Historical Society plans events for Saturday
Events including lifetime award rescheduled from August
The presentation of a lifetime achievement award will precede an open house and 3 offsite tours.
LANSDALE » This upcoming Saturday will bring part one of take two of two local birthday celebrations.
Lansdale Borough and the Lansdale Historical Society will be holding several rescheduled events to mark both of their birthdays on Sept. 18.
At 10 a.m. Saturday, an opening ceremony will be held at the LHS Jenkins Homestead, 137 Jenkins Avenue, which will include the presentation of the Lansdale Borough Lifetime Achievement Award to longtime resident Raymond
E. ‘Ray’ Walton. Ray has been a longtime employee, and onetime CEO, of the Clyde S. Walton Inc. heating oil company founded by his father, and has also supported numerous community charities and organizations over the years, including the historical society.
Prior recipients of the award include longtime borough fire chief Jay Daveler in 2012; borough Parks and Recreation Director Carl Saldutti in 2013; North Penn High School principal and Marching Knights band leader Stephen Frederick in 2014; then-LHS President and longtime Reporter editor Dick Shearer in 2015; business owner and former Lansdale Business Association head Margie Booz in 2016; North Penn Boys and Girls Club CEO Bob Kreamer in 2017; Lansdale Cemetery caretaker Richard Stricker in 2018, and Frank and Georgette Koehler, owners of Koehler’s Jewelers and Diamond Merchants, in 2019. The award was not presented in 2020 due to COVID-19.
Following that ceremony, LHS will offer open house tours of the Homestead from 10:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. as the grand reopening of the society’s research center museum, with special sale items available for those who attend.
Three offsite tours originally planned for Founders Day have also been rescheduled for Sept. 18: a tour will begin at noon of the Lansdale Cemetery, located at S. Broad Street and Whites Road, and those who attend are asked to enter from S. Broad and park along the driveway.
At 1 p.m. LHS will also offer a walking tour through Whites Road Park detailing the amenities in the park going back to the late 1800s, and all day long residents can also take part in a self-guided walking tour of the town, using a tour book and map available for $10 at the Jenkins complex on that day.
Those events were all originally scheduled for Aug. 28 to mark Founders Day, the borough’s celebration of the anniversary of the town incorporation in 1872, and the 50th anniversary of the society’s founding in 1971. Summer storms on Aug. 28 caused the postponements, with the LHSrelated events now slated for Saturday and the remaining borough events including a planned beer garden, food festival, and nighttime fireworks show now scheduled for Oct. 23.
And that same date, Oct. 23, will also bring the next major event for the historical society: their tenth annual Spring Tea, postponed due to COVID-19, with the theme of “Tea in Britain: Comfort and Tradition in a Cup.” Tea expert Karen Donnelly will present on tea traditions, door and raffle prizes will be available, and proceeds from ticket sales will benefit the society; that event will be held at 11 a.m. on Oct. 23 at Lansdale Borough Hall, 1 Vine Street, with tickets on sale at the society’s Jenkins complex.
For more information visit www.discoverlansdale. org, search for “Lansdale Founders Day” on Facebook or follow @Lansdaleorg on Twitter.
And for more on the Lansdale Historical Society call (215) 368-1872, visit www.LansdaleHistory. org or search for “Lansdale Historical Society” on Facebook.