Williamson Trade School Starts



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This rare postcard shows a train bringing students to the Williamson Trade School. The school had it's own station built for it.

 

 

THE WILLIAMSON SCHOOL

Where It Is Said the Buildings Will Be Erected

                Isaiah V. Williamson, the philanthropist who conceived the idea of the Free Industrial School died yesterday morning at his home in Philadelphia.  In order to end the project he set aside securities valued at over $2,000,000 and appointed trustees to carry out his wishes.  Mr. Williamson’s idea was to give instruction in mechanical trades to poor boys, who, by reason of trade restrictions, would otherwise be shut out from any instruction in that direction.  He had given the scheme a great deal of thought.

                The Philadelphia Press says:  “The site selected is in Middletown Township of Delaware County, on the line of there Media and West Chester Railroad, about two miles west of Media and about half way between Media and Glen Riddle stations.  It includes in its dimensions the farms of Hiram Schofield, containing 122 acres; John Hibberd’s, containing 113 acres; Jesse Hibberd’s, 42 acres; Casper W. Gray, 25 acres, and, to bring the tract square up to the lines, it cuts off small lots of from two to twelve acres from the Hardcastle, Malin, Lyons and Schur properties.  The tract borders on the land of the Delaware County Agricultural Society and extends from the Penn’s Grove Road on one side to the State Road, or Baltimore Pike, on the other.  The railroad passes through the lower portion of the tract for a distance of nearly half a mile and a convenient station could be located here, although Elwyn station is not over three-quarters of a mile distant from the Schofield farm.

                “The land of the Schofield property is of high quality and it has been in the name of the present owner for nearly forty years.  The buildings on it are more than a hundred years old, both the house and the barn, being of stone, and of the oldest style of farm building architecture.  The John and Jesse Hibberd properties belonged to the father of the present owners, and the farm house on the John Hibberd property is where both John and Jesse Hibberd were born more than half a century ago.  The Casper Gray property is also an old one, and, like the Schofield farm, is considered as among the most fertile in Delaware County.”

                The site is regarded as an excellent one by those who have examined the ground.  It is of a gently rolling nature, with an abundance of good water, while close by is a deposit of granite sufficient to furnish more than enough stone for the building.  Being close to the railroad the facilities in that particular are good.