The Hidden History Of Delaware County

Andrew Wyeth is renowned for his paintings of the Chadds Ford countryside, but what about the his brother, the inventor of the plastic soda bottle? Then there is Bill Haley of Booth's Corner who, along with the help of a few Delaware Valley teenagers, came up with a new sound called rock-and-roll. With a fascinating and occasionally uproarious collection of his Main Line Today magazine columns, author Mark E. Dixon explores the forgotten corners of Delaware County's history. From the Upper Darby abolitionist who conducted more than two thousand people on the Underground Railroad to the Sun Shipyard press stunt that landed heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey in hot water, these offbeat histories will delight visitors and locals alike.

On an Oxford bound train in 1866 Mary Miles refused to move to the 'blacks-only' section, eighty-nine years before Rosa Parks' famous ride. Eight years later in a West Chester courtroom photographic evidence was used for the first time. Soon after that the hills of Westtown became the testing grounds for the Flexible Flyer, America's original steerable sled. These are among the extraordinary stories too often lost to Chester County's history. From the humorous tale of the goat that ate a stick of dynamite to Ann Preston, M.D., leading her female medical students through a mob of enraged men, author Mark Dixon is sure to please with this beguiling collection of vignettes.

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Hamilton County's past harbors sundry strange tales, many of them lost to time--until now. In 1867, a groom disappeared just before his wedding, presumably running away on cold feet. Four decades later, his remains were discovered buried under a shed in a mystery that remains unsolved. In the 1870s, the sheriff marshaled a seven-man posse, including two local African Americans, to deal with "desperados" in an isolated corner of the county. Their heroic efforts swiftly liberated the local populace from the yoke of banditry. A giant wave of ravenous squirrels descended on Central Indiana in 1822 to feast on crops, to the shock and dismay of new settlers. Join County Historian David Heighway for a tour of all things odd and forgotten.