The Downingtown Industrial and Agricultural School (DIAS) was a school for African Americans in Chester County, Pennsylvania from 1905 until 1993. [3] Its motto was "Self help through self work". [4] It was located in what is now East Brandywine Township. [5] [6]
The school was founded by John S. Trower and William A. Creditt. Both were well-known, successful African Americans from Philadelphia. Tower was a local businessman and Creditt was pastor of the city's first African Baptist church. [3]
The school's purpose was to provide vocational training. [7] By 1907, an illustrated report on the school was published showings the school's chapel, barn, dining room, and sewing room. [1] [8] The school was included in Philadelphia's colored directory in 1910. [9]
The school was aimed at educating African-American youth. [10] In July 1912 the school announced that it would be sending 15 graduates to Lincoln University that Fall. [4] James H. N. Waring (1890 - 1973) served as the school's principal. [11]
Mortelia Womack, who worked as a secretary for W. E. B. Du Bois, applied for a job in the school in 1931 and Du Bois sent the school's principal, J. H. N. Waring, Jr., a reference for her. [12]
In 1980, a thirty-six-page publication about the school was printed. [13]
Notable alumni include Cab Callaway famous for, among other things, Minnie the Moocher, or The Hi-De-Ho song.
Delaware County Community College's Downingtown campus is on the site of the former school. [14]
Chester County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is located in the Delaware Valley region, located in the southeastern part of the state. As of the 2020 census, the population was 534,413, increasing by 7.1% from 498,886 in 2010. The county seat and most populated municipality is West Chester. Chester County was one of the three original Pennsylvania counties created by William Penn in 1682. It was named for Chester, England.
Claymont is a census-designated place (CDP) in New Castle County, Delaware. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population of Claymont was 9,895.
Downingtown is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States, 33 miles (53 km) west of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 7,898. Downingtown was settled by European colonists in the early 18th century and has a number of historic buildings and structures.
East Brandywine Township is a township in Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 9,746 at the 2020 census.
The University of Massachusetts Amherst is a public land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts. It is the oldest, largest, and flagship campus in the University of Massachusetts system, and was founded in 1863 as an agricultural college. It is also a member of the Five College Consortium, along with four other colleges in the Pioneer Valley.
The W. E. B. Du Bois Library is one of the three libraries of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, the others being the Science and Engineering Library, and the Wadsworth Library at the Mount Ida Campus. The W. E. B. Du Bois Library holds resources primarily in humanities and social and behavioral sciences. At 28 stories and 286 feet 4+1⁄8 inches tall, it is the third-tallest library in the world after the National Library of Indonesia in Jakarta at 414 feet and Shanghai Library in China at 348 feet. Measuring taller purely by height, the libraries in Jakarta and Shanghai both only have 24 floors. The W. E. B. Du Bois Library is also considered to be the tallest academic research library and 32nd tallest educational building in the world. The building maintains a security force, which is managed by various supervisors and student employees.
Newell Convers Wyeth, known as N. C. Wyeth, was an American painter and illustrator. He was a student of Howard Pyle and became one of America's most well-known illustrators. Wyeth created more than 3,000 paintings and illustrated 112 books — 25 of them for Scribner's, the Scribner Classics, which is the body of work for which he is best known. The first of these, Treasure Island, was one of his masterpieces and the proceeds paid for his studio. Wyeth was a realist painter at a time when the camera and photography began to compete with his craft. Sometimes seen as melodramatic, his illustrations were designed to be understood quickly. Wyeth, who was both a painter and an illustrator, understood the difference, and said in 1908, "Painting and illustration cannot be mixed—one cannot merge from one into the other."
Brandywine Creek is a tributary of the Christina River in southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware in the United States. The Lower Brandywine is 20.4 miles (32.8 km) long and is a designated Pennsylvania Scenic River with several tributary streams. The East Branch and West Branch of the creek originate within 2 miles (3 km) of each other on the slopes of Welsh Mountain in Honey Brook Township, Pennsylvania, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of their confluence.
Brandywine Hundred is an unincorporated subdivision of New Castle County, Delaware. It is located to the north and northeast of the city of Wilmington. Hundreds were once used as a basis for representation in the Delaware General Assembly. Brandywine Hundred and North Wilmington are commonly used colloquial names for this area. However, while their names still appear on all real estate transactions, all other hundreds in Delaware presently have no meaningful use or purpose except as a geographical point of reference. In the 2010 census, Brandywine had 77,182 people.
Delaware County Community College (DCCC) is a public community college with campuses and facilities throughout Delaware and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania. DCCC was founded in 1967 and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The college offers 53 associate degree programs and 43 certificate programs at nine different locations.
Penn State Brandywine is a commonwealth campus of the Pennsylvania State University located in Middletown Township, Pennsylvania. The campus was formerly known as Penn State Delaware County. The campus has baccalaureate and associate degrees and certificate programs. The campus is located on over 112 acres (450,000 m2) of grounds. In August 2017, the campus established on-campus housing for the first time with the opening of Orchard Hall, a 250-bed dormitory.
The Great Valley is a west-to-east valley through the center of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is also sometimes referred to as Chester Valley, and both names are in use throughout the region. The valley stretches from the Schuylkill River in Montgomery County in the east, southwesterly through Chester and Lancaster counties. The valley is most distinct in central Chester County, although traces of it can be followed almost the entire distance between the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers.
ChristianaCare is a network of private, non-profit hospitals providing health care services to all of the U.S. state of Delaware and portions of seven counties bordering the state in Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey. The system includes two hospitals in Delaware, Wilmington Hospital and Christiana Hospital, and one in Maryland, ChristianaCare Union Hospital in Elkton. ChristianaCare operates the Helen F. Graham Cancer Center & Research Institute, the Center for Heart & Vascular Health, The Center for Women & Children's Health, and ChristianaCare HomeHealth, as well as the Eugene du Pont Preventive Medicine & Rehabilitation Center, and a wide range of outpatient and satellite services. ChristianaCare is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware.
Henry Alexander Hunt was an American educator who led efforts to reach blacks in rural areas of Georgia. He was awarded the Spingarn Medal by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), as well as the Harmon Prize. In addition, he was recruited in the 1930s by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to join the president's Black Cabinet, an informal group of more than 40 prominent African Americans appointed to positions in the executive agencies.
St. Joseph on the Brandywine, originally Saint Joseph's Church until St. Joseph's Church- Wilmington was built in 1947, is a parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Greenville, Delaware, United States, in the Diocese of Wilmington. It is a historic parish church complex and national historic district located on Old Church Road. Since 2002 its old convent building has housed the diocesan archives, with records going back two centuries. It is also the home parish of the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden.
The New Africa House, formerly known as Mills House, is an academic building and former dormitory of the University of Massachusetts Amherst built in the Georgian revival style with Art Deco accents. It is part of the Central Residential Area at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It was designed by Louis Ross, who designed many of the dormitories on campus as well as the Student Union.
The Middle Atlantic Athletic Association formation date is unknown. An article suggests the M3A was formed in 1931–32. This association or what now are known as "conferences" was able to bring together several historically black colleges from middle eastern states to compete for titles in all sports. The Baltimore Afro-American, an African American newspaper features several articles with the teams from the M3A. It includes scores, championship and information pertaining to the schools. The schools that made up this conference were:
The Wilmington and Northern Railroad is a railway company that once owned a line from Reading, Pennsylvania to Wilmington, Delaware. The original main line from Wilmington to Birdsboro, Pennsylvania was built between 1869 and 1871 by its predecessor, the Wilmington and Reading Railroad. An extension from Birdsboro to High's Junction was completed in 1874. There the Wilmington and Reading connected with the Berks County Railroad and ran over its tracks to Reading. The Berks County Railroad was foreclosed on at the end of 1874 and reorganized as the Reading and Lehigh Railroad, under the control of the Philadelphia and Reading Rail Road. The Wilmington and Reading also experienced financial difficulties and was itself foreclosed on in 1876. It was reorganized in 1877 as the Wilmington and Northern. After the reorganization, the railroad was closely affiliated with the Reading, but retained its own organization and officers until 1898. In that year, the Reading bought a majority of the company's stock and incorporated it into its own system. The main line from Birdsboro to Wilmington became the Wilmington and Northern Branch, while the extension above Birdsboro was incorporated into the Reading Belt Line. The Wilmington and Northern continued to exist as a paper railroad within the Reading system. The portion of the Wilmington and Northern north of Modena, Pennsylvania was sold to Conrail at its formation in 1976. The line south of Modena was retained by the Wilmington and Northern, which leased and then sold it piecemeal to other railroads between 1981 and 2005. As of 2021, the Wilmington and Northern still survived as a subsidiary of Reading International, Inc.
Isaac Norton Rendall was an American Presbyterian minister and academic administrator. He served as president of Lincoln University for forty-one years (1865–1906).
Downingtown Campus 100 Bond Drive Downingtown, PA 19335[...]built on the site of the former Downingtown Industrial and Agricultural School,[...]