Other Times

100 Years Ago – 1920:

Psst, the secret is out. Stool-pigeons, bear traps, “inside dope,” street addresses, finger prints, rogues’ gallery – all these and other helps are in the discard for Chester detectives have a Ouija board. At first a pleasant interruption in their routine, the detectives now die hard for the Ouija board. An example is cited by one of the “trail-hitters.” A year ago, a gold watch was stolen from a local citizen. A week ago, the Ouija board was consulted, the address of a Market Street pawn shop was given, the watch was recovered and the man who pawned it was taken into custody. 75 Years Ago – 1945:

Schools in the central part of the county remained closed with uncertain storm conditions. Remaining closed this morning were schools in Nether Providence, Marple, Middletown, Springfield, Haverford, the Notre Dame Catholic High for Girls at Moylan, and Trainer Grammar School. Most of the students at these schools come from rural areas and are transported to classes by school bus.

50 Years Ago – 1970:

Conversation and music, both folk and blues-rock, drew about 500 high school students to the reopening Friday night of the Greek Olive coffee house and its new Olive Branch dance club in Springfield. The opening were unmarred by disturbances. The original Greek Olive in St. Paul’s United Church of Christ here became the center of controversy when police said they had received numerous complains about it and the teenagers’ conduct there.

25 Years Ago – 1995:

A 13-year-old Springfield boy stole a car from a local business, left behind his school bag and bicycle, and returned while police were at the scene. The owner gave him the keys to “open the car and have a better look,” police said. While they were looking for the car about an hour after it was taken, the boy returned with the car, which was damaged and filled with mud. Police said he told them he had taken the car to Smedley Park and had turfed the field.

10 Years Ago – 2010:

Andrew Wyeth was born in 1917, in the home of his parents in Chadds Ford. He died Jan. 16, in his own bed, barely a mile away. In those intervening 91years, he produced a body of work unique in the history of art. Spending a lifetime walking the roads and fields of Chadds Ford and the coastline of Maine, he created a world that can only be called “Wyeth-esque.”