Neighborhoods Index

Edgemont Park: W 21st and 22nd Sts. from Edgmont Ave, over the Upland line to Upland Ave. Bordered on 21st St by the Chester Rural Cemetery. Built in the late 40's 

Residents: musicians Ralph Jones, drummer for Bill Haley & the Comets; Soddy Vaccaro of the Four Aces; Ernie DiNicola. High School coaches Joe Carroll (Chester HS and W Chester East football); Larry Oronzio, Williamson basketball; Stanley (Sonny) Shepanski (Garnet Valley basketball): Jim Hayes (St. Robert's basketball).

Other celebrity resident was "Bruce Davis," aka David Long, newscaster for WIBG radio. 

With the proximity to Crozer Seminary, it was like we had our own park which we used for baseball and sledding. On a hot summer day, you could quench your thirst at the spring at the bottom of the valley below the "ball field." The alleys behind the homes were just wide enough to allow wiffleball games. The middle of the 300 block was the only level area, so most games took place there. An overthrow or long hit resulted in the ball rolling down the hill, sometimes resulting in a chase of over a block to recover the ball. A call ahead to "stop the ball" could sometimes result in girls taking the ball and throwing it even further down the hill. 

As residents cemented over the grass plots behind the homes, eventually we could play basketball using the phone wires that ran along the houses just under the first floor windows (until phone reception was affected by the pounding of the basketballs). The greatest achievement was to be able to "dunk" the ball on the wires. 

The 300 blocks were bisected by the Upland boundary line. Chester kids didn't have much to do with the Upland kids, even though we shared the same block (we had standards even then). 

At the Upland Avenue end of 21st Street, a single home was built. For many years, Dr. Eleanor Tribiletti has an office there. A separate two-car garage was rented to a local distributor for Lance snacks. If you could be there when a delivery was being made, you often could score some samples. 

Memorial Days were memorable for the parade that terminated in the cemetery at the Soldiers' Circle. The 21 gun salute to the soldiers buried there resulted in a scramble for the shells ejected from the rifles. During early May, the circle was always a spectacular blaze of color as the azaleas that rim it were in full bloom.