The Bulletin Newsletter: May of 2026
- Delaware County Historical Society
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
Events and Programming:
Delco Summer Social: Saturday June 27th, 6pm to 10 pm
The Delco Summer Social brings together the community of Delaware County to celebrate the incredible musical history of the area with a live performance of local talent. Delco Historical Society hosts the Delco Summer Social at the Mill in Rockdale, nestled along Chester Creek, for an evening of music, fun, prizes and of course history. Your support helps Delco Historical Society continue to provide stewardship for Delco history and to share it with the community. Delco Historical Society helps promote and protect Delco history for the next generation of archivists and historians!
The Mill at Rockdale
3100 Mount Road
Aston, PA 19014
Doors open at 6pm, show starts at 7 pm
$5.00 for parking
$30.00 General Admission
Food, drinks, prizes and more!
Lineup:
Knifeplay: Knifeplay | Spotify
Radiator Hospital: Radiator Hospital | Spotify
Sun Organ: SUN ORGAN | Spotify
The Delco Downhill Derby Returns! Registration is now open!
Delaware County Historical Society (DCHS) brings you the Second Annual Delco Downhill Derby aka The Triple D; a kinetic sculpture derby held on N. Edgmont Street in Media, PA on Saturday September 26th (Delco's and DCHS' Birthday!) The top prize winner will of course be immortalized in Delco history with their name carved into the famed William Penn stump of 1682!
The Triple D will be from noon to five pm and will feature stunning creations from folks all over the Delco community. Join us for a fun filled day of racing, creativity, and community! See you on the derby track!
$25.00 registration fee to participate. Free and Open to the public to attend, rain or shine. Register here: Registration Form-Delco Downhill Derby DCHS
Big thanks to our sponsors and supporters:
Visit Delco, PA: Visit Delco, PA - From Philly to the Brandywine
National Endowment for the Humanities
Mr. Andrew Saul
Media Borough: @media.borough
Wawa Inc: @wawa
Sun East Federal Credit Union
History Under the Stars Continues!
Upcoming lectures for the Spring 2026 season:
Wednesday, May 20th -Mike Maido, Philly Sandwich history: 8:15pm
Wednesday, June 3rd – Robyn Young, PHMC Markers: 8:30 pm
Wednesday, June 17th – Amanda Burdan- Brandywine Art Museum: 8 :30 pm
Lectures are held at Delco Historical Society
9 W. Front Street, Media, PA
Rain or shine, free and open to the public!
Delco Historical Society will be in Chester on Memorial Day celebrating the life of Delco's signer of the Declaration of Independence. Thanks to the Friends of Old St. Paul's & Swedish Burial Ground for having us and the Delco Chapter of the NSDAR!
Monday May 25th at Old St. Paul's & Swedish Burial Cemetery. 9 am to Noon. Delco Historical Society will feature on display at St. Paul's Episcopal Church two framed surveys created by John Morton himself!
Help Save Historic Delco Art!
DCHS has launched a new fundraising campaign called "Help Save Historic Delco Art!". The fundraiser is to help DCHS restore and protect incredible pieces of Delco art history for the public to enjoy. Preserving and restoring these works is a costly endeavor, but necessary to help ensure that these works of art are preserved for the next generation of stewards to appreciate. The goal of DCHS is to have the Marquis de Lafayette portrait restored by Fourth of July, and to have a continuing rotation of works restored after. With each work restored, DCHS will feature the work on display during our special open house events for the community of Delaware County. Your support will help ensure these wonderful Delco historic treasures are preserved.
Click here to donate to our fundraiser directly!
Stuart’s portrait of a ship launching from Roach’s Shipyard of Chester demonstrates the unique engineering history of Delaware County at the height of the 19th Century. The City of Peking held the record for the largest American ship afloat until 1889. The launching ceremony depicted here was reportedly attended by 25,000 people and included a trial ride with President Ulysses S. Grant and Vice President Wilson. This was a unique moment in history as this was also effectively the first time the United States of America was without an executive head in the country.
Stuart became a United States citizen after resigning from the navy in 1866. Thereafter, he worked primarily as an artist and illustrator for the merchant shipbuilding companies of John Roach & Son in Chester from 1872 to 1880, and then with Harlan & Hollingsworth in Wilmington, Delaware through the late 1880s. During this time, he became well known for documenting many of the early iron steamships built by these firms in the latter nineteenth century.
Subscribe to our YouTube Page!
If you can't make it out to our lectures or wish to learn more about Delco history, visit our YouTube! We upload our lecture series, events, and videos on local history!
The Sun East Foundation Golf Classic on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, will be held at the beautiful White Manor Country Club in Malvern, PA.
Each year, the outing sells out with 120 golfers representing a number of impressive organizations. Join us for golf or just our 3pm lunch, if you can! Even if you’re unable to attend, we would be grateful for your support through one of our sponsorship opportunities, which start as low as $500.
Registration details and sponsorship opportunities for our golf event can be found at www.suneastfoundationgolfclassic.org. Donations may be sent to Sun East Foundation, 4500 Pennell Road, Aston, PA 19014.
If golf isn’t a fit, you can still support the Foundation by becoming a member (just $10/individual or $30/organization.) Please see https://suneastfoundation.org/get-involved/ for details.
If you have any questions, please contact Jeannine Anckaitis at foundationinfo@suneast.org.
Sign Up for Delco Volunteers!
Delco Volunteers is a new portal created by America 250 Delco to bring folks from the Delco community together to help find volunteer opportunities. Created as legacy project for America 250, this program helps people connect to organizations and causes that they are passionate about to give back to their neighbors and community. Sign up today and find a volunteer opportunity that you are passionate about! Delco Historical Society has several volunteer opportunities
available for those with an interest in history!
Click here for more information:
From the Archives:
According to the photo's description, this dates from about 1898 and is of a circus procession heading north on Market Street in Chester. Today, the street is known as Avenue of the States. If you look closely, there are camels in the back and elephants up towards the front!
It's amazing what a difference two years can make, especially during the 18th century. Below we have two different forms of currency used in the same space of time. To the left, we have 18 pence note passed by the Pennsylvania Assembly under the reign of King George the III in October of 1773.
The other one is an 8 dollar note or "the value thereof in Gold or Silver", passed by a resolution of Congress in Philadelphia, November 1775. This note is known as "Continentals", and were the first issued currency authorized by the Second Continental Congress to help finance the War for American Independence. Published just 6 months after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, these notes show how quickly things escalated during this time. The Continental note states, "Majora Minoribus Consonant". The greater are in harmony with the smaller. By 1781, Continentals became useless and decreased quickly in value.
A remarkable portrait miniature on porcelain of Mary Chambers Black (1866-1932), wife of former mayor of Chester, Crosby Morton Black (1866-1916). Crosby Black served as mayor of Chester from 1896 to 1899 and was the owner of the Delaware County Morning Republican newspaper. Crosby was also a descendent of Delco's signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Morton, through his mother, Sue Morton.
An undated photo from Chester (possibly 1905) of citizens at a rally promoting the opening of the 5th Street bridge. The rally was held at the intersection of 5th Street and Edgmont Street. The speaker at center is noted as William Berry, who served as mayor of Chester for one year in 1905. Berry resigned as mayor of Chester to run for state treasurer and served in that position from 1906 to 1908. As treasurer, Berry identified misappropriations in a graft scandal related to furnishing of the Pennsylvania State Capitol, a misappropriation of nearly seven million dollars. Berry passed in 1928 and is buried in Chester Rural Cemetery.
Special Thanks to our Partners:
Delaware County Community College
Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum
Media Arts Council
Media Borough
Delaware County Institute of Science
YES, Center of Chester
Rose Valley Historical Society
The Mill at Rockdale
Warehouse 3 in Swarthmore
Media Chapter NAACP
Elwyn Inc.
America 250 Delco
Visit Media
Greatest Hits Records and Books
Three Potato Four
Ship Bottom Brewery
Special Thanks to the DCHS 2026 Sponsors:
Delaware County Council
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Visit Delco!
Philadelphia Funder Collaborative for the Semi-Quincentennial
National Endowment for the Humanities
Delaware County Interactive Gaming Revenue Authority
The Burman Family Charitable Fund-In Memory of Harvey Burman
Mr. Andrew Saul
Dr. John S. Brooks
John and Gail Moore
Wawa Inc.
The Philadelphia Foundation
Sun East Federal Credit Union
Please consider supporting DCHS today by donating or becoming a member. Funding by members and friends help DCHS continue our mission of collecting and preserving Delaware County history and culture and making it available to the community!
Venmo- @Delcopahistory
You can send a check or money order made out to Delaware County Historical Society, and mail it to our address at: 9 W. Front Street, Media, PA 19063
Links and Contact Information:
DCHS Website: Delaware County Historical Society (padelcohistory.org)
Follow DCHS on Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/padelcohistory
Follow DCHS on Instagram- https://www.instagram.com/padelcohistory/
Check out our YouTube Page: Delaware County Historical Society - YouTube
Email:
Director, Paul Hewes: outreach@padelcohistory.org
Library and Program Manager, Zach Beaver: research@padelcohistory.org
General Inquires: info@padelcohistory.org
Phone: 610-750-0622
Address: 9 W. Front Street- Media, PA 19063. Tuesday through Thursday, 10 am to 3pm.
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