The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Roadside
auction that ended at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Mike Fatovic of Monroe County, who had been visiting Roadside America for 40 years, marveled at the scope and complexity of the basketball-court-sized display.
He recalled how you could push a button and make figures move, an early form of animation. And, how the lighting would turn the display from day into night.
“This was way ahead of its time,” said Fatovic, 61, who was bidding on a 19thcentury hosiery mill reminiscent of many in Berks County. “It’s sad that it’s going away.”
By rights, Fatovic said, Roadside America belongs in the Smithsonian Institution.
Bettina Heinsohn, greatgranddaughter of the founder, said the family tried to sell the exhibit as a whole for about three years without success.
One prospective buyer had plans of moving it to New York. He visited several times over two years, and the family visited a potential site in New York. The buyer, however, never made an offer.
Roadside America continued operating, but closed on March 15 in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. It never reopened.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Heinsohn, 33, who’s writing a book on Roadside America. “We tried to sell it, but nobody stepped up to the plate.”
Reviving memories
Joe Scavuzzo had seen photographs of Roadside America in a book given to him by relatives, but until Saturday had never visited the display in person.
From the start, he was fascinated by a replica of an iron truss bridge common on the Reading and other railroads.
Scavuzzo drove from his home in Pennsauken, N.J., to see the bridge and place a bid.
Should he be the high bidder, he plans to display the 10-foot-long bridge on a shelf with his Lionel model train collection, which includes some of his grandfather’s O-gauge trains.
Prospective bidders photographed and videotaped the display, which will be dismantled as they claim their prizes in the coming weeks. The concrete and wood platform was not put up for auction and will have to be dismantled before a new owner takes possession of the property.
Citing Berks County records, the Allentown Morning Call reported that Terry and Tina Shaner of Tilden Township purchased the property for $1.1 million. The Shaners own S&S Leasing and Transport, a construction and transportation firm in Tilden Township. Their plans for the property have not been disclosed.
‘It was mesmerizing’
Inspired by a view from Mount Penn, Laurence Gieringer began building miniatures around 1903, when he was 9 years old and living in Reading.
Growing ever larger over several decades, the display was moved to its present location along Old Route 22 in Upper Bern Township in 1953.
When it moved there, the site could be accessed from Route 22.
But when the highway became Interstate 78, transportation officials fenced off access, forcing visitors to exit at Shartlesville and enter at the rear of the property.
Colleen Phillips, 45, of Scranton said Roadside America was one of her family’s favorite places to visit.
“I have a lot of good memories of this place,” she said. “It was mesmerizing to youngsters.”
Phillips posed for photographs taken by a companion, John Norcross of Clarks Summit, Lackawanna County.
“She came to visit her childhood love one last time,” said Norcross, a professor who chairs the psychology department at the University of Scranton.
“They had a good run — entertained millions,” Norcross added. “They could have done worse.”
Jeff Thomas of Port Tobacco, Md., had his eye on a model of the railroad station in Hershey.
“I was here a long time ago as a kid,” said Thomas, a collector of old cars and memorabilia. “I saw it was up for auction and said ‘Oh, no.’ “
Rick and Nancy Unruh of Douglassville bid on Gieringer’s model of an old stone church with good reason: They own an 1883 chapel in Pottstown.
“We hope to display it in our chapel,” said Rick, 67, who drives a firetruck for a Pottstown fire company. “It would be perfect.”
Around 2 p.m. Saturday, the bid on the church was $440.
Nancy, 65, a retired teacher in the Daniel Boone School District, said the couple was also bidding on religious items from a former chapel in the basement of the building.
“This was way ahead of its time. It’s sad that it’s going away.” — Mike Fatovic
‘Glad for the family’
By midafternoon the bidding activity was feverish.
Doris Stinson of Somerville, N.J., bid on 20 items and was outbid on 15.
“A lot of the models are going at very good prices,” she said. “I’m glad for the family.”
Bill Howze of Renaissance Auction Group in Reading stressed that the midafternoon prices were likely to go much higher in the final hours of the auction, which ended at 6 p.m.
The Amish couple, a fiberglass advertising sculpture, who waved to passersby on I-78 for decades was going for $2,950 around 3 p.m.
The top item was a coin operated nickelodeon orchestrion with a bid of $4,800.
Berks County landmarks were a favorite of bidders.
The bid on Long’s ESSO Service Center on Route 61 north of Reading was $1,325. The old Berks County Courthouse at Fifth and Penn streets was going for $960, and Yellow House Hotel had a bid of $820. The old Kauffman’s furniture store on Penn Street had a bid of $725.
The country club in Fairfield, Gieringer’s vision of small town America, had a bid of $1,025 and the town’s baseball diamond was at $520.
In addition to Fairfield, the display included Sleepy Hollow, a 19th-century western town, and Beaver Creek, an early American frontier settlement.
Gieringer, regarded as one of America’s premiere 20th-century model makers, built the models in the display from scratch using old wooden boxes and discarded cardboard game boards.
He worked on the display, which had 18 model trains and 300 structures, until his death in 1963.
In addition to the miniature village, items in the PA Dutch Gift Haus and remnants of a chapel in the basement of the display building were also auctioned.
An Infant of Prague chalkware figure, a family heirloom, had a bid of $300.
Dora Gieringer, Laurence’s 1-6 (Jan. 26 Day: 2-9) 2-8-5 (Jan. 26 Day: 1-9-5) 0-6-4-2 (Jan. 26 Day: 0-4-2-9) 3-3-8-9-4 (Jan. 26 Day: 4-6-6-2-4)
6-8-9-26-27 7-14-16-17-37 14-20-32-37-44-46
5-8-17-27-28 Powerball: 14 Power Play: 3
4-26-42-50-60 Mega Ball: 24 Megaplier: 2
wife, sewed the statue’s garments and gave dozens away free.
The basement chapel was dedicated to the Infant of Prague. Laurence Gieringer’s brother Paul was a priest in the Harrisburg Diocese.
Stinson, 61, a retired designer, found her final visit to Roadside America a refuge from the coronavirus crisis in her nostalgic venture into a childhood fantasy.
“We’ve lost so many people to COVID-19,” she said. “It was a relief to revive my childhood memory of Roadside America one last time.” 0-5-0 (Jan. 26 Day: 3-0-4) 0-9-2-4 (Jan. 26 Day: 0-8-2-2)
1-24-28-34-41 Lucky Ball: 2
10-15-20-34-47 Star ball: 6 Multiplier: 3
8-10-12-17-26-31