Notizen zu dieser Person
http://frankfordhistoricalsociety.org/cneph/foxchase/fxchhist.htm Historical Society of Frankford 1507 Orthodox Street · Philadelphia, PA 19124 215-743-6030 Interview with Chester Alburger By Missy Korsin, Jeffery Savett, Libby Paskin and Jordan Nicgorski When Chester Alburger was young, his family owned a large farm in thearea, and today Alburger Avenue is named after them. What was farmland along Alburger Avenue is now mostly built up into substantialsingle homes with large yards. Chester Alburger noted that, For my part in the history ofVerreeville, I had the farm with my family - my mother and father andsister and brother, who were older than me. Our farm was on Red LionRoad, west of Verree and of course that was all dirt at that time. Itconsisted of 120 acres. Most of the land was in Montgomery County, andit was private property, but the house and buildings were inPhiladelphia County. The spring house was set some distance down inMontgomery County. To go to school in Bustleton, at the old Bustleton School, wasbetween 4 and 5 miles away. There werent any school buses, and no onecould take you back and forth to school every day so we walked toHuntingdon Valley School, which is now Lower Moreland School. It was agood two mile walk. High school then was only three years. I was getting older, and I wasneeded on the farm. We were very busy. We raised a lot of potatoes,hay, grain, and that sort of thing. With school starting in September,I usually had to miss 4 to 5 weeks every year, and I had to do thebest I could. I caught up pretty good, and I graduated with my class. Up and down Verree it was all dirt roads. In the winter time it wasalmost impossible to go up and down, but you had to get used to it.Eventually, I got a bike and I remember going down to the PennypackCreek. The Second World War began in 1939. The Government took over all theland from Red Lion Road to Pine Road, all the way back to Tomlinsonand out as far as Bustleton and Verree. The Government put up abuilding to produce airplanes for the war. Ford Motor company operatedit. The government just took over the farm and they offered you acertain amount of money and gave you 30 days, which wasnt much time,to move out. If you didnt like the price, you could contest it incourt, but you couldnt do much in the courts against the government,especially during the war, so we had to give up the farm. Eventually, of course, I had to find another place to live. I liveddown in the Mayfair section which wasnt built up too much, mostlyprivate homes. I worked in Standard Pressed Steel Company over inJenkintown and I would go back and forth every day. So, I stayed thereuntil it was time to retire. I was about 63 years old when the companymoved, and I had to either move up there or retire. I was close toretirement age, and I just decided to retire. It is remarkable, once a person has lived here for so many years, tosee how it is all built up. Sometimes I wonder whether they cant doanything more. It seems if there is an open plot of land, they havesome business or a mall to put in there.
Charles
Hansen
