Other Times
100 Years Ago – 1918: Rent profiteering in Chester has developed to such unusual proportions that steps have been taken through T. Woodward Trainer, secretary of the Chester Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade, to place the matter in the hands of the government authorities in Washington. Ever since the war boom has been on in Chester, property owners have been taking advantage of the scarcity of houses and have made the rentals so far beyond reason that hundreds of longtime Chester residents have been forced to leave the city. Houses that rented for $10 to $12 two years ago are now demanding from $25 to $30.
75 Years Ago – 1943: Sunday the mothers of America will receive the homage of their sons from the widespread corners of the earth and a national holiday that sprung from a “hometown” idea in Philadelphia 35 years ago. In Chester, a woman who has heard the guns of four wars shatter the peace of this nation, will have the distinction of being the oldest mother in the city to receive the traditional gifts of love which American showers on her mothers the second Sunday of each May. She is Mrs. Mary Slokum Sproul, whose name is interwoven in the very history of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Sproul, 97 ½ years old, lives at 721 W. Eight St., Where she has resided for the last 50 years.
50 Years Ago – 1968: Below-normal temperatures were reported in parts of Delaware County overnight, resulting in early morning frost in the rural areas. Although the U.S. Weather Bureau at Philadelphia International Airport reported an overnight low of 43 degrees, the thermometer dipped nearly 10 degrees below that in the western portions of the county.
25 Years Ago – 1993: The computer printout is as fat as a telephone directory and many of the names it lists could have been lifted from a Who’s Who of Chester public life. There are teachers and businessmen, civic and religious leaders, and doctors. The distinction that earned these luminaries a mention on the same list is this: None has paid his taxes to the Chester Upland School District.
10 Years Ago – 2008: The Blue Star Service Flag will fly from flagpoles at the Delaware County Government Center and Courthouse Complex throughout May to honor all those in Delaware County who are in military service and their families.