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Historical commission offers videos to the public
Friday, December 3, 1999
Bucks County Courier Times
NORTHAMPTON
By James E. Stanton
Courier Times
jstanton@calkinsnewspapers.com
Two years ago, on the 275th anniversary of the township, the Northampton Historical Commission gave a "birthday present" to the community.
With the help of the Video Gold Production Company, the commission made a video portraying the changes in Northampton throughout the century.
Also portrayed were some of the things, principally old homes and other structures, that had not changed during that period.
Three more videos, "Churchville," "Holland I" and "Holland II," followed.
The three also depict the history of the two communities, concentrating on some of the grand old houses that date back well before this century.
The number of structures that were built and the work that went into them provide some fascinating stories.
In home after home, narrator Jeffrey Marshall points out the decorative gouges - for example, star bursts and sun bursts - that went into the woodwork over fireplaces, mantels and doors of 19th century residences.
In the Churchville video, Marshall describes how one home on Cornell Avenue, "came entirely from mail order.
"Sears Roebuck sent you the components and you picked them up at the railroad station," said Marshall, director of historic preservation for the Heritage Conservancy.
The home was known as the American Four Square. The home still has some of the early features of the early 20th century, a claw-foot bathtub, a built-in medicine cabinet and a bay window.
Nearby, on Bustleton Pike, is a structure which for 33 years (until 1953) housed both a residence and a telephone exchange. The home and the exchange were entered through separate doors.
In 1939, as the nation began emerging from the Great Depression, phones in the Churchville region became so popular that a wall inside the home had to be torn down to allow for an expansion of the exchange.
The videos show old photographs, some of which date back 100 years, and sketches by Bucks County artist Edith Berry.
Betty Luff, township historian and a member of the commission, said that to recoup the cost of production, the four videos are on sale at the municipal building, 55 Township Road, Richboro, for $15 apiece. The videos occasionally are shown on Suburban Cable Channel 23. "[The videos] would make nice Christmas gifts, especially for people who used to live here," Luff said. |
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