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Radnor’s Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals celebrates 100 years.
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When company comes, Grace Kelly uses kibble to quiet the noisy canine crew at Francisvale Home for Smaller Animals in Radnor. For now, its residents include Sherman, who has a home visit scheduled for next week, and the popular Kingston, who’s had several such appointments.
The nametags posted on each kennel feature clever promotions. Marsha is “good for walking,” one says. As it turns out, the chocolate Labrador just found a home earlier today.
With three legs and an abusive past, Punkin is more of a challenge. Francisvale will try placing her with Best Friends in Utah, where Michael Vick’s tortured dogs went for rehabilitation. Meanwhile, they’ll continue to train and rehabilitate Punkin, and hopefully find her a home.
“We’re part of the long history of the Main Line,” says Kelly, Francisvale’s executive director.
Indeed, Francisvale is believed to be the oldest continuously operating nonprofit no-kill animal shelter in the United States. It’s also the Laurel Hill Cemetery of the local pet world. More than 2,000 domestic animals are buried in its rural slopes. On Oct. 3, Francisvale will celebrate its 100th anniversary with a gala at the Wanamaker Building’s Crystal Tea Room in Center City. Organizers are expecting 400-800 paying guests.
In the winter of 1897, Dr. and Mrs. George McClellan were traveling by carriage to the theater in Philadelphia. George’s uncle was Civil War Gen. George McClellan, whose father’s estate was used to found Jefferson Medical College. That cold night, the McClellans noticed a shivering puppy huddled under a snow bank by the side of the road. They stopped and adopted the border-collie mix on the spot, naming him Francis (which dispels the notion that Francisvale was named after St. Francis, patron saint of animals).
Francis was such a fine dog that Mrs. McClellan was inspired to do something for other strays, acquiring the tract of land off Upper Gulph Road where Francisvale now stands. It was incorporated in 1909, and Francis died a year later. He’s buried at Francisvale, next to one of the McClellans’ horses.
The property was 11 acres at first, then neighbors added 5 more, for a total of 16. There’s plenty of ground left, but the sloping topography is tricky and there’s no access road. A pledge holds that no graves will ever be disturbed.
As part of a developing master plan for Francisvale, a memorial garden is in the works for cremated animals. It would have walking trails. Tours to see the plots are a possibility—anything to increase visibility, bequests and donations. “We have to be very creative,” says Bryn Mawr’s Linda Schatzle, a board member who also served three years as its president.
About 20 plots remain before the contemplated expansion. All graves are hand-dug, and all records were kept on index cards until a computer database conversion. “There’s some charm in it,” Kelly says. “But it’s not so charming when someone shows up with a dead animal and says they paid for a plot years ago (but no index card exists).”
Francisvale’s mission, however, has stood the test of time. Accepting abused, unwanted and abandoned companion animals, the shelter provides loving care and medically necessary treatment while looking for permanent, carefully screened homes. A nine-person board, eight full- and part-time employees, and as many as 60 volunteers educate the community and raise public awareness of the plight of homeless animals while promoting the benefits of adoption.
Of course, Francisvale manages and operates the pet cemetery, too.
Burials cost $500 a plot. Burial fees are between $80 and $155, depending on the animal’s size. A simple pine casket is $75-$150.
Francisvale requires a headstone and recommends a basic design. A $350 deposit for the grave marker is required at the time of burial.
