Oct. 13, 1966

Flourtown Fire Co. holds cornerstone rites

Necessity is the mother of fire companies, as well as invention. The Flourtown Fire Company is no exception as it took another giant stride forward Saturday when the cornerstone of the new $165,000 firehouse was cemented into place. After the dedication ceremonies, an open house was held, refreshments were served and souvenirs were given to the children. An exhibit of all the firefighting gear necessary to equip one man properly was revealing. The cost per man is $83. Flourtown has 48 active volunteers and about 500 subscription members. The handsome new building is approximately 150 feet long by 75 feet wide, of Colonial design and made of Williamsburg brick. It has the capacity to hold eight vehicles. At present there are four: two pumpers, one equipment truck and one 75-foot aerial ladder truck.

Oct. 14, 1976

Fairmount Park ‘trolley’ comes to Hill

The new Fairmount Park “trolley” that has recently been so successful in providing for the first time public transportation to Fairmount Park’s many treasures is about to come to Valley Green and the city’s Northwest communities. Beginning Oct. 16, the Fairmount Park Commission will begin convenient regular “trolley” service to the Valley Green area of the Wissahickon section of the park from the Andorra Shopping Center and Market Square in Chestnut Hill. The colorful red and green replicas of the old Fairmount Park Trolley, which operate on rubber tires like a bus, have the flexibility to go most anywhere without the need for tracks, overhead wires, etc. They will operate between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., at 20 to 30 minute intervals on Saturdays and Sundays, with the one-way adult fare of 50 cents and a children’s rate of 25 cents.

Oct. 16, 1986

Aphasia center reopens with city funding

Cascade Aphasia Center will reopen in about 10 days, its board of directors announced. Closed since early June, the program has received $351,000 from the city’s Human Services Development Fund. Cascade Aphasia offers a unique, innovative program that serves as a teaching center and model. Aphasics are persons who cannot communicate because of a birth defect or an injury. Because they do not fall under the government’s mental-health funding stream, the program had been eliminated, but local politicians fought to bring it back. Officials say it is a short-term solution and they are open to suggestions about sharing their West Chestnut Hill Avenue facilities with other groups.

Oct. 17, 1996

Playground design day draws hundreds of children

Two pied pipers came to Chestnut Hill on Oct. 11. Tom Beers and Barry Segal, of Leathers Inc., attracted hundreds of area youngsters who met at three locations and presented wish lists of what they would like to see on the Chestnut Hill Children’s Playground planned for the site of the John Story Jenks School. Children ranging in age from kindergarten to eighth grade let their imaginations run wild as they suggested, among more conventional structures, a 15-mile slide with an alligator at the end, a fire-breathing dragon, a tire bridge, a slide in a shoe, a haunted house and a Tyrannosaurus Rex slide. Armed with drawings from students at Chestnut Hill Academy, Jenks, Norwood-Fontbonne, Our Mother of Consolation, Springside and Wyndmoor Montessori, Segal sat at a desk in the Jenks School foyer and began to sketch playground equipment.

Oct. 19, 2006

Column: Election thoughts and hopes for honesty

I cannot help but note that we are bombarded daily by half-truths and plain misinformation from the very people who should be leading us in “straight paths.” Examples of dishonesty on the national level abound. Even allowing for the sorts of “white lies” that may be necessary when it comes to national security, one cannot help but be suspicious about assertions that the Iraq war is going better than we all see it to be going. I tend not to cling to conspiracy theories — yet I find myself wondering now whether the questions about the success or failure of the Korean nuclear test are a smokescreen to cover up our inability to respond to a real threat because we’re so bogged down in a war being fought to eliminate nonexistent weapons of mass destruction. Within a few weeks, the current election cycle will (mercifully) have come to an end. I have a fantasy: that all across the country, we will elect people based on our assessment of their ability to speak honestly and forthrightly.

Oct. 13, 2016

Hill prepares for record-setting Harry Potter Festival

Chestnut Hill will once again magically morph into Hogsmeade and Diagon Alley from Oct. 21-22 for this year’s Sixth Annual Harry Potter Festival. And thanks to the Ministry of Magic, parents of young muggles, witches, wizards and other magical beasts no longer have to worry about their children getting run over by an enchanted car, flying motorcycle or the Knight bus. This year, Germantown Avenue between Rex and Willow Grove avenues will be closed for the two-day fan festival. It began in 2011 as a collaboration among Chestnut Hill College, the Chestnut Hill Business Association and the Chestnut Hill Business Improvement District as a way to draw more people to the Avenue during the college’s annual “Philadelphia Brotherly Love Cup Quidditch Tournament.” In its first year, the festival drew more than 2,000 people from the Philadelphia area. Since then, it has evolved into a global phenomenon drawing thousands of people from all over the world.