History Spotlight Written by Doug Humes
West Chester Pike, circa 1953
A
picture is worth a thousand words, but I get only about 300 for this article.
Here is “downtown Broomall,” in color, around 1953. The single-tracked trolley ran from West Chester to Upper Darby’s 69th Street Terminal. The photo was taken facing east, toward Upper Darby. The trolley tracks ran on the south edge of West Chester Pike. (Back then, the Pike had only 2 lanes for auto traffic. It would be widened to 4 lanes at various times during the 1950s. After this particular stretch – downtown Broomall – was widened in 1954, the trolley ceased to run.) Above the “Premium Gasoline” sign is a Red Arrow Car Stop sign, the place where you would get on or off the trolley. But note there is no second line of tracks. This trolley was singletracked all the way out to West Chester. There was a “turnout” along the way, in Newtown Square, so when a trolley was coming in the opposite direction, one of the two would go into the turnout, to let the other trolley pass. The “Car Stop” was where you would wait to get a trolley heading east or west.
Red Arrow Car 23 in Broomall Photo courtesy of the Marple Historical Society
Red Arrow trolley 23 is heading east to 69th Street. (When it returns from there, it will head west to the terminal in West Chester.) The trolley has stopped just before the intersection with Sproul Road. Today, the Bargain Rental lot and Mr. Tire are on the right, where the gas pumps are in the photo. Sproul Road would be coming in just out of the picture at bottom left, where McDonald’s is today. On the left is the old business block – the same buildings exist today – housing Armenian Delight, Consign and Design, Drexel Hill Pizza and Classic Cleaners. All four buildings have the similar cornice design on top. That’s what I see. People who grew up here at that time will no doubt see other things, such as that the trolley is blocking our view of where the Howard Johnson’s Restaurant stood. How about you? For more on the history of Marple, visit the Marple Historical Society website and Facebook page, and join the Society to keep up to date on coming events: www.MarpleHistoricalSociety.org. M
March 2020
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