Today in Delaware County history, April 20

100 Years Ago, 1924: The wholesale arrests of youths and small boys caught “hopping” trucks and “hitching on” to automobiles, in the past five days, has had a telling effect. Lads who have indulged in this practice and who were well known by sight, to the residents of West Fourth Street, were conspicuous by their absence Friday afternoon. One resident in the West End who conducts a business on West South Street, remarked Friday that this campaign should have been started long ago. “I have been watching those boys for months and the chances that some of them take to climb aboard a moving auto would make a movie dare-devil blush with modesty,” he said.

75 Years Ago, 1949: Bombarded with objections from 121 neighbors, Chester Zoning Board of Appeals today rejected the proposed garden court apartment project in the first ward. The decision was given immediately after a two-hour hearing in the council chamber at city hall, during which property owners condemned the development as a threat to the value of their homes.

50 Years Ago, 1974: Chester police arrested a 17-year-old male streaker who stopped streaking and caused a traffic jam Friday night. The youth, a resident of Ridley Township, ran nude for several blocks on East 24th Street. A woman telephoned police at 9:10 p.m. that nude youth ran past her at 24th and Chestnut streets.

25 Years Ago, 1999: The primary election won’t be held until May 18, but Darby Borough taxpayers will get the chance to cast an important vote this week. The borough has prepared designs for two banners that will be permanently displayed on streetlights on Main Street as part of the municipality’s revitalization program and is looking for the people’s choice banner.  One design displays the front elevation of the Darby Free Library, while the other, a split image, shows the library facade and a 1926 SEPTA trolley car.

10 Years Ago, 2014: The construction equipment was silent one particular day last week, but the piles of rubble in front of the former catalytic cracker at 10 Plant of the former Sunoco refinery in Marcus lay clear evidence of the changes occurring at the site. On the other side of the 500-acre facility closer to the river, Chicago, Bridge & Iron contractors busily were constructing a 500,000-barrel propane tank and a 300,000-barrel ethane tank with plans for a de-ethanizer to be built directly behind them once they are complete, all positioned to make Delaware County a beneficiary of the opportunity already available in the western part of Pennsylvania because of the Marcellus Shale.

— COLIN AINSWORTH