A Big Birthday For a Little Boy

Wallace Smith's Birthday Party, 1892

If you think today's Main Line parents throw overly lavish birthday parties, think again. In early June, 1892, Wallace N. Smith had his birthday party at 220 Audubon Avenue (now called South Wayne Avenue) in Wayne. The lucky boy had 81 guests to the party, most of whom are numbered and identified on the back of the photograph. From this picture we can see not only how children dressed and posed for photos in the late 19th century, but also how the then-new Wayne homes were painted and how their grounds were planted.

-- Greg Prichard, Radnor Historical Society