Post Office may be ‘Snowed Under’ but it still delivers

Post Office 'Snowed Under'“Post Office Snowed Under With Parcels” read the headline in the old yellowed newspaper stored in our archive box in the Library basement.

I first saw this when working a few years ago on a piece about the Riverton Post Office – or offices – since there were a few over time.

No date – I looked on both sides for some hint.

But someone will know.

Al ‘Zipcode” Zidock, the BCT photog, captured Postal Clerks Frank Vacanti and William Wildman, Postmaster Joseph Yearly, and Postman Samuel Procopio on the job at the big brick former Riverton Post Office on Main.

Then, as now, the US Post Office continues to deliver.

Let me illustrate.

Jeff at Joie Budget Printing in Cinnaminson turned around our print job in just one day, so I printed, stuffed, and stamped envelopes Tuesday and rushed the newsletters to the post office before 5pm.

Coming right as the US Post Office prepares for its busiest delivery days of the year, I figured it would take a Christmas Miracle for newsletters to get to Society members before the New Year.

Despite handling record-breaking volume again this year, the USPS has already delivered at least one newsletter to a Riverton address. I spoke to Nancy Hall this morning (Weds.), and she had already received her mail-delivered copy.  Pretty remarkable.

And thank you very much, USPS. – JMc

P.S. For more history of Riverton’s Post Office, posted in 2012, CLICK HERE.

 

 

 

Mugs with vintage imagery evoke memories and make great hostess gifts

RYC-lady mug

No guest wants to show up to dinner empty-handed, especially around the Holidays.

Such so-called bread and butter gifts, or hostess gifts, are what a guest gives as a thank you to the host, whether for a dinner or as an overnight guest. 

But finding the perfect present can be tricky, even if you’ve known the host/hostess for years.

This is one unique gift that will have everyone asking, “Where did you get that?”

Choose from many 11-ounce dishwasher safe and microwave safe mugs. Each displays vintage photos and/or maps from our extensive image archive. See more details on our STORE page.

Come to the used book sale at Riverton Library this Sunday, Dec. 20, from 1-3 pm and pick yours.  – JMc

Not in the mood yet? Blame the weather

Woodside La lights
Woodside La lights

So maybe we all just needed this cold snap to get us into a holiday spirit. Driving around to look at the lights in town gets me going, too.

Main and Broad lights
Main and Broad lights
Lippincott Ave lights
Lippincott Ave lights

Recent seventy degree days just seem wrong for December, but then I must be too provincial in my thinking.

You know, we have Rivertonians who check in here from across the miles and coast to coast, so I guess one adapts one’s concept of the Season to wherever they are, whether it is Maine, South Carolina, or Florida, Connecticut or Washington.

Still, there’s a reason the phrase “There’s no place like home” was coined.

Do you know someone who would enjoy connecting with their old hometown through a membership in the Historical Society of Riverton?

gift-cardsHere is a Gift Enclosure that you can print out and give directly to your recipient.

2016 membership dues form snapshotChoose the PDF form to download: Main Street Railroad Station or the Sidewheeler Columbia.

Print the Gift Enclosure on any paper you choose, double-sided and fold it in thirds. It will fit into a #10 business envelope.

Then print out the 2016 Membership Form, fill out the information, and send it in with a check so membership can start right away in January. Instructions you need are on that form. – JMc

 

 

 

 

 

 

Look for someone you know in Bruce Gunn’s 1950s era color slides

Show your kids (or grandkids) Riverton and the Camden waterfront as they appeared in the 1950’s thanks to these rare color slides donated by Bruce Gunn. With a high-resolution scan and some minor photo editing, these look like they were just taken.

Click on the thumbnails for larger views. Look for the link to the full size view.

It’s hard to imagine that the everyday items, maps, and photos of the 50s, 60s, and 70s are the collectibles and antiques of today. Have you any to share? – JMc

Only 2 shopping days until Christmas

GN nast-santa-clause mug squareWell, that’s right if you only count tomorrow, Sunday, Dec. 13 and next Sunday, the 20th, for your chance to buy a mug with vintage hometown images from our archives.

It seems that every shopper has a story to go with the mug they choose.

Nancy Hall recalls riding the train into Philadelphia to go to Pierce Business School. Hubby, Bill, wants a Japanese beetle mug.

I will put that on the wish list. Along with one – or more – about Dreer’s Nursery. I do love a project.

Everyone seems to have a favorite RYC mug (there are several variations on that theme).

Other Riverton landmarks include the Porch Club, Main Street, Golf Club, War Memorial, and more.

Vintage postcard views of Riverside, Palmyra, and Moorestown ornament mugs for our neighboring towns.

031 How Riverton's Glorious Fourth Started
031 How Riverton’s Glorious Fourth Started

On a recent foray down to the RFL catacombs, Deb Lengyel suggested I make a July 4th mug.

Here’s a prototype – what do you think?

The central image, displayed here, which came from an old postcard owned by Nick Mortgu, shows the parade marching toward the riverbank.

Other mugs display images contributed, at least virtually, by Betty Hahle, Ed Gilmore, myself, and others. Dick Paladino’s RYC photo, displayed here, is the centerpiece for mugs #8 and #11. Several images are from a huge batch of postcards Deb Lengyel scanned for me in 2005, that belonged to an eBay seller.

My favorites are the ones based on maps. I bought a single page of an 1876 atlas on eBay a while back and turned that into mug #9. Phyllis Rodgers’ hand colored of an 1890 map Riverton is the basis for mugs #3, #10, and #30.

The point is, many hands over a long time have contributed to this enterprise that is only just becoming available now.

We have now caught up to Baskin-Robbins.

You know, with the 31 flavors. The “31 flavors” slogan was thought up to convey to customers they could have a different flavor every day of the month.

While we do not have every design on hand, we do still have a good choice of about 30 mugs from which to choose.

See the latest mug shot poster on our STORE page.

I will be at the Riverton Free Library used book sale from 1-3 if you want to come by to shop, or just tell a story.

Wait. I just found out Baskin-Robins has actually introduced more than 1,000 flavors. Do you have an idea for mug #32? – JMc

You won’t find these gifts at Macy’s

gibson girl mug thought (Copy)Need a gift idea? We have about 35 mugs featuring vintage images from our archives on hand and ready to go. See the samples in this earlier post.

I just sent in another order for shoppers who stopped in today at the Riverton Library’s used book sale. I will set up shop again next Sunday, Dec. 13, and again on Sunday, Dec. 20.

Questions?  Please email rivertonhistory@gmail.com

If you have never ventured below stairs at the Library, come see a work in progress. We must get materials properly stored and cataloged. Then we can work out how to best display things. I do not have a timetable on when we would be open for visitors – there is still so much left to do.

Speaking of “left to do”… look for the November Gaslight News with a form enclosed for paying 2016 dues closer to Christmas. So make that a December Gaslight News.

What can I say – people are busy. – JMc

Scholars glean new understanding of region’s role in the Civil War

P.S. Duval & Son, United States Soldiers at Camp "William Penn" Philadelphia, PA:"Rally Round the Flag, Boys! Rally Once Again, Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom" (Philadelphia: Published by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments, 1210 Chestnut Street), 1863. Chromolithograph with hand-coloring.
P.S. Duval & Son, United States Soldiers at Camp “William Penn” Philadelphia, PA:”Rally Round the Flag, Boys! Rally Once Again, Shouting the Battle Cry of Freedom” (Philadelphia: Published by the Supervisory Committee for Recruiting Colored Regiments, 1210 Chestnut Street), 1863. Chromolithograph with hand-coloring.

Learn how a church cemetery in Cinnaminson and a young black man from Riverton are linked to the decision to enlist African Americans into the Union army and to train them just across the Delaware River in Camp William Penn.

 

Jay Howard presents his findings to a well-attended meeting Jan 2014
Jay Howard presents his findings to a well-attended meeting Jan 2014

We pass along notice of this event received from our friend, Jay Howard, of Palmyra’s Historical Society.

Readers will remember we mentioned here in 2014, that Jay and others have studied Civil War muster sheets and a donated diary gaining great insight into the part this area played in that conflict. Presumably, this new presentation grew from that research.

 

African American Soldiers in the Civil War – Trinity A.M.E. Church Cemetery, Camp William Penn, and Henry Poke

Presented by Donald Scott, author of Camp William Penn 1863-1865: America’s First Federal African American Soldiers’ Fight for Freedom, and Jay Howard, Palmyra Historical & Cultural Society

Thursday, 17 December 6:30pm-8:00pm

Cinnaminson Branch, Burlington County Library

1619 Riverton Road Cinnaminson , NJ 08077

Phone: 856-829-9340

2016 marks 100 years since the Japanese beetle invaded N. America

New Era, July 11, 1919, p2.
New Era, July 11, 1919, p2.

And guess where the pests made landfall after their trip across the ocean.

Riverton, NJ.

Yeah, you could google that. Riverton’s Wikipedia page mentions it under HISTORY. “In 1916, Japanese beetles, now a widespread insect pest in the United States, were first discovered in a nursery near Riverton.”

Apparently, they arrived in the grub stage some years prior, as they snuggled in the root balls of some iris plants imported from Japan bound for Dreer’s Nursery.

In the “We get letters” section on page 4 of the Oct. 2015 GN I introduced readers to Ken Frank, a Philadelphia physician who lives in “old” center
city Philadelphia.

Ken had inquired through this website if someone could show him where Dreer’s Nursery was when he would be visiting Riverton in July.

Would I? Yessss.

My wife Linda and I met Ken and his wife Sue at the Light Rail Station in mid-July and we gave them the fifty-cent tour.

Ecology of Center City Philadelphia by Kenneth D. Frank
Ecology of Center City Philadelphia by Kenneth D. Frank

A lot has happened since then.

His 29 chapter book, Ecology of Center City, Philadelphia, which takes a historical approach in examining the natural history of downtown Philadelphia, is now available in paperback and as a free PDF online.

Ken will speak at a meeting of  the American Entomological Society in the library of the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia on Wednesday, Dec. 2, about the centennial of the North American introduction of the Japanese beetle.  The meeting starts at 7pm.

The Riverton contingent of Ken’s cheering section will consist of Nancy and Bill Hall, Jeannie Francis, my wife Linda, and me.

Bill Hall recalls some details about Japanese beetles in Riverton – says he used to be paid a bounty for catching them by the quart jarful.

Jeannie is a Master Gardener who not only has first-hand experience in dealing with the pests, she had relatives who worked at Dreers and knows some family stories passed to her about the beetles.

Get used to it because you can be sure it will occur to someone in this Centennial Year of the critter’s discovery in Riverton that it would be cute to have the story on the six o’clock news.

The meeting is free and open to the public. Enter the Academy through the door on 19th Street near the corner with Cherry Street, and the security guard will direct you to the meeting room. One parking lot that is close is on 19th Street, just across Cherry Street where the Academy is located. Find directions here.

If you have experience with battling Japanese beetles near here or can pass along a beetle anecdote, let me know below or comment on Facebook. – JMc