What do you know about Sellersville?
My wife and I bought a house in Sellersville in February of 2012. It was a crazy time, as anyone who goes through house buying and selling knows. We chose Sellersville because it served the purpose for us. It was affordable, walkable (a little steep), and in a few minutes... you could be in the middle of nowhere. In other words, perfect as anything could be.
When we first moved, we were impressed by the quietness and friendliness of the people who are our new neighbors. Oh no, don't get me wrong, the people of Lansdale are fine people and good Americans. I used to sit back and crack open many Coors 16 ouncers on my stoop back in the day. But something was different ...
I feel different living here. Relaxed. Maybe that was it... it was something. I am sure moving from a small row home on Shaw Ave to a single house in Sellersville would do that to anyone.
Life went on as it tends to do and before I knew it, I was looking for some extra work to make some money for the holidays. I wound up working in one of the oldest buildings in the town. As I toured the building on my first day, I couldn't help but marvel at the wood floors and the remnants of the previous layouts of the warehouse.
"What was this place before?" I asked my fellow employees. No one really knew.
That was a problem.
I couldn't get a decent answer.
I chose to go to the best resource anyone uses. Google, followed by a vast Ebay search which turned up a postcard circa 1906. The building was originally a cigar manufacturer. Awesome.
This was really to give myself a piece of mind. I was worried about upsetting my Sellersville relaxed vibe. At any rate, I began to get obsessed about the images on these postcards from the turn of the last Century. A man named Berkemeyer printed postcards in town with the photos from Ziegler, a photographer from Souderton.
Why were these images important? I wanted to find out what the inspiration was. 100+ years ago film was not cheap.
I was riding my bike through Sellersville and snapping pictures of the same scenes that were done over 100 years ago.
I wanted to purchase every last one of these postcards and figure out why these images were chosen and what they looked like now.
If I chose to purchase all of these images it would have taken all of my holiday money. I really didn't like the idea of working an extra job for a postcard an hour. I went to the Sellersville Museum and volunteered my time to help in anyway I could so I didn't wind up in debt for my hobby.
I was welcomed and began working every Tuesday and attending the Historical Authority meetings. During the meeting, I was asked if I was interested in joining the Museum as a Borough appointed Authority Member.
I submitted my interest and the next time the Borough Council met, I was unanimously appointed to the Authority.
I am a member of the Historical Authority and it's Sellersville's 275th Anniversary. In other words ... it's on everyone ... let's party.
I am here for the long haul. Lifetime. That gives me lots of time to find out every single thing about my new town and I am very excited to make this a part of my life. There are many stories to be told and fascinating tidbits of history that have come through our scenic Borough.
Through this blog, I will let you in on the interesting, intriguing, scary, and other unique experiences from the vast treasures of the Sellersville Museum. I urge you to check it out if you are in town. It's free and is the best history museum Sellersville has.
Please email me with any/all questions you may have. BRox@sellersvillemuseum.org and Like us at facebook.com/SellersvilleMuseum
I will cover the Main Street realignment completely in a future blog post. Main Street ran over the RR Tracks in the early part of last century a bridge was built so Main Street took a detour from it's current position. That link only mentions, "The "shifting" of the entire town of Sellersville away from this tract of land in the 1930s, with the borough having pushed out the boundary of the town by the dimensions of this exact parcel, and literally realigning/reconfiguring all streets away from this location (i.e. NE, NW, SE, SW, with this tract as the epicenter)." This was in an email to the EPA which went unanswered. Sellersville has had traffic issues to deal with and has taken different approaches as the Main Street is also Old Bethlehem Pike (309). I would love to find out more information about the entire town being moved. Thanks for bringing it up. Feel free to contact me via email or through this blog.
Here are some pics should you be interested. I would love to get some additional input if possible. Sellersville circa 1913: http://s2.postimage.org/6p1wfbjnd/image.jpg Doylestown Road (before being renamed "Diamond Street") was shifted southwest. It appears that the old Doylestown Road would have been the equivalent in placement of Hughes Avenue today, and the old Main Street would have connected accordingly. From the picture, you can see the downtown area on the far left. This is where Lake Lenape Park is today. The town was moved northwest of that location to make room for the widening of the creek and for its subsequent damming and creation of Lake Lenape.
You can see in this picture from the early 1930s that the homes labeled A thru C on the far left are mirror images of the newer A thru C homes on the right, down to the exact tree size and placement. The homes on the left were then demolished, which happened for all structures that were located on the tracts as noted above: http://s2.postimage.org/i04k3oqih/image.jpg For numerous reasons, this part of the town's history should be known. Good or bad, it happened. Residents deserve to know the truth. Thanks for the blog, and for your interest in the community.
The numbered tracts... where does that take place?
The lettered homes would have been on the perimeter of tract #1 along/off of Diamond Street, having been rebuilt on Fairview Ave. The numbered tracts are representative of the area in the below picture, basically the land in Sellersville/Perkasie bound by Diamond Street, Branch Road, Walnut Street, and Park/Constitution Avenue. http://s11.postimage.org/pvxpgmj9f/image.jpg I would like to discuss further as well. I will reach out via email. Feel free to ask any questions you have in the meantime. The 67 posts in the above-listed topix thread should also be helpful. Thanks again.
http://s23.postimg.org/7p9zbxphn/image.jpg This question has been posted numerous times to the "Ametek U.S. Gauge" thread on both the Sellersville and Quakertown Topix boards but was removed almost immediately: http://s16.postimg.org/mmsh7q41x/image.jpg http://s16.postimg.org/am716zwn9/image.jpg It was also removed from this discussion thread: http://lansdale.patch.com/blog_posts/did-you-know-sellersville-is-275-years-old Would like some answers as to the reasons for this.
http://s8.postimg.org/olsrpr279/image.jpg http://s8.postimg.org/s98ivtaed/image.jpg http://s8.postimg.org/dnhi7kdlx/image.jpg http://s8.postimg.org/auoanjd9h/image.jpg Thanks again.
And my apologies for the "1930's version of photoshop" quality of my overlay. It was a cell phone picture of a hardcopy print-out. That's all I had available to send to you at the time, which I explained in my email. It's one of three versions that were superimposed, all of which yielded the same results (regardless of quality). I'm always open to another interpretation, or some constructive feedback. I don't rely solely on the words of any specific group or entity--spoken, written, or put on display. I also don't rely solely on the absence of any, either. But I guess we all find our "shreds of credibility" in different places. Thanks again for the time.
This is the "1930's photoshop" I am pointing out. That picture is fake. That is a fine example of engineers with too much time on their hands. The homes were not demolished, they never existed in the "former locations". That picture is fake. The overlay is simply that. Drawn maps from older time periods versus Google can yield shockingly different results. The main street realignment occurred, there are pictures of that and a bridge which still exists to this day. That was done to help traffic (trains , people and cars.)
2. Drawn maps vs. Google maps are not the only comparisons that confirm the "realignments" that took place. 3. Never said it didn't. Yes...trains, people, and cars. That's it. You sure you weren't born in Sellersville? Either that or you have been drinking a lot of their municipal Kool-Aid. Just make sure it's not made using their groundwater. You know, I bet bored NY Times and EWG employees photoshopped all these TCE violations onto this chart before their 2010 study exposed Sellersville as the 5th worst water supplier in the nation for said contamination: http://www.ewg.org/tap-water/whatsinyourwater/PA/Sellersville-Boro-Water-Works/1090062/
I'd be more than happy to continue this discussion, online or offline. I will lay out every last piece of information I have for your in-depth (and intriguing) review and assessment. I'm sure there will be a lot of shady photoshoppers uncovered from all walks of life. Email me your address and I will send you the publication copy as referenced above.
One issue at a time please. The town being moved. I will address the image from the guage. Yes, that is a real picture from the US GUAGE. Yes, I believe people were bored in the '30's as they are today. Look at "B" in that photo. on the left the house is not complete. As far as the water etc. I know the water has problems. NPWA is in charge of that. As far as the town being shifted and buildings being moved, if I find anything credible. I will post it.
This is a ridiculous--and useless--debate. It is, however, consistent with how things are handled there. "Land of the Free, Home of the Gauge." Put that on your 275th Anniversary banner. No other description (fit for public display) could be more appropriate. I'm bored. I'm going to go photoshop some houses onto pictures.