Best Wishes from the Society

Best Wishes - undated
Whew! You’d be tired too if you just scanned over 200 old postcards.

Recently, Mary Yearly Flanagan emailed me and offered to let us display her family’s collection of vintage picture postcards.

Except for a couple of dozen postcards from the 1930s, it is an eclectic mix of greeting and travel postcards that her ancestor received from relations and acquaintances over a century ago.  We sincerely thank Mrs. Flanagan for generously allowing us to display her treasured family mementos.

A typical album for a postcard collection from the "Golden Age" of American postcards c. 1910. The album model is "The Ideal", and it was made by the J.L. Hanson Co., Chicago.

These penny postcards were the social media of the day and an easy and affordable way for folks to keep in touch.  During the so-called Golden Age of Postcards from about 1907-1915, people mailed them to friends and relatives, not just for special occasions, but also for everyday communication. Postcard sending and collecting became a huge craze and every household had its family postcard album out on display.

If you are a regular visitor to this website, then you already know that the massive photo and postcard collection shown on the Images page is mostly just a virtual collection. Of course we do have a physical photo archive, but it is a fraction of the size of the many hundreds of image scans shown on the Images page.

If you have historic photos or postcards. artifacts, ephemera, or collectibles please consider donating them to the Historical Society of Riverton. As an alternative, we also welcome scans or photos for our records if you are going to dispose of the items elsewhere.

Enjoy this first perfectly timed first installment–a handful of Easter postcards simply addressed to Miss Clara Yearly, Riverside, NJ, over one hundred years ago.  How extraordinarily lucky Mary’s family is that these “postals” (as the writers of yesteryear referred to them) have survived with their vintage images and endearing messages intact.

In this age of instant messaging, cell phones, and emails what evidence of our everyday images and correspondence will remain for future generations to look back upon a century from now? – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor

 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all; Join the fray and add your chapter to the Riverton Saga

vintage St. Patrick's Day card - image courtesy Moore's Postcard Museum

Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all!

Today is a good day to reprise the popular back-issue of the Gaslight News from March 2010 that ran the article about Riverton’s Irish Row by Priscilla Taylor.

At the time, so many people asked for extra copies to send to family members,  we had to get more printed.

 

The article apparently also evoked memories and motivated several comments on the website about growing up Irish in Riverton.

It also irked at least one reader because a family name was not included in the “A Sampling of Irish Row Occupants Living on Cinnaminson Street —Irish Row (according to Riverton’s 1900 Census).”

    • 703 – Annie McDonald (hairdresser)
    • 707 – Nora Williams
    • 709 – Julia & Patrick Ford (day laborer)
    • 710 – James Flynn (florist)
    • 712 – Annie & James McIlvain (coachman)
    • 717 – Virginia & Patrick Rarins
    • 721 – Maggie & John McDermott (steamfitter)
    • 723 – Mary & Patrick Jordan (day laborer)

Certainly, there are many more names that could be included for 1900, and more still for other years. With increasing interest in genealogy and the popularity of websites such as ancestry.com that help with the task of discovering family stories, it is very likely that someone reading this can add another paragraph to this article, if not an entire chapter.

The person who is in the best position to tell your story is the person most closely connected to it.  So please, send us more information, and we will incorporate it into what we have.  Maybe someone will write a sequel.

Irish Row children Cinnaminson Ave., Oct. 1922

Since the original publication, several readers have volunteered information or images such as this one sent in by Mary Yearly Flanagan.

In 2011, a reader recognized the photo of Kate the Cook shown in the March 2010 Gaslight News, pg. 5 as her great-grandmother.

That is just the kind of connection I hope that can happen here as we all collaborate on gathering more information.

Catherine “Kate” Toohey McLyndon

At the Museum for a Day this past December, a woman remarked that her mother had been one of those Irish servants working in the big houses on the river. I gave her my card and pleaded with her to contact me so that I could find out more.

But it’s almost four months later, and no word. People get busy and, let’s face it, this stuff is way at the bottom of one’s to-do list.

If there is ever anything whatsoever that you can add to this collection, please do not hesitate to contact us.  Don’t think that something is too small or insignificant because that bit might be just what we need to fill in a missing piece of a larger puzzle. Don’t imagine that we are experts or that we know it all.

We thank Moore’s Postcard Museum for the vintage St. Patrick’s Day card pictured above. This one came from the March 2011 post, but there are three more antique St. Patrick’s Day cards just posted there today, March 17, 2012.

Mayor Bill Brown tells us that so far he has eight names to add to the Riverton Honor Roll next Memorial Day.  Last week we added another photo to the Riverton Honor Roll Album -Donald Rogers Taylor.

The landscape improvements and beautification efforts at the War Memorial  site have truly revitalized that public space. Expanding eligibility for veterans to include “…any present or former resident of the Borough of Riverton, New Jersey who served on active duty in the Armed Forces of the United States of America during a time of war” has brought well-deserved recognition to veterans of other conflicts in addition to World War Two.

Please visit the Riverton War Memorial next to Riverton Square on South Main Street, next to the River LINE tracks. See information on the Veterans Page if you want to submit a veteran’s name for consideration. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor

 

Batsto bus trip April 28 sponsored by Palmyra Historical & Cultural Society

No, you’re not on the wrong webpage.

Will Valentino from THE PALMYRA HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL SOCIETY asked if we could help get the word out about a bus trip to Batsto, so here it goes. Will’s copy follows:

Now that Spring is in the air and the Daffodils are blowing in the cool breeze of March, you may wish to reconsider The Palmyra Historical Society’s bus trip to Batsto village on April 28th. Information and updated revised flyer attached.

PLEASE FORWARD THIS E-MAIL TO ANYONE INTERESTED OR PRINT THE ATTACHED FLYER AND POST IT IN A PUBLIC VENUE FOR US !

Hello Friend of the Palmyra Historical & Cultural Society ,

On April 28th, join fellow residents and history buffs  as we travel back in time to Batsto village in the heart of the Pine Barrens. I have attached a brochure listing details,cost and tour schedule.

There  are only 55 seats available . We recommend you book your reservations early for this fascinating trip into New Jersey’s past.

If you have any questions, you can e-mail  Society trustee Genevieve Lumia  @  gen.lumia@comcast.net  or call Judy at 856-456-1121.  We will be accompanied by a tour guide who is an expert on pinelands history.

So, travel back in time with us and help support the Palmyra Historical & Cultural Society.

Hope to see you there.

Will Valentino Author of BACK IN TIME Trustee, Palmyra Historical & Cultural Society

As citizens dealt with the Great Depression in 1933, Dreer’s prepared for the Philadelphia Flower Show

New Era masthead March 23, 1933

Marge Habernn’s recent donation of a rare 1933 New Era newspaper proves here to be grist for the first of several posts from this blog mill.

Readers of that nickel weekly hometown gazette in the first quarter of March 1933 were no doubt hopeful to receive some good news that would release them from the grip of economic hardships brought on by the Great Depression.

An upbeat editorial titled “American Morale” supported the recent “bank holiday” and remarked on the amazing power given President Roosevelt during this “new deal,” calling it a “great event.”

Apparently, the Palmyra National Bank was reopening after being put into the hands of a conservator.  The article explained that old accounts were restricted— “no checks against them will be honored.” The good news—the bank recorded $33,000 in deposits from Saturday to Tuesday.

Historical note: President Roosevelt had only just assumed the presidency of a nation in economic chaos on March 4. Prior to his taking office, there had been a month-long run on banks. He immediately declared a nationwide bank holiday that shut down the banking system for a week. Congress introduced the Emergency Banking Act of 1933 on March 9 and passed it the same evening. Roosevelt appealed directly to Americans to prevent a resumption of bank withdrawals in his first Fireside Chat on March 12. The following week banks reopened on as depositors stood in line to return their hoarded cash.

Riverton’s slashed tax rate made the front page—down fifty-eight cents to $3.60 from $4.18 the previous year. Borough and school taxes took hard hits, with employees taking a ten percent pay cut. They even pared down the fund for Riverton’s beloved Fourth of July celebrations. The dire situation downstream prompted Palmyra to issue scrip with which to pay teachers and town employees that was acceptable for payment on taxes, sewer fees, and other such borough indebtedness.

Philadelphia Flower Show, New Era, March 23, 1933, pg 3

Elsewhere in the paper, the Welfare Committee urgently appealed to the generosity of Riverton and Cinnaminson for more funds so that it could aid 133 registered unemployed. They also needed children’s and men’s shoes of every size.(Riverton population would decline during the decade from 1930-1940 from 2483 to 2354, a 5.2% drop)

Things were tough all over, kids.

An ad on page three for the Philadelphia Flower Show was a familiar sign of spring. If one could not live like a millionaire in these tight times, for a 75¢ admission, at least they could go to the Philadelphia Flower Show and see “a million dollars’ worth of fragrant blossoming plants, many in varieties shown for the first time.”

The Philadelphia Flower Show had been a Philadelphia tradition since 1829 when twenty-five Pennsylvania Horticultural Society members showed off their horticultural treasures in a building on Chestnut Street. Billed as “largest indoor flower show in the world,” the Philadelphia Flower Show continues this week at the Pennsylvania Convention Center from Sunday, March 4 – Sunday, March 11, 2012.

Dreer Flower Show, New Era, March 23, 1933, pg 2
New Dawn 1932 Dreer Garden Book pg 134

The employees of Henry A. Dreer very likely must have prepared for some time for the upcoming Philadelphia Flower Show. A page two column, “Dreer’s Exhibit at the Flower Show” gave New Era readers an insider’s preview of the elaborate display of water lilies in a pool encircling a piece of statuary and a full 6,000 square feet of space devoted entirely to a garden of Dreer’s famed roses.

Among rose growers, the announcement of a new hybrid was, and still is, a highly anticipated event, even in tough times. The first patented plant in the world was “New Dawn,” introduced by Henry Dreer in 1930. Decades later, the repeat-flowering climbing rose remains a classic choice for gardeners today.

Mrs. J.D. Eisele Rose Dreer Garden Book 1934, pg 166-167
The star of the show in 1933 was the sensational new dark cerise-pink, Mrs. J. D. Eisele, named in honor of the wife of then-president of the Dreer firm.

For the rest of this post, I refer you to what former Riverton Town Historian, Mrs. Betty B. Hahle, wrote for her “Yesterday” column in the December 1977 Gaslight News about the impact of Dreer’s on Riverton. Betty’s column follows exactly as she wrote it 35 years ago.

– John McCormick, Gaslight News editor

Yesterday

Dreer greenhouses

Dreer’s Nurseries in Riverton were known throughout the world. It was founded in Philadelphia in 1838 as a seed and plant farm, prospered and grew, moved, and in 1873 located permanently in Riverton.  It became the town’s largest industry, and was instrumental in its development from a tiny resort area to a bustling community of families who built homes and churches and who were active in a large number of clubs and civic organizations.

Original Calvary Presbyterian Church

The site had been selected 5 years before, influenced by available land, proximity to major cities, and excellent transportation (railroad and boat). It spread northward from Cinnaminson St., on both sides of the railroad, to cover about 100 acres. On the river side of the railroad were greenhouses covering almost 8 acres which, in the early 1900s, required 3000 tons of coal per season to heat. At the same time, 150 men were regularly employed in gardens, packing sheds, and other parts of the Nurseries, and in the busy season the number increased to 200.

Mrs. Dreer presented a pulpit to the Presbyterian church, a memorial to Henry A. Dreer, which both had been instrumental in founding the year after the nursery came to Riverton.

Dreer lily ponds – Riverton

The Nurseries became an integral part of the town. Dreer’s whistle sent many a housewife scurrying to have a meal on the table when her husband or son came home for lunch, and was a dependable check on the old parlor clock.

A leisurely Sunday afternoon found many people, visitors and residents alike, strolling through magnificent greenhouse showrooms of rare specimens from all over the world, or through the rose gardens, where over 500 varieties of standard and hybridized roses bloomed.

Philadelphia Flower Show medal – Mrs. J.D. Eisele Rose

Or to the lily ponds, over 8 acres of them along the creek and on both sides of the railroad, where some specimen plants had pads 6 feet across and could support a man’s weight, and where not only goldfish swam, but also some tropical varieties accidentally imported along with the water plants. In the 1930s it was even possible to fly over the acres of flowers in bloom in a small open plane (remember the little airport on S-17). Helen Van Pelt Wilson illustrated her garden books with pictures taken at Dreer’s Nurseries, and in some of the local gardens. And at the Philadelphia Flower Show, Dreer’s roses were consistent 1st place winners.

The late Town Historian, Mrs. Betty B. Hahle

After a century of developing improved strains of vegetables, grasses, small fruits, and many flowers and shrubs, Dreer’s Nurseries closed their doors for the last time, during WW II. In less than 30 years the stores, parking lots, houses and apartments and industries that replaced the nurseries have erased it all, making it hard to picture the beauty that was once there. – BBH 1977

(Some inf. from The New Era, Christmas, 1909)

Dreer rose trial grounds 1932 Garden Book, pg 120

Filling in some missing pieces

Just want to let you know that a couple of new posts are on the website – they are just on other tabs. There’s a recap of the Feb. 24th Plum Run performance at Riverview Estates on the Programs and Events page.

At the conclusion of that program, a Riverview staff member gave me two hardback “coffee table” books that someone attending the performance had asked him to give to the Historical Society. No word of the anonymous benefactor, so I’ll just express our thanks here.

Beach Haven Yacht Club, Beach Haven, NJ
Another bonus was that HSR member John Palko sought me out to loan us some postcards for scanning and posting to the LBI section of the Images page. These seven vintage linen-era postcards truly are in mint condition. They are shown in the picture gallery below and are also integrated with the dozens of other Long Beach Island views on the Images page.

Regular visitors to this website know that the Society actually owns a scant few of the postcards displayed on the Images page. Almost all the images are the result of the kindnesses of many people who have either sent us files of scanned images or allowed us to do the scanning.

We, of course, love to receive donations of items. However, given the limited supply of these unique and historically important artifacts and collectibles, a photo of the item is preferable to nothing at all. We are fortunate indeed to have received so many scanned images and are in a position to share them with a wider audience.

When you send in your comments and recollections about an image or a story posted here, it becomes part of what might be termed the Society’s “collective memories” and often helps fill in missing pieces or gives another perspective to a topic. So please, find those comment icons throughout this website and leave some memories behind.

Riverton Post Office RPPC courtesyDoug D’Avino, “Post Offices of New Jersey – A History Told Through Postcards,” New Jersey Postal History Society
While on the subject of postcards, here is a choice real photo post card (RPPC) of a  Riverton landmark. Better known as Freddy”s Shoe Repair today, this frame building at 609 Main Street has experienced several past lives in its various reincarnations through Riverton’s former times.

Click on the image to get the larger resolution version. Notice the shape of the windows on the back addition to 609 Main.

The pointed tops of those Gothic shaped windows are a clue to the building’s first purpose as a Sunday school building that William P. Ellison presented to Christ Episcopal parish in 1876 as a Centennial  offering. (1909 New Era, pg. 12)

When the church erected a new Parish House in 1895,  Samuel Rudderow, purchased the structure and moved it to its present site at 609 Main. Rudderow was a local architect-builder who constructed a number of the houses on Lippincott Avenue- at least some of them of his own design. (BBH GN #035 Sept 1984)

From 1904-1907 the newly formed Porch Club rented the building; they took possession of their permanent quarters at Fourth and Howard in 1909. (1909 New Era, pg. 19)

The building at 609 Main, now occupied by Freddy’s Shoe Repair, served as the fifth of Riverton’s eight post office locations from 1909-1931.

In 1937, the New Era newspaper moved its operation from 607 Main (partly visible at the left side of the postcard) where it remained until about 1975. (1965 New Era, pg. 18).

This rare postcard came into our virtual collection after the publication of the February newsletter  – the one with the article I co-wrote with Mrs. Pat Solin called, “Special Delivery – Riverton’s United States Post Office.”  While trolling the internet hoping to catch more information so I could produce a beefed up version of that post office story for our website I happened to find this picture displayed in a New Jersey Postal History Society’s photo gallery. 

To cut to the denouement, I struck a deal with the postcard owner – we get to display the former Riverton Post Office image and I will send him the extended version of our Riverton Post Office story when I finish it for publication in his newsletter. Win-win.

The longer article with more text, maps, photos, and newspaper clippings, etc. than could be fitted into the print edition is still in production. I’ll post it here when completed.

The New Jersey Postal History Society, established in 1972, has an extensive website filled with a wealth of research, information, resource links, a member photo gallery, and a calendar of events. Check out NJPHS member Doug D’Avino’s incredible photo gallery, “Post Offices of New Jersey – A History Told Through Postcards” where you will see dozens of NJ post offices from Adamston to Yardville represented on postcards .

You can find the latest February issue of our newsletter, the Gaslight News, under the Gaslight News tab.

I just picked up the March 2011 issue of The Positive Press when I was out today.  Publisher Regina M. Collinsgru did a super job on the layout for the Society’s article. It’s the same “Special Delivery” post office story that is in the Gaslight News, but that publication reaches many more households than we have on our membership rolls.

True to its name, The Positive Press prints news stories and human interest articles with an upbeat perspective, often with a nostalgic aspect. Send the link to a friend or family member across the miles so that they can catch up on hometown news from Riverside, Delanco, Delran, Palmyra, Riverton, and Cinnaminson.

Another recent post that might have been missed is the one on the creation of the Riverton Military and Veterans Affairs Committee by Riverton Borough Council. Find out more about it and see the updated Honor Roll Album – the HSR’s salute to honor those men and women of Riverton who have served their country in time of war – under the Riverton Veterans tab.

Since I posted the PowerPoint presentation about the Welsbach Streetlamp Company on which  Jeff Cole and I collaborated in 2007 (along with some other Welsbach literature), we have received several queries from visitors who have needed technical help or parts for their gaslamps. Find lots more Welsbach items here. Just to be clear – the Society doesn’t maintain the streetlights.

Boulevard Model Welsbach Gaslamp

These links are for suppliers that sell glass and acrylic globes for Welsbach lamps. The original company is long out of business. The only help I can give is to refer readers to the following vendor list.  Hope it helps. Like anything else, just be sure that you are getting the right part for your model. Riverton lamps are the Boulevard model.

http://www.gas-lights.com/globes.html  Gas-lights.com is based in Wisconsin. This page shows the globe (glass or acrylic)  and milkglass dome – parts often needing replacement.

http://www.charm-lite.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=8_11 Same deal – Boulevard model reproduction parts

http://www.pennglobe.com/  This company lists parts on the Victorian section of the catalog http://www.pennglobe.com/index_files/Page1966.htm

I received word that former Riverton resident Marge Habernn moved to Virginia and left a New Era newspaper with an acquaintance to be donated to the Society. I only had to pick it up from Mike Digney – literally a block away from my home in Delran. This was extraordinarily thoughtful of Marge since this is an issue that is not in the microfilm collection of Riverton Library. There will be more about what we can glean from this priceless time capsule on another blog post. With no forwarding address for Ms. Habernn, I can only express my heartfelt thanks.

POCAX-2012 Announcement

If an interest in old postcards brought you here, you may want to save this date: May 5, 2012. The South Jersey Postcard Club is having a postcard show at Double Tree Suites Hotel in Mount Laurel. The next regular membership meeting is March 11 in Marlton. Find more information on their website.

That is how it goes here as we try to fill in the missing pieces of this Riverton history jigsaw puzzle.

Let us know if you can fill in another piece or if we have one in the wrong place. It’s more fun if we do this together.

– John McCormick, Gaslight News editor

 

Plum Run gig at Riverview Estates well attended; Find more of their music here

Forecast: Cloudy, drizzle, with 100 percent chance of entertainment inside by Plum Run
Lisa Godino and Chuck Winch – authentic looking and sounding Civil War era musicians
Last Friday, Feb. 24, 2012, the performing duo known as Plum Run played to a full house at Riverview Estates while a light drizzle fell just outside 303 Bank Avenue. Inside, spirits were not dampened by the misty scene that served as the musicians’ backdrop for the evening performance. Refreshments provided by the staff of Riverview Estates diminished any residual chills remaining.

Songs of the Civil War: History and Myth was a  free concert, part of an ongoing series of HSR history programs to commemorate the Sesquicentennial.of the American Civil War.

Part-historical interpreters, part-storytellers, part-music instructors, and part-accomplished musicians and talented songwriters as well, they fiddled and strummed, plucked and sang for the enjoyment of the public and the residents of the Baptist Home.  

Lisa Godino explains
Plus, whatever you call it when you clack those bones together. Lisa tells more about her fly swatting technique of getting sound from the percussion instrument with an ancient past.

Plum Run album cover

Besides singing and playing songs authored during the Civil War, the pair performed new original songs from their album “No Longer Gray Or Blue” which sounded just as authentic as the ones from the 1860s.

Between our Publicist, Susan Dechnik, and myself, we captured the still shots that you find displayed on this post. Click here to view a 3 minute 167MB MP4 movie file with several video clips of their performance that evening. Give this big file a few moments to load.

Lisa and Chuck told about the instruments
You can find out more about the harmonious collaboration that is Plum Run at plumrunmusic.com and on any one of several other places on the web like myspace.com  that post some of their music.

For a concert on your computer, check out ourstage.com and click on play all to listen to 19 full versions of their songs plus two videos. The selections there represent a wider range from the pair’s musical repertoire than just the historical variety.

Riverview Estates 303 Bank Ave. Sept. 2008

A good part of the real estate of the current Riverview Estates, or the Baptist Home, once belonged to Mr. Ezra Lippincott whose home and family have been the subject of many of Betty Hahle’s Yesterday columns in the Gaslight News over the years.

Use the search box on this website and you’ll find some of the more recent text and image references to  Lippincotts and 303 Bank Avenue. Riverview Estates publishes a history of beginnings and website located here.

This program was funded by the Horizons Speakers Bureau of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

As always, comment, challenge, complain, or contribute, if you please. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor

Plum Run performs songs of the Civil War at Riverview Estates Feb. 24, 2012

Riverview Estates at 303 Bank Avenue in Riverton will host the Historical Society of Riverton’s February program on Friday, February 24, at 7:00 p.m.  Songs of the Civil War: History and Myth is a lively and engaging musical history program featuring Plum Run with Lisa Godino and Chuck Winch. 

This free concert is part of an ongoing series of HSR history programs to commemorate the American Civil War Sesquicentennial honoring the legacy of freedom, unity and sacrifice shared by our nation during the last 150 years. The public is welcome to attend the free concert by calling Gerald Weaber at 856-786-6961 to reserve a seat.

Plum Run’s entertaining and informative performance brings to life the spirit and sensibilities of the Civil War era.  They play reproduction and period musical instruments while wearing authentic 19th century attire.  Their music, rich in storytelling culture, incorporates folk, bluegrass, and old-time and traditional country music.  During the question and answer period after the performance, the instruments will be on display.

The Positive Press Community Calendar, a piece in the Gaslight News, and posters displayed around town all beckon to HSR members and the public to come in to get out of the cold on Friday night February 24 and enjoy this warmhearted entertainment among friends.

Chuck’s great grandfather fought at the Battle of Gettysburg, and Lisa is a Civil War re-enactor with the 2nd South Carolina, Valley Division. Their repertoire includes both songs of the mid-19th century and original compositions drawn from their album titled “No Longer Gray or Blue” which tells stories of how soldiers may have felt in the time of war and the yearning of their families for their loved ones.

Here’s another link to a Plum Run performance of a song called Iverson’s Pit dedicated to the 23rd North Carolinians. Hearing the pair play this song with such genuine flair and vocalize those powerful, sometimes mournful, lyrics so expressively is, to me, like listening to a history lesson set to music.  I absolutely recommend that you attend this free public performance at the former Baptist Home on Bank Avenue by the River in Riverton.

This performance by Plum Run marks the second year of Sesquicentennial events sponsored by the Historical Society of Riverton.  This past October, Jane Peters Estes lectured on the topic, “Gettysburg: Where Were the Women?” and in July 2011, a three-day exhibition at the Burlington County Farm profiled the lives of Riverton Civil War veterans.

Please join us on February 24th for a truly unique musical history program.  The public is welcome to attend the free performance. Call Gerald Weaber at 856-786-6961 to reserve a seat.  Free refreshments will follow the program, courtesy of Riverview Estates.

This program is funded by the Horizons Speakers Bureau of the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, a state partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities.  – JM

Passing along word of two upcoming events and maybe a chance for your 15 minutes

Following are two descriptions of upcoming events that HSR Board member Mrs. Pat Brunker passes along.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC SEEKS OBJECT FOR NEW TV SERIES
AMERICA’S LOST TREASURES,
the week of January 29, 2012.
at Winterthur Museum, Wilmington, DE

If you have something that relates to a person, place, or event that you think may have historical significance contact us ASAP as space is limited! Email us today to find out if you have one of America’s Lost Treasures!
AmericasNationalTreasures@gmail.com

Or, submit an item today via: www.natgeotv.com/losttreasures

America’s Lost Treasures, a new television series from National Geographic, is searching the country for objects that tell the story of our History! We are coming to Delaware the week of January 29, 2012. Do you have a Civil War era musket? Letters or documents from the founding fathers? Ancient Native American artifacts, antique musical instruments, or pop-culture collectibles?
If you’ve got a prized family heirloom, or found object, with a connection to history and a great story to tell, National Geographic may offer up to $10,000 to display your piece in a special year-long exhibit of America’s National Treasures.
Not sure if your item is the real deal? You’ll have the opportunity to bring it down to the Winterthur Museum, one of the country’s best museums, and have it examined by experts to find out how your piece fits in to the rich tapestry of American History.

THE ECONOMICS OF HISTORIC PRESERVATION, HOME AND ABROAD
a lecture by Donovan Rypkema:
Monday, January 30, 2012, 8:00 pm
The Ethical Society of Philadelphia
1906 S. Rittenhouse Square
The event is free but a modest, tax deductible donation to Save Our Sites would be appreciated.
Please RSVP to 215.232.2344/ 215.990.7832 or davidstraub@verizon.net
Or Just Come!

Donovan D. Rypkema is principal of PlaceEconomics, a Washington, DC based real estate and economic development consulting firm that specializes in services to public and non-profit sector clients who are dealing with downtown and neighborhood commercial district revitalization and the reuse of historic structures. Rypkema has worked with communities in 49 States and 40 countries. He holds a Master of Science degree in Historic Preservation from Columbia University and teaches at the University of Pennsylvania where he received the 2008 G. Holmes Perkins Award for Distinguished Teaching.

The National Geographic event has a Facebook page with more information. If you have some free time on your hands the week of January 23, they still need extras for a shoot at the Franklin Institute. – JMc


Success is sweet for RLPS Architects with assist from HSR

Santa Bell Beach

One of the more out of the ordinary requests we have received for help came from Jeffrey J. Kirchner, AIA, of RLPS Architects in Lancaster, PA in November who wanted some old postcard images of the Flanders Hotel in Ocean City so that his firm could build a gingerbread model of it for its annual holiday gingerbread display. Here’s a better late than never update on the progress of that group effort.

After Mr. Kirchner explained his project I sent him high-res images of at least four different Ocean City beachfront hotels. He sent me these photos of the completed project on Jan. 5 with the explanation that the “background buildings are “very loose” interpretations of the Flanders and the Bellvue.”

Santa Bell Beach is complete with a boardwalk, carousel, ferris wheel, souvenir store, first-aid station, eateries, and shops, and is populated by snowpeople. There are lifeguards, volleyball players, vendors, sunbathers, boardwalkers, and one guy has a metal detector.

There’s probably way more to the story of why this company has done these elaborate panoramic scenes for the last 20 years, so I invite comments of participants or visitors to the displays.

Sorry that it took so long to follow-up on that development. In fairness, Jeff did invite me to Lancaster to see the display, but I was content to have helped from a distance.

Please let us know if there is ever anything about history with which we can help you. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor

Happy New Year…almost

So I’m a bit behind the times.

There’s something about the end of a year and the start of another that gets us in a reflective mood.

When I get my hair cut, the topic of “What’s new with the Historical Society?” usually accounts for at least a portion of the conversation during bi-monthly visits to my favorite tonsorial artist.   Jeff, who cuts my hair, can trace his family tree back several generations and track their moves from Palmyra, to Riverton, and finally to Riverside.

Jack Ford and Friends: Jack Laverty, Dick Laverty, Tom Laffey, Joe Gropp, Ron Meyers

He showed me this photo of his father and some friends taken many years ago on Cinnaminson Street in Riverton.  An arrow on the photo and caption on the back identifies Jack, Jeff’s dad, but with both of Jeff’s parents now passed away, which of the others is which is unclear. I’m taking suggestions since Jeff is expecting that someone may know of his dad’s childhood chums.

Perhaps while kids are still off from school and as friends and family gather over this holiday break, conversations may drift to stories of long ago when the kids were little and parents and grandparents were young. Younger ones inevitably inquire about what life was like when you were their age.

You might want to try a virtual family visit to our recent  Museum for a Day to show youngsters about earlier times in Riverton  and to help the adults with some visual aids to accompany their “Good Ol’ Days” soliloquies.

Mrs. Mary Yearly Flanagan again shares here some of her grandfather’s photos which not only chronicle the progress of the Yearly Clan, but also help illustrate some aspects of everyday life in early 20th century Riverton.

 

Consider recording some of those moments with that new camera, smartphone, iPhone, iPad, a Fisher-Price camera, anything really, but capture them while you can because you sure can’t go back and get them later. You’ll look back on them years from now and wonder where all the time went. I can’t be the only senior for whom it seems that time has actually accelerated exponentially with each passing decade.

This website has plenty of images, text, and even some video clips which might help show the current generation how former generations lived, worked, played, and helped make Riverton the town that they have today.  Photos from a previous Joseph Yearly Photo Gallery, your own family album, other vintage images, or a screening of Glimpses of Palmyra and Riverton in the 1930s or The Romance of Riverton, will also serve the purpose to  illustrate the times of earlier generations.

The result of such an epic Riverton Retrospective may just leave everyone thinking, “You know what? These are the good old days.”

Mark them well, as we warp-speed into 2012. Please pause and comment on your own good old days, whenever they may be.  – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor