Frank Stephens is seen here in 1915 at Arden’s Field Theater in the role of Touchstone, a character from William Shakespeare’s play As You Like It. In the mid-1890s, Frank Stephens and Will Price were members of a Shakespearean club that met Monday evenings at Stephens’s Filbert Street home in Philadelphia. Other Arden residents known to have been members were Carson Davenport, Haines Albright, and Ella Reeve Ware. The village of Arden is named in tribute to that acting club. ON THE COVER: Pete Helbrun takes his turn at the anvil in this Arden Forge publicity photograph taken around 1928 by Earl Brooks. Both residents and non- residents worked in the forge through the years, but the exact number is undocumented. The candleholder to the left can also be seen on page 99. (Courtesy of the Arden Craft Shop Museum.) Arden Mark Taylor Copyright © 2010 by Mark Taylor 9781439626085 Published by Arcadia Publishing Charleston SC, Chicago IL, Portsmouth NH, San Francisco CA Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Control Number: 2009938008 For all general information contact Arcadia Publishing at: Telephone 843-853-2070 Fax 843-853-0044 E-mail [email protected] For customer service and orders: Toll-Free 1-888-313-2665 Visit us on the Internet at www.arcadiapublishing.com This book is dedicated to three extraordinary people that I’ve met along the way, Caroline Stephens Holt, Alex Roberts, and the late Peggy Stephens Aumack. The hours I’ve spent in your company sifting through photographs and listening to your stories of early Arden are some of the most enjoyable I’ve ever known. ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION The Arden Craft Shop Museum, to which all proceeds from the sale of this book are directed, is a not for profit 501 C-3 dedicated to preserving the history of the three villages of Arden, Ardentown, and Ardencroft. Established in 2004, the museum is located in Arden’s historic Red House. For further information on the museum and the Ardens, please visit our website at www.arden.delaware.gov. Unless otherwise credited, all images appear courtesy of the Arden Craft Shop Museum. Table of Contents Title Page Copyright Page Dedication ABOUT THE ORGANIZATION ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION One - ARDEN’S FOUNDERS Two - HUMBLE BEGINNINGS Three - THE GREAT AND GLORIOUS CITY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Whether it is for a well-timed word of encouragement or a critical bit of information, my debts for this book are many. First and foremost, my thanks to Betty Elzea and her husband, the late Rowland Elzea, whose 1976 Delaware Art Museum exhibition, “The Pre-Raphaelite Era 1848–1914,” started me on this path many years ago. In Arden, thanks are due to all past and current members of both the Arden Craft Shop Museum board of directors and the Archives Committee. Specific thanks are due to Lew Aumack, Maria Burslem, Terry Colgan, Mike Curtis, Rick Darke, Linda Eaton, Robert and Joyce Foote, Miriam Gerstine and her husband the late Milton Gerstine, Sally and Aaron Hamburger, Bob Helms, Hardy Hoegger, Lisa Mullinax, Morris Potter, Hugh Roberts, Bernie Schwab, Sonia Sloan, Bruce Smith, Annde Solway, and Sadie Somerville. And finally, a shout from the rooftops to my partner Michele McCandless, who somehow in these past three months cheerfully managed to keep the home fires burning. Considerably more wooded in 1936 than it was in 1900, this aerial view of Arden shows the layout of the Village Green on the Woodland side of the community.