Collecting, Preserving and Educating
Join the Delran Historical Society for their September 20 meeting where the featured program, “First by Stage Coach, Then by Bus” will be presented. Learn some interesting facts about one of Delran’s main thoroughfares. The Society meets every third Tuesday of the month at the Delran Municipal building at 7:00 pm. Light refreshments are served.
On Saturday August 13 from 3pm to 6pm the Riverside Historical Society’s Museum will be open. The museum is located at the Historic Keystone Watch Case Building in Riverside. There’s a new exhibit: The Industrial Years of the Keystone Watch Case Company. The wood patterns used for casting machine parts, architectural drawings of the machinery that ran the building and items manufactured onsite during the heyday of its operation will be on display. This special open house coincides with the Famous Riverside Car Show.
Where: Watch Case Factory, Pavilion Avenue, Riverside
When: August 13 from 3pm to 6pm (Rain Date: August 14)
Join us at our June monthly meeting when our featured speaker will be Alice Smith. Alice Smith will highlight the guidelines outlined in Donald A. Ritchie’s book Doing Oral History. This book is considered the premier guidebook to oral history used by historians, archivists, and genealogists as a core text throughout the history community. Alice will be discussing setting up oral history projects and conducting interviews. She will also be sharing some of the information gathered from an oral history project conducted about ten years ago while interviewing persons who worked the Russ farm in Delano. Genealogy involves researching historical documents, oral history and now DNA. Alice M. Smith has been involved with the Riverside Historical Society since 1999. She is a resident of Delran and is also an active member of the Delran Historical Society.
Join us at 7pm on Tuesday June 21 at the Delran Township Municipal Building. Light refreshments to follow.
The Delran Historical Society is sponsoring an “historic” guided bus tour to Washington D.C on September 17, 2016. The trip will be narrated by Patty Kolodi who is a retired Delran High History Teacher and current councilwoman for Delran Township. Our first stop will be Arlington National Cemetery to see the tomb of the Unknown Solider and the Changing of the Guard. Our next stop is the National Mall where you will be free to explore the Smithsonian Museums – National Air and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, American Indian Museum, American History Museum, Smithsonian Castle, or Hirschhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. You can also choose to visit the Washington Monument, the Library of Congress, the United States Capitol, and the National Archives. Lunch is not included in the price but there are plenty of options available on the Mall or at the museums. To maximize the time you have to visit the sites, we will provide a box dinner on the ride home. The bus will leave Delran at 7am and return to Delran at 9pm. The cost is $75 for members of the Delran Historical Society and $80 for non-members. To reserve a seat on the bus, please email Nancy Anderson or call (609)410-1602.
Delran Township was established in 1880. Since that time, 43 people have served in the position of Mayor. Dee Wells, a member of the Delran Historical Society has been searching for photographs of all the people that served in this capacity. Howard Bishop came to the April meeting and brought photographs of his grandfather – Frank Yansick. Frank Yansick was Delran’s longest serving mayor. He took office on January 1, 1936 and remain the mayor until December 31, 1952. Early in his term, he approved plans for a new development on Fairview Street, planned as Riverside Estates. Mr. Bishop brought a copy of the site plans for this project. Hard to believe that the total budget in 1936 was only $18,170 a slight increase over the 1935 budget. The budget surplus was $11,289. The township budget included $175 (the amount of tax revenue on dogs) to pay claims presented by residents for poultry killed by dogs. At one meeting in the spring of 1936, a resident presented a bill for $47.50 for 29 dead chickens.
The Delran Historical Society is still seeking photos of of nine mayors. If you have an old photograph or can provide a lead to tracking down the family of these people, we’d love to hear from you. Send us an email. Here’s a list of who we are still searching for.
Charles W. Beaty 1904 – 1910
George Friday 1900 – 1904
Silas G. Hatcher 1897
Emerson Haines 1894 – 1896
Abram E. Conrow 1890 – 1893
Elwood P. Austin 1887 – 1890
Theodore H. Haines 1885 – 1887
Xavier Walter 1883 – 1885
James Bramall 1881 – 1882
Do you remember the observation tower used to observe and report planes flying over Rancocas Creek during World War II? Mal Anderson, President of the Delran Historical Society and Alice Smith, President of the Riverside Historical Society have joined together to create a presentation on Civil Defense and the observation tower. You have two opportunities to hear this fascinating presentation. On Tuesday May 17, they will be at the Delran Historical Society meeting at 7pm at the Delran Municipal Building. On Wednesday, May 18, they will be presenting at the Riverside Historical Society Meeting. The Riverside Historical Society meeting will be at at the American Legion Post 146 located at 212 American Legion Drive on the corner of Monroe Street and American Legion Drive.
It’s finally springtime and that can only mean it’s time for our annual Hoagie Sale. We will again be partnering with Vid’s Deli on Fairview Avenue. Tickets are $5 for a six inch American, Ham and Cheese, Italian or Three Cheese Hoagie. Tickets can be purchased at our April meeting on April 19 or by contact Mal at (609)845-8389. Present your ticket at Vid’s between May 1 and July 31 when you have a craving for a great hoagie whether it’s a quick lunch, to take to a sporting event, road trip or when just don’t feel like cooking. Your purchase helps fund the Delran Historical Society. 
Join us for our regular monthly meeting on April 19th, 2016. Meetings are held in the community room of the Delran Municipal Building located at 900 Chester Avenue, Delran. Purchase tickets for the hoagie sale and hear about the bus trip planned to Washington DC in September.
This month, Dr. James Schulte from Delaware State University will be presenting a program entitled English, Dutch, Swedes and Lenapes, the Starting of a Nation.
Dr. Schulte is a Pennsville, New Jersey resident. He is active in the Friends of Hancock House (Salem County) and the past president of Preservation Salem, Inc.
Light refreshments will be served.
Debra Hammond presen
ted Arm Chair Genealogy at our February meeting. The presentation included live access to Ancestry.com. She shared great tips for researching your family history using historical documents. She modified her presentation and added screen shots of the records from Ancestry. If you have any questions, you can email her at [email protected].
Delran Historical Society will be meeting on February 16, 2016 at the Delran Municipal Building starting at 7pm. Debra Hammond, our communication and membership coordinator will presenting Arm Chair Genealogy (a take on television program – Who Do You Think You Are without the production crew, white gloves and travel. Genealogy is the study of family history using oral histories, historical documents and records and now DNA. Ms. Hammond presentation will focus on historical records and documents available on line. She has being doing genealogy for over 20 years and will show what’s available online, what type of information you can get from various historical documents and keys to locating more information. Society members were invited to provide names of family members they didn’t know much about and the information located will be shared. It’s not too late to add a name to the list. Hoping for some big reveals. Light refreshments will follow.
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