Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: July 1987 Volume 25 Number 3, Pages 115–118

Notes and Comments

• Club Member Honored by Girl Scouts
• Another "Man Who Came Around"
• New Land Use Plan Proposed for Tredyffrin
• Devon Prep Celebrates 30th Anniversary
• Easttown Library and Club Cooperate on Program
• Anna Bartram

Page 115

Club Member Honored by Girl Scouts

Frances Ligget, active in both our History Club and the Valley Forge Historical Society, was one of seven "women of achievement" recognized earlier this year by the Freedom Valley Girl Scout Council as a "role model for Freedom Valley's 15,000 Girl Scouts".

Described as "always curious about the history of the Great Valley" and as having a "passion for history", it was observed that "Mrs. Ligget's frivolous role as stand-in for Lady Stirling may have ended, but never her accomplishments or the richer appreciation of history she gives future generations through her work".

The recognition was a feature of the Council's observance of the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Girl Scout organization.

Another "Man Who Came Around"

"No one mentioned the people who came around selling magazines or books, "Dick Onderdonk, one of our club members, commented after reading the Club Members Remember feature in the previous issue of the Quarterly. (He was not present at that meeting.) "I was one of them," he added, "a representative for the Encyclopaedia Britannica in Chester and Lancaster counties for about fifteen years, from 1966 to 1980. My favorite area was the Upper Main Line, and I had particular success in places around Conestoga, Radnor, Phoenixville, and Great Valley high schools. The families in these districts were quite interested in education.

Page 116

I usually had "leads", following up replies to magazine advertisements, and I would go to the home when I thought both parents were home, usually in the evening. The regular price then was $499, but if the prospect would give four more leads, it would cost only $399, with a dictionary or an atlas thrown in. The goal was to get the prospect to buy right away! Ninety-nine per cent of the people were quite nice. In 1968 I did well enough to be a MASTER SALESMAN. Those were the boom years; the schools were full and people were buying lots of things to get their children into a good college. But I also got the door slammed in my face on occasion!"

And since the previous issue we've learned that the lamp lighter was also responsible for extinguishing the street lights in the morning. At dawn he also came around, practically unnoticed, to put the lights out.

New Land Use Plan Proposed for Tredyffrin

On May 7 a proposed Comprehensive Plan for Tredyffrin, submitted to the Board of Supervisors by the Planning Commission, was formally presented for public comment.

In presenting the new plan, it was noted that it "retains the essential objectives and recommendations of the [previous] 1970 Plan", and that "the Township development [since 1970] has been fairly consistent with the recommendations of the 1970 Plan".

Thirteen specific objectives are outlined in the Plan for the future development of Tredyffrin:

"1. To maintain and enhance Tredyffrin as an attractive, healthful, safe, and stable residential community. This is the primary planning objective, and includes providing for development of diversified residential environments which allow for a sufficient choice among housing types, densities and open spaces to meet the needs of a maturing and expanding community.

"2. To develop a pattern of land use relationships that preclude or minimize conflicts and frictions between different types of activities, taking maximum advantage of the natural qualities of the land and the ability of the Township to shape the timing, character, scale, and direction of development.

"3. To assure the provision of adequate and convenient public and private community services and facilities, including highways, either concurrent with or prior to additional residential, commercial, or industrial development.

Page 117

"4. To protect areas with special aesthetic, scenic, or other natural qualities and features, such as stream valleys, steep slopes, wooded and carbonate areas, and other environmentally sensitive areas for the purposes of:

(a) maintaining the present desirable visual characteristics and opportunity for recreation;

(b) protecting groundwater resources and the quality thereof as well as aquatic and wildlife habitats; and

(c) preventing damage from flooding and from erosion.

"5. To preserve, in collaboration with the Board of Historical Architectural Review, the heritage of our forebears by continuing to identify and protect areas, buildings, and artifacts of historical and cultural significance.

"6. To protect and enhance the visual environment by requiring all new uses to comply with design, locational, landscaping, and environmental standards which will ensure a pattern of development compatible with the character of the area in which they are located.

"7. To provide for safe and efficient streets, public transportation, and parking systems for the benefit of those who live in, work in, and pass through the Township, with due consideration to the increasing importance of pedestrian and bicycle circulation.

"8. To encourage uses which, when consistent with other objectives, will have a positive net effect on Township finances, enabling Tredyffrin to continue a high level of community services and education.

"9. To protect and encourage continuation of agricultural services and provide opportunities for maintaining the viability of such activities.

"10. To maintain the viability of the Township's established business areas and the more recently developed centers for advanced technology companies, and thereby strengthen their roles as sources of employment opportunity and as important factors in the Township's financial base.

"11. To encourage site planning which results in energy conservation and efficient development.

"12. To encourage development patterns which will minimize future operating and capital expenditure requirements by owners and the Township.

"13. To encourage imaginative and innovative approaches to development and redevelopment so as to achieve quality, harmony, variety, and interest."

To accomplish these objectives specific recommendations are made concerning land use (including residential areas, community facilities and open space, non-residential areas, and special development areas) and streets and highways, with provision for a continuous planning program to make any adjustments necessary to meet changing circumstances and needs.

Assisting the Township Planning Commission, of which Oleg N. Dudkin is the chairman, in the preparation of the proposal were the Chester County Planning Commission, the Brandywine Conservancy, and the firm of Tredinnick/Waetzman Associates.

Page 118

Following public hearings, the proposed Plan will again be reviewed by the Planning Commission before action by the Board of Supervisors.

Devon Prep Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Archbishop John Cardinal Krol, the Archbishop of Philadelphia, was the principal celebrant at a Mass of Thanksgiving held earlier this year in honor of the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the Devon Preparatory School. Located on the old Lea estate on Valley Forge Road in Devon, the school was originally dedicated on December 8, 1956 by the then Archbishop of Philadelphia, John O'Hara.

Devon Prep is operated under the direction of the Piarist Fathers. Its first headmaster was the Rev. Stephen Senye, who was succeeded in 1969 by the Rev. Stephen Mustos, the present headmaster. Since the fall of 1972 the school has conducted classes for students in grades 7 through 12, and currently has about 200 students altogether.

The first graduation exercises were held on June 4, 1960. Of the 702 boys who have been graduated from the school 697 have been accepted to enter college.

Easttown Library and Club Cooperate on Program

This spring the History Club and the Easttown Library co-sponsored an evening seminar on Genealogy. The speaker was Bob Ward, one of the members of the Club, who discussed a number of various sources for genealogical research, including several "how-to" books as well as sources for state and local history. About 45 persons attended the session.

Anna Bartram

At our March meeting Irene Wheeler reported the passing of Anna Bartram. A native of Willistown Township, she lived most of her almost 106 years in the Paoli area, where she was at one time a school teacher and active in the League of Women Voters, the Federation of Women's Clubs, and on the Board of the Paoli Library. She was also a member of the Society of Friends, and an active worker in many Quaker concerns. She resided at Foulkeways, in Gwynedd, at the time of her death.

Although she was not a member of the History Club, recollections and articles by her appeared several times in the Quarterly.