Other Times
100 Years Ago – 1921: Chief of Police Fred Cooper, and several police officers of Media, arrested George Amito, of South Plum Street last night.
The man was charged with selling liquor without a license. Amito is charged with having sold wine to a number of boys about 16 years of age, said Cooper last night. The chief said he is going to keep Media free from speakeasies and hooch factories, despite the protests from certain elements.
75 Years Ago – 1946: The Pennsylvania State Highway Department is moving to eliminate the death-dealing railroad and trolley grade crossing on the new Industrial Highway in Tinicum. The scene of six deaths within the past year, the dangerous grade crossing is to be overpassed by a bridge. Shortages of steel and critical materials made it impossible to build the over-pass at the time the highway was constructed in 1943 and 1944.
50 Years Ago – 1971: Gov. Milton J. Shapp signed into law Thursday legislation turning the Old Colonial Courthouse in Chester over to the Pennsylvania Historical Commission. Shapp signed House Bill 183 in the presence of the measure’s sponsors, and then gave each of them a pen used in the signing. After the signing, State Rep. Thomas H. Worrilow, R-159 of Chester, presented to Shapp a line drawing of the courthouse done by Fletcher MacNeill.
25 Years Ago – 1996: A brush fire which threatened garages on Arlington Avenue in Upper Darby was doused thanks to the quick thinking of two 11-yearold girls playing nearby, officials said yesterday. Deputy Fire Chief John Hicks credited Michelle Piacentini and Stephanie Magee for calling 911 when they smelled smoke Sunday afternoon. When firefighters arrived the scent of smoke escalated into a 15-foot high “wall of fire” jeopardizing the garages of residences along the 8100 block of Arlington Avenue and possibly the houses on St. Anthony Lane if the fire had spread in the dry grass and weeds.
10 Years Ago – 2011: A dozen people were rescued from an apartment complex in the 3400block of Garrett Road in Upper Darby on Friday morning following a fire that began in one of the units, according to authorities. Fire crews received a report of a building fire at the Garrett House Apartments in the township’s Drexel Hill section at 10:18 a.m., according to Upper Darby Deputy Fire Chief James W. Johnson.