Middletown Hosts Free Historical Lectures

  In celebration of Middletown Township's 325th Anniversary (founded in 1686), the Middletown Township Historical Society is presenting the Middletown Mondays Lecture Series. Talks will begin at 7:30p.m. on the fourth Monday of the month (except June, July, August and December), and will be held at Penn State Brandywine, Main Building, Room 101, 25 Yearsley Mill Road, Media. All lectures are free and open to the public; no registration required.
  On Monday, April 25, “Joshua Pusey: Matches and Much More,” will be presented by Gary Grove, Civil War and Cultural Historian.
  Dr. Grove has been actively researching Joshua Pusey, whose home Maple Linden is now on the grounds of Lima Estates. Pusey served with the Company H of the Pennsylvania Bucktails, a famous regiment that fought in all of the major battles in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War. After the war he developed and held the patent for safety matches and numerous other inventions.
  The next lecture will be “Founding Families: The Painters and Pratts,” May 23, by Phyllis Cole, Penn State Brandywine.
  For several years, Dr. Cole's American Studies students at PSU Brandywine have been researching the early residents of Middletown who are now buried in Historic Cumberland Cemetery across from the Penn State campus on Middletown Road. Attendees will learn about the contributions of these important early Middletown residents.
  Additional lectures will take place Sept. 26, Oct. 24, and Nov. 28. The schedule is subject to change; for up-to-date information visit the website http://www.mthsdelco.org/ or call 610-316-5620.