Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: Winter 2004 Volume 41 Number 1, Page 2

FROM THE EDITORS

Page 2

Several themes run through the articles in this issue. Three of them are about the Devon area. Herb Fry, noted local historian, gives us a history of Devon. Paul Hagemans, Belgian Consul General of Philadelphia from 1889 to 1924, describes what it was like to live in Devon at that time. Stephan C. Schifter, whose grandfather built Strafford Village in 1939 in the far north-east corner of Tredyffrin Township about two miles northeast of Devon, tells us how the village came to be.

Paul Hagemans and Stephan Schifter both provide us with good descriptions of how families and communities entertained themselves in simpler times. Hagemans' programs of two of the productions of the Devon Dramatic Association list children of several prominent local families – Johnson, Colkett, Coates, Thomas, Sharp, Okie – in the cast.

We cannot escape Dr. Richardson B. Okie. He provided the first house for the Hagemans family in Devon and took care of two family members when they had diphtheria. His daughter, Mary, married John Croasdale sitting in the Locomobile in 1900 in front of the Blue Ball Inn where they lived, as pictured in our “Then... & Now” feature. Mary writes about her father in our “Looking Back in the Quarterly” feature.

Queries from readers led to two items in this issue. Eric H. Archer of Walnut Creek, CA contacted us for information about Dr. Okie and ultimately forwarded the material by Paul Hagemans, his great-grandfather. Another reader asked for information about Paoli Grove. We welcome such queries and will attempt to respond to them.

Please join us. We meet on Sundays at 2 PM in the Easttown Library & Information Center, 720 First Avenue, Berwyn. Meetings for the next several months are on March 28, April 25, May 23, and June 27. We do not meet in July and August.

Authors retain copyright of their contributions.
The Club does not accept responsibility for the accuracy of the information in the articles.

TREDYFFRIN EASTTOWN HISTORY CLUB QUARTERLY
Volume 41, Number 1 – Winter 2004

Program from the First Performance of the Devon Dramatic Association, September 19, 1896.
From A Mes Petits Enfants by Paul Hagemans.