Other Times
100 Years Ago – 1919: Another old Chester hotel will soon pass out of existence. Plans and specifications have been drawn for the changing of the Central Hotel, 308 Market St., into two stores with offices and apartments on the second floor. It was originally known as Gunther’s Hotel and many years ago was the leading eating place in the city.
75 Years Ago – 1944: The problem of cleaning up the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers, which are of current local interest due to the stench that wafts over the local waterfront, will be discussed at the annual meeting of the Interstate Commission on the Delaware River Basin, to be held Friday and Saturday at the Hotel Hershey, in Hershey, it was stated today by Ellwood J. Turner, Chester attorney and chairman of the commission.
50 Years Ago – 1969: The Haverford Township School Board has authorized a Rosemont architectural firm to prepare modification plans for “Allgates,” the former novitiate of the Little Sister of the Assumption, for use as classrooms. Nauta Associates will begin work on the property, which is one of three at Coopertown and Darby roads being acquired by the school district as a site for a proposed middle school.
25 Years Ago – 1994: Former Mayor Willie Mae Leake has replaced Sheridan Jones as the vice-chairperson of Chester’s Republican Executive Committee, a move that prompted the ousted officer to blast what he perceives as the continuing influence of former mayor, Republican boss and convicted racketeer Jack Nacrelli on city politics. Jones, a member of the Chester Upland School Board and a systems analyst at Boeing Helicopters, said he feels Nacrelli’s lingering presence means the Republicans are not moving to become a progressive party and pointed to the party’s recent reorganization as evidence. For years, Jones was one of only a handful of active Democrats in Chester, but after years of losses he switched to the Republican camp just before the Democrats’ incredible 1991 upset which saw them take over City Hall.
10 Years Ago – 2009: Opening salvos were fired this week in what promises to be a long, ferocious battle for the seat of U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, D-Pa., in the 2010 primary election. U.S. Rep. Joseph Sestak, D-7, of Edgmont, has received a fair amount of media coverage over the past two months for his anticipated bid to run against Specter, and the two-term congressman has been looking to capitalize on that increased exposure with a three-week tour of all 67 counties in the state (something Specter is famous for).