SCHWENKFELDER LIBRARY & HERITAGE CENTER
105 Seminary Street, Pennsburg, PA 18073
Phone 215 679-3103 Fax 215 679-8175
info@schwenkfelder.com
www.schwenkfelder.com

September 14, 2007

Contact: David W. Luz
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
215-679-3103, phone
215-679-8175, fax

2007 Hose Hook and Ladder Exhibit

Pennsburg, PA ---
The Board of Directors of the Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center invites the public to visit the 2007 Hose, Hook, and Ladder Exhibit: The Boyertown Opera House Fire. The Exhibit opens September 25 and runs through November 4, 2007. Local historian Larry Roeder is guest curator for the exhibit.

Boyertown is just ten miles southwest of the heart of the Upper Perkiomen Valley. Not really that far away, yet many people in southeastern Pennsylvania have never heard about the Boyertown Opera House Fire of 1908.

It claimed the lives of 170 people who were attending a religious play on that fateful evening. The conflagration was one of the worst disasters to hit Pennsylvania in the 20th century. The neighboring community may be across the county line, but the horror of the incident was felt in the lives of many throughout the region. The loss of friends and family spread far and reached well into the upper Perkiomen Valley.

There were similar disasters nationally over the previous decade, but only after this horrible accident struck close to home did the State Legislature of Pennsylvania finally move to enact common sense laws designed to protect lives.

January 11, 2008, marks the 100th anniversary of the deadly fire.
The 2007 Hose, Hook, and Ladder exhibit will be dedicated to teaching visitors about the events leading up to the disaster, the horror of that day, and the aftermath. The presentation of photographs and other artifacts, along with interpretive text, will take the viewer back to 1908.

The Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center was founded in1884 as an informal collection in a private home to assure the preservation of the Schwenkfelders' cultural identity. Today the Heritage Center, a not-for-profit organization, is still preserving, interpreting and documenting the history of this German Protestant group, along with the history of the Upper Perkiomen Valley. The Schwenkfelder Library and Heritage Center is open Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm; Thursdays 9:00 am to 8:00 pm; Saturdays 10:00 am to 3:00 pm; and Sundays 1:00 to 4:00 pm. The Heritage Center is closed to the public on Mondays. For additional information call 215-679-3103 or visit our website www.schwenkfelder.com.

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David W. Luz
Executive Director
Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center
105 Seminary Street Pennsburg, PA 18073
Tel. 215-679-3103 Fax 215-679-8175
email: info@schwenkfelder.com
www.schwenkfelder.com