Historical Society Program Focuses on Firebirds

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottstown Historical Society

The Pottstown Historical Society’s Nov. 19 program will feature Larry Cohen speaking on the inaugural 1968 season of the Pottstown Firebirds, the minor league affiliate of the Philadelphia Eagles.

A native Pottstownian, Larry has published a family history and portrait of Pottstown history, entitled Chicken Hill Chronicle. He is a member of the Pottstown Historical Society.

Near the top of the list of unique aspects of Pottstown’s past are the three seasons from 1968-1970 when the Pottstown Firebirds ruled small town professional football. 

The Pottstown Historical Society’s program will add to the knowledge and interest regarding this history.

National visibility for the Firebirds reached a crescendo in January 1972 when the NFL Films pre-game show for the Super Bowl highlighted the Firebirds 1970 championship season. 

Entitled “Pro Football Pottstown, Pa.” the video is available on YouTube “Lost Treasures of the NFL, Vol 7.” 

In 1973, Jay Acton published the story of the Firebird’s first championship season (1969), "The Forgettables: The Bittersweet Portrait of a Minor League Football Team in the Heartland of America."

Interest in the Pottstown Firebirds is kept alive by social media and the research of several individuals. In addition to periodic reunions of team members, the Firebirds draw attention internationally from among football aficionados and Pottstown area residents. 

Bruno Baltazar, a young man in Texas with an interest in the team, anticipates publication in December of a book titled "The Greatest Stories Never Told: Detailed Chronicles of the Pottstown Firebirds." 

In addition, Baltazar maintains a Firebirds Facebook page, a blog and an extensive website (PottstownFirebirds.org).

The program will be 7 pm, Monday, Nov. 19, at the Historical Society’s headquarters 568 E. High Street, Pottstown. Telephone: 610 970-7355. 

The event is open to the public with light tailgate refreshments.

Learn About Pottstown History on Thursday Walk

On this tour, you can learn more about historic Pottstown buildings that are still standing ...

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottstown Historical Society

The next tour in the ongoing series of the Pottstown Historical Society Walking Tours will be Thursday, June 22, 2017, from 6 p.m to 8 p.m. The free tour will cover a portion of the 200-block of High Street, between Hanover and Penn Streets which, although a short block, encompasses more than twenty historic addresses.

All history buffs are invited to learn about two major fires on High Street, one of which destroyed five buildings. 

Try to guess the oldest building on the block, look for the building with its owner’s initials on the edifice, find Pottstown’s first Sears & Roebuck, and learn about the contributions to Pottstown by local notables Bunting, Beecher, and Drinkhouse.

Those interested should meet in the lot at 220-222 High Street. Groups will depart approximately every 15 minutes, depending upon attendance. 

Arrangements have been made for parking to be available in the parking lot, accessible on Queen Street along the railroad tracks, via North Penn Street or North Charlotte Street.

The tour is being held again this year in conjunction with the downtown Pottstown FARM program. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase fresh produce and locally made products directly from the producers, like townspeople in the 1800s.

The Pottstown Historical Society was founded in 1936 under the direction of Mrs. Marjorie Wendall Potts to restore the Pottsgrove Manor. Since 1999, the Society has been headquartered at 568 High Street after purchasing the old Oliver Christman Gift and Flower Shop building. 

The Society’s mission is to collect and preserve archives pertaining to Pottstown’s past. The Society houses hundreds of old photographs, along with records on churches, early families, newspapers, local forges and other businesses. The headquarters building is open on the 2nd and 4th Sundays of each month from 1:00 pm-4:00 pm, and other times by appointment. It remains an all-volunteer organization, welcoming everyone to participate, visit, support, and learn.

... as well as buildings which are no longer standing.

History of U.S. Political Parties Presented Monday

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottstown Historical Society.

The Pottstown Historical Society will host a presentation on "The History of Political Parties in the U.S.," presented by Patricia Norred Derr, PhD, associate professor of history at Kutztown University, on Monday, March 20 at 7 p.m.

The historical society is located at 568 High St. in Pottstown and the program is free and open to the public.

According to a press release sent by the society, Derr "is a highly-regarded instructor in courses on American colonial history, religion, American popular culture, African American history, and historical methodology."

Pottstown Historical Society

568 E. High St., Pottstown.

A transplanted Texan, Derr received her BA from the University of Texas at Austin, her MA in European History from the University of North Texas, and her PhD in American History from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She was the recipient of a Fulbright Research Award, and has participated in numerous public panels and programs.

Derr is the newest member of the Board of Directors of the Pottstown Historical Society, and also serves on the Pottstown Historical Architectural Review Board (HARB).

As political rhetoric continues to blow white hot in the United States, "it’s a perfect time to look back on the historical origins of political parties in the United States. Where do political parties come from? When did we get them? Why do we even have them? What is the difference between a party and a faction? And what’s with those names?" the release noted. 

Parties covered will include: Federalists, Jeffersonians, Jacksonians, Freedmen, Republicans, Democrats, Whigs, Libertarians, Free Soilers, Know-Nothings, Bourbons, Redeemers, Copperheads, Progressives, Populists, Reformists, Socialists, Communists, Liberals, Conservatives, Left, Right, Blue-Dogs, Green Party and Constitution Party.

Non-partisan, light refreshments will be served at the conclusion of the program. 

Historic Walking Tour Teams Up with Mercury Mile

Blogger's Note: The following was provided by the Pottstown Historical Society.


The 2016 Historical Pottstown Walking Tour will be held by the Pottstown Historical Society on Thursday, June 16,  from 6 to 8 p.m.

The Tour begins at Smith Plaza at 150 E. High Street, in front of Borough Hall. Guides will take groups along High Street from Hanover Street to Manatawny and back. The tour will describe the succession of buildings and businesses from the 1700s until the present. Learn where George Washington slept!

But if you want a tour preview, it will also be incorporated into The Mercury Mile walk this Wednesday, June 8 starting at noon and meeting at the Smith Family Plaza to start as well.

The first blocks of E. High Street in Pottstown are as deep in history as any other half-mile stretch in Pennsylvania.

The array of buildings and businesses have evolved from the 1700s through the 1800s and 1900s to the present, from feed stores, harness manufacturers and coal bins to medical supplies, higher education, and high tech printing. Some of the constants have been residential units above the store fronts, as well as restaurants and saloons. History, including the history of Pottstown, is not for the faint-of-heart.

A bonus this year will be that the traditional after-tour light refreshments will be served in the lobby of the Security Trust Building, accessible from the building’s parking lot.

The new owner of the building, Win Somboonsong, has kindly offered Tour participants a view of Pottstown from the upper floors of the building.

The date and time of the Tour has been coordinated with the new Pottstown Farm and Artisan Regional Market, FARM, sponsored by PDIDA. The overlap of the Tour and FARM on Thursday, June 16th will allow attendees to participate in both activities.

Volunteers to assist with the Tour are welcome; please contact us. No previous experience or knowledge of Pottstown is required - we will train you in a jiffy!

About the Tour

Meet at Smith Plaza, the last group will leave Smith Plaza at 7:30 pm. Parking is available on S. Hanover Street, in the “Reading Lot”, next to the railroad tracks. The event is rain or shine.

There is no-charge for the tour although, for those able, a donation of $5 is suggested, which will include an expanded program.

The Walking Tour was first held from 2000-2003, under the leadership of Peggy Whittaker and Sue Krause, who then reintroduced the tour in 2015 with a stroll along N. Hanover Street. Stay tuned for information on the future 2017 Tour!

About the Pottstown Historical Society

The Pottstown Historical Society is dedicated to collecting and preserving the documents, photographs and artifacts of the history, people, community life and character of Pottstown

The public is invited to our open house from 1-4 p.m. on the second and fourth Sunday of each month – you may want to visit for research, or for an entertaining review of the past of your house, family and local attractions.

They also hold a program at 7 p.m. on the third Monday evening of every odd-numbered month. They welcome your interest, as well as your membership.

Historic Pottstown Walking Tour Wednesday

'Pastor and Patriot' Comes to Pottstown

Frederick Muhlenberg's portrait

Did you know that the first person to sign the  Bill of Rights once lived in Trappe?

Neither did I until I read Mike Synder's excellent article in the Nov. 3 Mercury about Frederick Muhlenberg and his times in the house on West Main Street.

According to Snyder, Muhlenberg presided at the Pennsylvania state convention to ratify the U.S. Constitution in 1787.

"Two years later he made the move from state to national politics when he was elected as a representative to the first United States Congress and chosen as the first Speaker of the House and was the first man to sign the Bill of Rights," Snyder wrote.

History geek that I am, I immediate resolved to visit the house, which is still open to the public but, as is the case with many lesser-known landmarks, in desperate need of money.

But if you don't want to leave town, you can mark Monday, Nov. 19 on your calendar.

Photo courtesy of Lisa Minardi

Artist rendering of The Speaker's House by Julie Longacre,
showing the house as it looked when Frederick Muhlenberg
lived there.

That's when the Pottstown Historical Society, of which Snyder just happens to be president, will host Lisa Minardi as the gues speaker.

In addition to being an assistant curator in charge of Pennsylvania German Art at Winterthur Museum in Delaware; an Ursinus graduate with a degree in history and museum studies, she is also president of The Speaker's House, a preservation group overseeing the restoration of the home.

Her first book Pastors and patriots: The Muhlenberg Family of Pennsylvania," was recently published and copies proceeds from the sale of the $30 book, which will be for sale on the night of the meeting, will benefit the Speakers House organization.

The Muhlenbergs came from Germany in 1742, in part because there was a distinct shortage of Lutheran clergymen and the Rev. Henry Muhlenberg is often recognized as the "father of the Lutheran Church in America."

His wife was the daughter of Conrad Weiser, who helped preserve peace with the Iroquis.

The Speaker's House as it appears
today.

Frederick was one his 11 children. His other childrenincluded a famous Revolutionary War general, Peter, and Gottlied Henry Ernst Muhlenberg, who becoame one of America's best known botanists.

His daughter, Maria married a U.S. Congressman and his daughter Eve was mother to Andrew Schultz, a governor of Pennsylvania.

Minardi's talk will focus on the Muhlenberg family during the time of the American Revolution and will include images of houses, portraits, furniture and other artifacts associated with the family that were discovered during research for her book.

Minardi's talk will begin at 7:30 p.m. at the historical society's headquarters, 568 High St.

For more information, go to the historical society's web site.

An Underwear Overview

There's no question that we are a more liberal society than that founded by our forefathers.

In their time, the glimpse of a lady's ankle was considered scandalous.

No doubt, one episode of "Jersey Shore" would knock most of them back on their heels.

So it's doubtful that George Washington and John Adams knew a lot about ladies underwear of the day.

(History suggests that Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin, on the other hand, may have had a familiarity their peers lacked.)

Luckily for those of us who want to know more about Colonial undergarments, Pottstown has Lynn Symborski.

The educator at Pottstown's very own Pottsgrove Manor, ancestral manse of Pottstown Founder John Potts, Symborski will be the guest speaker at the monthly meeting of the Pottstown Historical Society Monday at 7 p.m.

The historical society is located at 568 High St.

I know, it's not exactly Victoria's Secret is it?

She will present a program irresistibly called "Intimacies: An overview of Underwear in the 18th Century."

Michael T. Snyder, editor of the historical society's newsletter, joked that the title "conjures up images of a Victoria's Secret Catalog for Colonials."

But the program is part of the current exhibit at Pottsgrove Manor: "Matters Persona, Details Private: Cleanliness, Hygiene and Personal Pursuits in the Colonial Home."

As Mike writes, "the exhibit explores how home life, personal effects, health and hygiene intersected with the sensibilities, emotions and desires of these people."

The educator at Pottsgrove Manor for more than four years, Symborski has a degree from the Moore College of Art in Philadelphia and takes particular interest in historic textiles.

She has a web site featuring her work at www.williamsburgrose.com where her work in this area is featured.

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On another note, the Pottstown Historical Society is now on Facebook, friend them to be kept abreast of all their activities.