John. Hope you had a great summer. ! Attaching a photo for your blog of a MILLSIDE FARMS half pint bottle I dug in my back yard in 2002 when I first moved here. Please let your readers know that BACK IN TIME , will return to THE POSITIVE PRESS in October after a brief summer sabbatical!
The Millside Farms bottle is featured in the article which discusses historical artifacts found in your backyard and underfoot ! The half pint “cream top ” bottle is date / patented March 3, 1925! Probably not the healthiest of beverages chosen on a summer day to cool off I would think !
Look for the October issue of THE POSITIVE PRESS around October 8th in your mailboxes, at local stores and on line ! Will
Umm… I think autumn has arrived, Will. At least the leaves in Riverton think it has.
another charming vintage postcard from Moore's Postcard Museum at postcardmuseum.wordpress.com/
I hope that Santa treated all of you boys and girls of all ages well this year, as he did those of us at our house.
There is one item left under the tree that you may find yourself enjoying throughout the New Year, particularly if you are a former resident of the Riverton-Palmyra-Riverside area and you care to keep tabs on goings on in your old hometown. Just in time for 2012, The Positive Press, a free community newspaper published in Riverside, has recently become available online.
The Positive Press masthead is its mission statement: Positive hometown news delivered free
True to the newspaper’s commendable title and masthead declaration, “HOMETOWN NEWS DELIVERED FREE TO EVERY HOME IN THE TRIPLE TOWNS,” publisher/editor Regina M. Collingsgru dispatches neighborhood news for Riverside, Delanco, Delran, Palmyra, Riverton, and Cinnaminson with a decidedly upbeat tone. Well… that’s five towns. Even better.
This month’s 40 page ad-supported December 2011 issue is fairly typical of the enjoyable monthly publication whose objective is to print only positive news and stories. Inside, readers will find community news, human interest stories, articles by several historical societies, news of interest to veterans, plus school, church, and senior news, and a community calendar of upcoming events.
Especially noteworthy features include the eighth monthly serial installment of Joseph P. O’Donnell’s “The Shoe Leather Express,” the inspiring story of survival and valor of World War Two prisoners of war, and “Back in Time,” Will Valentino’s popular nostalgic column which looks back fondly at Palmyra’s yesteryear.
The online edition further includes more information and photos that didn’t make the paper due to timing or space limitations. A cool value-added benefit for advertisers is the extra online exposure to potential customers that includes a link back to the company’s website.
Please check out The Positive Press and tell your friends “across the miles” who will no doubt thank you for its upbeat messages and reporting of events guaranteed to counteract the gloom and depression of the 6 o’clock news. Publisher Regina M. Collingsgru welcomes reader input (as we do as well, here at the Historical Society of Riverton), and the miracle of the Computer Age makes it possible for contributors to send information, comments, stories, and news from almost anywhere. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor
P.S. I recently blogged at length about the our December 3rd Museum for a Day, but HSR President Gerald Weaber also posted a story about our one-day show at the New Leaf from his perspective along with 40 image photo gallery on the Programs & Events page here.
J.T. Evans truck - detail from undated Broad and Garfield photo
I always learn something new about Riverton every time I speak to Carl McDermott. An expatriate of Cinnaminson Street, Riverton’s own Irish Row (Mar. 2010 GN ), Carl celebrated in October his 90th birthday at Riverton Country Club with 123 friends and relatives.
He and his wife Doris now live in Palmyra, and from time to time he leaves a comment on something that he finds here. On the post about the construction of Riverton’s War Memorial he pointed out that he had installed the electric for its illumination. Shortly afterwards he provided me with photos of himself and his two brothers, now passed, for display in our Veterans Photo Album. It was Carl who gave me the idea to interview his friend Franny Cole on the subject of Cole Dairy ( Feb. 2011 GN )which once operated at Fifth and Main Streets.
On a recent day the topic of our conversation was the pictures of the J.T. Evans Coal & Lumber Building from Joseph F. Yearly’s photo album that he was looking at on this website. He invited me to see a couple of photos and an old Riverton telephone book in which he thought I would be interested. Would I?
The photos are apparently of a funeral for a political or military figure which took place in Palmyra, date unknown. Writing on the back of one (not Carl’s) indicates that Palmyra mayor George W. Wimer is walking beside the band wearing a bow-tie and hat, and that the location is Broad and Garfield Streets.
Broad & Garfield - - Post # 136 - Mayor George Wimer bottom right with bow-tie and hat
Ray Fichter, the last man in the band on the right, married Marg McDermott, which is the reason that someone gave the photo to Carl. As with other artifacts of uncertain provenance which have appeared here, we could use a little help from our readers on this one.
A George N. Wimer served as Palmyra’s mayor 1928-1931, so the “W” must be an error. Inspecting more closely, I discovered a J.T. Evans delivery truck which I have also posted with the other Evans images sent in by Mary Flanagan.
Once I confessed to my friend Harlan, a fellow postcard collector, of losing myself in these old scenes. He said that he was finally glad to know that he wasn’t the only one.
Broad and Garfield
I post these two high-resolution scans made from the original 8x10s so that any others with such an inclination may do so. If you have an observation to share, please leave a comment. Kindly contact us if you have anything that you wish to give to our archives or loan for documenting and scanning.
I’ll save the scans of the Riverton-Palmyra phone book, c.1928-1929, for a future post and there are also more photos from the Joseph F. Yearly photo album in store. Be sure to come back again. – John McCormick, Gaslight News editor
Rev.11/17 My friend Will Valentino of the Palmyra Historical and Cultural Society writes: “I wish I had some info on the funeral. William Morgan died in 1929 and it was a pretty big deal. He was considered the emblematic Father of Palmyra at that time and Wimer was at the funeral .” You can read his award-winning local history column, “Back in Time” now published in the monthly community newspaper, The Positive Press. – JMc
The Millside Farms bottle is featured in the article which discusses historical artifacts found in your backyard and underfoot ! The half pint “cream top ” bottle is date / patented March 3, 1925! Probably not the healthiest of beverages chosen on a summer day to cool off I would think !
