This Was Doylestown, 1923

Former home being converted into hospital -

The Village Improvement Association is converting the former John B. Livezey home at East Oakland avenue and Pine street, which it purchased last year, into the Doylestown Emergency Hospital.

Two legacies were left to the Village Improvement Association for hospital purposes, but the money bequeathed could not be used until a building was acquired and until the association was incorporated. The charter is now being applied for.

Some time ago it was realized the Doylestown Emergency Aid Rooms, on Broad street, were not large enough and did not offer the possibilities that a completed building would offer for development.

The former Livezey home is being completely renovated as a hospital at the present time. Gas connections are being installed and the interior is finished in white. The floors are hard wood.

There are nine rooms in the hospital and with the exception of the absence of an elevator, the building is very suitable for hospital work. The front room downstairs is being equipped as a waiting room for patrons of the well-baby clinic. The visiting nurse committee will meet in this room.

The middle room downstairs is the examining room and there the work of the well-baby clinic is also conducted. The front room upstairs is equipped as the hospital ward and contains two beds and a crib. The kitchen and a room on the second floor will be used by the caretaker, Mrs. May Crouthamel.

The equipment for the hospital was purchased some years ago by the Doylestown Red Cross and presented to the Village Improvement Association. The upkeep of the hospital is in the charge of a visiting nurse committee that once a year conducts a drive for funds that are used to pay the hospital expenses for the year, including the salary of the two nurses.

Since moving into the new hospital building, it has been necessary to purchase coal for heating. For every ton of coal that has been ordered, the dealers have donated an extra ton free of charge.

Editor's note - The Doylestown Emergency Hospital was dedicated on Oct. 9, 1923. The hospital moved into a new building at Belmont Avenue and Spruce Street in 1939. It remained there until 1975, when the current opened.

Pebble Hill school closed due to cold -

Pebble Hill school [on Cherry Lane in Doylestown Township] was closed Monday on account of the place being too cold to be occupied by the pupils.

Miss Hazel Worthington, teacher, was there before 8 o'clock and had a red hot stove until 10 o'clock, but the fire had no effect on the cold room. The temperature at 10 o'clock registered 28 degrees.

There are holes open clear through the wall, some of which are stuffed shut with pieces of carpet. There are any number of air holes about the windows and other places so that the heat of a stove has no effect.

The school board had a meeting a few days ago, but no action was taken regarding repairs to the building.

Doylestown undergoes building boom -

Placing it very conservatively, Doylestown had at least $200,000 worth of building operations in 1922. And this does not include work on the electric light company's plant, but does include $16,000 for the new sewer plant.

Seventeen new houses of attractive types and substantial construction, nearly every one of them single dwellings, were erected. Garages and other new buildings numbered eight, and there was extensive remodeling done to many existing residences.

On Main street, Doylestown Trust Company added an ornate front and built a large addition in the rear of the old building, George B. McLaughlin erected one of the handsomest garages and apartment buildings in this section, Seymour & Wallis remodeled the old Kramer building, and Arthur Fretz built a sales stable on the Clear Spring Hotel property.

On State street, Masonic Hall was extensively remodeled and enlarged, Harry B. Schmidt remodeled the "Palace" building, and Charles H. Shive built an addition to his store at Main and State.

Elsewhere, Walter Beck remodeled his residence on Oakland avenue, William Sell erected a bungalow on Ashland street, Edward Longacre built a large house of attractive design on Court street, Frank Lewis enclosed his front porch in glass on Shewell avenue, Nathaniel Thatcher, Jr. built a large bungalow on Harvey avenue, Carl Klemp erected a small auto body factory on Hamilton street, Harvey K. Fisher built a very handsome home on Clinton street, and Daniel Manning built a small addition to his home on Franklin street.

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Speaker discusses crisis in Germany -

Dr. Herbert Adams Gibbons, of Princeton, noted war correspondent and authority on international affairs, delivered the first of a series of lectures at the Doylestown University Extension center on Friday night.

A large audience greeted Dr. Gibbons, who made his first appearance before a University Extension audience. The lecture marked the start of the eighteenth annual season of University Extension entertainment in Doylestown, and indications are that this year will be the most successful.

"The Next Move in the International Game" was the timely topic of Dr. Gibbons' lecture. During the World War, Dr. Gibbons was a war correspondent for a well-known New York daily that syndicated his writings in eighty newspapers in the United States. Before America's entry into the war, Dr. Gibbons served as a war correspondent with the French.

Dr. Gibbons said France and Belgium have occupied the Ruhr Valley of Germany because they fear the power of Germany and wish to safeguard at least their present generation.

"We are going to face a crisis in the next two weeks or by April at the latest that is by far worse than the crisis we faced at the start of the World War in 1914, and when this crisis comes we will have to admit that we have made a failure of many of our efforts for world peace," Dr. Gibbons stated.

"We trained our soldiers for the destruction of an autocratic Germany in order to make the world a better place in which to live," Dr. Gibbons asserted, "but while the Kaiser has been eliminated altogether from the international game and the German war machine broken, we still have forces in the world working for the destruction of a durable peace.

"It is one thing to subdue an enemy and another thing to make peace with the same enemy. No matter how great a prejudice we may still harbor against our enemies, the time arrives when we must cast aside our prejudices and realize the trouble may be with ourselves, and that we must approach it objectively," he said.

Doylestown High students consider school ring design -

The regular bi-monthly meeting of the Doylestown High School student body. in connection with the Students' Co-operative Council, was held Wednesday afternoon.

The chairman of the Students' Activities Committee reported that the number of couples at the Thursday afternoon social dances in the gym is growing fewer and fewer, dance by dance.

The one big topic of the meeting was to decide on a definite type of ring for the school. Two fine designs were furnished by one company.

Both designs have the seal of Bucks county. The one has the actual seal and the other has the adapted seal. The idea of using the county seal was suggested because Doylestown High is the county seat high school.

The number in favor of each was about equal, but the sentiment seemed to lean toward the adapted design, which seemed a trifle more artistic and clear-cut than the original seal of the county. However, neither of the designs was accepted as final.

The committee has asked for the students to submit designs and ideas, and thinks it will be possible to form a better design for the ring.

Borough street crew busy in 1922 -

Borough workers put in 11.977 hours on street repairs in 1922, at a cost of $5,219.49, according to a report prepared by I.H. Gerlach, chairman of the street committee of Town Council.

Constructing streets accounted for 3,364 hours, amounting to $1,607.60, of the total. If the material used were added to the cost of labor, it would give the borough about $5,500 of permanent work for the year 1922. Adding the cost of machinery brings the total to $6,500.

Other duties performed during the year were: oiling streets, 1,138 hours; removing snow, 388 hours; repairing and building culverts, 434 hours; hauling dirt from streets, 129 hours; patching and repairing streets, 3,876 hours; cutting grass along streets, 454 hours; repairing tools, 212 hours; unloading cars in yard and mixing tar and stone, 514 hours; cleaning ditches or gutters, 1,469 hours.

Material used during the year included 125 tons of sand, 1,608 tons of crushed stone, 100 tons of crushed slag, 80,000 paving bricks, 40 tons of cement, 19,517 gallons of liquid asphalt, 6,090 gallons of cold oil, 2,490 gallons of patching tar and 490 gallons of cold Barber asphalt. Several hundred dump cart loads of cinders and brickbats were used on the streets.

The borough purchased two pieces of machinery for street work, one new sweeper and one conveyor. Also, 1,000 feet of curb and gutter forms were purchased for pavement work.

Streets undergoing major repairs in 1922 were Main, East Court, State, Ashland, Union, Broad, Oakland, Mechanic, Lafayette and West.

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Doylestown Town Notes -

No new scarlet fever cases have been reported. All classes in the Doylestown school were in session Monday. Rooms which were closed Thursday and Friday have been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.

Mrs. Horace Larue returned Friday from a Philadelphia hospital, where she underwent an operation for appendicitis.

The junior members of the Doylestown Nature Club will walk to the bird sanctuary on Monday afternoon at 4 o'clock, taking a supply of food along for the birds. If there is snow at that time, members may being their sleds for coasting.

Allen Goodman was severely burned Saturday when a pail of gasoline in which he was cleansing a pair of overalls ignited.

Miss Catherine E. James has returned to her home in Doylestown after visiting her sister, Miss Margaret James, in New York City.

Harry Swope's auction of household property Saturday drew a very large crowd at his home on East Ashland street, and good prices were received for the personal property sold.

Harvey Scheetz and his sister, Miss Ella Scheetz, left Monday for a trip to Florida.

The Doylestown Boys' Brigade won two basketball games Saturday night in the social center, defeating a Forest Grove team and a team from Philadelphia.

Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ross spent Sunday at Camp Dix, N.J., the guests of Capt. and Mrs. J. Paul Lloyd.

Russell Gulick has formed a temporary partnership with a stout cane as a result of having one of his ankles sprained Saturday evening in a basketball game.

Henry Ullman met with an accident while skating at Edison on Sunday when he tripped and fell, resulting in a cut in his head. Three stitches were necessary to dress the wound.

The dance in the Armory on Saturday evening was largely attended, and was one of the most enjoyable held there this season under the Robinson management. The "Night in Jungleland" scored a great hit and the music by Farina's orchestra was excellent.

From the Doylestown Daily Intelligencer, Week of Jan. 28-Feb. 3, 1923