12-13-2024 4:04am

Holiday Gift Suggestions for Boyertown's History Buffs

Lesley Misko Editor

"My Little Town," oil, Devon Stackonis

by Jane Stahl

Boyertown people love their community! They also love learning about its history: the buildings and the people who owned them and lived in them, the businesses that helped build the community, the organizations that served the community and those who lived here.

Happily, there are individuals whose publishing work has been dedicated to researching and writing about the community. Margaret Harner and Bob Wood, for example, have spent decades writing about their communities and publishing their work. A few more recent efforts have surfaced to provide cherished gifts for seasonal giving.

Published in 2022, Joseph L Mitchell's The History of Boyertown and Vicinity--Colebrookdale, Berks County, Pennsylvania. provides information for the Boyertown history buff as it "peels back layers of time to reveal the original land tracts that make up the borough" and welcomes the reader to "Examine long-abandoned roads....Discover that led to the formation of Boyertown....explore the history of current buildings and those razed long ago."

Front cover: Map of Berks County ty, Plan of Boyertown, H.F Bridgens, Philadelphia, 1860

A retired engineer, Joe is a three-time winner of the annual Hiester Manuscript Competition sponsored by the Berks History Center and the author of The Abridged History of Pike Township, and The History of Main Street, Oley, Berks County, Pennsylvania. (The book was published by Berks History Research, LLC)

Back cover--Rhoads, Thomas, J.B. Onkle Jeff's Reminiscences of Youth and Other Poems, Volume II, page 266, Fred R. Miller Blank Book Co., Williamsport, PA 1904

Building a Better Boyertown
's second pictorial history book--The Boyertown Area in Pictures: A History of Special People Creating a Special Place--was published in 2009 and included a DVD in which over a dozen senior members of the Boyertown community were interviewed about their memories of the community during its "growing up."

Boyertown High School student Zach Reinert filmed each of the interviews and then created the two-hour DVD program hosted by Margaret Harner, Linnette Hulbert, Jeffrey Stahl and Christiana Weidner.

Just recently, Zach re-created the 2-hour DVD video on YouTube to make it more accessible to more people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts4rc-HiKz4

Interviewed for the video project were “movers and shakers” of Boyertown’s past in a variety of fields: Dan Boyer, stockbroker and descendant of the founders of Boyertown; Air Force pilot Colonel Harry Yoder; businessman Dan Bause; Alice (Mest) Smith, businesswoman; newswoman and community leader M.J. Schneider Lentz; Mayor Marianne Deery; community leader, businessman and prosecuting attorney Charles Haddad; brewmaster and community leader Bill Moeller.

Representing the educational community and civic service organizations are music director and teacher Arlen Saylor; social studies teacher Chet Rohrbach; teacher and principal Ed Kuser; Jaycees member and Civil Air Patrol leader Richard Yoder and Salvation Army leader Ray Samsel. Also community leader and organizer Jim Davidheiser ; community volunteer and borough council member John Breidenbach; community volunteer and local government enthusiast Clayton Leister.

Chapters included "Main Street: Revisited; Businesses--Off Main Street; Boyertown Area Farming; Orchards; Renowned Citizens, Civid Organizations; Celebrations; Scenes from the Area; and History of Boyertown. Each of the chapters were prepared by different individuals including Jim Janotti, Sandy and Gordy Moser, Richard Frecon, Diane Van Dyke, Margaret Harner, and the late Linnette Ott Hulbert. The late Karl Stauffer offered his wide-ranging knowledge and efforts to the project.

Both volumes are available at Studio B Art Gallery (39A E Philadelphia Avenue) and the Building a Better Boyertown office (3 E Philadelphia Ave) along with the first in a series of holiday ornaments featuring "Townie," the Bear Fever sculpture celebrating the community and images representing its history--perfect gifts for Boyertown's history buffs.