Other Times
100 Years Ago – 1917: The cold hand of death was laid with shocking suddenness upon one of the best known young women of Chester this morning when Miss Hannah Oliver, office secretary of the Young Women’s Christian Association, expired at her home after a brief illness. News of her death proved a severe surprise to her legion of acquaintances.
75 Years Ago – 1942: Chester Police Chief George J. Feeney has placed a ban on the numerous shoeshine boys who have proved a general annoyance to pedestrians in the business section. “It isn’t fair to those men in the business, who have the expenses of maintain establishments, giving employment to regular shoe shine boys and paying taxes, to be forced to compete with these ‘nickel shiners’ who pay no license, clutter up the sidewalks with their shoe boxes and generally annoy pedestrians,” said Feeney.
50 Years Ago – 1967: The longawaited 100th birthday celebration of Chester’s charter has begun at the Sun Center Auditorium Concord Road, Chester Township. The dive-day exposition, featuring from 11 a.m.-11 p.m. daily stage shows, personalities, a free movie theatre, beauty contest winners and exhibits from nearly 100 area companies, opened this morning to the strumming of the Fralinger String Band. By the time it closes, some 100,000 Delaware County residents are expected to have trooped through the turnstiles.
25 Years Ago – 1992: For more than hour, the Southeast Delco School board heard a litany of complaints for parents about the increase in violence in the district’s four elementary schools. To make her point, a parent presented the board a 3-foot-long metal object, explaining that a student used it as a weapon against her son, causing him to have eight stitches in his head. She then gave board President Nancy Day a blood-stained towel, saying “You have his blood on your table.”
10 Years Ago – 2007: The gunman in an ambush robbery of a teen who just got off the bus from work should have been in juvenile custody, officials said. A 15-yearold Collingdale youth is being charged as an adult for firing a gun into the back of a 17-year-old who turned and ran when approached at gunpoint for money, Upper Darby police said. “At age 15, he’s a career criminal,” said Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood.