Tredyffrin Easttown Historical Society
History Quarterly Digital Archives

Source: April 1961 Volume 11 Number 3, Pages 65–67, 70

The Story of the Old Hall

Sara Nuzum

Page 65

On March 9, 1861, John Kugler and wife sold a piece of ground to John McLeod and wife for $5082.92. On September 29, 1862, John McLeod and wife sold a portion of this to the Trinity Presbyterian Church of Reeseville. On July 1, 1871, Mr. McLeod sold to the Berwyn Hall and Library Association of Reeseville for $200.00 a piece of ground fifty feet in width on what was then called Church Street (now- Main Ave.), extending back to Waterloo Road.

That was the beginning of our Old Hall. In 1877 the Berwyn Building and Loan Association took out its charter. They started in the lower room of Old Hall and continued to meet there until they moved to the second floor of the Berwyn National Bank.

In the Spring of 1879 Mr. William Nuzum and family moved into the dwelling part of the Hall as caretakers. While there Mr. Nuzum was the lamp-lighter of the oil street lamps of the town of Reeseville. It was about this time that the name of the town was changed from Reeseville to Berwyn.

From 1898 until 1903 the First Baptist Church held Sunday School in the Hall. The Catholic Church and the Methodist Church held services there in 1891, and we have record of the Presbyterian Church Social giving an entertainment on Saturday evening, May 7, 1887. The admission charge was 25 cents.

In 1888 and '89 there was a note among the memoranda, bills, etc., of the Village Improvement society that there was a discussion about starting a Library. The next attempt was in 1895 and '96 to find quarters for a Reeding Room, but it was not until 1902 that the Library was opened in the Old Hall. There were not many entertainments in the town but what there were usually were held in the Old Hall on Main Avenue.

Between 1900 and 1909 Mr. Thomas Smedley and family lived in the caretaker's quarters. After the Smedleys Mrs. Lizzie Thomas was caretaker.

In 1887 the Yerkes family came to Reeseville. Mr. Carroll Yerkes was the first paper-boy in the town. The mail and paper train came through at 5 A. M. The paper-boy's first stop was at the Old Hall; a woman and her two sons lived there. He does not remember their name. At that time we had six daily morning papers; they were the Press, the Record, the Ledger, the Inquirer, the North American and the Times. By the way, the newsboy's salary was 75 cents a week.

Page 66

Entertainment by the church sociable, Berwyn Hall, Saturday evening, May 7th, 1887

In 1909 there was a Berwyn Public School class held in the Hall. Miss Hoover was the teacher.

In 1912 Trinity Presbyterian Church sold the Hall to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Treen. The lot was 50 X 227 feet. Mr. Treen made it into two apartments. It was in the Treen family until 1959 when Trinity Presbyterian Church bought it back, for they needed more Sunday School room and more parking space.

Page 67

PROGRAMME

Page 70

The Old Hall
Situated on Main Avenue between Berwyn and First Avenues,
back of the Presbyterian Church, Berwyn, Pa.