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Friday, July 23, 1999
Bucks County Courier Times

Marian Tomlinson (left) and Hannah Overholt, former teachers at old Richboro
School, relived old times when 1956 cornerstone was opened yesterday.
Jay Crawford/Courier Times

NORTHAMPTON
Cornerstone Reveals Old Memories

Former students and teachers of the old Richboro Elementary School showed up to view mementos placed inside a cornerstone in 1956.

By James E. Stanton
Courier Times
jstanton@calkinsnewspapers.com

.....Jane Schondelmeyer looked at the sixth-grade class list from 1956, which had just been removed from a cornerstone belonging to the old Richboro Elementary School.

....."Oh my gosh," exclaimed Schondelmeyer on seeing her maiden name, Jane Overholt.

....."Who is that?" asked Matt Haist, the chairman of the township's historical commission, as he looked over her shoulder.

....."I don't want to admit (it was that long ago)," a laughing Schondelmeyer said.

.....But Schondelmeyer was among the younger people who gathered at Haist's home yesterday for a ceremony commemorating the past.

.....The old Richboro school complex, parts of which date back to 1913, is to be razed by Commerce Bank, which acquired the land off Second Street Pike near Route 332. It plans to build a new branch on it. The township's historical commission is trying to get the bank to leave the oldest part of the school where it is, but bank officials have yet to agree.

.....A few months ago, the cornerstone, dated 1956 when the school's addition was built, was pulled from the building. It measured about 1 foot by 2 1/2 feet. Inside the stone was a lead box, which contained different types of documents from that school year. A bit of cement sealed the lead box inside the stone. Haist had chipped away at the cement.

.....Haist, who hosted the opening on his 18-acre farm, said the cornerstone was not opened until yesterday because "this was the time when we could get the most people here."

.....At the cornerstone opening was Schondelmeyer's mother, Hannah Overholt, now 91, who taught at the school during the same era. Another former teacher present was Marian Tomlinson, 92.

.....Hannah Overholt looked at the list of the third graders she taught.

....."This is something, I didn't expect anything like this," she said.

.....Inside the box were the names of the 20 teachers and their salaries, ranging from $4,800 to $5,400. Supervising Principal Raymond Gilbert topped the staff, with a salary of $6,500.

.....Haist took out an old map of the township, which showed a sparse population. And there was a May 1957 copy of the Newtown Enterprise, which headlined the coming dedication of the four-classroom addition to the elementary school, and a PTA magazine.

Click any link below to read Historical articles
from the Bucks County Courier Times

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