We’re all bemoaning the price of gasoline these days, but that obviously wasn’t a problem for this lucky couple.
Of course, maybe hay was expensive back then, we’re not sure.
In any event, Ellis Kriebel of Harleysville has shared with us today this photo taken back in the day when you only had to worry about one horsepower.
“Were they going to church or just out for a joyride?” Kriebel muses on his submission.
The photo shows Abraham S. Kriebel and Estella May Yost, who were married on Nov. 2, 1904, Kriebel noted.
And even it they were just on a “joyride,” there were no worries about searching for the lowest-priced gasoline.

OK, it's North Montco Technical Career Center now.
But at one time it was the Vo-Tech, and for 40 years has educated generations of students in an ever-growing list of trades. The school opened in 1967 with 870 students and a half-million dollar budget; this year they have 1,135 students enrolled and a budget near $9 million.


Some of the courses offered in 1967: Appliance repair, drafting, carpentry, cosmetology, electronic technology, food prep, masonry, radio-TV repair, and more.
Some of the courses offered this year: Allied health, automotive, biotechnology, commercial art, construction carpentry, computer information science, horticulture, robotics, and more.


This weekend the school is celebrating the anniversary with an open house Sunday April 27 from 1-4 pm.

With all the controversy concerning a possible re-naming of Whites Road Park in Lansdale, we thought this would be a good time to take a look at the controversy and the history of this popular park.

To see a slideshow of historical photos of the park, CLICK HERE or on the photo above.

by Bradley Schlegel

LANSDALE - During his 1965 run for Lansdale Borough Council, Bill Wentz opposed a plan to condemn and acquire 28 acres of land in Upper Gwynedd Township to utilize as a park.
Wentz and four other Republicans won their primary challenge, then took control of the council. However, voters approved a referendum to create a park on the property, known to most as White’s Woods.
“When I took office there was nothing I could do to stop it,” Wentz said. “Construction had already begun.”
Two years later, in May of 1967, Gov. Raymond Shafer helped dedicate Whites Road Park.
Now the park is to be renamed Mayor Michael DiNunzio Park, after a recent vote by Lansdale Borough Council as a way to honor the current mayor.
And that has stirred some controversy.
Craig Troxel, a member of the White family, called the recent decision to change the name short-sighted.
“Nobody objects to honoring (DiNunzio),” said Troxel. “But the decision diminishes the impact
my family has on this community.”
According to Dick Shearer, president of the Lansdale Historical Society, the park — which included a pool — was created to handle the public’s growing appetite for public recreation.
The 33-acre complex along Whites Road — which currently features a swimming pool, amphitheater, North Penn Rotary Club Centennial Bandshell, four tennis courts, a basketball court, a short walking trail and 100 parking spots — previously had served as a 19th century park, fairground, quarry and landfill prior to Lansdale’s acquisition.
Utilizing a $65,000 open space grant from the state, the borough purchased a 28-acre parcel from the estate of Leona Berkheimer, who died in 1964.
The municipality spent an additional $660,000, including $500,000 from the sale of the borough’s water authority, to develop the park
According to Wentz, state law allowed a borough to annex any adjoining land from a second-class municipality.
“I didn’t think that was the right way to take the land,” said Wentz, who owned and operated Lansdale Beverage. “Upper Gwynedd was pretty upset.”
Council later purchased the O’Donnell property, a five-acre parcel that abutted the park.
The present-day park had once served as a popular summer destination.
In 1885, J. Winfield White created Edgewood Park, according to “The Legacy of the White Family,” a 2005 documentary produced by the Lansdale Historical Society. He installed a dance and food pavilion, a steam-powered carousel and boat rides.
The next year White spent $78.12 to enlarge the lake. According to a ledger, he doled out an additional $228.93 on lumber, hardware, labor and shade trees, the documentary noted.
Edgewood Park — which included a gun club and horse track and sponsored a baseball team — provided local families a respite from the summer heat.
“People back then didn’t wear tank tops and shorts,” Shearer said. “On a hot August day, it was one of the few places they could go to enjoy the cool breeze blowing off the lake.”
In 1895, three years before the carousel was sold at sheriff’s sale, White closed the fairground.
White operated Edgewood Park and a quarry simultaneously, according to Richard Stricker, superintendent of the Lansdale Cemetery since 1962.
Later, White’s son Willard managed a landfill there. Stricker said residents paid 25 cents a bag to make a deposit.
Wentz, who said borough council should have approached Upper Gwynedd about starting a joint recreation committee, said he thinks Lansdale’s park system should be geared more toward the entire North Penn School District.
“I don’t think the borough behaved properly,” Wentz said.
Last week, Lansdale Councilman Joe Flyzik said he regretted his vote to remove the family name from the park.
He suggested restoring the old name and honoring DiNunzio by attaching the mayor’s name to Stony Creek Park, Fourth Street Park or Railroad Plaza.

“I feel like I slapped the family in the face,” he said. “It wasn’t the right thing to do.”

____

Who says history is dry?

Every church confirmation class has its picture taken, but this 1945 group from Christ Lutheran Church in Kulpsville seemed to enjoy the occasion more than most.

And, as officials from the church have noted, since the church is celebrating its 175th anniversary this year, more smiles are in order.

In this photo, we see:

Front row: Elwood Groff, Pastor Homer Weaver and Charles Stahl.

Second row: Howard Godshall, Robert Bergey, Roland Kerr, Stanley Musselman and Harold Fritz.

Back row: Gerald Heckler, Donald Dager, Ken Ritter, Robert Lutz and Wilmer Hedrick.

The photo was submitted by the church’s 175th Anniversary Ministry Committee.

Dale Clark of Lansdale provided these photos, printed in The Reporter back in the early 1970s, as proof that bikers did rule in the borough.
Well, minibikers, that is.
These photos were taken at the former Philco-Ford plant parking lot off Church Road, Lansdale, and show the members of the newly formed Lansdale Minibike Club at their second meeting of the group.
According to a write-up in the paper, “both children and adults turned out in numbers to watch and participate in the second meeting of the Lansdale Minibike Club.”
“Organizers at the rally said more than 50 youngsters were on hand for the four-hour fun-riding session, while a crowd of onlookers estimated at 175 watched from the sidelines.
“Bikers also practiced precision drill formation under the tutelage of Sgt. Earle Bergey of the Lansdale Police Department, project organizer.”
The article noted that the Adult Advisory Committee of the group would be meeting soon at the North Penn YMCA and that another rally was beeing planned for a spot on Ninth Street, off Moyer’s Road, Lansdale.
Yes, we may have Bike Night in Lansdale each year, but it looks like this group really enjoyed the “mini” version of this hobby.

In this day and age, you certainly wouldn’t expect to see a young person strolling down Main Street, Lansdale, with a rifle over his or her shoulder.

In any event, they wouldn’t get very far before being pulled in by the police.

But Dale Clark of Lansdale can remember when it was a common sight on certain nights.

That’s because members of the Lansdale Junior Rifle Club would get together to practice their sport at a building here in town, and would carry their rifles as they walked to the meetings, Clark said.

In this photo from Feb. 14, 1969, provided by Clark, you see the members of the club at an awards night program.

The information provided notes that Gordon Williams, instructor and leader of the club, and assistants John Halzer and Daniel Riina presented awards to the youths.

Pictured are, first row, from left:

Riina, Dale Clark, Mike Sotak, Frank Warren, Greg Morgan, Doug Hilderbrand, Bob Brown, Scott Hendricks, Williams and Halzer.

Second row, from left: Gray Williams, Paul Yocum, John Fowler, Dan Riina, Tom Miller, Jeannette Derstine, Jim Gower, Mike Brown and Greg Hendricks.

Yes, it appears that only one young woman decided to join the club.