Meeting Minutes
January 18, 2007
The regular meeting of the Greater Dover
Historical Society was called to order at 7:07pm by President Ron Botterbusch. Members in attendance were: June Kinsey, Gayle Heagy, Madelyn Shermeyer, Lori
Koch, Kay Stitley, Norma Botterbusch, Ron Botterbusch, Doris Burger, Grace Trimmer, Larry
Law, Joyce Law, Phyllis Wolgamuth, Lois Slothower, Melvin Miller, Jo Ott, Maureen App, Dr.
Charles Drawbaugh, Zee Kehr, Robert Kehr, Jeff Koch, Connie Miller, Ted Ziegler, Melanie
Green, Bob Merkert, Zita Smith, Carol Leathery, Cindy Snyder and Martin Green.
President Botterbusch recognized Mayor
Eric VanDyke of Dover Borough to administer the oath of office to the new officers and
board of directors. Individuals sworn in are:
President – Madelyn
Shermeyer
Vice President – Kay Stitley
Secretary – Lori Koch
Treasurer – Joyce Law
Historian – Cindy Snyder
Archivist Emeritus – Dr. Charles Drawbaugh
Board of Directors - Gayle Heagy, June Kinsey, Marty Green, Kay Stitley,
Ron Botterbusch
Mayor VanDyke gave a brief and eloquent
speech thanking the society for inviting him and appreciates all the work the society is
doing to preserve the history of Dover. We
also welcome our newest Dover resident, Josiah David VanDyke, who was born on January 12! Mayor VanDyke then proceeded with the swearing-in
and a photograph of the group was taken by Norma Botterbusch.
Ron Botterbusch presented the official gavel
to President Madelyn Shermeyer, which was hand engraved by Mr. Botterbusch. Madelyn thanked Ron for the gavel.
President Shermeyer made two appointments: Gayle Heagy was appointed Assistant Archivist. Maureen App was appointed Assistant Webmaster. This is a new title and position created to assist
Brett when he is unavailable. Maureen, a Dover
Township employee, was introduced to the members by Madelyn.
The November 2006 meeting minutes were
presented. A motion was made by Lois
Slothower, second by Melvin Miller, to approve the minutes as presented. Motion passed.
Treasurer’s Report
Joyce
Law stated she did not have the figures for November and December and asked Bob Merkert to
make the report.
November balance -- $4,652.39
December income -- $302.21
December expenses -- $43.99 (Staples), $23.00 (storage rental) = $66.99
Balance as of December 31 -- $4,897.61
Total income for 2006 -- $6,842.62
Total expenses for 2006 -- $3,861.31
Balance for 2006 -- $2,981.31
The Treasurer reported she has an invoice for
the Capital One Storage due on February 1st and asked if it should be paid. It was agreed the bill should be paid as the
shelving in the archive building is not installed yet.
Madelyn reported that she and Harry will be purchasing the shelving lumber
tomorrow and then arrangements will be made for installation.
Motion by Norma Botterbusch and seconded by
Ron Botterbusch to adopt the Treasurer’s Report as presented. All in favor and motion passed.
President Shermeyer presented the 2007
proposed budget to the members for review and requested a motion to approve. There being no questions on the budget, a motion
was made by Bob Merkert, seconded by Jeff Koch to adopt the 2007 GDHS budget as presented. All in favor and motion passed.
Archivist Report
Gayle Heagy reported that Dr.
Drawbaugh gave her a bag of goodies from Phyllis Latchaw Baker (who used to live a the
bottom of the hill) with several items in: keys
from Blue Bell Market, photo of York flood of 1933, photos of schools, old Webster’s
dictionary and some Dover Bicentennial items.
Gayle also reported that she was visiting in California
this past August and read a newspaper article on the Durat Garage on the Lincoln Highway
which was established as a weigh station in 1950. It
is now home to historic memorabilia and a map of Route 30 in California and open to
visitors. Gayle found this article very
interesting since our own Lincoln Highway Garage in York City tried to get onto the
historic register. Gayle also reported on
another article she read about an 11-year old boy from California who did a marathon in Hershey,
PA and came in second place. She thought Brett
Pfleiger would find it of interest since he is an avid runner.
Gayle stated she read the article in the
recent Weekly Record newspaper published on Fridays about all the one-room schoolhouses
throughout York County. She felt perhaps we
could post the Dover ones on our society website under our education page to meet our
requirements. Madelyn said information on the
schoolhouses is in the Dover Township history. Gayle
asked if we can post this on our website.
Gayle’s daughter found and bid on an
item on EBay. After it was received, it turned
out to be a copy, not original, of the 1959 fire company bylaws. Another item donated was a Dover Cigar
Company cigar press by Gayle’s brother in California, which was purchased at a public
sale. Gayle stated there was another item on
EBay from Dover, but they did not bid on this one after their experience with the fire
company bylaws. Gayle said it was a Hodgson, Dover
PA anvil, (30th convention MFRMCA Pittsburgh) and asked if any members ever
heard of Hodgson. Mr. Botterbusch said Hodgson was his great uncle who
lived back on Piney Hill, Colonial Road area. He
was a machinist by trade and had these 4-5” long anvils made in a foundry in
Wrightsville. Mr. Botterbusch said he has one
with all the “do-dads” on it. Gayle
will check on EBay to see if it is still there and make an offer. Thought the bid was around $24.95.
Website Report
Brett Pfleiger had a conflicting
meeting so Joyce Law presented his report. The
October minutes, some obituaries, updated membership form, revised meeting/events dates
and all the unreadable minutes were redone and posted to the website.
Historian’s Report
Cindy
Snyder arrived late due to a conflicting meeting and report that history continues to be
made!
Committee Reports
Kay Stitley reported that the Blacksmith Shop
Dedication meeting was held two weeks ago. Several
items were discussed and Kay believes the biggest worry so for her so far is traffic
control. She stated NYCRP will charge a fee if
they are called in. She spoke to Larry
Carpenter, Borough fire police, who said they could take care of it, but we will have to
contact NYCRP since Butter Road is a state highway. That
is not correct; it is half Township and half Borough.
The Society will send a letter to NYCRP advising them we are holding this
event, but we will work with the Township and Borough fire police on traffic control. It was suggested to do the Blacksmith Shop
dedication and official Borough park dedication on the same day. The committee is working on a lot of things and Kay
asked for suggestions and ideas from the membership. The
next meeting will be on January 30 at 7pm at the Borough Office.
June Kinsey reported on the Lottery ticket
fundraiser. A total of 482 tickets were sold
for a total of $2,410. There have been 7
winners in the past 17 days (January 1 to present). All
the winners were members.
June also reported on the Open House event. The committee has held 3 meetings and will schedule
another one soon. The date of the open house
is April 29 from 2pm to 5pm.
Madelyn Shermeyer reported on the Blood Root
books. She had emailed Joe Marks but has not
received a response from him. He had promised
to give weekly updates but that has not happened. Madelyn
will be in contact with him at home if she can and try to have a report for next meeting.
Board of Director’s Report
June Kinsey reported that it was
agreed to have Ted make a small “S” hook for the Open House mementoes. Unfortunately it has been too cold for production.
Madelyn Shermeyer reported that she had made
a suggestion to the new Board of Directors to check into the Department of General
Services (DGS) website for surplus property. There
is a one-time $25 fee.
A permanent address for the society was
discussed by the Board of Directors. Madelyn
asked Joyce if there had been any updates or changes made to the forms. She said no. This
will be discussed later under new business.
Old Business
Lori Koch reported that the Christmas
tree lighting ceremony held on the Friday after Thanksgiving was a huge success. We had a great band, delicious cookies and plenty
of hot chocolate, coffee and cider. Santa
arrived by fire truck and had candy canes for all the children. Our thanks to everyone who volunteered to help and
donated refreshments. We look forward to
another successful event next year.
Keys to the archive building were discussed. Gayle Heagy has the keys. In the minutes from December 9, 2003, a discussion
transpired to assign an “assistant to the Assistant Archivist” so in case Gayle
is out of town for a lengthy period of time, the assistant would have the keys. Madelyn Shermeyer was made the “assistant”. This is how the key situation was decided and
should clear up any questions relating to who has control of the archives keys. Joyce Law questioned if Larry Law would get a set
of keys once the archive building is completely done.
Madelyn stated that Gayle would make that decision.
Madelyn Shermeyer reported that the jail
house marker will be getting a small fence, approximately 30” high. She spoke to Ted Ziegler and he will prepare a
rough drawing of it. Maddie also talked to Don
Baughman about fixing the crack.
It was discussed what items must stay on the
website and what items can be removed. According
to the forms filed with the IRS and Department of Revenue for our non-profit status, there
are certain categories that must remain: education,
kids’ page, archives, our town characters, registry of homes/historical house
plaques, and purpose of the society.
New Business
Blacksmith Shop replica – Madelyn spoke
to Dawn Slegal, the Township secretary, asking if we can make our replica #4 in the
township series. It would be “#4 in Dover
Township series with execution by GDHS”. If
the GDHS does another one, it would be #5 and so on. It
was suggested that the society should take on this project, as it would be a good
fundraiser. Madelyn will get additional
details on the process and deal directly with the Township staff. She will need the blacksmith shop history and a
nice photograph of the shop for the replica. Marty
Green asked if there will be a problem with the blacksmith shop being located in the
Borough and the replica is a township series. Madelyn
said she does not see any problem as long as the Borough is OK with it too. Lois Slothower asked how many replicas we should
order. Madelyn suggested 500 (Township had 500
of the jailhouse, 1,000 of the carousel and sold out of the log house). June Kinsey asked if we can reorder if our supply
runs out and Madelyn said yes. Gayle Heagy
asked if the replicas are designated as Township and why do we need to differentiate
between the Township and Borough. Suppose the
Women of Today wanted to sponsor a replica. Madelyn
is not sure if it actually states Township on the back of the replica. A motion was made
by Norma Botterbusch and seconded by Doris Burger to instruct Madelyn Shermeyer to begin
the process for the replica production. All in
favor and motion passed. Melanie Green said
she feels most people would want a photo of the new rebuilt blacksmith shop on the
replica. Madelyn will get started on it.
Doris Burger stated she called Bob Little to
get information on the blacksmith shop from his family book.
She has not talked to him yet. Mr.
Botterbusch and Dr. Drawbaugh are working on preparing information for the dedication
program. Dr. Drawbaugh read the brief history
prepared to date. He will also contact Bob
Little for historical information. Ron
Botterbusch will be speaking at the dedication about how the society was started and the
blacksmith shop history will be printed in the program.
Madelyn Shermeyer talked about job
descriptions for the officers. She will be
meeting with the officers to discuss their particular job descriptions and suggested
revisions to help run the society more smoothly and efficiently. She hopes to do these meetings sometime in
February.
Madelyn stated that beginning at the February
regular meeting, she is planning to submit an “Old Business Updates” agenda for
the membership. In reviewing the minutes from
previous meetings 2001-2006, Madelyn says there are a number of items that were suggested
but no decision were ever made on said suggestions, i.e., Kay suggesting an “Old Tyme
Days” at the blacksmith shop as a yearly event.
Madelyn and Joyce Law discussed a “permanent,
central” mailing address for the Society. Anything
pertaining to membership dues or billing goes to Joyce at her home address. All correspondence is still being delivered to 2 S.
Main Street and someone picks up the mail from Mr. Botterbusch. We used to have the PO Box 303, but it was
discontinued as cost prohibitive. The
Board of Directors will take a look at this issue at their next meeting in March. It was suggested by Mr. Merkert to avoid using a PO
Box since some businesses, like Staples, will not invoice to a PO Box.
Lucia Hrinyak is on vacation so Joyce Law
presented her report on the adopt-a-highway program. The
next pickup date is scheduled for February 24, weather permitting. A sign-up sheet is available for members to
volunteer to help. A new meeting location will
be at GDS on the corner of Rt. 74 and Temple School road.
More information can be found in the newsletter.
Joyce Law reported that she needs all members
to submit their 2006 volunteer hours to her no later than the February 15 meeting.
Joyce Law reported that some time ago Ted
Ziegler suggested that there be a replica of a blacksmith so he has something to share
with children who tour the shop while he is working. Joyce
then presented Ted with a working replica of a blacksmith she made so Ted will have it to
display in the blacksmith shop. Thank you for
the nice job!
Madelyn Shermeyer reminded the officers and
board of directors to sign the oath of office before leaving the meeting tonight.
Madelyn reported that the society made a
profit of $686.13 from the Fall Fest this past October at Lehr Park. She said there were a lot of donations from members
and feels we all had fun that day. We hope to
do it again this year.
Kay Stitley reported that she and Norma
Botterbusch attended the recent West Manchester Township Historical Society meeting. They discussed a trip they made to see a museum in Maryland. Kay yielded to Bob Kehr to give additional details. Bob reported that they made a visit two weeks ago
to Morris Meadows, owned by Clyde Morris, in Freeland, Maryland, with members from the
Codorus Township Historical Society. Mr.
Morris owns a large 500 acre farm and campground which has been in his family since 1793. They also have 50 head of buffalo. He has a small museum of hand tools, tractors and
other items. Mr. Morris enjoys showing his
museum items and they also do catering. It was
suggested that a joint field trip with WMHS and GDHS be planned for sometime in May or
June. All members thought it was a great idea. Bob Kehr will get more information on setting up
this tour, and a possible catered lunch, and report back at another meeting.
Norma Botterbusch asked Jo Ott to report on a
recent interview she did with a former Dover resident.
Jo stated she met twice with Janet Myers Schwalm, who made a recent donation
to the Society, and has the details prepared as a narrative.
Mrs. Schwalm is 88 years old and lives in Langhorne, Bucks County. Her parents, Spangler Myers and Catherine Gross
Myers of Kralltown, were former school teachers in Dover.
She is the niece of Judge Hardy Gross. Janet
was a member of the Class of 1936; her brother was a member of the Class of 1929. Her parent’s farm used to be on the plot where
Giant now stands (former Rogers farm).
Larry Law reported that the mulberry trees
have been removed from the blacksmith shop site by the Borough employees. Larry said he spoke to Brad Lentz and thanked him.
There being no further business, a motion to
adjourn was made by Larry Law and seconded by Norma Botterbusch. Meeting adjourned at approximately 8:40pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Lori Koch
GDHS Secretary