Detailed Descriptions of Home Page Photographs

Maypole Dance - Children celebrate around a May Pole erected in front of the Easttown School, located on Bridge Avenue, Berwyn. The school sat on the property near today's Surrey Services, and across from the present Berwyn Fire Station. The year is around 1906, taken by the well-known local photographer Lucy Sampson.

Courtesy of C. Herbert Fry

Charlie Devaney with Waco - Charles Devaney, a legendary local aviator reputed to be the first pilot in Chester County to own and fly an airplane, poses before his green Waco 10 biplane. This photograph was taken in 1929 at what would become the Main Line Airport, along what was then called the Swedes Ford Road in what is now the Great Valley Corporate Center.

Courtesy of Robert Devaney

St. Peter's Church in the Great Valley - Taken by an unknown photographer soon after the Civil War, St. Peter's Church in the Great Valley was originally part of a Church of England parish founded in 1700, and is today the oldest Episcopal church in Chester County. The present church building, built in 1744, is located in a rural setting astride Tredyffrin Township and East Whiteland Township off of Church Road.

Courtesy of St. Peter's Church in the Great Valley

TE Basketball Team 1920 - The Varsity Basketball Team of the Tredyffrin Easttown High School, Berwyn, 1920.

Courtesy of Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society

TE Girls Basketball Team 1919-1920 - The Girls Varsity Basketball Team of the Tredyffrin Easttown High School, Berwyn, 1920.

Courtesy of Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society

Berwyn Station - The Pennsylvania Railroad’s Berwyn passenger station and freight depot as taken in 1888, only 6 years after its completion in the spring of 1882. The structure replaced an old flag stop established nearby in 1869 when Berwyn was then know as Reeseville.

Courtesy of Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society

Berwyn Fire Company - The Berwyn Volunteer Fire Company was organized in 1894, and initially housed in a small building which it erected on the north side of Berwyn Avenue between Knox and Bridge Avenues. In 1906 a horse-drawn Waterius pumper with a 350-gallon capacity was purchased. The Fire Company, however, owned no horses of its own, and had to rely on 3 local livery stables for motive power. This image, taken in front of its Berwyn Avenue building, was photographed between 1906-08.

Courtesy of Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society

Boathouse and Knox Bridge - This image, taken about 1910 by the famous local photographer Lucy Sampson, looks south beyond a shallow Valley Creek to the Knox Covered Bridge, built in 1865. Unique to this image is a rare view of a boathouse which belonged to the 200-plus acre Philander Knox estate acquired by Senator Knox in 1905.

Courtesy of Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society

Bronze Works Berwyn - This image of the American Non-Gran Bronze Company in Berwyn was taken in 1912, soon after the plant, with its sawtooth roof (the latest thing in industrial lighting and ventilation), was constructed. For almost 50 years it manufactured bronze bushings essential for use in automotive and aircraft engines. The structure, now called the “Bronze Building”, is located north of the Lincoln Highway at 511 Old Lancaster Road and contains retail stores and office space.

Courtesy of Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society

Cotton Mill 1910 - At the present intersection of Routes 23 and 252 in Valley Forge, on the SW quadrant on what is now a vacant field, stood a large cotton mill in 1910, managed by Samuel Smith. Sitting aside Valley Creek, the property had originally been a saw and rolling mill until enlarged and converted to process cotton and wool. The structure was demolished in the 1920’s after the land was absorbed into Valley Forge State Park.

Courtesy of Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society.

Devon Inn 1906 - For three decades, from 1882 to 1913, wealthy and socially prominent families from Philadelphia and elsewhere spent their summers at the popular Devon Inn. The huge wooden structure was situated on a rise some 300 yards directly south of the present Devon railroad station. A shaded boardwalk connected the station with the Inn, and hotel carriages met every train. The structure eventually became a private girl’s school called Devon Manor, and was later the initial site of Valley Forge Military Academy. It was during this final iteration, in January 1929, that a conflagration destroyed it completely.

Courtesy of Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society