Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: Fall 2005 Volume 42 Number 4, Pages 116 & 139

BERWYN MURAL MARCHES ON SIDE OF BUILDING

C. Herbert Fry

Page 116

Berwyn mural. Photograph by Herb Fry, September 2005.

Berwyn residents watched this summer as a 20-foot-high by 50-foot-wide mural took shape on the west side of the building housing John Thomas' barbershop at Lancaster and Waterloo Avenues. The scene depicts a Victorian patriotic parade at the turn of the century, with a procession of folks and flying flags on the Fourth of July. Main Line developer Ernest Eadeh commissioned the mural which is painted on the side of the building, which he owns.

The 20 familiar faces seen in the parade from right to left are Gene Williams, Easttown Township manager; Carol Williams, Secretary for Surender Kohli; Carolyn Carter, Easttown volunteer; John Thomas, owner of the barbershop on whose wall the moral is painted; Denise Bones, owner of Clay's Bakery who grew up in Berwyn; Keith Martin, a Wayne electrician; Chantal Eadeh Goldberg, daughter of Ernest Eadeh and carrying her young baby, Lydia Corinne in her left arm and leading her 2-year-old daughter, Jocelyn Sarah, with her right hand; Clay Carter, husband of Carolyn Carter; Bill Connor, Sr., owner of the former Connor's Pharmacy; Bill Fritz, president of Fritz Lumber in Berwyn; Leslie Eadeh, wife of Ernest Eadeh; Ernest Eadeh; Surender Kohli, of Kohli and Associates and Easttown Township engineer; Heather Eadeh, daughter of Ernest Eadeh; Jack McCormick, a Berwyn roofer who prepared the roof of the mural building; and Tom Armstrong, Berwyn police chief. The 3 horses, Chancellor, Derby, and Rocky, are from Fox Meadow Farms. Jim Stowell, Sr., owner of Jim's Berwyn Sunoco in Easttown and Jim's Berwyn Auto Repair in Strafford, is driving the horses and standing at the back of the turn-of-the-century steam pumper fire engine is Dave Black, facilities manager for Ernest Eadeh. The mural also depicts three venerable buildings in Berwyn. The brown building on the far left is not a specific building. The other 3, from left to right, are the Berwyn train station, the former Connor's Pharmacy, and the Berwyn Primary School.

Karl Yoder, who works with the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, is the creator of the masterpiece. Eadeh had a picture of the area from around 1900, and Yoder came up with the idea of having a parade through Berwyn. The artist, a graduate of Pratt Institute in Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, designed the mural on his computer and used a small hydraulic lift and scaffolding to paint it.

Page 139 - continued from page 116

In August the Berwyn Devon Business Association presented a plaque to Mr. Yoder in appreciation of his work on the mural.

Denise Bones, owner of Clay's Corner Bakery across the parking lot, with her husband, Bill, was so impressed watching the mural unfold that she scheduled a birthday extravaganza to celebrate the 15th anniversary of her shop on Sunday,

October 2, 2005, to coincide with the formal dedication of the mural. She has created an extensive photographic record of the mural as it progressed from the beginning stages in early May 2005 until its completion on September 2, 2005.