The Reporter's annual Remember When section is out, and you can see it online HERE. This year we take a look at what area residents did for fun years ago, everything from races at Hatfield Speedway and summer camps to diners and drive-in movies.

We have three videos to accompany this section, the first of which is a profile of the R&S Keystone Diner, a local favorite since it opened in 1948:


The second video is an explanation of how the mechanics of the historic Menlo Carousel in Perkasie works:

And the third is footage of Hatfield Speedway from the 1930's taken by Montgomeryville grocer and amateur cinemtographer Nelson Stoudt:

Our photo today is from Steven Bucher of Harleysville, who notes that this photo may answer “what might be Harleysville’s only trivia question.”

That question being: “What came first? The traffic light or the filling station?”

This is a shot, Bucher says, of Main Street, Harleysville, dating from 1968.

As he describes it, you see, from left to right:

H.B. Clemens store building.

H.B. Clemens home.

Willis and Verna Anders home.

Alvin and Mildred Clemens home/office.

Harleysville National Bank.

Barb and Bab’s Restaurant, and Rein Ritter Barbershop. He notes that the last two businesses were in a twin building.

Nelson Moyer home.

So those of you who live in Harleysville or remember these places, enjoy the “quiz”!

And we want to point out that, on Wednesday, our annual Remember When special supplement will appear in The Reporter.

This year’s theme is “Looking back at simpler days of ‘play’” and features such topics as old amusement parks, the Hatfield Speedway, drive-in theaters, old diners, cruising, baseball and swimming pools.

Don’t miss it on Wednesday!

The photos today center around the Montgomery Township area and Vilsmeier Road, which intersects with Route 309, near the Five Points intersection.

The photos and information were submitted by Fred Vilsmeier and he relates:

“Fred Vilsmeier purchased approximately 64 acres from Mr. and Mrs. William Broeske in November 1942. The property included a farmhouse, barn and some other structures. The farmhouse where Vilsmeier lived was across Cowpath Road from the old Montgomeryville Police Station, where a bank and Lowes are now located.

“Mr. Vilsmeier lived at the farm with his wife, Elizabeth, and his two children, Walter and Claire.

“Sometime in 1949, Vilsmeier gained approval from the township to build Vilsmeier Road and develop the land. Soon after the road opening, Vilsmeier began selling the home lots to individuals and to Sanford Ulmer, a builder, who would go on to build many of the homes on Vilsmeier and connected roads.



“A relative of Mr. Vilsmeier still lives on the road to this day.

“Mr. Vilsmeier, an early aviator of the Philadelphia region, had his good friend Ed Bruzas land a small plane on Vilsmeier Road the day it opened.”

Great history! And, as you can see, one photo shows the Five Points area, with Route 202 going off to the upper right of the photo, and Route 309 stretching along the left-hand side.

In the other photo, which appeared in the Souderton Independent on Aug. 25, 1949, shows the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Vilsmeier Road.

Caption information notes: “Assemblyman Howard F. Boorse, Lansdale, cuts the ribbon across the new shortcut between Lasndale and the Montgomeryville section, The road, a mile in length, from Lansdale Avenue to Bethlehem Pike, was presented to the township by Fred Vilsmeier, who is developing the section. Pictured, from left to right, are township Supervisor Chauncey Knapp, Claire Vilsmeier, Mrs. Vilsmeier, Boorse, Mr. Vilsmeier, Mrs. Arthur Thomas (back row), Shirley Kratz and Walter Vilsmeier (back row).

The dog days of August are upon us, so we thought we’d offer a few summer photos of days gone by to help you enjoy this hot weather.

In one photo, from 1980, you see Jim Kline from Lansdale rowing his boat at Fischer’s Park in Towamencin.

According to this photo from The Reporter archives, this was part of the North Penn YMCA day camp held at the park that year.

In the photo above, also from 1980, a bunch of kids seek relief from the heat by playing in the Towamencin pool.

Hope these help to cool you off!

By DAN SOKIL, staff Writer

Take a look down Lansdale’s Main Street, facing west from Railroad Avenue, and you can see shadows of the past.

Well, maybe not today, but on Oct. 4 the past century of downtown Lansdale will come alive, when the Lansdale Historical Society hosts “Revisiting Historic Downtown Lansdale: A Sunday Stroll Back to an Earlier Time.”


“This is something we thought we’d try in place of our Holiday History Tour, and see how it works out; we wanted to do something with a lot of community involvement and that focuses on Lansdale and the historical aspects of the town,” said LHS President Dick Shearer.

“At first blush, people may look at our downtown and think ‘What’s so historic?’ and in many respects it’s a little bit hard to visualize because so many buildings that were part of Lansdale’s development in the

early years are gone, but there are some that are still there,” he said.

The walking tour, to be held from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 4 (with a rain date of Oct. 11) will be a combination of both old and new, starting with a 15- minute film showing at the Lansdale Center for the Performing Arts.

“The video basically explains how Lansdale came to be: how the railroad coming through here and the junction of trolley lines created Lansdale and made it the center of commerce for this region for more than a hundred years,” Shearer said.

Showings of the video will be held three times each hour, starting at 11:45 a.m. and running through 2:30 p.m.; tickets are required to see the video but get you much more than just a seat in the theater.

“Tickets are $15 per person, and we’ll be selling them at the Performing Arts Center that day, and for the $15 you’ll get to see the video, you’ll get a 40-page tour book we’re putting together, you’ll get a map which will have on one side, a building by building look at the tour route as it appeared in about 1886 and on the other side will be a current map,” Shearer said.

Groups of up to four people can also share one tour book and map, while watching the presentation and walking the tour together, by adding up to three people to their group for $5 each.

The downtown walking tour will replace LHS’ annual Holiday History Tour this year.

“Our volunteers have done that Holiday History Tour for about five years now, and we wanted to give them a chance to enjoy the holidays for themselves this year, while still doing something fun,” he said.

After the video, those who take part can walk the tour route by themselves (Shearer said the route takes about 90 minutes to walk), and LHS volunteers will be stationed at about a dozen points of interest around the borough.

“For example, I’m sure we’ll have somebody in front of the Dresher Arcade building, which a lot of people don’t realize was originally built as a garage back in the 1910s by a gentleman by the name of Dresher,” said Shearer.

“He opened a Dresher Motor Company which sold Buicks, and the walk through in the middle of the building was the entrance into the garage; they’d drive cars in there for servicing until the late 1920s, when the building was converted into what you see there now, which is a really quirky, neat building,” he said.

The tour route will start by heading from the arts center west down Main Street to Towamencin Avenue, cross over Main to come back to Railroad Avenue, head from there down South Broad Street, cross north on Broad to Third Street, take Third west to Walnut Street to the borough’s train station, and end back in the Madison Parking Lot.

You’ll hear stories about buildings long gone, like the Geller Emporium that once stood on the current site of the Lansdale School of Cosmetology.

“Geller’s Brand Emporium, in the last two decades of the 1800s, was Lansdale’s answer to a department store. Mr. Geller sold everything from furniture to coffins, feed for animals, foodstuffs, clothing, you name it and Mr. Jacob Geller would find it for you,” Shearer said.

“Right on the opposite corner where the parking lot is now, next to the Boys & Girls Club was the good old Norwood Hotel, which was one of the oldest hotels in town. It stood right at that intersection where two trolley lines came together, but both were on different scales so they could never merge together,” he said.

And if you know a thing or two about downtown Lansdale’s history, or would just like to help out, plenty of volunteers are needed to help sell tickets, guide tour groups, man the video presentation, act as crossing guards, and much more.

Anyone interested in volunteering can call the Historical Society at (215) 855-1872 or visit www.LansdaleHistory.org. An organizational meeting for volunteers is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 26.

“If anybody needs more information, call us and we’ll be happy to fill you in. This is something we’ve wanted to try for a while, and if it doesn’t work we won’t do it again, but if it does work then there may be other similar types of tours we can do, of homes and other things in town, in the future,” Shearer said.

The Montgomery County 4-H Fair certainly is nothing new to the area, and yet it brings new opportunities to so many young people each year.

With the fair coming up this Thursday through Saturday at the 4-H Center on Route 113, Skippack, we thought it would be fun to take a look back — back 35 years ago, to be exact.

In “those days,” the fair was held at what was then the 4-H Center on Snyder Road, Towamencin.

Many of the offerings then were not much different than those presented today.

According to a clipping from The Reporter on Aug. 12, 1974, the fair that year was presenting horse, sheep, dairy, beef, rabbit and cavy shows; rocket launch; sheep shearing demonstration; sewing presentation; clothing judging; and indoor exhibits.

A few variations included a bike rodeo, chess tournament and milking and milk-chugging contests.


In the two photos we feature today, we see Greg Myers, a Blue Bell 4-H Club member, showing off one of the tomatoes that he planned to enter as part of his vegetable project.

In the other photo, John Hurst of Worcester prepares his sheep for showing at the 4-H Fair.

And if you want to see for yourself how things are presented today, check out the fair this week.

Hours are 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday; 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Friday; and 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.

There is a $5 per vehicle parking donation. Featured will be food, fun, animal shows, Daisy Jug Band, exhibits and more.

For more details, call the 4-H office at (610) 489-4315, or visit http://montgomery.extension.psu.edu.