Pulling up the Stakes

Library building sets on a new shelf

People with cameras lined the route.

From antiquated, cumbersome Speed Graphics to ultra-modern sleek, video camcorders - all viewfinders were aimed at the building as it slowly began to move.

After housing the Paoli Library for over 65 years, the structure that sat at 18 Darby Road was on a journey back home for the first time.

Originally built as a chapel in 1892 for the Paoli Presbyterian Church, the building was bound for a site on the church’s present grounds.

Supported on two steel girders, and resting on a trio of truck tires, the building was pulled by a diesel tractor down Lancaster Avenue.

From Lancaster Avenue, the extremely over-sized load headed south on route 252, using Waynesborogh Avenue for its final trek, Monday.

By Tuesday, workers from Horner and Sons, of Mechanicsburg were finishing up the job on the grounds of Paoli Presbyterian Church.

One of the workers described the move as an easy one. “Those buildings with the brick walls,” he noted, “they’re the tricky ones.”

Suburban and Wayne Times, 4/17/1986.

Dave Hickey photographs.

Found by Greg Prichard.