Agricultural Vehicles
© Tue Aug 24 2004
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In
Pennsylvania,
agriculture is still the number one
industry. But many of us, accustomed to living outside
rural areas, seldom get closer to agriculture than our frequent
visits to the produce department. If we looked closely,
we would find that today's farmers are likely to be thoroughly
mechanized and ahead of most of us in their use of technology.
But what about those old time farms of our grandfathers?
Horse-powered machines and wagons, and the machines powered by
chugging hit-and-miss engines, were the best tools they had.
In the bygone era, a farmer's
determination
was his strongest
partner. The farm family was aided only by simple equipment made of
wood, iron, and
ingenuity.
With those machines, they
could raise a crop, process it, and haul it to market using systems
which today seem primitive and back-breaking.
Nevertheless, they managed to feed America. Those early
machines exhibited here helped
Pennsylvania
farmers build enterprises
that today retain their ranking as the state's premier industry.
In 2005, visitors of all ages will find this special exhibit of
vehicles, machines, and tools of the past, a rare opportunity to
view now what was once commonplace.
Lawn Order
© Thu Apr 29 2004
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Unless you are age twelve, and years away from getting your driver's
license, you probably don't think of your lawn tractor as a
"vehicle." But a special new exhibit opening
May 4th at the
Boyertown
Museum of Historic Vehicles will
feature horse drawn and motor powered lawn and garden
equipment. The common link between the widely varied
kinds of outdoor equipment displayed is that they were all
manufactured here in southeastern
Pennsylvania.
The machines in the exhibit will include examples of the Montgomery
lawn mower, a "reel" cutting mower built in
Gilbertsville, Montgomery
County,
Pennsylvania.
Visitors will also see the unique
Worthington tractor built from Model T Ford parts by a company in
Stroudsburg,
Pennsylvania; a walk-behind mower powered by an air
cooled hit-and-miss engine; and equipment pulled by a
horse. More than twenty other pieces of lawn equipment,
mowers, and trimmers will be included in the unusual springtime
exhibit.
You will feel better about your lawn chores when you see how it used
to be done !
Come visit "Lawn Order" – the
BLUE PLATE SPECIAL, running
Tuesday, May 4, through Sunday, August 1, 2004, at the
Boyertown
Museum of Historic Vehicles.
Butcher Vehicles
© Wed Jan 14 2004
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What was life like without those little foam trays and the clear
plastic film ? You know, the stuff that package
the steaks, chicken legs, and pork sausages in your store's meat
case. Want to go back to waxed
paper ? Fish rolled up in newspaper ?
It is not only the wrappers that have changed over the
years. So has the time and place we buy fresh meat.
At the exhibit opening on January 27th at the
Boyertown
Museum of Historic Vehicles you will see some of the
vehicles that once brought fresh meat right to your door !
First it was the horse drawn butcher wagon that stopped by every
week during the winter. Trucks with cases cooled by
300 pound blocks of ice soon took over the job. Then
meat cases with electric refrigeration became the modern
way. Home delivered meat would stay fresh and you
could tell the butcher just how thick you would like your
chops to be cut.
Come see "progress" illustrated in this interesting special
exhibit.
When we first planned to bring you this exhibit, we saw it as
"butcher vehicles" and named it "Butchericles" on our
BLUE PLATE
SPECIAL Page. Since then, we've decided to expand
the exhibit to include other "come to your house" delivery
trucks besides meat, and so have sub-titled it: "A
Store at Your Door."
Depending on your age, you may remember some –
or all – of these "wagons." Up into
the 60's and early 70's, Mother was still getting milk
door-delivered. As well as her dry cleaning.
In the 40's and 50's, my grandmother had ice delivered;
and was visited weekly by her
huckster." These
were the days when even the "knife (and scissors) sharpener"
was a bell-ringing wagon that rolled the streets of
Reading and
environs.
Also in the 40's & 50's, there was what was dubbed the
"mobile canteen", which featured sandwiches and coffee and
other "eat on the spot" items. Some of these were equipped
for serving hot foods. One of the popular ones for
a while was the "Chinese Special", which featured chow mein, chop
suey, egg rolls, et al.
In (especially)
Pennsylvania
and New Jersey, some of these became
affectionately known as "grease trucks", because they had a grill
inside, and were a big hit with their
"Philly
Cheese Steaks." But you could often get a
hoagie,
ham-on-roll, or
"double doodad"
too. And soon after,
fries, and
rings.
A version of this truck still exists today. The most
common has moired stainless-steel pop-up sides, and features a
standard fare of egg salad sandwiches, Pepsi, chips, Jello, Reese
cups, and (in California) "designer yogurt."
If your place of
toil
has more than 20 or 30
employees, you may have the "lunch truck" visiting you from 1 to
3 times per work-day.
Another " ... At Your Door" truck still common nearly everywhere
in the
U.S.
is the "bookmobile" (the library on wheels).
Yet, lest we forget – the perennial favorite
– it comes in a number of varieties:
popsicles,
fudgesicles, sandwiches, and cups; hand-dipped
on a cone, or a sundae; or, the
ubiquitous
"Mister Softee." EYE SCREAM !
Come visit "A Store at Your Door" – the
BLUE PLATE SPECIAL, running
Tuesday, January 27, through Sunday, April 25, 2004, at the
Boyertown
Museum of Historic Vehicles.
Duryea Day #38
© Wed Sep 24 2003
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Of the 38 Duryea Day Antique & Classic Car & Truck Shows, who
could say which was the best and greatest —
but 2003 would be a contender.
Nearly 500 antique cars & trucks, motorcycles, hot rods & modified
vehicles of all kinds, presented a colorful spectacular amidst the
towering oak trees in beautiful
Boyertown
Community Park on Saturday,
August 30th.
(Please also see "Duryea Day
- The Story in Pictures")
Duryea Day has traditionally been a "family fun" car show.
Relaxed and free of the formal judging of many shows, the focus
is on having a great time, and punctuates the ending of the car
show season as it is held every year at the beginning of the
Labor Day Holiday Weekend.
The prime sponsor of Duryea Day is National Penn
Bank. Headquartered in
Boyertown,
the 18 branches in
Berks County
alone, and another 45 in eight other counties, serve
much of southeastern
Pennsylvania.
The bank, and its
people, set an example of corporate citizenship, and we are proud
to have National Penn Bank on the Duryea Day team, along with Yellow
Book USA, and 107.5 Alive.
To the Museum personnel, and the
Pottstown Region
AACA,
it is gratifying to see the number of special vehicles that are
brought to the show.
A 1902 curved-dash Oldsmobile driving by. The
crisp percussion from the pipes protruding from the hood of a
rare 1910
Chadwick
(pictured right), built only 6 miles away in
Pottstown,
Pennsylvania.
Every year brings raised
eyebrows and dropped jaws to the faces of car owners and
spectators alike.
If you're a visitor to this website from a distant point, we are
pleased that you checked in with us. If you are only
hours away, we invite you to be a part of the 39th annual event,
either as a spectator, or by bringing your own car, truck or
motorcycle. The date is Saturday, September 4th,
2004. Call, or write us, for additional
information. •••
We also welcome early reservations by those who would like to be
a part of Duryea Day's sizable Flea Market. Vendors of
a variety of automotive parts & equipment, or other automotive
related merchandise, can reserve space by contacting the Museum.
If the name Duryea is not familiar to you, we would like to
introduce you to
Charles Duryea,
who manufactured cars in
Reading,
Pennsylvania,
just 15 miles from our Museum, from 1900 to 1911. It was
Charles Duryea
(see photo), and his able younger brother, Frank, who
made history when they took orders for, and delivered,
13 automobiles from their shop in
Springfield, Massachusetts,
just shortly before relocating to
Reading.
It was the first commercial production of
automobiles, and started an industry which has changed both the
culture and economy of the whole world, in a very major way, in a
mere hundred years.
—
Ken
Wells
For more on the 38th Annual Duryea Day, please
go to "Duryea Day 2003
- The Story in Pictures."
This
A Word From Our Driver page
was first posted on
Wednesday, September 24, 2003,
and last updated on
Thursday, March 8, 2007.
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