ROYERSFORD PA – Train wrecks, a 1924 trolley crash, and other accidents. A huge warehouse fire. A variety of storms and floods. Royersford and Spring City boroughs have withstood their share of disasters over the decades. Now the Spring-Ford Area Historical Society museum is documenting them, and other collectively experienced traumas, in a rotating exhibit.
The non-profit society is located at 526 Main St., and operates the “museum of artifacts, print materials, and other research items that are connected to the boroughs.”
On display in the museum’s Fetterolf Gallery, “Disaster Strikes the Boroughs” provides backgrounds of the incidents and their the impacts on the area. Equally instructive, the exhibit also reports on changes that were made to prevent, or prepare for, the possibility of future disasters.
The exhibit is “loaded with archival photographs, newspaper headlines and articles, and also includes related artifacts,” the society newsletter reports. It has proven to be popular, and recently its stay was extended through Dec. 22 (2024; Sunday).
The doubly-memorable ‘Great Spring City Fire of 1881’
One feature of the exhibit covers “The Great Spring City Fire of 1881,” which occurred at the branch foundry for the former Shantz and Keeley stove works.
Local historian and society founding member Lawrence W. Shaner wrote about the 1881 fire for The Spring-Ford Reporter newspaper to commemorate the fire’s 100th anniversary in 1981. At that point, another fire (top photo) had gutted a former five-story Lebow Furniture warehouse in Royersford.
The society newsletter describes Shaner’s account as “a fascinating story of how the mammoth (1881) blaze threatened the entire town.” The neighboring communities of Phoenixville and Norristown, it adds, “transported their fire-fighting equipment by rail to save the town.” At the time Spring City lacked firefighting equipment and a fire company, the newsletter notes.
By 1882, it had both!
Museum Co-Directors Sandi Van Buren and Amy Demchik (who also serves as society vice president), Treasurer Dave Willauer, and Board of Directors’ members Mike Osiol and Jane Reedy are credited with the exhibit’s research and assembly.
The exhibit also is accompanied by an eight-page complimentary copy of Shaner’s “The Great Spring City Fire of 1881″ report, filled with vintage images. Non-resident members can request a mailed copy of the story for $4.
The society’s regular operating hours are Sundays from 1-3 p.m., and Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call the society at 610-948-7127 or send an e-mail to info@sfahs.com.
Photos provided to Travels With The Post by the Spring-Ford Area Historical Society
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