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Our Next Meeting
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Annual Meeting Notice
NOTE: Before the featured presentation,
we will hold the Society's Annual Meeting (rescheduled from the cancelled January meeting) to briefly conduct some necessary official business, mainly the election of officers & board members and presentation of the annual report, followed by concise updates on the Society's status and ongoing activities.
This Society meeting will be held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday March 16, 2025
at Tredyffrin Public Library in Strafford, Pa.
This event is co-sponsored by Tredyffrin Public Library
and event information is also available on the Tredyffrin Public website.
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Uncovering the Secrets of the Moore-Irwin House
presented by David Montalvo
Moore-Irwin House: above c. 1899; below August 2023.
David Montalvo will explore the story of the Moore-Irwin House. Starting as a log cabin built in the mid-1700s by John and Jane Moore, it served as General Muhlenberg’s quarters during the Valley Forge encampment 1777-78, and was expanded twice by their son Richard Moore. Purchased in 1918 by Alexander D. Irwin for use as his country home, it was remodeled and expanded three more times, the last two designed by famed Colonial Revival architect Richardson Brognard Okie.
After most of the land around the house was sold to developers in the 1950s, the house became the Upper Merion Cultural Center and was used by the Parks & Rec Department as their headquarters. The house was formally purchased by Upper Merion Township in 1972. Unfortunately, the house had been allowed to fall into disrepair and by the early 1990s the house was left vacant. The King of Prussia Historical Society is currently working on ways to save this unique and beautiful house so that it can once again be used and enjoyed by visitors.
David Montalvo taught high school physics for over 35 years, 33 of those years at Upper Merion Area High School.
He and his wife Lynda (who still teaches chemistry at UMAHS) have lived in King of Prussia for 20 years and raised two daughters there.
David became involved with the King of Prussia Historical Society in early 2015, becoming president in 2019.
David's head may be in the sciences, but his heart has always been in the humanities.
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Upcoming Presentations and Events
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Links to Recent Online Presentation Videos
Society Presentations
Chester County Historic Preservation Network 2021 Spring Workshop (6 March 2021)
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2024 Member Excursion
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On Saturday, 15 June 2024, all current Society members were invited to join us for
our Annual Member Excursion, which this year took us to
The Finley House in Strafford, the headquarters of the Radnor Historical Society (RHS). We had been looking
forward to this visit for several years, and appreciate the hospitality of our friends at RHS.
Description from the RHS website:
The Finley House became the headquarters of the Radnor Historical Society in 1948 when its owner, Miss Dorothy Finley,
made the basement kitchen available to the newly formed organization. The kitchen, built in 1789, was the core of what was then the farmhouse of Captain John Pugh, a veteran of the Revolutionary War. The rest of the house, which represents alterations and additions made about 1840 and again in 1888 was given to the Society by Miss Finley in 1964, shortly before her death.
The Theodore Boreham Brooks Memorial Wagon House, built 1964 by Mr. Brooks, of Wayne, houses a fine collection of wagons, sleighs, carriages, and other large objects. The principal item in the Wagon House is an original Conestoga Wagon, formerly owned by Mr. Thornton Oakley, and given to the Society by his will in 1953. There is also a Pittsburgh Wagon, given by Mr. Oakley; both are equipped with all the items necessary for the maintenance of the wagons, such as the jacks and wagon bells, displayed on the front wall of the Wagon House. Also on display is a Germantown Carriage, a milk sleigh, a child's wagon, a second sleigh, and a large hay wagon from Waynesborough. The original (1901) carriage house is still in existence, but is no longer part of the property. In the garden are a number of fine old trees, two large millstones, and a bridge cornerstone of 1855, all from Radnor sites.
The RHS staff and volunteers provided us with a guided tour, after which had time to enjoy some light refreshments and an opportunity to converse.
As with other recent excursions, we were joined again this year by members of the King of Prussia Historical Society.
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Past Special Events Sponsored by Other Organizations
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Tredyffrin Community Day
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The Society exhibited again at the 2022 Tredyffrin Township Community Day
— on Saturday 8 October 2022 from 2 pm until 6 pm at Wilson Farm Park in Chesterbrook.
We enjoyed talking with the many people who stopped by and visited us.
The 2023 event was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.
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Mt. Zion AME Church
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Tredyffrin Township Historical Commission
Historical Walking Tour at Mt. Zion AME Church, Berwyn, PA
On Sunday, 28 April 2024, guided walking tours were held between 1 and 3 PM.
For more information, visit the Mt. Zion Historical Walk page.
170th Anniversary — Mt. Zion AME Church celebrated their 170th Anniversary
on Saturday 21 September 2018 from 10 am until 4 pm at 380 North Fairfield Road in Devon.
PA State Senator Andy Dinniman presented a proclamation at 10 am, and members of the 6th Regiment United States Colored Troops (USCT) Reenactors presented a 21-gun salute and played "Taps," followed by tours of the historic church and cemetery, and a special service and banquet starting at noon.
Historical Marker — A state-sonsored historical marker commemorating the "Berwyn School Fight" of 1932–34 was dedicated on Saturday 21 November 2020 with a distinguished group of invited speakers in conjunction with the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
A large audience attended and the proceedings were video-recorded.
Graveyard Project — A front page article about the ongoing research and conservation and research project in the historic cemetery was published in the 29 January 2021 Daily Local.
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Paoli Battlefield Heritage Day
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The Society exhibited again at the again at the 2022 Paoli Battlefield Heritage Day
on Saturday 17 September 2022 from 11 am until 4 pm at Paoli Memorial Grounds in Malvern.
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Historic House Tour
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On Saturday 28 September 2019, the Tredyffrin Historic Preservation Trust
held their 15th Annual Historic House Tour from 12 until 5 pm.
The proceeds support the rebuilding of the historic Jones Log Barn and the proposed Living History Center at Duportail.
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Paoli Blues Fest
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The Society exhibited in past years at the Paoli Blues Fest, but for various reasons, did not exhibit at the 2018 event,
and will not attend the 2019 event to be held on Saturday 28 September 2019 from noon until 6 pm at Paoli Presbyterian Church.
See more about the Society's past involvement here.
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Our Most Recent Meeting
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This Society meeting was held at 2:00 p.m. on Sunday February 16, 2025
at and co-sponsored by the Tredyffrin Public Library
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Appreciating Tredyffrin’s Places
presented by Rob Williams
Tredyffrin Township has been important to many eras of Philadelphia area history for more than 300 years. Its northern half evolved from a broad valley with farmland that fed colonial Philadelphia and beyond, to become a 20th-century corridor of industry and technology. The high ground of its southern half transformed from a hilly forested landscape with isolated cabins into a thoroughfare of traversing wagons and railroads with stops at roadway and trackside inns, services, and commercial properties, and many residential neighborhoods.
Throughout the Township, places can be found where this history was made. Rob Williams, Chair of the Township’s Historical Commission, led the audience on a virtual journey of our local history to appreciate these various stages of change and find the sites that still tell these stories.
Rob Williams has served since 2020 as Chair of the Tredyffrin Historical Commission, a Township advisory board. Rob’s quest is to seek out and learn local and world histories through travel, courses and even archaeology. Rather than pursue his boyhood dream to become an architect, Rob worked as a technology and program manager in the aerospace industry, and later an adjunct professor of innovation management at Temple University. His bucket list is still long, so please ask.
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Society Special Events
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"Behind the Doors"
The original Tredyffrin Easttown History Club occasionally held meetings at the various historic Inns in the area, as noted in this quote from an article about the history of the Club found in the October 1965 issue of the Quarterly (v.13 no.4, pg. 80):
On March 7, 1939 the first annual Banquet was held at the Windmill Tea Room (the General Jackson Inn) at Paoli. Originally the Club had these affairs at some historic inn. To date the following Inns have played host: The King of Prussia (once), Ye Old Bull Tavern (three times), General Warren (twice), Wayside Inn (General Jackson) (Five times).
Starting in 2013 this tradition was revived. So far we have visited two inns,
both with tours and history presentations followed by a delicious five course food and wine pairing dinner.
Both events were a great success and we look forward to more in the future.
For more information, view the individual invitations for these events:
A portion of the proceeds from these events benefits the Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society.
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TEHS Programs on Tredyffrin Township TV
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A selection of pre-recorded programs featuring presentations from past meetings of the Society are available for viewing on
Tredyffrin Township Television, found on Comcast Channel 15, Verizon Channel 24 and
On-Demand.
We are looking for volunteers who would be willing to assist with the recording of our presentations for later broadcast. Please contact us if you are interested.
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Program Schedule:
- 7 am on Sunday and Monday
- 1 pm on Monday
- 7 pm on Thursday and Saturday
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TEHS exhibits at local public libraries
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Did you know? The TEHS maintains a display case of local history materials in the Local History Room at the Tredyffrin Public Library.
The current exhibit highlights Herb Fry's book collection.
C. Herbert Fry was an active contributing member and officer of the Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society for over thirty years.
Herb gave numerous talks and wrote over two dozen local history articles for the Society's History Quarterly periodical.
He and his late wife Barbara amassed a collection of historical photographs, books, articles and other research materials that filled two closets.
Following his death in July 2018, all of his local history materials came to the Society. One of his special interests was Valley Forge,
and his books on the subject numbered over forty. Eight of these are displayed in this case.
Another example is this book by Frank Resavy & Tom McNichol.
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During the month of April 2018, a display case in the main entry hall of the Easttown Library in Berwyn
contained an exhibit featuring nine historic photos of Berwyn with intriguing captions, testing the viewer's knowledge of the area.
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S. Paul Teamer Awards
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As we passed the milestone of our 75th anniversary as an organization in 2012, it seemed fitting to establish a new annual award to recognize the especially significant contributions made by some of our members over the years. In considering what name this award should have we decided to reach back to the very beginning of what was then The Tredyffrin Easttown History Club and to founder and first president S. Paul Teamer. It is certainly worthwhile to look back at those first few volumes of the Quarterly and rediscover the noteworthy articles written by Teamer and his colleague Franklin L. Burns, among others, who set a high standard for those who followed.
S. Paul Teamer Award Recipients
(† posthumous, * since deceased)
| 2012 | Sue Andrews*, Herb Fry*, Joyce Post* |
| 2013 | Bob Goshorn†, Mike Bertram |
| 2014 | Franklin L. Burns†, Roger D. Thorne |
| 2015 | Barbara Fry†, Mary Robertson Ives*, Clarissa F. Dillon |
| 2016 | John O. Senior |
| 2018 | Tim Lander, Cheryl Leibold, Michael Morrison* |
| 2019 | Jim Brazel, Heidi Sproat |
| 2020 | Bart Van Valkenburgh |
| 2021 | Meg Wiederseim |
| 2023 | Marianne Hooper Furman |
| 2024 | Bertha Jackmon |
| 2025 | Stacey Ballard |
At the January 2012 Annual Meeting, we were pleased to present the S. Paul Teamer Award
for outstanding contributions to the Society to the first three recipients: Sue Andrews, Herb Fry, and Joyce Post.
At the January 2013 Annual Meeting, we were pleased to announce the names of the next two recipients of the award:
Bob Goshorn (posthumous) and Mike Bertram.
Since Mike was unable to attend this meeting, his award will be presented at a future meeting.
At the January 2014 Annual Meeting, we were pleased to announce the names of the 2014 recipients of the award:
Franklin L. Burns (posthumous) and former president Roger D. Thorne.
At the May 2015 Meeting (rescheduled from the January 2015 Annual Meeting cancelled due to adverse weather conditions),
we were pleased to recognize the 2015 recipients of the award:
Barbara Fry (posthumous), Mary Robertson Ives (emeritus), and Clarissa F. Dillon.
At the January 2016 Annual Meeting, we were pleased to present the award to:
John O. Senior.
(L-R): Roger Thorne and Society President Michael Morrison
with 2016 award recipient Vice-President John O. Senior
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Society President Michael Morrison with 2012 award recipients
(L-R):Joyce Post, Morrison, Herb Fry, Sue Andrews
Society Vice-President John O. Senior with 2014 award recipient Roger Thorne and President Michael Morrison
(L-R): Roger Thorne (on behalf of Mary Roberson Ives), Herb Fry (on behalf of Barbara Fry), President Michael Morrison,
and Clarissa Dillon
receive the 2015 awards
For several reasons, the award was not presented in 2017, but at the January 2018 Annual Meeting,
Michael Morrison, Tim Lander, and Cheryl Leibold were recognized as new recipients.
2018 award recipients Michael Morrison, Tim Lander, and Cheryl Leibold with President John O. Senior
(Note: The Philadelphia Eagles were playing for the NFC championship later that day, so John was wearing the team colors.)
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2019 award recipient Heidi Sproat
with John O. Senior
2019 award recipient Jim Brazel
with Roger Thorne
2020 award recipient Bart Van Valkenburgh with John O. Senior
At the January 2019 Annual Meeting,
Heidi Sproat (unable to attend) and Jim Brazel were recognized as new recipients.
At the January 2020 Annual Meeting,
Bart Van Valkenburgh was recognized as the new recipient.
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2023 recipient Marianne Hooper
with John O. Senior
2024 recipient Bertha Jackmon
with John O. Senior
2025 recipient Stacey Ballard
with John O. Senior
At the January 2021 (Online) Annual Meeting,
Meg Wiederseim was recognized as the new recipient.
The January 2022 Annual Meeting was not held.
At the January 2023 Annual Meeting,
Marianne Hooper Furman was recognized as the new recipient.
At the January 2024 Annual Meeting,
Bertha Jackmon was recognized as the new recipient.
At the February 2025 Annual Meeting,
Stacey Ballard was recognized as the new recipient.
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