Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: Summer 2007 Volume 44 Number 3, Page 106

We Scrapples : Philadelphia's Main Line as it Really Was!

Page 106

Molly A. TenBroeck was always annoyed that most people thought people living on the Main Line were “fashionable slobs, rich eccentrics, or stuffy decadents.” In her experience of living 40 years on Yellow Springs Roads in Tredyffrin Township she knew better and decided to write about how it really was. Most of what she writes about takes place between 1950 and 1970.

And what about the title? Molly tells this story: “When Edward VII of England was Prince of Wales, he visited Philadelphia, and after he returned home, he reported, ’I met a very large and interesting family named “Scrapple,” and discovered a rather delicious native food they call “Biddle.”‘ He wondered what the difference was between a Biddle and a Scrapple.

Molly's book is very readable and full of many amusing stories of real people. You will find people who rode the Paoli Local and women's groups who were always supporting fund raising events such as bake sales and rummage sales for local churches, schools, boy and girl scouts, libraries, hospital auxiliaries, and national drives. You will hear about weddings, fire engine parades, musical teas, and oyster parties. You will meet Al, the barber, known as Mr. Owl; Dave and Ginnie Wilson and their dairy farm; Mr. Van Rodin, proprietor of a variety store; some thrifty Quakers; and the very eccentric Ellen Winsor and Rebecca Evans who were related to the Biddles and lived in a mansion next to the Ten Broeck family.

Molly left this 210-page manuscript when she died in 1987 and her son, Craig, has published it posthumously in 2007. The publisher is Outskirts Press of Denver, Colorado, it sells for $14.95, and is available at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com and soon at local stores. Local public libraries have it.