He invented centrifugal cream separators and pioneered a global empire based in West Chester before the Great Depression. He claims credit for having the largest industrial company the borough has ever seen and hails from an influential Quaker family whose ancestors served as the first mayor of West Chester and settled in 1682 on 330 acres bought from William Penn on the banks of Ridley Creek.

And now the Chester County Historical Society has separated the illustrious world of Philip M. Sharples into a series of six historical lectures over three Tuesdays in September and October.

The first pair of talks highlight the crown of the Sharples legacy: his English colonial mansion known as Greystone Hall and the life of the architect who designed it. Join historian Jeff Groff and Greystone Partner-in-Charge Velda Jerrehian Moog for “Charles Barton Keen (1868-1931): His Architectural Legacy” and “Keen and His Designs for Greystone Hall: An Architectural Masterpiece in the Classic Tradition” on Sept. 20.

The second night, on Sept. 27, delves into the Sharples Separator Co. and its marketing strategy with West Chester University Professor James Jones’ “The Sharples Separator Company: West Chester’s Largest Industrial Firm in the Early 20th Century” and historian Catherine Quillman’s “International Marketing and Branding: How Products Were Sold the Sharples Way.”

The series wraps up on Oct. 4 with Quillman’s “A Virtual Walking Tour of West Chester Landmarks Connects to P.M. Sharples (1857-1944)” and archivist Tara Wink’s “Preserving a Piece of Town History: The Sharples Digital Collection at West Chester University.”

All lectures take place at Greystone Hall from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 per night or $75 for the entire series. Read more about the series on the CCHS website here, and RSVP to rsvp@chestercohistorical.org.