Category Archives: crime and pubishment

let’s talk about kelly’s in bryn mawr.

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Kelly’s from his history, didn’t start out life as a college bar.

Further back in the 19th century it was originally called the Ivy Inn. Located on the corner of Roberts Road and Lancaster Avenue in Bryn Mawr, it’s always just kind of been there.

The building it is today is kind of a flat roof monstrosity that I’m not quite sure how it ever got built. I remember when the Biggins brothers wanted to expand it and make it something different. All of a sudden it was this unfinished monstrosity and the place that gone belly up. Then the current owners bought it.

Honestly, I swear I’ve heard more complaints about that bar under the current ownership than the prior ownership.

There were lots of joints in Bryn Mawr years ago. Not fancy or pretentious, just bars. Like the Erin Pub and then I swear there was a place called Bob’s Mystical Garden. And also a place called You Bet Your Life we called You Beat Your Wife (then it became Mallory’s and is now and still The Grog.)

Kelly’s seems like it has had a growth of issues with the reincarnation of what was once a dive bar with pool tables in the back. When I knew it. that was fine. It was a joint.

Once the students cleared out for the year, or even certain times of the week there were local characters, some quite sad. One I met by accident once. It was while I was interviewing for first “real jobs” a million years ago. You know those in between days before true adulting started? I will also note that I never got in there underage because I never had fake ID etc.

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Anyway, I literally went this one random day many, many years ago to Kelly’s with one of my friends. Yep we went to check out what they call “day drinking” today. I don’t like beer, so for me not so much drinking. It seemed quite scandalous to do that, and I remember thinking at the time how pissed of my mother would have been – who didn’t like those places to begin with – so that is probably why I did it.

There were some older locals in there that day. There was also a somewhat more refined older and really, really drunk Main Line-ish woman. Blondish hair flirting with the bartender. She was too wasted to drive. Came in that way apparently. I still think she was doing her own crawl. We hadn’t been there that long so we drove the woman home. She lived down College Avenue, on the other side of Haverford Road where the houses get more grand again closer to Merion Golf.

We made sure that she got into her big, overly quiet house and left. Seemed very lonely. Wanted us to come in and have a drink with her and that kind of killed us on the day drinking experience. We figured that when she sobered up, she would call a cab to get her car or maybe a family member would help her. My friend and I commented at the time to each other after we had left of how that could’ve turned out very differently for her if a pair of women hadn’t helped her get home.

That was like 40 years ago and I never forgot that. A lesson learned- what not to become. A very sad and lonely bar fly, whomever she was. And that was a beautiful house she lived in.

But that was old Kelly’s. I was not ever a regular, it was just an occasional place for me. So many people were these devotees of this place and that’s the only place they would ever go. They definitely had a devoted following back in the day. I remember like a giant moose head and a really big jockstrap hanging up. I also remember the old bar and always wondered what it would look like if it was truly cleaned up?

It was of course also a fun place to play pool once in a while. I am and always will be a less than mediocre pool player, but back then it was still fun. However, even my younger self knew residents and small businesses didn’t love the Kelly’s crowd. But I don’t remember the place getting as bad a rap until the current ownership. Or maybe none of us were aware of prior issues because it was before social media and everything all over the Internet?

I remember there was this roof deck thing when it first reopened and I remember there were actually pictures that the neighbors had taken because it was so loud at night and lots of people on these roof areas, and I think the Bryn Mawr Civic Association was trying to deal with it and I know this is actually true because I found an old email that I had been sent. It’s completely random that I had this email because it was from 2011. Not sure if it was prior or current ownership, but there were a flurry of court cases back then.

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Recently I noticed in the media coverage of Kelly’s issues at present, they (the owners) feel like they’re being targeted, but are they really? Or is this just a continuation of past issues?

And the college-age behavior (and bars) is something that has always existed, but the attitude of some of the students now I think is different. Big senses of entitlement, yes? I also still think this has to do with the school, in this case Villanova University, because in my opinion they’re rather hands-off about their students off of campus and they’re a big presence in the area so I don’t know that they really can be anymore can they?

And do the students behave the way they do off campus because they feel that the school does not really care about their behavior in the community anyway? I mean, look at Mount Pleasant in Tredyffrin? It’s back to business as usual over there with new student rentals. Delta Chi frat bros in some of the rentals, and oh the richness of the other fact that a couple of the ones charged with disturbing the peace from the last round pled not guilty and are taking this to court because you know it’s fine to scream whore (among other behaviors) at a full time resident in the middle of the night, right?

Now to be honest, we tried going in there a couple of times over the past few years because new look Kelly’s advertises themselves as a pub and you can get lunch, etc. etc. Well I thought the food sucked. Both times we went there was like a Saturday and it was also empty. I don’t think school was in session both times we were there.

So maybe the people that own the place should be honest as you know people aren’t going in for the food and gastropub-ish ambiance, and it’s not really catering to the entire community just the student community, correct?

The bottom of their online menu says it’s the only place you’ll ever want to be. No, not really. And if they actually really tried to make them themselves an all age more inclusive feeling pub, maybe they would have different reception from the community and the police and the local townships?

I also had to giggle at the bar’s recollection of the history on that site when it opened as “The Ivy Inn” in the 19th century. I don’t know that it was ever completely respectable, and you weren’t going to find people on the Main Line staying in their “summer cottages” there in my opinion. I mean maybe the gents on occasion but definitely not the ladies as it would not have been socially acceptable. I kind of mentally did an eye roll on that. Yes the place started in the late 19th century but to me it was probably more of a location for the average Joe working man, versus fancy-schmancy.

I do remember reading a thread online at some point in time where somebody had a elderly relative that remembered it had a side door for ladies.

And it’s a bummer because I can’t seem to find any old exterior or interior photos or anything of even the late 20th century rendition of Kelly’s before they turned it into what it is today. And I honestly do think these old joints play a part in local history not just the fancy houses. I’m not looking for people partying it up in there, I was looking for what it looked like inside. When I was cruising around the Internet for old shots, I found one random photo from 1985 and you can’t even really see the bar or anything it’s just a bunch of people.

Now, when I was looking to see if I could still find some of these old threads about the history, I came across a guy remarking about something that happened in 2018 and it was some kid basically was followed from the bar and stabbed in Bryn Mawr.

College bars are college bars. Yet they need to co-exist in the regular world which they are a part of. If Kelly’s Taproom has a bullseye on it then they need to take some responsibility don’t they? Based on the past it’s nothing new.

(Ummm it’s about the
Pope picture 🤮🙄)

Maybe Bryn Mawr doesn’t want college bars anymore? What about hookah bars? Are they still in existence?

I am going to share the recent media. But in my humble opinion it is not so simple as a college bar merely being targeted. Lower Merion’s s current police superintendent doesn’t start these things unless he has proof. I might not know what the heck is really going on, but I do know that much.

Also as I went this morning to noodle around for more for this post that there is a petition circulating by the owners to stop foreclosure. Didn’t know there was a current issue with foreclosure? Also a bit of a Hail Mary?

https://c.org/8nPQMVtwds

Sharing links on present and past.

And again, I don’t have a problem with the old joints so to speak. Like one of the best hamburgers you will still ever get anywhere is Roache and O’Briens in Haverford. Somehow they have managed to survive just the way they are since 1933. Kelly’s should take a page out of their book.

Thanks for stopping by.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/kellys-bryn-mawr-bar-investigation-villanova-students-20260605.html

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/popular-bryn-mawr-bar-under-041214238.html

EXCLUSIVE: Kelly’s Taproom Cited; Facing Pressure From Multiple Parties
Has College-Age Drinking on the Main Line Gotten Out of Hand?
Univ. favorite Kelly’s bar to reopen in fall
Local bar reopens
2 popular ‘Nova watering holes closing

https://www.suburbanlifemagazine.com/article/1805/Serving-with-Spirit

Christian Charged With ‘Disorderly Conduct’ After Preaching Gospel Near Noisy Bar Found Not Guilty
Exclusive Interview with Gene Mitchell, Owner of Popular Restaurant & Bar Kelly’s Taproom
Kendall’s Column: The Enigma of Kelly’s Mug Night

well lookee there tredyffrin, a BIG article about mount pleasant and what residents have been dealing with for decades.

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Has a rainbow come to Mount Pleasant in Tredyffrin? Not sure exactly, but a mighty fine centerpiece article from The Philadelphia Inquirer has arrived.

I am so happy for the very beleaguered residents of this small historic neighborhood. I am honestly really happy that a bona fide reporter listened to what the residence had to say and wrote about it fairly.

See Tredyffrin? Told ya.

See Villanova University? Others do care about Mount Pleasant, even if your off-campus students and student rental slumlords there do not and just out of curiosity how many of those student rental landlords are alumni?

https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/chester-county-villanova-cabrini-student-housing-20260512.html

Yes there is a paywall but I actually know someone who subscribed today just so they could read this article. Tredyffrin’s inactive chickens are coming home to roost in Mt. Pleasant with this article. A reporter, the photographer to look into what has been even documented on social media.

This is a large article and I hope the message has been received that it is time to stop offering lip service, and deal with this.

As for Tredyffrin Supervisor Carlotta Johnson-Pugh who was quoted? She really shouldn’t dance. She should just say what the residents tell her: if this wasn’t a historically black neighborhood, people would care more. THAT is the truth and reality.

I don’t know where half of these Tredyffrin Supervisors were years ago when the original student housing ordinance was coming in to play, but I remember quite clearly how much it took them just to get around to doing an ordinance. It was somewhat disgraceful it took so long. And maybe the police department only has a certain number of calls on the books for the school year 2025 to 2026, but I have to ask were all of the calls investigated? Are the residents taken seriously?

This is what one neighbor said in the article:

📌 “When the parents aren’t getting on them, the college is not getting on them, the police are not getting on them, and then you got the neighbors, and all we can do is make a little fuss, but there’s not a lot we can do,”📌

This is a centerpiece article IMHO. The curtain has been lifted beyond a curtain raiser. Tredyffrin’s zoning officer is lazy at a minimum and could be doing more.

The township manager wasbrought up by Dave Bashore in Radnor before Tredyffrin (https://patch.com/pennsylvania/radnor/scoop-what-happened-to-dave-bashore) is a Tredyffrin RESIDENT (https://www.mainlinemedianews.com/2018/02/15/main-line-banter-meet-tredyffrin-township-manager-bill-martin/) so he should care more about a lot of things than he does. He can be a part of the solution. These residents have deserved better than what they have received for YEARS.

Carpe Diem. Tredyffrin supervisors and staff need to walk the walk not just talk the talk.

https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania/chester-county-villanova-cabrini-student-housing-20260512.html

Allow one more (brief) quote from the Inquirer article today from Villanova University:

📌“Students are subject to the University’s Code of Student Conduct whether they are on- or off-campus, and the University follows up on all reports it receives from local municipalities,” the spokesperson said in a statement.📌

Ok good to know based upon this familiar email. I say familiar because I’ve been told people have received variations on the same theme:

Now to be fair, in the past I have found Villanova’s security folks helpful to residents to the best of their ability. But heavier lifting needs to come from Villanova University decision makers. I think they promised to be better during that meeting last year with residents once they acquired Cabrini?

hey villanova officials have you actually been to mt. pleasant?

A lot of schools in this country have directories on file for where all of their off-campus students are residing correct? Why can’t Villanova do this? I think I’ve been asking this for like over 20 years haven’t I? Why can’t they have a better grip on where these kids are living and how they are behaving vis à vis their policies they have in place for their students in general?

https://www.villanova.edu/university/offcampus/information-for-undergraduates.html

You know when you talk to these residents, they understand the college students want to have fun because a lot of them were college students once upon a time. However, these are literally animal houses that Mount Pleasant has been dealing with for far too long. And there needs to be palpable culpability on the part of the property owners who are renting these houses, perhaps?

I think this is a big stay tuned thing because I think this is a story that’s going to keep growing until the problems are solved in Tredyffrin like in Mount Pleasant.

Here is past stuff:

https://www.tehistory.org/hqda/html/v12/v12n1p002.html

https://pattyebenson.org/2010/03/25/need-for-college-student-rental-ordinance-not-just-a-mt-pleasant-issue-this-is-a-township-issue/

Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood. . . How Can We Help?
Tredyffrin planners against subdivision
Housing issue resolved in Tredyffrin
when is it enough in tredyffrin?
let’s talk mt. pleasant in tredyffrin.
follow up for the no-no queen of tredyffrin zoning re: mt. pleasant
hey villanova officials have you actually been to mt. pleasant?
hey tredyffrin: remember mt. pleasant in the panhandle? it’s blue tarp party season.
romper room in tredyffrin ?
nothing like a couple of obnoxious notes from a nice catholic on st. patrick’s day
dear residents of mount pleasant in tredyffrin’s panhandle

the song remains the same in honey brook and dangerously obsessive much?

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Dude, you lost in NOVEMBER, 2025 so what are you running for today? And what’s with the regurgitation of lawn chair spectaculars? This is very odd obsessive behavior is it not?

Yes, back to Honey Brook Township. Back to the land of the thug politics cabal getting more desperate by the day. So desperate that one of them did this:

Good Afternoon,

This e-mail is intended for DC Mike Hepner.  I am writing to you as a member of the Honey Brook community.  I am not a Lion, but have a couple of friends who are and there is a continued level of online harassment/trademark infringement by an online blogger who is friends with someone who quit the Lions in Honey Brook a couple years ago.

This person has since been elected as a Honey Brook Township Supervisor and her friend, the blogger, continuously creates disgusting online images (including trademarked images) and “tags” the local Lions club, both during the election last year and as we speak.

I felt this needed attention from more than just the local club, on a district level.  Although there is freedom of speech, I have attached a photo posted yesterday that shows obvious trademark infringement.

I am available for any questions you may have and hope you can obtain information to take this harassment down from social media.

Thanks,

Steven Jones

Can we get real? And before that, note although I was under no obligation to redact his information (address, phone, email) it was done anyway, so he cannot say he was doxxed (another issue and definition they struggle with.)

This has nothing as in ZERO to do with the Lion’s Club in Honey Brook and he isn’t a Lion’s Club member, yet he feels compelled to to write to the Lion’s Club to tattle? Like he is defending their honor from a made up situation in his head? Is it not more probable that they wish to use this group to their own twisted gain? They always try to drag all of these people into their games, don’t they? I mean come on, they even try to do this nonsense with the Chester County Republican Party do they not? Now it’s the Lion’s Club, last fall it was the Honey Brook Community Library, the fire company, Chester County Republicans, a minority County Commissioner, and I think even a food pantry? Why do they constantly deflect from the fact that these twisted up inside people are the actual problems, not everyone else? I mean shouldn’t they have simply more respect for these organizations and people instead of trying to drag them into their twisted sandbox of immaturity?

They have also not only tried to disparage and harass Valarie Shultz and others, but me, and literally anyone who stands up to them. Do they think people don’t know? Do they think people don’t know their constant tattletale harangue tour? It’s what they do isn’t it? Bullying and intimidation?

(That includes mailing things to me when I did not provide them with an address during the election. That was done merely to try to intimidate me, to try to send a message they could get to me but did they? It was Priority Mail, so there is tracking, and to be honest, when you receive things like that, you can go to the US Postal Inspectors who do take thing like that seriously, yes?)

All of these people in his circle have made themselves public figures vis à vis their social media presence which includes public posts. You know, that pesky little globe?

These people are also public figures as elected officials and/or politicians and appointed officials, which makes them fair game. They have been mocked in response to their public behavior, correct?

Anything ever obtained about them that they don’t like on social media has been in the public purview. They posted it publicly and people picked it up.

They also are recorded at public meetings that anyone in the world can see. That includes Mr. Jones’ outbursts at public meetings. One example below.

Here’s a snippet from his handler:

What is his end game here? He puts things out publicly not just on Facebook, but now on YouTube. If his things weren’t public, no one would see them, and anyone can comment on things that are public.

Then also recently another stunning email sent from an outgoing elected Republican committeewoman, Deb Elmer. I found out courtesy of this:

So yesss…the email was sent out while disclosing the information on hundreds of residents. That is akin to a data breach. Oh and here is the email:

Dear Fellow Honey Brook Township Resident,

As a resident of Honey Brook Township and a Republican Committee member in HBT2, Precinct 301, I am writing to strongly support John Burdy and Gary R. McEwen candidacy for Precinct 300 committee member in the May 19, 2026 primary election.

I have known both men for many years and have closely followed their service on the Twin Valley School Board. They have consistently demonstrated strong leadership, sound judgment, and a clear commitment to serving our community with integrity.

Just as important as supporting strong candidates is being honest about the facts and ensuring accountability within our own process. My concern is maintaining fair and consistent standards within our party’s expectations.

Under our local area bylaws, committee members pledge to support only the endorsed republican candidate in all public spheres and limit their political activity to advancing the election of the endorsed candidate.

Based on firsthand involvement in HBT1, Precinct 300, concerns arose regarding adherence to conduct standards following the primary certification. During this period, Scott Stilson supported Valerie Shultz while still active, as a committee member, his exact resignation date is unclear. Lorraine Louie, who remains a committee member, also openly supported Shultz, who appeared on the general election ballot as a Democrat despite being registered as a Republican. This conduct raises questions regarding compliance with applicable party bylaws and standards.

Support included, among other actions, appearing at her Harmony Days table, posting on Facebook, and coordinating a debate. A standard process for a debate or meet-and-greet is to coordinate with the endorsed Republican candidate to ensure fair representation. Public Facebook posts suggest this standard was not followed.

Following formal complaints, supported by documentation I helped provide, party leadership ultimately directed Scott Stilson to step down. He did temporarily.

John Burdy and Gary R. McEwen have demonstrated that they respect both the role and responsibility of serving this community. I strongly encourage voters to consider their proven leadership and commitment when making their decision.

Sincerely,

Debbie Elmer

Gosh she colors the truth so well, yes? (Also spell check is everything.)

Here is a little more from Acid Aunty:

So then there is another bit of amusement. They are running Supervisor Sal’s son for Republican committeeman. They list him as a college student and yet he is on the school board. As is the other guy they are running for Republican committeeman (https://www.tvsd.org/page/school-board). It’s just so obvious what they are doing – shore it all up and try to keep control because they don’t like chinks in the walls of Tammany Hall in the corn field do they? And the current Twin Valley School School Board President? How long has he been on the school board? Since around 2001 right? Makes an interesting case for term limits in a very problematic school district that straddles two counties, yes? And the chair of the school board who is a committeeman is also on the Honey Brook Township Planning Commission?

It’s just so cozy in Honey Brook Township, yes?

So back to the Supervisor’s son being put up for committeeman ok? Why is that? I think that it is about control of the township by the cabal and I can have that opinion. I also have the opinion it is to groom him to be a supervisor candidate since the last choice, Steve Jones, didn’t work out so well, yes? But if they are running one supervisor’s son (Nick son of Sally DeeGee) are they also running his close personal sock puppet Jack Wilson?

And when you are talking about cozy in Honey Brook politics, one also must consider John Burdy listed in that letter as running for committeeman and why? Well his wifey is the other supervisor, Laura Burdy. You can see her sour puss on meetings, can’t you? And Burdy’s lineage is interesting because his late father who passed in 2007 was a secretary and administrator of neighboring Caernarvon Township in Berks County. Think Morgantown. Now someone will scream from the rafters because I mentioned that, but it’s simply part of the local political history, right? Caernarvon Township and Honey Brook Township have I always thought a close-ish relationship here and there over the years and share a school district, right?

This township is politically messy. It’s why I started writing about it. That and they were targeting Valerie Shultz, who is an actual friend of mine, hoping she would go away and not run for supervisor. Well she made it, which is a threat and the meetings have all been some degree of a circus as a result. And interestingly enough the most recent development is the township manager Warren Obenski is leaving so I guess he won’t be doing Sally DeeGee’s requested police and corruption taskforce thingys? There were supposed to be two of this – they came up at the February 11 meeting and they keep trying to pin this on Valerie Shultz who abstained as she felt it was not a kosher vote, correct? Wonder where he is going? His wife is the chair of the Uwchlan Supervisors isn’t she?

And hey whatever happened to that poor woman who fell and got banged up at the Honey Brook Township building on election night 2025 when a certain candidate’s signage seemed to be blocking the light? Why don’t they talk about that?

But back to the odd politician behavior, ok? So one of the most dangerous kinds of politicians are the ones who didn’t get elected, correct? He bubbaficates regularly and there are outbursts at meetings and wow the behavior is concerning isn’t t? His constant public posts still about how Valerie Shultz is a Democrat (she isn’t, we all know this except for the thug politics cabal in Honey Brook Township), etc. Or attempts to get at me or talk smack ablout me…and then he gets all upset if his targets respond with humor, facts and political lampoons? And then he revs up his stuff on his candidate page now renamed with the same types of posts as before? His posts are PUBLIC so no one is breaking any rules sharing screenshots:

Harassed? Umm no, we aren’t the ones doing the harassing, but we have responded to the word salads on occasion.

So what is his obsessive end game here? He puts things out publicly not just on Facebook, but now on YouTube. If his things weren’t public, no one would see them, and anyone can comment on things that are public, so what is the dealio?

It’s not a pattern of continued anything, and in my opinion the fact is that this all started this up again after Valarie was sworn in and that exhibits dangerously obsessive behavior. And as Valarie can point out this wasn’t just directed towards her when he started up again but me, and others. See this:

When he posts publicly like he does and they do, it’s fair game. He doesn’t seem to understand that whole concept of the little globe in the post, none of them do.

It’s a case of perpetual sour grapes. Valerie Schultz is a Republican who beat him and she was written in on the Democrat ballot, but that will never make her a Democrat or me the Tooth Fairy, yes? I seem to recall Jones got a small number of write ins on the Democrat ballot as well, but not enough to beat her to be truly cross filed, correct?

This is all about him and them. Not the Honey Brook Library, food banks, first responders, fire companies, or the Lion’s Club. Every time they don’t like what someone says, they try to deflect to something that isn’t actually reality and why is that? If they deflect, they distract, kind of like not talking about Jeffrey Epstein in Washington, yes?

This is why people want different and better for Honey Brook Township and even that school district out there. The obsessive hoodie and his handler and the rest of them would have you think it’s all unicorns farting rainbows and fuzzy bunnies. It’s not. It’s a beautiful place that people are trying to make better. And that includes breaking the grip of politics as usual. They don’t get that his and others’ odd and often angry behavior flies directly in the face of the “nothing to see here” they so desperately want.

My opinions are cheerfully supplied by my First Amendment Rights.

when is it enough in tredyffrin?

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Back to Villa Blue Tarp in Mt. Pleasant (Tredyffrin.)

When is enough enough out of off campus student party houses?

I have been keeping tabs on Villanova off campus student housing for probably 20 years or better in Mount Pleasant. I discovered the issues years ago completely by accident when I was in Mount Pleasant photographing the history of the place because it is a very historic black area in Chester County. It was the home of Miss Mazie Hall, for example. (As a related aside, I watch them tear down her house for predatory development years ago.)

You can read about Miss Hall here:

Civil-rights activist and educator Mazie Hall dies at 103

This area for those not from Chester County or familiar with the history is in what is known as the “panhandle of Tredyffrin.” In recent years, it has been truly plagued by off-campus student rentals and wanton development from both the Upper Merion side of this area and the Tredyffrin side. It’s just far enough away from campus and the Tredyffrin township building etc. that they think no one ever pays attention, so if they have not been paying attention, maybe they all should be?

Not all off-campus student rentals are bad. And that can be said of any student rental in any location, but you never hear about the nice kids, it’s these others who stand out.

When I lived in Lower Merion Township for a bunch of years I lived next to one of these animal houses until it burnt to the ground two days before Thanksgiving one year. That was the early 2000s. November 22, 2000 to be precise, and the fire was covered in The Philadelphia Inquirer and Main Line Life (now Main Line Media News) at the time.

This house on Booth Lane was gorgeous at one time. I was in it when friends of mine and I snuck into a party when it was the rugby house around 1981. I actually didn’t stay very long because it literally was like animal house inside (I was like 16 or 17 and had never quite ever at that point seen a party like that so it was more than a little intimidating), but I will never forget what the inside of that house looked like even with a bunch of college students destroying it more and more every day.

10:04 PM 4/12/26

At that point, it was still a single-family home. It had this magnificent staircase with a carved dark wood newel post. the fireplaces were still intact although I think long since boarded up, but the surrounds were this amazing tile and there were stained glass windows and pocket doors. There were also a couple of really old chandeliers and lights that survived in the ceilings somehow and sconces on the walls.

This house had been the home of a banker or financier type of person named Henry B. Reinhart until he died in 1948. He had a son who died in World War II, who was remembered in local papers as being one of the victims of World War II, who died with the fifth army in Italy on Anzio Beach. When it went up for sale in 1954 you could have bought it for $19,500. And eventually it became this off-campus party house.

I knew from a very elderly neighbor when I first moved to the neighborhood that at one point in time, it had wonderful gardens, a beautiful lawn, which was planted with crocuses that still came up every spring, even when I was there. At one point in time, there was actually a small orchard behind it. The crocuses in the lawn, actually survived the fire and when it became an empty lot, we used to dig some of them up for our own gardens.

After that fire it was an empty lot for gosh, easily almost 15 years after that fire. I always wondered if they built on the old foundation because the foundation wasn’t dug up when they demolished the house after the fire it was just covered over. We didn’t mind it as an empty lot. It gave us some open space for a while.

The house made quite an impression because it had been a party house since I had been of high school age. It had been this huge yellow Victorian and up until the time of the fire had these great stained glass windows still intact in parts of the house, and this amazing wraparound porch.

This house, which was once located at 20 Booth Lane in Lower Merion, was just one of the wonderful houses that used to exist in a row from Old Lancaster Road to Lancaster Avenue.

At that time of the fire (November 22, 2000 and reported in The Philadelphia Inquirer as being started by a roofer’s torch doing repairs), the house had been split into two duplexes (previously, I believe it had served I think as the rugby house when I was of high school and college age and was not split in to more than one unit until 1985.)

Until the fire which made us all fear for our own roof lines because it was a windy day as the firefighters were trying to fight the fire in a small neighborhood, we had been held hostage by this house.

It didn’t matter how many times we called the police or the township, or Villanova. No one was interested at all in the plight of the neighbors trying to coexist with off campus students who were horrible. And for years, the neighbors did try to ask the students who were renting to just please keep it to a dull roar but no, every weekend it was party central complete with more cars than you want to know parked on their lawn and some of ours sometimes, kids vomiting in the street, peeing on neighbors properties, and so on. I remember at the time neighbors who complained about the house woke up one morning to find their cars keyed. I remember they were just a young married couple or maybe they weren’t even married yet but we’re saving for their wedding and the car repairs were expensive to fix the paint.

At that time, I believed the university official we were dealing with was a Father John Stack. As a matter of fact, it was his office we phoned as the fire was happening then so the university could find these kids places to live, etc. These off campus students (girls at this point) never did the right thing by any of us but we knew they were losing all of their college memories and school work, and also practically speaking needed a safe place to land after a day like that fire created. We also knew how scary that fire was for us watching it and those students were living it watching everything they owned from college burn.

Because of this experience in my past, I completely understand how the residents of Mount Pleasant in Tredyffrin feel today and have felt for years as my (then) neighborhood lived it until the house burned to the ground . As a blogger, I have written about this topic over the years in Mount Pleasant because it is that bad. This is why Villanova had so many people from this area of Tredyffrin Township and even folks from bordering Radnor Township show up at their community meeting after they acquired Cabrini. These people fear that it will only get worse.

For some reason this year, the students seem more aggressive than before, which I didn’t think was possible. They think they are invincible and untouchable, and the lack of consistent attention to this on the part of Tredyffrin and Villanova University officials does make you wonder if this is the case, doesn’t it? I mean, if even the rental housing inspector/zoning officer did her job half of the time in that township would there be so many people all of the time in that house or other student rentals back there? I remember it came up not that long ago that another student rental has occurred and by Tredyffrin’s student rental housing ordinance should that even be allowed?

Click to access decision-2025-15-brown-927-mt-pleasant-ave.pdf

(And don’t even get me started on how long it took residence of that township to get such an ordinance.)

https://ttdems.com/historic-mt-pleasant-neighborhood-faces-development-pressure/

Tredyffrin board hears college-housing concerns
Mt. Pleasant Neighborhood. . . How Can We Help?

https://pattyebenson.org/2010/03/25/need-for-college-student-rental-ordinance-not-just-a-mt-pleasant-issue-this-is-a-township-issue/

Housing issue resolved in Tredyffrin
(only the issues have never been resolved in Mount Pleasant)
Tredyffrin planners against subdivision

And I have to ask in the video I’m sharing from this weekend, are they referring to me because I’ve written about this problem house before or are they referring to a supervisor of Tredyffrin Township whose first name is Carlotta?

That’s not the name of any resident in Mount Pleasant that I know of, but I think you will agree that constitutes harassment of the neighbors and others and is that the message that Villanova University wants to send to the public at large out here?

Why should any full time resident be subjected to this behavior constantly in Mount Pleasant? Why does Villanova and Tredyffrin turn a blind eye?

This is wrong, and they all know it’s wrong. And again, I don’t live in that area, but if that’s my name in their mouth because I write occasionally on this topic, that is also harassing me personally.  I will note I have been harassed before. A couple of years ago give or take, I was able to track messages back to I believe a computer at Bartley Hall.

These kids are young and dumb, but life is not without consequences, and they just need to behave better. Their behavior is something I doubt would be allowed at home in their parents’ houses and where they grew up and where they live when they’re not at school, correct?

Again, students living off campus in other areas don’t all act this way. But I don’t know what it is about this house year in and year out that it attracts the same type of off campus student. And in my mind, they are not representative of the university community as an entirety. 

This problem is not unique to this university. As we’ve heard the spring, there are also problems currently in West Chester Borough with students there.

West Chester Borough grapples with WCU student partying

These people who are full-time residents of this neighborhood, deserve respect, and a good night’s sleep once in a while. They accept that kids are going to be kids, but do they have to be so awful and does this have to be the continuing pattern of behavior?

Properties with same P.O. Box and business entities:

tredyffrin, what ails your township?

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Tredyffrin Township seems to be riding the crazy train. This happened this evening. I don’t know if anything still going on my last reports from that municipality from residents who happened upon this is the cars we’re leaving and headed towards King of Prussia…. except I’m told if you can here Route 202 from where you live it sounds like they’re racing on it and not necessarily in King of Prussia.

So this is like some kind of drag racing thing I guess?

Whatever it is I am thankful that the officer who responded recognize that but what I want to know is why are all these things happening that are weird in this township lately? Is it just their turn?

I know for a fact from friends of mine who have teenagers who like to hang around this McDonald’s (and I think I forgot to mention this was at the McDonald’s in Tredyffrin.)

https://openmhz.com/system/ccmhz?filter-type=talkgroup&filter-code=1150,1643&time=1775265844513

So if you can, I would keep your teens away from this place at night because right now it seems to be a trouble spot and you don’t want them getting caught in it, especially if they are young drivers.

There may be a chance they actually got the license plate, etc., of whoever the organizer was.

after 56 years maybe in 2026 maybe we can find out who murdered terry bowers?

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This is about a cold case of a crime committed within East Pikeland Township. Does the Chester County District Attorney have a cold case unit? Maybe if items are still preserved the DNA of it all could be tested again like the author of this post I am sharing suggests? I will note that it seemed like in the not too distant past that the Pennsylvania State Police are still very much looking into this. Also it looks like they looked at it in 2017?

I’m going to note that I looked up in the newspaper archives I think written by a colonist from the Philadelphia Daily News in April 1970 at some point talking about the viewing in Darby for this murdered little boy who would have been 67 now had he lived. He might have had a family of his own and more. But he never even lived long enough to go to a prom, let alone get a drivers license, grow up, etc.

Think about that.

Anyway, the old newspaper articles talk about how he earned the money to go on this trip where he ended up getting murdered.

The Daily News article about the viewing in 1970 spoke about all the people waiting in line to pay their respects. A lot of the people seemed as if they were kids his age?

He was laid out in a dark suit and some adult signed the sympathy book in the church in Darby “FIDDLE” and said I guess to this reporter that people would know who he was or Terry’s family would know who he was.

The columnist’s name from 1970 was Tom Fox. He also interviewed the man who helped to make the trip possible who apparently owned a furniture store. His name was Harold Finigan. Mr. Finigan‘s brother was the Rev. William Finigan, pastor of St. Basil the Great Roman Catholic Church on Kimberton Road. Apparently the property that these Boy Scouts went camping on was owned by the church. The article said that the church owned 18 acres around there at that point. I don’t know how much they own today.

(An aside would be Harold Finigan was a beloved figure in Darby until he passed away at 95 and he was a legendary rower at Malta Boat Club in Philadelphia. His furniture store was a vintage and antique store and he was the one who helped locate the grave of 18th Century Philadelphia botanist John Bartram in the Quaker cemetery in Darby. So knowing that can you imagine how he must have felt? This man did nothing but good for his hometown.)

Another interesting part of the article was the fact that the Darby Police Chief was reported to have been kind of standing in the shadows, watching all the mourners come and go to look for strange faces.

The other article I read about this noted that the killer must’ve been quiet because there were so many boys plus supervising adults sleeping nearby.

So was it some random person that snuck in where they were camping or was it someone among them? Can you imagine? I bet they probably thought they couldn’t think of a safer place to go camping than the backyard of a church, right?

It was so sad to read the quotes from the children who were at this viewing who knew Terry. One little girl remarked that this would be the last time she saw him, and another girl said the last time she saw him he was walking down the street in his scout uniform.

So this church is near where they hold the Kimberton fair I think. I know I’ve gone past it.

The article also commented that the investigation was also done with the assistance of Chester County Detectives at the time and the state police out of the Exton barracks. I have to be honest I thought that was a mistake in the article because they referred to “East Franklin” police and this church and property are in East Pikeland Township and I’ve also never known or maybe I don’t remember ever hearing about a Pennsylvania State police barracks in Exton…but there was because Barry Dee from WCHE FM sent me a note:

The PSP Exton Barracks was located where the Wicks Ski shop was later located that became Buckmans. It is across Rt 100 from Hill’s seafood which is at the corner of Pottstown Pike and Shoen Rd.  They used to land the helicopter in the field on the south side of the building. It was an old beat up farmhouse.  They later moved to Rt 30 heading west out of Exton, past Ball & Ball at the old farmhouse and barn on the right that became a veterinarian. The location is now the Pennsylvania Farm Table Company. That building location is right across from the old ARCO (i think) gas station that is now and Enterprise Rental.

They then moved to the building located on the Embreeville Mental Institution grounds on Strasburg Rd just east of Romansvile before they finally got the modern building where they are currently operating just half a mile west of their previous location. 

How’s that for a history?

Barry

Now back to the old case of Terry Bowers.

Terry was in 6th grade when he was murdered and he was stabbed a few times in the back.

Thank you Angelina Robinson whomever you are for the Facebook post that randomly popped up that made me dig into this. Should we all pay it forward and see if we could get anyone to look at this again? I mean, if they could find the name of the “boy in the box” after so much time, one could hope they find maybe who murdered this little boy?


Yes, they did look into this in 2017 and there were a bunch of media pieces that year. There have also been other articles or pieces or podcasts here and there.

Maybe this year they can look at it again? Maybe this year the media could revive interest in this case?

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/20121205_New_clues_emerge_in_1970_Boy_Scout_murder__but_it_s_still_a_mystery.html

https://www.phillyvoice.com/reward-offered-1970-stabbing-murder-boy-scout-philly-suburbs/

https://muckrack.com/podcast/status-pending/episodes/case-overview-terrence-terry-bowers-jr-1970/#!

UPDATE: Reward fund now at $51,000 in Darby Boy Scout’s unsolved murder in 1970

https://6abc.com/amp/post/47-years-later-boy-scouts-death-remains-a-mystery/1917203/

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/missing-boy-scout-cold-case-terry-bowers/13456/#

deflection from tredyffrin much??

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Murder suspect Steve Jahn

Tredyffrin Township at their recent supervisors’ meeting last week struck a hollow chord with me. Here listen:

Sorry, not sorry that was overly scripted deflection. People deserve answers. I have personal friends who all but for a weird twist of timing and fate would have gone through that exact same area at almost the same time so if it wasn’t Megan Nieberle who was murdered, it could have been one of my friends.

Or it could have been any number of people who live around there, right? For example, I won’t name the supervisor in Tredyffrin but there’s one that I know lives right in that neighborhood near where Megan Nieberle lived correct?

And let’s talk about Steve Jahn’s interactions with people and other police departments before shooting a nurse and MOM of three, ok?

There is a woman from Parksburg, who had a crazy interaction with this guy a couple days before this event. In Caln?

This lady Tiara could have been his victim just as easily as Megan became his victim. Tiara who was a victim of his erratic behavior wanted to press charges. That police department out there apparently just let it go and why? If somebody’s acting that erratically in a parking lot, don’t you even want to look into him for a hot minute?

https://6abc.com/post/chester-county-woman-details-encounter-suspect-days-before-killing-chop-nurse/18712460/

Here’s an excerpt from the written portion of the interview on 6abc‘s website:

“The officer didn’t want to pursue charges, they didn’t think it was going to go anywhere, and they kind of dissuaded me,” Tiara said.

She said police contacted her again Saturday morning and shared his insurance information, telling her he had also been hostile with officers.

“They wanted to let things lie, they said. So they’re the police, I agreed,” she added.

OK, then you add to that the fact that police encountered him at the PNC Bank and Paoli before he forever took a woman away from her friends, family, coworkers, neighbors? Before he devastated her husband and children?

I just don’t understand why they couldn’t have even have put him in a holding cell? And I get that to 302 someone is not as easy as it used to be, but it’s still possible isn’t it? Sorry if I am not particularly sympathetic about what came out of the mouth of Tredyffrin officials at their meeting. I thought they would at least be more real. (And yes I get that they can’t talk about an ongoing investigation but it could have been a little less CYA sounding.)

And people got up and spoke, and they remarked also upon the fact that residents received no notification of this and why wasn’t an emergency notification issued before they arrested Jahn telling people to stay in their houses and keep the doors locked or on the lookout? Because at that point in time who knew where he was? And it was family members who turned him in, correct?

I’m not playing hindsight is 20/20 but in my opinion I think several balls got dropped here and a woman lost her life as a result.

And then there is something else that I’ve heard multiple times now and is any reporter going to hunt this down? It has been said he stopped in at Radnor PD as in their township building/station at some point before this all happened? Did that actually happen and what did Radnor do? And then there were the reports that appeared in the media already about people concerned about this guy’s mental health calling the police?

https://nbcphiladelphia.app.link/Zx3MOy8IK1b

Tredyffrin needs to do better than what they have offered thus far.

Megan Nieberle’s husband and children deserve better. Everyone deserves better.

This didn’t have to happen. I still believe that how many days later after this happened.

But Tredyffrin’s response? It’s like they were issuing platitudes so if they’re sued, they can say they care or something? Come on Tredyffrin. Put on your big boy and big girl pants. You can’t unring this bell and how you act going forward may determine a lot of things in this municipality doesn’t it?

Disappointed is the most polite term I can apply to what I saw at that meeting and I dare say residents want action here not platitudes?

Also, Steve Jahn’s hearing was postponed and after looking at the docket, it seems like he still doesn’t have legal representation. He also might not be mentally capable of going to court right now and of course, if that’s the case, I think the public deserves to know what’s going on don’t you?

I’m actually sorry to sound critical but what the hell happened and what is going on?

If you look at the docket, it looks like May is his next court date.

https://ujsportal.pacourts.us/Report/MdjDocketSheet?docketNumber=MJ-15102-CR-0000044-2026&dnh=xkRQzsvXWPtSFWs8AqSk9A%3D%3D

random acts of unnecessary violence
say her name, she’s not just a random murder victim: please remember megan nieberle.

PS what happened with the case below?

https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/42020760/Major_v_TREDYFFRIN_TOWNSHIP

say her name, she’s not just a random murder victim: please remember megan nieberle.

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RIP Megan Morrison Nieberle

Her name was Megan Nieberle. CBS News released at first, so I am not breaking any confidences or being insensitive. She knew people that I’m friends with. I have known her name since this happened and I kept it to myself but now it’s out there along with an obituary.

She was a nurse at Children’s Hospital. she was a mom, a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a niece, a friend. I could go on, but you get the picture.

https://www.murrayfuneralhome.com/obituaries/megan-nieberle

She was a victim of random violence.

And she was a nurse, a natural caregiver. I have so much respect for nurses and she was a children’s nurse. She was a local Chester County girl through and through, having also been a proud graduate of Henderson High School in West Chester.

I have no pity or empathy for Steve Jahn who shot her. Random acts like this make me quite run out of the milk of human kindness.

And while I also understand per the other media reports about how it’s hard to 302 someone. I really feel Tredyffrin should’ve tried harder and I really hate anything that sounds critical of law-enforcement because they have such a tough job and we’ve already lost someone in law-enforcement at the same time in Chester County….at the same hospital.

I will also note to everyone again that there is an official obituary at this point. This is it:

https://www.murrayfuneralhome.com/obituaries/megan-nieberle

There is also very rando stuff floating across social media. That is literally Clickbait that will probably infect your phone or your tablet or your computer. Please don’t click on them, but please do report those because they’re not being put out by the family. They’re being put out by ghouls.

Steven Jahn mugshot

So NBC10 and Deanna Durante said yesterday I think it was that Jahn’s friends were trying to contact police along with his own call Saturday a couple of hours before the murder of Megan Nieberle? NBC10 interviewed a couple different lawyers about it when I was a little confused about because I thought he was like education related law?

SteveChristianJahn-_Redacted.pdfDownload

Megan’s life mattered. This also could be any of us. I spoke to a couple of people who are my friends who are in and around Berwyn. Both of these friends of mine had been out around a similar time frame and almost went down that road close to that time when the murder was committed.

Life is a fleeting and fragile thing, indeed.

Now let’s go back to what people told police about this guy was being like, and was he not known to the police for past behavior?

Online there have been many people commenting about situations even from within their own families where the police took someone’s weapon, etc.

I don’t know what else to even say at this point. I didn’t know Megan, but this could’ve been any woman on a dark and often too quiet road. and my opinion remains that this maybe could have been prevented.

My heart goes out to her friends and family. I will remember her in my prayers. Heaven gained another angel, who is there way before she should be.

RIP Megan Nieberle.

May the road rise to meet you,
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face,
The rains fall soft upon your fields.
And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the palm of his hand.

May God be with you and bless you:
May you see your children’s children.
May you be poor in misfortune,
rich in blessings.
May you know nothing but happiness
From this day forward.

May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the warm rays of sun fall upon your home,
And may the land of a friend always be near.

May green be the grass you walk on,
May blue be the skies above you,
May pure be the joys that surround you,
May true be the hearts that love you.

random acts of unnecessary violence

https://6abc.com/amp/post/woman-killed-random-tredyffrin-twp-shooting-was-nurse-childrens-hospital-philadelphia/18705724/

https://people.com/man-allegedly-shot-nurse-after-telling-cops-people-following-him-11924583

https://www.chop.edu/clinical-staff/nieberle-megan-k

random acts of unnecessary violence

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Berwyn Murderer, Steve Jahn

I haven’t written about this yet, but started now. I think I needed to sleep on it some more because I found this so profoundly upsetting and disturbing .

First up: a wrong place, wrong time. A woman in Berwyn murdered by an out of his mind lunatic….whom police had dealt with just a couple of hours before he shot this woman. This was a mom. She was a sister. She was a friend. she was just at the wrong place at the wrong time when someone decided to have a psychotic break. I hope they lock that guy up for a really long time.

According to the timeline laid out, Tredyffrin Police HAD Steven Jahn IN CUSTODAY earlier that evening and perhaps if they had kept a hold of him, this woman might still be alive?

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/te/amp/33777794/police-let-man-go-hours-before-he-fatally-shot-a-woman-in-tredyffrin-affidavit

https://patch.com/pennsylvania/te/man-shot-killed-woman-random-attack-tredyffrin-da

It also speaks to the need for mental health evaluations to be added to requirements for carry permits etc.

I hate to refer to her as just “a woman” or “this woman” but out of respect for her family I am while they try to adjust to something anything but normal.

This woman is known to friends of mine. I have woken up thinking about her these past couple of days. This was about a quasi homeless man on a psychotic break and maybe some sort of substance abuse (who knows?) who murdered a woman who will never wake up again to see the sun rise or take joy in her family, smile at her kids, go for a walk, kiss her husband goodnight. This is a woman with kids and a husband who have to try to make sense of something utterly senseless.

And this piece of crap who shot her? Here is the police comnplaint thingy:

SteveChristianJahn _RedactedDownload

The docket:

JahnDownload

Now was Jahn truly homeless or unhoused? He went to Conestoga and supposedly grew up around Midland in Berwyn? People I spoke to indicated he had lived in Florida, New Jersey, and Maryland before coming back to PA in the beginning of the year? Someone said he had been at some place called the “French Creek Inn” which is some sort of no tell meets meets flop house in East Pikeland? Did anyone check that out? I never heard of that place and someone said it actually came up recently at an East Pikeland meeting?

Anyway, this guy was picked up with his guns at his cousin’s house on Conestoga Road? Look at him? Is that just a full mental break or something else as well? Why do I ask? Because I figured out WHY his name was familiar. 2013. Crazy car accident after hit and runs in East Goshen on North Chester Road. Like 3 hit and runs and his own car upended in the woods.

Berwyn man charged with DUI after multiple hit-and-runs

And next we go to the death of that poor State Trooper Corporal Timothy O’Connor. Fatally shot while performing a traffic stop by one Jesse Nathan Elks. This happened out in West Caln. Another guy who snapped who owned a gun. Elks then ate his own gun.

Timothy O’Connor leaves a wife, daughter, and other family like his beloved parents behind. I literally started crying at one simple comment on the Chester County District Attorney’s Office Facebook Page from his namesake father. All it said was “I love you son.”

There is a meal train for the widow and child: https://mealtrain.com/gew5wl

https://www.phillyburbs.com/story/news/local/2026/03/10/pa-state-police-timothy-oconnor-chester-county-shooter-jesse-elks-history-of-anti-police-views/89084628007/

So I can’t really find the social media of Jesse Elks but obviously they are out there somewhere because people are posting about it.

Screenshot

When you dig into Elks you find he fathered kids by two women, married one who later divorced him. He was living in a mobile home park in Honey Brook, not sure if it was the township or West Caln area. He seemed to me to be a POS with anger issues and a coward. He took the life of Timothy O’Connor and then killed himself depriving the State Troopers and O’Connor’s family of justice. At least the women who bore his children are free of him…and I hope his kids do okay through this as innocents in his act of murder.

So why did Jesse Elks have a gun?

Look I am not debating the right to own arms. I am asking when the f*ck are they going to add mental health evaluations to the ownership process? It’s the people with the guns doing the killing, so it’s a different conversation to the regular or more typical gun control conversation.

It’s like the fact that sometimes when people have these mental health breaks, law enforcement needs to confiscate weapons sooner, rather than later.

Corporal O’Connor and currently unnamed wife, mother, sister, friend both were taken to Paoli Hospital. What a terribly sad duty for those who work at Paoli. Two tragedies that were random acts of senseless violence. I hope they met on the way to heaven.

I am not particularly eloquent about these senseless acts and I so want to be because these two victims whose souls left their human form at Paoli Hospital deserve that….from all of us.

We live in an awful world right now that needs more happiness. Pray for these families and for these two people murdered through random acts of violence and being in the wrong place at the wrong time. This could happen to anyone, and that is the most gut wrenching thought of all.

I close with what Timothy O’Connor’s mom posted. It was public. Mrs. O’Connor, I don’t know you either, but like the currently unnamed murder victim in Berwyn, we share people in common and I am just so damn sorry.

People, we need to strive for a better world. And heaven has two new angels way before they should have been there. And can we also put in a plug for Chester County officials to get a hospital back in the area of where the other two closed with a trauma center?

Ok that’s it. I have no more words for now.

funeral dirge for an old house. r.i.p. breeze hill

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I was sent photos this morning. Look at that claw reach into the house? She’ll be dust in no time. Or it might take them a while, because these historic stone houses were so well built.

I remember standing there with tears running down my face in front of the gates of La Ronda in Bryn Mawr as that was torn down years ago taking photos. Through the tears that day I had some amusement because her stone walls were so well built, it took time to tear them down.

This is so sad and heartbreaking. I am also told they are in that little field around back on this property and there’s a little spring house or something and there’s some kind of fencing there. Who knows if they’re putting the fencing up around the perimeter and who knows if the little springhouse will survive in the end, shall we start the odds on the tree out front?

RIP “Breeze Hill” at 400 Leopard Road. This house was constructed by Joseph W. Sharp for his younger sister, Rachel.

By 1857, Joseph was so successful in business that he had a imposing Victorian house built and thus the country estate “Hawthorne,” which has been restored and is located today at 521 Leopard Road in Berwyn, just down the street from Breeze Hill.

He was the first gentleman to commute from Berwyn into Philadelphia each day utilizing the newly-constructed “Main Line” train, and was a partner in what eventually became Hajoca Corporation, an early leader in the nascent indoor plumbing industry.

In 1865, Joseph married Sidney Serrill Bunting. Oral family history indicates that Sidney and Rachel did not get along well, so Joseph commenced the construction of Breeze Hill (so named for its location and the presence of a refreshing breeze during this non-air conditioned era) for Rachel some time before his wedding. As the home was on the Sharp family property, it didn’t receive its own separate deed when built, but was shown on Pennsylvania Railroad maps dating to 1873.

Rachel Sharp and other family members lived at Breeze Hill until 1888, when Joseph Sharp’s eldest daughter, Mary Bunting Sharp, married William Morris of Villanova in 1888, the young couple moved into Breeze Hill, where they lived until 1942.

Joseph Sharp and his wife subdivided Breeze Hill from their larger property and deeded it to their daughter for “$1 and her natural love and affection” in 1901, when it became legal for a married woman to own property in her own name in PA

To be fair, someone who has seen the plans for the new house I guess on Easttown’s website said that the little spring house will survive, but the garage which had been a stable will not. Now, if I was doing a new build on this site, I would actually see if an architect could incorporate the old stable section somehow into the new design- it could be accomplished.

I will also note again that I didn’t think the place was salvageable after the second fire. Especially with all of the time she stood open to the elements. Which couldn’t be helped because of the ensuing investigation. And that’s not pointing a finger at anyone. If you know anything about insurance work when it comes to arson, it takes a long time. If people add a public adjuster, it can take longer because that person is yet an additional layer.

I was a little surprised that the fencing came down yesterday and yet this started a little while ago. It’s a good thing no one tried to go in it while the fence was down overnight. I will also mention a certain wanna-be influencer posted about this house like they actually know from historic preservation with their McMansion mindset, which I found endlessly amusing, don’t you? But hey, for people like that it’s all about the clicks isn’t it? But oddly, I am told they did not allow comments on this post about an old house being torn down, which doesn’t even make any sense does it?

I hope the fire bug is happy. Yeah I know that’s a little obnoxious, but what happened here didn’t need to happen, did it? This was a historic asset and it was quirky and cool and it had lots of local history and now it’s just dust.

It didn’t have to become just dust.

400 leopard road in berwyn is becoming but a memory…with no court resolution yet.