Looking east on Washington St. in Media about 1912. This street has changed alot since this postcard was made, including it's name. Anyone know where this street is today?
NOTE: It is hard to understand today but some 130 years ago Media was in the middle of nowhere. It was surrounded by farms then and the nearest town of any size then was Chester. It is hard to imagine today but Media was a "dry" town no bars etc. It was considered a "High and Healthy" little country town. part 2 of this article will be featured next week.
CHESTER TIMES – April 8, 1893 – 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.
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