Summer 2022
Kennett Square Life
Magazine
D & W Microgreens: Small products, booming business Page 18
Inside: • Mushroom Festival moving back uptown • Photo essay: The Kennett Classic Computer Museum • Kennett Square History: People and industries
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|Kennett Square Life| Kennett Square Life Summer 2022
Kennett Square Life Table of Contents 10
Kennett Square Ace Hardware
18
D & W Microgreens: Small products, booming business
26
A preview of the 2022 Mushroom Festival
38
Kennett Square: People and industries through the years
44
Photo essay: The Kennett Classic Computer Museum
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Q & A with Christopher Manna, Kennett Library & Resource Center
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Kennett Pointe development
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Kennett Square Life Summer 2022 Letter from the Editor:
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Kennett Pointe will soon emerge as a community of businesses, townhomes, gardens and gazebos as a reimagined Ways Lane area starts to take shape. This issue of Kennett Square Life features a story about how local visionaries are creating a vision for the Ways Lane area that will meet the needs of a growing community. Another story in this issue, “Kennett Square: People and industries through the years,” takes a look at Chester County’s rich heritage of the area. In the story, contributing writer Gene Pisasale explores the heritage through the accomplishments in the arts and sciences, and in business and industry, with Kennett Square being an important part of that heritage. In “Small products, booming business,” contributing writer Ken Mammarella writes about how D&W Microgreens succeeds by harvesting young, colorful and nutrient-packed plants. The Mushroom Festival is moving back uptown for 2022, and contributing writer Chris Barber talked to Gina Puoci and Gale Ferranto about plans for the big event. Puoci, the festival’s board president, and Ferranto, the festival coordinator, are optimistic about the event’s move back to the middle of town and the return to what has become, over the years, one of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s most popular seasonal attractions. In recent years, the Mushroom Festival’s attendance over two days has been estimated at 100,000. We’re pleased to include a preview of the 37th annual Kennett Square Mushroom Festival in this issue of Kennett Square Life. This issue also includes a look at the new Kennett Square Ace Hardware, as well as a Q & A with Christopher Manna, the director of the Kennett Library & Resource Center. Construction on the new library is well underway and is planned to be completed in May of 2023. Kennett Square Life recently spoke with Manna about how the new library will impact the communities it serves and its long-term imprint on the way we will learn in the future. The Kennett Classic Computer Museum is featured in a photo essay by Jie Deng. An exciting new development, a look at people and industries through the years, a preview of a big community event, an interview with the library director, and a photo essay about a vintage computer museum all make this one of the most exciting issues of Kennett Square Life yet. The community is evolving in many exciting ways, and it is a privilege to be able to document some of this. We look forward to bringing you the next issue of Kennett Square Life, which will arrive in the fall. Sincerely, Randy Lieberman, Publisher randyl@chestercounty.com, 610-869-5553 Steve Hoffman, Editor editor@chestercounty.com., 610-869-5553, Ext. 13 Cover design: Tricia Hoadley Cover photo: Andrew Raak, Raak Bottom Imaging www.chestercounty.com | Summer 2022 | Kennett Square Life
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|Kennett Square Business|
Kicking down the path and finding what you need at Ace Hardware
Photos by Chris Barber
Ace Hardware faces the New Garden Giant parking lot. 10
Kennett Square Life | Summer 2022 | www.chestercounty.com
The interior is sprawling with products for a wide variety of home needs.
By Chris Barber Contributing Writer
S
tepping down the walk to Ace Hardware after food shopping at the New Garden Giant food store is like giving your day a sweet dessert. This Ace Hardware store, which opened its doors last November and presented its formal debut in April, defies the limited definition of “hardware.” Sure, shoppers will have no trouble finding gardening equipment and tools there, as evidenced by the large piles of topsoil and fertilizers in its adjacent parking lot. But thanks to the creativity of its manager/owner Steve Eisel, and his wife, Kit, the store’s range of merchandise provides the answers to many household needs and fulfills challenges that the changing seasons present. Eisel, 64, grew up on a farm and had a career in corporate industry. He said he always wanted to try running a business and felt that through his various experiences in life he had the qualifications to make it work. “I’ve been to plenty of hardware stores, and I’ve sat on tractors for 14 hours a day,” he said. Continued on Page 12
Owner/manager Steve Eisel has high hopes for the New Garden Ace Hardware.
www.chestercounty.com | Summer 2022 | Kennett Square Life
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Ace Hardware Continued from Page 11
The company, Ace, is a cooperative rather than a franchise. It provides training, products and a brand, but it also gives its owners the chance to exercise their own creativity. For Eisel, that means he’s not in lockstep with the other Ace hardware stores worldwide. Rather, he follows Ace guidelines, sells their merchandise, has undergone its training program and has engaged in an internship at another Ace before opening his own store. The building itself sits at the end of the strip of shops in the New Garden Shopping Center that includes the Giant store, Pat’s Pizza, Café Americana, a barber shop and a Chinese restaurant. The inside of the hardware store is sprawling with neat rows of garden furniture, power tools, bird feed and feeders, building equipment, paints, hobby/craft needs, kitchen goods and plumbing paraphernalia. Yet a better look around will introduce items and products that are often hard to find in many hardware stores. Continued on Page 14
Ace has hundreds of household items, including a stack of brooms and shovels.
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The patio section invites people to create comfortable outdoor locations at their homes.
Ace has a full line of seeds.
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Ace Hardware |Kennett Square Continued from Page 12
Off in one corner is a children’s toy section including little trucks and games, many with an outdoor theme. The outdoor patio equipment section sits at the front corner of the store, inviting people in. The section includes chairs, tables and a host of grills. But here, Ace doesn’t stop with the grill for your cookout: It features rows of foodstuffs to apply to make your steaks delicious as they cook. Nearby, there are jars and products for pickling the vegetables you grew from Ace’s seed supply. And lest you need to find a color match at your house, the paint department is large and wellstocked. Eisel said they have the Continued on Page 16
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Life|
Andrew Wood, left, and Debbie D’Angelo keep the shop working. Liz Michalski, not in picture, staffs the paint department.
Kennett Square Life | Summer 2022 | www.chestercounty.com
Summer means the grass is growing, and Ace has lawnmowers.
Ace has a complete line of garden supplies plus seeds.
In addition to barbecue foodstuffs, Ace has accessories for pickling vegetables.
There is a big children’s toy collection near the entrance.
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Ace Hardware Continued from Page 14
A wheelbarrow sitting out front lets the public know there’s more like it inside.
capability of producing any color from a chip, and that includes from any brand of paint. From aisle to aisle, shoppers will also find an amazing assortment of hinges, nuts, bolts, hanging tools and tapes— all lined up and ready to do their tasks. As the seasons change, this hardware store changes with them. As the holiday season approached last year, Eisel opened the store last November to answer customers’ needs of Christmas lights and accessories. Spring comes with shovels and dirt. Summer arrives and there are pool supplies. As the leaves turn in autumn the sales of the everpresent rakes proceed. And then, again, with a promise of cold weather, the snow shovels make an appearance. Eisel is optimistic about the future of his Ace Hardware store, especially given its proximity to the Giant up the way. “Lots of people go food shopping, and we’re nearby,” he said. He added that he got positive responses from folks who came in at both the official and unofficial opening events – filling buckets with discounted items. “They told me they’re happy we are here,” he said. 16
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|Kennett Square Spotlight|
Small products, booming business D&W Microgreens succeeds by harvesting young, colorful and nutrient-packed plants
Most microgreens take a week and a half from planting to harvest. A few, like red amaranth, take two and a half to three weeks.
By Ken Mammarella Contributing Writer
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ole Bailkin’s new business began last year as some father-son bonding fun, and D&W Microgreens is already a success, harvesting young plants overflowing with flavors and nutrients. 18
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D&W is a family affair. The D is for Dad (that’s Bailkin). The W is for Will, his 5-year-old son, who enjoys helping out in short increments. His wife, Kira Raak, and his mother, Billie, handle social media. His father, Michael, a real estate developer, is the angel investor. Bailkin, who lives in Chadds Ford, runs the operation Continued on Page 20
Photos courtesy of D&W Microgreens
D&W Microgreens is a family affair named for Dad (Cole Bailkin) and Will (his son). Kira Raak, Cole’s wife, helps with social media.
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D&W Microgreens Continued from Page 18
Sunny Salt combines dehydrated sunflower and peas with Maldon sea salt. The greens are dehyhdrated at 97 degrees to preserve nutrients and comply with raw food guidelines.
inside Fox Hill Farm, on his parents’ property on Upland Road in Kennett Square. That property is for sale, and he’s looking for a bigger space. “Microgreens are young and tender edible greens produced by sprouting the seeds of a variety of vegetable species and herbaceous plants, including aromatic herbs and wild edible species,” according to Penn State Extension. They are often used as garnishes and eaten raw, serving as “a great source of fibers, essential minerals, vitamins and antioxidant compounds.” “They’re delicious,” Bailkin said. “They grow quickly, have tremendous health benefits, and are up to 40 times more nutritious than their traditionally harvested counterparts.” Behind the scenes Although Bailkin grew up in New York City, he spent many weekends in Kennett Square, and 16 years ago, his parents moved into a custom house built on the farm. “I’ve always loved growing stuff, and farm life was appealing,” he said. After various jobs in construction, Bailkin worked for two years as a manager at Second Chances Farm, a Wilmington Continued on Page 22
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D&W Microgreens Continued from Page 20
operation that provides “returning citizens with mentorship programs and green collar jobs at hydroponic, indoor vertical farms in economically distressed communities.” D & W Microgreens has become a 50- to 60-hour-a-week occupation for Bailkin, who wants to expand his operation from its current 400 square feet of space to between 1,200 and 1,500 square feet. He is already is expanding to dehydrated greens, salt blends, salad mixes and sprouts. Products are labeled “no pesticides or herbicides, locally grown, non-GMO,” and he’s working on organic certification. Inspired by his pet chihuahua Sanchito, he is also contemplating the start of growing pet food. Continued on Page 24
Pea shoots are called a “fan favorite.”
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|Kennett Square Life|
D&W Microgreens Continued from Page 22
Jump Continued from Page 24
Bailkin grows 95 percent of his microgreens in organic coco coir, a neutral, water-retaining medium made up of ground coconut husks, with 5 percent in organic potting soil. He uses the coir only once, either giving it away to a friend who raises chickens or testing various composting techniques for potential reuse. Most microgreens take a week and a half from planting to harvest. A few, like broccoli and purple kohlrabi, take just a week. A few, like fennel and red amaranth, take two-anda-half to three weeks. Bailkin sells his D&W Microgreens products for about $2 an ounce from www.dadandwillsmicrogreens.com, a la carte and in packages, and on alternating Fridays at the Kennett Square Farmers Market and the other Fridays at the Newtown Square farmers market. D&W products are also sold at Barnard’s Orchard in Kennett Square, Farmer & Co in Unionville and Janssen’s Market in Greenville, Delaware. They’re part of the home-delivered packages from Logical Living and JJ Produce Box, both in Kennett Square. And D&W sells to local restaurants, including the Centreville Cafe in Delaware, where owner Elizabeth Moro praises microgreens as multicolored “confetti.” D&W grows 20-plus varieties, with cantaloupe a recent addition. “I like them all,” Bailkin said. As for the other half of D&W, Will likes the popcorn shoots. But he is otherwise a picky eater, his father said. To learn more about D&W Microgreens, visit www.dadandwillsmicrogreens.com.
Alfalfa sprouts is one of the most common microgreens.
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Radishes are normally harvested for their fat bulbs, but the microgreens version is slender young plants.
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|Kennett Square Spotlight| Life| Jump Continued from Page 26
Uptown!: Kennett Square Mushroom Festival heads back to State Street By Chris Barber Contributing Writer
The growing exhibit demonstrates to the public the life cycle of the mushroom crop.
Visitors at the festival can buy food from vendors or from restaurants that have brought booths to the street.
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Gina Puoci and Gale Ferranto are guiding the 37th annual Kennett Square Mushroom Festival back uptown to State Street for 2022 after it was diminished by two years of COVID-19 restrictions and road repairs. Puoci, the president, and Ferranto, the coordinator, are optimistic about the event’s move back to the middle of town and the return to what has become, over the years, one of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s most popular seasonal attractions. In recent years, the attendance over two days has been estimated at 100,000. In 2020, the annual September festival was completely cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, the festival found its home at 600 S. Broad Street in the old Genesis parking lot. The one-year location change was brought about because the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation recommended that the reconstruction of the bridge at the west end of town and nearby highway work would be too much of a strain to have State Street closed off for two days. “We are optimistic and excited to be back in town,” Puoci said, adding that as president she was pleased that last year’s event went so well in a small, enclosed space. “It was successful. I think people enjoyed [the smaller space]. I’ve heard both though. I’ve heard some people say they want it back there again. The other feedback is that we need to get back to the charm of the town.” Continued on Page 28
Photos by Chris Barber
A long line of tents houses vendors of many varieties of crafts.
With more space this year, the kids’ rides will be expanded.
The fried mushroom booth attracts long lines of visitors who want to taste them. www.chestercounty.com | Summer 2022 | Kennett Square Life
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Mushroom Festival Continued from Page 26
This year’s festival -- whose theme is “Growing Strong” -will be held on Saturday, Sept. 10 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 11, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with many of the same features visitors are familiar with from the past. Those features include the popular mushroom growing exhibit, the cooking contest, musical entertainment, Cute-as-a-Button, the mushroom eating contest, children’s rides, painted mushrooms, souvenirs and a host of vendors. The local restaurants will line the street with booths selling their own specialties of foods, and antique cars will invite inspection along South Broad Street. “It’s chock full,” Ferranto said. Continued on Page 30
The mushroom-eating contest generates excitement at the festival.
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Mushroom Festival Continued from Page 28
Visitors will enjoy plenty of what they remember from the past, but there are a few changes. In deference to the construction of the new Kennett Library & Resource Center at State and Willow streets, the site of the festival will start at Church Alley on the east and run to Lafayette Street on the west. In previous years, the soup-and-wine/mushroom eating tent sat on the corner of State and Willow, but the library building work prevents that this year and for the future. Instead, there will be two tent sites: one on Broad Street for mushroom growing and lecture events; the other on South Union Street for entertainment. Mushroom eating will be in the Union Street tent. The soup and wine event that had previously been held at the Willow Street tent has been dropped for this year. Additionally, there will be no parade on Friday night. The organizers have made some additions, too. The artistic painted mushroom competition that formerly featured 75-pound models has been reduced the size to 16 inches/25 pounds, and they can be bid on. There will be one very large one that will be raffled off, however. Continued on Page 32
The size of the painted mushrooms has been changed to make them smaller with one big one to raffle off.
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Mushroom Festival Continued from Page 30
Sunny Dell Foods has created a mushroom soup recipe just for the festival.
Under a red tent and at several other locations along the route, a unique festival mushroom soup will be available in 8-ounce containers for consumption on the spot or to take home with a lid. The recipe was developed by Sunny Dell Foods and will likely be available at the festival alone, Ferrante said. Both Puoci and Ferranto are lifelong Kennett Square area residents. Puoci grew up in Kennett Square and has for years served as the Kennett Fire Company administrator. Ferranto is the daughter of mushroom growers Roro and Bear Ferranto and continues on with their Buona Foods mushroom company. Both Puoci and Ferranto have been going to the Mushroom Festival for most of its 36 years, and the memories stir their hearts and guide the planning of this year’s event. They recalled the early days of the event back in the late 1980s when the festival kicked off with a banquet, the selection of a queen and a one-block parade. As it grew, the parade expanded and included the arrival of television Cowgirl Sally Starr riding her horse along the route.
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Miss America joined in another year. Several years featured a mushroom picking contest, while former Mushroom Festival Coordinator Kathi Lafferty brought in a Ferris Wheel for entertainment. An art show had a run for several seasons. Puoci and Ferranto let out a collective groan when they recalled the arrival of a hurricane that forced the cancellation of the second day of the festival one year. Visitors through the years have included Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell, Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding, local legislators, and a Mummer’s Band in the parade. Ahead of the event, Puoci and Ferranto are occupied with the logistics of pulling the festival together and making it run smoothly. Puoci has already finalized parking arrangements from an off-site lot that will provide access to the festival. Continued on Page 34
Gina Puoci, left, and Gale Ferranto are taking the Mushroom Festival back uptown for 2022. The theme of this year’s festival is “Growing Strong.”
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Mushroom Festival Continued from Page 33
Previously, visitors parked at the Exelon property just east of the borough off Baltimore Pike. Since Exelon is involved in construction, she has contracted with Chatham Financial on McFarlan Road. The company has a large parking lot, and the visitors will be bused in. There’s more advance work to be done as well, and Puoci said she has a board of directors that are all experienced in accomplishing the tasks. There are permits to be obtained, gates to be installed, permission from property and parking lot owners, security, police protection, financial arrangements, signs and publicity. “The board made the transition easier,” Puoci said. “It’s like a giant puzzle and everyone puts in their part,” Ferranto said. Another aspect that Puoci and Ferranto want to assure the public is the support
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Antique cars will again line South Broad Street during the first day of this year’s festival.
the Mushroom Festival brings to the community. In the years the event has been going on, it has contributed an estimated $1 million to local nonprofits. It also contributed content to boxes that are given out by Kennett Area Community Service at the holiday season.
Kennett Square Life | Summer 2022 | www.chestercounty.com
Last year they contributed $65,000, and they expect that continue at least at that level. The festival generates income from sponsorships, vendors and the admission of $5 per person. Ferranto said the festival carries its financial load. “People don’t understand we pay for police, public works and security. None of that is donated time because people need to be paid,” she said. The Mushroom Festival is offering an App for personal cell phones so people can scan a QR code along the route and be informed of all that is going on for their visit. To learn more about the 37th Annual Kennett Square Mushroom Festival, visit www.mushroomfestival.org.
The Mushroom Festival has generated crowds of more than 100,000 over the two days during some years.
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|Kennett Square History|
Kennett Square: People and industries through the years By Gene Pisasale Contributing Writer
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A sketch of the Unicorn Inn by Dr. Isaac D. Johnson.
Moynihan’s blacksmith shop in Kennett Square.
Samuel Pennock.
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Herb Pennock, a Hall of Fame baseball pitcher.
hester County has a rich heritage of accomplishments in the arts and sciences, and in business and industry, and Kennett Square has been an important part of that heritage. Many people today do not know that Kennett Square had its own trust company and national bank, as well as a road grading firm and other large industrial sites, a railroad depot and its own trolley lines. Another fact somewhat lost to the historical archives is that several business leaders made their fortunes in Kennett Square over the years and left their mark on society. In Greetings from Kennett Square: 1855-2005, Joseph A. Lordi and Dolores I. Rowe wrote that the name “Kennett” derives from a village of the same name in Wiltshire, England. Francis Smith was a former resident of that village. He arrived locally in 1686 and purchased 200 acres along Pocopson Creek. Another early landowner was Gayen Miller, who bought acreage in the eastern part of what became Kennett Borough from Letitia Penn Aubrey, William Penn’s daughter. According to Kennett Township, the first known structure here was the Unicorn Inn, at the corner of State and Union Streets, constructed around 1735 as a public house serving travelers between Philadelphia and Baltimore. The name Kennett Square first appeared in 1769 as Joseph Musgrave was trying to establish a town. Lordi and Rowe note that by 1776, Musgrave sold his property to Colonel Joseph Shippen. The Colonel was the uncle of Peggy Shippen, who is best known as the wife of Benedict Arnold. During the Revolutionary War, Kennett Square was just a small village, but it became the site for the encampment of thousands of Hessian soldiers and British troops before the Battle of the Brandywine. Kennett Square was incorporated in 1855 and celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2005. It is well known that Kennett Square is the Mushroom Capital of the World, but the Kennett area has been the home to numerous thriving businesses in other industries, too. In Kennett Square: Yesterday and Today, Janice B. Taylor and
Kennett Square Life | Summer 2022 | www.chestercounty.com
An advertisement for the American Road Machine Company.
A postcard showing the National Bank of Kennett Square.
The historic Chalfant mansion.
Richard W. Taylor describe several mills along the East and West Branch of nearby Red Clay Creek. These included Hadley’s Mill, where Samuel Pennock produced spinning wheels, chair rounds and button molds. Forged nails were produced in a mill on the East Branch, and nearby property owned by the Chambers family operated a “wool carding mill, weaving mill, sawmill and paper mill. The first circular saw in Chester County was operated here around 1835.” Kennett Square over the years was home to a blacksmith, coachmaker, shoemaker, hatmaker and carpenter. In their book, the Taylors note that ingenious craftsmen were quite active locally. Dr. Isaac D. Johnson is credited with inventing the bolt cutter, a type of hospital bed and a sanding disk used by dentists, as well as a lifting jack. The
Pennocks were some of the most successful inventors. Moses Pennock and Samuel Martin patented a grain drill in 1841. On East State Street, Moses’ sons Mordecai and Samuel produced numerous agricultural-related items, including rakes, mowing and reaping machines and corn shellers. Samuel Pennock was the grandfather of Herb Pennock, who pitched for the Philadelphia Athletics, Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees from 1912 to 1934 and complied 241 wins over the course of his Major League pitching career. Everyone benefited when the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad came to town in 1857, spawning further business development and population growth. Railroad facilities included a passenger station, freight station and storage shed. Continued on Page 40 www.chestercounty.com | Summer 2022 | Kennett Square Life
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History Continued from Page 39
This line subsequently became the Octoraro Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. During the Civil War, railroad cars were made here for the Union; as many as 120 men were employed. J. Eli Crozier built a foundry in 1867, which made castings for wheels, stoves, windmills, lathe heads and other parts. When you think of Kennett Square, you may not think of roads, but Samuel Pennock was awarded a patent for a road grading machine in 1876. S. Pennock and Sons became a hugely successful manufacturer of the equipment. George W. Taft invented a rock crushing machine and held approximately 400 patents. Taft later became president of the Pennock Company, which was later recognized as the American Road Machine Company. His firm was subsequently reorganized as the American Road Machine Company. After local citizens called a meeting and purchased some acreage, the National Bank of Kennett Square opened its doors on June 27, 1881. Originally in a building owned by a dentist, the bank later operated in a classically styled stone structure with marble columns aside the entranceway. For safe holding of legal documents, people often turn to trust companies.
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An advertisement for trunk made from vulcanized fiber.
Lordi and Rowe note that on January 2, 1907, the Kennett Trust Company started operations on North Union Street. At one point Harry W. Chalfant was its president and J. Walter Jefferis was treasurer. Chalfant and Jefferis were well established families in the area. After John Voorhees arrived in Kennett Square, he quickly became one of its most successful merchants, opening one of the largest department and hardware stores in the region. It even had its own telephone exchange at the back. As mentioned in Chester County and Its People, edited by W.W. Thomson, the lights came on around 1893. That year the Kennett Electric Light, Heat and Power Company was incorporated, with “… two 100-horsepower boilers, a 150-horsepower engine and two dynamos sufficient to maintain 800 incandescent lights each…” One of the best-known local firms was owned by the Marshall family; their fiber and laminated products were used in trunks, suitcases and other items. Marshall’s operation was later acquired by the National Vulcanized Fiber Company (NVF). NVF had plants in Wilmington, Continued on Page 42
The Samuel Pennock house in Kennett Square.
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History |Kennett Continued from Page 41
Square Life|
Newark and Yorklyn, Delaware. Their products included instrument and switchboard panels, as well as high voltage insulation. The remains of the NVF operations can be seen off Mulberry Street today. Kennett Square was a hotbed of manufacturing in a wide range of industries through the years. Although these operations are largely gone today, if you drive around the borough and surrounding areas, you can see remnants of some of these establishments… and get a sense of just how important Kennett Square was to the growth of industrial America. Gene Pisasale is an historian and author based In Kennett Square. His ten books focus on Chester County and the mid-Atlantic region. His latest book is titled Forgotten Founding Fathers: Pennsylvania and Delaware in the American Revolution. His books are available through his website at www.GenePisasale.com and on www.Amazon.com. Gene can be reached via e-mail at: Gene@GenePisasale.com.
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A postcard showing trolleys at State and Union Street, Kennett Square, published by W J Berkstresser, circa 1909.
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|Kennett Square Life Life|Photo Essay| Jump
The Kennett Classic C Celebrating the milest
Continued from Page 44
Text by Richard L. Gaw To peruse the five-room contents of the Kennett Classic Computer Museum – a vintage computing gallery in Kennett Square filled with mostly donated items -- is to immerse one’s self in an incredible story that has impacted the lives of nearly every human being on Earth over the last 70 years. Painstakingly categorized in chronological order, the Museum provides a broad sweep of the advent of the computer from its rudimentary beginnings in the 1940s to the mid-1990s. From shelf to shelf and room to room, the Kennett Classic Computer Museum unfolds in such a way that illustrates the evolution of the computer, in much the same the way a gallery acknowledges the life’s work of one artist. Here though, it’s much more than a collection of 8-bit processors, controller chips, papertape readers and vintage Ataris, Commodores, Altairs and Apple Macintoshes. Complimented by a catalog of documentation, back-catalog computer publications, photographs and inperson and online tours, the Museum provides a firm imprint of how the Mid-Atlantic Region has played an instrumental role in transforming the size, look and purpose of computers over the past several decades. Continued on Page 47
Photos by Jie Deng
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c Computer Museum: stones in people’s lives Continued on Page 45
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|Kennett Square Life| Jump Continued from Page 46
“Many people have told me, ‘I never realized what a teletype sounded like,’ and ‘I have forgotten what a modem sounds like when it connects.’ What I am trying to do is educate people to understand that these computers aren’t just things you worked with, but that they were milestones in people’s lives.” ~ Bill Degnan, founder, Kennett Classic Computer Museum
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The Kennett Classic Computer Museum Continued from Page 44
Founder Bill Degnan said that the Museum’s location fits nicely within the framework of a popular and walkable borough. “I wanted this museum to be on Union Street in Kennett Square for a specific reason,” said Degnan, a web and e-commerce designer with his company Degnan Co Web
Services, who began the museum in 2019. “There used to be an antiquarian bookstore next door, and there are art galleries just blocks away, and they’re in large part one of the reasons that Kennett Square draws so many people who love to follow their curiosity. Continued on Page 48
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The Kennett Classic Computer Museum Continued from Page 47
“We continue to have people donate to and support this museum simply because it is not in a technology park.” For visitors of all ages who come to the Kennett Classic Computer Museum, it’s not only a walk through the vast history of computer technology, it’s a treat for the senses and a walk through moments. “Many people have told me, ‘I never realized what a teletype sounded like,’ and ‘I have forgotten when a modem sounds like when it connects,” Degnan said. “What I am trying to do is educate people to understand that these computers aren’t just things you worked with, but that they were milestones in people’s lives.” The Kennett Classic Computer Museum is located at 126 South Union Street, Kennett Square, Pa. Tel.: 484-7327041. To learn more about the Kennett Classic Computer Museum, visit www.kennettclassic.com.
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|Kennett Square Life fe Q&A|
Christopher Manna Director, Kennett Library & Resource Center
It is nearly an inarguable and accepted epted truth that the construction of rce Center – slated for completion the new Kennett Library & Resource d about development in the recent in May of 2023 -- is the most talked 3,000 square-foot structure’s stunhistory of Kennett Square. As the 33,000 ning architecture is now visible in anticipation of its opening, Kennett brary Director Christopher Manna Square Life recently spoke with Library pact the communities it serves and about how the new library will impact its long-term imprint on the way we will learn in the future. Kennett Square Life: What began as a long-term term dream more than a decade ago became a giant hole in the ground and now, the dream am is rising above State Street and fully real in the form of the Kennett Library & Resource ce Center. As the Library’s new director, tell the readers of Kennett Square Life what goes oes through your mind when you look at its construction. Christopher Manna: What goes through my mind is what goes through my mind every time I hear of a new library being built acrosss the country. Our capital campaign is called the “Imagine Campaign,” and to that end, we are now imagining what this library will mean for the community. Through this building ing and the partnerships we’re building right now and will continue to build just down the e street, it will provide everyone with a higher quality of life throughout the Kennett area and the municipalities the Kennett Library & Resource Center will serve. Although you began as the director of the he Kennett Library last November, you are certainly no stranger to library projects. You u helped oversee a part of three library building projects when you were with the Pioneer er Library System in Moore, Oklahoma that included a $30 million, 50,000 square foot library ibrary that is scheduled to break ground this year. How does the director of a library continue ontinue to maintain balance in that middle ground that separates the present and the future? uture? In other words, how have you managed the current library while planning for the future one? Continued on Page 54 50
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Photo by Richard L. Gaw
Kennett Library & Resource Center Director Christopher Manna.
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Christopher Manna Continued from Page 50
I always think back to what a friend of mine told me years ago: “You always start with the end in mind. Imagine what you want, think about how it’s going to look when it’s finished, and then work backwards from there.” Timing, urgency and rapidity influence the pace and the order of things, but the end product remains the same. When I started here last November, I told the staff that for right now, we are going to be working in two directions at the same time – working backward and forward to where we are going to be when the new library opens in May of next year. It will create extra work for the time being, but the goal is to equalize the backward and forward momentum so that we can minimize that time as much as possible, and hopefully when we are only moving forward, those two will unite and there will be a broader pathway in front of us. The Kennett Library & Resource Center is being defined as a community center for the southern Chester County region. Once inside, the public will engage in new opportunities for in-person and on-line learning; attend
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Courtesy image
The new Kennett Library & Resource center, scheduled to open in May of 2023, will be a 33,000 square-foot hub and connector for the entire Kennett Square community and beyond.
additional multicultural programs; see concerts, films and lectures in a 110-seat auditorium; gather with others in any one of 15 meeting rooms; as well as expand their creative efforts in maker spaces for children and adults. When it comes to complimenting a well-rounded education, the Kennett Library & Resource Center is going to be a gamechanger, yes? Continued on Page 56
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Christopher Manna Continued from Page 54
The new library will offer a 110-seat auditorium that will be used for a wide variety of lectures, film series and performances throughout the year.
This new library has the opportunity to become the community hub and connector for all of the great services and partners around the area. We talk a lot about education and workforce development in contemporary libraries now; we want the Kennett Library & Resource Center to be something that highlights that, but also provides entertainment and makes Kennett Square a destination. We are familiar with the natural beauty of places like Longwood Gardens, the deep history of this area and the increasing choice of fine dining right along State Street. Our task is to wed all of those assets to what will be a 22nd Century building – to bring innovation and collaboration to a first-class facility in a way that it compliments the incredible services already found in the region. Making all of that accessible and centralized through the library will be a true value to the region. Of the many partnerships that have been formed throughout the roadmap of what will become the Kennett Library & Resource Center, Longwood Gardens is at our near the top of them. It seems to be a symbiotic relationship that finds its connection through education and accessibility. What is it like to have a world-wide organization on board with you? Longwood Gardens may be outside of the central downtown part of Kennett Square, but the resources they will provide the new library and the borough through their programming and staff will develop the library as a site of education and entertainment. I recently had a conversation with an educator, and we talked about the importance of bringing the teachers from that school to the library to give lectures. It’s about bringing people from the eight municipalities that this library serves and gives them a place where they can learn, have fun and grow their entire lives. Continued on Page 58
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Christopher Manna Continued from Page 56
Perhaps one of the most valuable assets of the Kennett Library is one that seems to fall slightly below the radar, but one that needs to be applauded here. The Adult Literacy Program at the Library has to date helped more than 8,000 learners prepare for testing for American citizenship and their general equivalency diploma. With the benefit of more classrooms and larger space – coupled with the changing demographic of this community -- how do you envision the program expanding in the future? We have never had a place to house any of these classes. Our eight weekly classes are held at Kennett High School, at local churches and most recently on Zoom. We will have the opportunity to provide several meeting rooms in the new library for these classes. The program will grow because of that. We have been in contact with the Kennett Area Community Services (KACS) and La Communidad Hispana (LCH) in an effort to broaden the availability of their resources that will provide additional space for social workers, literacy programs, paths to citizenship and workforce development to take place. It is our job to help connect these individuals to additional resources. We will
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soon have the meeting space and we will soon have the room. Let’s bring them here. Simply asked, define what a modern library is, and how you see the Kennett Library & Resource Center wrapping itself around that definition. A library has, is and will always be about literacy. I think we have now taken the steps to further define what literacy is and how we define that, and while helping people to learn to read and write is fundamental to what we do, but now in the 21st and 22nd Century, we are expanding on the definition of literacy to include digital and information literacy. If you can’t use a computer, how will you be able to apply for a job or apply for health care benefits? A modern library can help teach those basic technology skills. Additionally, a modern library must also be about social and civil literacy. The Kennett Library & Resource Center will feature a 110-seat auditorium. We imagine this facility as a place to engage in civic discourse – to have difficult but necessary conversations about world-wide topics. Finally, a modern library must also be about health literacy.
The main entrance and lobby of the new Kennett Library & Resource Center.
We see the new library as a place where health experts from the area will be invited to talk about healthy living and healthy cooking. A modern library is also about financial literacy, to help others -- from kids to adults -get to a better place financially, and we stand to do that. We also imagine this library as a pathway for people’s lives. Wherever it is that they have slotted in on this highway, we want to help get them to their next exit. What is your favorite spot in Kennett Square? I have a sweet tooth and I enjoy coffee, so between Greek from Greece and Lily’s, it’s kind of hard for me to go wrong. You throw a dinner party and can invite anyone – famous or not, living or not. Who would you want to see around that dinner table? I want to have a group of people around me that have made it their life’s work to better humanity. I would invite Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Amilcar Cabral, Winston Churchill, Abraham Lincoln and Elizabeth I. They were all in difficult positions with difficult decisions to make, but they all strived to do what was right by and for the people. That is everyone’s goal: Are we not here to serve others? What item can always be found in your refrigerator? We’re an active family. My son is really into youth sports and he’s got to remain fueled, so you will see multiple sources of protein, as well as fruits and vegetables. To learn more about the new Kennett Library & Resource Center, take a virtual tour and make a contribution to the Imagine Campaign, visit www.Campaign4KennettLibrary. org. ~ Richard L. Gaw
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|Kennett Square Progress|
Getting to the Pointe
All images courtesy of Montchanin Builders, except where noted
Spread across 13 acres on the corner of East Cypress Street and Ways Lane, Kennett Pointe will feature 53 “new urbanist” townhouses and a 41,000-square-foot mixed-use building – all in a village-like setting that will be walking distance to the Kennett Borough.
By Richard L. Gaw Staff Writer In 2016, Kennett Square Borough partnered with Kennett Township and Historic Kennett Square – now Kennett Collaborative – to create the Kennett Region Economic Development Study, a 234-page report that contained the broad strokes for the future of economic, labor, real estate and land development in the Kennett area.
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It was a huge project – one that was hammered out through several conversations with local and regional stakeholders – and one that specifically spelled out the vision for how seven locations in the township and borough could someday be re-imagined to meet the needs of a growing community. The report cast a very large net of focus that included the State and Cypress street corridors; Birch Street from Walnut Continued on Page 62
nte in Kennett Square Responding to a vision that reimagined the Ways Lane area, Kennett Pointe will soon emerge as a community of businesses, townhomes, gardens and gazebos
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Kennett Pointe Continued from Page 60
to Broad streets; the former NVF site in the borough; the west side of Mill Road and the Millers Hill vicinity on the eastern border between the borough and the township. The seventh and final area, however – the Ways Lane vicinity in the township – was thought to be the most challenging and require the grandest vision of all. For the past several years, the road has been nearly impassable to vehicles and has stifled any real commercial and residential progress, and any prior initiatives to improve the area quickly stalled. For a borough and township whose leaders, residents and businesses have seen Kennett Square become one of the most popular small towns in America, Ways Lane remained a small sliver of neglect in a grand dream of achievement. Then a breakthrough happened. In August 2018, The Commonwealth Group submitted its original design plans for what was originally known as “Kennett Gateway” to the Kennett Township Board of Supervisors and the township’s Planning Commission, which led to additional conversations, amendments and
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Photo by Dylan Francis
Don Robitzer, senior vice president & COO of The Commonwealth Group and co-founder of Montchanin Builders, at Kennett Pointe earlier this year.
eventual approval as a mixed-use commercial and residential development located in the intersection of Ways Lane and East Cypress Street. Continued on Page 64
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Kennett Pointe Continued from Page 62
On Dec. 12, 2020, during his Zoom presentation before several elected officials and key economic stakeholders, Don Robitzer, senior vice president & COO of The Commonwealth Group and co-founder of Montchanin Builders, introduced a broadened concept for the development that now had a new name: Kennett Pointe. The entire blueprint, Robitzer said, was already there, beginning on Page 30 of the Kennett Region Economic Development Study: Create a New Village on the Edge of Town. “Frontage along Cypress Street and Cope Road can create a gateway landscape and an evolving neartown ‘campus district’ [for] education, theater, residential workforce housing, senior care/senior housing, corporate campus/mixed use…with provisions for density, infrastructure, landscape and connectivity,” the vision read in part. Kennett Pointe, Robitzer said, would be the “gateway” that Kennett Square needed. Now, less than two years later, the scenario that is emerging there is a spectacular reminder of what happens when imagination and opportunity converge.
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Kennett Pointe’s townhouses will be sized between 1,876- and
53 ‘new urbanist’ townhomes Spread across 13 acres on the corner of East Cypress Street and Ways Lane, the tree-lined community, now being constructed by Montchanin Builders, will feature 53 “new urbanist” townhouses that will be sized between 1,876- and 2,285-square feet. The three-bedroom, two-anda-half-bathroom homes will feature nine-foot ceilings, front porches, bay windows, a gourmet kitchen with island and granite countertops, composite decks, hardwood and tile flooring. Home owners at Kennett Pointe will be able to choose from two floor plans, which will both offer a front entry and alley-fed two-car garages. Homes will also offer space expanding features which may include a finished basement with walk out, a fourth bedroom, den, home work space and the option of adding a loft. 2,285-square feet and are available in two floor plans.
Continued on Page 66
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Kennett Pointe Continued from Page 65
Kennett Pointe will also feature a 41,000-square-foot mixed-use building that will be located at the northern edge of the property and be visible from East Cypress Street. On its first floor, over 13,000 square feet of retail/ commercial space will be available for businesses that add value to a community, such as restaurants, boutiques, cafés, hair salons, bakeries, yoga studios, or small grocers. On its second and third floors, the building will house 24 one- and two-bedroom apartments that will range between 910 square feet to 1,152 square feet. Additional amenities In addition, Kennett Pointe will provide residents and visitors with a village-like setting complete with a 6,000 square-foot plaza, Parisian-style gardens landscaped with gravel paths, a trellis, park benches, and a performance pavilion with event lawn and gazebos, where craft fairs, concerts, children’s shows and movie nights will eventually be on its social calendar.
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As part of the project, Montchanin Builders is also restoring the former Italian American Club facility -originally built in 1923 -- that will be repurposed as a membership-based pottery studio, where visitors will be able to take classes and have open studio time. Working with Brock Vinton, Tim Jones, and Tony Ruggio of The Commonwealth Group and Montchanin Builders, Robitzer refers to his business partners as “collaborators.” “People will be able to drive by and see that this is a really vibrant neighborhood, which helps you with your commercial tenants, it helps you with your residents and helps you with those who drive by, because they all want to be a part of something that is connected to the community,” Robitzer said. “I want to build something that my community wants to be part of. It’s important to us that this mix of housing and authentic retail spaces will enhance the community.” Continued on Page 68
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Kennett Pointe will also feature a 41,000-square-foot mixed-use building that will provide over 13,000 square feet of retail/commercial space, as well as 24 apartments.
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Kennett Pointe Continued from Page 66
To learn more about Kennett Pointe, visit https://montchaninbuilders.net/ communities/kennett-pointe Kennett Collaborative contributed to this report. To contact Staff Writer Richard L. Gaw, email rgaw@chestercounty.com.
An overhead view of Kennett Pointe.
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Kennett Square Life Magazine Summer 2022 www.chestercounty.com A Chester County Press Publication P.O. Box 150, Kelton, PA 19346 address corrections not required
