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 Perkasie Historical Society World War I Tobacco Fund Book |  Photo Courtesy: Parker Collection |  Photo Courtesy: Parker Collection |
As Veterans Day approaches, former society vice-president, Jeanne Parker, has memories of her mother’s cousin, Ralph Seidel. Jeanne remembers Ralph occasionally visiting her grandparents’ house in Perkasie. Family members remarked that Ralph served in both World Wars.
The Seidel family moved to Ninth Street in Perkasie in 1905. Ralph attended Perkasie schools and enlisted in the Navy during World War I. He was called into active service on October 12th, 1917. After training he was assigned to submarine chaser S C 144. He was placed on inactive service in 1919.
After the war, Ralph worked for the Pennsylvania Highway Department as a surveyor. This skill was valuable during World War II as Ralph entered active service in 1942 as a member of the Navy Seabees. He served in North Africa and was discharged in 1945.
Perkasie American Legion Post 280, noted in a 1944 News Herald article that Ralph Seidel served in both World Wars. Besides Seidel, others serving in both conflicts were William Rutter, John Kowalczak of Hilltown, and Franklin Leon Arnold of Dublin.
Round N’ Round:
Bob Dunlap’s Menlo Memories
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As a teenager in the early 1950’s I worked for Henry Wilson, the owner of Menlo Park. I would ride my bike from our home in Silverdale to work at the carousel. I would either collect tickets or work the ring arm. When I was finished working it was dark, and I remember pedaling as fast as I could going up the hill on Walnut Street on my way home.
The carousel at the time was still the original carousel. When working the ring arm, I would calculate where to place the brass ring so the girl I liked would be able to grab it for a free ride.
I also worked in the Menlo bowling alley setting pins. You had to step on a pedal, and pegs would pop up from the floor. There were holes in the bottom of the pins allowing them to be placed on the pegs. You would then let your foot off the pedal as you jumped onto a bench to get out of the way of flying pins.
After The Perkasie Historical Society began operating the carousel in 1970, I started volunteering to collect tickets just as I had done in my youth. It is always great to see smiles on young children’s faces as they ride the carousel.
As long as I am able, I will continue to walk the carousel and collect tickets. And of course, have a hot dog with sauerkraut from the snack stand.
Thanks, Bob, for volunteering all those years!
Doll
The carousel at the time was still the original carousel. When working the ring arm, I would calculate where to place the brass ring so the girl I liked would be able to grab it for a free ride.
I also worked in the Menlo bowling alley setting pins. You had to step on a pedal, and pegs would pop up from the floor. There were holes in the bottom of the pins allowing them to be placed on the pegs. You would then let your foot off the pedal as you jumped onto a bench to get out of the way of flying pins.
After The Perkasie Historical Society began operating the carousel in 1970, I started volunteering to collect tickets just as I had done in my youth. It is always great to see smiles on young children’s faces as they ride the carousel.
As long as I am able, I will continue to walk the carousel and collect tickets. And of course, have a hot dog with sauerkraut from the snack stand.
Thanks, Bob, for volunteering all those years!
Doll
From Baskets to Woodstoves
 2015 Perkasie Railroad Station Rick Doll image |  2016 Perkasie Railroad Station Rick Doll image |
In 1975 Roger Stiles advertised baskets for sale in the Sunday New York Times Newspaper and in Apartment Life Magazine. He received many orders and arranged for an entire boxcar of baskets to be shipped from a manufacturer in Mexico.
When the boxcar was enroute, Roger worried about where he would store the baskets when they arrived. Having just an apartment, he contacted the railroad about leaving them in the boxcar. A railroad official told him there was a fee for boxcar storage, but the Perkasie Station building was available.
2017 Interior Perkasie Railroad Station, Rick Doll image The next day the railroad real estate agent arrived by train from Philadelphia and met Roger at Perkasie Station. The station had been closed for many years and had the windows boarded up and broken glass all over the floor. Needing a place for basket storage he decided to lease it.
The next few days were spent cleaning up the broken glass and readying the station.
The next few days were spent cleaning up the broken glass and readying the station.
| When the boxcar arrived, it was placed in the small rail yard that was located on the site of the current 8th Street parking lot. The baskets had to be carried over the tracks and into the station (see blue arrow on the rail yard photo to the right). By the time the boxcar was empty, the station was filled with baskets leaving only an eight-foot empty space near the front door. |  1940 circa Perkasie raii yard complements of Rich Jahn ARHS |
2016 Perkasie Railroad Station, Rick Doll image Perkasie Container Company made shipping boxes and over a few months the baskets were all shipped to their buyers. Roger Stiles would go on to continually lease both the Perkasie freight and passenger stations until 2017 for American Energy Alternatives, his woodstove business.
Doll
Tether Car Track Memories
2024 Tether Car Track in Lenape Park
When you are visiting Lenape Park for a concert, Community Day, or the Fireman’s Carnival, look for this long-forgotten reminder of Perkasie’s past. Near the area where the park road splits to go to the skating pond, is a two-foot wide, almost hidden, concrete circle that was one the tether car track.
The tether car track was constructed around 1946 - 47 by a group of enthusiasts that formed a local club. The two-foot-wide concrete track was laid in a 90-foot diameter circle. In the center was a pole with a ball bearing ring. The piano wire cable that was attached to the car was attached to the ring which would rotate around the pole as the car rode around the track.
Two people were needed to operate each car. One person would start the car motor and would release it. The second person stayed near the pole and held the cable tight as the car got started. The person in the center would hop onto a platform attached to the pole once the car started moving around the circle. The cars operating at Lenape would reach a speed of 100 miles per hour.
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Each car was propelled by a small gasoline engine attached to a gear box connected to the wheels. Few people could afford a car as it cost about $120 to put one on the track. “Doc” Strouse the owner of the Studebaker dealership on Seventh Street had a few cars that he would race in Perkasie.
The track did not last for too many years. It was gone by the mid-1950’s as it needed new concrete, and a new agreement for operation with Perkasie Borough. Parts of the concrete track are still visible in the area close to the skating pond. There are only a few tracks left in the country where you can still race tether cars.
The late Jay Sowers provided this memory to the Perkasie Historical Society. Jay was a Perkasie resident who was well recognized in the tether car community.
Memorial Day Tradition
 2016 American Legion members Ken Detweiler, Paul Clymer with Rev. Horn |  2015 Ed Snyder passing out the ammo to the American Legion Honor Guard |
2016 American Legion members looking over the display Ken Detweiler, Bob Maxwell (bugler)and Ed Snyder The Perkasie American Legion Post 280 has not owned the former trolley station on Walnut Street for over 30 years. Still, to this day, they will gather there before their annual Memorial Day Services. The legion sold their post home at 513 West Walnut Street for $1.00 to the Perkasie Historical Society back in 1990. The dollar bill was donated by the widow of Henry Hager who received it from the Community Service Group during WW II. The dollar is now framed and on the wall of the building home to the Perkasie Historical Society Museum.
2021 American Legion at Menlo Park Memorial Garden Memorial services are always held at the Veteran Memorials at Second Street Park, Menlo Park, and Helman Field. If a Post member passed during the last year they will pay respects at the grave site. In 2020, the American Legion honored Calvin Hartzell and Earl Crouthamel for whom the Post is named with a memorial service at their gravesites.
Every year on the Sunday before Memorial Day, the legion members will meet at the former Hartzell Crouthamel Post 280 Home to prepare for the memorial services. Rifles, ammunition, and flags are handed out to the participants. The service they perform entails the placement of a wreath, a gun salute and the playing of taps.
 2015 Dave Mann, serving on American Legion Honor Guard, with his WW II US Marine Corps Uniform. |  2025 American Legion Honor Guard members Ken Detweiler, Paul Clymer Ed Snyder |
This mostly unnoticed tradition takes place each year. Unless you are in the area at the time or you hear the shots being fired, most people do not realize it happens. Hopefully, the tradition will continue as the legion members honor their fallen comrades.
Thank you to all our Legion members who over the years have been part of this tradition of remembrance.
2017 American Legion Honor Guard at the Pennridge War Memorial at Helman Field
Rdoll
The Perk:
50 Years of Memories
Memories of Larry Nacarella
As told to Rick Doll 2025
In 1975, I was 13 years old when my father came home to our house in Lansdale and told the family he purchased the South Perkasie Hotel at an auction. We all asked, “where is Perkasie”?
I remember first visiting the hotel which at the time was a shot and beer bar. Motorcycles were sometimes parked outside the bar, and on occasion, on hotel property. The walls were covered with dark paneling and there was a pool table in the front dining room.
The Main Street hallway had steps to the second floor where seven rooms were rented. There was much antique furniture up there and only one bathroom that was shared.
Little by little over the years the hotel evolved from just a bar into a “fun bar” and then a restaurant. Many memories are just a blur, others from the last 50 years are quite vivid. There are memories of my family’s involvement in the early years. My father and later I would cook in the small kitchen. My brother improved the sound system and provided wall tapestries, and my mom would prepare “gravy” for spaghetti night. I have great memories of prepping food, cooking and then tending bar late into the night.
More fun began with the addition of Prism TV live music, pinball and video games. There were St Patrick’s Day, Halloween and Christmas parties, cheesesteak and crabcake nights. More tap beer was added as was international beer night. And we cannot forget Perk pierogies. Today, trivia, karaoke and music bingo nights are lots of fun during the evening hours.
There are memories of taking the Perk building from the stucco exterior to the sunroom look of today. There were demolitions, additions, board and batten siding, German siding, bay windows and brick façades, lighting, landscaping and new signs.
The restaurant interior also changed to celebrate the heritage of the building and meet the needs of our guests. Along the way are memories of green tablecloths, formica bar, vintage photos, kitchen additions, swirled plaster, floor tiles, hardwood floors, vintage lighting, ice cream parlor chairs, wainscoting, a Frank Sinatra photo, waiting room and Pub Room additions.
Most important are all the memories of people. Over a thousand employees during the past 50 years deserve much gratitude. Guests that became friends. Famous visitors like Chuck Bednarick, Bernie Parent, Pink and Mickey Dolenz of the Monkeys.
There were afternoon lunches with Dave Hubbert and Bob Benner and meeting Janette Flagler during a class reunion. Many sports team celebrations, birthday and anniversary parties and Monday night community fundraising events.
If my mother and father would be alive today they would be amazed and perhaps shocked at The Perk of today. I also believe they would be proud of all we accomplished.
Rdoll
Serendipitous!
 Portrait of Jacob C. Crouthamel |  Portrait of Jacob C. Crouthamel at the Perkasie Fire Company Memorial Display |
It’s interesting how the same historical topics come to us from different sources.
We recently received a request by a local resident to identify a portrait purchased at an auction. The portrait looked familiar and is of a uniformed man, possibly a railroad conductor or a fireman. Perkasie Fire Company was contacted for help and identified the individual as Jacob C. Crouthamel. We confirmed they have an identical portrait hanging on wall on the lower level of the Perkasie Fire Company building.
 1926 April 07 Central News newspaper clipping |  In Memory of Jacob C. Crouthamel and Willis Sames Plaque. The plaque at one time was attached to Fire Chief's car donated by Mrs. Jacob Crouthamel. |
Jacob C. Crouthamel, was a member of Perkasie Fire Company that died along with fellow fireman Willis Sames on April 1, 1926. On that dreadful day, nearly 100 years ago, Perkasie Fire Company responded to what they understood to be a real fire. Enroute to the fire in Quakertown, Crouthamel and Sames were both killed as the firetruck sideswiped a pole. The fire turned out to be a drill.
In 2023, Perkasie Fire Company Life Member, Jeff Schoeller presented “Perkasie Fire Company #1, April 1st, 1926: Not an April's Fool's Joke" at our Perkasie Historical Society Meeting. The presentation shared the sequence of events that led to the tragedy. His presentation also notes a number of safety procedures that have been put in place, across the firefighting industry, as a result of this tragedy.
View Jeff Schoeller's presentation “Perkasie Fire Company #1, April 1st, 1926: Not an April's Fool's Joke" on our YouTube Channel.
Ella’s Miniature Buildings
Ella Crouthamel Roth hand-painted miniature buildings in Perkasie Borough display case January 2025
Many of us remember seeing miniature wooden versions of historic buildings for sale in gift shops and stores during the 1980’s and 90’s. The miniatures were made by companies like Hometown Collectables and Cats Meow and used as décor throughout many of our homes. Local residents were fortunate to also have Perkasie’s Ella Crouthamel Roth, designing and hand painting miniatures of our local buildings.
"Know Your Community: Perkasie resident paints the town and other points of interest" News-Herald
Ella was a 1936 graduate of Sellersville -Perkasie High School and was employed by First National Bank of Perkasie and later Bucks County Bank. After the 1988 Perkasie Fire she began designing and painting miniatures of many notable current and past buildings. Her son Allan noted that she never had any artistic interest while she was working.
Ella Crouthamel Roth hand-painted miniature building of Trinity Lutheran Church As the miniature buildings became popular, Ella continually added to her collection. In all, she designed and painted over 75 different buildings from the Pennridge area. She would sell her artistic creations at local art shows as well as from her Highland Terrace home.
Allan and Gloria Crouthamel January 2025 Ella stopped painting in the early 2000’s and passed away in 2018. Recently her son Allan graciously donated an entire collection of miniature buildings to The Perkasie Historical Society. Some of the buildings may be seen in the lobby display cabinet at Perkasie Borough Hall.
WW II Good Luck Coin
Returned
to Local Family
Thanks to Perkasie Historical
Society and Australian Sailor
By Rick Doll and Charles Baum
A special Good Luck coin was recently returned to a local family nearly 80 years after it was lost in the Solomon Islands. The coin was returned by an Australian sailor who purchased and carried it on deployments throughout the world.
Luther T. Barndt Community Services Group (CSG) Book
Five years ago, the sailor decided to track down the owner of the commemorative coin issued to late Sellersville Navy veteran Luther T. Barndt, who apparently lost the silver piece during World War II.
Five years ago, the sailor decided to track down the owner of the commemorative coin issued to late Sellersville Navy veteran Luther T. Barndt, who apparently lost the silver piece during World War II.
Through the help of the Perkasie Historical Society, the coin was returned to Barndt’s family on Sept. 2 at the Perkasie Museum, nearly five years after the society found out about the special piece. And there’s quite a story behind it.
| It all began back in the Second World War when Luther Barndt, of 511 Diamond Street, Sellersville, served as a U.S. Navy Aviation Machinist Mate 1st Class. He was stationed at Bougainnville, north of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in the Pacific. |  Zane Cross in Dress Uniform with his wife -photo courtesy of Zane Cross |
Luther Barndt Coin Backview Zane Cross Photo Barndt had been issued a commemorative deployment medal by Firestone Tire Company before going overseas. This coin has on one side the words “Good Luck and Happy Return” along with an eagle and a V. The other side has the words “Presented to Luther T. Barndt With Every Good Wish, Firestone 1943.”
In December 2019, Perkasie Historical Society received an interesting email that intrigued Louise Doll, society vice president, and her husband Rick, museum co-curator.
The email was sent by Zane Cross, a Petty Officer in the Royal Australian Navy who stated that in 2003 he was deployed to the Solomon Islands, known as Guadalcanal in WWII.
Cross explained, “Whilst in the mountains I came across a village that time had forgotten. While there, I bartered for the coin that I thought would be of significant value to the family of its owner. I knew nothing of its origin and no way of contacting its owner.”
He added, “Through the wonders of the Internet and technology, I have found its rightful owner. The coin has traveled with me on every deployment I have been on including the whole of southeast Asia, Iraq, back to the Solomons and many other places. It has kept me safe, and I would love to send it to your museum to the locate the family of its owner. All I ask it that you send pictures of the presentation to the family, and I would love to hear what sort of man Luther was. It has been a great honor to have this in my possession.”
Upon receiving the interesting email, Louise Doll did some research and found that the Barndt family had donated Luther Barndt’s Navy uniform to the museum a few years ago. In the old News-Herald archives, she found Barndt’s obituary—he died March 26, 1985. Doll reached out to Luther’s daughter, Jeanne Parker, who ironically was a former vice president of the Perkasie Historical Society herself.
Doll emailed the information and a picture of Luther to Zane Cross and promised to return the coin to the Barndt. In 2020, Cross emailed more information about his story of finding the coin.
Cross noted he was deployed to the Solomons in 2003 as part of a weapons amnesty and to provide security in the region after a coup. He said he was in the little village of Mbelaha where there was an array of WWII artifacts on display, and he spotted the coin with Barndt’s name on it.
“I couldn’t help but wonder if this man was still alive and is he had a family,” added Cross, who said he traded a t-shirt for the coin. He was told it was found near an airport runway soon after the war had ended.
Then the Covid pandemic hit, and the world temporarily stopped. The society didn’t hear anything from Cross even after repeated emails from Rick Doll and Barndt’s granddaughter Lori Parker. They feared that something happened to Cross during the pandemic.
Then the Covid pandemic hit, and the world temporarily stopped. The society didn’t hear anything from Cross even after repeated emails from Rick Doll and Barndt’s granddaughter Lori Parker. They feared that something happened to Cross during the pandemic.
Surprisingly, out of the blue this past April, Lori Parker received an email from Cross stating he was well and would be sending the coin to the historical society. Finally, on August 30, the package containing the coin along with many treats and souvenirs Cross sent from Australia arrived at the Doll’s house.
Presenting the Coin to Luther Barndt's Family From Right to left: Matt Lynch Perkasie Historical Society co-curator, Jean Parker, Lori Parker (Luther Barndt's grand-daughter) ,Barbara Barndt Boughter, and Rick Doll Perkasie Historical Society co-curator Perkasie Historical Society- Louise Doll image
Three days later, the coin was presented to Luther Barndt’s daughters, Jeanne Parker, and Barbara Barndt Boughter, along with granddaughter Lori Parker, at the museum. They were standing next to a museum mannequin dressed in Luther Barndt’s Navy uniform for the momentous occasion.
Zane Cross was sent a photo and video of the event and in a reply email thanked everyone for their help and patience.
He continued, “This has been an incredible experience for me. I have traveled the world with Luther’s coin. From third world countries recovering from natural disasters to war torn nations, his coin has kept me safe and returned me to my young family.
“The world is a complete unknown at the moment and to have completed this final mission fills my heart with pride and my eyes with tears of joy.
Luther Barndt died at age 70 in 1985. He was married to Adele Sterner Barndt, and had two daughters and four grandchildren. Barndt was an engineer for PennDOT.
We were fortunate and grateful to WFMZ for their coverage of Luther T. Barndt's coin bring returned to the family. The WFMZ News Segment by Amy Unger and Jenny McCain and Frank Whelan's History Headlines about Luther Barndt's WWII coin returned to his family.
Memories of Perkasie
Sharing interesting connections between Perkasie's people, places and events.
Rick and Louise Doll
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