Emma C. Patterson wrote "Your Town and My Town" for the Suburban & Wayne Times from 1949 to 1958. It was written during a time when Wayne's founders were still around to reminisce about the area's development. The articles are a wealth of information, with many names and places referenced.

The same way historic photographs of Radnor can tell us a great deal about their subjects, Ms. Patterson's writing draws a vivid picture of Radnor's history as seen from the lens of the mid-20th Century. At that point venerable institutions that no longer function were still alive in full swing, longtime residents who could remember back to Wayne's agrarian past could still share their memories, and there was enough community interest that the Suburban was willing to print such extensive and descriptive columns week after week for nearly a decade.

Locked in fading newsprint, tucked away inside crumbling scrapbooks for fifty years, each article by Emma C. Patterson is reproduced here in full, in an easy to navigate searchable blog format.

Browse an index of all articles

The Old Radnor Methodist Church, part 2 – Rev. A. L. Wilson

/ Emma C. Patterson

Old record books, frail with age, are priceless possessions of the old Radnor Methodist Church. In them are such data as comes under the heading of “Historical Record”, “Probationers’ Record,” “Class Record”, “Alphabetical Record of Members in Full Connection”, “Record of Baptism”, “Record of Marriages” and several others. Specifically designed books for Methodist Church records were printed even as early as the first part of the nineteenth century. An introduction to one made in 1864 states that “any pastor who, through carelessness, fails to make full entries in all departments, is highly culpable and deserves the censure of his Conference.”

The Rev. A. L. Wilson, pastor of the old church on Conestoga road from 1880 through 1882, performed a service of lasting importance to a service to his parishioners and those who were to follow, when he painstakingly noted all the information available on the founding and early days of this historic church. After almost seventy years the clear legible handwriting covers page after page in what must truly have been a labor of love on the part of a conscientious man. Surprisingly enough, even the ink is scarcely faded.
Mr. Wilson tells of an “old, time-honored building which has been known for generations past as the Radnor Methodist – Episcopal Church”, standing on “one of the most beautiful hills of Radnor”. And so long has this church been associated with the hill that the latter is generally known as “Methodist Hill”. Its history goes back to the early days of Methodism, since many of the pioneers of that faith in the country “have declared the unsearchable riches of the Christ on the gorund”, which seems almost hallowed because such men as Bishop Coke, Richard Whatroot and Francis Ashbury had been there to counsel and encourage the church in its infancy.

According to the most accurate information available to Mr. Wilson, the first Methodists to visit Radnor were two local preachers named Adam Cloud and Matthew Greentree. This was probably several years before 1780 since it was in that year that Radnor became “a regular preaching place” which was supplied by the circuit preachers. The first class was organized in the “Mansion House” then occupied by the James family, early forebears of a well-known citizen of the present time in Radnor township, Hon. Benjamin F. James, and his brother, Evan L. James, of Wynnewood. As described in last week’s column this old mansion house still stands at the corner of Montrose and Conestoga roads, though the years have brought some enlargement to the original structure, which is now one of the most beautiful among the really old homes in Radnor township.

In 1780 Radnor was included in what was then known as the Philadelphia Circuit. In 1781 this was changed to the Pennsylvania Circuit and thereafter saw many other changes of name. The first class leader was George Gyger, while John Cooper and George Main were the first preachers from the circuit to come to Radnor. An old deed shows that on the “20th day of October, 1783, Evan James and his wife Margaret appeared befor Justice Thomas Lewis and said for seven shillings a half-acre of ground on which a meeting home was to be built . . . in which the doctrine of John Wesley as set forth in his four volumes of sermons and in his notes on the New Testament were to be preached and no other.”

At that time Methodism was evidently not in high repute in all quarters as Mr. Wilson, writing in the early eighties, says that “we who live at this age of Methodism have but little idea of the embarrassments and disadvantages under which the earnest workers for God labored.” There were even those who scoffed at the building of the first small log cabin-like church as illustrated in the story of one of the workmen. An acquaintance, climbing the hill on Old Lancaster Road, called out to him to inquire what he was doing. When he replied that he was helping to build a meeting house for the Methodists the friend is said to have replied: “There is no use of your doing that, for they will all soon be as cold as cucumbers, there will soon be no more Methodists.”

It would seem that many participated actively in the building of this first meeting house At any rate Jacob Gyger, David and Isaac James hauled water from the creek by way of a barrel on a sled in order to obtain this water for mixing the mortar which was to hold the logs together. In spite of difficulties, the meeting house was completed and dedicated in 1784. An account of those dedication services would make interesting reading but Mr. Wilson tells us that apparently no record of them was kept. But, if this is lacking there is certainly a full list of all the trustees, elders and preachers who were connected with the little church during those early days of its existence. These have been carefully preserved in the history of “Old Radnor”.

Soon after the turn of the century Methodists in this general vicinity began to hold “powerful” meetings in a house near Brother Jonathan Evans in Upper Darby, according to our historian. “Methodism”, he states, “was a new thing in that place. The Quaker inhabitants never had heard a hymn sung, and when the Methodists sang in their lusty, old-fashioned way, the effect produced was onderful. Their meetings were held in the afternoon of each day int he week (the laboring men going to work at midnight were released at noon, therefore they could spend the afternoon in worship). The most powerful manifestations of the spirit were witnessed at their meetings. Men and women would fall over and remain perfectly still and motionless . . . The good work spread through Delaware County . . . Societies were formed and meeting-houses were built. Radnor was greatly revived. About this time there was a Camp Meeting held in the woods in front of the church at which much good was done.”

This marked the beginning of what was to become the greatest week in the year for Radnor Methodists—the week in the woods camp meeting. For then Radnor Methodists “were a zealous people, full of the fire of the Holy Spirit,” according to a later historian who tells of camp meetings, randing over a period of twenty-six years. 1838-1864 in the woods in front of the church, and “in the graves of the different valleys and hillsides nearby.”

(To be continued)

The Old Radnor Methodist Church, part 3 – Christian Conference

/ Emma C. Patterson

It was in the same year that the old Radnor Meeting House was completed – 1784 – that the celebrated Christian Conference convened in Baltimore. At this Conference the Methodist Episcopal Church was actually formed after a letter from John Wesley had been read by Bishop Thomas Coke, who had been ordained by Wesley himself. By vote of the Conference, Bishop Ashbury, who was to have much to do with the little church on Methodist Hill in Radnor, was ordained. Preachers appointed for the circuit in which Radnor was situated were Leroy Cole, Joseph Cromwell and Jeremiah Lambert.

Bishop Ashbury has been called “the first organization genius of Methodism on the American continent”. In answer to a plea made in 1771 by John Wesley for volunteers to go to America. Francis Ashbury volunteered and shortly thereafter sailed from Bristol. Soon he had methodically arranged  his route over a circuit having Philadelphia as its center. One historian states that “often his (Ashbury’s) bodily strength was exhausted or weakened by disease, yet he preached two or three times a day . . . In those early days Ashbury’s consummate wisdom in distributing preachers and in sound administration methods was invaluable. No general ever stationed his troops with greater skill”.

In 1787 Bishop Ashbury in his Journal makes his first mention of Radnor–”July 2, 1787–on Monday, spoke to a few simple hearted souls at Radnor”. And again in 1791 we find in his Journal that the good Bishop dined at Radnor a few days later on his way to Philadelphia. It was several years later, ini June, 1804, that he told in the Journal of a mishap that befell his horse, “My little Jane” as he affectionately calls her.

“Saturday, June 2, 1804–I rode through the rain to the valley, twenty-eight miles . . . On the Sabbath Day I reached Radnor. Here my little Jane was horned by a cow and lamed. She is done, perhaps, forever for me; but it may all be for the best. I am unwell and the weather is bad, but, except for my feelings for the poor beast, I am peaceful and resigned. I am able to write, but not to preach on the Sabbath.”

An entry of August 7, 1805, states that “We set out and reached Radnor. We stopped to dine with Brother Gyger, and had a serious time at prayer, in his new house, which they are about to move into. We lodged with Daniel Meredith, an old disciple, in the valley. Thursday brought us to Sandersburg.”

Preachers such as Ashbury and those he appointed for the Radnor circuit are strikingly described in the booklet commemorating the 150th anniversary of the founding of “Old Radnor”. “Let us picture the Methodist preacher of these Revolution days. He wears a ‘shad-breasted’ coat, and a low crowned hat, usually white. He is without money, and as he goes forth does not expect to find either church or salary. After journeying until both he and his horse are famished, he stops at a house and is met cordially and invited to share the frugal meal. The dinner over, he begins to speak on the subject of salvation. Some listen from curiosity. Perhaps only one shows a real interest. But he seeks an opportunity to pray, and before the prayer is ended all feel that a strange, even an awful visitor has come among them. He sings a hymn, and as the plaintive strains rise on the air, all are impressed, and the children are fascinated. In such manner, reminiscent of the apostles of old, was the nucleus of Methodism founded.”

By 1785 the Methodist Church throughout the Philadelphia section had so increased is membership that its work was divided into three Annual Conferences. In that same year the office of Presiding Elder was originated. The first Presiding Elder under whose supervision Radnor came was Thomas Vasey, who had come to America with Bishop Coke. Among those who preached in Radnor at this time was William Penn Chandler, who was noted for his eloquence. Another famous man in early Methodist history, Joseph Everett, occupied the pulpit frequently. It is said that he began one of his sermons at Old Radnor by this statement: “It is just six weeks since I was here last, and some of you are six weeks nearer hell than you were then.”

During the years 1801-1803 repairs were made to the little log church and the graveyard that surrounded it that cost $161.40, a sum raised by subscriptions and collection though it was first advanced by the trustees. Some twenty years or more later the burying ground was enlarged by the purchase of one-fourth of an acre of ground, for which twenty-five dollars was paid. At that time, (article ends abruptly)

The Old Radnor Methodist Church, part 4

/ Emma C. Patterson

“June 3, 1833. Tot he building committee of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Radnor: this is to certify that I, the undersigned, will agree to complete all the carpenter work of said building, 45 by 55 feet, with a basement story; to have 10 twelve-light windows and 12 twenty lights in each frame and no wainscot to any part of the house; for the sum of three hundred and fifty-five dollars; with fifty dollars to be paid off when the roof is on and fifty when the basement story is done and the rest when convenient.”

(Signed) Evan Lewis

This is a copy of the original carpenter’s estimate for the second Radnor Methodist Church building, the erection of which was made necessary by the growth of the congregation in the fifty years since 1783 when the first small one-story log meeting house was built on Methodist Hill on Conestoga road. This second building still stands today, looking very much as it did 117 years ago. Indeed, the present lovely structure in appearance more nearly resembles the original than the building did for some years following 1903 when the exterior walls were covered for a while with a coating of plaster.

The decision to erect this second church building was made at a meeting held May 17, 1833, by the trustees of the church, those present being James B. Ayres, the preacher; John Gyger, Jacob Gyger, Isaac James, Isaac White and William Fisher. Evidently no time was lost in construction for before the year 1833 was out, the church was dedicated, the Rev. E. L. James, who was afterwards elected Bishop, preached the dedicatory sermon. A great revival followed the opening of the new church.

Methodist Sunday Schools had their birth in America rather than in England, there being “historic proof of a number of SUnday School beginnings by the Schwenkfelders, in Bucks and Montgomery counties, Pennsylvania, in 1734”. On what date the Sunday School was organized at “Old Radnor” is not known, though an old minute book has a record of a Sunday School Association as early as 1843, which had probably then been in existence for several years. Under date of June 27, 1858, there is a memorandum in the record book to this effect, “Numbers of scholars on the list, 28; average attendance, 18. Recitations of girls, 103 hymns, 308 verses. Recitations of boys, 113 hymns, 488 verses.”

Today the Sunday school enrollment of 157 students is one of the determining factors in “Old Radnor’s decision to build an addition to their present meeting house. Besides the more than 60 students meeting in the downstairs room, there are nine classes trying to meet in groupings among the church pews. The future potential enrollment in the Sunday School is forecast at 50 per cent increase within ten years, if it is parallel with the analysis of future enrollment for the Rosemont School made by the Radnor Township School Board and based on housing developments now in progress.

In 1894 the old Humphreys parsonage, situated on the northeast corner of Lancaster and Merion avenues, which had been occupied for many years by ministers of the Radnor Circuit, was sold to Dr. William C. Powell. During the pastorate of the Rev. Jonathan Dungan, 1891-95, a new parsonage was erected at the corner of old Lancaster road and Warren avenue by a well known builder of his time, William Gray. With its original appearance little changed except that it has been much lightened by white paint, it now houses the Rev. James M. Haney and his family, just as it has continuously housed ministers of “Old Radnor” over a period of well over fifty years.

Minutes of the meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Church held on April 4, 1881, tell of a plan to circulate subscription books in order to raise funds to repair the church, in anticipation of the Centennial Exercises to be held in February, 1882. At that time it was decided to rough-cast the outside and the inside of the church. The pulpit was to be lowered one step, and the windows were to be double-hung. This work was done, and at the same time the gable ends of the roof were extended so as to project in proportion to the eaves. The total cost of this work was $1631.21, all of which was paid before the day of reopening.

In 1891 stoves were removed from the church and a heater was installed in the basement. In 1903 the church was repainted on the inside as well as the outside, and electricity was introduced. The exterior walls were refinished, and ivy was planted around the building. In 1931, extensive alterations and repairs were undertaken to restore and beautify Old Radnor. Plaster, which for many years had covered the outside walls, was removed and the original stonework was pointed. A new slate roof was put on, the interior of the church redecorated and rearranged, and the roadway rebuilt. Since the old sheds to shelter horses were no longer needed, they were removed to provide parking space for automobiles. Sunday School rooms and a modern kitchen were built in the basement. All this was done at a total expense of $8,000. On Sunday, October 25, 1931, Old Radnor celebrated is one hundred and fiftieth anniversary with a service attended by more than three hundred members and friends.

A little more than two weeks ago, on Tuesday, November 14, the fund raising campaign for an addition to Old Radnor was launched. With a goal of $40,000 plans call for an addition which would serve the education and fellowship needs of the church. Already more than half that amount has been subscribed. Architects’ drawings show that the proposed addition would be to the left of the present edifice in the form a a long, low building in entire harmony, both in materials and architecture, with the lovely old church which has stood on its present site for 117 years. At first there would be but one floor, then as the need arose, a second floor could be added. Even the first floor addition, however, would provide adequate space for a Fellowship Hall, seating well over 200 people, which could be divided into class rooms by sound-proof curtains. With such a financial start, church officials anticipate an early completion of the campaign fund.

(The End)

For the material in this series on “Old Radnor”, the writer is indebted to the Rev. James M. Haney, minister, and to Mr. Herbert L. Flack, of the Building committee.

Christmas, 1925 in Wayne – Wayne Musical Coterie, Anthony Wayne Theatre, “The Suburban”

/ Emma C. Patterson

Christmas, 1925 in Wayne . . .  there is no special reason to recall it except that it is just twenty-five years ago and because it is typical of the holiday time in our small suburban community of that general period. It is a pleasant time to write about because in our country there was no war, nor rumors of war. World War I was over. World War II was not even on our horizon. However, we were still trying to work out problems created by World War I as evidenced by the fact that on December 8 there had been a large community meeting at the Saturday Club to discuss the question of United States participation in the World Court. Citizens of the township who attended went on record as strongly favoring this action when the question would come before the Senate later in December.

Our beautiful Christmas tree on the Louella grounds shone forth that Christmas as it had then for several years past–on Christmas Eve there was a short community carol singing service led by Ed Hunt. Special Christmas Day services were held in many of the churches. Old St. Davids had two Holy Communion services, with Dr. Crosswell McBee officiating and with special music by Fred Godfrey. The Rev. Henry Mitchell held midnight Mass at St. Mary’s on Christmas Eve. Holy COmmunion was celebrated both at St. Martin’s Church and at the Chapel under the Rev. Richard H. Gurley. St. Katharine’s had six Masses with Mrs. David Walsh in charge of the music of the choir.

The Wayne Methodist Church had its Christmas Dawn services on the Sunday after Christmas, which fell on Friday in 1925.

The Wayne Presbyterian Church held its special Christmas services under Dr. Charles Schall and the Central Baptists held their under the Rev. Ray E. Whittemore. The young people of the Methodist Church presented “The Nativity” on Sunday evening.

The Wayne Musical Coterie held its Christmas concert on the Sunday following Christmas with Ethel Dorr McKinley as cellist; H. Velma Turner as organist and Lilian Walter as vocal soloist. The Saturday Club held its Winter Fete on December 4, an all-day affair beginning with a bazaar and ending with supper and dancing until midnight. Mrs. Walter H. Dance was then the president of the Club. The Junior Saturday Club gave two performances of the “Feast of the Lantern” on December 12.

Christmas Clubs were already financing the community’s holiday purchases. The Wayne Title and Trust, with 1046 members, paid out almost $60,000, while the Main Line National Bank, with 226 subscribers, paid out $14,000. The Police and Firemen’s Fund, sponsored by “The Suburban” realized $455.00 in 1925. Special recognition was given policemen for their protection of citizens from “vicious bandits and bootleggers”. Postmaster Charles M. Wilkins made a plea for early mailing of Christmas letters and packages.

There were many annual meetings held in Wayne that December. Wayne Lodge, No 581, at the yearly banquet, elected D. Kenneth Dickson as Worshipful Master to succeed J. Kenneth Satchell–about 40 Legionnaires of the Anthony Wayne Post met at a banquet at the Venice Cafe, with Commander C. Walton Hale acting as Toastmaster and with music by the Arch Morrison Orchestra, while Ed Hunt “led the gang in old war songs”. Philip W. Hunt succeeded Walt Hale as commander. Mrs. Virginia Park was elected president of the Post Auxiliary at its first annual meeting.

The active firemen gave a banquet at the Spread Eagle Inn “in honor of wives, sisters and sweethearts”, with Chief James K. Dunne acting as toastmaster. The Business Men’s Association held a lunch meeting at the Venice Cafe. The Annual Meeting of the Wayne Building and Loan Association showed assets of almost $1,500,000 with William T. Sentman as president. The Wayne Red Cross had just gone over the top on its Roll Call, the annual drive in which each member of the community paid one dollar! Paoli Troop 1, Boy Scouts, had adopted an extensive “work program” under its scoutmaster, Major Clifton Lisle. On Christmas Eve they went out for carol singing throughout Wayne.

At the School Board meeting Messrs. William R. Breck, Harold Haskins and Charles H. Howson were elected to membership. O. H. Wolfe was named president and Mrs. Howson vice-president. Radnor High School football heroes were feted at a banquet to mark the “glorious ending of the season”, with toastmaster T. Bayard Beatty paying tribute to “Radnor’s fighting spirit”.

The widening of Lancaster Pike had almost been completed in December, 1925. However, in places there were no sidewalks and the very pertinent question arose “who is responsible for accidents?” (Twenty-five years later there are still no sidewalks along certain stretches.) The real estate market was quite active, numerous sales being reported from week to week in “The Suburban”.

The Anthony Wayne Theatre was presenting such shows as “Riders of the Purple Sage”, with Tom Mix; “As Man Has Loved”, the William Fox “wonder picture”; “The Wrong Doers” with Lionel Barrymore; “Lightnin'”, with Jay Hunt and Madge Bellamy, and “Exchange of Wives”, a “spicy, up to the minute comedy”, with Eleanor Boardman, Lew Cody and Renee Adoree.

Food prices of 1925 are beyond the wildest dreams of 1950 housewives. Hams sold at 29 cents a pound; pork chops at 35 cents; leg of lamb at 43 cents; hamburg at 25 cents; roasting chicken at 50 cents. Oranges were 39 cents a dozen, fancy eating apples 40 cents, walnuts 29 cents a pound, cranberries 19 cents a pound. Although there were many advertisements like the one reading “extra fine lot of turkeys for your selection . . . all sizes, each one guaranteed”, no butcher was apparently willing to advertise prices in advance!

The Christmas cover of “The Suburban” for December 25 was a gay, many-colored one, showing a small boy sitting before a roaring fire, his dog beside him, his stocking hung above him. Somehow that picture seems to exemplify the quiet cheerfulness of the Christmas season twenty-five years ago–the cheer and the peaceful spirit that we wish might be ours in this Christmas season of 1950, the time of year which should mean “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men”. Far as we are from it, may that wish of this Christmas become at least the hope of Christmas, 1951.

(Two Wayne Christmases of still earlier dates will be described in succeeding columns. For the material in this column the writer is indebted to the files of “The Suburban”.)

Christmas, 1906 in Wayne – Wayne Public Safety, Bryn Mawr Hospital

/ Emma C. Patterson

In last week’s column we saw in retrospect Wayne of 25 years ago at its Christmas season. This week your columnist would like to give you a Wayne Christmas time of 50 years ago as it was at the turn of the century. But the files of “The Suburban” cover the years back only to 1906, since precious records were destroyed in the fire of that year in the “Suburban” office when it was located where the Buick agency now has its showroom. Then, as now, A. M. Ehart was president of our home town weekly, while C. H. Stewart was secretary and treasurer. So we go back to December of 44 years ago.

It was, according to an editorial placed on the front page, ” a season of good cheer; the season which seems to bring men into closer touch, one with the other. The spirit of peace and of good fellowship is in the air”. In this “prettiest suburb, perhaps in the world”, to quote from a Wayne Estate advertisement of that period, “local stores have taken on a holiday appearance . . . the grocery establishments particularly have been handsomely decorated . . . the assistants at the local railroad station are more than busy these days, preceding the holidays, but keep on smiling as they handle the hundreds of pieces which come to Wayne and St. Davids each day.”

Those of us who think that early Christmas shopping is an innovation of the past few years would be surprised to read in the November 30th edition of “The Suburban” that “by now big stores are almost as crowded as they usually are a few days before Christmas, many people having been struck by the idea that Christmas shopping should be done early.” Motorized delivery service was even then in effect, as there is a small news item to the effect that the automobile delivery wagon of Lit Brothers and Snellenburg’s was stranded in North Wayne and had to be towed back to the city. The volume of Christmas business at the Wayne Post Office broke all records, and “the clerks and four carriers were kept on the jump for four days preceding the holidays . . . carriers kept at it until noon on Christmas Day.” After Christmas “The Suburban” noted: “Some Christmas trees about town were very handsome and there were more than usual.”

In the Wayne churches, some of the Christmas services were held on Christmas Day, which fell on Tuesday in 1906, although most of them took place on the preceding Sunday. At St. Katharine’s the Rev. Joseph F. O’Keefe, assisted by the Rev. Francis Tourscher began Masses at 5 o’clock Christmas morning . . . the choir under the direction of Miss Hobson sang Gounod’s “Convent Mass”. Even then St. Mary’s was holding its Christmas Eve services with the celebration of Holy Communion coming at one minute past midnight. There were also services luring Christmas morning. In the Wayne Presbyterian Church Dr. Patton presided at both the morning and evening services on the Sunday preceding Christmas in a church “beautifully decorated with evergreen and suitable emblems”. On Christmas Eve the King’s Daughters of the church with a number of friends, visited the Cathcart Home in Devon, to give the patients at the home their usual Christmas entertainment. Each patient was presented with a “Sunshine Bag”.

In the Methodist Church the Rev. Samuel Thompson preached on Sunday morning with a special musical program by the choir. In the First Baptist Church the Rev. J. C. Pierce delivered the Christmas sermon. Here, too, was special music. The Rev. David Solly was the minister at the Central Baptist were there was special music by the choir with a violin soloist. At four o’clock there were special children’s exercises, followed by Baptism.

Under the heading of “Getting Shorter” the Safford Store ran a large advertisement on December 14 explaining that what was “shorter” was “the time in which to make your holiday purchases. Just now every one ins studying and racking their brains trying to think of what to buy for Christmas”. Suggestions on the part of the storekeeper included “elegant new shirt-waists . . . in black from a very good quality of lawn at 50 cents, to a fine sateen waist at $1.25 to $2.00 . . . elegant embroidered waists at $1.25, $1.50 and $2.50. There were kid gloves at $1.00–pairs of blankets at $1.00 and $1.25. Among the Christmas gift suggestions at Levine’s were side-combs, knit shawls, fascinators, tams, comfortables, blankets, brooches. While not a Christmas special, the store also had a larger line of “buckle artics and Alaska rubber boots”.

In addition to Safford’s and Levine’s there were a number of stores in 1906 that are no longer in existence. Among them were Duff’s, which specialized in “smokers’ articles”. In the meat and grocery line there were T. T. Worrall and Sons, Hobson’s, L. V. Hale’s, D. D. Mancill and the Columbia Tea House.

Turkeys were selling for 25 and 27 cents per pound, roasting chickens were 18 cents; stewing chickens 16 cents; prime roast beef and spring lamb, both 18 cents; country scrapple, 7 cents. “Strictly fresh eggs” were 35 cents per dozen, better 42 cents, coffee 25 cents, Florida oranges 25 cents per dozen. Whitman’s candies ranged in prices from 25 cents for “a good chocolate mixture” to 80 cents for a “super mixture”. Frank Adelberger advertised as “Headquaters for Xmas Greens”. Etchingham Brothers and Arthur Lanser also sold them.

Among Wayne’s organizations that held meetings that year in December were the Masonic Lodge, which elected Charles H. Howson as Worshipful Master. After the meeting they adjourned to the Saturday Club, where dinner was served by the caterer Gruber. J. W. Cooper acted as toastmaster. The Wayne Public Safety had just changed its meeting times from quaterly to monthly ones. Joseph A. Ball was president, L. H. Watt, vice-president, and Dr. C. D. Smedley, secretary-treasurer. A meeting of the Board of Township Commissioners for December brought out the Messrs. Sayen, Ellis, Geyelin, Hart and Treat. Charles F. Da Costa was solicitor and C. H. Stewart secretary. The Saturday Club was featuring such early January programs as a lecture by Theodore Grayson, of Wayne, on “Famous Women of the French Revolution” and book reviews by Mrs. William B. Riley, also a Wayne resident.

The Bryn Mawr Hospital annual report showed that 463 patients had been admitted during the year, 201 operations performed “of which 196 were successful”. Old Whitehall railroad station had just been leased by the hospital for a three year period, following a case of small pox. Radnor Hunt Club figured weekly in the news, 40 members having ridden in the Christmas Chase.

Bits of local news under “Here and Hereabouts”, a column still in existence forty-four years later, were that the Philadelphia and Western Railroad, although practically completed, could not operate until the new elevated railroad in Philadelphia was built. Seven big automobiles had gone along Lancaster avenue on a recent Sunday to inspect the course for the race to be run between Philadelphia and Harrisburg . . . “no machine to be permitted to exceed 20 m. p. h.” In December there had been three arrests in the Township for violators of automobile ordinances and two for failure to display lights on vehicles . . . coachman Clark, driver for Charles S. Walton, was on a runaway on Conestoga road, and the horse reached North Wayne before he was stopped. “To meet the demands of his increasing business” Richard Quigley was building a larger addition to his blacksmith and wheelwright shop on Plant avenue.

And this, briefly sketched, was Wayne in 1906.
–––––

Season’s greetings from this columnist to her readers . . . and many thanks for the almost daily expression of appreciation made to her on the part of these readers fro her attempt to make Radnor Township’s interesting history part of our present-day heritage.

The old “Wayne Gazette,” part 1 – Wayne Masonic Hall

/ Emma C. Patterson

On the “over size” book shelf of the Radnor Township Memorial Library are two thin volumes containing copies of a Wayne weekly published some years before “The Suburban” came into existence. These bound copies of the old “Wayne Gazette” or “Wayne Weekly Gazette”, as it was variously called, are of the years 1871 and 1872. Whether its publication covered a greater period is not apparent upon a first cursory reading of the two volumes. Your columnist has been told it was published “intermittently”. Perhaps new information may be forthcoming by next week from some of the “old timers” who read this column.

Very different from our present local weekly is the one of almost eighty years ago. Where the title of “The Suburban” now stands in bold, clear type, was a most intricate design in which the name “Wayne Weekly Gazette” is interwoven with three pictures of prominent buildings then standing in Wayne.

On the left is one of the Wayne Hall. Whether this building is still in existence in some altered form is not clear to your columnist. It has been suggested to her that it is the Wayne Masonic Hall, one of the oldest buildings in Wayne. In the center of the design at the head of the weekly is a picture of the Wayne Lyceum Hall, later called the Wayne Opera House. At present it is the center of all attention to Wayne shoppers as the building at the northeast corner of Lancaster Pike and North Wayne avenue that is undergoing such extensive alterations. At the time the “Gazette” picture was taken it faced entirely on the Pike and was much smaller, as it did not have the western addition of a later date.

On the right of the design was a picture of the “Wayne Church”. We of today recognize it instantly as the chapel of the Wayne Presbyterian CHurch, since its appearance has little changed in these intervening eighty years. In these days of many Wayne churches the picture could scarcely carry the distinctive caption of the “Wayne Church”.

The “Gazette”, to all outward appearances, was not a very exciting publication. It was uniformly four pages in length, its type was almost microscopic, and there were no headlines throughout those four pages. Its editors were Charles Robson and Miss Sallie Martin. The front page was made up of poems, essays and short stories. The inside pages contained notices of various kinds, particularly those in regard to the Wayne Lyceum, poems, more essays and some advertisements, though of a very different character from those of the present. A typical one read:

Messrs. Ramsey & Bro.
Bryn Mawr and Rosemont
Every article to be found in a
No. 1 country store
At the lowest city prices
Can be had at either store.

 

Duncan and Richardson, “Dealers in Lumber, Sand and other Building Materials,” had offices at “Wayne Siding”, which was “immediately East of Wayne Station, Pennsylvania Railroad”, where prospective buyers were invited “to call and examine quality and prices.” It was evidently quite ethical for doctors to advertise, as in the same column with these advertisements of a country store and lumber yard appeared the following:

Dr. William M. Whitehead
Homaeopathist
Office Hours:
Wayne 7 to 9 A. M.; 6 to 8 P. M.
Bryn Mawr 3 to 5 P. M.
Residence–First House west
of Wayne Avenue, North Side
Lancaster Pike
Dr. Charles S. Seysham
Graduate Pennsylvania University
Office–Newtown Square
Delaware County
No regular office hours

On one of the inside pages there ordinarily appeared a column entitled “Answers to Referred Questions.” THese were no idle queries, either. In the issue of July 20, 1872, one reader asks “What is the Apollo Belvidere?” Another writes to know, “Why are drops of rain or dew upon the leaves of plants generally spherical or globular?” And still another inquires: “What would a body weighing eight hundred pounds upon the surface of the earth weigh when one thousand miles below the surface?” To all three questions comprehensive answers of some length were given.

A column entitled “Humorous and Otherwise” had these two items in this same issue of July 20, 1872.

“A lady entered a drug store and asked for a bottle of ‘Jane’s Experience’. The clerk informed her that Jane hadn’t bottled her experience yet, but they could furnish Jayne’s Expectorant.'”

“There is a place in Maine where they have had no rain for four weeks and no whiskey for six. The consequence is that just now they are the dirtiest and the dryest people above ground.”

(To be continued)

The old “Wayne Gazette,” part 2

/ Emma C. Patterson

Seventy-five years ago a columnist of the “Weekly Wayne Gazette” wrote of the new year of 1872 just coming into being: “It is midnight! Like a strange dream, warped with troubles and woofed with blood, the year eighteen hundred and seventy one has vanished over the brink of the Great Precipice, and around the corner–the bead in the stream of time–with merry bells we hear the coming of the Happy New Year. Still clinging to the bank while so many have gone by and down forever, waiting for the wave which shall unloose our hold, let us, in fancy, weave a mantle of silk from the dirty blood-stained rags of the past . . . One short year! It seems but like yesterday since we stood at the christening of the one now dead and on its threshold laid our varied gifts–a bundle of plans, hopes, promises and expectation of the future so many are ever dreading.”

Though it is a little difficult to follow our columnist of a bygone era with his many intricate and confusing figures of speech, we gather he was pleased neither with the year 1871 just ending nor with the prospects for the year 1872 just beginning. Indeed it took two columns to express all he felt! However the poet, writing in that same issue of the “Weekly Gazette”, had a much cheerier outlook as witnessed by the concluding verse of a long poem appearing on the front page:

“Whether we greet it with a smile
Or with the falling tear
Thank God for all, and from our hearts
Welcome the glad New Year.”

For the editors of the paper the year 1871 appears to have been a good one as they take stock of it with “the tin horns still blowing” under their window as they went to press . . . to remind them that “the holiday times have not yet passed away.” For the year had seen the birth of the newspaper for its three editors, John Campbell, Miss Sallie B. Martin and Miss Leta B. Bittle–and it had seen not only its birth, but its growth from a hand written sheet to a four page weekly which was “copied by leading journals throughout the States”–a fact which in the future should add “a deal of new energy to the pens and pencils” of these writers.

On December 23, 1871, the “Gazette” was presented to its readers in its new “Holiday Clothes” and “with bright and cheery face” bespoke for its many friends “A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.” These “holiday clothes,” which continued from that issue on, were the elaborate designs and pictures in the heading as described in last week’s column–up to that issue the simple heading of “Wayne Weekly Gazette” in large lettering, with a small design, under the word “Weekly” had sufficed. An editorial in this issue of December 23 states that “the increasing amount of readable matter accumulating upon our table, and the growing acquaintance of our paper among a reading and thoughtful people demands that our columns be again enlarged for their accommodation. As we are desirous of doing our duty in this age of ‘telegraphic living’ we must needs be up to the times in our labor of good to the people, at which hands it always finds a hearty welcome.”

So much for the year 1871 from the viewpoint of the “Wayne Weekly Gazette”, and so much for its good resolutions for 1872.

With Christmas but two days away as the paper went to press on December 23, a goodly amount of space was devoted to that happy season. There is a quaint two column cut of Santa about to descent a chimney that for once is pictured as large enough for his portly frame. Donner and Blitzen and all the other reindeer are there with “the sleigh full of toys.” And below the picture is the well known “‘Twas the Night before Christmas” with not a word of all its many verses omitted. There is a seven verse poem entitled “Christmas Carol” and another called “Little Children, Can You Tell.” There are “Christmas Side-Views” written for the “Gazette by the Reverend T. Hork.

Your columnist looked almost in vain for accounts of Christmas celebrations in churches and school. There is, however, one story of a Sabbath School party in St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lower Merion where “the youthful army, with their many warm friends, filled the church to repletion”. The account of the Christmas celebration in the school is worthy of almost full quotation. Under the title of “Kris-Kringle” the “Gazette” says:

“On Friday before Christmas St. Nicholas made sure of his visit to Wayne Lyceum School. Fire had been put out, and Kris had contrived to get down through the stove pipe in the absence of the old-fashioned chimney. We are not surprised that he comes from his solitude at least once a year to make himself happy with the sight of many children; and we know he will never want to discontinue his visits to the happy place of Wayne. Kris had trimmed the room with evergreens . . . there were gifts of beautiful figured candies and boxes of fruit . . . with a neat little speech a leader from the ranks of the children presented to the teacher a handsome gold pencil and pen and case.”

And with two verses of a poem written by ” J. T. S.” in the January 6 issue of the “Gazette” on the subject of “New Year’s Day” we close our account of the holiday season of seventy-nine years ago in Wayne.

“Poets have o’er it snug
Bells have been o’er it rung
Guns by eager watchers shot
As ‘old and ‘new’ changed about.
Be cheerful, unhappy soul
You will reach a happy goal
Ere many another year
Is laid on the dreadful bier.”

The old “Wayne Gazette,” part 3

/ Emma C. Patterson

In one cursory glance over the front page headlines of “The Suburban”, the reader of today obtains a quick overall picture of the local news of Radnor township for the week. not so with the “Wayne Weekly Gazette” of 80 years ago. He had to turn to the fourth and last page, where under the general heading of “Local News” there was a short paragraph or two on some of the more important happenings of the week. As stated before in this column, the front page was devoted to poems, essays and short stories, each of the latter with its very obvious moral. Indeed, so well hidden away were the local news items that this columnist did not at first discover what a valuable record they presented of life in our community in the very early seventies.

Under date of August 3, 1871, there is a very brief story of “our new post office,” a news item that would make the large headlines and a picture on the front page of any current local weekly. The “Wayne Weekly Gazette” merely states (and in very small print): “Thanks to our most excellent representation in Congress from this district, Honorable Washington Townsend, our new postoffice has been established and named agreeable with the wishes of the members of the Wayne Lyceum and other residents of Wayne. Mr. Robert H. McCormick has been appointed postmaster. The correct name of the office is Louella Post Office, Delaware County, Pennsylvania.”

(In this connection it is interesting to note that while the postoffice was officially “Louella”, the “Gazette” always refers to the community as “Wayne.”)

The last two issues of “The Suburban” have carried front page stories with prominent headlines on recent fires in the center of the town. A fire that must have been of equal importance 80 years ago is described in a few words and under a small heading of “Destructive Fire” in the “Gazette”:

“We regret to say the barn which was formerly known as the ‘Cleaver Barn’, now on the plan of Louella farm as No. 6, the property of Mr. J. Henry Askin, was burned to the ground on Thursday morning, between 10 and 12 o’clock. It contained about 50 tons of hay, and the products of about 10 acres of rye. The superintendent of Louella, Mr. George E. Askin, and his assistant, R. H. McCormick, believe it was set on fire. It was insured in the Delaware County Mutual Insurance Company.”

(It would be interesting to know what fire-fighting methods were used in a period so far ante-dating our efficient Radnor Fire Company. There is no mention of this, however.)

In connection with the destructive storm that swept this general section and states farther west in December, our readers might like to hear of the tornado of August, 1872, as recorded under the heading of “Heavy Storm.” “The storm and tornado of Tuesday night was very considerable about the neighborhood of Eagle and Wayne. At the Eagle, things generally have been very lively for some time. Two cows belonging to Mr. Floyd were killed and many trees blown down, etc., but no lives were lost that we heard of. At Wayne nothing very serious occurred, save some flowers and vases went over and down. No buildings, however, were in the least injured. We should be thankful that it was no worse.”

However, the section to the northeast of Wayne did not fare so well in this storm, as Charles Lyle, a gate keeper on the turnpike between King of Prussia and Norristown, was struck by lightning while sitting on his piazza talking to a neighbor. “Mrs. Lyle,” according to the “Gazette”, “found her husband upon his face, quite dead, while Mr. Bernhard recovered, but is still suffering from the shock.”

A small item of interest in the “Local News” column was that in the month of August, 1871, “20,000 quarts of pure milk were sent in all from Wayne to the City.” Just how “pure would that milk be considered now by our Radnor Township Board of Health?

Your columnist was much puzzled by the following item in an August, 1871, “Gazette”: “Kauffman Avenue is this week being graded, preparatory to digging the cellars for the ten cottages to be built by Messrs. Duncan and Richardson for the President of the Wayne Lyceum.” She knew that Mr. Askin was the Lyceum president. But where was “Kauffman avenue”, a name so entirely foreign to Wayne of today? In a “Gazette” of a slightly later date she obtained a clue in a piece about “New Reservoir” which stated that “Mr. Isaac S. Cassin, former Engineer of the Philadelphia Water Department, is now engaged in building a large reservoir, capable of holding about 150,000 gallons of water, on the high ground immediately west of the new cottages on Kauffman avenue. This point is about the highest ground on ‘Louella’ and the basin in the course of erection is intended to supply the entire plan with water.”

As this reservoir of a bygone Wayne was located at what is now approximately the intersection of West Wayne and Bloomingdale avenues, it was “immediately west” of what is now the first block of West Wayne avenue. It would seem that the latter was once Kauffman avenue! And speaking of Bloomingdale avenue it is interesting to know that “Mr. Martien and family were the first residents on this new and beautiful avenue. The family occupy the first house on the west side of the avenue, above Lancaster Pike. Mr. Martien occupies a position on the Pennsylvania Railroad; is a most worthy and excellent young man, and it affords us great pleasure to extend to him and his family a hearty welcome to Wayne.” (From the “Gazette” of August 3, 1871.)

Going a little farther afield in Delaware County the editor of the “Local News” column says of Swarthmore College: “Any one that has not seen this handsome college should take a trip that way as soon as they can. We cannot give the dimensions of the building nor rightly describe the grounds by merely driving by them. We know that it is a school for boys and girls and we think it is a Friends School. Some one that knows more about it will please favor us with a better local. This is another of the adornments of Delaware County. The building is massive.”

(If someone later favored the editor with “a better local” you columnist has not as yet found it. The above seems a little inadequate as the description of the beginning of one of the best known colleges in Delaware County, indeed, in this whole section of the country.)

That “Local News” was not without its humor is evidenced by the story under the title “A Man Forgets his Child.” It seems that “a gentleman, accompanied by two ladies and four children, got off at Villanova, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, with the ladies and three of the little ones, while the other remained quite forgotten and fast asleep on one of the seats. The father was apprised of his neglect by one of the passengers as the train was leaving the station. The bell was pulled and we stopped again, and ye forgetful parent rushed frantically into the car, seized the little slumberer in his arms amid roars of laughter.”

Main Line School Night, part 1 – Lower Merion High School, Upper Darby Adult School

/ Emma C. Patterson

On Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, the sixteenth semester of Main Line “School Night” starts in Lower Merion High School. The fact that it is Lincoln’s birthday is purely coincidental in this connection. The interest and importance of the event is that “School Night”, starting in a small way in Wayne in February, 1939, has grown to the point where at the Spring term of one year ago it had reached an enrollment of some 1620 in Lower Merion High School. The first joint session of Wayne and Lower Merion Township was held in the Fall of 1940. Except for a few of the war years “School Night”, either as a Wayne project or later as a Main Line one, sponsored jointly by Radnor and Lower Merion townships, has been in continuous existence as an adult education medium.

To those who were interested in this undertaking in the closing months of 1938 and the early ones of 1939 it is a heartwarming thing to walk towards Radnor High School now on a crisp October Monday evening, or a wintry one in November or early December. The building is ablaze with lights, every moment the wide front doors swing open upon some one intent on reaching his or her class on time. Automobiles are parked for blocks around – pedestrians are coming from every direction, all with one mecca–their adult education school, started 12 years ago by a small group of interested citizens, a school now strengthened and enlarged by union with Lower Merion. Wayne’s first enrollment reached the then rather startling total of over 400. The record enrollment since has been 1200.

To one man more than to any other, or even to any group of men and women, School Night owes its birth in this community–and its continued success as the years go by. Fired with enthusiasm by the success of a similar project in Maplewood (N. J.) and his belief that adult education would be supported in Wayne, Harry Creutzburg initiated “School Night” in his own community, and by enthusiasm and his hard work he has carried it on in Radnor and Lower Merion High Schools until the project has reached the pinnacle of success. From the beginning he has been not only chairman of the organization, but its most ardent backer and hardest working man of all!

In the December issue of “Reader’s Digest” there appeared an article on a highly successful back – to – school experiment that had been started in Maplewood (N. J.) four years before. It was just then joining forces with South Orange, N. J., in greatly enlarged quarters and with a more extensive program of studies. Mr. Creutzburg took the article to A. M. Ehart, editor of “The Suburban”, who was interested enough to republish the article in full in the December 31 issue of his weekly paper. By the January 7 issue of “The Suburban” plans had progressed to the point where definite announcement was made that “early in February . . . one of the most interesting and perhaps far-reaching experiments ever attempted in our community and township will be inaugurated.” Not only was the tentative date set, but a list of subjects for possible courses was presented. It was a long list–out of it some 12 or 14 were to be chosen. In the end this resolved itself into 11, ranging from “Great Personalities of History” to “Pottery”.

Soon every shop window in Wayne and the adjacent suburbs displayed posters advertising the fact that “The Registration Night Party” for “School Night” would be held on January 31 in Radnor High School. By this time “School Night” had been chosen as the official name for the new organization. It has always been the personal opinion of this columnist that Mr. Creutzburg’s simple reversal of the conventional term “Night School” had much to do with the charm and interest always associated with the Wayne experiment.

At the Registration School Night Party, Mr. Creutzburg presided at the meeting held in the High School auditorium. T. Bayard Beatty, then principal of that school, told in detail of his visit to the Maple Adult School and noted their interest in a similar experiment about to be carried out in Wayne. Mrs. T. Magill Patterson, then a member of the Radnor Township School Board, listed the various classes, describing the nature of each of the 11 and telling something of the teachers and lecturers. Dr. Theodore L. Reller, Professor of Adult Education at the University of Pennsylvania, was the principal speaker. A writer and lecturer of note, Dr. Reller told especially of the adult education currently carried on in England and Denmark. Paul Clark concluded the program with instruction on the process of the enrollment which was to follow the meeting.

Some 269 registrants was the sum total of that evening’s enrollment. Later additions brought this up to over 400. Courses included “Horticulture and Gardening”, taught by outstanding members of the National Gardeners Association, the State Department of Agriculture and the Morris Arboretum; “Nearby Colonial History”, taught by S. Paul Teamer, principal, Tredyffrin – Easttown High School; “The Play Way to Health” where the age limits were from “sophomore to senility”, with Miss Elvina Castle and Leo M. Curtin, then director of Physical Training at Radnor High School, as instructors; “Public Speaking” as taught by Henry V. Andrews, Director of Speech at Girard College. Other courses included “Contract Bridge Bidding” with Mrs. Edith Wood Atkinson as teacher; “Great Personalities of History” as taught by Harold C. B. Speight, Dean of Men at Swarthmore College; “Clothing and Personality” with Mrs. Edith T. Bechtel as lecturer; “The Changing Scene” with various lecturers form week to week; “The Land of Youth” as taught by Mrs. Dorothy Waldo Phillips, popular speaker at Parent-Teacher groups; “The Lure of Rod and Line” with various speakers and “Pottery”, a course of short talks, demonstrations and handwork as conducted by E. deForest Curtis.

By the time “School Night” went into its second session it had gained such widespread fame that “news photographers’ flash-bulbs were flaring in every class room” with pictures being taken for the Evening “Public Ledger” and the Sunday “Philadelphia Record”. The New York “Times” had been “making inquiries.” An article had even appeared in the Christian Science “Monitor”.

Enrollment had jumped to 430 and was still going upward. A delegation from Upper Darby, interested in setting up a similar plan in their school, had been conducted through “School Night’s” various classes. Many communities were represented among the registrants of the School. The committee was busy refuting rumors that the teaching expenses of “School Night” were being defrayed in whole or in part by W. P. A. funds. So popular did the public speaking courses become that there were soon three sections instead of one. As many as 42 guest tickets were issued on one night. Questionnaires were being issued to ascertain the students’ preferences among some 50 courses suggested for the Fall term.

The few citizens who had been sufficiently interested in adult education to initiate “School Night” were now assisted by a well-organized committee. Those serving on it were Mr. Creutzburg, chairman; Martin L. Gill, Jr., secretary; Jason I. Fenimore, Jr., treasurer; Mrs. T. Magill Patterson, Paul Clark, T. Bayard Beatty, Mrs. F. Ashby Wallace, John R. Shaw, Dr. Seneca Egbert, Dr. Henry G. Fischer, Warren Lentz, Miss Grace A. Burdick, Rev. John Scott Everton, Leo M. Curtin, Charles R. Mintzer, Mrs. Frederick A. McCord, E. deF. Curtis, Douglas C. Wendell and Rhodes R. Stabley. After 12 years, two of these 19 maintain their membership on the board, Mr. Creutzburg as its chairman and Mrs. Patterson, whose membership has never lapsed since the beginning. Death removed Dr. Egbert some years ago. Change of residence has taken others while different interests have diverted the remainder.

(To be continued)

Main Line School Night, part 2 – Upper Darby Adult School, Wayne School Night

/ Emma C. Patterson

(Your columnist stated in last week’s issue of “The Suburban” that “School Night” had its first session in February, 1939. This date should have been February, 1938.)

––

In inaugurating School Night, Wayne had the distinction of being the first community in Pennsylvania to adopt the informal type of adult school, centered in the public school system. In so doing it followed in the footsteps of Maplewood, N. J., which had started its back-to-school experiment four years before, under the direction of Mr. Keith Torbert. However, it was but a short time after the beginning of School Night in Wayne that two other Philadelphia suburban communities took up the idea.

In Upper Darby the Father’s Association of the high school sponsored a short term school beginning two weeks before the spring term of Wayne School Night ended. Then by Fall, Swarthmore had opened its “Adult Night at School” with an enrollment of over 200 in its eleven courses.

At the November meeting of the Lower Merion School Board, its members considered establishment of classes similar to those in operation in Radnor and Upper Darby. Superintendent S. W. Downs was authorized to make an investigation and report back to the Board at a later meeting. However, it was not until October 1940 that such a plan was put into operation when Lower Merion, joining forces with Radnor, formed the Main Line School Night Association.

From its small beginning in the Spring of 1938, the Upper Darby Adult School became a flourishing institution by October of that year. At that time it was offering 22 courses, registering about 1200 by its opening night. May prospective students were turned away from those classes which had limited registration. Additional members in classes with unlimited registration soon brought the total number of students to well past the 1200 mark.

At the same time enrollment in Wayne School Night reached the 700 mark and more with the beginning of its second semester, with registrants coming from 51 other communities. These ranged from points as far away as Camden, Philadelphia, Whitford, Downingtown, Ambler, Chatham Village, Conshohocken, Uwchian and even Claymont, Delaware! Public interest and community support were rapidly growing. Other members were added to the original Board of Directors of 19, as listed in last week’s column. Among these were Mrs. Ruth W. Cady, Dr. A. J. Culver, R. T. Eichelberger, Hubert F. Ellson, Mrs. Charles B. Finley, Dr. Henry G. Fischer, Oliver H. Jackson, Stanton C. Kelton, Hermna Lengel, Mrs. Alex Makarov, John S. Renwick, T. Griffiths Roberts, Mrs. Edwin A. Schoen, Robert Trent and L. M. Wilson.

The Fall program was inagurated with a series of three forum lectures on successive Monday evenings before the formal beginning of the School Night program on Monday, October 10. The first was a talk on “The Crisis in American Civilizaiton”, by Dr. Will Durant, author of a number of thought-challenging books. The second told “What the G-Men are Doing,” a lecture by Major W. H. Drane Lester, an aide to J. Edgar Hoover in the F. B. I. On the third Monday evening Harrison Forman, traveler, explorer, writer and photographer, discussed “The Far East Aflame.”

A special feature article written by H. W. Fry in the evening “Bulletin”, under date of September 30, 1938, had the heading “Fathers and Mothers Go to School” and in further explanation “He Learns Fishing and She Studies Exercises.” The article combined comments on both Wayne’s School Night and Upper Darby’s Adult School, stating among other things that “the courses in both schools represent a blending of the old academic and practical recreational desires of the grown-ups.”

On its editorial page the Main Line “Times” of September 14, 1938 (it was then a daily) said that “School Night is a project worthy of enthusiastic support by all who are interested in the world about them and who seek worthwhile recreation. In addition to the lecture program, bringing some of the nation’s best minds to the Main Line in discussions of problems in the world of today, School Night offers a wide variety of courses in subjects, ranging from basket-weaving to history. It is one of the best examples we have seen of the current widespread movement in adult education.”

“The Suburban” generously supported the hometown project, both on its editorial page and in its news columns. In the former it predicted that “School Night” is here to stay and that in years to come it will seem as indispensable as the public library.” In an edition of later date it urges support for the forum idea instituted in the second semester of School Night. “An ambitious venture for a suburban community?” it asks, and then replies, “No, rather a sane and logical development. Living in the shadow of a great metropolis, we have been too prone to look to the city for cultural and educational entertainment. The Main Line can and should support a forum.”

Even “The Banker” had an article of interest on “School Night in the Schools”, written by Jason L. Fenimore, treasurer of the Wayne Title and Trust Company, and a director of School Night. He writes in particular of two classes of especial importance in banking circles, “Money and Banking”, taught by O. Howard Wolfe, of the Philadelphia National Bank and a resident of Radnor, and “The Anatomy of American Capitalism”, taught by Dr. Karl Anderson of the Economics Department at Bryn Mawr College.

In all some 700 to 800 people enjoyed this first Fall of School Night, which ended with an old-time song-fest to which all were welcome. There were exhibits of the work of various classes, a one-act play by the Dramatic Art group and singing by the choir of men’s and women’s voices, led by Dr. Henry Gordon Thunder. And then everyone joined in the singing of familiar Christmas carols, a happy ending to a good ten weeks of School Night.