An amazing 1933 account of a girl rescuing her younger sister from icy water at Broomall’s Dam is remarkably similar to that of George Bailey rescuing his younger brother in the 1946 Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life.

In the movie, George’s younger brother Harry falls through the ice on a frozen pond while sledding on shovels. Twelve year old George rescues Harry, but loses hearing in his left ear due to a resulting infection.  In the real-life incident at Broomall’s Dam, 9 year old Alice Gollis and her 6 year old sister Mary Jane were “sliding” while watching skaters on the lake, when Mary Jane fell through the ice.  Alice  fell through the ice herself while working to save her little sister Mary Jane, but succeeded in rescuing her, even after Mary Jane went under water.  Mary Jane  stayed at “a nursing home for convalescents” to recover, and her big sister Alice was reported two days later to be “still suffering from the effects of her cold plunge”.

Chester Times - February 21, 1933

Broomall’s Lake is retained by the 3rd Street Dam, and it marks the northern border of Glen Providence Park.  It was originally called Broomall’s Dam, and was a popular ice skating spot since its creation in 1883.  According to a 1937 Chester Times account, after the man-made pond in Glen Providence Park was created in 1936, “the smaller boys and girls” would skate at the pond, while the big kids and adults skated at nearby Broomall’s Dam.  The park’s pond was considered safer for younger children: due to its shallowness, a park guard looking out for them, and nighttime lighting!

So is there any chance the 1933 Broomall’s Dam incident inspired the rescue scene in the movie It’s a Wonderful Life?  Well, the screenplay is based on the story The Greatest Gift by Philip Van Doren Stern, first sent as a 24-page Christmas card in 1943, and later published as a book.  I was initially encouraged to find the author was born in Pennsylvania and raised in New Jersey.  But I bought the book… while it does include a pond accident where George saves his brother Harry, it is a swimming accident that takes place in August.

Could director Frank Capra or the screenplay writers have heard of the Broomall’s Dam sister rescue? Though 4 of 5 contributing writers lived in nearby states New Jersey or New York, I found no evidence the story was circulated beyond the Chester Times.

I also found no further record of Alice or Mary Jane Gollis.  It is unknown how little Mary Jane recovered, or if like George Bailey, Alice lost the hearing in her left ear… regardless, Alice was one incredible big sister!

For Glen Providence Park’s connection with Charles Dickens’ holiday classic A Christmas Carol, see our post about Ebenezer Scroggie.

What do Glen Providence Park and Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol have in common?  Origins in the name Scroggie, of course!  The land that is now the park was called Scroggie Valley in the 1800’s, and evidently a man named Ebenezer Scroggie inspired the character of Ebenezer Scrooge.  Coincidentally, both origins date to the 1840’s.

In his diaries, Dickens wrote that Scrooge originated from a gravestone he saw in 1841, while taking an evening walk in the Canongate Kirkyard in Edinburgh, Scotland. The headstone was for Ebenezer Scroggie, a relative of economist Adam Smith. The marker identified Scroggie as a “meal man” (corn merchant), but Dickens misread this as “mean man”. Dickens wrote that it must have “shrivelled” Scroggie’s soul to carry “such a terrible thing to eternity” and “To be remembered through eternity only for being mean seemed the greatest testament to a life wasted.”  Ironically, the actual Scroggie was known for his generosity and jovial nature!  Dickens published A Christmas Carol in 1843.

Back in the States, the land that is now the park was called Scroggie Valley from around the 1840’s to at least 1900.  The valley was heralded for its beauty in writings in 1889 and 1900.

The valley shared its name with the house called Scroggie, which Isaac Cochran Sr. built around 1844 at Ridley Creek Road and Kirk Lane. This is at the base of the valley, near where Broomall’s Run meets Ridley Creek.

The Scroggie property along Broomall’s Run became the site of a shingle mill, also said to be called Scroggie, built in 1848 (see our annotated trail map).  An 1855 map of Media shows that the Shingle Mill Stream ran parallel to Broomall’s Run through what is now the park, and an 1860 map of Delaware county shows the Shingle Mill.

Even when the original Scroggie house was torn down by John M. Broomall to build a larger house around 1864, the new house continued to be called Scroggie until at least 1952.

According to the Surname Database, Scroggie is of early medieval Scottish origin.

If you enjoy one of the many versions of Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol this year, you can think about the “Scroggie” beginnings of the story and Glen Providence Park!

For another park reference to a classic Christmas story, see our post on It’s a Wonderful Life.

December 2012 update:
Locally, you can see A Christmas Carol each year in Rose Valley at the lovely Hedgerow, America’s First Repertory Theatre!  Intriguingly, its building is a grist mill built in 1840… one year before Dickens discovered Ebenezer Scroggie, and about 4 years before the house called Scroggie.   What is it about those 1840’s?

Sources for Ebenezer Scroggie:

Wikipedia entry on Ebenezer Scrooge (last modified 11-30-2011)
Scroggie Scrooge was not so tight after all, find historians 12-17-2010 on scotsman.com
Scotland’s books: a history of Scottish literature By Robert Crawford, Oxford Press, 2009

For more information about Scroggie Valley, with endnotes, read our post Pre-park history: Scroggie Valley.