Contacting me: - Update

I have temporarily cleared a small amount of space in my email box. However, spam continues to be a problem. To be sure you get through the filters, be sure to include the name of our city somewhere either in the subject or the body of your email.
You can contact me by phone. Follow this link for phone number.  -John

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Article contributed by Louis J. Warfel

"During the night Feb. 4,1932 at 12:30 am. the M.S. Bidwell an oil tanker belonging to the Sun Oil Company In Marcus Hook, Pa. exploded and burned at the Sinclair Dock. Seventeen men aboard were killed including the Captain, Joseph Rivers of Hollis, New York. His wife Viola Rivers aboard at the time was injured and rescued from the frigid waters of the Delaware River by Edward J. Cartain of Chester who swam to her resue. He was employed at Sinclair Refining and  subsequently awarded the Carnegie medal for heroism.  The Captain's Wife Viola Rivers, was treated at Chester Hospital and subsequently relocated  to Chester. Several of the deceased were from Chester, others from Linwood, Pa. and Philadelphia. A little known fact is that the second mate, 33 years of age from New York, was the natural father of Veronica Lake the hollywood actress. The Bidwell survived another 31 years and was torpedoed once during WW2. After logging 2 million miles it was sold to the Greek Government. The last Master was Captain Fredrick Burgess. Two sons of the late Captain Rivers, both served on the Bidwell as merchant seamen before its demise."

- Harold Rivers (Son of Capt. Rivers)

A first-hand account excerpted from the Autobiography of Everett S. Snyder, Lewis, DE

Additional recollections

(Photos courtesy of Andrew Atkinson, from his Great Grandmother, Rae Hopman's collection.)

Lou Warfel has written a very comprehensive account of the 1948 Market Street massacre as he recalls the events of that day.  At the time Lou was working in the Buten Paint Store at 624 Edgmont Ave.

My recollection of the Market Street Massacre by Lou Warfel.

A picture (c. 1900) of the building where the shooter was.

*  *  *

"I don't  remember too many of the details, but there was the Market Street Massacre in 1948. 7 or 8 people shot and killed including a Chester detective."
Tom Nicolaides

*  *  *

"I was talking to two older gentleman on my job recently and they told me that the man who did the shooting in 1948 last name was Collins and that he was a former veteran who had gotten medals for his marksmanship. The story was that he had played the "street" numbers at the time and hit for a large amount of money, and the numbers guy refused to pay. He then went on a rampage. One of the people shot was the "uncle" of  one of the older guys whom was telling me about the event... that his uncle stuck his head out of the nearby bar to find out what all the noice was about and got shot right through the head. If you get any other info I would be very interested."

aamuhammad@aol.com

"...the Eyre Park flood in 1950 or early 1951, which caused the evacuation of the entire area, up to the Chester hospital site and caused substantial damage. I believe that was what precipitated changes by the corps of engineers, ultimately causing the later flood in 1971. The water was up to the ninth street bridge and people were evacuated by row boats. I don't think there were any fatalities, although some of the older people were hospitalized."

E. H. "Ted" van Deusen

The store was rebuilt and reopened by November 1951.

"At the corner of 5th St. & Edgmont Ave. They were answering an alarm at 3rd & Penn St. which turned out to be a false alarm." - 1

"I was an eyewitness to this tragic accident. It happened in 1957-1958. I was only 8 years old when I lived at 857 E 14th Street. I had gone outside to play when I heard a whining noise and looked up to see a small plane doing a nose dive while spinning. At first because I was just a kid I thought it must have been some kind of stunt because it looked like leaflets falling to the ground. Little did I know that it was pieces of the plane breaking apart. When the plane hit the ground it literally shook the ground 3 blocks away. I was one of the first to get to the scene which was the PMC football field and pretty close to the stands. There was not much left to the plane which hit the ground nose first and crumpled like an accordion. That picture image has always stayed in my mind. My parents moved to E14th St when I was 7 and I did not move until 1970 at the age of 18. I do not recall another plane crash inside the PMC football since that one in 1957-1958."

- Natalie (Podryhula) Klotsche

Thanks also to Gary Wontroba

"John Boyle was a CPA/accounting firm and also a direct mailing business he established for his son Jack Boyle. The fire actually started at 514 Market St., Boyles was in the rear of it at 517-519 Edgmont Ave. (with their office fronting on Edgmont Ave). Other business effected was Rands, 516 Market and approximately 13 apartments above the businesses." - 1

"I was attending Widener then and my father and I were going to a Father/Son Dinner. We got out of the car and as we walked toward the college there was a Cessna nose first on the football field. It was, I believe a Cessna 172. It was on the football field, not the baseball field, on the opposite side of the campus (opposite end from the current library). It was in I believe the spring of 1963. I was a Sophomore."

- Dave Hall

[Pictures taken the following day, courtesy of Gloria Evers]

"Good Will's ladder truck was answering an alarm at 7th & Upland Sts. As it approached 9th & Upland a PMC cadet was waving the truck through the intersection and a car going west on 9th St. did not stop and the truck struck the car broad side pushing it into the side wall of Clancy's Funeral Home.
Normally Good Will would not have responded but Moyamensing ladder truck had responded to another call earlier. I was on the front passenger seat of the ladder truck when the accident occurred." - 1

Delaware County Daily Times coverage and photo by Walt Chernokal - Wednesday April 21, 1971

"One of my Classmates lost his life trying to save people in Toby Farms. There is a memorial for him at the entrance. His name was Ralph Worrilow. During that Hurricane all the creeks had overflowed. The bridges over Bridgewater Road, Dutton Mill Road and Pennell Road were completely destroyed. Some sections of Pennell Road were washed away. The Lumber Company, which is now known as Kings something or other, was completely flooded. The house on Dutton Mills and Creek Road was flooded and it sits up high. A lot of businesses were either destroyed or damaged. My husband and I took a ride around looking at everything and I had never seen such devastation in all the years I lived in Delaware County."

- Madeline Jenkins-Steiner

Pictures of the Flood and damages in Eyre Park courtesy of Tom Dewey:

Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3

"The BP Oil fire was I think about the largest conflagration that we have had in Delaware County. Just about every county fire company along with some New Castle County, DE companies participated in some way." - 1

230 Chester firefighters and other emergency workers were involved.

Many Chester firefighters were injured; those who survived have had health problems since.

In April 2000 the Philadelphia Inquirer did an 8-part series about the Wade Site Fire.  Thanks to Jason Birney for passing along the following link to these stories, photographs and bios of many who were involved:

http://inquirer.philly.com/specials/2000/fire/

"Located on 7th Street just west of Avenue of the States (formerly Edgmont Ave). Years ago the YMCA was on the corner of 7th & Edgmont Ave. just behind the YMCA on 7th St. was an alley that went from 7th to 8th St. The apartment bldg. was on the corner of the alley and 7th St.)" - 1

The barn was built in 1889.