collection of new garments for the annual meeting to be held in October of that year.

By the time this meeting took place the names of two other well known Wayne women had been added to the list of directors, Mrs. W.H. Badger and Mrs. Richard Johnson.

More than 800 garments had been collected by these directors. Among the institutions to which they were sent were the Bethany Home, the Maternity Home, the Children’s Aid Society, the Western Temporary Home and the Consumption Home for Women, all Philadelphia institutions. One closer to home was the Hospital of the Good Shepherd in Rosemont. In addition there were several recipients in other parts of the state.

Shown in this week’s column are the pictures of Mrs. A.M. Ware, one of the founders of the Wayne Needlework Guild and Mrs. W.H. Badger, who joined the guild shortly afterwards.

(To be concluded)

The first Minute Book of the Wayne Needlework Guild, lent to your columnist by Miss Virginia D. Keeney, president for the past several years, contains brief and business-like records of the local group from its beginning in March, 1891, through to the April, 1913 meeting.

This early book shows the seriousness of effort and the earnestness of purpose of the women who sought to establish a branch of a rapidly growing national organization in the small community of Wayne.

Meetings of the executive group took place in the homes of various members of the group as well as in the old Wayne Coffee House, on Audubon avenue. Annual meetings were held in such places as the rooms of the North Wayne Protective Association, the Library, the Central Baptist Church and the Saturday Club.

At the meeting of February 1, 1900, the suggestion was made from national headquarters that each branch hold a meeting preliminary to the annual meeting, the nature of which could be either social or business. The Wayne branch decided to give a tea at the Saturday Club the following September, and so successful was the affair that the executive committee decided to make it an annual event, to take place at a specified time before the annual meeting.

The idea of having the two meetings coincide did not become effective until several years later, when the executive board realized the importance of having all members of the local Needlework Guild see the display of new garments collected for distribution. Now, the annual Ingathering, with its business meeting and its entertainment has become the highlight of the year for the Wayne Needlework Guild.

Minutes of the first annual meeting, held on October 8, 1891, show that 236 garments had been collected by the directors, a very creditable showing for the seven months’ period since the Wayne Branch had been organized.

The last entry in the old Minute Book shows that by October 24, 1912, this number had almost doubled, with a total of 1600 garments. The report given at the annual meeting in October, 1952, shows 5,343 garments, more than four and one-half times the contribution in 1891.

The original number of 27 directors has now grown to 63, with five contributing groups; The Wayne Sewing Group, the Junior Saturday Club, Girl Scouts, Knitting Group and the Junior Service Board.

The list of beneficiaries has grown from an original list of nine in 1891 to 37 in 1952. The Neighborhood League heads the list with a total of 975 gifts from the Wayne Needlework Guild. Another local beneficiary is the Royer-Greaves School, and there are nine hospitals on the list. Among others who have received help are the American Friends Service, Delaware County Children’s Aid Society, Home for Aged and Infirm Colored, Interdenominational Foreign Missionary Society, Pennsylvania Working Home for Blind Men, Presbyterian Children’s Village and the Salvation Army Day Nursery.

Miss Grace Roberts, whom your columnist interviewed recently on the part played by the Wayne Needlework Guild during World War I, recalls vividly the packing of good, used clothing that was done in the front hall of her home on Windermere Avenue. This was in 1914, before America had entered the conflict. Mrs. William A. Nicholson, of St. Davids, was then president of the Wayne Branch of the Needlework Guild and Miss Roberts was a member of her executive committee. Assisting Mrs. Nichols and Miss Roberts in the arduous job of packing barrels for shipment abroad were Mrs. Nichols’ son, Albert, and Miss Roberts’ neighbor, Mr. W.H. Badger and his daughter, Miss Dorothy Badger, now Mrs. W.H.H. White.

The annual report of the Wayne Needlework Guild for 1916-17 gives the following report on the consolidation of the relief work of the Needlework Guild with that of the Red Cross:

“The first meeting in our new year was held in January in the interest of resuming War Relief Work. As a branch of the Red Cross has been organized in Wayne it was considered advisable to work with that organization if possible. The president of the Red Cross, Mrs. William H. Brooks, very generously agreed to have the Guild meet in the Red Cross rooms one afternoon a week and retain its own identity. Seventeen meetings were held for sewing with an average attendance of ten. Forty-eight suits of pajamas were made, of which 18 were given to the Red Cross and the remaining 30 suits with 668 yards of gauze to Madame Castell in Lyons, France. Since then the Guild has met regularly to sew for the Red Cross. In June a box of second-hand clothing was sent to Miss Nina Miel in Paris, and on August 12, sheets were sent to the soldiers and Sailors Rest Home in Philadelphia.”

(Note: Miss Miel was a well-known Wayne resident doing War Relief work in France.) During World War II the Needlework Guild and Red Cross cooperated in providing needed clothing for families of service men.

Next Wednesday, October 21, the Annual Ingathering of the Wayne Needlework Guild will be held in St. Mary’s Parish House under the leadership of Miss Keeney. With well over 5000 garments received as donations at this time last year, the officers and directors are anticipating gifts of 6000 or more this Wednesday.

Illustrations for this week’s column have been made from two more of the pictures in the book of priceless old photographs of early Wayne, lent to your columnist by George W. Schultz, of the Anthony Wayne Apartments.

An amateur photographer of outstanding ability, Mr. Schultz made a pictorial record of Wayne, as it looked in 1891, which has been carefully preserved.

The first picture shown today was taken from a third floor window in the Schultz house, now numbered 211 Walnut avenue and occupied by the Frank H. Moore, Jr., family. The view is toward the west and shows many of the 26 houses which, at that time, made up all of North Wayne.

The house immediately next door is now numbered 207, and is occupied by Dr. and Mrs. John J. Berg and their children. Back in the ‘eighties it was the property of the Boyd family. To the right of the old Schultz house is the present home of Miss Mary DeHaven Bright, originally occupied by the Henry Baring Powel family, whose young sons were close friends of George Schultz and his brother William, in the early days.

The original of this picture, when examined under a reading glass, brings some interesting old landmarks into view. One is the cupola on the old Bellevue Hotel, the famous summer hostelry destroyed by fire during a raging blizzard on the night of March 15, 1900, nine years after this picture was taken. Several among Wayne’s old timers still recollect the sight of this burning cupola, as it rolled over and over down the snow encrusted hill to the Pike.

Another landmark in the dim background of Mr Schultz’s picture is the very handsome Radnor Cricket Club, then located near the railroad, on the property now used as a playfield by the Radnor Township Schools. That building, too, was destroyed by fire.

Still another landmark is the steeple of the present chapel of the Wayne Presbyterian Church, presented to the Charter members in 1870 as a gift from one of Wayne’s pioneer citizens, J. Henry Askin.

In the more immediate background of the picture are scattered houses on the south side of Walnut avenue. The backs of other houses on Beechtree lane are also plainly discernible. Looking to the south, there were then no homes between Walnut avenue and the railroad, as those now on Poplar avenue are of a considerably later date.

The second picture in today’s column shows the handsome Schultz home as it looked when first occupied by that family. The picture has been taken from the east side, showing both the front and side steps to the wide porch, which almost half encircled the house.

One of the early illustrated booklets issued by Wendell and Treat, “Home Builders” for the Wayne Estate, states that while “arrangements can be made to build any kind of house you prefer… a selection of one of the following plans will be to the advantage of the buyer, in that we will share with you the profit of wholesale building.” Evidently a number of buyers took advantage of this “wholesale building”, which accounts for the duplication of plans in houses in Wayne and St. Davids.

The “plan” which was selected for the Schultz house was known as the “Round End House.” The booklet describes this particular style as “designed after old English homes… with a large open living room with liberal fireplace, yet secluded from hall.”

Other first floor rooms were a parlor, and, of course, a dining room of goodly proportions and a large kitchen with a laundry back of it.

Like all the other Wayne Estate houses, the “Round End” ones had five bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor and several other rooms on the third floor. This type is found pretty generally throughout North Wayne.

Originally priced at $8,000, they were built on lots 120 x 225 feet, and were among the larger and more pretentious houses of that period in Wayne.

Whether all of them had still a fourth floor space in the way of a small “look-out” on top of the “round end” is not known to this columnist. Certainly, this cupola effect shows very plainly in today’s illustration. The view from its windows must have embraced the whole countryside as well as all of the small, but rapidly growing settlements of Wayne and of St. Davids. Other Wayne Estate houses with distinctive names included the “Flemish House”, “Gabled Inn”, “New Tower House” and Pillar House”.

(To be continued)

The “Wayne Estate” houses built in the late ’80’s and early ’90’s by Wendell and Treat have always seemed to your columnist to form the never changing architectural background of Wayne and St. Davids. Many other houses, exemplifying more modern styles of building, appear in various parts of our two suburbs, some set in the midst of a block of those Wayne Estate houses, others built in sections of the township as yet undeveloped in the late 1900’s. At present the popular ranch type house in all of its variations seems to dot the landscape in every direction on every road on which one may drive.

The Wayne Estate houses are certainly not beautiful – yet withall they have a dignity all their own, and certainly they have been substantially built. To this fact, anyone who has ever sought to make either exterior or interior alterations can testify – and there are few of these houses that have not been changed in one way or another in the 60 years or more since they were built. Yet “once a Wayne Estate house, always a Wayne Estate House”. There is no camouflaging their architectural style.

With all the structural changes that have taken place in most of these houses, there is even more change in the mode of furnishings. For the first time since your columnist has become interested in these houses, she has found some excellent photographs of interiors as shown in the three illustrations with today’s column. Like several other recent pictures, they are from the collection of George W. Schultz, who came to Wayne with his mother and father as a young man in 1888.

The first picture shows the hallway of the Schultz home, in the 200 block on Walnut avenue; the second the drawing room and the third the dining room. This was the Victorian era of furnishing, more formal and more ornate than any that has followed it. As the Schultz family had lived in Philadelphia, on West Franklin Square, before moving to the new suburb of Wayne, much of their furnishings perhaps came from “the town house”. At any rate these furnishings are probably typical of a really comfortable home that was “modern” in the middle eighties.

To some few these pictures will bring back some nostalgic memories of a childhood spent in just such comfortable and home-like surroundings. To others they will represent in general the home background of parents or even of grandparents, a background the present younger generation only knows through the eyes of an older generation. To that younger generation a “drawing room” is practically an unknown quantity!

But to all alike these pictures of one of the first Wayne Estate houses to be purchased and occupied will be of more than passing interest.

As George W. Schultz and your columnist sit in his pleasant living room in the Anthony Wayne Apartments and turn the pages of his old photograph album, the Wayne of 1890 seems to come alive through these splendid pictures, as clear and distinct as they were when he took them more than 60 years ago.

Here are the Wayne Estate houses, as they appeared when they were just completed, looking very trim and neat, but against a background strange to eyes of the present day. For most of our wide-spreading trees were slender saplings then, and our tall, thick hedges had not even been planted.

Other things are strange, too… the quiet streets free from automobile traffic with only the occasional horse and cart as the pleasure vehicle. Some show families sitting on their front porches, others are of young people on a tennis court or in groups on the lawn, and two are of a picnic at Valley Forge in August, 1890.

As your columnist examines more closely the picture which she has chosen for illustration for this week’s column, she asks, “What did the young people do for entertainment and amusement in Wayne in 1890?” And Mr. Schultz answers from the experience of his own youth.

“When young persons went to a friend’s house at night, they had to walk, carrying a lantern when there was no moonlight… the general evening’s relaxation was to play cards, euchre, poker and the new game, bridge, just introduced. In summer, outside of the baseball club, many families had tennis courts. There were dancing parties at the Saturday Club house about once a month, and amateur theatricals occasionally in the Wayne Opera House. And then there were summer “hops” at the Bryn Mawr and Devon Hotels.

“Mrs. Kate Longstreth Sayen was always popular with the younger set,” said Mr. Schultz. “It was she who chaperoned the large group at the Valley Forge picnic shown in the two pictures. She invited enough young people to fill two hay wagons. I was camera man with old style glass plates and a tripod. After climbing the old wooden observation tower and visiting Washington’s headquarters, which had a small relic room in the rear of the museum, we all seated ourselves on the slope of Mt. Joy and opened the food and drink for supper. There was then (in August 1890) no State Park and only a few scattered ancient houses which had not been destroyed in the 1777 raid of Colonel Grey’s British Cavalry, burning the iron forge of Dewees and Potts.”

 

The following is one of the pictures taken on that August day of 1890. The background is a far cry from the beautifully kept park-like Valley Forge of today. And as we look at people of 60 years ago, so formally dressed for this picture, we cannot but wonder what they would have thought of the picnic attire of their grandchildren and great-grandchildren of today – the wind blown hair of our hatless girls and boys – their slacks and their shorts – their bare legs – their feet encased in flopping moccasins!

Complete identification of all those at the picnic has been made by Mr. Schultz.

So much for the hayride to Valley Forge Park in the big horse drawn wagons and for the picnic on Mt. Joy.

The second picture shows the tennis court on the old Sayen place, which is still located just across the street from the site of the First Baptist Church, on Conestoga road and West Wayne avenue. This church was torn down in the spring of 1952. The Sayen house is now the home of the Italian-American Club. This picture was also taken in August 1890.

The pictures used to illustrate this week’s article have been chosen by your columnist not only because the young men and women in them were among the newcomers to Wayne in the late 80’s, but also because they illustrate the kind of clothes worn at that period.

George H. Schultz, to whom these pictures belong, writes:
“That era was styled ‘Victorian’, after the then ruling Queen of England. The hoop skirt and bustle style period had given way to more sensible dressing. In daytime, women were always modestly dressed and wore skirts down to their ankles, and waists high up to the neck. Even when playing tennis and golf they wore long skirts and hats. No bare arms or legs were visible. Bathing suits for both men and women were generally of wool, covering most of the human form. Modesty was considered refinement then.”

The three charming young ladies who are seated in one of the large side yards in North Wayne are (left to right) Miss Helen Harbert and Miss Gertrude Schultz, who married the late Louis D. Peterson, and now resides on East Lancaster avenue, St. Davids.

The Misses Harbert, when they first came to Wayne, lived at 200 Walnut avenue with their parents, in a house almost opposite the Schultz home, and identical to it architecturally. This house is now occupied by the McGinley family.

Miss Helen Harbert, who is deceased, married George Brooke. Her sister, Miss Maude Harbert, who remained unmarried, is still living, although not in Wayne.

The two young men in the second picture are (left to right) William H. Schultz and George W. Schultz. This picture, like that of the three young women, was taken in 1891. Of masculine styles of that time, Mr. Schultz writes:
“Men wore stiff round-crown black derby hats, except for formal occasion, which required high silk hats. Soft hats and caps of the modern style were regarded as slouchy. Suits were rather tight fitting and the style was for white vests, ‘picadilly’ stiff collars, ascot ties and scarf pins – and creases in the pants and they were not turned up at the feet whether it was raining or not.”

Although “Sunday garb was not much different from that of week day”, according to Mr. Schultz, we rather think that this picture was taken on a Sunday. With their gold headed canes across their knees and their derby hats in their hands, these brothers might have been about to walk to St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, of which they were members, or if the picture was taken in the afternoon, they might have been ready to start out on the round of “calling on friends,” the regular Sunday afternoon routine in Wayne of 60 years ago. “Those afternoons were quiet, restful ones”, Mr. Schultz says reminiscently – and like the more formal elegant clothes of that time now past, those days must indeed have had a charm all their own.

(To be continued)

Again this week we are presenting pictures from an old album belonging to George W. Schultz. All of these pictures were taken in the late 80’s or early 90’s by Mr. Schultz himself.

This picture of old St. David’s Church, looking much as it does today, was taken in 1891. It recalls to Mr. Schultz’s sister, Mrs. Louis D. Peterson, the various picnics that the young people of that period held there. Several were given in connection with church fairs, she tells us, and when I asked her if they were like the [ ] fairs that old St. David’s has these days, her answer is that most of the wares that went on sale were along the food line.

With no automobiles to whisk the picknickers to their destination, it was much more of a trip to the church than it is now. The picnickers arrived by buggy or buckboard, some by the 1890 version of the “station wagon”, others by bicycle. Once there, they roamed around among the old tombstones, and even went into the dark, spooky mausoleums.

Some of the equipages that took the young people on their picnics were of the type shown in the above picture, the so-called “dog-cart”, that was so popular at the turn of the century. This was distinguished from some of the other vehicles of the period in that it was very light and had two transverse seats, back-to-back. An interesting part of this picture is the lantern attached to the side of the car for night driving.

The four young people who appear to be out for a leisurely afternoon’s drive have been identified by Mrs. Peterson as Charles Harbert in the driver’s seat with his sister, Miss Helen Harbert, beside him. Another sister, Miss Maud Harbert, is on the back seat beside Mrs. Peterson (then Miss Gertrude Schultz), who is carefully protecting herself from the sun’s rays with a parasol.

George H. Schultz, who was taking the picture, evidently stood in front of his family home, now numbered 211 Walnut avenue, as the house shown so clearly in the background of the picture is the one directly opposite it, at present occupied by the new superintendent of schools., H.K. Idleman and his family. Next door to it on the right was the old Harbert homestead, now occupied by the McGinley family.

This picture, taken in 1890, shows still another means of “getting places” by one of the forerunners of the modern bicycle. This was one of the types of “safety” bicycles which followed the “Ordinary”, as the bicycles with the high front wheel were called. Bicycles like the one in this picture were those owned by members of the once popular “Bicycle Club” of Wayne, which was described at some length in this column several years ago, from data furnished your columnist by Mr. Schultz.

Those in the picture are: Back row (left to right), Olney Croasdale, William Schultz, William Pinkerton and Mrs. Frank Farrell. Front row (left to right), George Schultz, Emily Sayen, Gertrude Schultz, a young visitor (name now forgotten) and Mary Farrell.

In looking over the album of old pictures with Mr. George W. Schultz and his sister, Mrs. Louis D. Peterson, so carefully preserved by the former that they are still clear for reproduction in this column more than 60 years later, it has been interesting to try to discover why their parents should have left the city of Philadelphia in 1888 to establish a new home in what must have seemed at that time a quiet rural section of Pennsylvania. To discover their reasons is perhaps to understand better why George W. Childs should have found it so easy to obtain purchasers for his “Wayne Estate” houses once they were built. The sudden transition from a quiet community of a few farms centering around the Wayne Presbyterian Chapel, the old Opera House and Louella Mansion of Wayne of 1870, to the rapidly growing suburb of 1890 seems, in retrospect, to have been an almost startling one.

George H. Schultz, the father of George W. Schultz and of Mrs. Peterson, was a native Philadelphian, the son of William Schultz, one of the pioneer railroad men in the United States. Always interested in machinery, the latter early became associated with the old firm of Isaac and Levi Morris, rivals at that time of the Baldwin Locomotive Works. He was sent to Berlin with two locomotives, ordered by the Emperor, who had a little railroad which ran the 16 miles between Berlin and Potsdam.

After Mr. Schultz had been in St. Petersburg for a year he sent for his family to join him, and after weeks on a sailing vessel they reached St. Petersburg, their home for the next twelve years. During that period the development of railroading in Russia gained steady momentum. At one time the government offered Mr. Schultz general charge of the entire railroad system of the empire. This, however, he declined, and in 1852 returned to America.

Thus George H. Schultz spent his early boyhood in Russia and received his education there. After his return to America he married, and, with his wife and his young family, lived opposite Franklin Square in a house then located at 244 West Franklin Square, Mr. George W. Schultz, of Wayne, reminisces of that old Philadelphia neighborhood of his youth as “very nice at that time… Franklin Square itself had a fountain in the middle of it and was enclosed by a high iron fence, the gates of which were locked at 10 o’clock in the evening.”

However, as time went on the neighborhood became less and less desirable, and the younger members of the Schultz family felt keenly “the urge to move from the crowded, noisy, smelly city, since almost all who chose suburban life enjoyed better rest, pure air, and the peace and quiet of a full night’s sleep,” again to quote Mr. George W. Schultz. In the meantime Anthony P. Thompson, a former classmate of his at Friends Central School, with whom he had become associated in business, had moved to Wayne and with his mother, his wife and his brother had bought the house and large lot on North Wayne avenue directly opposite Walnut avenue. Mr. Schultz gives a very vivid description of this school friend of his when he says,” He was very English in manner and in dress. He built a stable and kept three horses and a vehicle and became a member of the Radnor Hunt and engaged in the fox chases.”

George Schultz, who had been a frequent visitor at his friend’s house, continues with his story of how he persuaded his own family to move from Philadelphia. “I told my parents what I had seen of Wayne Village and of the new type of houses, and that I wished our family could move out there. I had no idea they would fall for it, but when my parents, my sister and I went out on a train one Sunday, we urged father to buy a Tower House for ample room. I was astonished that they were willing to move out of the city, where we had always lived, and then to commute by train to business daily.”

The year 1888, when they moved, is remembered, Mr. Schultz reminisces, “for the great blizzard. It began March 11, and after three days of snow following a north-east storm, practically all horse cars, wagons and foot travel were stalled for a week, and it was difficult to get to business on foot. I had gone down Gray’s Ferry road by horse-car when the rain changed to hail and snow. Leaving the car, I went to a factory to look at some old boilers for sale. On coming out in the howling gale, I saw a large bundle of clothes rolling across the road and found it was an old woman. I picked her up and helped her to her home close by. The horses had been taken off the street cars in exhausted condition, and I was forced to walk three miles to my home.”

Once in Wayne, it was to one of the new “Tower Houses” of the Wayne Estate to which the Schultz family came, as had been requested by the younger members of the family. (This was incorrectly called a “Round End House” earlier in this series.)

In one of the first brochures sent out by Wendell and Smith of the Wayne Estate, these “Tower Houses,” of which there are a number in North Wayne, are described as having “a very picturesque exterior… large, well shaded portico in the front… A very attractive 13-room house with carved oak staircase. Hard wood finish on the first floor and home-like corners for your furniture. Tasteful effects in stained glass roundels. The very best of everything is in this house.”

This home of the Schultz family is the one now numbered 211 Walnut avenue. The one to the right of it was occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Baring Powel. Later Mr. and Mrs. Robert Hare Powel also came to South Wayne to live. The Powel brothers were young men of about the same age as George Schultz and his brothers, and close friends of theirs. They had formerly lived in Philadelphia, just as the Schultz family had, moving to Wayne for much the same reasons as the latter had done. The Powel house on South 3rd street, Philadelphia, which dated back to 1768, was of such beauty and such historical interest that the furnishings of its drawing room have been moved into a similar room in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where it is the center of great interest to visitors.

Thus we glimpse why at least three Philadelphia families, first the Thompsons, then the Schultzes and soon thereafter the Powels, moved from well established Philadelphia homes to what had been the quiet little rural settlement of Cleavers Landing, later named Wayne, to be among the first owners of George W. Childs’ Wayne Estate houses.