First of all, I would like to
thank everyone who attended our November presentation "Vintage film of
40's, 50's and 60's". Our Historical Society is alive and growing.
The need to expand is increasingly becoming larger and with the co-operation of
St. Stan's Community Center and the St. Faustina's Parish we will have access
to the new facility for events such as this. Unfortunately, while it
is in its construction phase the Center is not available. Our home, the
Samantha Mill house is quite adequate for housing our business needs
but undersized for presentations such as this. With the growing
interest in our Society we hope we can better serve our community. We apologize
for any inconvenience we may have caused you and plan to present the films
again in the spring at the new facility.
On Thursday evening of the
29th the Historical Society gave its presentation to about 30 guests whom
tightly packed our limited seating area.
The presentation was on early events in Nanticoke donated to the
Historical Society. Chet Zaremba, whom took on the task of acquiring and transferring
the films to digital, gave the presentation.
How the films where acquired:
Years ago in Nanticoke there was a photo
store, Borofski’s photo. Chet Zaremba got know Norm Borofski, the son. Then last year, when he passed away these
films were found in his basement. We were able to acquire these films through
the people who did the house sale, a store in Plymouth called Yesterday’s
Treasure’s an antique store. When they realized
the historical value they donated them to the Nanticoke Historical
Society. The original films were on 8 mm and 16 mm formats. We had taken four of the most significant films and had them transferred
to a digital format for a presentation such as this.
The first film of WWII vintage
were made somewhere around the time of 1942-1944 and showed enlistees or draftees
boarding a train in Nanticoke leaving for the 2nd World War. The Pennsylvania Railroad rail station, by recollection
of some of the attending guests, was located down on Lower Broadway. The first
film only ran 4 minutes, but the significance was that they were in color. Considering the age the images were quite
clear and the transfer process preserved and enhanced the original media. The film also showed a parade and the crowd
that came to see the boys who went off to war. At the time Nanticoke had two train stations a freight station and a
passenger station. In the film you could
see the train arrive, the boys board the train and the train leaving.
A second film in B&W showed an
early 6 County Firemen’s Convention Parade, showed Nanticoke in a way that
probably few remember with streets filled with busy shops and businesses and
crowds of people. Guests pointed out how slim everyone was and how people were
well groomed and dressed and how the Ladies all had worn hats. Fire apparatus was
then all open cab and some guests could identify the years in which the
machines were made, some dating back into the 1940’s. Visiting companies from Hazelton and Tamaqua could
be seen.
A third film showed a high school
football game. Players had no pads and referees wore no stripped uniforms. The old high school stadium could be seen.
Chet continued the presentation with
photos of Nanticoke selected from his vast library. Photos showed Main Street
Nanticoke from the pre 1900’s. Included were photos of the old State Theater,
Frank Matheson’s Nanticoke Hotel, the old post office, the old Acme, Al Fink Oldsmobile
Dealership. Photos showed store fronts which
had window displays and what Chet referred to as Islands or window displays
with passage ways to the main entrance to the store on either side. Photos
showing old telephone poles had up to seven cross members to support a separate
subscriber wire line for each telephone customer. Chet also showed photos of
Diamonds Candy Store after the closing with ornate trim, seating booths and
malt shop decor. Everyone immensely enjoyed the presentation and we are looking
forward to making it again when we can use the facility.
Luzerne County Community College Tree Festival
Katy Sweeny again did an
outstanding job with a unique tree decorating design for our entry. The theme of course was history and the
ornaments were cleverly crafted vintage photos of Nanticoke. The event feature delectable creations from
the Culinary Art students with an assortment of baked Holiday treats. The event
was held on Friday Nov. 30th in the Conference Center of the LCCC
Campus off of Prospect Street and was open to the public from 6:00 pm to 8:00
pm.