A 4 foot by 4 foot map of Philadelphia and the surrounding area housed at Delaware County Historical Society is testament to the lasting legacy of courthouse architect and former DCHS president Clarence Wilson Brazer.
Born in Philadelphia, Brazer established his architectural firm in Chester after graduating from Drexel Institute of Technology. Here, he designed many iconic Delaware County buildings, including the 1920 remodeling of the Delaware County Courthouse (for which he wrote the most comprehensive overview of the original building to date), the Alfred O. Deshong Memorial Art Museum in Chester and the Dunwoody Home for Convalescents in Newtown Square.
In addition, Brazer designed the plans for the 1916 Chester City Hall and for the 90-acre, 170-home Westinghouse Corp. Village in Essington.
Brazer, was noted as well for his contributions outside of Delaware County, including drawing the design for the San Juan, Puerto Rico capitol building. He had submitted a design in the competition for that project and although his came in second, the architect that won purchased his designed and used it in creating his own.
On Sept. 22, 1930, he donated two sizable maps to Delaware County Historical Society.
One was a large colored map of Delaware County created by Joseph W. Ash, M.D. in 1848.
The other was a “Map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia” crafted in 1860 by D.J. Lake and S.N. Bears.
Stretched on a piece of oilcloth rolled around one rod, the map showcases Philadelphia and the municipalities of its day in Delaware, Montgomery and Chester counties, as well as parts of Bucks County, New Jersey and northern Delaware.
Each town is designated by a different color. Familiar places are represented such as Aston, Haverford, Radnor, Newtown, Chester and Ridley. However, there are only about half of today’s towns on the map as some towns, such as Aldan, Prospect Park and Glenolden had not yet been incorporated.
Both the 1860 Philadelphia vicinity map and the 1848 Ash Delaware County map are part of the collection at the home of Delaware County Historical Society at 408 Avenue of the States in Chester. It is open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday; 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Thursday; and from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the second Saturday of the month. It is closed on Tuesdays. Appointments are also available upon request. Parking is free in the lot behind the building or across the street in the city’s municipal lot.
For more information, ways to get involved or to contribute items of historic significance, please call 610-359-0832.
Architect Clarence Brazer donated this map of the Vicinity of Philadelphia to Delaware County Historical Society, as well as the Ash map of Delaware County.