Media, PA I (2/20/2018)

Tuesday, February 20, 2018
From Lima Estates, we drove into the town of Media, PA for a self-guided walking tour. Media was founded in 1848 when 48 acres were purchased from Sarah Briggs to provide a centralized location for the Court of Justice of Delaware County. Thus the town was planned and built around the Courthouse, and it was incorporated in 1850. Originally named Providence, the name was changed on the suggestion of Minshall Painter (a descendant of Thomas Minshall) to "Media," a Latin word meaning “middle” or “equidistant from the extremes.”
We parked on State Street at Glen Providence Park.

Glen Providence Park, the first Delaware County park, established
in 1935-1936 after a gift of 30 acres from George Butler,
a later resident  of the Broomall House up on West Street

Original brick sidewalks with heaves

Broomall House (1853), a typical Victorian estate house, home to
John M Broomall, a county judge, Civil War Congressman,
and friend of Abraham Lincoln

Frogs Frolic must be a later name
for the Broomall estate

#400-412 W State Street, one of the last undisturbed blocks in Media,
are typical of the townhouses built around 1855

#8 S Lemon Street was Media's first schoolhouse,
built in 1853 and used until 1860

#331-341 W State Street were built between 1855-1873

#330 W State Street, the Cooper House (built prior to 1870),
the first home in Media of Thomas V Cooper, state legislator
and president of the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1878

In the photo above, to the left and down the driveway is #330A W State Street, which was used as an office by Dr Philip Jaisohn, famous Korean patriot and founding father of Korean independence from Japan. (More on him later.)

The State Street Streetcar comes down State Street right into
Media, and ends right here! The SEPTA 101 Trolley takes you
back into Philadelphia to the 69th Street Station, about 9 miles 

#218 W Front Street, the Williamson House (1850), built for
Charles R Willliamson, a borough councilman and businessman; it had
been used as a residence, post office, grocery store and shoe factory
during its history; it was restored as law offices in 1976

Delaware County Courthouse (1851 with
expansions in 1871, 1913 and 1929; William
Jennings Bryant once orated from the front steps (KSS)

Kent suggested entering the courthouse, and we almost did not go in because of the strict security measures. Then once we entered, we could not find the large arched window that we could see from the outside. A lawyer (I presume!) stopped to ask which courtroom we wanted, then explained the window and the murals were in the law library on the 4th floor. Murals!

Two of the three paintings on the west side depicting the historical
development of the county (1994), by Dean Hartung

The third west side painting, which was commissioned by
the Bicentennial Mural Commission (bicentennial of what?)

The first of three east side paintings

The other two of the east side paintings

Advertising space on the food cart!

The Delaware County Courthouse is massive

#11 Veterans Square is the Delaware County Institute
of Science (1867) established in 1833 "to promote for
the people of Delaware County, the study and
diffusion of general knowledge."

#112 W Front Street was in 1878 the home of
the Delaware County Record, a widely known and
respected weekly newspaper of the period

Civil War Monument (KSS)

Front Street Row, typical Media
townhouses from 1880 with original
façades, and the original brick walk

Front Street Row

Minshall House (c.1750), the oldest house in Media, was built for
a descendant of Thomas Minshall

In 1681, Thomas Minshall, a Quaker from Cheshire, England, purchased 625 acres of land in America from William Penn to be laid out in Pennsylvania. In 1699 Minshall donated the property across Providence Road to The Providence Friends Meeting. A village called Providence sprang up along the Great Providence Road, of which the Minshall House is still standing. The Providence Friends were established about 1696, when they were meeting in the house of Thomas Minshall.

The Providence Friends Meetinghouse (1753, replacing a 1727
stone structure that replaced a 1699 log building)

To be continued in Media, PA II.