Thanksgiving is looming, and in addition to thinking about things for which we are thankful, our thoughts naturally turn to food.

So what better time to take a look at some photos related to the Mity-Nice bakery products that once were produced right here in Lansdale?

Lois Wolf lent The Reporter a small green booklet which apparently was produced in 1939, titled “Your Mity-Nice Bakers,” which related the history of the company, noting that Frederick W. Koehler came to Lansdale from East Greenville in 1894 and started a small bakery.

“Deliveries were first made in a push cart, and the only product was bread ... one sort of bread,” the booklet notes.

Since most of the women in Lansdale baked their own bread, Koehler had to win them over, so he kept up his hard work of making great bread, the booklet noted, and then expanded to add rolls, more varieties of bread, buns, pies and cakes.

“Each product helped the others, because the people were still saying: ‘Koehler’s goods are mighty nice.’”

The name was adopted and coined into Mity-Nice as the trademark.

But in 1919, the plant was destroyed by fire. Instead of giving up, Koehler built a new bakery and, in the fall of 1921, Oscar Fretz entered the business, which became Koehler & Fretz Inc.

The 1939 booklet noted that when the business was incorporated, there were five delivery routes. By 1939, that had grown to 32 routes, covering a 25-mile radius of Lansdale.

Products described in the booklet include Mity-Nice bread, Honey-Meel bread, sandwich bread, Vienna bread, 70 percent whole wheat bread, cracked wheat bread, rye bread, dual bread (half white, half 70 percent whole wheat), cinnamon buns, trolley buns, butter buns, crumb buns, tea rings, snails (“they are a dainty worth trying”), sweet buns, various rolls, pies and cakes.

The booklet also describes how to make various types of sandwiches (“Be sure the bread is Mity-Nice); offers tips for using bread (“To keep sandwiches, pile sandwiches together and lay a damp towel over them); and even includes such recipes as Meat Loaf Pie, Cherry Brown Betty and Quaker Pudding.

So, is your stomach growling yet?

Mary Rose Di Domizio of Lansdale submitted today’s walk down memory lane.

According to Di Domizio, this photo was “snapped in the 1960s. We now belong to the Woman’s Club of Lansdale.”

But back then, it was the Junior Woman’s Club of Lansdale that was planting flowers at the railroad station plaza along Main Street in Lansdale.

According to the caption that accompanied this photo from a newspaper clipping:

“Pleasing to the eye is this bed of petunias and juniper shrubs planted by the Junior Woman’s Club of Lansdale ... Supervising the watering of the club beautification project are Mrs. Gordon Gerhart, garden department chairman, and Mrs. Robert Di Domizio, a member of the committee which planted the triangular bed leased from the Reading Railroad.”

In the story that ran with this photo, it was noted that the plants were placed on May 15, and were either donated by local florists or sold at cost to the club.

The project had been discussed that March with G. Austin Kulp, the clipping notes, of the Lansdale Community Improvement Association.

“The services of Doylestown landscape architect John F. Kennedy were acquired, after a plan was presented to the Reading Railroad and borough council for approval,” the newspaper notes.

Today, Lansdale’s “improvement” projects include the Center for the Performing Arts. But efforts to change the town for the better have never ceased.

Ready to hop on board a trolley for a trip around Lansdale and its surrounding communities?

Sorry, you can’t do that anymore.

But you can relive those days this Tuesday, during “All Hail the Trolleys!” — the topic of the Lansdale Historical Society’s Community Program.

The photo here shows the Liberty Bell Limited trolley, heading southbound crossing West Point Pike just outside West Point village with what is now the Merck complex in the background.

The photo was taken in 1951, shortly before the Philadelphia-to-Allentown route was discontinued and the tracks removed.

The Tuesday show will be presented by Andy Maginnis, Lansdale resident and trolley historian, who is in the process of writing a book on the subject.

Maginnis will trace the quick rise of the trolleys in the North Penn region during the early 1900s and their equally rapid demise in the years after World War II.

He will describe the important role trolleys played in moving passengers and freight to places where trains could not go in an era before cars could be found in every driveway.

The program will include a video presentation of more than 125 images of trolleys, trolley stations and the people who rode or worked on the local lines.

The program begins at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Lansdale Parks and Recreation Building, Seventh Street and Lansdale Avenue. There is no admission charge, but donations are appreciated.

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

Check out a video featuring Maginnis that was produced recently for The Reporter's 'Remember When' special section:

With the 2008 Phillies World Series win, how about a look at a different World Series?

These photos were submitted by Ellis Kriebel of Harleysville, who noted:

“The Harleysville Lions Club in 1960 took on the responsibility of sponsoring the Connie Mack Knee-Hi Baseball Tournament, with the “World Series” played on the Harleysville diamond.

“The 1968 tournament brought together teams from Lansdale, Northampton, Philadelphia, Bethlehem, Myerstown, Kitanning, Sandy Lake and Pittsburgh. After losing the opener to Northampton 5-4, Lansdale won four straight to take the championship by defeating Bethlehem 5-3 before a very large crowd of spectators.

“Coach Ray Cash supplied the picture of the winning team. Members were Ken Brenninger, Jim Flyzil, Larry Fritz, Scott Harmon, Dick Henry, Bob Hollenshead, David Landis, Bob Marschhausen, Doug Mininger, Tom Rhodes, Mario Saldutti, Lee Saverio, Tim Smith, Elmer Stephens, Ron White and Ron Ziegler.

“The Harleysville Lions Club Committee members were, back row, Ralph Wambold, Joe Ball, Larry Palmer, Roy Shade, Don Eschbach, Wayne Krauss and Howard Landes. Front row, Clarence Tyson, Tom McKeeman, Ken Ritter, Lewis Alderfer, Lou Ann Wambold (scorekeeper), Vic Alderfer and Julian Hagin.”

They may not have gone on to become Phillies, but they were champions nonetheless.

As the Phillies took a 3-1 lead in this year's World Series, this seems like a good time to look back at the last time the Philadelphia saw a baseball championship in 1980. Fans took to the street following the Phils victory over the Royals 4-1 in the sixth game to win the title.
Thanks to Dick Shearer from the Lansdale Historical Society for bringing this copy of the paper out of their archives for us to share.


These photos were taken by Reporter photographers Bob Martin and Geoff Patton. Patton is currently the Chief Photographer at the The Reporter.

According to the Reporter on October 22, 1980, one of the officers injured while subduing revelers was 23-year-old Joseph McGuriman, now Lansdale's police chief.

From the article: "The Philadelphia Phillies captured teh heart of the region and the world championship of baseball at Veterans Stadium last night, sparking celebrations and midnight madness throughtout the area."
"In Lansdale, police blocked off the intersection of Broad and Main Streets to allow residents the luxury of milling aabout the streets, dancing, whooping, crying and paying tribute to the team that brought hime its first world title since the birth of the franchise almost a century ago."
"And this morning nearly half of North Penn High School's student body - 45 percent or more than 1,000 youths - failed to show up for class today as they swarmed to center city Philadelphia for the 11:30 a.m. parade to honor the baseball champions. At the district's junior high schools, 20 percent of the classes were missing but some stduents were appearing late, apparently because they could not get transportation to Philadelphia."

And we now know all about one student who missed classes at Souderton Area High School to watch the parade...Phillies pitcher Jamie Moyer. Hopefully, all is forgiven.

Today’s photo, submitted by Paul Clayton of Lansdale, takes us back to a day when firefighting was quite a bit different.

Since Fire Prevention Week was observed earlier this month, Clayton thought it might be fun to show how the art used to be practiced.

The photo, he said, shows the Fairmount Fire Company of Lansdale practicing at the old Green Street School in town.

He believes the photo was taken sometime in the 1920s or 1930s.

He notes:

“My mother, Erma Weachter, said my grandfather, Hiram Weachter, was president of the fire company at that time. He also was burgess (now known as mayor) of Lansdale.”

We certainly appreciate seeing that our firefighters were just as devoted then as they are now.

Of course now, Jay Daveler and the Fairmount Fire Company have a fleet of equipment that is quite different, and more expansive, than what we see here.

During August, The Reporter printed a special Remember When section that centered on the general theme of transportation.

And today, thanks to Lansdale’s Robert Linden, we have three photos to share with you that harken back to earlier times here in Lansdale.

One photo shows the outside of the former Reading Railroad switching tower, and you may note the letters “MA” on the outside of the building. According to Linden, these are telegraph letters; station letters were “DA.”

Off in the distance, you’ll see a locomotive steaming into town.

Another photo shows Bill Walters, the tower man, manipulating the big levers inside the tower, which were used to throw the switches in the tracks to properly route the trains.

If you check the clock, you’ll note, as Linden did in the information provided, that it’s 9:13 — a.m., according to Linden.

The other photo shows the large call letters, the same type as the “MA” on the outside of the switching tower.

The call letter signs are part of Linden’s railroad collection.