Other Times
100 Years Ago – 1920: Run over by his own automobile and sustaining injuries that necessitated his admittance to Chester Hospital for treatment was the experience of George C. Birney, a plumbing contractor, of 602 Kerlin St., yesterday. It was due to Birney momentarily forgetting that he had left his car in gear that the accident occurred.
75 Years Ago – 1945: One of the largest barns in Delaware County was destroyed by fire Sunday night as flames consumed the old frame barn on the property of Thomas C. Willcox, Walter Road, Chester Heights. Scores of motorists jammed the area as eight fire companies were on the scene to save other threatened buildings.
50 Years Ago – 1970: All things being equal, Edgar Leake, 13, would have resumed his formal education today at Douglass Junior High School, Eighth Street and Central Avenue, Chester, about 10 minutes from his home. However, because the state Human Relations Commissions and, indeed, city school officials concluded that all was not equal for thousands of Chester children, Edgar and many of his schoolmates walked past Douglass this morning to Pulaski Junior High School, Seventh and Harwick streets, about 30 minutes and 23 blocks from young Leake’s home.
25 Years Ago – 1995: A huge block party on Madison Street celebrated the renaissance of the Chester’s East End. Watching a huge crane moving the second floor of a pre-fabricated home, partygoers lunched “Chester-style,” on table-long hoagies from Stacky’s, soft pretzels from Kyj’s, water ice from May’s and, of course, hot dogs from John’s Doggie House. Community Action Agency of Delaware County has started its $4 million revitalization of the East Side, first building 31 pre-fabricated homes in the 900 block of Madison, followed by 14 home renovations.
10 Years Ago – 2010: Anybody want to buy a 1992 Grumman pumper rescue vehicle? Middletown wants to sell the damaged fire truck, but so far it’s not received any qualified bids. Township Manager Bruce Clark said notices of the intended sale were sent to about
70 manufacturers and remanufacturers of fire apparatus, but no one was interested. The township then contacted 40 salvage operators in the area, but there still were no takers.