Remember When

Fresh young faces

2009-11-17T08:50:00.000-08:00

Old school photos are always fun to look at and today’s submission is no exception.

Just check out these hopeful young men and women, members of the Class of 1934 of the former Lansdale High School.

Doug Coughlin of Lansdale has shared this photo with us today, and pointed out that his aunt, Freidia Constantine, is in the front row, the sixth young woman from the left.

He said he really doesn’t know who any of the other people are, since it was his late aunt’s photo.

Coughlin’s mother, Elva Constantine Coughlin, the sister of his aunt, had graduated from the school in 1933.

But unfortunately, he said, he does not have a class photo from that year.

It’s interesting to check out the fashions worn by those in the front row — especially the young man in the knickers with those snazzy socks!

And a few of the young men in the back row also have quite the head of hair.

So look closely; perhaps you’ll recognize someone.

Brothers serving bravely

2009-11-10T08:52:00.000-08:00

Veterans Day will be commemorated on Wednesday, and David Fischer of Souderton has shared with us today a look back at three Fischer brothers from Lansdale who served their country during World War I.

This photo shows George at lower left; William at center; and Charles at right.

The three men were David Fischer’s uncles. Later in this article, you will see Martin mention, who was Fischer’s father. He said he did not get to serve in the war, because of the armistice being signed.

The newspaper clipping he submitted with this photo reports:

“Mr. and Mrs. Martin Fischer, of West Third Street, Lansdale, are the proud parents of three sons who are ‘doing their bit’ to make the world safe for democracy, as well as two more boys who will be liable for service if the present draft ages are lowered.

“The oldest son, Charles, 27, who was employed by Lawrence Freeman of Lansdale before entering the service, left Lansdale last September. He proved to be a good soldier and was made a sergeant with a supply train. He recently arrived overseas.

“George, 24, left for Camp Meade with a contingent from Lansdale last November. He was later transferred to the ambulance corps and is now stationed at Camp Greene, N.C. He was also employed by Lawrence Freeman before leaving Lansdale.

“William, 22, the youngest of the three sons in the service, left Lansdale last November and was assigned to the Fourth Infantry. He arrived in France in April. Before leaving, he was employed by the P&R Railway, having just been appointed baggage master at Gwynedd.

“Another son, John, will be 21 in December and will have to register on Sept. 5 if the draft ages are lowered, as will Martin Jr., who will be 19 in December.

“The boys come from Pennsylvania German ancestry and from a Dunkard family. They are well known about Lansdale and are all said to be first-class soldiers.”

Also sent in by David Fischer was a letter noting that Pvt. William Fischer had been “slightly gassed” in action and was under treatment at a base hospital on Oct. 15, 1918.

It’s quite interesting to look back at how local young men were serving their country during World War I.

And we salute all veterans as we near Veterans Day on Nov. 11.

Hospital grows

2009-11-02T06:27:00.000-08:00

The present Lansdale Hospital in Hatfield Township, part of Abington Memorial Hospital, has undergone many changes through the years.

Today, Dawn Macy has submitted photos that appeared in a 1990 publication that marked the 10th anniversary of the “new” North Penn Hospital.

One photo shows an aerial view of the former hospital in Lansdale in the 1960s.

The other photo shows the groundbreaking ceremony on Oct. 11, 1977, for the new North Penn Hospital. In that photo we see, from left, Jean Lemmon, auxiliary first vice president; Robert H. McKay, hospital executive vice president; Dr. Charles macy, president of the medical staff; and Albert Hoffman, president of the hospital board.

According to the publication, the hospital started as Elm Terrace Hospital in Lansdale as a privately owned facility that opened its doors in 1934. It consisted of two residences with a 23-bed capacity.

On Sept. 17, 1955, the first building of the North Penn Hospital was dedicated at Seventh and Broad streets, Lansdale. It was a four-story structure that had 80 beds. During the 1960s and 1970s, four major renovations and additions occurred.

The next big change started in the 1970s, when a 72-acre tract of land was bought in Hatfield Township.

In 1980, the present facility was dedicated and in 1984, a new addition was completed.

Since then the hospital was sold and become Central Montgomery Medical Center and, most recently, sold again and changed to Lansdale Hospital.

At the station

2009-10-28T06:21:00.000-07:00

Marlene Bardman of Harleysville has shared a few photos with us today of the former Salford Station area in Upper Salford.

The town of Salford formerly was called Salford Station, when the train still ran through that area.

“These pictures from the Perkiomen Creek in Salford Station, above the iron bridge that is now closed, were taken by my mother, E. Violet Force, who grew up in Salford.

“Her parents had the general store there.

“The view of the creek was taken from the summer vacation spot there. The area was known as Camp Rest-A-While and people from Philadelphia would come on the train to stay there.

“Some of the families owned summer houses there and some rented them.

“There was a refreshment stand and a dock where you could get a canoe.”

In addition to the two photos taken by her mother in 1932, Bardman included a photo of Salford Station. The general store can be seen in the background.

Local landmark: Red Men's Hall

2009-10-19T12:54:00.000-07:00

By WALTER AULT

GREEN LANE — There is a fascinating building on Route 29 in Green Lane that is, put succinctly, a treasure trove of local history.

Just the name painted on the front of the red brick building, Red Men’s Hall, arouses curiosity in any history buff. Inside are thousands of artifacts and numerous displays and exhibits graphically depicting the rural past of the Upper Perkiomen Valley. It is all part of the Goschenhoppen Historians’ Folklife Museum and Library.

The Red Men, according to museum director Abe Roan, were a fraternal organization made up of men from all walks of life in the Perkiomen Valley who admired the “communal lifestyle of the American Indians.

“Indians saw their tribe as just a large extended family that held everything in common,” Roan said. “Lodge members saw this as an admirable thing and because of that admiration started a fraternal lodge where members would take care of each other and help each other.”

The three-story building, Roan pointed out, was built in 1 907, with a second floor meeting hall where they “held shows and had all kinds of fund raising events and used the money from them for lodge members’ needs.”

For many years the Red Men leased the first floor of the building to the Green Lane Bank and a general store, Roan said. The third floor of the building, he added, was much more private; a sanctum sanitorium where secret rituals were held. Roan explained that the Red Men, who often dressed as Indians and attended special public events like parades, were nonetheless a secret society much like the Masons. Roan even pointed out a peep hole in the front door entering the third floor, where visitors would be scrutinized before entering; kind of like a speakeasy during Prohibition.

The Goschenhoppen Historians (Goschenhoppen, according to local legend, refers to a large area of the Perkiomen Valley and is a German transformation of the name of an Indian chief named Shakahoppa, who formerly controlled that tract of land) bought Red Men’s Hall in 1970, and thanks to their dedication and tireless efforts the building is now an intriguing museum that serves as a local history lesson to anyone who visits.

“As soon as we got the building we started accumulating things,” Roan said. “We went to yard sales, we went to auctions and a lot of items were generously donated. It has worked out very well, and we think we have something special to offer the public.”

The entire building is brilliantly utilized to give visitors a provocative look into the surrounding area’s past, with an emphasis on Pennsylvania German culture of the 18th and 19th centuries.

The first floor is a replica of an old general store, with such things on display as wooden barrels, farm implements, horse riding apparatus, even a giant (1848) coffee grinder and old post office windows and boxes. Many of the items, Roan pointed out, came from other general stores in the area when they closed.

“People could get just about anything they wanted at a general store,” Roan explained. “And if something wasn’t in stock, they would order it and it would be delivered by the Perkiomen Railroad,” a branch of the Reading Railroad that from 1873 to 1948 ran from Port Kennedy (Valley Forge) to Emmaus.

The second floor meeting hall has beautiful chandeliers, along with a large plaque listing presidents of the former lodge, referring to them as Sachems (chiefs) of the Tohickon Tribe, which the lodge was known as. There are also many paintings of historical buildings in the Perkiomen Valley on this floor, as well as interesting charcoal enhanced photographs of former lodge members.

The third floor, known as the Goschenhoppen Folklife Museum, has many items on display, all of which, as Roan pointed out, are hand made and predate 1870.

“The early 1870s were the beginning of the second Industrial Revolution,” Roan said, “Things began to change dramatically and there were more and more machines in use. Since the Germans took so much pride in their craftmanship, everything on display was made before 1870.”

One room on the third floor holds the German folklife library. Another, which Roan called the Zeigler parlor, has items, some made locally, “that are dated 1823 or older,” including a large spinning wheel and an organ made in Skippack. In an adjoining room there is a detailed display of local cigar making.

In the main museum room there are displays on all facets of a lifestyle and era that are long gone. There are, for instance, exhibits on open hearth cooking and baking and the processing of flax. There is a needlework sampler and various pieces of folk art; a craftmen’s shop and a weaver shop.

There is also an 1820 kitchen with a beautiful piece of folk art, a hand-painted corner cupboard; as well as a farm display with numerous old implements, including a 250-year-old plow.

School Days on Broad Street

2009-10-19T12:51:00.000-07:00

Grace Zeigler Freed has submitted two photos today, one of which show the Broad Street School in Lansdale and the other which shows her and her classmates at the school.

She notes:

"I have good memories of this two-story school, where the first six years of my early education started.

"I remember walking the three blocks each morning from Chestnut Street, home for lunch and then back until about 3 p.m.

"The small store next to our playground was where we would stop and buy our penny candies after school hours.

"The photo here is of our class on the playground. Many of the class here moved to the junior high school on East Main Street, Lansdale, and graduated in 1945 from the senior high school on Penn Street, Lansdale.

"It would be interesting if anyone can identify themselves. I am the first one sitting at the end of the second row. I can name most of the class, but need help with naming others.

"Today, a gas station has taken our spot.

A Centennial worth celebrating

2009-10-12T12:47:00.000-07:00

Dick Shearer, president of the Lansdale Historical Society, provides us with a prompting and two great photos today.

Consider:

“The year 1972 was a turbulent time around the world. The Watergate burglary. Civil disorder in the streets. Anti-war protests as the Vietnam peace talks broke down. Black September at the Munich Olympics.

“But in Lansdale there was a great coming-together, bigger than any the town had ever seen.

“Residents celebrated the borough’s 100th birthday with a weeklong bash that included parades, pageants, parties, beards and hoop shirts, and there was the dedication of a new high-rise building named Century Plaza.

“From May 27 to June 3, thousands of civic-minded citizens temporarily diverted the flood of bad news to remember 1872, the year when a small railroad village became a full-fledged town with a government of its own.”

“Lansdale’s Centennial Celebration of 1972” will be the subject of the Lansdale Historical Society’s next Community Program on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m., at the Lansdale Parks and Recreation Building, Seventh Street and Lansdale Avenue.

The program will be hosted by Shearer and former Reporter Chief Photographer Willard Krieble.

Shearer was an editor at the paper in 1972, and Krieble photographed the entire week of special events.

In addition to a video presentation by photo archivist Steve Moyer, the program will include a display of memorabilia from the centennial celebration.

There is no admission charge to the program, but donations are appreciated.

For more information, call (215) 855-1872, or visit the society’s Web site, www.lansdalehistory.org.

Geimhaus, Goschenhoppen

2009-10-12T12:43:00.000-07:00

By WALTER AULT

UPPER SALFORD — There is a parcel of land in a beautiful setting in Upper Salford Township that, while physically small, is nevertheless large in importance due to its rich history.

This rural plot also has much historical significance because it has not just one, but two very old and well-known structures: the 1732 Gemeinhaus, a log building; and just a few feet away, the Old Goschenhoppen Reformed Church, built in the mid-19th Century. The two buildings are located at 2029 Church Road, near the village of Woxall.

Visiting these historical structures, learning how they came into existence and how they have served the local congregation over so many years is a thrilling and thoroughly enlightening experience for any local history buff.

It all began, according to Old Goschenhoppen Reformed Church documents, in the early 18th Century, when newly arrived Lutheran immigrants, looking for a place to worship, joined with the already established Reformed Congregation in the area.

The earliest recorded religious service for the two groups took place on Oct. 12, 1727. The pivotal year for the two congregations, however, was 1732, the year, the documents point out, “the William Penn family sold 38 acres of land to two pastors, one Lutheran, one Reformed, for eight pounds, four shillings and three pence ($23.34).” Also, 1732 was the year the Gemeinhaus (community house) was built. This small, plain log structure (80 by 46 feet) ultimately served its parishioners as a church, a public house, a school house and as a residence for the schoolmaster. According to present pastor of the Old Goschenhoppen Church, Rev. William Gaydos, the Gemeinhaus is thought to be the oldest church meetinghouse in Pennsylvania, as well as one of the oldest remaining examples of German architecture in the state.

The Gemeinhaus had religious services for a relatively short time, due to the construction of a larger stone church in 1746. Once the new church was completed the Gemeinhaus was used primarily as a school.

The 1746 church lasted for more than 100 years, eventually replaced by a much more modern and larger church, the present structure, which was built in 1848.

“The congregation was getting bigger and the people wanted a new building,’ said Rev. Gaydos. “The old church was rather small and very plain,” Rev. Gaydos continued. “It had no steeple, no stained glass windows. It was more like a meetinghouse than a church.

“There is a reason for that simplicity,” Rev. Gaydos added. “It was like that because people at that time were rebelling against things about Catholicism, including its extravagance.”

The present stone and stucco church was built partially on the side of the 1746 church. According to the church literature, the new two-level structure had a sanctuary on the ground floor and a balcony on three sides. The balconies, the documents continued, were for seating the men and boys, while the women sat in the center. Of course, the church is different now, due to a few renovations over the years. One particularly interesting aspect of the church now is that religious services are held on the second floor.

“The new church was more modern and more like other churches of its day,” Rev. Gaydos said, adding that some material from the 1746 church “was incorporated into the new one” -- explaining why the church date stone has two dates, 1744 (the year construction started on the first stone church), and 1848.

In any case, visiting the two present structures is truly a lesson in history. The log Gemeinhaus, in particular, has some very unusual and interesting features, such as a huge open hearth, the original desks used by school children -- you can see where the boys did a lot of carving with their pen knives -- and the original lectern (pulpit) from the present church. Also in the Gemeinhaus is a display case exhibiting old pottery shards, old roof tile fragments, rusted old implements and a selection of old bibles.

The present church also has much to offer a visitor, such as beautiful stained glass windows, beautiful woodwork, an 1837 organ and a bell in the church tower weighing 537 pounds.

“There is a lot of sentiment attached to these buildings,” said Rev. Gaydos. “They are costly to maintain, but are so unique and so important that they are surely worth the effort.”

The old ballgame

2009-10-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

Go Phils ... um ... Mechanics!

Everyone’s busy rooting for the Phillies again this year. Could they possibly repeat?

But back in the day, many local folks probably were rooting for the Junior Order United American Mechanics baseball team — now there’s a name — from the early 1930s.

This photo was submitted by Pete Hespell of Souderton, and he notes that it was taken at a baseball field that was located in Montgomeryville where the Airport Square Shopping Center now stands.

Notice the trophy. Well, you may have to really look.

The team was based in Lansdale.

Hespell reports that the players (some unidentified) are, front row from left, Eddie Zeiz, Claude Heavener, George “Bud” Leach, Wes Vincent, unidentified, Bud Leidy and Irv Hagar.

In the back row, from left, are Bill Vincent, unidentified, Harry Hespell, Slats Stauffer, Bill Forpul, Elmer “Pete” Hespell and Claude Maurer.

If anyone can identify the unknown players or has any other information about this team, Hespell asks that you contact him at (215) 723-7688.

Apple butter time

2009-09-29T11:11:00.000-07:00

With the 36th annual Apple Butter Frolic slated for Oct. 3 in Lower Salford, Ellis Kriebel of Harleysville thought this would be a timely photo to use.

According to Kriebel, “busy making apple butter on the Kriebel Farm on Fretz Road, Lower Salford, adjacent to the Salford Schwenkfelder Church are sisters-in-law Sarah N. (Kriebel), wife of Samuel H. Freed Jr., and Rosa Idella (Freed), wife of Isaac Vincent Kriebel.”

The long-handled paddle they are using stirs the apple butter, being made in the huge pot over the open fire.

He also noted that “apple butter on buttered bread and on fried scrapple was often a part of the breakfast meal in the mid 1930s, when this photo was taken.”

Thanks, Ellis.

And if you want to check out how apple butter was made, visit the Apple Butter Frolic on Oct. 3.

It runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., rain or shine, at the Indian Creek Road Farm, Lower Salford.

Parking is available at Harleysville Insurance, 355 Maple Ave., Harleysville, with continuous shuttle buses traveling to the Frolic.

Highlights include fresh cooked scrapple, corn pies, sausage sandwiches, funnel cake, ground cherry pies, demonstrations of corn shelling with a dog-powered treadmill and corn binding with horses.

There also will be demonstrations of crafts such as rug hooking, quilting and fraktur drawing, plus children’s activities.

Admission is $6 for adults; $2 for ages 6 to 12; ages 6 and younger are free. Proceeds support the Mennonite Heritage Center. No pets please. Call (215) 256-3020

School bells

2009-09-21T21:14:00.000-07:00

With the start of the new school year fresh in everyone’s minds, perhaps it’s time to go back to an earlier school day.

And you can do just that on Tuesday.

To commemorate the 85th anniversary of the first graduating class of Hatfield High School in 1924, the Hatfield Museum & History Society will present, “School Days — Remembering Hatfield School” for its Tuesday, Sept. 22 program.

This photo shows Hatfield students posing next to their school buses in front of the Hatfield Joint Consolidated School building in this circa 1925 photograph.

The Hatfield Joint Consolidated School was built in 1921-22 as a joint effort between Hatfield Township and Hatfield Borough to provide a modern 12-grade facility for their students.

The Class of 1955 was the last to graduate from Hatfield High School, after which high school students attended the North Penn High School in Lansdale.

A slideshow photographic presentation will take a look back at many of the students, faculty members, clubs, plays, operettas and sports teams that make up the Hatfield School’s history.

In addition, there will be many tables filled with more photographs, yearbooks and memorabilia from the school for attendees to enjoy.

Anyone who attended or worked at the Hatfield Joint Consolidated School will not want to miss this program, which will be held in the Hatfield Fire Company banquet hall, 75 N. Market Street, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will follow the program.

For information call (215) 362-0428 or visit www.HatfieldHistory.org.

Hanging around in Lansdale

2009-09-14T13:03:00.000-07:00

When Judy McCann Weiner of Lansdale saw that The Reporter was doing a special Remember When section in August, she just had to send in a photo.

Although it didn’t quite fit into that section, we could not resist using it today, plus a second photo she just dropped off.

In the one photo, Judy and Jimmy Covelens, who was her neighbor back in 1951 when these pictures were snapped, are just “hanging out in Memorial Park” in Lansdale, as she said.

They decided to pose on the cannon in Memorial Park, and in the photo where you can see more of the park in the background, it appears that a nativity scene may have been set up.

At least that’s what we’re guessing, because you can make out some camels and a small stable.

But Judy and Jimmy can be seen sporting their Lansdale Huskies sweatshirts. The Huskies, she said, were her school mascot back then.

In the other photo, where the kids are seen more face-on, the other person in the photo is her friend Nancy Harrar. Guess they weren’t quite as brave, because they aren’t seen “straddling” the cannon in this shot.

Judy noted that she and neighbor Jimmy lived in the Moyer Building above a store at the corner of Main and Walnut streets, now the North Penn Florist.

She also noted what a small world it is, saying that she was talking to her landlord’s son one day and showed him the picture of the cannon and he mentioned that his best friend’s father was Jimmy Covelens.

Yes, the same Jimmy.

Judy also remembered some of the other old hangouts in the area, noting that she met her husband, Richard, at Bunton’s Barn in Lower Salford, where dances were held, being introduced by Frankie Pier from Ambler in 1959.

They also used to go the Rec in Lansdale and the Hatfield Speedway. She also used to work at the R&S Diner, and she and her husband used to patronize the Big Pixey.

Going, going, gone

2009-09-07T13:11:00.000-07:00

Do you remember the days when it seemed like a different deliveryman would walk down the street every day, or when shopping was done at corner stores down the street instead of at big box stores or online?

Then come relive those memories, and maybe share a few of your own, as the Lansdale Historical Society presents “Going, Going, Gone,” its first fall community program this year.

“It’s going to be kind of an eclectic program, of all sorts of things that just don’t exist anymore,” said LHS Vice President Steve Moyer.

He’ll be giving the presentation at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, at Lansdale’s Parks and Recreation building on the corner of Seventh Street and Lansdale Avenue.

And he plans to tell his audience all about plenty of things that just aren’t around anymore.

“We have a whole lot of images of businesses, places and professions that no longer exist,” Moyer said.

“For example, there used to be somebody that brought ice to your house to put it in the icebox, there used to be somebody who brought milk to your house, there used to be a rag man that came to your house and picked up rags,” Moyer said.

“There were lots of delivery trucks back in the day, and there are lots of businesses that we don’t have many pictures of but we know were around,” he said.

Blacksmiths, seamstresses, leather workers, nail makers, weavers, shoe shiners and tanners are just some of the professions we know Lansdale once had but just don’t see anymore, he said.

Some have disappeared with time, like the men who’d come to your house to collect insurance money each week, and some have been lost to technological progress, like telephone operators and horse carriage drivers.

“There used to be butter and egg men who came to your house, milkmen, vacuum cleaner salesmen, encyclopedia salesmen; there wasn’t much that couldn’t be delivered right to your house,” he said.

“But I don’t know if you can even buy an encyclopedia today thanks to the Internet,” Moyer said.

Tuesday night’s presentation is free to the public, but come early because seats tend to fill up quickly with area residents looking to relive days long gone.

“Most of our programs take anywhere from 100 to 200 hours to build up by the time we’re done, but it sure doesn’t seem like that much when you’re sitting here working on it,” said Moyer.

He’ll even discuss some hidden gems that very few people are still around to remember, like an old air raid shelter that was built near the corner of Broad and Main streets during World War II.

“It used to be behind the Tremont hotel, which was where the Rite Aid is now. Dick Shearer, our LHS president, says the shelter must have worked because they never attacked us during the war,” Moyer said.

More to remember

2009-09-02T12:59:00.000-07:00

When we published our special Remember When section on Wednesday (see the blog entry below this one), it brought back a lot of memories for many residents throughout the area.

Quite a few called or e-mailed to tell us they remembered this or that, and what fun it was to see the old diners, speedway, amusement parks and the like.

But two people helped us add a bit of information to what we published, so we’d like to offer that today.

Jerry Bertucciati of Ambler both called and stopped in to help solve one of the mysteries of a photo of the former White’s Line Diner, which had been located in Upper Gwynedd.

He and his late wife, Donna, were the couple that had been listed as “unidentified” in a photo that showed the diner decorated for the holidays.

Bertucciati said it was a New Year’s Eve gathering — and he had a copy of the same photo we published.

“I don’t know how we even got the photo,” he said. “Maybe they sold them there. It’s just so great to see this photo — it brings me full circle.

“My wife was pregnant when that photo was taken; unfortunately she lost the baby shortly after that,” he said.

Now he also has lost his wife, but the photo still brought him great joy.

“I had forgotten about it. I never thought I’d see it again, and then I opened the paper and there it was,” he said. “It brought back great memories.”

Also show in this photo are, at back from left, Charlie Delp, Lou Cardy, Bobby Landis; the couple in front of them that HAD been unidentified but we now know are Jerry and Donna Bertucciati; the young man standing in the back is Al Zeller and next to him is Dave Mayberry, and sitting next to him is Royce Heebner. In the booth near the front is Arlene Miller with an unidentified boy with his back to the camera. Sitting near the back is “Deppie” Detwiler and the man sitting in front of him is Norris Anders.

The other photo was taken by Ray Masser at the Hatfield Speedway and shows an accident that took out part of the outer metal fence; behind the fence, the Wayne Avenue water tower can be seen.

It turns out that Howard Bilger, who delivers The Times Herald, a sister paper to The Reporter, was driving car 36 when the accident occurred.

“I raced at the speedway just about every Saturday night,” Bilger, of Lansdale, said. “I was bruised a little in that accident, but not really hurt.

“And I wouldn’t let a little thing like that stop me from racing,” he said.

He raced there for five or six years, he said, and then was out of racing for several years. He moved to Arizona and when he came back, then raced at Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville.

He said racing was great, but noted that he certainly wouldn’t speed around the area as he delivers his newspapers.

Thanks, Jerry and Howard, for helping us bring a bit more life to these photos!

Remember When Special Section!

2009-08-26T12:49:00.000-07:00

The Reporter's annual Remember When section is out, and you can see it online HERE. This year we take a look at what area residents did for fun years ago, everything from races at Hatfield Speedway and summer camps to diners and drive-in movies.

We have three videos to accompany this section, the first of which is a profile of the R&S Keystone Diner, a local favorite since it opened in 1948:

The second video is an explanation of how the mechanics of the historic Menlo Carousel in Perkasie works:

And the third is footage of Hatfield Speedway from the 1930's taken by Montgomeryville grocer and amateur cinemtographer Nelson Stoudt:

Which came first?

2009-08-25T12:42:00.000-07:00

Our photo today is from Steven Bucher of Harleysville, who notes that this photo may answer “what might be Harleysville’s only trivia question.”

That question being: “What came first? The traffic light or the filling station?”

This is a shot, Bucher says, of Main Street, Harleysville, dating from 1968.

As he describes it, you see, from left to right:

H.B. Clemens store building.

H.B. Clemens home.

Willis and Verna Anders home.

Alvin and Mildred Clemens home/office.

Harleysville National Bank.

Barb and Bab’s Restaurant, and Rein Ritter Barbershop. He notes that the last two businesses were in a twin building.

Nelson Moyer home.

So those of you who live in Harleysville or remember these places, enjoy the “quiz”!

And we want to point out that, on Wednesday, our annual Remember When special supplement will appear in The Reporter.

This year’s theme is “Looking back at simpler days of ‘play’” and features such topics as old amusement parks, the Hatfield Speedway, drive-in theaters, old diners, cruising, baseball and swimming pools.

Don’t miss it on Wednesday!

The birth of Vilsmeier Road

2009-08-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

The photos today center around the Montgomery Township area and Vilsmeier Road, which intersects with Route 309, near the Five Points intersection.

The photos and information were submitted by Fred Vilsmeier and he relates:

“Fred Vilsmeier purchased approximately 64 acres from Mr. and Mrs. William Broeske in November 1942. The property included a farmhouse, barn and some other structures. The farmhouse where Vilsmeier lived was across Cowpath Road from the old Montgomeryville Police Station, where a bank and Lowes are now located.

“Mr. Vilsmeier lived at the farm with his wife, Elizabeth, and his two children, Walter and Claire.

“Sometime in 1949, Vilsmeier gained approval from the township to build Vilsmeier Road and develop the land. Soon after the road opening, Vilsmeier began selling the home lots to individuals and to Sanford Ulmer, a builder, who would go on to build many of the homes on Vilsmeier and connected roads.

“A relative of Mr. Vilsmeier still lives on the road to this day.

“Mr. Vilsmeier, an early aviator of the Philadelphia region, had his good friend Ed Bruzas land a small plane on Vilsmeier Road the day it opened.”

Great history! And, as you can see, one photo shows the Five Points area, with Route 202 going off to the upper right of the photo, and Route 309 stretching along the left-hand side.

In the other photo, which appeared in the Souderton Independent on Aug. 25, 1949, shows the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Vilsmeier Road.

Caption information notes: “Assemblyman Howard F. Boorse, Lansdale, cuts the ribbon across the new shortcut between Lasndale and the Montgomeryville section, The road, a mile in length, from Lansdale Avenue to Bethlehem Pike, was presented to the township by Fred Vilsmeier, who is developing the section. Pictured, from left to right, are township Supervisor Chauncey Knapp, Claire Vilsmeier, Mrs. Vilsmeier, Boorse, Mr. Vilsmeier, Mrs. Arthur Thomas (back row), Shirley Kratz and Walter Vilsmeier (back row).

Those summer days

2009-08-10T12:13:00.000-07:00

The dog days of August are upon us, so we thought we’d offer a few summer photos of days gone by to help you enjoy this hot weather.

In one photo, from 1980, you see Jim Kline from Lansdale rowing his boat at Fischer’s Park in Towamencin.

According to this photo from The Reporter archives, this was part of the North Penn YMCA day camp held at the park that year.

In the photo above, also from 1980, a bunch of kids seek relief from the heat by playing in the Towamencin pool.

Hope these help to cool you off!

Step into history

2009-08-03T11:50:00.000-07:00

By DAN SOKIL, staff Writer

Take a look down Lansdale’s Main Street, facing west from Railroad Avenue, and you can see shadows of the past.

Well, maybe not today, but on Oct. 4 the past century of downtown Lansdale will come alive, when the Lansdale Historical Society hosts “Revisiting Historic Downtown Lansdale: A Sunday Stroll Back to an Earlier Time.”

“This is something we thought we’d try in place of our Holiday History Tour, and see how it works out; we wanted to do something with a lot of community involvement and that focuses on Lansdale and the historical aspects of the town,” said LHS President Dick Shearer.

“At first blush, people may look at our downtown and think ‘What’s so historic?’ and in many respects it’s a little bit hard to visualize because so many buildings that were part of Lansdale’s development in the

early years are gone, but there are some that are still there,” he said.

The walking tour, to be held from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 4 (with a rain date of Oct. 11) will be a combination of both old and new, starting with a 15- minute film showing at the Lansdale Center for the Performing Arts.

“The video basically explains how Lansdale came to be: how the railroad coming through here and the junction of trolley lines created Lansdale and made it the center of commerce for this region for more than a hundred years,” Shearer said.

Showings of the video will be held three times each hour, starting at 11:45 a.m. and running through 2:30 p.m.; tickets are required to see the video but get you much more than just a seat in the theater.

“Tickets are $15 per person, and we’ll be selling them at the Performing Arts Center that day, and for the $15 you’ll get to see the video, you’ll get a 40-page tour book we’re putting together, you’ll get a map which will have on one side, a building by building look at the tour route as it appeared in about 1886 and on the other side will be a current map,” Shearer said.

Groups of up to four people can also share one tour book and map, while watching the presentation and walking the tour together, by adding up to three people to their group for $5 each.

The downtown walking tour will replace LHS’ annual Holiday History Tour this year.

“Our volunteers have done that Holiday History Tour for about five years now, and we wanted to give them a chance to enjoy the holidays for themselves this year, while still doing something fun,” he said.

After the video, those who take part can walk the tour route by themselves (Shearer said the route takes about 90 minutes to walk), and LHS volunteers will be stationed at about a dozen points of interest around the borough.

“For example, I’m sure we’ll have somebody in front of the Dresher Arcade building, which a lot of people don’t realize was originally built as a garage back in the 1910s by a gentleman by the name of Dresher,” said Shearer.

“He opened a Dresher Motor Company which sold Buicks, and the walk through in the middle of the building was the entrance into the garage; they’d drive cars in there for servicing until the late 1920s, when the building was converted into what you see there now, which is a really quirky, neat building,” he said.

The tour route will start by heading from the arts center west down Main Street to Towamencin Avenue, cross over Main to come back to Railroad Avenue, head from there down South Broad Street, cross north on Broad to Third Street, take Third west to Walnut Street to the borough’s train station, and end back in the Madison Parking Lot.

You’ll hear stories about buildings long gone, like the Geller Emporium that once stood on the current site of the Lansdale School of Cosmetology.

“Geller’s Brand Emporium, in the last two decades of the 1800s, was Lansdale’s answer to a department store. Mr. Geller sold everything from furniture to coffins, feed for animals, foodstuffs, clothing, you name it and Mr. Jacob Geller would find it for you,” Shearer said.

“Right on the opposite corner where the parking lot is now, next to the Boys & Girls Club was the good old Norwood Hotel, which was one of the oldest hotels in town. It stood right at that intersection where two trolley lines came together, but both were on different scales so they could never merge together,” he said.

And if you know a thing or two about downtown Lansdale’s history, or would just like to help out, plenty of volunteers are needed to help sell tickets, guide tour groups, man the video presentation, act as crossing guards, and much more.

Anyone interested in volunteering can call the Historical Society at (215) 855-1872 or visit www.LansdaleHistory.org. An organizational meeting for volunteers is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 26.

“If anybody needs more information, call us and we’ll be happy to fill you in. This is something we’ve wanted to try for a while, and if it doesn’t work we won’t do it again, but if it does work then there may be other similar types of tours we can do, of homes and other things in town, in the future,” Shearer said.

At the 4-H Fair

2009-08-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

The Montgomery County 4-H Fair certainly is nothing new to the area, and yet it brings new opportunities to so many young people each year.

With the fair coming up this Thursday through Saturday at the 4-H Center on Route 113, Skippack, we thought it would be fun to take a look back — back 35 years ago, to be exact.

In “those days,” the fair was held at what was then the 4-H Center on Snyder Road, Towamencin.

Many of the offerings then were not much different than those presented today.

According to a clipping from The Reporter on Aug. 12, 1974, the fair that year was presenting horse, sheep, dairy, beef, rabbit and cavy shows; rocket launch; sheep shearing demonstration; sewing presentation; clothing judging; and indoor exhibits.

A few variations included a bike rodeo, chess tournament and milking and milk-chugging contests.

In the two photos we feature today, we see Greg Myers, a Blue Bell 4-H Club member, showing off one of the tomatoes that he planned to enter as part of his vegetable project.

In the other photo, John Hurst of Worcester prepares his sheep for showing at the 4-H Fair.

And if you want to see for yourself how things are presented today, check out the fair this week.

Hours are 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday; 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday; and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

There is a $5 per vehicle parking donation. Featured will be food, fun, animal shows, Daisy Jug Band, exhibits and more.

For more details, call the 4-H office at (610) 489-4315, or visit http://montgomery.extension.psu.edu.

Ready to run

2009-07-28T12:00:00.000-07:00

Today, we see some young men who quite obviously are ready to make a run for it.

Literally.

This photo, submitted by and featuring Alexander Kobasa of Lansdale, features the 1939 track team of the former Lansdale High School.

The guys who are striking this pose are, according to the information provided by Kobasa:

Bob Jenkins, Harry Kleinman, Ellis Delp, Frank Smith, Ed Walls, William Oberholtzer, Dick Drissel, Alex Kobasa and Richard Eccles.

Not shown are coach James Crawford, plus Butch Snyder and Larry Eshback.

Kobasa not only ran track at Lansdale High School, but in 1939 was the Bucks-Mont cross-country champion.

It’s a great athletic-themed photo, isn’t it?

Local teacher remembers moon launch

2009-07-22T07:28:00.000-07:00

By DAN SOKIL

Staff Writer

UPPER GWYNEDD — Forty years to the day after men landed on the moon, Cas Workman wrote the first draft of a poem:

July 1969

Science Class

Cape Kennedy

Predawn gathering on the beach

Across the bay

Saturn V Rocket

Looked 1 inch high

flash of flames

roar begins

scary hesitation

trembling ground

earth rocking rumble

liftoff, sweet relief

French spectators

sang our National Anthem

goosebumps

tears

so much pride

the whole world is watching

one small step.

Her writing was part of Monday’s lesson she taught to the Young Writers/Young Readers summer camp, but the memories are all hers.

That’s because four decades ago she was known as Carol A. Schreiber (Cas is a nickname that comes from those initials) and watched the launch of Apollo 11 right across a bay from the launch site thanks to her involvement in a NASA seminar earlier that summer.

“I remember the trembling ground, and the rocket was so far away it looked only 1 inch tall,” said Workman.

“Then we saw a flash and heard the noise, but it was scary because they fired the engines and for a few seconds we didn’t see it move. I got a little scared about that, but then it started to go up and they were on their way,” she said.

Just like that, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were on their way to the moon, a mission Workman said still brings back chills whenever she thinks about it.

“The only other time in 40 years I’ve had that same feeling was

watching President Obama’s inauguration, because they were both such great moments for America,” she said.

“We were all so excited and just completely overwhelmed. There was a delegation from France standing behind us on the beach, and after the launch they started singing our national anthem with their French accents; I’m getting goosebumps right now just thinking about it,” said Workman.

The launch, early on the morning of Wednesday, July 16, 1969, was the highlight of a week she and her fellow teachers spent in Florida, touring the Kennedy Space Center and watching progress reports.

By the time Apollo 11’s crew landed on the moon, she had already returned to Hatfield, and watched the landing on TV with her future husband, Chuck Workman, and an estimated billion other viewers worldwide.

“Mr. Workman was my boyfriend at the time, and he and I watched the moonwalk together in Ocean City, New Jersey; all these years later we’re still together, and he’s still kind of jealous that I was in Florida by myself that week,” she said.

If ever a couple lived happily ever after, it’s those two: she and Chuck married in 1970, raised two daughters who attended North Penn’s schools before heading off to college, and Cas spent 35 years teaching in several North Penn schools before retiring in 2002.

“I started teaching at E.B. Laudenslager in 1967, and went from there to teach at Hatfield, then (J. Henry) Specht, to (A.M.) Kulp and then ended up teaching at Walton Farm before I retired,” Workman said.

In fact, she remembers helping work out the transition between E.B. Laudenslager and Hatfield before the latter school opened in 1972.

“We had all of these books in the library that we had to move from one school to the other, so I said, ‘Why don’t we give each of the kids a stack of books to carry?’ They loved it, and really felt a sense of ownership when we moved in,” said Workman.

You can still see her around the district from time to time, like at Gwyn-Nor for the next two weeks, where she’s the site coordinator for the Pennsylvania Writing and Literature Project’s Young Writers/Young Readers program.

There, her students wrote Monday about their memories of growing up, and their teacher shared a few of her own from that unforgettable morning 40 years ago.

Man on the moon

2009-07-21T07:22:00.000-07:00

Local woman recalls childhood friendship with Neil Armstrong

By DAN SOKIL
Staff Writer

Lorene Ahrens (maiden name Kellermeyer) moved to Lansdale from Ohio in 1950, but she still remembers the nights she and her sister Janice spent growing up in Upper Sandusky, Ohio.

They’d go to church and Sunday school every week, and play outside with the kids from down the street at night, including one who took one very famous small step 40 years ago today.

That man was Neil Armstrong.

“Neil’s father, Mr. Stephen Armstrong, was an auditor for the state of Ohio, and he and their family were stationed in various county seats in northwestern Ohio, so the Armstrong family lived in Upper Sandusky in the early- to mid-1940s,” said Ahrens.

“My dad (Rev. Hugo C. Kellermeyer) was a pastor, he had started with the church in North Carolina which was where I was born, but we moved to Ohio in January 1942 and so we knew the Armstrong family through Trinity Evangelical and Reformed Church,” she said.

Janice and Neil were the same age, but Lorene, despite being two years younger, still remembers weekly croquet games on her family’s front lawn with the neighborhood kids, including one who later became the first man to walk on the moon.

“We never wanted to stop playing, and in fact we used to wrap the croquet wicks with white cloth around the end so we could still see them after it got dark,” Ahrens said.

According to Armstrong’s authorized biography, “The First Man” (Simon & Schuster, 2005), Neil lived in Upper Sandusky from 1941 to 1944 before moving on to Wapakoneta, Ohio.

Lorene still remembers car rides to church events with him.

“I remember how when my dad took us to the church camp in the summer, Neil was a very quiet person. He was very, very shy and didn’t talk a whole lot back then, and I haven’t seen him since way back then but from what I read and hear, he’s still very much the same way now,” said Ahrens.

Janice, now living in Nebraska, kept a photo from the church school’s confirmation class of 1943, in which Rev. Kellermeyer can be seen standing to the left of his students; a very young but clearly recognizable Armstrong is in the top row of students.

On a recent trip to her family’s former church in Ohio, Lorene said, she saw a plaque now mounted outside the church that recognizes Armstrong’s confirmation held within.

“The really funny thing was that when my sister wrote the class prophecy for the Class of ’47 from Upper Sandusky High School, she wrote that a member of our class would be the first man on the moon,” she said.

“I don’t know what she was thinking when she wrote that, because who wanted to go to the moon in 1947? But she was right, and even though he didn’t actually graduate with her because Neil’s father had been moved to another county by 1947, she’s still had some contact with him because he still goes to their class reunions,” Ahrens said.

The family’s story was first told to The Reporter for the 20th anniversary of the moon landing in 1989, when Lorene’s mother, Josephine Kellermeyer, recalled their years in Ohio.

By the time Armstrong and fellow astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin landed on the moon in 1969, Lorene and her family were camping their way across the country. She watched the lunar landing from a hotel in Phoenix, but Janice dropped his name a few times that night.

“She was up in Nova Scotia and couldn’t find a TV to watch the landing, so she started telling people about how Neil was in her high school class, and ended up being interviewed on one of the local radio stations up there,” Ahrens said.

The Ahrens family had one final encounter with the lunar landing as they continued their camping trip: a friend of the family brought them into Johnson Space Center in Houston the day the first moon rocks were brought in from Apollo 11.

“Of course, we were just peons so we didn’t get anywhere near them, but there was a definite buzz in the air,” she said.

“My kids and I all remember Alan Shepard cruising by as we stood outside one of the offices and giving us a once-over, thinking ‘Who are these people?’ That was the closest I’d ever been to an astronaut, except for Neil Armstrong many years ago.”

Early movie studio on PBS

2009-07-13T06:15:00.000-07:00

By Jan Feighner

AUDUBON — The Delaware Valley is riddled with obvious points of interest regarding the nation's Cradle of Freedom, but it also offers odd bits of history. Scattered throughout the suburbs, some of these little known places are almost forgotten.

The Betzwood Motion Picture Studio bordering Valley Forge Park near Audubon is such a place. Few people know that several stone buildings near the Betzwood Bridge are remnants of a once active silent movie studio.

The thriving business, now owned by O'Neill Properties, proponents of historic structure preservation, operated between 1912 and 1923. Its founder, Siegmund Lubin of Philadelphia, built numerous structures on 350 acres of land that included administrative offices, a boiler house, a processing plant, scenery storage buildings, an all-glass studio for day shots, two dark studios minus windows with electric lighting, film vaults, and a boathouse.

A turbine beneath the boathouse, turned by water entering a sluice, generated the studio's electricity. A 19th century stone mansion, razed decades ago, housed visiting celebrities and sometimes Lubin himself.

Several famous silent screen stars worked on the lot, as well as contract and stock players. Many lived on the immense estate that constantly bustled with life.

Directors shot multiple scripted and improvised movies at once. Sets shifted between buildings. Lights and cameras changed constantly for each scene. Costumers, make-up artists, production assistants, writers, prop masters, and an enormous crew made certain that everything went smoothly for Lubin's busy operation.

Then, nothing: only a few buildings stood time's test. Cast and crew passed away; sets, props, and costumes disappeared. Little evidence remained of what by today's standards could have been a city of its own.

What happened?

Tonight, "History Detectives" investigates the mystery of the Betzwood Studio. Airing on WHYY at 9 p.m., the popular PBS program features host Dr. Tukufu Zuberi, the University of Pennsylvania's Lasry Family Professor of Public Relations, professor and chairman of the Department of Sociology, and faculty associate director of the Center for Africana Studies, as he explores the latest Delaware Valley history mystery.

CLICK HERE to see the complete episode online

The adventure began in Florida when Billie Chapman-Rooney of St. Petersburg watched the weekly program which ends with a request from viewers to propose a mystery. She knew two photo albums she received from her father during the late 1980s were special, but never knew just how special.

Chapman-Rooney is related to the Lubin family in an odd way. Her mother's brother's mother-in-law, Lucia, was married to Herbert, Siegmund Lubin's nephew. She remembers Lucia from her childhood in the 1950s as a flamboyant woman who drove a Thunderbird convertible, smoked long filtered cigarettes, and wore rhinestone shoes. She never knew Herbert, and her father who passed away before she began her Betzwood quest.

"In 1973, the family homes in St. Petersburg were being moved (except for) the garages," Chapman-Rooney explained. "After one of my uncles got all he wanted, he told my dad that he could have whatever he wanted. He took, among other things, an old suitcase, which, when he looked inside, he found the Lubin photos and other Lubin personal items.

"My dad kept them for many years and as I got older and acquired a love for old things, he gave them to me. I researched several avenues about the albums but always came to a dead end."

"History Detectives" wasted no time contacting her about her request, desiring to film a segment onsite and in Zuberi's office. They contacted Joe Eckhardt, emeritus professor of history at Montgomery County Community College (MCCC), whose extensive Lubin knowledge and private collection led to MCCC's creation of the Betzwood Archive on campus, an annual Betzwood Film Festival with the original films, and a biography of Siegmund Lubin entitled "The King of the Movies."

The show's producers hoped Eckhardt could shed some light on the 100 or so 8 by 10-inch labeled photographs. Eckhardt detailed Lubin's and the studio's history, walked the crew around the former estate, and discussed his 30 years of Betzwood research, but he had never seen anything so marvelous as the albums.

"I had never seen anything like it. They are the most significant survival from the Betzwood Studio," Eckhardt said. "They are the single most remarkable documentation of what that studio was like and how it worked. They're extraordinarily well preserved."

Eckhardt stated that Herbert created the books, taking pictures and meticulously labeling each one. The younger Lubin was Siegmund's nephew, brought to America in 1914 at age 16 from Berlin. His famous uncle wanted presumably to remove him from the impending World War I that began only months later. Herbert lived at the studio with the intent of learning the business. Instead, he became one of the cowboy actors.

One of the books details the Betzwood Ranch where the crew filmed westerns and sports pictures of the mansion, manager's house, barns, cowboy actors, and horses. The other comprises photos of Siegmund, the board of directors, actors, actresses, film studio, chefs in the commissary, chauffeurs, typists, and film vault.

Eckhardt and Chapman-Rooney disagree about the albums' intent. Eckhardt maintains that Herbert used it to document the studio. Chapman-Rooney, however, describes the photos as professionally finished pictures, one on each page, used as a business piece like a portfolio.

Both Chapman-Rooney and Eckhardt appear in the episode. They remain curious as to the final product since each experienced repeated shots at different angles with the single camera used in filming. She introduces the segment with her question of what happened to her family's thriving studio, and he provides the answers.

So, who was this silent film pioneer Siegmund Lubin, who befriended Thomas Edison after a patent infringement lawsuit? And what happened to his successful Betzwood Motion Picture Studio?

Watch "History Detectives" Monday, July 13 at 9 p.m. on WHYY and see.

One local family

2009-07-13T05:58:00.000-07:00

Christine Schuyler of Hatfield has been kind enough to share a family photo with us today.

And here is the great information she has provided:

“Here is a photo, circa 1914, of the Arthur and Elizabeth Schuyler family of Edison.

“Arthur and Lizzie are my husband’s great-grandparents. They married in 1885 at the New Britain Baptist Church and had seven children.

“A son, Percy, died in 1905. Arthur farmed and also served on the Doylestown Township School Board and Lizzie raised guinea pigs.

“Pictured from top left is my husband’s grandfather, Chester Schuyler Sr., and two of his brothers, Howard and Russ.

“All three served in the Army during World War I, Russ losing a leg.

“A plaque in the Salem UCC Church in Doylestown commemorates the brothers’ military service.

“Chester later worked as a clerk in Philadelphia. Howard went on to run a haberdashery store in Doylestown. Clifford (seated at right) owned the Doylestown Laundry. Arthur Lloyd, the youngest child, worked for the Borough of Doylestown.

“The only daughter, Grace, was nicknamed ‘Jimmy’ by her father, who had interesting nicknames for each of his children.

“In 1925, Grace married Wilson S. Cassel, who worked in the automobile business. The newlyweds lived at 900 Derstine Ave., Lansdale, and later moved to Mayfair.

“The family home pictured in the background still stands in Edison.

“Many of Arthur and Lizzie’s descendants still reside in the Bucks-Mont area.”

With summer being a great time for family reunions, perhaps some other area readers may come across ancestral photos they want to share with us.