In 1993, WHYY’s Ed Cunningham wrote and produced a nostalgic
piece called “Things That Aren’t There Anymore.”
Our community’s loss last Saturday morning moved me to write
a list of things that aren’t here any more based on my own three decades in
Chadds Ford.
A big draw years ago was Chadds Peak or “Chadds Bump” as it
was affectionately known. Located between Old Baltimore Pike, McFadden Road and
Sterling Way, it boasted a lodge, snack bar, ski rental, a vertical of about
250 feet, three runs, two rope tows, a Poma lift line and a snow maker. It
closed in the late 1980s after it was sold to foreign investors who failed to
turn a profit. For some neat photos, check out http://www.dcski.com/lostareas/viewlostprofile.php?id=30
And in the village where the Keystone Bank and Post Office are
now, there used to be an old tiny wood frame building, more like a shack, where
you could get hoagies, sodas, coffee, snacks and sundries. I’d stop there on my
way home from teaching. The structure was later moved across the street to be
part of the Barn Shops before the current village center was built.
The Barn Shops? What barn? Yes, the great old bank barn that
used to be in back of Green Meadow Florists. During Chadds Ford Gallery’s
Christmas in Miniature, all the shops would be lit up in white lights buzzing
with business. But the barn itself lit up in flames late one night and the
place has never been the same.
Many old timers will remember the “greasy spoon” known as
the Birmingham Grille. A classic
1949 Kullman diner, it stood at the southwest corner of routes 202 and 1 when I
came to Chadds Ford. When the Sunoco station was built, it was moved a couple
miles up Route 202. Then in 1995, before Otto’s BMW went in, the diner was
purchased and transported to Truckee, Calif. where it stands today.
Now you don’t have to be a Chadds Ford old timer to remember
that great ice cream parlors called Betty’s. It was on Route 202 going north
out of Chadds Ford where the ReMax office is now. Yes, you could get a great
burger, but everyone went there for the ice cream.
Ricks Riding Academy was located in a large field where Glen
Eagle Square (Outback, Genuardi’s) is now. Despite the high-sounding name, it
mostly offered informal trail rides and pony rides for kids.
One summer day in 1959, my grandparents said I was old
enough to come down to Washington, D.C. to stay with them for a week. So
packing my little blue suitcase, I set out on my great adventure. Just south of
West Chester, Grandpa spied a place advertising “Foot Long Hotdogs” and on that
day I was introduced to Jimmy John’s, 20 years before I moved to Chadds Ford.
Saturday morning I watched channel 10 in disbelief as
helicopter shots showed one of our local favorites in flames.
Jimmy John’s has more than generously supported our
community and non-profits for many decades. Let’s not let it join the long list
of great Chadds Ford places that aren’t here any more.
And hey …does anyone out there remember Christy’s
Restaurant, the Continental Safari Nightclub or the big Music Fair? Chadds Ford
was a happening place!
Maybe a part II some day.
About Sally Denk Hoey
Sally Denk Hoey, is a Gemini - one part music and one part history. She holds a masters degree cum laude from the School of Music at West Chester University. She taught 14 years in both public and private school. Her CD "Bard of the Brandywine" was critically received during her almost 30 years as a folk singer. She currently cantors masses at St Agnes Church in West Chester where she also performs with the select Motet Choir. A recognized historian, Sally serves as a judge-captain for the south-east Pennsylvania regionals of the National History Day Competition. She has served as president of the Brandywine Battlefield Park Associates as well as the Sanderson Museum in Chadds Ford where she now curates the violin collection. Sally re-enacted with the 43rd Regiment of Foot and the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment for 19 years where she interpreted the role of a campfollower at encampments in Valley Forge, Williamsburg, Va., Monmouth, N.J. and Lexington and Concord, Mass. Sally is married to her college classmate, Thomas Hoey, otherwise known as "Mr. Sousa.”
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading...
Yes, I do remember those things. (They were here before women who live in fancy houses have fist fights on the street.) However, I believe the Birmingham Grille was located on the northwest corner of Route 202 and 1. Christy’s was on the southwest corner.
I’m sure the reason people went to Betty’s for burgers is because it was the Beefburger before it was Betty’s.
How about Costello’s soft ice cream store? It was on the same side in the stretch between ReMax and Jimmy John’s. I remember the soft serve ice cream being better that Dairy Queen’s could ever hope to be.
Well I am just discovering this and jumping in almost a year after the fact, but I couldn’t resist, having been a Chadds Fordian of that era. That big music fair was called Brandywine Music Box. I don’t think it was there very long; we used to play our Little League games across Route One from that (behind Christy’s, which is where we held our banquets). The one production I can recall playing there was “Pajama Game.”
Just up from Rick’s Riding Academy on 202 was the original St. Cornelius chapel, a charming tiny place that could fit into the foyer of the current church.
Anibas is correct about Birmingham Grille being on the NW corner of Routes 1 and 202 (which was alternately called Christy’s Corner or Painter’s Crossroads.) Tony Polito had his barbershop in the little shopping center there, along with J. Lanier Jordan Realty and Southeast National Bank. There was also a pre-Wawa deli (I believe it was Gebhardt’s) there. There was also a State Store, although I may have some of the timing off as to what was there and when.
As you head south on Route One, on the right hand side before you got into the village of Chadds Ford there was a hamburger/hot dog place. I can’t remember the name — it had a big Medford’s Franks sign on it.
Hank’s was about one-third the size it is now and was pretty much just a counter with a few stools. Of course Lexington Lumber yard is where the Brandywine River Museum is now. Chadds Ford School went to eighth grade when I started there, then changed to only fifth, after which we spent one year at Unionville Elementary before going over to the “new” high school (which was 7-12.)
Going south further on Route One, where The Gables is now, was Dario’s General Store, with the big Elsie the Cow sign and an ad for their Turkeyburgers, which I never saw anyone order even though I was in the store thousands of times (and loved it very deeply, I might add.) Green Acres Motel was just up the road on the left. Near Green Acres was a big yellow billboard advertising the Chester-Bridgeport Ferry in those pre-Commodore Barry Bridge days.
I liked Betty’s Ice Cream too. I must have, because I kept going there even though I got food poisoning twice! Wasn’t about to let a trivial occurrence like that keep me away.
Thanks for the enjoyable column.
I believe the hot dog place, that speedy remembers with the Medford’s sign, was called Horton’s.
Hank’s was called George’s before Hank Shupe bought it. It was just a little stand with no seating. You just stood at the counter which was very close to the road. Wouldn’t want to stand there today!
Just saw this blog – I grew up in Lenape in the 1960s. I remember the 202 Drive-in and 202 diner, Lenape Park, Lenape Inn (now the recently closed Simon Pearce), Mansion House (in West Chester), cafe/shack at the corner of routes 926 and 52. Betty’s was great – I went on my first date there (I loved their ice cream skyscraper – layers of ice cream and waffles).
The good news is that some places from the past are still here today – Brandywine Battlefield, Baldwins Book Barn and Hanks. Thanks to everyone who works to keep our heritage alive!
Anibas, thank you, I had forgotten the name Horton’s! It seemed like it sat there abandoned for decades. I remember my Uncle taking my brother and me there for hamburgers in the summer of 1962 after we had gone to see the film “The Longest Day.”
Never knew Hank’s was once George’s. Sure doesn’t have the same ring.
What is now known as the Barnes Brinton House was a run-down home that was occupied by a series of poor families. We never would have suspected back then that it would be refurbished as it is today.
Precca mentioned Lenape Park. We wasted a lot of summer hours in there playing ski-ball and riding that roller coaster that seemed to have only one real hill. And the world’s least-scary funhouse. Mr. Gibney had those beautiful Philadelphia- carved horses on the Merry-Go-Round.
There weren’t nearly so many homes in Lenape in those peaceful days.
The Battlefield used to have all those wax figures in the homes. The guy who stood out to me was the prisoner in the dungeon behind Washington’s Headquarters.
And Chris Sanderson LIVED in the Chris Sanderson Museum!!! He was a regular visitor at Chadds Ford School (and lots of other schools too it seems.) We used to think that he was a famous historical character and that Andy Wyeth was just a local artist!
In 1956 I came to Chadds Ford from my home in Chester. I was coming with three friends with our scout master Art Gebhardt, who owned a boat shop across the street from Darios Dairy, now Gables Restaurant. It was our intention to meet the owner of Willow Brook Ranch, later to made into Chadds Peak, to work on our very first merit badge, horsemanship.
The ranch was about 60 acres occupied by as many horses and ponys. The owner of the horse business was a mountain of a man named Jac Carlson his father John E. Carlson was the owner of the property and proprietor of a popular mens store in Wilmington. My friends and I only lasted about a week in the boy scouts, we became full time horsemen. I lasted longer than all the others, five years I spent at Willow Brook.
In the winter I would would catch a Short Line Bus next to The Chester Post Office, on Friday after school, and take a 45 minute ride through the steep roads of Aston Mills and Lenni and finally arrive at Painters Crossroads. I had passed Ricks Riding Academy and then St. Cornelius Church, a cute little green stone building just about across 202 where my jewelry store is now then I would call from a phone booth in front of The Birmingham Grille for Jac or another guy named Charlie Martin, to come and pick me up. Sometimes I would wait inside the restaurant sometimes I would just look at Christys across the street. Other times I would investigate the big tent at the music fair or The Safari but never went inside any of the three.
I remember the Chadds Ford Tavern and the Esso Station next to it was called Opies. Where Rottenvielles (sic no doubt) is now, had a front lawn just full of ponies. Charlie told me there was about ten beautiful sisters who lived there, all blonds.
I remember lots of straw and hay fields in Chadds Ford where we toiled in the hot summer days but not many houses other than farm houses. The first developement, I will never forget, was being built right next to our farm. It was called Chadds Ford Knoll. A pony I was riding named Cha Cha tripped on a stake up there and fell over on me, cracking many of my ribs. I was riding him bare back while he was chasing a rabbit. Believe it or not.
I could go on and on but I must get back to work. Needless to say I believe I had the best childhood of anyone I ever heard of and I can’t believe anyone could love a place as I do Chadds Ford.
Dan Doubet
I remember skiing at Chadds Peak on the west side of Route 1. I think it was near the antique mall. We liked to call it “Chadds Bump,” because the hill was so small.