This Was Doylestown, 1960

Courthouse demolition begins -

[Editor's note - In 1955, the Bucks County commissioners made a controversial decision to raze the 1878 stone courthouse and replace it with : a seven-story administration building and a five-story circular judicial wing. The administration building was completed in March 1960. The furnishings in the old courthouse were auctioned off in August 1960 and demolition began on Sept. 29, 1960. The judicial wing opened in September 1962.]

Standing proud but desolate in Courthouse Park for some weeks now, the castle-like Bucks County Courthouse edifice on Thursday got its first stroke by a demolition and wrecking crew.

The 100-foot boom swung up over the balloon framing-type roof over Court Room No. 1, the "clamshell" was lowered with the dexterity of the modern, precision-like controlled cables and the giant teeth bit into the chimney. Spectators gasped at how easily the chimney crumbled.

Spectators were stunned at how easily the heavy brownstones crumbled and slipped from the thick walls as pressure was applied to the sand and gravel mortar that held them together.

Wesley C. Erven, Clerk of the Works, estimated that the courthouse will be demolished in two weeks. The Bucks County Administration Building (the former national bank on Monument Square) and the County Agents and Home Economics Building on North Main street (the former trolley station) will all be leveled in 30 days.

A. Frederick Scheetz, scion of a merchant and an old Doylestown family, said: "They don't do anything with hands anymore. Imagine how long it took to put the building up and how long it would take to tear it down with hands. I can't really say I'm sad to see it torn down."

Seth C. VanPelt of Doylestown, who is 90 years old, expressed amazement at the size of the roof that was removed in slabs larger than an automobile top at one time.

Former Doylestown Borough Councilman Justin H. Ely said: "It's a crime to tear that building down. All that good lumber and fine woodwork being destroyed."

Although this Courthouse will slip into history, it has been recreated for immortality in the pages of "The Just and the Unjust" by James Gould Cozzens, and also by painters and photographers.

Doylestown Fire Company to observe Fire Prevention Week -

National Fire Prevention Week will be observed in an extensive and elaborate manner the week of Oct. 9 to 15 by the Doylestown Fire Company.

A poster contest is already under way in the borough and township schools and the parochial schools. The fire company will award 16 trophies to the winning posters submitted by the schoolchildren. Parents are urged to have their children participate.

Every evening during Fire Prevention Week the fire siren will be sounded two times, alerting the public that is open for public inspection. Parents are urged to come to the station with their children and see the fire equipment.

The week will also open the company's 1961 contributing membership campaign. The company does not conduct a door-to-door canvass for funds. The personal interest of all citizens in this volunteer organization can be best expressed by becoming a contributing member for $2 annually.

On Saturday of Fire Prevention Week there will be a parade in Doylestown featuring the local company. The parade will start from the Doylestown Shopping Center and continue through mid-town to the Central Bucks High School parking lot. There you will see the local company in action, demonstrating their equipment and presenting a thrilling show.

There will be a sensational aerial ladder demonstration put on with the assistance of the Yardley Fire Company, using two 75-foot ladders. There will also be water polo game between two teams of fire fighters. They will use water to move a ball six- to eight-feet in diameter to the goal line.

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Doylestown Township High School alumni to hold reunion -

Graduates of the former Doylestown Township High School, Sandy Ridge, are planning an alumni dinner for the first time in 34 years, Miss Cora L. Jacoby, Class of 1903, announced Tuesday.

Former Doylestown Borough Councilman Elbert W. Halderman, president of the DTHS Alumni Association, said the school was discontinued in 1921. About 50 or 60 men and women are expected to attend the reunion at Doylestown Township Elementary School in Edison on Saturday, Oct. 8, at 6:30 p.m. for dinner.

Dr. Lilly Weierbach, a former Sandy Ridge teacher, who is a biologist and taught at Simon Gratz High School in Philadelphia for many years, will attend. Mrs. Edward Wilgus of Doylestown, who is 82 and a member of the first graduating class in 1896, will attend. She is the oldest alumnus.

Others who will attend are Walter M. Carwithen Sr., Class of 1904; Benjamin H. Barnes, Class of 1909; Mabel Barnes Houk, Class of 1905; Ellison Gayman, now a member of the Department of Education at Harrisburg, Class of 1907; Anna Horn, 1901; Marion Rich, 1910; Walter R. Thierolf, 1905; and Mrs. Richard Stilwagon, 1905.

Carwithen served as the toastmaster at a reunion held in November, 1910 at Chestnut Grove Mansion. Former Bucks County Superintendent J. Harry Hoffman spoke. Miss Cora Jacoby and Miss Esther Gross sang. Professor A. James Gayman, the first and only principal, was a guest.

Editor's note - After it closed as a high school in 1921, the school on Sandy Ridge Road served grades one through eight until 1936. It then was one of (now ).

Magazine editor buys Doylestown home -

Robert C. Atherton, editor of Cosmopolitan Magazine, has purchased the Doylestown home of Mrs. John R. Andre at the corner of West Court and West streets.

Announcement of the sale was made by the office of , Doylestown. Associated with the Molloy office in the sale was Clement M. Righter, Newtown realtor.

Mrs. Andre is moving to Palm Beach, Florida, where she will establish her permanent home. She is the widow of the late John R. Andre, nationally known rose grower.

Atherton; his wife, Margaret; and two daughters, Anne and Jane, live in a 175-year-old house on Dark Hollow Road in Jamison. They will retain that home but will move to Doylestown in November. They also own an island off the coast of Naples, Florida, and spend much time traveling.

Both of the Atherton daughters attend school in Doylestown. Anne, 12, attends , and Jane, 16, is a junior at .

Robert Atherton worked with the E.A. Wright Engraving and Publishing Company until he became associate editor of Ladies Home Journal. In 1948, he went with Cosmopolitan Magazine and is now its editor. He commutes to New York daily.

Mrs. Atherton attended Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia. She assists as a Grey Lady at the Doylestown Hospital.

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State police on lookout for litter bugs -

The next time you feel like tossing a beer can into the bushes or a bag of garbage on someone's property in a rural area, you'd better be careful or a Pennsylvania State Policeman will catch you.

State Policemen from Bucks County's three substations--Doylestown, Quakertown and Fairless Hills--are enforcing vigorously Governor David L. Lawrence's anti-litter program.

Cpl. Carl J. Sauer of the Doylestown State Police declared, "The anti-litter law is going to be enforced by every officer but particularly State Police while patrolling, investigating, and performing routine duties."

If you are riding along in your car or truck and you have garbage, bottles, cans, rubbish, wire, glass, wooden boxes or cardboard containers, and get the urge to get rid of them, you'd better ask for the nearest landfill, sanitary dump or disposal area.

If you are caught throwing them wildly into the fields, along the Pennsylvania State Highways or anywhere but in your own backyard, you can be arrested, fined from $25 to $100, or go to jail for ten days if you aren't flush with currency (they never take checks) to pay the fine and costs of prosecution.

For thousands of former servicemen, "policing up" was such a pain in the neck (eventually it breaks your back), that to play ball with Governor Lawrence's new anti-litter program is simply falling in line as a good citizen.

County health official resigns -

Bucks County Health Department Engineer Roland K. Sprague has resigned his $8,163-a-year position.

A resident of Pebble Hill Acres near Doylestown, Sprague is a professional engineer and holds the degree of master of public health from Columbia University. He served 10 years with the New Jersey Bureau of Engineering before he joined the county health department in 1955.

In announcing his resignation, Sprague commented:

"This is by all odds the toughest job I've ever had or know of. Occasionally, people have remarked, 'I certainly wouldn't want your job,' but by and large I'm afraid there are very few who realize how serious the sanitary problems of this county are and what is required if these problems are to be solved in a reasonable time.

"At any rate, most of the time I've been here, I've been handicapped by having insufficient help and facilities, and the pressure has gotten so great recently that I am quitting primarily to protect my health."

Sprague said the health department has had a backlog of sanitation problems since it was started in 1955. Last year, he received some additional help and equipment to undertake county-wide surveys of the various sanitary problems. The 1960 budget reduced personnel, "which practically ended all survey work and left me again working excessive overtime just trying to keep up with the new," he said

"I mention these matters now in the hope that doing so will help to ensure that my successor will be given enough budget and support so he will be able to make some headway in effectively reducing the existing sanitation backlog," Sprague stated.

From The Daily Intelligencer, Week of Sept. 25-Oct. 1, 1960