The City Of Chester.

was the first organized in the county, and received its charter Dec. 8, 1843. The meetings were held in the frame building on the corner of Third and Market Streets, now owned by George Wonderlich. They subsequently removed to a third-story room of White Swan Hotel, Fourth and Market, and later to and are at present in Dickinson Hall. James Hampson, Thomas Liversidge, Thomas B. Donaldson, Thomas McBride, and James Campbell were members of this lodge, and withdrew to form Leiperville Lodge, No. 263, which was chartered Aug. 16, 1847. Chester Lodge continued for several years, when it dissolved. Its charter was restored on the 6th of December, 1873, with five charter members named, and with John A. Wallace as Noble Grand. The meetings of the society are now held in Dickinson Hall.

The Delaware County Encampment of I. O. of O. F. was instituted in Chester April 15, 1846. It is not now in existence.

Upland Lodge, No. 253, I. O. of O. F. - This lodge was the second in the county, and was chartered June 21, 1847, about two months prior to the organization of Leiperville Lodge. Among the active members of the society in the county at that time were Edward E. Flaville, William Gray, M.D., John Sitzenberg, and John Burk. A lodge-room was fitted up over a double dwelling-house in Shoemakerville, where meetings were held for several years. The charter members for Upland Lodge were Cadwalader Evans, N. G.; J. M. Allen, V. G.; John H. Baker, Sec.; John S. Weaver, Asst. Sec. The society many years ago rented and fitted up a hall in the third story of the Penn Building, fronting on Third Street, which they have since occupied. The present officers are Thomas B. Robinson, N. G.; D. R. Esrey, V. G.; B. F. Bucha, Sec.; James Z. Taylor, Treas. The lodge has two hundred and nineteen members.

Chester Encampment, No. 99, I. O. of O. F. - This society is a degree of the Upland Lodge, No. 253, and was chartered April 17, 1850, with the following officers: James Jones, C. P.; James Kelly, H. P.; James Hampson, S. W.; John Booth, J. W.; Archibald McArthur, Sec.; Isaac S. Williams, Treas.; Thomas Liversidge, G. Later its charter was surrendered, and petition was made for restoration May 15, 1865. Meetings are held in Odd-Fellows' Hall, Penn Building. The present officers are Hugh Crook, C. P.; D. R. Esrey, Jr., S. W.; Robert Smith, Jr., J. W.; Robert Singleton, Treas.; Robert Taylor, Jr., Scribe. The encampment numbers ninety-one members.

Leiperville Lodge, No. 263, I. O. of O. F. - Effort was made about 1845 to establish a lodge at Leiperville, which resulted in the granting of a charter by the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, bearing date Aug. 16, 1847, and the name and number was designated as Leiperville Lodge, No. 263, I. O. of O. F. The officers named in the charter were James Hampson, N. G.; Thomas Liversidge, V. G.; Thomas B. Donaldson, Sec.; and James Campbell, Treas. Other charter members were Thomas McBride, James McCormick, and George Crossley. The lodge was instituted by Samuel Turner, D.D., Grand Master, on the evening of the 11th day of September, 1847, in the garret of the Leiperville Hotel, then kept by John Harrison Hill. On the night the lodge was instituted there were initiated by dispensation James Jordan, F. Derbyshire, T. Bradley, Jonathan Taylor, A. Trimble, William Liversidge, and James Morton. The humble room of the society was kept by them till a change in the business affairs of Leiperville by the withdrawal of the manufacturing interests there rendered it advisable to remove the lodge to Chester. In the summer of 1852 a lot was purchased of John Larkin, Jr., on the northwest corner of Broad and Crosby Streets, for the sum of eight hundred and fifty dollars, and preparation made for the erection of a building. The corner-stone was laid May 26, 1853, with appropriate services, the Avondale Brass Band being present. A metallic case was deposited in the stone containing minutes of the Grand Lodge of the United States and Grand Lodge of the State of Pennsylvania for the year 1850, Odd-Fellows' Register, constitution and by-laws of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania, those of Chester Encampment and Leiperville Lodge, Bible, and issues of the newspapers of Delaware County. The hall is seventy-six by thirty-two feet, three stories in height. The first and second stories are fitted up for dwelling and stores, and the lodge-room is sixty-six by thirty-two feet, with anteroom. The contract price was five thousand three hundred dollars. The building was completed in the fall of that year, and dedicated on the 17th of October, 1853. It has been used by the lodge since that time, and other societies also hold their regular meetings therein. The property is worth at present fifteen or twenty thousand dollars, and is unincumbered.

The present Noble Grand is H. W. Fairlamb, and the membership is two hundred and four.

Since the organization of the lodge about twenty thousand dollars have been paid out for relief to members in distress. This amount was mostly disbursed by Robert Smith, who was treasurer for seventeen years, retiring from that office in 1881.

Post Wilde, No. 25, G. A. R. - This post was chartered Jan. 9, 1867, and named in honor of Isaac Henry Wilde, second lieutenant One Hundred and Eighty-eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, who died in service July 26, 1864. It was instituted July 27th, in the same year, with James Cliff Post Commander. The Past Post Commanders have been James Cliff, Ewing W. Tibballs, William C. Paiste, William H. Martin, Joseph F. Brewster, Thomas Lees, Joseph P. Chadwick, George G. Buck, James McDude, Edward Blains, Marshall Miller, Edward H. Lilley, Theodore A. Vansant, Ebenezer Birtwell, Edward L. Morgan, James Cheetham, Gasoway O. Yarnall, William Band, Samuel Martin, William Raniers, James Hollings-