Courtesy of the Hagley Museum & Library, and the Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society

Devon Park Hotel, 1927
For three decades, from 1882 to 1913, many wealthy and socially prominent families from Philadelphia spent their summers at the Devon Inn, adjacent to the Devon Horse Show. The huge hotel was situated about 300 yards south of the Devon station of the PRR. After being sold in 1914, in was again opened in 1919 as Devon Manor, a school for girls. By the summer of 1924, (when the previous image was taken) the Devon Manor School had entered into bankruptcy. In 1926 the property opened as the Devon Park Hotel. After two years as a center of Main Line society, it became, in September 1928, the Valley Forge Military Academy. Less than 4 months later, in January, 1929, a disastrous fire swept through the old building and, once and for all, totally destroyed it.