Park

Holly Brothers
Holly Brothers

by Sue Bowman | Dec 2025 | , ,

Special edition December 2025 Holly Bros. ‘handkäse’ once a Souderton staple   Editor’s note: The historical society earlier this year was contacted by a writer from Lancaster Farming, a weekly agricultural newspaper based in Ephrata, Lancaster County, looking for information on Holly Bros. Hand Cheese — a Souderton landmark in earlier decades. The society was able to provide information on the business and participate in the placing of a historical marker in September. We thought our readers would enjoy the resulting article, which was published in October. So here is a holiday special edition of our Gazette, with thanks to Lancaster Farming for permission to reprint the piece written by its correspondent Sue Bowman. Sept. 13 was a red-letter day in Souderton, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania: A ceremony at the borough’s Holly’s Hill Park unveiled a new 3-by-4-foot interpretive sign commemorating the Holly brothers and their cheese factory, which once stood on the site....

read more
100 years of vision, courage, action, generosity
100 years of vision, courage, action, generosity

by Cory Alderfer | Jul 2025 | ,

Researched and written by Cory Alderfer Souderton was grossly behind the times. Unlike other towns located along the Reading Railroad, there were no public parks for children to play safely. This, among other issues, was an unfortunate state of affairs. By the late 1800s, adults had begun creating numerous athletic, social, fraternal, and volunteer opportunities for themselves within Souderton and Telford. But no dedicated safe play space for children had yet been built. In 1921, nine-year-old Ernest Walter Hunsberger was killed by a car while riding his bike.  Even after that loss, it was another three years — 1924 — before residents of Noble, East Broad, and South Front streets took matters into their own hands. With the help of their children, the adults sold refreshments that summer, raising money to purchase a sliding board to be placed on an empty lot on Noble Street. The many failed attempts to raise interest in organizing a Souderton Playground Association were one of the...

read more