Days Gone By
100 Years Ago, 1923: The door for the safety deposit vault now being constructed in the First National Bank building, Darby, now undergoing the finishing touches, arrived Tuesday afternoon. It is a huge steel construction, nine feet long and eight feet wide. Its mammoth size excited much wonder and speculation from passersby, who stood and watched it with interest. The big vestibule door arrived at two o’clock and it required the brawn of eight men from that hour until well after six o’clock, to get it from the truck inside the portals of its future home.
75 Years Ago, 1948: Sunday was an eventful day for Fire Chief Elmer Weigand. It was his 52nd birthday and it was his last full day as fire chief. And while answering his next to the last alarm, his auto collided with another at 15th Street and Edgmont Avenue shortly after 1p.m. The car in which the chief and his son, Larry, were riding, was considerably damaged but no one was injured.
50 Years Ago, 1973: A wildcat strike at Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. continued into a second day Friday with about 700 workers gathered outside the shipyard’s date when the 7:45a.m. whistle blew. Although few, if any, workers went to work, a company spokesman insisted shipbuilding operations were continuing.
25 Years Ago, 1998: Four enterprising college sophomores from Brookhaven, Mike Tenaglio, Mike Pennewill, Dan Baker and Bill Greenday, almost aced their own crash course in profiteering. Hoping to earn some fast cash, they took a chance and banked on the year’s touted must-have toy, Sing and Snore Ernie, hoping demand would match last year’s “Tickle Me Elmo.” Instead of raking in the dough, they sold only six of their 40 dolls by Christmas — for only $70each — half the asking price. They’re not at all worried about what to do with all the leftover singing and snoring. They kept their receipts and are going to return the remaining dolls for a full refund.
10 Years Ago, 2013: Yeadon Borough police confirmed Friday afternoon that a custodian had discovered two bullets on the floor of a classroom at W.B. Evans Elementary School on Wednesday evening. Police were summoned to the locked classroom at 7:15 p.m. on Wednesday and found no other suspicious items in the room. Police said there have been no threats or other incidents at the school, and that they have no idea where the bullets could have come from. Neither bullet had been fired, and Yeadon police continued to investigate.