There was a time when American Olean Tile was THE place to work in Lansdale.

Most people in the area either worked there or know someone employed at the huge tile-manufacturing facility in the borough.

Those days, sadly, are just a memory.

But the heyday of “the Tile” provided many pleasant memories for so many people, including Gloria Campbell of Lansdale, who provided the photo that we feature today.

Gloria said that she worked for the Tile for several years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, serving as the secretary for Ken Froeberg, a design architect.

“I told my husband I’d go to work for several years to pay for our son’s braces,” she said, noting how much more orthodontics costs today.

While there, she also served as one of the tour guides, a job she truly enjoyed, she said.

The photo that you see here includes Gloria.

Here are the young women featured in the photo:

Standing, left to right, are Linda Estep, Janet Helm, Dorothy Alderfer, Camilla Young, Dianne Linden, Gloria Campbell, Fran Harp, Becky Megonigal and Anne Marie Shannon, head tour guide.

Seated, from left, are Cindy Wampler, Linda Smith and Shirley Rosenberger.

Missing were vacationing Susan Goodfriend, Barbara Hosgood and Cathy Spear.

According to information in a Tile newsletter at the time, the tour guides were office employees who were chosen for their ability to meet and talk with people.

They would take eight practice tours and “must be letter perfect before they are permitted to take visitors around the plant.”

“They are trained to explain all the steps of our manufacturing process and to answer questions posed by our visitors — How many feet of tile do you manufacture in day? How can you tell what color the glaze is before it is fired? When do the Canada geese nest?”

We’re sure people who worked at the Tile have many tales to tell — and that these tour guides knew them all.

Staging a minstrel show today certainly would not be tolerated, but back in the 1940s it was not unusual.

Such shows are a part of the nation’s history, even though the mere thought is foreign and distasteful today.

This photo was provided by the Alderfers of Harleysville, and shows a group of Harleysville Lions members when they put on a minstrel show sometime between 1946 and 1949, the Alderfers said.

Not everyone is identified in this photo, but most of the people are.

So here is the group, as submitted by the Alderfers:

Front row, the first two people were “professionals” performing at the show, the third person was unknown, Harold Gamble, another professional performer, Wilmer Wambold, Harold Ritter, Milton Alderfer and two professionals.

Second row, Walt Bucher, Jim Swartley, Lester Fretz, Homer Clemens, Rein Ritter, Roland Scholl, Clarence Tyson, Homer Kulp, Roland Kulp, Ernest Delp and Charles Heimbach.

Third row, Howard Wambold, George Dale, Paul Lederach, Jeryl Royer, Victor Clemens, Bob Shisler, Ralph Wambold, unknown, Chester Emlet and Alvin Clemens.

This type of photo certainly shows how our awareness has changed in the past 60 years.

We offer this simply as a part of the history that occurred here, and it also stands as part of the lessons we as a nation have learned.

Video from the Lansdale Historical Society police history presentation:




Current and former police, mayors and guests gathered for a photo following the presentation:

First Row: Left to right Lt Mark Houghtaling (Montgomery Twp),Paul (Tim) Dickinson (Chief Towamencin Twp), Richard Brady (Chief Mongtomery Twp), Jesse Choyce (Lansdale), Wallace Hendricks (Chief Lansdale-Retired), Glenna (Starrett) Lischke (Dispatcher Lansdale-Granddaughter of Lansdale Chief Kenneth Lear), Robert Weidner (Lansdale), Warren Horrocks (Hatfield), George McLeer (Montgomery Twp).

Second Row: Tom Dunlap (Hatfield), Lt Gordon Simes (Montgomery Twp), Al Elms (Lower Gwynedd), Walter Drusedum (Lansdale), Alfred Gillette (Towmencin Twp), Joseph McGuriman (Chief Lansdale-Retired) Robert Freed (Chief Upper Gwynedd-Retired) Edward Tartar (Hatfield) Terry Milankow (Montgomery Twp)

Third Row: Warren Grimes (North Wales), Edward Veit (Chief North Wales- Retired), Edward Weideman (Montgomery Twp), R E Jastremski (Hatfield), Richard Singer (Lansdale), Lt Eric Schmitz (Hatfield), Dean Miller (Lansdale), Jason Platt (Dispatcher Lansdale).

Thanks to Marti Drumheller from the Lansdale Historical Society for help with these.

Story: By Dan Sokil

LANSDALE - Dozens of police officers, current and retired, and a packed room of their family and friends gathered Tuesday night to remember the area's 'Men in Blue.'

"The fuzz, Johnny Law, the smokies, local yokels, the bears, the cops. That stands for 'Constable on Patrol', in case you were wondering, and we're here tonight to talk about some of the history of the Men in Blue associated with this area," said Marti Drumheller of the Lansdale Historical Society.

Drumheller shared stories, displayed photos, and brought back countless memories as she detailed the history of each of the area's police departments, from the first frontier constables in the 1870s through today.

"We'll start with North Wales, because they were the first in the area to have a police officer. They hired a constable in 1869, who would go on duty as needed, and by the 1890s anyone who he found with pigs, hogs or swine he would confiscate and sell and the proceeds would go to the state," Drumheller said.

Their first full time constable was hired for $18 per month in 1903, she said, and the photo slideshow of past police chiefs was accompanied by stories about the former chiefs and officers, several of whom were in the audience.

"In Lansdale, the law was provided by constables, and in the late 1890s they hired their first chief, Harvey Zearfoss. They wanted to give him a badge, but there was the biggest argument in borough council: one liked the design, one didn't, one wanted gold and another thought it should be copper," said Drumheller.

"Finally Mr. Zearfoss said 'I'll take the one you've designed already, it doesn't make any difference to me,' and his home which acted as the first police station still stands on Vine Street across from the current station," she said.

A display of police patches, photos, even a log book from 1925 and a letter appointing an officer in 1919 were also on display, courtesy of the Lansdale Police Department.

"I thought it was great, but things sure have changed since I left. They have cars with computers in them now, and things we didn't even dream of back then," said former Lansdale Police Chief Wallace Hendricks.

Hendricks was one of several former police chiefs in the audience Tuesday, and reminisced with former Lansdale officer Walt Druseden about some of the old times seen in the show.

"In December, we used to put traffic officers out at Main and Green streets, Main and Susquehanna, and Main and Wood just to handle all of the Christmas traffic there," said Druseden.

"Back then, there used to be two supermarkets: an A & P where the Boys and Girls club is now, and an Acme where the library is. It sure has changed a lot," he said.

Drumheller also showed photos of Hatfield Borough's police department before it was absorbed by Hatfield Township in 1978, and told the tale of how the Towamencin police department went on duty at the stroke of midnight on January 1 1975.

But the show was not all Drumheller's: light moments came when she was corrected by former Upper Gwynedd Chief Robert Freed when showing a photo of an accident that happened in Towamencin (which Upper Gwynedd's department patrolled at the time), and when she showed a group of Montgomery Township officers wearing leather jackets and asked why they chose that style to wear.

"Well, have you ever gone out to stand on Route 309 up at the top of the hill, when the wind's blowing and it's twenty degrees outside? They kept us warm," said Chief Richard Brady, one of the young officers in the photo.

His fellow officers, from each of the area departments discussed, took turns pointing out themselves and each other in the old photos, like one of Lansdale's police force with 1970s style hairdos and uniforms with a very young Joseph McGuriman in the front row that brought back plenty of memories for former Mayor (1973 to 1977) Richard Bitner.

"It was a very good show, I even found out a few things I hadn't even known back then. I miss a lot of the people I saw here, it sure was good to see them here tonight," Bitner said.

If you’ve been looking to learn a little history about law enforcement in the North Penn Area, or would like to look back on some history as Lansdale Police Chief Joseph McGuriman ends his tenure here, keep your calendar open for Tuesday night.

Starting at 7:30 p.m. that night, the Lansdale Historical Society will present its second Community Program of 2009, all about the area’s past and present “Men in Blue.”

It will be held in the Lansdale Parks and Recreation Building, Lansdale Avenue and Seventh Street.

“As far as I know, we have pictures of almost every former police chief from Lansdale, North Wales, Montgomery Township, Hatfield borough and township, Upper Gwynedd township and Towamencin township,” said LHS member Marti Drumheller.

Drumheller has been researching and gathering photos for months on all of those local “Men in Blue.”

She’ll narrate the program Tuesday night, and LHS photo archivist Steve Moyer will run an accompanying video presentation showing just who those men were.

“We have tons and tons of photos of police officers and chiefs down through the years in this area, starting with the very earliest policemen, at the times when local municipalities got the idea to have their own law enforcement back in the early 20th century,” said LHS President Dick Shearer.

Back in those days, Lansdale was approximately the size North Wales is today, and the surrounding municipalities could typically be covered by just one police officer, Shearer said.

“In fact, they were probably one-man part-time departments, because if something happened in town, almost everybody worked there in town, so if they were needed, that officer was suddenly ‘on duty,’” he said.

That duty was primarily on foot patrol, since the traffic so common in the area today was nowhere to be seen back then. Police vehicles, and cars for civilians, didn’t become popular until several decades after the police forces were formed.

“In fact, we have a picture of the Five Points intersection in Montgomeryville that was probably taken around 1930 or ’31, and there’s one car in the intersection and no people to be seen,” Shearer said.

“That corner was controlled by a stop sign, and you could lay down and take a nap in the middle of the road and nothing would hit you,” he said. “If you look down Horsham Road, the only thing you see is just fields, so you really didn’t need a whole lot of police.”

Tracing back the history of Lansdale’s police presence, Drumheller uncovered photos of a police constable in the late 1890s, and his replacement, Charles S. Kulp, became the borough’s first official police chief.

To help share the memories of days past, Drumheller has invited several past and current police chiefs to Tuesday’s program.

Former Chiefs Wallace Hendricks of Lansdale Borough and Robert Freed of Upper Gwynedd have expressed interest in attending, she said, as have present Chiefs Richard Brady of Montgomery Township and Mark Toomey of Hatfield Township.

Each of the former chiefs has already been given three questions by Drumheller, so they will discuss and share their answers and experiences throughout the presentation.

“We’re also hoping to have some of the first police women from our area there, because we don’t have a lot of police women around here. We’re hoping that one from Hatfield Township who is now their first female sergeant will be there, and we know the granddaughter of one of the former chiefs and the daughter of our first official police women will be there,” Drumheller said.

“Also, Towamencin started their department with seven men originally, and three of them should be there if everything goes right,” she said.

The LHS presentation will be held at the Lansdale Parks and Recreation Building, located at Lansdale Avenue and Seventh Street.

There is no admission charge, but donations will be accepted, and the performance will be recorded for later sale as a DVD.

For more information, visit www.LansdaleHistory.org or call (215) 855-1872.

It’s Groundhog Day — the day when Punxsutawney Phil will tell us whether the weather will be springlike soon or we should hibernate for the next six weeks of winter.

Realistically, we know that we aren’t going to be enjoying balmy spring weather starting tomorrow, but we can dream, can’t we?

So what will it be — the winter doldrums or the promise of spring?

To give you a taste of each, we decided to provide a winter and a spring shot. We’ll let you decide which seasonal photo you prefer.

In the winter photo, snapped in February 1986 by Geoff Patton, Beverly Oliver of Lansdale is taking her daughter, Randi, for a dogsled ride down Knoell Drive, Lansdale.

Who needs the streets plowed when you have that form of transportation?

In the spring photo, shot on May 25, 1980, by former Reporter photographer Cherie Kemper, you see boaters enjoying the Memorial Day weekend at Nockamixon State Park in Bucks County.

Undoubtedly, we’re more likely to see scenes more closely resembling the dogsled photo than the boaters.

But maybe Phil will do us a favor and predict an early spring.