Swarthmore’s history is
mostly unwritten
The public archives hold only 4 old photos of Swarthmore. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Originally, the area belonged to the Lenape people. It was settled in the late 1600s by Quakers after William Penn granted them the land. By the early 1800s, it was still mainly farmland, and was known as Westdale in honor of local artist Benjamin West. It was part of Springfield Township, but the area began to become a distinct town after Swarthmore College was founded in 1864. The advent of passenger rail service from Philadelphia in the 1880s greatly enhanced the desirability of the borough as a commuter suburb, and the borough was incorporated in 1893.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowStart Swarthmore’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Swarthmore’s history is told.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewBenjamin West's residence, 1860: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Swarthmore
See all 12 →
Swarthmore, decade by decade
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as Benjamin West's residence (1860) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (5) and the Library of Congress (1). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.