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

Paoli Elementary School
Overcrowding at the turn of the last century prompted the start of construction of a new two-story Paoli Elementary School. Begun in 1901, it was located on the east side of South Valley Road, just south of Lancaster Avenue. When the school was opened in 1902, the township’s high school in Strafford was also moved to the new Paoli School building. By the mid-1920s, however, the need for a new facility in Tredyffrin had became apparent. A new Paoli School was built on the north side of the PRR tracks, on East Central Avenue on a 6+ acre tract of the old Biddle estate, and now home of the Delaware Valley Friends School. Opened in the fall of 1927, the new Paoli School received most of the pupils of the old Paoli Elementary School, although the old Paoli School was used for several years thereafter as a kindergarten.