Tag: Newspapers

The Saturday Club, ‘Suburban’ Archives, State Federation of Pennsylvania Women

/ Emma C. Patterson

From time to time this writer has occasion to refer to the files of “The Suburban” for material for her column that is nowhere else on record. In bound form these files are complete back to February, 1906, when fire completely destroyed “The Suburban” office, then located on East Lancaster avenue.

This particular type of research work is a time consuming affair for the reason that it is so difficult for the writer to confine her attention to the particular subject on hand at the moment. A familiar name in the next column catches her eye, and she must read that article to the end even though it has no slightest relation to the matter on hand!

The old files are indeed veritable storehouses of records of people and happenings in Wayne back almost to the turn of the century–a composite picture in print of our churches, schools, township government and organizations, in short, of Radnor township itself. From time to time sketches made at random from material in these files will appear in this column.

Opening up to May, 1907, issues, a date just forty-five years past, we read of the election to office of the 16th president of the Saturday Club, Mrs. Milton J. Orme. This month the Club elected its 37th president, Mrs. Spencer V. Smith, who on May 20 will be installed in office. Inauguration day feel on June 4, 45 years ago.

In addition to Mrs. Orme, the officers were Mrs. Robert LeBoutillier and Mrs. S. T. Fulweiler, first and second vice-presidents; Mrs. George H. Wilson corresponding secretary, and Mrs. W. W. Heberton, treasurer. There were six directors: Mrs. C. J. Wood, Mrs. Fulweiler, Mrs. Thomas, Mrs. W. W. Tarbell, Mrs. F. D. Scanlon and Mrs. C. H. Howson.

On Inauguration Day the Club was very festive in its decorations of green and white, the Club colors. Miss Edith G. Freeman was in charge of a musical program which featured songs by the Club Chorus and by Miss Lilian Walter, soloist, and piano numbers by Miss Marguerite Elder. There was also an amusing skit on “Sightseeing” read by Mrs. J. W. Show. The meeting concluded with a discussion of a subject of absorbing interest–the twelfth annual convention of the State Federation of Pennsylvania Women to be held in October at the Devon Inn with the Saturday Club as the hostess Club.

A matter of even greater pride to the Club was the fact that Mrs. Ellis L. Campbell (now Mrs. William Henry Sayen), a woman who had twice been president of the Club, was now president of the State Federation. As such she would call to order the opening meeting of the Federation. As such she would call to order the opening meeting of the Federation. This meeting would be held in the Ball Room of the Devon Inn.

When the 55th annual meeting of the State Federation is held the latter part of this month there will be several thousand women in attendance. In fact there are only about three or four cities in Pennsylvania with hotel accommodations sufficient to house the delegates. This year the convention will be held in Harrisburg. In 1907 an attendance of 300 was considered large. Many of those from the western part of the State came by a specially chartered train.

To plan for their entertainment required a large and efficient committee. Heading it was Mrs. George Miles Wells, a former president of the Club and one of Wayne’s best known women. Assisting her were Mrs. William B. Riley, Mrs. P. S. Conrad, Mrs. S. T. Fulweiler, Mrs. J. H. Jefferis, Mrs. C. B. Stilwell, Mrs. George H. Wilson, Mrs. C. J. Wood, Mrs. Frank Smith, Mrs. W. A. Nichols, Mrs. Harold A. Freeman, and Mrs. A. A. Parker. All of these women were prominent in the civic and social life of Wayne at that time.

When the Convention opened on Tuesday afternoon in the ballroom of the Devon Inn, delegates were welcomed by Mrs. Orme as president of the hostess club. It was a matter of much interest and pride to Saturday Club members that when Mrs. Campbell responded she was speaking not only as president of the State Federation, but as a charter member and past president of the Saturday Club. At the reception at the Inn that evening they were equally pleased that Mrs. Campbell’s address contained “many references to the home Club.”

Special guest of honor at the reception was Mrs. Sarah Platt Decker, president of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs. The evening program of entertainment consisted of the presentation of the cantata, “Sleeping Beauty” by the Saturday Club chorus under the direction of Miss Edith G. Freeman. Solo parts were sung by Miss Florence Fulweiler, Miss Lillian Walters and Miss Freeman.

Another feature of the evening was the reading of a humorous poem on “Suffrage” by a well-known leader of that militant group, Miss Jane Campbell.

It is interesting to note what were the matters of paramount importance as evidenced by the topics of talks given at various sessions. In addition to suffrage, there were those on “Modern Methods of Prevention and Cure of Tuberculosis”, “Home Economics as an Educational Phase in Civics” and one on “Civic Improvement” in which Mrs. Edward W. Biddle, of Carlisle, incoming president of the State Federation stated that “in the great present day movements for civic improvement, unquestionably for the most potent single factor is the influence of womens’ clubs”. Club women were also being urged at this time to use their influence in the matter of Child Labor Laws, an issue of great importance in Pennsylvania. Dr. Samuel Lindsay, of Columbia University, strongly recommended a Child Labor committee in the State Federation in his talk before one of its sessions.

The convention had its less serious side, however, in the way of entertainment for the delegates. One afternoon they were guests at tea of Miss M. Carey Thomas, president of Bryn Mawr College, who later arranged for a tour of the buildings and grounds under the guidance of Senior students. That evening a performance of “Taming of the Shrew” was given at the Devon Inn, followed by the singing of Shakespearean songs under the direction of Mrs. Fulweiler of the Saturday Club.

To those who may not know Mrs. Ellis L. Campbell as the present Mrs. William Henry Sayen, it will be interesting to learn that she is still living in her home on Walnut avenue, and that up to a few years ago was active in the Saturday Club. In addition to serving as president of the State Federation in 1907, she was its first president, and is now an honorary president of that organization.

The forming of Delaware County, part 7 (banks & newspapers)

/ Emma C. Patterson

Recent articles in this column have featured the churches and schools of Delaware County with particular reference to those that were established at an early date in the history of the county. These were our institutions of religion and of learning. Equally interesting are our business institutions, among them the banks.

The first bank to be chartered in this county after the “Omnibus Bank Bill” became a State law in March 1814 was teh Bank of Delaware County, doing business in Chester. After the formation of the county the need for banking facilities became evident. With Chester as the county seat and the commercial center of the community, its location there was an obvious one.

Early Swedish and Dutch settlers along the Delaware River found the Indians using a form of currency called wampum-peag. It consisted of white and dark purple beads, shells and stones in long strings. After the early colonists came, trade was conducted chiefly by the barter system. “Country money” consisted of furs, skins and country produce while “ready money” consisted of Spanish, Swedish, Dutch and New England coins.

There were 187 original shareholders from all sections of the county in the Bank of Delaware County when it was founded in 1814. Its first location was in Preston Eyre’s house on West Third street, Chester, where he had conducted a general store for some years. Within a few months’ time a house and lot were purchased on Market Square. After some alterations it was occupied by the bank and remained its home for almost 70 years. In 1864 it incorporated as “The Delaware County National Bank” and in 1882 a new building was erected on the old Market Square site. In 1928 it merged with the Pennsylvania National Bank of Chester and in 1933 a consolidation with the banking department of the Delaware County Trust Company was effected.

It was 50 years after the founding of this first Delaware County bank that in 1864 two more were started, the First National Bank of Chester and the First National Bank of Media, both organized under the National Bank Act passed by Congress in that year. Some 20 years and more later two others were organized, the Delaware County Trust Company, in 1885, and our own Wayne Title and Trust Company in 1890.

Soon after the turn of the century the First National Bank of Clifton Heights and the Swarthmore National Bank and Trust Company were incorporated, the former in 1902, the latter in 1904. Since then a number of other banking institutions have come into existence throughout the entire county.

As Delaware County grew in population and in business, its affairs were chronicled by the early newspapers or journals. The first of these was called the “Post Boy”, because it was delivered by post riders. This quaint old periodical, of which there are only four known copies in existence, was owned by Steuben Bulter and Elijhaleb B. Worthington. Nine years later, in 1826, it was renamed the “Upland Union”, continuing in operation under that title until 1852.

In 1828 a second journal, “The Weekly Visitor”, was established in Chester by William Russell. It was a short-lived publication, however, as it went out of business in 1832. With “The Weekly Visitor” press and equipment the “Delaware County Republican” was founded a year later in Darby. This paper adhered to the Whig principles for a time, later taking up the fight of the new Republican party. Having survived many changes in ownership and in name, it became a daily known as the “Morning Republican” in 1900. Twenty-three years later it merged with the well-known “Chester Times.”

The “Times” itself was founded in September, 1876, by Major John Hodgson, with the principle of stressing local news as its main tenet. By 1882 the Chester Times Publishing Company was formed by 15 leading Delaware County residents. First known as the “Daily Times”, it now became the “Chester Times” and under this name its real progress began. Through many years of changing ownership it continued in existence until November, 1941, when it suspended publication for a short time as the result of a strike of the editorial, advertising, business and circulation emplyes. Shortly thereafter, however, the business was reorganized by a company headed by Alfred G. Hill, of Topeka, Kansas, a veteran newspaperman, under whose direction the paper has reached a new peak of prosperity.

Another very early Delaware County newspaper was “The Delaware County Democrat”, founded in Chester in 1835. Some years later it merged with “The Pilot”, which was started in 1877. Many other newspapers, too numerous to name individually, were established in the county, most of them with but short terms of existence.

Of the more than 30 weeklies now published in Delaware county, only four were in existence before the turn of the century. Among them is “The Suburban”, founded in 1885. The others are “The Weekly Reporter”, a legal journal founded in 1881 and also published in Chester, and “The Rockdale Herald”, a Democratic weekly founded in 1898, and the “Darby Progress.”

In closing the series on the history of Delaware County, which has included something of its early settlers, its native Indians, Penn’s landing and home in Upland, the old mills and tanneries, and other industries, the historical churches and colleges, this columnist wishes to acknowledge once more her indebtedness to Nolan’s “Southeastern Pennsylvania” for much of her information.

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.”

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 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)