Other Times

100 Years Ago – 1918: Eleven men were injured, one seriously, when an auto truck driven wildly along the Post Road opposite the big Viscose plant in Marcus Hook crashed into a score of men at drill last evening. The men, drilling in preparation of being called to the colors, were all members of the Military Training Corps of the American Viscose Company. The driver, a Wilmington, Del., man, was arrested and held on $500 bail to await the result of the injured persons’ condition by Burgess Goff.

75 Years Ago – 1943: Reflecting the general apathy over today’s primary election, little political talk was heard in places where politicians gather. Chester’s City Hall was the deadest place in town, with most of the offices locked, and department heads making only brief appearances there during the day. The only county wide fight in the republican Party finds John E. Burt, of Upper Darby, bucking the organization’s choices for county commissioners, William R. Mooney, of Radnor, and Clarence L. Conner, of Chester.

50 Years Ago – 1968: A lumber yard was heavily damaged by a general alarm fire in Upper Darby Friday night. Seven companies responded to the alarm at the E.N. Clothier Lumber Millwork Co., 6502 Baltimore Ave., near the Fernwood Cemetery. There were no serious injuries reported. Two garages belong to the Fernwood Vault Co., which adjoins the lumber yard, sustained some fire damage.

25 Years Ago – 1993: Mention riverboat gambling on the Delaware to County Councilman Paul Mattus and he gets dollar signs in his eyes. But U.S. Rep. Thomas Foglietta, D-1 of Philadelphia, who represents most of the river towns in the county, calls the concept “repulsive.” They’re on opposite sides of an issue that has grown from wishful speculation to a project so tangible that New Jersey casinos are scooping up parcels of prime docking space in Philadelphia. To Mattus, a Republican who’s up for re-election this November, Foglietta’s stance is “a terrible mistake.”

10 Years Ago – 2008: Nine Delaware County businesses, employing 756 workers and having $172.3 million in 2007 revenues, have been named to Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States. The following county businesses were ranked accordingly: No. 59, ProfitPoint Inc. of Clifton Heights; No. 571 Finit Solutions, Media; No. 825 AdminServer, Chester; No. 2,222 Fisher Tank, Chester; No. 2,253, Direct Choice, Radnor; No. 3,041, Arora Engineers, Chadds Ford; No. 3,827, Topp Portable Air, Aston; No. 4,359, Squire Pharmacy, Springfield; and No. 4,758, New Way Air Bearings, Aston.

– COLIN AINSWORTH