All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #054: "Hey, I Know That Song", Part 1

Septimus Winner composed several ear worms you sang as a child or with your children, including "Listen to the Mockingbird" and "Ten Little Indians".

• Septimus Winner was the composer of several catchy songs you sang as a child or have sung with your children

And yes, I will play you samples of their work, and a lot more.  Get ready for ear worms galore on this month's episode of "All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories

Biographical Bytes from Bala #023

Andy Warhol considered him "the only person in town with glamour."  The Philadelphia Art Alliance deemed him "the first gentleman of Philadelphia."  Connoisseur Magazine named him one of the top ten art collectors of all time.  

When Henry Plumer McIlhenny died in 1986, he left everything - an estimated $100M worth - to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where he had served for 50 years as curator, trustee and chairman of the board.  His collections were housed in both his magnificent Rittenhouse Square townhouse and at Glenveagh in Ireland, the largest privately-owned plot of land in the country.  His parties were legendary.  His friends were society's giants. 

At his death, someone commented "I had always thought that no one was irreplaceable, but Henry is irreplaceable." 

Fellow volunteer tour guide and historian Thomas Keels tells you of this remarkable man in the mid-August edition of “Biographical Bytes from Bala: Laurel Hill West Stories.” 

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #053 - Suited to a Tee, part 4

Charles Baily met his final fate on the 4th green of Merion East Cricket Club in 1933

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #053 - Suited to a Tee, part 3

George Clifford Thomas Jr. designed the original course at Whitemarsh Valley Country Club, outside Philadelphia, and more than twenty courses in California, including Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades and Red Hill Country Club in Rancho Cucamonga.

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #053 - Suited to a Tee, part 2

Hugh Wilson was one of six golf architects called "The Philadelphia School".  He designed the classic Merion East Course, as well as the final four holes at Pine Valley. 

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #053 - Suited to a Tee, part 1

Ida Dixon was the first woman golf course architect in the country.  Among her work is the Springhaven Club which is still in use.  

Philadelphia has been an epicenter for golf since the 1890s.  There are dozens of golf courses within an easy drive of the city, and a few in the city itself. 

• Ida Dixon is today recognized as the first woman golf course architect in the United States.

Plus, you’ll learn about cleeks and condors, heroic holes and featheries, Randolph Scott, Mary Queen of Scots, and a golf hole called the “Mae West.” 

Even if you’re not a golfer, there are things for you to enjoy on today’s All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories – Suited to a Tee: Golf Course Pioneers. 

Biographical Bytes from Bala #022

As transportation in and around Philadelphia improved in the mid 19th century and the population exploded, merchants found more people clamoring for their wares.  Two Quakers – Justus Clayton Strawbridge and Isaac Hallowell Clothier – joined forces and opened a small fabric store on the corner of 8th and Market in 1868.  By the end of the century, there were thousands of employees and they had expanded severalfold and became the biggest dry goods store in the country.  Here is how it happened. 

All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #052 - Reach for the Stars, part 4

Sarah Lee Lippincott, whose first husband was television pioneer Dave Garroway (See All Bones Considered: Laurel Hill Stories #013, On the Tube), became a beloved professor of astronomy and astrometry at Swarthmore University.