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Home : Quarterly Archives : Volume 27 |
Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society |
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Source: October 1989 Volume 27 Number 4, Pages 157–159 Notes and Comments
Ground Broken for New Mt. Zion Church A special service was held on July 8 at the Mt. Zion A.M. E. Church at Fairfield and Berwyn-Baptist roads in Devon to celebrate the ground breaking for a new church and parsonage for its congregation. The ground breaking ceremonies were led by Bishop Frank C. Cummings, presiding prelate of the First Episcopal District of the African Methodist Church, and the Reverend Charles E. Drummer, the Pastor of the church. Also participating in the ceremonies were church officials from the South, Harrisburg, and Philadelphia Districts, and the pastors of several neighboring A.M.E churches, as well as the president pro-tern of the board of trustees of the Mt. Zion Church, Norman Childs Jr., and its presiding elder, the Reverend Theophilus E. Harper. The new church, when completed, will accommodate 250 persons for church services, with additional community rooms available for senior citizens, youth groups, and other organizations. The architect for the project is the Madison Design Group, and its construction will be coordinated by Thomas Scruggs, a construction management consultant. It is expected that the actual construction work will be a cooperative effort by church members and sub-contractors. The Mt. Zion Church in Devon is one of the oldest A.M.E. churches in the Philadelphia area, its congregation having been formed in the late 1840s. Construction of the present church building was started before the Civil War, and resumed and completed after the war ended. After the new church is completed, the present church will be used as a chapel. Plans are also underway to have it listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Top New School Superintendent Named Dr. Jamieson McKenzie has been named Superintendent of Schools for the Tredyffrin-Easttown school district. He succeeds Dr. George Garwood, whose retirement from the position became effective on June 28, after 21 years with the district. More than 100 persons were applicants for the post. For the past two and a half years, Dr. McKenzie has been superintendent of the Montgomery Township Public Schools in Skillman, N.J. Before that he had served as Assistant Superintendent of the Princeton Regional Schools; as Assistant Principal and humanities coordinator of the Franklin Middle School at Metuchen, N.J.; and as teacher of social studies at the Greenwich Country Day School in Greenwich, Conn. He received his Bachelor's degree from Yale University, his Master's from Columbia, and his Ed.D. from Rutgers Univeristy. On coming to Tredyffrin-Easttown, Dr. McKenzie observed it "to be an especially attractive challenge due to the kind of community here and the kinds of goals," and that he planned to "build on the foundations already existing". TopFormer Conestoga Coach Honored . . . Bill Paolantonio, head football coach at Conestoga High School from 1955 to 1972, last July was named to the Pennsylvania Scholastic Football Coaches Hall of Fame. Altogether, Paolantonio's career as a high school football coach extended over a quarter of a century. He started in 1947 as an assistant coach at North Coventry High School, now Owen J. Roberts, before coming to Tredyffrin-Easttown in 1952. His overall record as a coach was 147 wins, 54 losses, and seven ties. While at Conestoga his teams won or shared the Ches-Mont League championship seven times, and in 1972, his last year as coach, the Pioneers were Central League champions. Paolantonio is currently faculty manager of athletics at Conestoga, a position he has held since he left the coaching ranks. Top... and so is Tredyffrin's Police Chief Earlier this year Tredyffrin Police Chief Thomas Baynard received similar recognition when he was inducted into the Pennsylvania Police Hall of Fame. After serving in Europe during the years of the Korean War, Baynard began police work in Radnor in 1958. He has been with the Tredyffrin Township police department for 24 years, fourteen of them as chief of police. He is a graduate of the Pennsylvania Institute on Criminology, and the FBI National Academy, and is certified by the Police Officers Education and Training Commission as an instructor in 25 areas of law enforcement. Under his direction the Tredyffrin police department earlier received accreditation by the National Commission of Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, the first police department in Pennsylvania to receive this recognition. TopBest Wishes The best wishes of the Tredyffrin Easttown History Club went with George and Grace Winthrop, club members, this summer as they moved from this area to Charleston, South Carolina. In addition to their numerous contributions to club meetings, several of which were included in previous issues of the Quarterly, George Winthrop formerly was the treasurer of the club, and Grace Winthrop was serving as its president at the time of their move. We will miss them both. |
