June 10, 1996: Long-time Employee Witnesses the End of an Era

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

June 10, 1996: Harold “Stubby” Bernhart has had a bad day. As the overseer of the 11-acre Boyertown Burial Casket Company property for the past eight years, he could only stand by as demolition crews leveled the last remaining structure on the property, the office building, which dated back to 1893 and the opening of the company. “When I think of all the effort people put into making this company, to see it just torn down hurts.”

Bernhart started working there in 1954 and was the maintenance supervisor in 1988 when the plant closed. As the lone employee, the on-site overseer, he was a witness of the end of an important era in Boyertown history.

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