Other Times

100Years Ago – 1919:

Four thousand dollars is the obstacle in the path of success and is preventing the Jewish War Relief Campaign in Chester and Delaware County from completing its campaign with flying colors. Headquarters was remarkably busy yesterday. Persons from all sections of the county visited the offices in the Cambridge Building and left pledges, subscriptions and contributions because solicitors had failed to call on them.

75Years Ago – 1944:

The “phantom burglar” paid a return visit to Springhaven Estates by telephone late Sunday night, alarming a number of residents. A mysterious whispering telephone voice aroused at least a half dozen residents near midnight. Several notified Nether Providence police who descended on the area for a fruitless search. According to one resident he had just retired when the phone rang. “Are you alone?” the whispering voice asked and, getting an evasive answer, followed with a second question “Have you any money in the house?” The “phantom burglar” who has successfully looted scores of homes in the Chester area over the past year and a half, has been seen several times and shot at on at least one occasion, but has always managed to elude capture.

50Years Ago – 1969:

Two Delaware County Airpark Authority members said they would go along with the proposal for a public referendum to determine whether voters want a general aviation airport in Concord. Authority Chairman J. Newton Pew Jr. and authority secretarytreasurer William E. Ruthrauff said they would endorse the plan if it is first approved by the county commissioners.

25Years Ago – 1994:

The Chester Upland School District Board of Control yesterday approved $592,696 in purchase orders for a first-grade computer-assisted instruction system. The purchase is part of the district’s push to bring technology into its classrooms. The system will consist of software, not to exceed $253,870; hardware, not to exceed $286,175; cabling $20,000; electrical $20,000and furniture $12,651.

10Years Ago – 2009:

The Chester GOP will announce a changing of the guard next week, with state Sen. Dominic Pileggi, R-9, stepping down from his post as longtime party chairman. City Councilwoman Marrea Walker Smith will take over, becoming the first woman, and first African-American, to hold the position. Pileggi, who has headed the city’s Republican party since 1996, said his responsibilities as state Senate majority leader required him to spend more time in Harrisburg. Walker-Smith, 38, has worked with the party for 15years, since she was first elected to the Chester Upland School Board in 1994.