Tim and The Timbers

by Doug Humes

In 1957, Tim McCarthy, youngest of eight children of a steamfitter from Havertown, opened up The Timbers Restaurant in Newtown Square in a beautiful new and modern building. His first food service business had been a hamburger stand, Tim’s Inn, at Lawrence Road and West Chester Pike in Broomall. With ten years of operations under his belt, he moved to the new shopping center near where Casey’s is now located, started with a small place, Tim’s Dairy Bar, but then secured a liquor license and constructed the new building to accommodate a full-service high-end restaurant. The business was very successful. Every community group in the area came to enjoy his hospitality: politicians; high school class reunions; the Newtown Square Women’s Club; the Marple Gardens Community Association annual “Sweethearts Dance”; Boy Scouts; Delaware County Police Chiefs; St. Pius X Holy Name Society communion breakfast; sports banquets; Parents Without Partners, and the Scottish Historic and Research Society of the Delaware Valley held its Tartan Ball, where haggis was served on a silver tray. The Timbers was the place to dine in the 1960s, serving cocktails, seafood, steaks and chops from 4:00 pm to 1:30 am. The business later expanded to include lunch hours from 11:00 am.

With a lot of wall space to fill, McCarthy welcomed local artists and The Timbers boasted galleries with rotating exhibitions of local painters. He hosted the annual Newtown Square Arts Festival. It was also the place for live music – weekly dinner dances, and live music nightly by groups such as Nick Nichols and the Newport Five. The Timbers also catered to banquets, weddings and private parties.

In 1970 Tim had the opportunity to take on a new challenge –bringing the historic Dilworthtown Inn back to life as a fine dining restaurant. He said he spent a fortune on the renovations, a fortune earned from his time in Newtown Square. After several years of running two restaurants, he must have been stretched thin, and so The Timbers closed around 1975. The new business in Dilworthtown was very successful, offering French cuisine in a colonial setting to a clientele he identified as sophisticated and “upper class.” A whole other class of customers from the days of McCarthy’s first hamburger stand.

Starting from that roadside stand, Tim McCarthy achieved the American dream the old-fashioned way, through his own ingenuity, business sense and hard work. He passed away in 1991. For more history on Newtown Square, Delaware County, and membership info., visit our website at www.NSHistory.org.

by Sheila Turner-Hilliard

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