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Home : Quarterly Archives : Volume 28 |
Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society |
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Source: April 1990 Volume 28 Number 2, Pages 63–75 The Upper Main Line News For almost a quarter of a century, after the Second World War and during the post-war growth in this area, the Upper Main Line had its own local community weekly newspaper. During the twenty-three years of its existence, it had six different owners and a dozen editors. Volume I, Number 1 of the UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS appeared on March 27, 1947. Its founder and editor-publisher was W. W. Pinkerton Jr., a resident of Wayne. Bill Pinkerton's interest in newspaper publishing probably came from his father; W. W. Pinkerton Sr. had long been associated with the SUBURBAN AND WAYNE TIMES. The younger Pinkerton had also worked as a part-time reporter for the SUBURBAN prior to this new venture. In an editorial on the front page of the first issue, the editor-publisher described the purpose and goals of the new paper. Noting that the "residents of the Upper Main Line have had no local paper in years" and that "their activities, their hopes -- the everyday incidents of their lives -have [therefore] passed almost unnoticed for lack of self-expression", he announced that the "purpose of this paper is to correct that fault". Although its offices were located at 7 South Valley Road in Paoli, Pinkerton announced that the area to be served by the new weekly was the "Main Line west of Strafford, and for miles north and south". On its masthead the paper was described as "An Independent Newspaper".
The first issue consisted of four pages, of which about one and a quarter contained news about the area and other editorial features, with the remaining two and three-quarters pages made up of advertising. Thirty-one local businesses and services supported the fledgling paper with advertising in its first issue. The advertising manager was William C. Sheridan. The new newspaper was available for sale at its office on 7 South Valley Road, and also at the Paoli News Agency and the newsstand at the railroad station in Paoli; at the Bridge Shop, Garber's store and Stout's store in Berwyn; at the Malvern News Agency; and at Sigmund's Pharmacy and the Handy Shop in Strafford. The price was 6 cents for a single copy, and $3.00 for a yearly subscription. The week that the first issue came out, incidentally, must have been a busy one in the Pinkerton household. On the third page of this first issue it was reported that young Richard Burnham Pinkerton had arrived the previous Monday morning, although he "was not anticipated until May and his advent caused the fond parents no end of trouble"! In less than three months the new paper had its first editorial crisis. In the aftermath of its reporting of an outbreak of arson, in the June 19th issue, it was noted that the newspaper had been "criticized directly and indirectly for its handling of the recent Paoli arson case". In reply to these criticisms, the editor stated that it was his belief that "a newspaper's responsibility [is] to print facts as accurately, as fearlessly, and as completely as it possibly can". "The NEWS," he added, "has accepted that responsibility. It believes that by doing so it can better serve the district it represents and you, its readers. ... I have never subscribed to the theory of fence-straddling," he concluded, "and by the Eternal, the NEWS is not going to either." In addition to its news coverage, during the first year several local news columns were introduced and appeared on a more or less regular basis. Social news was reported regularly in a column entitled "Station Wagon Spokes". Local events and activities scheduled for the coming week were announced in "What's Doing". In a "Post Scripts" column, the news and activities of the local American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars posts were reported. News of activities at the junior high school appeared regularly in the "Teen Trix' column. Separate columns of social news from "Up the Line in Malvern" and "Doings in Berwyn" were a regular feature. And early on a column in which items from the old Berwyn HERALD and Malvern ITEM from the late 1880s and early 1890s were reprinted was started. Nevertheless, in the March 28, 1948 issue, noting the first anniversary of the newspaper, Pinkerton announced plans to make the UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS an even "bigger and better asset to its readers", with "an enlargement of the many new features" that had recently been added, "enlarged and improved" news coverage, and "more pictures". He also announced that the subscription price of the newspaper would be reduced to $2.00 a year, and the single copy price to 5 cents, to boost circulation "to provide better service to our advertisers". But within three months the UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS had a new owner. Reporting that "the press of other business prevented ... [his] giving the attention so vital and progressive a business requires", in the June 10, 1948 issue Pinkerton announced that, with that issue, Charlotte E. Monks had assumed the ownership and operation of the paper. Previously Miss Monks, a native Philadelphian, had worked for many years with Young & Rubicam, Inc., at that time one of the country's leading advertising agencies. For the last four years she had been overseas with the Girl Scouts, after having been in the European theater during the Second World War and then with the occupation forces in the Pacific area. Beginning with the June 24th issue, she was listed on the masthead as the publisher, but by October she was identified as both the publisher and the editor. The circulation of the newspaper in October 1948 was 1260, and each of the four issues in December that year contained six, rather than the usual four, pages. Under the new owner-publisher-editor, several of the more or less regular features that had been appearing in the paper were discontinued, among them the two separate columns for social news from Malvern and Berwyn, and the column on the activities of the two veterans' posts. Later "Station Wagon Spokes" became "Out Our Way", and "Teen Trix" was renamed "School Daze". A column on books, a gardening column, and a column of Girl Scout news were added during the latter part of the year, along with several syndicated columns. The challenge of putting out a weekly newspaper, however, obviously took its toll on the publisher-editor. In a box on the front page of the September 23, 1949 issue, the editor of Downingtown ARCHIVE, Robinson Mcllvaine, reported that "Miss Charlotte Monks [had] collapsed from the sheer exhaustion of working 18 hours a day, seven days a week, for the past year and a half to give the citizens of the Paoli-Malvern-Berwyn area their own newspaper". Actually, Mcllvaine had been putting out the paper since the middle of August. He continued "somehow [to] get the paper out", in addition to his duties at the ARCHIVE, for the balance of the year. Beginning with the January 6, 1950 issue, THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS had its third editor-publisher, Francis M. Eaves. Also born in Philadelphia, Eaves was raised on a farm near West Chester but later moved to Paoli. He was graduated from the then West Chester State Teachers' College the previous August, but had started his newspaper career in 1943 with the West Chester DAILY LOCAL NEWS. Two years later he became a reporter for the Philadelphia INQUIRER. In introducing him to the readers of THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS, Mcllvaine noted that Eaves had "enough energy for two or three people, and he certainly isn't afraid of work -- a good thing because running a weekly newspaper with the amount of help he can afford is real work". He also predicted, "Of one thing we are sure. The Upper Main Line is going to have a lively, newsy paper, and we think that is what you want and should have." With this send-off, the new editor-publisher in the same issue gave his views on the "obligations" of a newspaper to its public: to see that the "actions of the ruling and governing bodies of the several townships and boroughs that the paper serves will be honestly and truthfully reported", to give "the news and happenings of our neighbors, those folks that make good reading", and to "serve the public with everything at its [the newspaper's] disposal".
Under The Eaves In the next issue it was announced that the newspaper would be enlarged to six pages each issue, and that "Teen Trix" was back for the younger set. A new front page column, "Under the Eaves", was also inaugurated "just a little of everything for short space reading time". A special heading for the column was designed by a local artist, Gager Phillips. With these additions and other improvements, by October 1950 the paper's circulation was back up to about 1100, and in March 1951, in noting the fourth anniversary of THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS, Eaves observed that its circulation had beeen "steadily rising until this week we passed the mark of three times the subscribers that we had when the present publisher took over the NEWS". He also noted that "a look back will show the growth of the [number of] pages from a steady four page edition up to six, eight and at times ten pages of local news and local interest". "Founded on March 27, 1947," he noted, "the NEWS has steadily become the voice of the Upper Main Line Community, recording the social, political, tragedy and humor that we find each and every day. The paper is new to the field of weekly publications not as old as the neighbors on all sides -- but it has developed into a full-fledged newspaper." In March 1951 the offices of the newspaper were moved from its "birthplace at 7 South Valley Road where it has held forth since 1947" to the second floor of the Bruni Building "next to the [then] Paoli Fire House". Notwithstanding these new quarters and the progress the paper had made, less than two months later there was another change in the ownership and editor of the newspaper. In the May 4, 1951 issue, it was announced that two new editors, Mrs. Barbara Hillman and John A. Mason Jr., had arrived at THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS "to ease the growing pains of Frank Eaves' livewire little weekly". (Eaves' name remained on the masthead for another three months as he continued briefly to work on the paper "in a news gathering capacity".) Mrs. Hillman was a graduate of Temple University with a major in English, and came to the paper from the Downingtown ARCHIVE where she had been an associate editor. Previously she had been a copy-writer with the John Wanamaker department store, and had done sales promotion work with Sears Roebuck. She had also contributed articles to several newspapers and magazines, and had received awards from both the Pennsylvania Newspaper Publishers Association and the Pennsylvania Women's Press Association. Mason, the son of J. Alden Mason of Berwyn, and a graduate of Tredyffrin Easttown High School, had been a Naval aviator during the Second World War. After his discharge from the service, he had continued his graduate work in anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania and had done some free-lance writing. In their first issue the new editors explained that there would not be "any great shake-up in the policy" of the newspaper, and noted that they believed "that Frank Eaves has been putting out a bang-up paper and [that they] intend to do the same". At the same time they observed that the basic responsibilities of a good newspaper were an "accurate reflection of community news" and "respectful suggestions growing out of that news". Before the end of the first month, under the new editors the "letters" column had been expanded, and a weekly editorial dealing with various local concerns -- sometimes a major concern, sometimes less so -- had become a regular feature of the paper. Readers were also invited to send in "that club report, social item, novelty or whatever" to share it with other readers. After six months Mason resigned. He was replaced by Elston Hillman; the husband-and-wife team were listed as editors and publishers on the masthead. In the meantime the September 23d issue, with the first of several "Harvest Days" advertising promotions, contained a record 16 pages. (A "Straw Hat Days" promotion the following May met with similar success.) As the editors entered "the second half of their first year" in November, they took occasion to reiterate their editorial policy: "to print the news and to print it as it happened", adding that when they "take a stand on an issue that stand will be announced in the editorial column, not on the front page". With apparent satisfaction, they also noted that following their coverage of a meeting of the East Whiteland supervisors, the office "received four phone calls from people who ... just wanted to talk about their township situation. Some were on one side," they reported, "and some were on the other, but both sides felt that our reporter's account of the meeting had been a fair one." Among the regular features added to the paper during the next year were "Time Copy", a replacement for "Under the Eaves"; a column of church news, "Among the Churches"; a regular column of Cub Scout news; and, in September, "Judy", a successor to "Teen Trix". From the first of the year and continuing through the November elections, a political column, "The Political Scene", also appeared on a regular basis. By October 1952 the circulation of THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS had reached a new high of 1740 an issue. Other new features made their debut in 1953. In April a "Cake of the Month" column, later renamed "Kitchen Treasure Chest", was inaugurated, and that fall the "Letters" column appeared as "Out of the Mailbag". A column about local places of historic interest, called "Historic and Interesting", also ran for several months during 1953. That summer the offices of, the newspaper were once again moved, from the Bruni Building to a site on the east side of Leopard Road, south of the Lancaster Pike "next to the [then] Paoli Medical Center and across from [the then] Paoli Inn". The colonial-front building was built by hand by Elston Hillman and John Amtsfield, the shop foreman, including not only the cement blocks of the walls, the cement floor in the back-shop, and the linoleum flooring in the front office, but also the installation of the electrical wiring for the press equipment. At this new location the publishers also installed their own printing and folding equipment, and formed Forge Publications to produce the newspaper. (After the new linotype machine had been installed, it was discovered that there was not a single "1", and only three "e's", in the type that was used for the main body of the paper! "An SOS to the Downingtown Archive," it was reported, "brought forth several of each letter, but John Amtsfield, who is shop foreman, has cautioned us against quoting anyone with an affinity for 'Well, well.' More than two wells and we're licked, says John.") The October 2, 1953 issue was the first from the new press. "Of course, we hope that you hold in your hands a handsomely printed, clearly inked copy," the editors observed, "But if you don't -- we hope you'll understand. For even the Queen Mary stalled on her Maiden Voyage!" Each issue now contained at least eight pages, and the four pre-Christmas issues in December of that year had an average of more than twelve pages. Because the press could print only four pages at a time, the paper was printed in sections. The first four pages were printed on Tuesday afternoon, and the balance of the paper on Wednesday, with two press runs on Wednesday if necessary in order to have it printed and distributed to the post office and newsstands for its Thursday sales date each week. Each press run took four hours. At the end of the year, in the January 1, 1954 issue, the publishers announced that "many good things have happened to the Upper Main Line News in 1953", notably, in addition to the new facilities, the acquisition of "a rounded staff of trained editors, advertising representatives, and circulation workers" that would lead to a "broadened effectiveness of the publication as it serves the ever-growing number of Upper Main Line residents and businesses". More new features were added in 1954: a column on books, "Book Talk"; a social column, "Who and What About Your Neighborhood", edited at first by Dorothy Meyers, then by Doris Savan, and later by Alice Neilson; and a column entitled "What's Your Opinion?", in which readers were invited to send in their opinions on a particular topic each week, such as "Should industry be welcomed to the Main Line?" or "Do you believe women should run for [public] office?" or "What is the answer to juvenile delinquency?" or "Where do you prefer to shop and why?", for example. Nineteen of the twenty-six issues in the second half of 1954 had ten or more pages, including one with sixteen pages and one, the annual "Harvest Days" issue in October, with twenty-four. By October 1954 the circulation of the newspaper had reached 2714. In August, Alice P. Neilson had been added to the masthead as the social news editor; Pearl Stuart was listed as the business manager; and John P. Amstfield became the commercial printing manager. Patricia Reigel was still the advertising manager, having assumed the position in September 1953; she was replaced in December 1955 by Sandra Nagel. With another presidential election campaign in 1956, beginning in June a political column again became a regular feature in each issue, "intended to supply information and to answer questions regarding the political scene on both the Upper Main Line and the State and National levels". That summer the Hillmans took an eight week leave of absence "to complete a photo-journalism assignment near Mexico City". During their absence the newspaper was under the direction of John N. McClure, the head of the journalism department at Washington University in St. Louis, and a former owner of both a weekly and a daily newspaper. Upon their return from Mexico that fall, in the October 5th issue, the Hillmans took stock of their more than five years of ownership and operation of THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS and its circulation growth. "Nearly six years ago when the present editors bought the paper," they observed, "it was five years old and had a circulation of 1260. In the previous five years of its life it had had four owners. Today the circulation stands at 4180." They also compared this growth with the histories of several neighboring newspapers: "We look at neighboring communities -- at West Chester which boasts the county's oldest daily [newspaper], established 84 years ago and published continuously under the same family ownership-- giving it 84 years to develop its 13,629 circulation. At Downingtown, where the Archive, made famous by Jane Mcllvaine's book [It Happens Every Thursday], and a movie starring Loretta Young, achieved a circulation of about 2,500 in four years time. We look at Wayne, just over the Chester County line, whose weekly paper has been supported by the community for 71 years, and in that time has realized an excellent circulation also in the neighborhood of 4100." In charge of the circulation promotion for the paper at that time was "the newest addition to the staff", Bob Thompson; he was later to be elected a county commissioner. (It was noted that he also served as a reporter and photographer, as "there are no specialists on a weekly newspaper".) In the following January another popular item, Aimee McNeill's drawings and descriptions of historic buildings in the area, was introduced as a regular feature each week. Although there were several changes in personnel in 1957 and 1958, the newspaper continued to grow. In September 1956, Bill Marsden had replaced Sandra Nagel as the advertising manager, but by the following April his name was no longer on the masthead. In June Carl A. Bengston assumed the position, but ten months later, in April 1958, he in turn was succeeded by E. A. Gilmore. Similarly, in February 1957, Peggy Cole became the circulation manager for a brief period, but by June Pearl Stuart was again in charge of the circulation department. And in the editorial department, Alice Neil son left the paper in September of 1957 and was succeeded the next month by Marge Worth as the social news editor. In the January 10, 1958 issue the publishers once again thanked the subscribers for their support. With the circulation now more than 4300, they pointed out that THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS was now "the largest paper circulation-wise' among Chester- County's weekly newspapers". (At the same time, they also noted an "amusing story" about one of their readers. It seems that "an irate subscriber" called in "to vehemently disagree "with an editorial that had appeared several months earlier, and "read us the riot act" in a manner that lacked much in decency of language but left no doubt at all about his meaning. He ended his "tirade by demanding [that] we discontinue his subscription". "We did so," they further reported, "And [since] then he has come into the office each Thursday, paid for a paper and walked out without so much as a word to anyone.") But the "Hillman Era" of THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS was coming to a close. In June 1958 it was announced that the newspaper had been purchased from the Hillmans by the Paoli Publishing Company. Its president and treasurer was George H. Heintzelman, and his wife Marybelle N. Heintzelman was the vice-president and secretary. Like Bill Pinkerton, George Heintzelman was a second-generation newspaperman; his father, Claude Heintzelman, had been the publisher of the Coatesville RECORD for almost forty years. Both Heintzelmans were already active in newspaper management at the time they formed the new company; George Heintzelman was the vice-president and general manager of the Coatesville RECORD and president and treasurer of both the Downingtown ARCHIVE and the Chester Valley PRESS, and his wife was vice-president and secretary of the latter two papers. To manage their new property the Heintzelmans hired William Hall to be the general manager and editor. A community relations representative for the Burroughs [now Unisys] Corporation, and the editor of its house organ that had recently been discontinued, Hall left Burroughs to take over his new duties the following month. Under the new owners, both E. A. Gilmore and Pearl Stuart continued as advertising manager and circulation manager, respectively, and Marge Worth stayed on as social news editor. Early the following year the perceived political stance of the newspaper, in the traditionally Republican area the paper served, became a matter of some concern to the extent that in the February 5, 1959 issue a "restatement" of the paper's policies was deemed in order. Pointing out that "traditionally the Upper Main Line News has opened the paper to a variety of controversial views", it was announced that the editors were "willing and anxious to provide space for one column a week from any representative organization of the Republican and/or Democratic parties", but that the columnists were to "refrain from expressing out-and-out political opinions" and "stay in the area of news and quote the source for all political statements". (Those with opinions to express, it was suggested, should do so in a signed letter to the editor, adding that the name of the writer, if requested, would be withheld when the letter was published.) When Hall left the paper in March 1961 to join the staff of the Wilmington NEWS JOURNAL David C. Yaeck was named managing editor. At the same time Charles Rolph became advertising manager, succeeding Rhinewalt Platt, who had succeeded E. A. Gilmore almost two years before, in April 1959. In the March 2d issue the new editor presented his views on the "two-fold" community responsibility of the newspaper. First and foremost was the "accurate dissemination to the public of the area news" and keeping "the citizens of the Paoli, Malvern and Berwyn area up to date on the activities of their organizations, governments and other groups". And second was to serve as "a sounding board for the opinion of the area's citizens". With the June 22, 1961 issue to newspaper adopted a new banner head, five columns wide and featuring the words "THE NEWS".
This new banner head was described in the issue as "the first of many improvements slated for ... the coming months". There was also a "rejuvenation" of the editorial page, with a "pepped up 'Letters to the Editor 1 column" featuring letters of various controversial subjects, which the editors hoped would produce a column "of real constructive value in the community". Beginning with this issue Miriam Peacock also appeared on the masthead as assistant editor and David M. Russell jr. as the advertising manager. Nine months later, with the March 23, 1962 issue, a change was made in the format of the newspaper; it now appeared in a new smaller "tabloid" size. A change in editor also took place two weeks later when Fronia D. Corey was named the managing editor beginning with the April 5th issue. Under the new editor the emphasis of the newspaper continued to be on the "local scene" -- not only supervisors1 meetings, but also, as she note dearly on, on "club programs, civic groups, youngsters spontaneous efforts in behalf of charity or fun, [and] sports". Taking "the time to sound off a little about the responsibility of a weekly community paper" in her fourth issue at the end of April, she asked (and answered), "But how will Mr. John Q. Public on Merriweather Lane learn about a new zoning restriction that is to be placed on the block next to his? Or that registration for next year's kindergarten will be any Monday at umpteen o'clock? Or that Susie Brown, age 9, is making 'sit-upons' in Brownies for the next cook-out? Only through the pages of the local newspaper." In short, it was her opinion that the weekly community newspaper had the responsibility" of keeping its editorial nose strictly to the local wheel; that is, to restrict its columns to the news of the area it covers advertising and circulation wide". To do this, she added, she also needed "the merchants' support through advertising". With the July 5th issue that year George Heintzelman's name no longer appeared on the masthead and Mary belle N. Heintzelman was listed as the newspaper's publisher. A change in the advertising manager again took place the following month when Nelson R. Buckwalter was named to the position. Except for a two-week period in the summer of 1968, during which Eugene P. Schwenk appeared on the masthead as advertising manager, he was to hold the position until February 1965. Marybelle Neal Heintzelman continued as publisher of THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS until the following May. But in the May 9, 1963 issue the sale of the newspaper was once again announced. The owner of the newspaper was now John H. Ware III. A state senator representing the 19th district in the Pennsylvania legislature, Ware was also the owner of the Oxford PRESS and the Avon Grove NEWS in southern Chester County. The new owner named Harry Bachman as general manager of the paper. Both Fronia Corey and Nelson Buckwalter continued as editor and advertising manager, respectively. With the first issue under the new owner, THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS discontinued the "tabloid" size and returned to "the standard size newspaper size". In an editorial on the front page it was also announced that there were plans "to make some changes in the "character" of the newspaper. These plans for "changes in the character" of the paper were more fully described a few months later in an editorial in the September 19th issue. "A conscientious editor," it was noted, "is clothed with a heavy responsibility. He not only records the local news, social events and political happenings of his community, but he should [also] discuss national and international issues that have a direct bearing on the lives and livelihood of his readers. ... It is certainly true that the smaller paper must place emphasis on local happenings. But it is unfortunate for a community if an editor feels obligated to move entirely in that direction". Another change was made in the banner head of the newspaper the following July. With the July 9, 1964 issue the word "NEWS" was made even more predominant, with the words "The Upper Main Line" appearing in reverse lettering. [Note 1]
In September Donald L. Collins replaced Fronia Corey as editor. Before coming to the paper, Collins had been director of sales and public relations for the Regional Printing Company in Bryn Mawr, an offset newspaper printing firm that printed some thirty or so weekly and trade newspapers. His newspaper career had started a dozen years earlier with the Marcus Hook HERALD, and he had later been the editor of the short-lived Great Valley GAZETTE as well as doing free-lance work for several local weekly newspapers and the Philadelphia INQUIRER. By the end of the year rumors that THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS would soon discontinue publication were "circulating in the area" to the extent that they were officially denied in the December 31st issue. Although that issue was the smallest of the year, with only four pages, it was flatly stated that the paper was not going out of business. "We intend to be here for many years," it was announced, "looking out for the interests of our Chester County Upper Main Line Community". Recognition, however, was given to the "keen" competition from "out-of-county" newspapers, an obvious reference to the SUBURBAN, and the free newspapers that "continue to line the gutters of our community and fill the waste baskets at local post offices".
Nonetheless, during the next few years there was a considerable turnover in personnel, particularly in the advertising department, where there were six different managers from 1965 through 1969. In February 1965, Harry Brightbill replaced Nelson Buckwalter as advertising manager; in January 1966 he in turn was replaced by Joseph W. Elverson; in August 1967 Hugh A. Mirella became advertising manager; beginning in January 1960 Martha N. Schellenberger held the position for three months; and in September of that year Judith Anderson took over the position. Similarly, in June 1966 Charles Garrett replaced Collins as the editor of the paper, and a year later, with the June 15, 1968 issue, Charles W. Shrout took over the reins. The end came in May of 1970. In the May 28th issue that year, it was announced that Chester County Communications Ltd. had purchased the assets of both the Oxford Printing Company and the Paoli Publishing Company, including THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS, the Oxford PRESS, the Avon Grove NEWS, and the Downingtown ARCHIVE. The president of the new company was Irvin S. Lieberman, of Phoenixville, a former public relations executive. Although he named the former owner, Senator Ware, "publisher emeritus" and announced that he would "do everything in my power to publish relevant, involved papers which will be a positive force in Chester County", his plans did not include continued publication of THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS. The next issue, dated June 1, 1970, was the last issue of the newspaper. "This is a growing district," Bill Pinkerton observed when he started the UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS back in 1947. And during the twenty-three years the newspaper was published there was a tremendous growth and development in the area the newspaper served: the establishment of shopping centers and malls, the construction of new roads and highways, new housing developments, the opening of new schools, new churches, new libraries, the formation of new civic associations and other organizations. The number of residents in Tredyffrin and Easttown townships almost trebled between 1950 and 1970! For these twenty-three years, "their activities, their hopes -- the everyday incidents of their lives" were chronicled in THE UPPER MAIN LINE NEWS. But then, once again, the residents of the Upper Main Line had "no local paper", and it would be up to the "out-of-county" newspaper and the DAILY LOCAL NEWS in West Chester to keep these happenings from passing by "almost unnoticed". 1. This new banner head was modified slightly for the February 3, 1966 issue after a "traffic-snarling snow storm". Since it was impossible to get the material for the paper down to the regular printing plant in Oxford, a smaller four-page edition of the paper was printed on short notice at the R-K Printing Company in Bryn Mawr. To mark the occasion, the banner head for the issue was snow-capped -- |
