Kids & Family

The Founding of the Wayne Art Center

The Charter for the Wayne Art Center was granted on January 29, 1932.

 

"Like most of the large houses built in Wayne in the late 1880’s and the early 1890’s, Mrs. Craig Atmore’s home at 314 Louella avenue has a big barn in the rear of the building lot. Like many of its contemporaries this building is larger and more stately than the average house that is being erected these days. Aside from using a comparatively small part of the downstairs portion for garage space, most of the owners of these structures of a bygone era do not quite know how to utilize them. Indeed, a one or two-car garage would have much more purpose in most cases. And besides, it would not take up nearly so much of the building lot!

Mrs. Atmore’s barn is a notable exception to this rule, however. For it houses one of Radnor township’s most interesting and unusual organizations, The Wayne Art Center, founded 20 years ago this Spring as the result of a small meeting held on March 5, 1931 in Miss Mary Walsh’s apartment in Windermere Court.

Find out what's happening in Radnorwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

This meeting opened, according to its minutes, as kept by Dr. Addison S. Buck, 'with a brief statement to the effect that the purpose . . . was to discuss what might be done in Wayne for persons either out of work or with surplus leisure time at their disposal, by providing a suitable place for them to go, with opportunities to engage in avocational pursuits, or, more specifically, opportunities for self-expression.'"

Read the rest of this April 13, 1951 column here.

Find out what's happening in Radnorwith free, real-time updates from Patch.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here