Around Avondale and West Grove

Dolores I. Rowe

• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Year: 2006
• ISBN:
  9781439618066
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

Chester County was one of the three original counties established by William Penn, giving it a long history of settlement and growth. Around Avondale and West Grove features historic postcards from Avondale, Bakers Station, Chatham, West Grove, and the surrounding area. Jennersville, located in Penn Township, has close ties to the rose industry begun in London Grove. This area was a rich agricultural district that had many nurseries (including one of world renown), creameries, mushroom farms, horse farms, an experimental farm for research, and other agricultural ventures. White Clay Creek, now a federally designated wild and scenic river, supported many mills. Granite and marble supplied the quarry industry. The townships location along the main highways between Lancaster, Wilmington, Philadelphia, and Baltimore made it an important route for commerce.

One

THE BUSINESS SECTION

Passmore Supply Company of Avondale gave this blotter to its customers, advertising their “blue coal” for clean, steady heat. The blotter kept the name of the company in the sight of the customer when they wrote any correspondence and had to blot the excess ink left by the fountain pen.

The original portion of this building (with the peaked roof) was built in 1869 as Ziba Lamborn’s Store and Hall; the flat-roofed portion in the foreground was added later as Feldman’s Department Store. This card from the 1950s shows Ritter’s Drug Store, Keener’s Furniture, the Avon Department Store (Collett’s), and Fecondo’s. The site, at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and First Street, is now a bank and parking lot.

Ross and Margaret Ritter succeeded Sidney Doroshow as owners of the drugstore in Avondale. The pharmacy was in the old Ziba Lamborn store. This 1954 picture shows Margaret and Ross Ritter in the area of the store selling fragrances. Besides selling a variety of goods and dispensing prescriptions, the drugstore had a popular soda fountain.

In 1951, the Fecondo Brothers Store was opened in new quarters next to the municipal building/fire company on Pennsylvania Avenue in Avondale where Medford-Dunleavy was previously in business. Children were given a free cookie from barrels inside the store. From left to right stand Guido Fecondo, Phil Rae, and Vincent Fecondo. Note the Kellogg’s products in the window. This building was demolished in 1957.

The American Store Company grocery is on the left in this view taken from State Road in Avondale. This building has been the home of Earl’s Sub Shop for many years. There are also signs for Avondale Press Printing and General Electric Oil Furnaces. A Mobil station is on the corner. Across the street is Collett’s Department Store; behind it is the produce stand where the Macabees sold fruit and produce from what later became Chatham Acres.

The frame building in the left foreground housed a store and the post office from 1851 to 1883. Joshua Thomas, tinsmith and plumber, had the last business before the building was demolished in 1982. The structure with the Restaurant sign was built in 1877 as Morris Watson’s meat store. William Blittersdorf ran a barbershop here; his wife had a restaurant in part of the building. Later Perry’s News Agency, it is now Avon News.

Left of the railroad station is the Ponte Building. At the time of this picture, it was the restaurant of Jacob Ageldengler, “baker of all things good to eat.” Later Frank Ponte’s shoemaking shop was there. Shoes in all stages of repair and construction could be seen, and the tangy smell of leather permeated the air. With a white handlebar mustache, Ponte entertained with a wooden clarinet brought from Italy.

This building was built in 1775 of sandstone. It was the site of the National Bank of Avondale. In 1890, a Bachelor’s Club was established and held meetings here; the Bachelor’s Club was as its name implied. It was started by 12 men who “pledged their troth to single blessedness.” They held hops, parties, and lectures and outfitted the hall with pool tables, a double shuffleboard, and card and reading tables. This organization disbanded in 1900. The building saw reincarnations as a store, harness shop, and dwelling, and in this view, it was the restaurant of W. C. Russell, whose establishment catered to wedding receptions and parties as well as hungry townspeople and travelers. The three ladies on the porch are, from left to right, Viola, Emma, and Reba Blittersdorf. It was later T. C. Medford’s Appliance Store, and there were apartments above. Later it housed Wharry’s Grocery. This building still stands next to Earl’s Sub Shop on State Road and is the home of World Wide Travel. Notice the ornate ironwork on the second floor that is still on the building today.

Passmore Supply of Avondale bought out the Ark Coal Company in 1926. It offered gas, fuel oil, Kopper’s Coke (coal), agricultural and building supplies, and ice. It was located on South Pennsylvania Avenue where a gas station is still in business. The National Recovery Administration (NRA) sign on the building indicated that the business was ...