Past Meeting

At our public meeting on Sunday, November 17, 2013 the featured presentation was:

The Pennsylvania Railroad Stations of the Main Line from Overbrook to Paoli

by Greg Prichard

How did the "Main Line" get its name? Was Strafford train station really at the 1876 Centennial Exposition? Could it be that the most historically intact Pennsylvania Railroad station of the 19th century is in Easttown Township? On November 17, local historian Greg Prichard spoke to the Tredyffrin-Easttown Historical Society about the historic train stations of the Main Line, encompassing all stations between Overbrook and Paoli with a special emphasis on those in Tredyffrin and Easttown. The history of each station was discussed, as well as their current conditions and future plans, and how neighborhood preservation efforts have helped them from disrepair and, in some cases, destruction.

Greg Prichard is a Wayne native whose lifelong interest in local history led him to pursue a graduate degree in Historic Preservation Planning from Cornell University. His master's thesis, which won Cornell's Peter B. Andrews Memorial Thesis Prize, examined the train stations of the Main Line and was the inspiration for this talk. Greg has been a board member of the Radnor Historical Society since 2007, and in addition to his railroad station work has been compiling research on local 19th century developers Wendell & Smith for the last two years. He is a founding member of the Keystone Marker Trust, a statewide organization formed to restore and re-create Pennsylvania's iconic keystone marker signs. In addition to Greg's preservation and advocacy work, which includes community efforts to restore both St. Davids and Devon train stations, he is a graphic designer and historian responsible for creating interpretive signage for various historic sites and trails. His website is: www.gregprichard.com

This presentation was held at the Easttown Library & Information Center in Berwyn, PA starting at 2 pm.