Other Times
100 Years Ago – 1919: While car No. 307 of the Southern Pennsylvania Traction Company was turning the corner at Fourth Street and Edgmont Avenue in Chester on Saturday, the pole slipped off the wire and struck the arc light on the corner. The globe was demolished, but despite the fact that several persons were standing on the corner, no one was struck by the flying glass.
75 Years Ago – 1944: Nearly 4,000 persons – the largest crowd of the season – jammed into Deshong Park Thursday night for the sixth in a series of 11 summer concerts arranged by the Chester Business Men’s Association. Threatening weather gave way to an almost perfect evening and a full moon emerged from the clouds just as dusk settled over the city as conductor Tommy Leeson led the
50-piece Sun Ship Band in a well-balanced program of popular and semi-classical numbers.
50 Years Ago – 1969: The Chester Housing Authority met the demands of tenants of the Ruth L. Bennett Project to move their administrative offices into their new central office on West Sixth Street within
10 days of the tenant demand. The project tenants were promised that the office space used by the CHA administration would be returned to their use on July 1. The tenants wanted the buildings and youth recreation and counseling space.
25 Years Ago – 1994:
For the second time in its history, the Benjamin Banneker House, the oldest community center in Chester, must move to accommodate progress. In
1962, the city demolished its site on the Avenue of the States as part of a downtown facelift. Now the state intends to plow through Banneker House, at 219 Concord Ave., as it widens Route 291 from two to four lanes. “Maybe this is the answer to our prayers,” reasoned Ella Bryant, Banneker House’s executive director. The former Franklin firehouse, where the group operates, is over a century old and expensive to heat.
10 Years Ago – 2009:
A new boiler will soon be installed at the Schoolhouse Senior Center in Ridley Township, thanks to a $73,302 donation from the federal Community Development Block Grant program administered by Delaware County Council. Council Vice Chairman Jack Whelan presented the check Thursday during the center’s monthly birthday party. The boiler is 65 years old.