Not tired of the snow just yet? Good, because today we thought we’d remind you of some storms that hit here in 1984.

In the photos from Reporter files, one photo from Jan. 11, 1984, shows commuters at the Lansdale train station after a bit of a snowfall.


Kids always seem to enjoy the snow, and that was no exception in this March 9, 1984, photo that shows children enjoying a spot in Whites Road Park, Lansdale.


And in a photo that also was from Jan. 11, 1984, John Shainline of York Avenue, Lansdale, contends with a frozen-shut car door.


Remind yourself, it’s only about a month until spring!

By WALTER AULT

UPPER FREDERICK — Many years ago there were countless mills along the Schuylkill River and its tributary streams like Skippack, Perkiomen and Swamp creeks. Nearly all of them are gone now, with little or no evidence of their existence. However, Sunrise Mill, located on Nieffer Road in Upper Frederick Township, is still there. It is an intriguing piece of history situated beside Swamp Creek, with two distinctions.

Photo: Montgomery County Department of Parks and Heritage Services

First, Sunrise Mill had the rare aspect of being both a grist mill and a saw mill simultaneously, explained present mill caretaker Clayton Blank. Secondly, Blank added, a very famous and widely admired and respected American lived at the mill for many years, a true renaissance man named Chevalier Jackson.

Much research of the mill has been done by the county — which took over ownership of the site in 1971 — because of its historical significance, yet some details are still sketchy. In any case, it is recorded in a county report that the mill had its beginning in 1767, when Michael Krause and Yost Britting built a wooden structure, which was rebuilt (in stone) in 1819.

The mill changed hands many times over the years, owned by families with surnames including Funk, Diefenbaker, Shoemaker, Hartranft and Reed. The Reed family owned the mill the longest, for 48 years from 1862 to 1910, the county report says, adding that the mill was still called Reed’s Mill when Dr. Jackson bought the property in 1918.

The county has done much restoration work, Blank said, gradually restoring the property to its late 18th century appearance. But there is still much work to be done to the two-story structure, Blank said. For instance, no-one can go inside the mill because the old wooden floor is unsafe.

“The county saw the importance of this place right away. It was a very unusual mill,” Blank said, “with both wood and grain being processed here. People came from miles around to use this mill.

“And it is truly a beautiful spot,” Blank continued. “People come here now to view the mill, walk along the creek and take in the scenery or fish in the creek.”

In addition, visitors can see some relics of the old mill, such as an old grinding stone formerly used in the grist mill and rusted turbines used for the saw mill, all laying alongside a barn a short distance from the mill. Inside the barn there are fan belts, conveyer belts and an old scale formerly used to weigh grain.

The mill, since it was rebuilt in 1819, isn’t the oldest building on the site. The barn, built in 1795, has that distinction. There is also a nearby house (1828) where former mill owners and operators lived, and where Blank now resides.

A development that ultimately added significantly to the mill’s fame and lore, the report states, was the arrival of Pittsburgh native Jackson, an incredibly talented, intelligent and passionate individual who as a trailblazing and innovative doctor saved many lives; and in other endeavors touched many more.

Besides being a world renowned physician, Jackson was a highly respected impressionist painter; an inventor of numerous medical instruments; a teacher who taught in many area colleges and in Europe and Latin America; and a writer of highly specialized textbooks on surgery. He was also a naturalist: One of the first things Dr. Jackson did when he arrived at Sunrise Mill was to minimize use of the saw mill, because too many trees in the area were being cut down.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Dr. Jackson was, a Pennsylvania Heritage Magazine article says, one of the top doctors in the entire world in his field, which was treating people who swallowed foreign objects. He also created a myriad of instruments that were widely used in such treatment.

At the time of his death in 1958, the magazine article says, “it was estimated that Dr. Jackson had personally saved 5,000 lives, and that those taught by him had saved half a million more.”

By TONY Di DOMIZIO, staff Writer

Call them the pre-SWAT.

Ray Navitsky, of The Villages, Fla., was a former cop with Lansdale Police in the 1960s and 1970s.

He was digging through a box of old photos one day and pulled out a relic.

It was a lineup of the former North Penn riot squad that existed for a brief time in the 1960s.


“Back when the riots started happening in Philly and all, they went to several departments (to make a riot squad). One was Montgomery Township and the others were Upper Gwynedd Township and Lansdale. I think three were involved.”

Walt Drusedum, who was a cop with the Lansdale Police from 1953 to 1981, remembered two riot squads comprised of officers from Towamencin and Hatfield as well.

“They started one, then they thought we needed another one,” he said. “Back then, there was trouble with the roofers union. When they were building the Valley Forge Convention Center, they set that on fire. The carpenter’s union was upset because (developer) Leon Altemose was using non-union people.

“We spent one morning on 202 on the roundhouse office building and spent the afternoon in Norristown with the carpenter’s union that was picketing around the courthouse. We were backup for the state police at that time.”

Drusedum is referencing a 1972 event when unionists attacked Altemose’s building site at the convention center. They destroyed $400,000 worth of equipment and materials in an organized attack that police on site were helpless to stop.

A judge banned pickets within a mile of any Altemose project, leading to protests by unionists who marched from Plymouth Meeting to Norristown and back, according to a state Crime Commission report.

Altemose died at age 68 in April 2008 from multiple sclerosis.

“That was the only duty we did,” said Navitsky. “We did a little bit of training as far as making a ‘V’ and push the crowd back. There was never any trouble in Lansdale or Montgomeryville.”

Navitsky remembered patrolling Norristown during an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift.

“We stood in the doorway of a business somewhere with a shotgun and watched the streets to see if anybody was breaking into stores at that time,” he said. “It was a pretty quiet night for us.”

He fondly remembered the existence of the riot squad was during a time when “everybody was rioting.”

“At the time, down in Philly, Frank Rizzo was the police chief down there. He had pretty well control of those things,” Navitsky said. “He had seen a lot of movies of the riots in California and he wasn’t going to take any crap. He told you, if people were looting stores and what have you, shoot them. He was pretty tough.”

Aside from backing up the state police, the local riot squads did a lot of training.

“It was just another precautionary measure with one’s call of duty,” Navitsky said. “We did do some formations and training on the old pistol range with sidearms, but that was about it.”

Drusedum said the squad would march over and practice in Towamencin near Christopher Dock.

“The state police, one time, took us up to Graterford for tear gas training to see what it feels like,” he said. “We were outside the prison in one of the fields and they wouldn’t give us any masks. They shot some off, and everybody started running through it. When we got to almost down to where we were clear of it, there was this snake going faster than the rest of us.”

Navitsky said he doesn’t remember the squad ever officially breaking up.

“It was there for about two years, and sort of faded away,” he said. “Today, I guess they call it the SWAT team.”

Today we go inside North Penn High School, in different decades, for a look at students associated with the marching band and marching unit.

The first photo was submitted by Margaret Adams of Lansdale, who said she does “not know much about this photo. I believe it’s from the early 1960s.”

In it you see girls marching through the gym, carrying flags and rifles, as students look on from the bleachers.

“I think my husband, Robert Adams (now deceased), trained the girls in a gun drill at North Penn High School.”

So perhaps someone out there can add some information — or perhaps you’re in the photo!

In the next photo, which appeared in The Reporter in 1984, we see a section of the North Penn Marching Knights being directed by Steve Frederick.

In the accompanying article, by the way, it was noted that Frederick, “who stands about 6 feet tall, is a giant in his students’ eyes.”


Hope you enjoy that trip down memory lane, Steve!

But getting back to the Knights in 1984, the feature was written about the band because it had just returned from the Great Bands of the Orange Bowl competition, where it was crowned “grand national champion.”

In a separate competition at the event, the band front also took first prize.

The article noted that 200 bands had applied for four open slots at the Orange Bowl competition, so it was quite a feat just to be chosen, much less take the top prize.

Today we have a photo submitted by Frank Carney of Lansdale, who is “revisiting” 1972.

We’ll let him explain:

“Here is a photo of my brothers and I with friends from 1972, during Lansdale’s Centennial celebration.

“Lansdale had a few buses going to a Phillies Game and we all dressed up, as we were told, “like olden times.”

“The year of 1972 featured a summer — and year — of great activities, fun and lots of memories for Lansdale.

“We all had a great time on the buses and at the game, but I can’t remember if the Fighting Phils won that day. It didn’t matter, as the day still brings back smiles and good memories.

“In the photo, you see in the front row, kneeling, Pete Signore, Frank Carney (me), Jay Strunk.

“Back row, Dennis Carney, Rob Eberle, Mark O’Brian, Frank Carr, Jack Carney and Greg O’Brian.

“I’m not sure who took the photo, but Rob Eberle was kind enough to share it with us recently and to great amusement.

“I wanted to note that I also was proud to have been a paperboy for The North Penn Reporter back in the day.”

Thanks, Frank, for the great photo and story — and for helping us out “back in the day” as a paperboy!