110 YEARS AGO – 1898

Chicken thieves depleted the hennery of Henry Mowers in Leiperville by 100 choice fowl.The Lyceum Dramatic Association of Eddystone is giving a play in which Rose McLaughlin and Mary Dolan have taken leading roles.George Caldwell, who broke through the ice while skating on the Ridley Park Lake and was rescued by friends, is a “lion of a man.” He is back on the ice and is in great physical condition, something that is rarely found in youths.

75 YEARS AGO – 1933

The one-hour parking ban in Chester was discarded today until after Jan. 1. Shoppers in the downtown section will be permitted to park for two hours in the central zone on orders of Mayor William Ward Jr. “I thoroughly realize that a woman requires more than one hour to make her purchases and especially during the Christmas holidays,” he said. “The police will forget the one-hour parking rule but will continue to enforce the law on the two-hour privilege.”A Leiperville man is in Taylor Hospital recovering the effects of exposure to the cold. He was found by Ridley Township police lying in the street frozen stiff. He was taken to the hospital apparently dead, however, he responded to treatment and is recovering satisfactorily.

50 YEARS AGO – 1958

A $200,000 fire destroyed the Bargain City USA store in Woodlyn. The blaze was blamed on faulty wiring. It was called the worst fire in Ridley Township in eight years, John J Kelly, a Chester businessman, was elected president of the Irish American Association of Delaware County. Dennis Sullivan, a Chester printer, was the previous president and had served three terms. Sullivan will now be vice president.Famed movie director Cecil B. DeMille of Hollywood is a former cadet at Pennsylvania Military College in Chester.

25 YEARS AGO – 1983

Springfield Republican Party Chief Charles Sexton Jr. has taken legal action charging that he and his wife were sickened by fumes from a family generator on their motor home. Francis Corbett, a 25-year veteran of the Philadelphia Police Force, has been selected police chief in Nether Providence. He had supervised 40 officers with the Philadelphia force.There’s a Full Moon Poetry Walk at Rose Tree Park in Upper Providence.

10 YEARS AGO – 1998

Three county residents have been admitted into Widener University’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, an international English society. New members are Patrick Manley of Collingdale; Brandon Richards of Brookhaven and Robert Tracey of Norwood.

---- LEN CASTERLINE

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