All Episodes

BBB:LHWS #035   William Morris Meredith, Jr. ...
...described himself as a "B+ poet who has written a few A+ poems".  Despite his modesty, his poetry was recognized as some of the best in post-WWII America.  He served for two years as US Poet Laureate and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

ABC:LHS #065-4   Richard Burr...
...was a Civil War surgeon who found there was more money in "treating" the dead and became an embalmer. Photographer Matthew Brady immortalized him with a battlefield photo.

ABC:LHS #065-3   Anna Lukens...
...was one of the 30+ medical students from Women's Medical College who caused an uproar when they showed up at the citywide weekly clinic in 1869.  Despite permission to be there, their mere presence caused a riot among the "gentlemen."

ABC:LHS #065-2   Thomas Kirkbride trained as a surgeon but developed an interest in madness during his training.  His blueprint for asylums became the standard for nearly a century. 
 
 

ABC:LHS #065-1   John Rhea Barton...
...was a student of Philip Syng Physick who carried on his mentor's reputation as an innovative and bold surgeon in the early 19th century. His name is known to all Penn physicians. 
 
 

ABC:LHS #065   Fathers & Mothers of American Medicine (part 4)
John Rhea Barton was a master surgeon who has both a fracture and a professorship named for him.
Thomas Story Kirkbride wanted to take Barton’s role, but instead got interested in caring for the mentally ill at a time when a new philosophy was being introduced. Kirkbride asylums became the standard of care for many decades.
Anna Lukens was among the students from Women’s Medical College who were verbally and physically assaulted after an attempt at coeducational clinical teaching at Pennsylvania Hospital ended up in the “She Doctor Panic of 1869”.
Richard Burr inadvertently became the poster child for Civil War embalmers when Matthew Brady captured his likeness while he was doing a battlefield procedure.

BBB:LHWS #034-3   Milton Hershey's beloved wife Kitty...
...died in a Philadelphia hotel room and spent nearly three years in a receiving vault at Laurel Hill West until a new cemetery was built in Hershey as her final resting place. Fresh flowers were provided several times weekly during her stay. 

BBB:LHWS #034-2   Grain merchant Franklin Baker...
...once received a load of coconuts as payment for a boatload of grain.  Baker turned this serendipitous occurrence into a lifetime of working with coconut, such that the name “Baker’s” is almost synonymous.

BBB:LHWS #034-1   Henry Oscar Wilbur...
...was a Philadelphia chocolatier who was probably most famous for his small chocolate pieces with his name on the bottom.  He called them Wilbur Buds and offered a spirited competition to Milton Hershey’s Kisses.

BBB:LHWS #034   Everybody loves chocolate. 
Henry Oscar Wilbur was a Philadelphia chocolatier who was probably most famous for his small chocolate pieces with his name on the bottom.  He called them Wilbur Buds and offered a spirited competition to Milton Hershey’s Kisses.
Although Hershey is not buried locally, his beloved wife Kitty spent nearly three years in a receiving vault until a new cemetery was built in Hershey as her final resting place.
Grain merchant Franklin Baker once received a load of coconut as payment for a boatload of grain.  Baker turned this serendipitous occurrence into a lifetime of working with coconut, such that the name “Baker’s” is almost synonymous with coconuts.

ABC:LHS #064-4   Donald Fithian Lippincott...
...surprised everyone, including himself, when he took both a bronze and a silver in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics.

ABC:LHS #064-3   James Edwin “Ted” Meredith...
...was the fastest schoolboy in the country and broke every distance running record from 100 meters to 1 mile; his Gold in the 1912 Olympics was for the 4 x 400-meter relay.
 

ABC:LHS #064-2   Jervis Watson Burdick... 
...was a UPenn student member of the Sphinx Club and the Canteen Club who competed in the1912 Olympics but did not medal.

ABC:LHS #064-1   Lawson “Robbie” Robertson...
...won medals in the Intercalated Games of 1906 in Athens and went on to become head coach of the University of Pennsylvania track and field team.  He took them back to the Olympics several more times.

ABC:LHS #064   Back in ABC:LHS #029...
...I covered the 1900 Paris Olympiad and some Laurel Hill residents who participated.  Now it's time for four more Olympians from the early 20th century.
Lawson “Robbie” Robertson won medals in the Intercalated Games of 1906 in Athens and went on to become head coach of the University of Pennsylvania track and field team.  He took them back to the Olympics several more times.
Jervis Watson Burdick was a UPenn student member of the Sphinx Club and the Canteen Club who competed in the1912 Olympics but did not medal.
James Edwin “Ted” Meredith was the fastest schoolboy in the country and broke every distance running record from 100 meters to 1 mile; his Gold in the 1912 Olympics was for the 4 x 400-meter relay.
And Donald Fithian Lippincott surprised everyone, including himself, when he won a silver and a bronze in 1912.