Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Judith Boyles has begun to capture moments from Lansdale's heyday. Giclee prints of two oil masterpieces are available for purchase to benefit Lansdale Historical Society
You could call Judy Boyles a memory preservationist. She has a knack for capturing majestic moments in nature via camera and recreating them on canvas, moments beautifully embedded in your mind or abstractly described as words in some memoir. Her latest oils are neither flora nor fauna, but this: nostalgia. Stand at West Main Street and N. Towamencin Avenue and look in the direction of the water tower; you see a parking lot for a Univest Insurance building that spans the entire block. In the 1920s, it looked much different. In fact, it was the crown jewel of town, frequented daily. On March 5, 1928, Lansdale Theater opened and remained on that site until its demolition in 1979. In its heyday, it was the place to see “All Talking Pictures…
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Chief Robert McDyre told the public safety committee that measures need to be taken to protect the 'valuable' assets at the Jenkins Homestead on Jenkins Avenue
After dealing with recent instances of vandalism at the Jenkins Homestead, the Lansdale Historical Society is getting some help from Lansdale Police and the borough public safety committee. Lansdale Police Chief Robert McDyre told the committee last week that no trespassing signs and surveillance cameras will soon be installed at the homestead. "I think the items are too valuable to suffer loss any further," McDyre said. Lansdale Historical Society President Dick Shearer said he has been very appreciative of the increased surveillance that the borough has provided ever since the increase in vandalism, which has ranged from graffiti on a historic home to damaged shakes on the roof of an 18th-century spring house. "I am very concerned about …
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Lansdale Historical Society held a community presentation Tuesday night called "Selling It!" which looked back on old advertisements from long-gone borough businesses
The Broad Street Speedway. Lansdale Marble Works. Lansdale Excursion Grounds. Bartholomew's Mens Store. Starr's Big 12th. Evan's Toy Land. To some, these names are familiar as the slogan "Good to the last drop." To others, not so much. Yet if you lived or grew up in Lansdale and the North Penn area from the 1930s through the 1970s, you probably frequented some of these stores or saw the slogans on advertisements. On Tuesday night, Lansdale Historical Society presented "Selling It!" a community presentation at the Lansdale Parks and Recreation Building that looked at the bygone advertisements of extinct businesses in the area. For instance, there was an ad for the Lansdale Marble Works, which was located where The Reporter stands today. …
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
Lansdale Historical Society presents “Selling It!” at 7:30 p.m. at the borough parks and recreation building. The community program is a retrospective of how local and national print ads influenced buying habits for more than 100 years. The event is free
1. Today is the 11th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on American soil by al-Qaeda terrorists. God Bless America and thank you to all our heroes, volunteers, rescue workers, firefighters, police officers, and enlisted men and women. 2. Lansdale Historical Society presents “Selling It!” at 7:30 p.m. at the borough parks and recreation building. The community program is a retrospective of how local and national print ads influenced buying habits for more than 100 years. The event is free. 3. North Wales Borough will be sprayed by the county health department to control the adult mosquito population and prevent West Nile Virus spreading from 8 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. 4. North Penn High School 12th Knight meets at 7 p.m. in Room E22 at the high …
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
The Lansdale Historical Society has been dealing with broken roofs, illicit spraypainting of historic structures and littering of needles and rubbish for the past few years. The public safety committee may offer some help
Some days, Lansdale Historical Society President Dick Shearer hates to pull up to Jenkins Homestead because he never knows what he will find. He knows it will never be something radical or drastic — just a little more of the same. For instance, take the metal pole sticking out of an elaborate and decorative white casting along the entrance to the homestead from the Jenkins Avenue sidewalk. It isn't as much a broken hitching post as it is an irreplaceable piece of Lansdale's history. The same can be said of the cedar shakes that adorn the roof of the Jenkins Homestead spring house. The slate steps between the research center and Jenkins house could become victims to skateboard tricks; a plywood ramp was recently confiscated by volunteers …
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Since early railroads were the cogs that drove growth and development in towns along their routes, it’s not surprising that residents of these communities took great pride in their train stations
- THE NEIGHBORHOOD FILES
- Dick Shearer
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Saturday, August 25, 2012
Since early railroads were the cogs that drove growth and development in towns along their routes, it’s not surprising that residents of these communities took great pride in their train stations. In the case of the North Penn Railroad, the line’s supervisors early on cautioned against building permanent stations until they could determine which stops actually had the potential to expand. That was typical up and down the NPRR in the 1850s and 1860s. Most depots were glorified wooden shelters just big enough to offer some protection from rain and snow. As time passed these primitive structures were replaced by better accommodations. Most of the second generation stations were still made of wood, but there were exceptions – case in point the…
Friday, August 24, 2012
The North Penn Railroad transformed the demographics of the region, creating many new towns and villages where none existed before. Lansdale may have been the luckiest of the lot
During the mid-1800s, the fastest way to transform a cornfield into a booming town was to build a railroad through it. That is exactly how Lansdale came to be. What is now Lansdale had been part of the Jenkins Farm, a 220-acre spread that amounted to a few houses, barns and chicken coops. Patriarch John Jenkins I’s house, built in 1770, is today the home of the Lansdale Historical Society. Back then, it was just another upper-middle class Welsh farmhouse surrounded by moderately fertile fields and dense woodland. The railroad changed that. As soon as plans were announced in 1853 for the North Penn Railroad’s route, local folks began to move closer to the tracks. After all, steam trains were the epitome of transportation during that era. …
The Lansdale Historical Society will show off one of the earliest documents related to Lansdale's history Saturday at Founders Day
One of the earliest documents related to Lansdale’s history will be on display at the Jenkins Homestead as part of the town’s Founders Day celebration Saturday, Aug. 25. A goatskin indenture dated 1749 affirms the sale of 20 acres of land in Montgomery Township to John Jenkins for the sum of 40 pounds. Jenkins, only age 30 at the time, was adding to the original 250-acre Jenkins Homestead given to him by his father, Jenkin Jenkins in 1745. According to the indenture – an agreement between two parties – the tract in question was bordered what are now East Main, North Line and East Third Streets, and Lansdale Avenue. It is the only land ever owned by the Jenkins family in Montgomery Township. Jenkins purchased it from Benjamin and Mary …
Monday, May 21, 2012
The second annual Spring Tea fundraiser at Elm Terrace featured a look back on eight decades of wedding traditions
Here came the brides, all dressed in white (and black too). The ladies of the Lansdale Historical Society board and its membership pool held the second annual Spring Tea at Elm Terrace Gardens on Saturday with the theme "An Affiar to Remember." Female family members of the ladies of the society sashayed in through the Dorothy Stiteler Dining Room in wedding gowns from the 1920s through the 2000s. Colleen Peterson, of Harleysville Bridal, emceed the fashion show. The event also featured photos of notable Lansdale residents present and past on their wedding days. There were also wedding tradition artifacts donated by various members. The Mennonite Heritage Center in Franconia provided a dress from the 1880s that was for display only. Check …
Saturday, May 19, 2012
There's so much going on, it called for an extended rundown: Towamencin Day, Lansdale Historical Society fundraiser, Montgomery Township Police Day, the Lansdale Farmers' Market opening and more
1. The Lansdale Farmers’ Market opens for the season today on Railroad Avenue at 9 a.m. 2. Morgan Log House, 850 Weikel Road, Towamencin, holds an exhibition with more than 100 items from the Revolutionary War to the Vietnam War during “Military Might: The Few and The Many” from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is free. 3. Towamencin Day is today from noon to 4 p.m. in Fischer’s Park, 2225 Bustard Road, Towamecnin. Featured this year are the Montgomery County Concert Band, North Penn jazz bands, dog agility shows by K-9 JYM, inflatables by A+ Jump, face painting, balloon animals and police and fire activities. There will be food by Chick-fil-A, as well as hot dogs, water ice and more. There will be overflow parking with shuttle service from the…
Judith Boyles
9:55 am on Sunday, September 23, 2012
Linda, I'll have to look into the availability of research photos. more ›