Lansdale Historical Society

Lansdale Historical Society It has its headquarters in a two-building complex, located on Jenkins Avenue in the center of Lansdale, Montgomery County, PA.

The Lansdale Historical Society was founded in 1971, and its purpose is to preserve the history of the Borough of Lansdale and the greater North Penn area, and to share its collection of material and resources with the greater community, particularly the youth. The buildings are owned by the Borough of Lansdale. The complex includes the Jenkins Homestead, a 1770-era Federalist-style farmstead that

is the oldest building within the original borders of Lansdale. Portions of the Homestead have been restored and are open for public tours. The Lansdale Historical Research Center, located less than 60 feet from the Homestead, was acquired by the Borough in 2000 and has undergone extensive renovations to make it computer and Internet friendly and a repository for the Society's vast collection of documents and artifacts related to Lansdale and the surrounding North Penn area. The building is handicapped accessible. LOCATION: The complex is located one block off Lansdale's Main Street on Jenkins Avenue between Chestnut and Line Streets. On-street parking is available on Jenkins Avenue.

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER You can’t help noticing those four smiling faces as North Penn and Souderton prepared to laun...
09/02/2026

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER

You can’t help noticing those four smiling faces as North Penn and Souderton prepared to launch their football schedule with a pair of non-league contests in September 1972.
There were fewer smiles at the end of November when the Bux-Mont League season ended with the Knights posting a 2-7 record and the Big Red only a little better at 4-5. As you might expect, Central Bucks West (9-0) won the championship.

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER Few spots in the North Penn Valley have changed as much in little more than a decade than the...
09/01/2026

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER

Few spots in the North Penn Valley have changed as much in little more than a decade than the stretch of School Lane where Souderton Area High School used to stand.
The tract that was once home to the original 1932 high school, its 1950s addition, the football field, tennis courts and a parking lot are all gone now, replaced by a townhouse development that retains no traces of the land’s academic past. The only obvious reminder is the name of the road – “School Lane” – which will likely become a trivia question some day in the distant future.
The vintage 1958 photo shows construction under way on the $2.8 million addition that included a gymnasium, cafeteria, music rooms, home economics and shop facilities and office space.
The addition was still standing as recently as 2014 when the Google picture was snapped, but now all traces of it are gone.
The present Souderton Area High School in Franconia Township opened in 2009, effectively removing the “school” from School Lane.

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER World War II was history, U.S. troops headed home in droves and the Army was soon confronted...
08/31/2026

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER

World War II was history, U.S. troops headed home in droves and the Army was soon confronted with a shortage of men willing to join the service or remain in the military.
As soon as 1946, the Department of Army was recruiting soldiers from buck Privates to upper NCO vets with a series of incentives they wouldn’t have been offered during the war.
Those interested could head to the recruiting office in Norristown. We don’t know how many signed up.

WE ARE AMERICA by Pat Rieker The current owners of the vintage home at 135 E. 3rd St. (corner Ridge St.) discovered th...
08/30/2026

WE ARE AMERICA by Pat Rieker

The current owners of the vintage home at 135 E. 3rd St. (corner Ridge St.) discovered this painting which had been left in the house by the previous owner. We were able, using an old photograph, to verify that the painting depicts the house in an earlier time.

We know more about the artist than we know about his painting. Joseph (Joe) Kraynak (1921-2012) was the son of a coal miner. His parents emigrated from Czechoslovakia. As a young man, Joe worked as a mechanic in the Civilian Conservation Corps. During WWII he was a staff sergeant in the 4th Infantry Division, serving in the invasion of Normandy on D-Day, the Battle of the Bulge as well as other campaigns including Ardennes, Central Europe, Northern France and the Rhineland.

In 1959, Joe and his wife, Stella moved their family to Lansdale. He worked as a commercial artist and illustrator until 1963, when he and Carson Yost opened a custom framing shop, North Penn Art, which is still a family-owned business on S. Broad Street.

Joe Kraynak enjoyed painting, and he was well-known locally for his portraits, landscapes, and specialty painting restoration. We don’t know why or when he chose the house at 3rd & Ridge Sts. as the subject of this painting. Maybe one of our readers will be able to tell us more.

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER Hindsight is 20-20 and we have to keep that in mind as we view this 1960 era photograph. It ...
08/29/2026

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER

Hindsight is 20-20 and we have to keep that in mind as we view this 1960 era photograph. It shows the demolition of a stately house on Green Street on the present site of the Fairmount Fire Company.

Back then the firehouse tract was occupied by the J.L. Freed auto agency, which purchased the house to add some much-needed parking. Unfortunately, it was the end of the road for a wonderful example of Lansdale architect Milton B. Bean’s now-acclaimed design skills.

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER The slow, painful death of local newspapers has been under way for many years - more than a c...
08/28/2026

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER

The slow, painful death of local newspapers has been under way for many years - more than a century in some respects.
For example, let’s look at the front page of this May 6, 1920 issue of the weekly Lansdale Reporter which was just about as community-oriented as possible. And you can bet every Thursday afternoon people all over town were gobbling up each morsel of news on its four pages.
I urge you to ignore the appearance of this bland page that was typical of the era when photographs were a costly undertaking for small town papers. TAKE THE TIME TO MAGNIFY THE STORIES so you can see what folks were reading and then gossiping about on front porches or across the backyard fence.
Remember, this was a time when radio was in its infancy and TV was decades away. If people wanted national or international news, they waited for the train to bring them one of the Philly papers.
The Reporter was all local, all the time. It was one of the ways folks really got to know their neighbors, something that’s so often missing today.

BACK THEN by Pat Rieker The Philco-Ford Corp. in Upper Gwynedd Twp. played an important role in the Apollo space progr...
08/27/2026

BACK THEN by Pat Rieker

The Philco-Ford Corp. in Upper Gwynedd Twp. played an important role in the Apollo space program in the 1960s-1970s. Located on Church Rd. near the Pennbrook railroad station, the company produced the thousands of integrated circuits (silicon chips) for the Apollo lunar module’s onboard computer.

A silicon chip of the type used in the Apollo guidance computer is on display in Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall at the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum in Washington, DC. Thanks to Larry Stevens who passed along this information to us after observing the display on a recent trip to the nation’s capital.

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER Here’s a scene we’ll likely not see again. A gas station attendant is pumping fuel and provi...
08/26/2026

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER

Here’s a scene we’ll likely not see again. A gas station attendant is pumping fuel and providing directions to a motorist on Route 309 just north of the 5-points intersection in Montgomeryville.
The photo was taken in 1964. The price of gas – 26.9 cents – is laughable today, but you could fill up that 1950 Ford for about $4 and get a freshly cleaned windshield in the process.

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER It was a long time in coming, but finally on June 4, 1958 the walls of the former Lansdale H...
08/25/2026

BACK THEN by DICK SHEARER

It was a long time in coming, but finally on June 4, 1958 the walls of the former Lansdale High School came crashing down, 12 years after a Christmas week fire destroyed the building’s interior in 1946.
During those dozen years, the shell of that once-admired cathedral of learning just sat there deteriorating, looking much like it did the day after flames ravaged the building.
Hopes abounded that those solid walls could be reused. There was talk of a new home for the Lansdale Public Library, an office retrofit or some other private sector use that would bring it back to life.
It never happened. Meanwhile, those ruins sat there looking more and more like the set for a horror movie. Kids shuddered at the sight of it. Wild tales about who might be squatting inside circulated around town. It was time to move on and in 1958, word came from Montgomery County Court that the last owner had to give it up.
So finally, the walls came down. The site was eventually filled with a McDonald’s restaurant and more recently by the Sudz Laundry.

Founders Day is almost here — and the Lansdale Historical Society is ready to celebrate Milestones in Lansdale History!J...
08/24/2026

Founders Day is almost here — and the Lansdale Historical Society is ready to celebrate Milestones in Lansdale History!

Join us Saturday, August 29 from 11:00 AM–3:00 PM at the Jenkins Homestead for an afternoon of local history and a little fun along the way.

Take a tour of the historic Jenkins Homestead, explore maps, tools and artifacts from our collections, and learn how the Lansdale area grew from Colonial days through the 20th century.

You can even speak with 2nd Lt. John Jenkins II about life during the American Revolution!

And because history can work up an appetite… DOLLAR DOGS ARE BACK! 🌭

We’ll also have some Attic Treasures for sale, so you never know what you might find.

📍 Lansdale Historical Society
137 Jenkins Ave., Lansdale

Make the Historical Society one of your stops as you enjoy Lansdale Founders Day 2026!

Address

137 Jenkins Avenue
Lansdale, PA
19446

Opening Hours

Wednesday 11am - 3pm
Thursday 11am - 3pm
Saturday 9:30am - 12pm

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