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In Memoriam: Merv Harris

Posted on June 14, 2021 by nphistory

It is with great sadness that the Nether Providence Historical Society announces the death of J. Mervyn Harris, our founder and first president. Merv died in April at age 87. Acknowledged as our township’s primary historian, he served on many historical boards county-wide.

Merv graduated from Nether Providence High School in 1952 where he was senior class president. He went on to Pennsylvania Military College, now Widener University, where he was again senior class president. After some years in the military, he came back to Nether Providence and served on its Board of Commissioners. He was later elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives where he served for 4 years, from 1965-1969.

Merv was chairman of our township’s Tricentennial committee in 1987 and founded the Nether Providence Historical Society that year. He was also a member of the Delaware County Historical Society and served as president of that organization. And he was vice-chairman of the Delaware County Heritage Commission. In 2019, that group awarded Merv a Lifetime Achievement Award.  

Many township residents know Merv as author of the very readable book, A Brief History of Nether Providence. Published in 2010, the book is still available for sale at Furness Library, the Leiper House, and the township offices.

Merv’s love of local history and his vast knowledge of it, and his willingness to share it, have helped so many of us better understand where we live. His kindness touched many people.

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William Penn Weekend

Posted on September 24, 2018 by nphistory

The last weekend of September, local historical organizations will commemorate the 300th anniversary of William Penn’s death with a schedule of activities celebrating his legacy of tolerance.

  • Thursday, September 27: Lecture at Lima Estates, 7:00 PM
  • Friday, September 28: Colonial Music Presentation, 6:00 to 7:30 PM at Newlin Grist Mill
  • Saturday, September 29: Bus & Car Tour of Historic Sites (contact Delaware County Historical Society for details: 610 359-0832).
  • Sunday, September 30: Self-Guided Tours of Historic Sites

Nether Providence Historical Society will have a display of Sharpless family history at Chester Meeting House (520 East 24th Street, Chester) on Sunday afternoon from 1:00 until 3:00 PM.

The John and Jane (Moore) Sharpless (Sharples) family were the first permanent English settlers in what became Nether Providence, in 1682 on a Penn land grant. They are buried at the Chester Meeting House. A son, after finishing the house his father started, “Wolley Stille,” on today’s Harvey Road lived in a house on Providence Great Road from 1700 until 1720, now known as 322 North Providence Road.

Other sites open Sunday afternoon are the Pusey Plantation in Upland, and the Delaware County Historical Society Library and Museum in Chester, and the 1724 Court House next door.

Come visit local history sites this special Penn weekend, especially our Sharpless display at the Chester Meeting House!

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Lecture: Art & Archaeology – M. Louise Baker

Posted on April 8, 2018 by nphistory

To early 20th century archaeologists digging in the Middle East and South America for 2,000-year-old artifacts, the most popular woman in America was artist M. Louise Baker – and she lived in Wallingford!

An artist, Baker worked at University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology from 1908 to 1936. She traveled the world at the request of archeologists to illustrate their finds. Watercolors and reconstructions make up the over 500 works of hers that are in the Penn Museum today.

In retirement, Baker lived on Brookside Road with a studio above the garage that had a large window for sun and views.

Dr. Elin Danien, a research associate at the Penn Museum, will give an illustrated talk about Ms. Baker and her art on Wednesday, April 25 at 7:30 at the Helen Kate Furness Library.

Come learn about a Nether Providence resident, well-known to others, but not to us – until now.

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Centennial of The Great War

Posted on September 21, 2017 by nphistory

2017 is the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I.

Saturday and Sunday, through September and October, we will exhibit in the Leiper House dining room artifacts and ephemera from the era. The Leiper House hours are 1:00 to 4:00 pm. The exhibit is free and open to the public.

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100 Years Ago Today – Flower Show at Bickmore Farms

Posted on April 17, 2016 by nphistory

Chester Times, April 17, 1916.

Chester Times, April 17, 1916.

The April 17, 1916 Chester Times carried a report of a horticultural exhibit at Bickmore Farms where Milton H. Bickley had a large nursery operation on his property at Palmer’s Corner (the corner of Providence and Rose Valley Roads).

The flower show became an annual event to which the public was invited every year on Palm Sunday.

Milton Horace Bickley owned, along with his father, a drug store at 4th and Market Streets in Chester. He purchased the 102-acre Cedar Lane Farm from James Miller in 1913 and called it Bickmore; a combination of his last name and his father, Mortimore Bickley’s first name. There, he raised a variety of flowers in 19 large greenhouses (300′ x 75′). There was a 75′ smokestack for the furnace used to heat the greenhouses.

The family also ran a poultry farm on the property. In 1916, there were regular advertisements placed in the Chester Times announcing “we have just installed a big hall incubator and decided to do some custom hatching. You can bring, or buy your eggs from us. We also have baby chicks for sale.”

Milton Bickley died in 1937.

In 1944, W. J. Messmer, a Chester florist, purchased the Bickmore nursery on the south side of Rose Valley Road. The purchase included 60,000 square feet of glass-enclosed greenhouses.

By 1954, the 15 acre site had been purchased by the Wallingford Development Company. When the nursery buildings were razed to make way for 22 houses, it took two blasts of dynamite to level the smokestack. The neighborhood was named Bickmore Hills. The first of the split level houses were completed by July and offered for sale at $15,590.

Bickley Druggist and Apothecary at 4th and Market Streets in Chester

Bickley Druggist and Apothecary at 4th and Market Streets in Chester

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In the News…One Hundred Years Ago Today

Posted on January 17, 2013 by nphistory

Click image to enlarge.

Click image to enlarge.

In the January 17, 1913 issue of the Chester Times, Mr. Leiper ran an ad for his quarries – urging readers to “build, don’t rent.” You could reach the company by phoning “36-A” if you had a phone (fewer than 10% of households did).

Among that day’s advertisements was one for a dentist, accompanied by a macabre illustration, offering to pull teeth for free! Myers & Brothers apparently earned their living on the replacements: “Good teeth” for $5 and “Gold crowns” for $3. Using an inflation calculator, the buying power of $5 in 1913 would be worth $116 now – quite a bargain for all that dental work! Today, The Myers’ building at 514 Market Street (Avenue of the States) in Chester appears to be unoccupied on the upper floors. The first floor is Lou’s Jewelry and Pawn Shop.

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In the News…Fifty Years Ago Today

Posted on January 17, 2013 by nphistory

17Jan1963

Click image to enlarge.

As reported in the Delaware County Daily Times, the prior evening’s Nether Providence school board meeting had a full agenda. A $290,000 addition to the high school was scheduled to start in 10 days and contracts were announced. The bonds for the project carried a 2.85% interest rate.

Mentioned at the end of the article is an appeal the Board would file against the State Council of Education’s plan to combine Nether Providence school district with Media and Swarthmore-Rutledge districts; the beginning of a process that continued for many years.

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In the News…February 12, 1959

Posted on November 19, 2011 by nphistory

CLICK TO VIEW FULL SIZE

This is the first in a new series of articles, In the News. To receive notification of new postings, subscribe (top of the left column) or ‘like’ us on Facebook (top of the right column) or both!

In its February 12th issue, the Chester Times reported on Dick Clark’s new home and the Nether Providence School Board meeting.

The Clark family lived at the corner of Dogwood Lane and Plush Mill Road until 1964, when American Bandstand moved from Philadelphia to Los Angeles. It wasn’t to be the property’s last ‘brush with greatness’. In 1966, Ingrid Jacobson married singer-songwriter Jim Croce in the backyard. Rabbi Louis Kaplan of Ohev Shalom officiated. Ingrid Croce confirmed the location of their nuptials in her response to a 2010 email: “My family and I did live in Dick Clark’s home in Nether Providence and Jim and I were married there, on a little bridge over the creek. It was on Dogwood Lane.” Jim and Ingrid Croce were a folk duo Continue reading →

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