NOTE: Media Boro 125 years ago was a small country town in the smallest county in Penna. Please read this description of what it was like then
MEDIA The Social Commercial and Industrial Features of the County Town The borough of Media the county seat of Delaware County, by the establishment of the trolley road has been brought very close to Chester. Chester looks upon Media as a sort of a little sister, and younger, more sedate and pretty. Media, however, can no longer be called “little,” for it has attained a population of over 3300 and with the impetus given it ought to grow rapidly in the future. The Media of 2000 will very likely be a much larger place than the Media of today. Although it has no big mills or industrial establishments, it has more than kept pace with other towns in improvements and the Media of today is a far different place from the Media of a decade ago. The improvements of the past five years include electric lights, well paved streets, improved water works, a well-equipped fire company and a new borough hall, and last and most important of all is the connection with Chester and Marcus Hook by the trolley road built by the Union Railway Company. The road, opened on March 6th, has been liberally patronized and is already proving a big thing for both Media and Chester.
NO BARS OR SALOONS – Media became incorporated in 1851, about the time it was made the county seat by the removal of the Court House. The charter granted by the State prohibited the sale of liquor as a beverage anywhere within a mile of the borough. This has never been changed, although it has been talked of several times, and Media can lay claim to being one of the few prohibition towns in the State. The prohibitory clause in the charter is strictly enforced, no liquor of any kind being sold for “drinking” purposes, and the result is one of the most orderly and peaceable communities probably in the land.
AS A SEAT OF LEARNING – The town is known as a center of information and research and there are few towns of the same size anywhere with better facilities for mental culture and progress. The schools, both public and private, have a wide reputation, and pupils come here from all over the land.
The Delaware Co. Institute of Science, an institution as old as the borough, comprised of an association of citizens of the county having for its object the dissemination of scientific information among the people, meets every Saturday evening in its building on South Avenue for that purpose. It has a large membership which includes some of the most prominent and intelligent citizens of the county. The building of the institute has recently been modernized in the interior and now contains a tasteful and commodious hall for its lectures and entertainments, a cabinet and curio room and museum and library. Ex-Judge Broomall is president of the institution, and included in its roll of membership are Collector T. V. Cooper, Dr. Daniel Brinton, Graceanna Lewis, Dr. Isaac N. Kerlin, Henry C. Howard, Captain Isaac Johnson, Dr. S. D. Risley, A. Lewis Smith and many others equally as prominent.
THE COURT HOUSE – The Court House is the largest and the most prominent building at Media. When the Prothonotary’s office is fitted up with metallic furniture and shelving, similar to the new offices of the Recorder of Deeds and Register, it will be one of the most complete public buildings in the State and will serve the county for many years to come.
The building, with the new annex, makes a most imposing structure. It is situated in a pretty shaded enclosure occupying a whole square of ground. The Court House Square is the public park of the town, and the County Commissioners have kindly placed seats here where, in summer time, the way worn traveler, visitors to Media by the trolley or the tired citizens about town, can rest in its cooling shades.
The offices at present in the Court House are occupied by men who understand their business, and have, for the most part, been elected for their ability and business qualities.
Judge Thomas J. Clayton presides in the big room on the second floor and deals out law and justice here from the bench at the regular quarterly sittings of Court. He has a handsome private office in the new annex, just in the rear of the bench.
The present officials occupying the various offices are as follows: Prothonotary and Clerk of the Quarter Sessions Court, William L. Mathues; Recorder of Deeds, John H. Kerlin; Register of Wills, William H. Hall; High Sheriff, John D. Howard; Commissioners, Harry L. Hipple, W. Lane Quinn and James Clark.
HIGH AND HEALTHY – The beauty and health of the town is well known to hundreds of Philadelphian’s who reside here during five or six months of the year with their families. A great part of the permanent population is also made up of former residents of Philadelphia, professional and businessmen, who, pleased with the locality, have built or purchased homes here. A feature of the place is the large summer hotels, one of these, Idlewild having a patronage among the best people of Philadelphia and other big cities.
Media is known far and wide for its splendid homes, beautiful situation, shaded streets and handsome drives. It is situated at an elevation of 400 feet above tidewater, and from almost any point the eye is greeted with an endless variety of hills and dales, copse and forests, and on a clear day from upper windows the city of Chester and the white sails of passing vessels on the Delaware are plainly visible.
The health of the place is proverbial, and such a thing as malaria or hereditary disease of any kind is unknown. The water is of the best and comes from the upper portion of Ridley Creek. The principal streets are wide and well paved, and are fringed in summer time with the most luxuriant shade trees; and are the pride of the town and the admiration of all visitors.
MEDIA’S HOME LIFE – Few people are better housed and live in more cozy and comfortable habitations than do the residents of Media. They are better housed, fed and clothed than probably falls to the lot of most communities. Then the working classes, and there are some of them in Media, live in clean and comfortable homes, and have every convenience to make life pleasant. Media is emphatically a town of homes.
There are many pretty and neat and some very costly houses in Media, and its environments, Moylan and Wallingford, being included in the latter. There are no finer building sites to be found that some of those in this locality and they are generally in the hands of men who are willing to sell the property at a fair price, nothing more.
POLICE THAT PROTECT – Media’s police force is not a large one but it is all that is necessary to keep in the straight and narrow path 3000 orderly people. It consists of Chief Jesse J. Hoopes and assistants John Campbell and Frank Smith. The force is in charge of Burgess George Stiteler.
The town contains few lawless characters and there are few places of its size during the past decade with fewer burglaries and other depredations committed, and the credit of this is largely due to the efficiency of the police force. The town has been especially fortunate in the selection of her guardians of the peace, and there is no denying the sober fact that a vigilant police force can and does prevent crime.
THE NEW TOWN HALL – The new town hall upon which contractor Flounders is now putting the finishing touches is one of the most important public improvements in Media’s history. It is an imposing and substantial structure. It has a front of 40 feet on State Street and 75 feet on Jackson and is of pressed brick, laid in white mortar and relieved by carved sills of Indiana limestone. The base at the pavement is of Leiper and Lewis’ stone. In the State Street front the three doorways disclose at once the character of the building, or at least the first floor of it. The central entrance leads to the stairway to the upper floors, while those at each side of it are for the use of the fire apparatus. The fire company is about to move into its splendid quarters here and will occupy all the first floor with the exception of a small room at the northwest corner which will be used as an office by the Chief Burgess.
On the second floor is the Council chamber in front, and be firemen’s parlor and two offices in the rear. The third floor is a large room for lodge meetings e. Four lodges, the Golden Eagles, the Knights of Pythias, the American Mechanics and the Patriotic Sons of America are already in possession and meet on their respective nights weekly. The town lockup is in the basement where drunken and disorderly persons are sent by the Burgess. Electric lights, marble-top washstands, toilet rooms and all modern appliances and conveniences are to be found in the building, and in the County chamber there is a large and handsome fireplace with a hearth of fancy tile.
The tower at the corner is a feature that adds to the beauty of the structure, as well as to its usefulness; for while it is tastefully ornamented to please the eye, it ends above in a belfry, out of which will peal the alarm and call for the firemen to get together in case of fire.
The building is well planned and well-made, and reflects great credit upon Architect Yarnall and Builder Isaac L. Flounders.
MEDIA’S PERFECT LIGHT – The people of Media have no cause for complaint in regard to the electric light furnished by the Media Electric Light Company. They live in one of the best, if not the best lighted towns in the State.
The plant of the Media Company was erected nearly four years ago. The present officers are F. T. Downing, president; W. Rodger Fronefield, secretary and treasurer and William J. Alexander, superintendent. The system used is the Wood of Fort Wayne, Indiana, for the arc and the Westinghouse incandescent alternating current for house and store lighting of which there is no better. Compared with the light of other systems in nearby towns, Media’s light outshines them at least twenty five per cent.
The company has about seventy five miles of wire furnishing light as far away as Swarthmore. Moyland and Wallingford and the pretty modern homes in that locality all use the Media light. Thirty arc lights are kept going all night to light the streets of Media, and they have in use 6500 incandescent lights for house and store lighting.
The business of the Media Company is constantly growing and expanding. They started with but 500 lights in December ’89, and twice since have had to increase their facilities to keep up with the demand. At present they are putting in two new dynamos and a 150 horse power Corliss engine, and one additional 1200 horse power boiler. When the new plant is in working order the service will be the best in the country. The gentlemen at the head of the concern are progressive and ever on the alert to adopt anything that would tend to make their light the best, and they have managed and conducted the business so as to gain the approval of those who have tried the new light.
MEDIA FIRE COMPANY NO. 1 – Media at present has the best precautions against loss by fire. Its fire company is one of the best equipped in the State, everything being new and of the best approved order. The management is in good hands, for the rules of the company exclude objectionable parties altogether from membership. The present officers area: President, Terrence Reilly; vice president, James H. Sweeney, recording secretary, Thomas J. Dolphin; financial secretary, H. R. Greenfield; treasurer, Ralph Buckley; directors, William H. Carey, John J. Rowland, Jr., Townsend F. Green; foreman, J. Harris Sloan; assistant foreman, George F. Fisher; chief engineer, George W. Carey; assistant engineer, Samuel P. Rush, J. E. English, Benjamin Broadbelt, Edward Nolan.
The equipment consists of a LaFrance steam fire engine, one Bailey & Gleason hook and ladder truck, two hose carts, sixteen hundred feet of cotton hose, the property of the borough; fire hats, rubber coat and boots and fifty dress uniforms for parade. The value of the company’s personal property is nearly $500.
The company was organized in 1880 after a meeting of citizens called to discuss means to secure better protection from fire. It has now over 150 members among whom are some of the best-known citizens. The Media fire lads not only have the best and most approved equipment, but in their new quarters in the new town hall they occupy a department built especially for them, and is as near perfect as it can be made. But they deserve it all.
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