Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: Winter 2004 Volume 41 Number 1, Page 24

Page 24

Looking Back in the Quarterly

40 YEARS AGO (1964). Doctor Richardson B. Okie was born in Boothwyn, Delaware County, December 16, 1849, died July 30, 1904... He took his degrees at the University of Pennsylvania... There were no cars in those days, or very few. I doubt whether father ever rode in one... His practice was widespread. He never spared himself, coming in from time to time to change horses... In the “Great Blizzard” of 1888, Miss Wilson had pneumonia. Father went to her, and because “This is no weather to take a horse out” he walked alone, nearly to Valley Forge [he lived in Berwyn - ed.]. It was a long day for all of us at home and when night came the neighbors and the big boys went to look for him. They found him, crawling on his hands and knees. I remember his step on the porch and how they tried to take off his frozen boots and how his beard was frozen stiff when he kissed me. “But she needed me.” – From the article “Dr. Richardson B. Okie,” by Mary G. Croasdale. [Vol. 13, No. 2 (October 1964) pp. 32-35]

Letters to the Editors

Paoli Grove

I have been trying to determine the location of what was once known as “Paoli Grove” and wondered if you or any of your acquaintances might be able to help me. It apparently was a popular picnic area around the turn of the century.

Matt Mille
January 8, 2004

On the map of Tredyffrin Township in the Atlas of Chester County published by A. R. Witmer in 1873, the wooded area east of Paoli, extending along the north side of what is now Russell Road, is identified as Paoli Grove. In the 1850s it was a popular Sunday resort and picnic grove, but later it reputedly became a hangout “of toughs” and “an unbearable nuisance to the neighborhood.” – Tredyffrin Easttown History Club Quarterly Vol. 17 No. 2 (April 1979) p. 52.

In the October 2003 issue of the Quarterly the Seven Stars houses on the map on p. 125 are in the lower right corner, not the lower left corner. The photographer of the 1893 portrait of Henry Schofield on p. 127 of this issue is unknown and is not Lucy Sampson.

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

Cover Eric H. Archer. p. 4 Unnamed Philadelphia newspaper, 1933. p. 5 Herb Fry, photographer, 1999. p 7 Chester County Historical Society, c.1893. p. 8 Left column. Lucy Sampson, photographer, 1908. Right column. Top. Lucy Sampson, photographer, 1908. Middle. Photographer unknown, 1909. Bottom. Lucy Sampson, photographer, 1908. All photographs from the Barbara Fry postcard collection. p. 10 Photographer unknown, November 1928. Barbara Fry postcard collection. p. 13 Evening Public Ledger, June 4, 1926. p. 16 Herb Fry, photographer, Summer 2001. p. 30 Source unknown. p. 33 All photographs from the Schifter Family Archives. p. 34 Schifter Family Archives. p. 36 Strafford Village Civic Association. p. 40 Top. William Burwell, photographer, Fall 1900. Tredyffrin Easttown History Club Archives. Bottom. Joyce A. Post, photographer, March 2004.