This series of three pictures is particularly interesting at this time, following as it does the publication, in “The Suburban” last September 7, of the picture of the new education building of the Central Baptist Church. This recently completed addition was dedicated on Sunday, September 9, 1956.

This small building, which once stood on the corner of Conestoga road and West Wayne avenue, was the first church home of the early Baptists in this community. It was a gift made in 1841 to the congregation by William Siter, in whose home meetings previously were held. Often meetings were held in the small building which in its remodeled form still stands near the recent site of the Music Fund Hall.

This handsome edifice was built on the former site of the Music Fund Hall in 1890. However, only six years after its completion, a special business meeting was called “for the purpose of considering the advisability of securing a location for our church and rebuilding near the center of town” (quoted from the minutes of the meeting). After several subsequent meetings, a resolution was passed “to form a new Baptist Church in Wayne and to build on a lot on Lancaster avenue west of the Trust Company.” Soon thereafter, the Central Baptist Church was built on its present site and for more than 30 years there were two Baptist churches in the small Wayne community.

In January, 1929, services were discontinued in the old church on Conestoga road and in 1951 the building was demolished. A hardware store was built on the site.

Among the old picture postcards of Wayne that this writer received recently from Mr. Harry M. Buten, of Merion, are the two shown in today’s column. Although not a collector of postcards, Mr Buten has been able to tell this writer something of their history.

It was in 1898 that postcard printing was first started. According to a government ruling, no message could be written on the card, except on the picture side. Since there was usually a very small margin below the picture, the message, of necessity, had to be brief. On the reverse side were clear instructions, “This side is for the address only.”

This ruling remained in effect until 1907, when the address side of cards was divided into two sections by a middle line. The left section was labeled, “This space may be used for correspondence,” the right, “This space is for the address only.” In this connection, it is interesting to note that the picture postcard of the library must have been printed before 1907 and that of “The Waynewood” after that date, since only the latter has a message space on the address side of the card.

When the story of the founding and subsequent history of what is now the Memorial Library of Radnor Township was told in this column some months ago, a fruitless search was made for a clear picture of the small stone building, erected in 1893. The picture that was finally printed was dark and indistinct and in no way compares with the very clear one shown in today’s column.

At that time the library was known as the George W. Childs Library, since the ground on which it was built was a gift from Mr. Childs, a Philadelphia philanthropist, who had many real estate interests in the newly-developed community of Wayne in the closing years of the 19th century.

The transfer of library books was undertaken by wheelbarrow from the old quarters to the new. Since the former was on North Wayne avenue, this necessitated crossing the pike with each load. And even when pike travel was entirely by horse or bicycle this must have been a tedious process. The building pictured above still remains as part of the present greatly enlarged Memorial Library of Radnor Township, erected in 1949 in memory of the men and women of Radnor Township who gave their lives in World War II.

Like the postcard picture of the library, this one of the old Waynewood Hotel is much clearer than the one used two years ago in this column, in connection with the story of the building now known as the Wayne Church House, since its acquisition by the Wayne Presbyterian Church. Built in the early 1900’s by Charles Wood, a hotel man, it was described in an advertising folder issued at the time as “a delightful hotel in the beautiful Main Line country adjacent to Philadelphia… a perfect stopping place or permanent suburban residence.”

This view of the building, as it originally looked, is taken from the east side with the old Wayne Presbyterian Church just to the west of it. Many of the trees shown in the picture have now disappeared, while others show the tremendous growth that the years have brought. The building remains much as it was when it was built more than 50 years ago.

From time to time reproductions of others of these old postcards of Mr. Buten’s will appear in this column.

Many facts and names, not available to this columnist previously in connection with the early days of the Wayne Presbyterian Church, are given in “Rural Pennsylvania,” a book to which reference has recently been made in “Your Town and My Town.”

The opening paragraph on the founding of the church states:
“On Sabbath morning, June 5, 1870, a service was held in Wayne Hall… on the 19th of the same month a Sunday School began with five children. On the 21st a meeting occurred at the Hall, preparatory to the organization of the Church.

“The Presbytery appointed as Commission Rev. Dr. B.B. Hotchkin, Professor Lorenzo Westcott, Rev. T.J. Aiken, and Ruling Elders James Moore and Thomas Aiken, who met in the hall on the 24th of June A.D. 1870 and organized the church with nine members, installing Howell Evans as ruling elder.

“Rev. Samuel P. Linn was installed pastor July 5th, 1870. Rev. Dr. T.W. Dale was moderator. Rev. Dr. R.H. Allen preached; Rev. Professor Lorenzo Westcott delivered the charge to the pastor and the Rev. B.B. Hotchkin, D.D., delivered the charge to the people and a prayer was offered by Rev. John Chambers.

“Services were held in the Hall until the church building, now known as the chapel, was finished. Ground for this was broken March 21, 1870. The cornerstone was laid on Thursday May 12, by the Rev. John Chambers, with appropriate services, assisted by Rev. R.H. Allen, D.P ., Rev. John McLeod and Rev. T.J. Aiken. The services were solemn and impressive, witnessed by a large audience from the surrounding country and the city. All hearts were cheered as the bright sunshine came down through the darkened clouds and seemed to smile on the servant of Christ as he invoked God’s blessing upon the future church.

“The dedication took place on December 8, 1870. An eloquent sermon was delivered by Rev. Charles Wadsworth taking as his text, “He loveth one nation and hath built us a synagogue.”

Other eminent divines from nearby churches took part in the afternoon and evening exercises. The churches, as well as the parsonage, which was located a few blocks east on Lancaster pike, and the endowment of both, were gifts of J. Henry Askin, under whose personal direction the new building was erected. They were a memorial to his parents, established by a man who has sometimes been called the “founder of Wayne.” He built Louella Mansion, now the Louella Apartments, as his family home.

On May 12, 1892, the corner stone of the present Presbyterian Church was laid, just to the west of the original edifice. The author of “Rural Pennsylvania” describes this second building as a “stately and costly structure of early English Gothic style of architecture.” The Rev. William A. Patton, who has doubled church membership in his two-year pastorate, was minister of the church. With some alterations and additions, the Wayne Presbyterian Church looks now much as it did when it was built 64 years ago.

A description of the founding of St. Mary’s Church, in 1890, was presented in this column, September 28, as told in the book, “Rural Pennsylvania.” This interesting volume, published in 1897 by George W. Jacobs and Company, Philadelphia, contains brief articles about old churches and homes in the vicinity of Philadelphia, many in the Wayne area. The book was compiled by the Rev. S.F. Hotchkiss, of St. Luke’s Church, Philadelphia, from articles written by authors of that period. Today, we are quoting Joseph F. Doran, on the old Radnor Friends’ Meeting, which should be of interest to readers, as a supplement to a series on the meeting house which appeared in this column previously.

“Probably the most interesting historical landmark in Radnor township is the old Radnor Meeting House, Old Conestoga and Old Radnor roads, Ithan. Built about 1717, it is closely identified with local history and with families of early settlers. The Radnor, Haverford and Merion Meetings were, as Glenn says in ‘Merion in the Welsh Tract’…. practically one and the same meeting, although they separately controlled in turn yearly, monthly and preparatory meetings of Friends. The records of these meetings, for a number of years, were not entirely separated, which is frequently confusing. These records are historically rich.

“During the Valley Forge encampment, the meeting house was used as officers’ quarters and a hospital for the American Army. The records of the Society show that it was deprived of the use of the meeting-place because of military occupancy and it required considerable repair to recondition it for meetings, which were not resumed until 1780.

“The peaceful quiet of the Society was broken when members entered military service in defense of their country during the Revolution. The records of the monthly meetings in Delaware county show that 110 young men were disowned by the Society for bearing arms.

“Isaac Warner, Colonel of the 7th battalion of Philadelphia County Militia, and Algernon Roberts, Lieut., Colonel of the same group, who married Warner’s daughter, Tacy, in 1781, at Old Swedes Church, Philadelphia, were among those disowned. The action in their cases is thus recorded in the minutes of , Radnor Meeting, 10th, 5th month, 1176, p. 456: ‘The cases of Isaac Warner, Algernon Roberts, Isaac Kite, Jr., and Richard Thomas, coming under consideration and it appearing they persist in the practice of bearing arms and it is the sense and judgment of this meeting that they have publicly denounced our peaceful principles and can not be deemed members of our religious society, whilst continuing in the practice, but disown them until they, through circumspect walking, make this meeting such satisfaction as the nature of their case requires, which that, through the assistance of divine grace, they may be enabled to do what we desire.”

“This is an illustration of the trials of those days which will yet furnish the historian and the novelist with much material. Many are the descendants in Philadelphia and its vicinity of Isaac Warner and Algernon Roberts, but few have returned to the membership their forefathers had in the Society of Friends…”

This quaintly phrased, reference to the lovely old church building, still standing in Ithan, tells something of its early vicissitudes in the days when 110 of its young men, and others in nearby Quaker Meetings, were disowned by the Society for bearing arms in the American Revolution.

The picture of St. Mary’s Church shown above presents one of the most striking examples to date of the statement made from time to time in this column that the story of how information for “Your Town and My Town” is obtained is often quite as interesting as that information itself.

When last week’s story of the founding of St. Mary’s Church in 1889-1890 was written, the writer made an extensive search for an early picture of the edifice to accompany the article. In the interval between the writing of the column and this one, the writer received a note from Mr. Harry Creutzburg, of Wayne, containing several postcards of old Wayne. The note explained that Mr. Creutzburg was lending them for use in this column. Mr. Harry Buten, of Merion, had sent them and Mr. Creutzburg felt sure he would be glad to tell me how he had obtained them and other old post cards showing various locations, some dating back to the 1890’s.

A telephone call from Mr. Buten was most informative. Though distinctly not a collector of old postcards, he has obtained many when purchasing stamps for his extensive collection. As one of the country’s best-known philatelists, Mr. Buten is now president of the National Philatelic Society.

Upon recently receiving several Wayne postcards from Mr. Buten, Mr. Creutzburg told the former that he was lending them to this writer for possible use in this column. His interest aroused, Mr. Buten phoned the latter last week in regard to his postcard collection. A thick envelope of Wayne postcards arrived in the next morning’s mail. The first picture seen was one of St. Mary’s Church, just the picture this writer had searched for last week. And yet not once had the fact of that search been mentioned in the call of the previous afternoon. To date this is probably the best example of the statement made in the opening paragraph about obtaining information for this column.

A man who believed that “local history is more important in a neighborhood than the history of the world in general” was busily recording, in the middle 1890’s, the story of the suburban environs of Philadelphia. He was the Rev. S.F. Hotchkin, rector of the Church of St. Luke, the Beloved Physican [sic], Philadelphia, who had already written “A History of Germantown,” “York Road, Old and New,” the “Bristol Pike,” and a number of other volumes of like character.

In 1897, Mr. Hotchkin finished his 11th book, “Rural Pennsylvania in the Vicinity of Philadelphia.” It is a volume particularly interesting to residents of Radnor township, since a large section of the book is devoted to the houses, churches and business institutions of our neighborhood as they existed in the middle 90’s.

A copy of this old book has come into the temporary possession of this writer through the generosity of Mrs. William T. Dewitt, of Huston road, Radnor. In the front of it is pasted the bookplate of her grandfather, G.L.S. Jameson, who lived for many years in one of the handsome large houses on the north side of Lancaster pike, St Davids, just to the east of Chamounix road.

The volume was printed by George W. Jacobs and Company, located at that time on south 15th street, Philadelphia, one of the city’s old time publishers and booksellers. Mr. Jacobs’ daughter is Mrs. H. Morgan Ruth, who has been a resident of Radnor township for many years, and lives with her husband and family on Pine Tree road, Radnor.

Of particular value to the writer of this column is the concise information contained in “Rural Pennsylvania,” on the founding and early history of some of the well established churches in Radnor township. The stories of a number or these local churches have appeared in “Your Town and My Town” from time to time, but for several others, early records are not easily available. Among the latter have been St. Mary’s Memorial Church about which the Rev. John R. Moses wrote the following colorful account for Mr. Hotchkins’ book.

“The church is situated on Lancaster avenue, at the comer of Louella avenue, Wayne. The church and parish house are built of gray limestone from the Avondale quarries, trimmed with Indiana limestone. The style of architecture is Norman-Gothic, from designs by Wilson Brothers. The church is cruciform, the tower contains a chime of ten bells. The parish house is thoroughly furnished for Sunday school and guild work, and is connected with the church by a cloister and porte-cochere.

“The parish organization dates from 1885. Occasional services had been held in Wayne, at that time a very small settlement, by the clergy of the neighboring parishes. The Lincoln Institute for Indian Girls had its summer home at the old Eagle Hotel, near Wayne, and the chaplain, the Rev. Joseph L. Muller, officiated regularly in Wayne during the summer of 1885. In the following year the Rev. G.A. Keller, rector of St. David’s Church, held services in private houses.

“The congregation grew, and by 1888, felt prepared to call a rector. The Rev. Thomas K. Conrad, D.D., a well-known clergyman of Philadelphia, who.had been rector of Calvary Church, Germantown; the Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York and the Transfiguration and St. Paul’s, Philadelphia, desired to build a church in memory of his parents. After careful consideration, he determined to build here. He accepted the rectorship of the parish, and began the erection of the church in 1889. Childs and Drexel gave a lot, 200 x 300 feet, and Mr. Drexel contributed $5,000 to the building fund to provide church accomodations [sic] for the students of an industrial college which, at that time, he proposed to found in Wayne.

“On April 17, 1890, the church was consecrated by the Bishop of the Diocese (Whitaker), the Bishops of New Jersey (Scarborough) and Delaware (Coleman) assisting, and the Bishop of New York (H.C. Potter) preaching the sermon. From the time when he became rector until his death in May, 1893, Dr. Conrad was untiring in his devotion to the work he had undertaken. He beautified and enriched the building with a carved oak rood-screen and several stained glass windows. The inscription on the memorial tablet erected by the vestry well expressed his spirit, ‘Lord, I have loved the habitation of Thy house, and the place where Thine honor dwelleth,’ Psalms 26:8.

“On Easter Day, 1894, an altar of Italian marble with an altar piece in mosaic, surmounted by a canopy of carved oak, was dedicated by the Bishop. This magnificent gift of Mrs. Conrad, in memory of her husband, completes his intention, an endowment sufficient to provide for necessary repairs insures the continuance of the fabric as he left it. The present incumbent, the Rev. John Robert Moses, entered upon the rectorship November 1, 1893, being the second rector.”

An account of the founding of the Church of St. Katharine of Siena will be given in next week’s column.

In last week’s column, the writer told of a visit to the home of Mrs. Martha Wentworth Suffren, on Homestead road, after an invitation from “the grand old lady of Strafford” to hear her account, not only of the first telephone in this section of the Main Line, but also of the first attempts at sending telegraphic messages.

The telephone experiment was made over wires stretched through the trees between the present Rosato house, near Strafford station, and the home of Mrs. Suffren’s parents on Homestead road, now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. E. Brooke Matlack. The first effort to send a telegraphic message was made in the historic Old Eagle School House, still standing on the road to which it has given its name.

At the close of this informal interview with Mrs. Suffren, the latter invited the writer to go through her house and examine, more closely than on previous visits, the many pieces of old-fashioned furniture. The house, built in 1908 by Mr. Suffren at the almost unbelievably low cost of $8,000, stands on an acre and a half of ground, the only part of the 130 original acres in the old Wentworth tract still in the possession of a member of that family. It is a spacious white house which the visitor enters through a wide front door leading from the deep porch. The large, square hallway is flanked on the left by the living room with windows on three sides, and on the right by the dining room. A wide stairway, facing the front door, leads to the two upper floors, which contain seven bedrooms and four baths. All windows look out on a sweep of well-kept lawn with trees on every side.

From the west windows, Mrs Suffren can look out over the former farm lands which she roamed as a small girl. And to the south, she can glimpse the railroad tracks over which she watched President Lincoln’s funeral train make its slow way 90 years ago.

With “Friend Cane” (as Mrs. Suffren affectionately refers to her trusty walking stick) giving her the slight support she needs, Mrs. Suffren and the writer made their way through the first and second floors of her comfortable home. Many of the beautiful old pieces of furniture came to her through the well-known Emlen family of Philadelphia, of which Mrs. Suffren’s mother, the former Margaret Emlen, was a member.

The roomy old “Virginia sofa,” Mrs. Suffren says, has “always been there,” but of the original three handsome old mahogany chairs with their cane seats, only one still remains in Mrs. Suffren’s possession. So rare an antique is this chair that she has been told by a dealer that he has seen but one like it in all his travels. Near the sofa is a Lady Pembroke table, much used by its owner.

Then there is a mahogany desk which Mrs. Suffren thinks may have been made to order, since she has never seen another one similar in design. Among its interesting features is a set of secret drawers, placed behind the regular drawers. Directly in front of the secret drawers is a small mirror which lowers to reveal them. There is also a mahogany “writing table,” on which stands a pewter container with “blotting sand,” which, in days gone by, was sprinkled on the paper in order to absorb excess ink.

In the dining room across the hall is a clock that was a wedding gift to the Suffrens more than 70 years ago. Made of onyx, it has a lovely, gold-finished face. Chimes announce the hour. When the Suffrens moved away from their Strafford home to take up residence temporarily in Brooklyn, the clock suffered a mishap in the moving, and the top was broken. Since there was no onyx available for a new top, it was replaced by a wooden one painted black, which still serves its purpose. Among the other interesting objects in the dining room is an old silver gravy bowl and matching spoon with gracefully curved handle.

In the downstairs hallway are two fine old Sheraton pieces, a drop leaf table and a chair. Upstairs, in Mr. Suffren’s bedroom, is a quaint old “sleigh bed” of the Louis Philippe period. Mrs. Suffren explains that the term “sleigh bed” comes from the fact that its footboard is very high, like the front of an old-fashioned sleigh, which kept the snow, kicked up by the horses hooves, off the driver. In other rooms are two Jenny Lind beds.

Among the other treasures in this Strafford home is a picture of Lady Wentworth, about whom Longfellow wrote in his “Tales of a Wayside Inn.” And then there are the volumes of the Wentworth family biography, written by Congressman “Long” John Wentworth, so called because of his great height. Mrs. Suffren added that he was such a large man that he had to have four eggs for breakfast each morning to sustain him. At any rate, he spent 20 years and $20,000 in research for the writing of his voluminous family history.

And so it is that many mementoes, not only of her own long life, but also the lives of her forebears, surround Martha Wentworth Suffren as she approaches her 98th birthday, which will come on Thursday, October 10. In the serenity of her years she can look back on a full life, much of it spent on Homestead road, Strafford.

As this columnist thinks of the many sources from which she obtains information for “Your Town and My Town,” the name of Mrs. Martin Wentworth Suffren seems to come to mind more frequently than that of any other person.

Born on October 10, 1858, in a lovely old house built by her parents on Homestead Road, Strafford, the year before her birth, Mrs. Suffren’s memory spans a longer period, probably, than that of any Wayne resident. At present she lives in the house adjacent to her birthplace, as it is now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. E. Brooke Matlack.

Closely as the writer keeps in touch with Mrs. Suffren, she had never thought to question her on a subject on which she had long sought accurate informatlon for this column. So it was with a feeling of real surprise that she received an invitation from “the grand old lady or Strafford” to visit and to hear “all about the first telephone in this vicinity.” What Mrs. Suffren offered was information long sought by the writer, especially since Wayne has now become “telephone conscious,” with the erection of two important telephone buildings in its midst, one the property of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company and the other that of the Bell Telephone Company of Pennsylvania.

It was in 1876, as Mrs. Suffren remembers the date, that Mr. Persifor Frazer, who was living on the north side of Strafford station, asked Mr. Wentworth for permission to run telephone wires from there to the Wentworth place.

Mr. Frazer was making his home at the time in a large boarding house then owned by Mrs. Mifflin Lewis, now occupied by Dr. D.J. Rosato and his family. According to plans, wires were to run from the Lewis house to the Wentworth homestead on the hill to the north. Mr. Frazer, who had become very much interested in the subject of the telephone after seeing an exhibition of it at the Philadelphia Centennial, wished to do some personal experimentation of his own.

Now, 80 years later, Mrs. Suffren remembers the intense excitement she felt as she heard of this contemplated experiment. “I can never hear all that distance,” she said to herself as she looked through the thick expanse of trees that lay between her home and that of Mrs. Lewis. This feeling on the part of the young girl was strengthened by the fact that her hearing had not been very keen since she was a child – at least “not good enough for eavesdropping,” Mrs. Suffren now adds with a chuckle!

This telephone line was run between the two houses, attached to trees along the way, Mrs. Suffren remembers. When all was in order, communication was established between the two houses, and Martha Wentworth could hear through the receiver the voice coming from the neighboring house.

Mrs. Suffren also recalls clearly an early exhibition of the telephone system which was given in the Old Eagle School House, a quaint building dating back many years and about which much has been written in the column from time to time. She can visualize herself at the time as the “little Martha whom Mother took along because she couldn’t get rid of her in any other way.” Two men were seated in opposite corners of the room, with wires stretched between them. Using the Morse dot and dash system, messages were sent from one corner to be transcribed accurately in the other corner, much to the amazement of the large group or spectators eager to see one of the modern miracles of the time.

Before the writer had gone on her way, Mrs. Suffren took her around the pleasant home, built almost 50 years ago by Mr. Suffren and herself, on an acre and a half of the origlnal Wentworth property. In a later column, many of Mrs. Suffren’s fine old pieces of furniture and priceless possessions will be described.

Elsie Lathrop, author of “Early American Inns and Taverns,” to which reference has been made from time to time in this column, found so many such hostelries in her travels through Pennsylvania that she devoted two chapters to our state alone. In view of the current interest in the King of Prussia Inn, we are going to give a full description of the inn as it looked to Miss Lathrop over 30 years ago.

“Built in 1709 the old house is as staunch as ever. The original two rooms on the right as one enters, have old fireplaces across adjoining corners, as have the rooms above, now used as private dining rooms. 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 is the old oven, and up in 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. The original stables and springhouse are still standing.

“The Inn was given its name by the builder, a native of Prussia, only a few years after the Elector of Brandenburg had made the duchy of Prussia into a kingdom and had established himself as King Frederick of Prussia.”

The date, 1769, is sometimes given the inn, as a later building date than that of 1709. However, it would seem more probable that the latter was a remodelling date for the structure. But whether 1769 was a building or a remodelling date, the work was done at that time by one Daniel Thompson, according to records in possession of the King of Prussia Historical Society. According to these same records, Thompson was a “fighting Quaker” who was active for eight years in the Revolutionary War.

The inn has definitely housed some of the most outstanding figures from the pages of American history. During the yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia, In 1793, Jefferson, Madison and Monroe stayed there. George Washington is said to have frequented it during the war. It is also said that not only Washington, but many other renowned men of the Revolutionary War period, attended Masonic meetings held there. Besides the historical background, there is the close proximity of the wide-spreading “Washington Oak,” which was growing when William Penn came to Pennsylvania.

The building itself is made of local stone, probably quarried from a bed on the present Croton road. This stone is now covered with plaster. As to the interior, a small brochure issued two years ago by a group of individuals interested in the preservation of the old landmark, states that “even successive alterations have not marred the charm given it by certain quaint proportions and from the large old fireplaces and other sources.”

If recommendations of the restoration committee as outlined in last week’s column were to be adopted, much of the cost of the work entailed could be cut down by volunteer work, to be given the project by skilled craftsmen in the King of Prussia neighborhood. Following the recommendation of this committee, this statement was issued:

“Since this is a community project, the restoration committee feels that it is only fair to permit those who are interested in contributing their skills to do so. Obviously there will be a close supervision of such efforts and there will be a final inspection by local officials, as well as the Historical Society Restoration Committee, before the building is used. The restoration committee agrees to use the plans drawn up by Mr. John T. Brugger, Jr., architect.”

The committee further points out that with the labor contributed, the cost of restoration could be cut to a minimum. Fortunately, there are many in the community who are skilled in cabinet making, electrical work, plumbing, carpentry, wall papering, painting or even just “pushing a broom.” And as a concluding argument for this means of restoration, the committee states that “a building which is restored through the efforts of those who would use it has a much more secure future than one for which money has been solicited and unwillingly given.”

Thus the stage is set to save for posterity one of the most historic old buildings in our neighborhood. Plans are made, funds are promised, skilled labor is offered. All that is needed is an entirely clear title to the property which, as all concerned continue to hope, may be forthcoming in the not too distant future. For those of our readers who may be interested in helping to clear up the situation, the names of those who are incorporators of the new King of Prussia Historical Society are again given. Information may be obtained from Dr. Robert A. May, Mrs. Lucressa Morrison and John R. Arscott, all of King of Prussia; Mrs. Mary Townsend and Dr. Deane Webber, of Colonial Village, Wayne.

After a bill authorizing the sale or lease, by the State, of the historic old King of Prussia Inn to a patriotic or historical society, or to a veterans’ organization, had been signed by Governor George M. Leader just a year ago, tentative plans already made for its restoration began to crystallize at once. Although an unexpected turn of affairs had made it impossible at the moment, to put these plans into effect, the large group of interested individuals and organizations hopes that the delay is only a short-lived one.

Among the organizations most interested are the recently formed King of Prussia Historical Society and the Sgt. Jack L. Jacoby Post, American Legion. Both of these groups offered to take title of the Inn last July. The historical society put itself on record as being in favor for the preservation, restoration and use of the King of Prussia Inn as a community building. At that time its members stated their willingness to accept the deed and title, provided there was no stipulation as to the necessity for moving the building. This decision was made because of the experienced opinion that any attempt to do so would result in the collapse of the old Inn.

Still other local groups which went on record as being interested in the restoration and preservation of the old building were the Philadelphia Landmark Society, the Valley Forge Historical Society, the Roadside Council and various civic associations in the King of Prussia area.

Tentative plans were soon under way for the establishment of a much needed branch of the Montgomery County Library in the Inn, after the latter had been prepared for occupancy.

Some of the groups were willing to contribute to the funds for restoration in exchange for the privilege of holding meetings in the inn. One group, indeed, offered such a generous contribution to the proposed fund that the necessity of putting on an organized fund raising campaign might be obviated.

Definite plans for making the old building, weakened as it is by age, into one fit for practical present day usage, have been developed after a close study of the entire structure. Recommendations of the restoration committee call for strengthening of the floor supports of the first floor center sections and replacing any floor joist which is considered unsafe. Second on the list is electrical rewiring of the entire first floor and elimination of any old circuit above this floor for the present. A third recommendation has to do with overhauling of the heating and water systems.

Further plans would include a complete renovation of the five rooms on the first floor, as well as of the kitchen; painting of the exterior and landscaping of the grounds around the inn; lastly, improvements in other parts of the inn, to make the general restoration more complete.

How this may be made into a community project, with much of the labor on the volunteer basis, will be told in next week’s column.