Phyllis Recca wasn’t quite satisfied with a photo exhibit that had been on display at the Chadds Ford Historical Society. So, she decided to do something about it.
The exhibit was a series of photographs that showed scenes from around Chadds Ford during the early and middle parts of the 20th century, but that was as far as it went.
Recca, who runs the society’s store and is now vice president of its board, said she couldn’t always figure out what buildings were currently on the sites shown in those old photos.
When the exhibit came down, she came up with the idea of taking current photos of those same locations and putting those pictures in a binder with the old photos. But the project grew legs and has become a book, “Chadds Ford Then & Now.”
“You get a better sense where these old houses were,” she said.
One of her initial questions concerned Gallagher’s store. What she found out during her investigation is that location is now the site of Leader’s Sunoco at Route 1 and Station Way Road.
“When you saw [the photo exhibit] they didn’t say there’s a Sunoco here now, or there’s this here now. They just showed Gallagher’s store,” Recca said.
When Recca took over the society’s newsletter in January, she included some of the contrasting images in two quarterly issues, but then set out full bore on the project.
In July of this year, she started taking all the new photos and compiled them with the old ones for the book. It’s scheduled for release in time for Chadds Ford Days, Sept. 12 and 13. It will be on sale at the Historical Society for $25.
Recca said the book includes photos from the greater Chadds Ford area, even outside the township proper. Working on the project she discovered the Brandywine Summit Camp Meeting on Beaver Valley Road in Concord Township.
“I thought, wow, there’s something like that in the area?” she said. “We went and met the camp host. [The project] really started snowballing. Initially it was just going to be a then-and-now picture book.”
That snowballing led to including more text regarding stories of the properties and how they’ve changed.
Local historian and former Chadds Ford Township resident Kathy Wandersee acted as Recca’s editor for historical content. She said the book, with images taken from the same perspective as the old ones, provides a “strong impact.”
“You see what it was then, and what it is now,” Wandersee said. “It’s really interesting. I love that.”
Historical Society Executive Director Nadia Barakat said she is “grateful and totally excited with what Phyllis captured.”
“It will be so meaningful for residents to see what it was like before and now,” Barakat said.
(Photo: Chadds Ford Historical Society Executive Director Nadia Barakat, left, and Phyllis Recca check out a proof of Recca's photo book "Chadds Ford Then & Now.)
About Rich Schwartzman
Rich Schwartzman has been reporting on events in the greater Chadds Ford area since September 2001 when he became the founding editor of The Chadds Ford Post. In April 2009 he became managing editor of ChaddsFordLive. He is also an award-winning photographer.
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