Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: October 1988 Volume 26 Number 4, Pages 158–160

Notes and Comments

• Two Bridges in Tredyffrin Nominated
• "Operation Rescue" Protest at Daylesford
• Another Observation on the Strafford Station
• New Book on Dr. Lavin
• Esherick Woodwork to be Saved
• Club Picnic

Page 158

Two Bridges in Tredyffrin Nominated

Two bridges in Tredyffrin Township are among the 135 bridges in Pennsylvania, and eleven in Chester County, that have been nominated for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places.

The bridges, selected by the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation after a state-wide survey, are the bridge on Cedar Hollow road over the Valley Creek, identified as County Bridge N. 171; and the bridge on Gulph Road over Trout Run near Port Kennedy.

Both bridges were considered "important examples of bridge engineering and construction", according to Bill Sisson of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, and were described by PennDOT as among "the cream of the crop of state highway bridges".

"Operation Rescue" Protest at Daylesford

On July 5th an anti-abortion protest was held at the Women's Suburban Clinic on Russell Road in Daylesford, resulting in the arrest of 591 protestors -- and all-day news coverage by the three major network Philadelphia television stations. More than 70 local, county, and state police, with volunteer fire and ambulance equipment, were on hand all day during the demonstration. Many of the protestors were from out-of-state, some from as far away as Michigan and even Oregon.

Procedures for handling the protest were worked out in advance by the police and the organizers of the protest; in fact, one Philadelphia newspaper columnist, Jill Porter, observed, "So many of the logistics had been negotiated before hand that it seemed more like a well-rehearsed theatrical production than a protest demonstration."

Page 159

By 8:30 in the morning several hundred protestors had blocked the entrance to the Clinic. After being advised that their blockade was in violation of a Federal Court temporary restraining order, one by one they were arrested, carried limp on a stretcher to a sheriff's van, and transported to the parking lot at Conestoga High School. There a trailer served as a magistrate's office, where they were arraigned on charges of trespass and photographed. Three rented tents were also set up to provide some relief from the hot sun while they were awaiting arraignment, after which they were released on their own cognizance, and with an agreement that they would not again take part in the protest.

With this advance planning, the protest was a peaceful demonstration and without incident. At the end of the day Captain Paul Pennypacker, of the Tredyffrin Police Department, noted, "All the officers who participated did a very good job." It was estimated, however, that the cost of the precaution probably exceeded $20,000.

Another Observation on the Strafford Station

Another version of the history of the Strafford railroad station has been reported by a former P.R.R. employee now retired, Donald Sempsrott, of Berwyn. He recalls researching the subject years ago in the company's archives when the company's president, James Symes, asked him to reply to an inquiry about it from a Strafford resident.

According to his recollection, the present Strafford station building was originally the Swiss Pavillion at the Centennial Exposition. At the end of the Fair, he further recalls, the Pennsylvania Railroad obtained the building from the Swiss, after which it built a special railroad car to transport it, in one piece, directly to Strafford. (Railroad tracks from the Exposition grounds had already been laid in the Philadelphia doublewide street; they were later dug up.)

The Pennsylvania Railroad library and archives, he also notes, have since been moved to Harrisburg, to become a part of the State Railroad Museum.

And so the list continues to grow!

[Alice Vandling]

New Book on Dr. Lavin

This summer Dr. Snow, an account of the rise and fall of Dr. Larry Lavin, the dentist/drug dealer who lived in Devon, was published. It is by Carol Saline, a senior editor of Philadelphia magazine'.

Page 160

Dr. Lavin's career as a drug dealer began in the mid-1970s when he was an undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania; within a few years his profits were $20,000 a week, and in 1981 he made more than one million dollars selling cocaine. Arrested in 1984, he jumped bail and lived, with his wife and family under an alias in Virginia Beach for 18 months before being recaptured by the F.B.I. Upon his return to Philadelphia he was sentenced to 42 years in prison. In all, some 83 persons involved in the operation were arrested and convicted.

An earlier account of his activities, Doctor Dealer by Mark Bowden, was published last year.

Esherick Woodwork to be Saved

Although the Bok/Billings manor house on Upper Gulph Road in Upper Merion Township is slated for demolition to make room for a 12-unit town-house development, in a separate transaction plans were made to remove and preserve the woodwork created for it by Wharton Esherick. Over a period of three years, Esherick not only built fire places, book shelves, and staircases for the house, but also sculpted entire rooms for it when it was the home of the late Justice Curtis Bok.

An article on Esherick and his studio on Diamond Rock Hill, entitled "A Maverick's Mansion", appeared in the May 1988 issue of Arts and Antiques. Its author, Susan R. Hinkel, is also working on a full-length biography of the influential sculptor and craftsman.

Club Picnic

The Club's annual picnic was held in June at the home of Elizabeth and Bob Goshorn. The program was a "sharing" of some of the various collections that have been accumulated by Club members. Among the collectibles shown were small boxes, thimbles, post cards, sheet music, old children's books, small racing car memorabilia, and old currency.