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Bits and Pieces
Welcome to the newest feature of the Sayre Historical Society website. This section of the website will offer you "Bits and Pieces" of Sayre's history and interesting facts. We will be changing the "Bits and Pieces" section on a monthly basis, with various Sayre Historical Society members providing the articles you'll read in the upcoming months. We hope you will enjoy this new feature and encourage you to check back often to experience the history of Sayre, Pennsylvania. Mary Lou Palmer |
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Our Gifts of History for the Holidays 
The 2009 calendar, "Locomotives of the Lehigh Valley Railroad" is now available through the Gift Shop. It includes 12 black and white views with accompanying text of the better known of the Lehigh Valley rolling stock. All of the pages of the new calendar can be viewed in the Gift Shop link at the top right of this page and click on the Calendars section. A GREAT gift for holiday giving! Come in and take a look. Drive by to see the Progress The new entrance lobby renovation is on going. A new entry door has been cut into the front of the building on the south end. It is presently sealed awaiting the new door. When completed, this entrance will open into the Kenneth Bracken Entryway and the Burkhart Family Gift Shop. Progress is happening on the outside as well as on the inside. SOUND INTRODUCED On Our Website New and Original Society Song is introduced at end of this column. All the information is available as to how the society acquired this great innovation. There are three versions, one is an instrumental. The musical score will remind you of a former time. Check it out; you will be glad you did.
The Museum Viewing the Guthrie Gallery, the first room to be completed in the Sayre Historical Society Museum, will continue weekends in December; each Saturday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm with additional open hours on Sunday from noon to 4:00 pm. You will be amazed as to how far we have come to create a museum for Sayre. There is no admission charge. Directions to the museum plus a Valley map are available for download to carry with you as you travel from a URL link on the Home Page. For those who cannot visit us, there is a link here on our website for some views of the new displays in the museum. Check the Home Page for the link to view those displays. Tell others, family members and friends. The Gift Shop The Gift Shop will be open for sales on the same schedule as the Guthrie Gallery is for viewing. Look for our Open Flag at the curb outside of the museum at 103 South Lehigh Avenue. New Brochure Available Soon A new updated society brochure will become available soon here on the website to be downloaded and emailed to others, family members and friends. It will contain information about the museum, membership, donations from our past and the capital campaign. Look for it here soon.
The Capital Campaign continues in its second year. We appreciate and value all who have aided this effort to establish this museum. Some groups and individuals have donated funds; others have donated their time through projects to renovate and renew areas of the museum and have funded these projects. Several groups have participated in Naming Opportunities. We thank them all for their generosity. For the list of those who have aided this part of our funding efforts, you can select the link at the top of the page: CAPITAL CAMPAIGN and go to Naming Opportunities. For those interested in participating, some opportunities remain to be selected. This information is also available in the Capital Campaign link where there is a list of persons to contact from the campaign steering committee.
Upcoming Features: “Looking Back, Looking Forward”—1991 Centennial Time Capsule and Lehigh Valley Railroad topics
Many Sayre residents have heard of Keystone Park which was once located in the area of the present Keystone Skating Rink on North Keystone Avenue. During the days of the trolley, this park offered amusement park rides, a picnic area, and a theater as well as a place to spend Sunday afternoons. Fewer residents are aware of the other park in Sayre—Oak Grove Park. One of our former Sayre Historical Society members, the late Martin “Marty” Smith, collected information about Oak Grove Park. The information below comes from the chapter “Oak Grove Park” in the book, A Century of Memories, published in 1991 for Sayre’s Centennial. The location of Oak Grove is described as “According to a map of Sayre Heights in 1903, the park was located between Lake and Chestnut Streets, College Hill and Keystone Avenue.” In layman’s terms, the park was located in the general vicinity of a parking lot behind the former Jim’s Marine on South Keystone Avenue. Prior to Jim’s Marine, the area was occupied by Garrison-Kolb Oldsmobile dealership. The park grounds were located in a “bowl” and were surrounded by oak trees. The area also included a lake (pond) and a theater stage, offering two plays a week. According to the chapter in A Century of Memories, the entrance to Oak Grove was on Lake Street. A ten-foot fence surrounded the park and those attending walked down a sidewalk into the park. An enclosed theater, seating 300-400, was located on the east side of the pond. The pond itself was surrounded by a cinder path, and benches were provided. As mentioned earlier, the Oak Grove Park theater offered two plays per week; however, there were no performances on Sunday. A handbill for the opening season dated May 30, 1908, advertises a Saturday matinee and night performance of “A Man Without a Country.” Those attending on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday were entertained by a “new play” called “A Black Sheep.” “A Wife’s Peril” was performed on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Cast lists included Arthur Hebert, Paul Brady, Josephine Bond, Grace Peck and George Kohler. Additional plays that season included “Hopper the Agent,” “An Orphan’s Trust,” “Queen’s Evidence,” “La Belle Marie,” and “Angel of the Ranch.” The Oak Grove Park chapter also tells us that each program included the line that ladies were requested to remove their “Merry Widows,” large brimmed hats, which might obstruct the view of other patrons. Other activities included summer boat rides and ice skating during the winter. The article also tells us that transportation to the park was in the form of trolley cars from the Waverly, Sayre and Athens Traction Company. It must be noted that the trolleys from the traction company also served Keystone Park at the other end of Keystone Avenue. (Mary Lou Palmer) 
FEATURE: Original “Valley Song”—Adding sound to our website The idea for a song or sound track that could be used in a multitude of ways by the Sayre Historical Society is one that began during the early planning phase of the museum project. The board asked member Maryanne Mader to put together a group of board members who would be interested in helping on the project. Maryanne along with board members Meade Murtland and Eleanor Hill proceeded to look for a piece of music that would captured the spirit of the time and would fulfill the requirement of being something that could be used in a number of ways. As the search progressed it became clear that a song specifically written and recorded for the Sayre Historical Society would be more in keeping with the overall goal of the project. It was agreed that they should look for something that would be original in nature. Meade suggested that they look for a local writer and composer who might be interested in embracing the project. At that point he contacted Mark Thurston, a long time resident, who had grown up in the Valley and knew much of the history as well as being an accomplished writer, composer and performer. A meeting was scheduled at the museum to discuss the project with Mark and his son Nathan who works with him at M & N Studios in Athens. Out of this meeting came the genesis for what would become “The Valley Song.” In listening to “The Valley Song,” you will get the feel of what it must have been like to live and work in Sayre and the surrounding area during the early days. You’ll not only be able to envision the hard working immigrant men and women who built our community but also feel the excitement that they must have felt as the industrial age took hold in Northeastern Pennsylvania. (Meade Murtland) “The Valley Song” appears below. The lyrics will appear first and the music in its three versions will appear after. Viewers can click on the various versions to this addition of sound as the latest development to Sayre Historical Society website. How well the musical versions will be received will depend upon your personal computer system. HOWEVER, THE MUSIC AND LYRICS HAVE A COPYRIGHT ASSIGNED TO THE SAYRE HISTORICAL SOCIETY AND THIS MUSICAL SELECTION CANNOT BE USED IN ANY FORM WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE SOCIETY. Music and Lyrics written by Mark and Nathan Thurston I can see the mountains from my home, There’s two rivers that always seem to roam, The sounds that you can hear most every day try not to let your smile slip away. Chorus Can’t you hear the train whistle blowin’? See the wind sweep the fields? Where waters meet is our pot of gold, It’s the Valley I love so dear. It’s the Valley I love so dear. I heard it said the measure of a man is what he does to help all that he can. A vision that’s created from the heart, it seems to me a real good place to start. Repeat Chorus I heard it said the measure of a man is what he does to help all that he can. A little town called Sayre from his heart it seems to me a real good start. Repeat Chorus And so it was back then as it is now with the seasons bring the classroom and the plow. This little town feels safely tucked away in heaven’s hands our little valley lays. Click the links BELOW to hear the three choices of the music. At the end of each version, click the BACK button in the upper left of your computer to go back to select another version.
Our Valley Song: version 1, version 2 & version 3 E-MAIL US YOUR HELP NEEDED Also accept our thanks to create this chain of emailing our “Bits and Pieces” column. In that way, many will be able to become aware of our progress and activities to share Sayre history and our untiring efforts to create a museum for all of Sayre. Maryanne Mader |
