History

For the last 150 years, most American war presidents - most notably Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt - have entered (or reentered) office knowing war was looming. Not so George Bush. Not so the war on terror. The 9/11 attacks literally came out of the blue. Indeed, the three presidential campaigns between the fall of the Berlin Wall and 9/11 were the most devoid of foreign-policy debate of any in the 20th century. The commander-in-chief question that dominates our campaigns today was almost nowhere in evidence during our '90s holiday from history.

Basically, it was the prospect of graying alumni that motivated Jim Tate to write a history of his alma mater, the School at Church Farm. "Putting it simply, the early students were getting old and dying," said Tate, class of 1952. "I thought, 'All these stories need to be put together. We need to get the record straight.' " So Tate, a retired advertising-agency owner who lives in Willistown, began lobbying for his project and enlisted the support of Charles W. "Terry" Shreiner III, headmaster of the private school for boys grades seven through 12. Shreiner has a strong interest in the school's history: His father was also headmaster, and his grandfather founded the school in 1918.

There are certain records in baseball that seemed destined to live forever. But tonight, a fellow who couldn't even make the varsity at Cherry Hill East until he was a junior will walk to the pitcher's mound with one of those unbreakable records dangling close enough to touch. His name is Orel Leonard Hershiser 4th, now age 30, now the ace of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He has pitched a remarkable five shutouts in a row. He has strung together an incomprehensible 49 consecutive scoreless innings.

One of the great advantages of living in the Philadelphia area is the accessibility of history - not in books, but in buildings and walls and trees and roads. Commuters pass the very places where Revolutionary War strategy was planned and battles were fought. Yet few give these reminders of history any attention. Gulph Mills Civic Association wants to change that with a two-mile walking tour of its historic neighborhood Saturday. The tour, designed to focus attention on the rich lore and noteworthy architecture of Gulph Mills, will visit 11 houses.

In her sparse new office in Cherry Hill, Patricia Richmond LeBon is quietly making history. She is the first woman nominated for a judgeship in Burlington County Superior Court. If the state Senate Judiciary Committee and the full Senate confirm the nominations made by Gov. Florio two weeks ago, LeBon will become the only female judge in Burlington, Gloucester and Camden Counties. There are also no female judges in Cumberland, Salem or Atlantic Counties. In December, the Women Lawyers Committee of the Burlington County Bar Association called for the nomination of women to the three Superior Court judgeships.

Chicken Man wasn't there - and that in itself made yesterday different from 13 years ago as Mary and William Breneman welcomed visitors to their old Salem home. Once, the neighborhood had been abandoned and its residents were derelicts. Yesterday, a stream of silver-haired ladies in lavender and graying gentlemen in fairway-green polo shirts poured, with others, through the Brenemans' double front doors - guests who, unlike Chicken Man, were invited to oooh and ahhh at the home's 200-year-old charm.

They call him "Mr. Frankford," a name he purports to dislike but which, upon its mention, brings a shine to his eyes. Howard L. Barnes, 76, longtime curator of the Frankford Historical Society, was honored with a mayoral citation last month for his work in Frankford - a place whose growth he has chronicled from the time "it was nothing but a country town" to the present. This is a man who remembers names and dates of historical significance the way most people wish they could remember family birthdays; a man who still calls Frankford Avenue "the Avenue.

Fourth graders at Hillcrest Elementary in Holland got a lesson in living history Wednesday, as teacher Andy Sango introduced them to Sarah Jane Ferguson, a member of the women's professional baseball league that played during World War II. She is a native of Orangeville, Pa.

Yesterday was rededication day for the Carl Mackley Apartments in Juniata Park, early low- and moderate-income housing built by the American Federation of Hosiery Workers union.

In what could be a unique move nationally, the Philadelphia School District will require every high school student to take a separate course in African and African American history to graduate, beginning with this September's freshman class. Both national and local officials said yesterday that they knew of no other district requiring such a course, particularly one focused on African history, for graduation. The School Reform Commission voted unanimously in February to offer courses in both areas at every high school, and said it would consider making one or both courses a graduation requirement.