January 25, 1905: Blizzard Cripples Boyertown Area, Complicates Commerce

By Margaret Leidy Harner from her book One Day at a Time: A Social History of Boyertown, PA.

January 25, 1905: The entire Boyertown area is crippled by a violent blizzard that has been raging for the past 36 hours. The heavy fall of snow has buried almost everything, with the wind blowing it high in the air and pilng it in huge drifts on the streets, yards and against buildings.

Travel by horse and wagon is impossible, and the milkmen, bakers, butchers have had great difficulty in servicing their customers (home delivery of those basic items was common). Those who did make their rounds used large wooden sleds drawn by employees at the casket company and the cigar factories could get into work.

No trolley cars or railroad trains reached Boyertown. It was a gigantic standstill for the town except for the children, who are having a great time.

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