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Transcript of Interview with Joe Edgette Widener University Archives Oral History Project Dr. Joseph Edgette, Professor of Education Interviewed June 28, 2001 by Becky Alexander Becky Alexander: So, just for the record, I guess you should probably introduce yourself. Dr. Edgette: I am J. Joseph Edgette, Ph.D., Professor of Education, Center for Education, School of Human Service Professions, Widener University. Becky Alexander: Thank you. Okay, so I hear that you have been researching some of the important families in Widener’s history, and I’m interested in what got you interested in doing that, and what families you’ve been focusing on. Dr. Edgette: By training – at the graduate level, anyway – I’m a trained folklorist. I have always had an interest in the four major areas of folklore – there’s oral tradition, belief systems, popular culture, and material culture. My own dissertation was on gravestones and cemeteries, and as a result of working in that area, I have obviously come across the grave markers of famous people. And when I joined the faculty here at Widener in 1979, as part of my undergrad English expository writing course, I had each person in the class select one of the buildings on campus to do a history of and then establish the connection between Widener University and why was that building named whatever – Kapelski Hall, Kirkbride, etc. And it worked pretty well. And it’s probably time to revise that [project] now and go back and add new buildings that have come aboard since. As a folklorist, certainly I’m interested in local history and local legends, and Widener or the former Pennsylvania Military College, PMC, had its own rich military history. But once we became Widener, the obvious question is “Why ‘Widener’ University?” And there are those who don’t know why [the school was named] Widener University. Well, since I was in the position to find out why and I had the power and the authority to ask the right people, I was able to glean that information. And it’s very, very basic. Currently, on the Board of Trustees, there is a gentleman named Fitz Eugene Dixon, Jr. Fitz Dixon has been on the board for many, many years, and he served admirably as the Chairman of the Board for many, many years. In the early years, prior to our becoming Widener, he had always been very generous to the institution with financial assistance. 1 So the time came when a decision had to be made during Vietnam as to whether or not Pennsylvania Military College would be able to survive in terms of enrollment, because Chester essentially is surrounded by major Quaker communities – very anti-war. And to have a military institution at your doorstep training new proverbial warmongers created a lot of problems, so enrollment noticeably was declining. And when you have an institution with declining enrollment, the future of that institution comes into question. So the decision was made – “Let’s dissolve the military college and go civilian, and we will open the doors to females. We will keep the cadet corps in the form of ROTC [Reserve Officers Training Corps], but we will no longer be known as a military school.” So that’s what we did – we went and changed the name from Pennsylvania Military College to Penn Morton College. Penn for William Penn, who founded Chester, essentially, [though he was] not the first person here. William Penn brought the English over, but prior to his arrival, the area was settled and inhabited by Swedes and the Dutch, and then the English came in and drove them out, and William Penn took over. And he lived here in Chester for about a year before moving on to Philadelphia, where he found a more suitable location. So it was Penn for Penn, and Morton for John Morton, one of the early signers of the Declaration of Independence. John Morton was born in Ridley Park, which is a mile from here, and he lived about two miles from here in his adult life. And he was a political leader, and certainly a person who would be appropriate in terms of representing the citizens [by signing] the Declaration of Independence. Because Penn and Morton were both locals, they decided that would be a nice name – PMC Colleges. They were retaining “PMC.” But the Pennsylvania Military College association never went away, because as long as you have PMC – it was never referred to as Penn Morton – you know, [individuals] would correct people – “Oh, no, that’s really the Pennsylvania Military College.” So they said, “What are we going to do?” So at a board meeting, they decided, “Why don’t we make a complete change to a totally different name?” So they had approached Mr. Dixon and had asked if he would allow them to name the institution Dixon College for him. And he was very flattered and very pleased with that, but there is a Dixon University already in existence in Harrisburg. So if you have a Dixon College and a Dixon University, it would be like having a Harvard College and a Harvard University – which is which? So he said, “Thank you, but, no – it would probably not be appropriate in this case.” They said, “Okay.” He said, “However, if you really want to do something like this, I would consider it an honor if you would name the school for the maternal side of my family, my mother’s family, the Wideners.” And they said, “Oh, that’s a good idea, we’ll use Widener.” So Widener was selected because of that reason. Now, one of the other things they had to do was to change the school colors, because the military colors were maroon and gray. And once the change came about, they decided, “Well, let’s go with new colors. Now, what will those colors be?” And I don’t know who decided or how it came about, but the final decision was that they would go with the light blue and yellow, the colors of the riding silks of the Widener family. Currently, the Widener family is heavily invested in race horses, and so when their riders ride their horses in races, they wear the colors of the Widener stables, which varies from member 2 to member of the family. So that’s where the school colors come from – the Widener family crest which happens to be blue and yellow. Now, Fitz’s mother was Eleanor Widener. She was married to Fitz Eugene Dixon, Sr. Eleanor was the daughter of Eleanor Widener and her husband, George Widener. She had two brothers, Harry and George, so there were only the three children. George was the son of Peter A. B. Widener and Josephine, and he had a brother, Joseph. Joseph was very much into collecting, and George was the one with the business mind, and Peter, his father, is the man who created the whole notion of a transit authority or a transportation system for a city. He started in Philadelphia, and, as a very young man, he worked in a butcher shop. And he was pretty good at this, and then he opened his own shop. And I think he opened two or three [after that]. And at that time, each of the major neighborhoods in Philadelphia – and a neighborhood would consist of, maybe, six to ten square blocks – had a little trolley car that you could ride around and get from one end of the neighborhood to the other. And so Peter bought one of these trolleys and owned it, and you had to pay to ride the trolley. And then he bought the [trolley car in the] next neighborhood, so he owned both trolleys. So then he went to a third, and then he decided to buy up all the trolleys and have a network. It worked so well that he was invited to come to Pittsburgh to set up their [transportation system], and to New York and Chicago and Boston. So all these transportation systems came from the Widener family. Well, Joseph went on to spend a lot of the money on books, paintings, and the rest [of the arts], and with the full support of his parents, Peter and Josephine, who were also lovers of the arts, he became quite an expert. Peter built a beautiful mansion on Broad Street in Philadelphia, and later moved to Elkins Park, where he built a 110-room mansion “Lynnewood Hall”, and the whole family lived there – they each had their own wing. The entire building was slightly larger than Kapelski Learning Center, and that was their private home. The building still stands today. Beautiful, beautiful estate. Originally had a hundred acres, and now I think it’s down to twenty-five. But they lived there in great wealth, and were highly respected in culture circles. And then later, Joseph moved to Florida and built a beautiful estate, and he called the estate “Hialeah”. He loved horses, so he started breeding horses, and these horses were entered into races, and they were good, and they would win. The Widener family has had numerous winners in the Kentucky Derby and all the other great races. Today, they have the running of the Widener cup every year – it’s a hundred thousand dollar purse. But Hialeah racetrack was the estate of Joseph Widener. And he took a portion of that estate and made it into a private racetrack, and now today, it’s one of the finest racing courses in the world, and people by the millions flock there every year.
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