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Annual Dinner 2006 —
The Story in Pictures © Thu Oct 19 2006 |
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Each year, the Boyertown Museum of Historic
Vehicles holds its Annual Dinner in October.
Last year was the
Museum's 40th Anniversary.
•••
This year, we are celebrating the completion of
Phase I
of the restoration of the 1872 Jeremiah Sweinhart
Carriage Factory — the
very granddaddy to the chain of events which led
to the founding of our Museum in 1965, by
Paul & Erminie Hafer.
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IMPORTANT NOTE |
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The photo at left shows the Carriage Factory just two months
after the restoration work began, and —
before the center wall was removed.
The Museum's vanguard volunteer, Ed Miller (pictured at right),
provides us with the play-by-play.
•••
"I'm basically going to give you a quick rundown on what happened
here in this part of the restoration. I'll start
over there at the buffet area. That roof was lifted
up; that whole wall removed; foundation repaired;
and that wall replaced.
••• At the end there, on
the big doors — they had been sealed up
since the late 30's; they were removed, repaired, put
back in operation, and the sill replaced.
••• From the large advertisement, down
to that corner, that was lifted up, and foundation repaired under
there. •••
From the ladder over to that far corner, there was
an addition
that was just too far gone.
So we decided to
lose that
and put a new wall in there."
Ed continues:
"Fortunately, during the demolition, we were able to
recover that Schulz
Bread sign that was a side off of a wagon of some
type — and that got saved.
••• From that
corner, up here to the barrels, this whole half of the building was
lifted up; wall pulled in; and the entire foundation
replaced. •••
At the bottom of the steps, at the
entry into our main gallery, that's got a new door, a new floor,
and some paint work done.
••• The outside of the building had the
siding either repaired or replaced, and totally repainted,
and all the windows repaired.
••• The inside of the building
got rewired, insulated, and repainted.
••• And, the ceiling and
the floor — I just took home as much
dirt as I possibly could."
That's the "done" story. Our restoration
architect, Dave Bravo, tells us what's
yet "to do". •••
"What you see here now is the shell. There are plans to
take it a step further in
Phase II.
That's going
to involve sprinkler protection for fire; a new heating and
cooling system; and most importantly, restoration of the two
forges — and perhaps even installation of the
steam engine, to show how the building was powered."
There is also some additional work to be done on the structure
itself — which was deferred from
Phase I.
We will be replacing the four or five
cupolas on
top of the building, and doing some north-side ceiling
reinforcement.
(at left)
Blacksmith Tom Tyson, of
Fritztown,
told us that if we came to his shop,
what we would see would be very similar
to what you see in the picture at right — taken
93 years ago with
Billy Geschwind
standing exactly where Tom is
standing now. Though there has been a slight
improvement in some of the technology of forges since
1913, the
basic tools of the
blacksmith
have gone fairly unchanged for thousands of years.
A
blacksmith works with
iron —
usually exclusively. Mr. Tyson added,
"Brass is a specialty of
whitesmithing.
Tinsmithing is also done by a
whitesmith."
Blacksmiths who specialize in
equine moccasins
are called farriers. •••
For more information on farriers, you may visit the
National Museum of Horse
Shoeing Tools in
Sulphur, Oklahoma.
Meet the founders of the
Boyertown Museum of Historic Vehicles.
Erminie Florence Shaeffer and
Paul Robert Hafer, were married
on October 7th, 1933, in
Ridgely, Maryland.
They honeymooned in the
Blue Ridge Mountains of
Virginia.
The following
May, at the age of 23,
Paul
became President of the Boyertown Auto Body Works
— which his father,
B. Frank Hafer,
and two friends had purchased from
Milton Derr and
Morris Gilbert on
March 1st, 1926. For about 23 years prior to the
Hafer acquisition (including the 15 years that Derr & Gilbert owned
it), the company was known as the Boyertown Carriage Works.
From 1887 to 1911,
Frank Hartman
owned the Carriage Works,
and in 1906, he contracted with Boyertown's first electrician,
James William Shaeffer,
to come in and convert the place from steam & gas (power & light)
to all electric.
Erminie
continues the story:
"My father installed the first electricity in this
building.
The first motor-vehicle body
was built here at the Boyertown Carriage Works for the
Erb Cigar Factory , and they made
Castle Hall Cigars
— and
that body
(pictured below/right)
can still be seen in the vehicle collection."
"Right here was the beginning of
a company
that served the whole United States from
1926 until 1990."
In the 57 years that
Paul Hafer
was directly associated with the Boyertown Auto Body Works
(1926-1983), they produced approximately 126,000 units
— which averaged out to about 8½ per
day. When you consider that the operation nearly always
ran only one (8-hour) shift per day, 5 days per week
— this was a pretty hefty output for only a few
hundred employees.
In 1974, Paul sold the Boyertown Auto Body Works to
Harry Yoder, Kermit Lenhart (who had been with the company since
1946), and George Burpee. Colonel Yoder relates
some of the goings-on from that chapter of the business.
•••
"I became employed here in 1971, after spending 30 years in the Air
Force as a bomber pilot and a transport pilot. I was
working, after my retirement, for Lockheed in
Marietta, Georgia,
and one day I received a call from
Paul Hafer,
who said, 'I would like to have you work for me.' Then,
in the mid-1970's, I became the President of
this Company."
"When I came here in 1971, this was the woodworking shop, and they
made products for our expansible vans, which was a van that was
designed here, by Boyertown Auto Body Works, for the U.S.
Army — and the van expanded twice its size, and
was used out in the field for various things
— a photo lab, a machine shop, and you name
it. •••
We also negotiated a contract with the U.S. Army to do an expansible
van for the ICBM's (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles)
— and that body was mounted on a White Motor
chassis. That item was very elaborate and very complex."
"We had some very large contracts. The Continental Baking
Company would come in here and talk to
Paul,
and they would give us an order for 1200 to 1500 vehicles, and that
was a special type vehicle for the baking industry, which was used
primarily in the
New York City area."
If there was a baking company within 200 miles that we weren't
making step-vans for — I certainly couldn't
name it. The bread business — and
the other ovened products — brought more
bread
into the Body Works than any other category:
Bond,
Maier's,
Schaible's,
Hendrick's,
Freihofer's,
Continental,
Dewey's,
Height's,
Schulz,
General,
Mutter's,
Mrs. Smith,
Billy's,
Bachman's,
Pepperidge Farm
— the list is endless. And, an order
of 1000 or more units was not unusual for the biggies among these.
Because Erminie Hafer just turned 95 years young on
September 15th, we decided the Birthday Girl should have an
official Museum Cake.
So we sang to her, and all shared in the confection.
Since Mr. Bravo had discretely informed us that the Carriage
Factory was not yet equipped with a sprinkler system, we waived
attempting to top it with ninety-five candles.
We opted to go digital instead.
Over the years, the Boyertown Museum of Historic
Vehicles has had three very major benefactors
— and we wanted to recognize them in some
permanent and visible fashion. It was determined by
our Board of Directors that a trio of bronze plaques would be
nice. •••
So, our Executive Director,
Ken Wells,
took the opportunity of
this year's Annual Dinner to unveil them, and share them with
our friends.
They honor Drew Lewis, Ray Carr, and of course, Paul & Erminie
Hafer. •••
If you mouse over each plaque in the photograph at left, you will
be able to read the inscriptions.
Our Museum President, Bernie Hofmann, served as the Annual
Dinner emcee once again this year.
He always does such a fine job at it —
mildly amusing, wonderfully gracious, and always informative.
•••
I should probably also mention that in the unofficial
judging on vehicular neckties this evening, some rated it a
tie [pun intended] between Mr. Wells (above), and
Mr. Hofmann (at right).
But. Obviously, the photographer liked Bernie's
better — as that was the only one
of which he gave a close-up to our webmaster.
(at left)
Among our distinguished guests of the evening was the Mayor of
Boyertown,
Marianne Deery.
She was seated at the same table with Museum docent emeritus,
Edna Dierolf;
Museum co-founder, Erminie Hafer;
Museum President, Bernie Hofmann;
our Executive Director, Ken Wells;
and one of tonight's speakers,
blacksmith
Tom Tyson.
We were all set to raffle off the miniature fire truck at
Duryea Day 2006
last month — but we got reign doubt.
So, we rescheduled the award for tonight.
The winners were Joanne & Robert Sweeney of
New Cumberland PA.
The Limited Edition Fire Truck (pictured at right)
is 3 feet, 7 inches in length.
It has gold plated fenders, bumper, headlights, and trim; and
includes wood ladders, opening tailgate, and adjustable
windshield. Plus. The
headlights,
horn, and chrome bell are fully functional.
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| This Recent News //
Annual Dinner 2006 page was last updated on
Tuesday, November 28, 2006. |
