Today in Delaware County history, Nov. 29

A plea for the participation of Delaware County and Chester city in the proposed Sesqui-Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia in 1926 was uttered yesterday before the Rotary Club by William R. Bricker, a resident of this county a devout booster of the $15,000,000 fair. He is a member of the speakers committee of the exposition.

Miss Emily L. Clark, the first special class teacher in Chester, died Saturday afternoon at her home, 812 Barclay St. Miss Clark, who was 76, had been in failing health for some time and became seriously ill three weeks ago. Miss Clark was a teacher in the Chester school system for nearly half a century before her retirement in 1941. She was a teacher of orthogenic backward students for more years than any other teacher in the city. The daughter of the late Samuel and Jane I. Pike Clark, she was born in Chester and had lived in the Barclay Street home for about 50 years. She was a member of Madison Street Methodist Church.

From the AP, Harrisburg – The top speed in Pennsylvania is 55 miles per hour and drivers caught exceeding it are getting warning citations from the state police. Gov. Shapp ordered the slowdown Wednesday for all vehicles traveling highways that had been posted with 60 or 65 m.p.h. limits.

Better tests results equals big rewards. The Penn-Delco School District received a $21,150 award from the state Department of Education for test scores improvements on exams taken by fifth, eighth and 11th grade students. The tests were part of the Pennsylvania System of State Assessment.

Marge Brown and other residents along Route 322 in the southern part of Delaware County have heard the story before. You know, the one about construction beginning on the 7.1-mile stretch of two-lane road that runs between Routes 1 and 95 that is unaffectionately known as the “Killer Conchester.” “I moved right off of 322 behind the (Clayton Park) golf course in 1979 and at that point my realtor told me the road would be completed by 1984,” said Brown, who works in the Garnet Valley School District. Even with the passing of a $2.3 billion transportation bill last week and after PennDOT officials have said starting and completing the expansion of the road from two lanes to four lanes will become a major priority, Brown says she’s still in the see-it-to-believe stage.

— COLIN AINSWORTH