April 17, 1903: History of George Unger, Businessman, and the Building Now Housing History

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

April 17, 1903: George Unger is an enterprising businessman who had moved to Boyertown at the age of 19 and clerked in Mory’s store. At the age of 23, he had his own store, selling groceries and shoes on North Reading Avenue. At the age of 30, he started the Crescent Knitting Mills to manufacture ladies’ ribbed underwear, with three machines and 15 employees, that grew into a very successful business, employing 60 people. He later became associated with other enterprises in town, serving as President of the Boyertown Electric Company, which was chartered in 1908, and investing in the Lyric Theatre in 1912. He and his family have just moved into their magnificent new Queen Anne style Victorian home, “one of the finest residences in the lower end of the county.”

Following the death of his wife, Unger sold the property, n 1921, to the newly-formed Roman Catholic parish, St. Columbkill’s to use as their first church. In 1974, the church sold the property to the Boyertown Area Historical Society for its Museum and Library. George Unger had the Mausoleum at the Fairview Cemetery built, and he is buried there.

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