Series 3: Walter Smedley

Walter Smedley (1862-1939) was the middle child of Thomas and Philena Smedley and a prominent Philadelphia architect. He attended the Franklin Institute Drawing School and was apprenticed with the firm Balderston and Hutton. After the partnership dissolved in 1882, he remained in practice with Addison Hutton. He began his independent career in 1890, continuing a professional relation with Hutton and renting an office in the Stephen Girard Building, Philadelphia, where Hutton also had an office. Smedley's practice included residential and institutional design contracts. In 1910, he purchased the Smedley farm in Middletown from his aunt and uncle and lived in Media with his widowed mother, two unmarried sisters, and a widowed sister. Never married until his mid-50s, in 1919, he married Ida Wilkins Roberts, a teacher and member of Moorestown Monthly Meeting. They had three children: Walter, Jr. (1920-2010), Henry R. (1922-1997), and Alice Roberts Smedley (1924-1995). The family moved into the remodeled 18th century Smedley farmhouse before Henry's birth. As he reduced his professional practice, Walter enjoyed raising Guernsey cows and philanthropic concerns. He served as President of the Pocono Manor Association. The market crash in 1930 brought financial disaster, much of it collateral damage from Walter's loan to save Pocono Manor. He suffered a debilitating stroke in 1937 and died in 1939.