Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: April 1997 Volume 35 Number 2, Page 40

Foreword

Page 40

Future generations will have to live with the legacy of today's insatiable appetite for development of the Great Valley. The former open farm lands have been irretrievably lost in this building boom, and with them the grand old stone farm houses which once adorned the area. Our first quarterly article recounts this loss. The text and drawings are by talented club member Sue Andrews, who has preserved for us the images of these great old houses no longer standing.

At our club meeting in July last year, Bob Ward presented a wonderfully complete summarization of the history of our public schools in Easttown and Tredyffrin townships. Against a background of public perceptions of education from colonial days through the recent system of state mandates, he catalogued some 50 different local school houses and their unique place in educating our children. Our second feature is Part I of this history. (Part II will appear in our next issue.)

The Tredyffrin Township neighborhood today known as Strafford got its name when the railroad opened a new station stop there. At our January 1997 club meeting, long-time Strafford resident and club member Anne Kirkpatrick shared with us her recollections of growing up in Strafford on Croton Road, near the Upper Merion township border, and after marriage and World War II, continuing to live in the area. Her personal reflections are presented as the next article.

The name "Berwyn" has cropped up in a most unlikely spot - Argentina. Club member Mary Ives, who is also archivist at Great Valley Presbyterian Church, tells us about it in our final offering of this issue.