West Conshohocken Sesquicentennial – Beyond the Banquet

By Jack Coll

10/23/2024 (published 11-7-2024)

West Conshohocken Sesquicentennial

Celebrating 150 Years of Incorporation

West Conshohocken’s Sesquicentennial Banquet Was A Huge Success

Looking Back At A Few Memories Provided By Sandy Bonenberger

     West Conshohocken Borough wrapped-up their year-long sesquicentennial celebration with a sold-out banquet held at the Marriott Philadelphia West Hotel on Saturday October 12.  The enthusiastic room full of current and past residents enjoyed food, music, conversations and laughter that could be heard well into the fall evening.

     I was really impressed with the sesquicentennial cake designed and created by Julie Izenberg, of Izenberg’s Deli and Bakery located at 401 Fayette Street.  The cake was a masterpiece designed as a movie-reel with a ton of West Conshohocken photographs in the reels of the film.  There were boxes of tomato pies courtesy of the Conshohocken Bakery, a little going away gift as the bakery is closing after more than a half of a century of service to Conshohocken and surrounding communities.

     There was a really nice on-going slide show highlighting many of the residents and events of the borough in the front of the room, along the back wall were tables loaded with hundreds of photographs, many of them taken and framed by Sandy Bonenberger, a long time Conshohocken Recorder newspaper writer and photographer.

     Sandy wrote a weekly column for the Recorder always highlighting West Conshohocken in a positive way, and reporting on council meetings, keeping the borough up-to-date with other borough happenings including recreation, police, public works, and her favorite topic was highlighting residents and their families.

     I took a little time and paged through a number of Sandy’s columns from the late 1970’s, (she wrote her column, “The Other Side of the Bridge” into the 2000’s before the Recorder ceased operation in 2008).

     Sandy enjoyed highlighting the borough’s residents and their families.  A few of the names I pulled from her early columns included Michael McGuire, Charles Millhouse, Jim McCabe, Stella Gamza, who owned and operated a grocery store at First Alley.  David Frankenfield, Joan Schaffer, the West Conshohocken Boy Scouts under Scoutmaster Joseph Bry.  Eagle Scout Thomas Corrigan who lived on Bullock Avenue, Joseph Farrell, Patti Zapien, there was the West Conshy Raiders midget football program with coaches like Nate Ramsey, Moss Ramsey and Tom Foy.

     Sandy wrote about Tom Michell, Jim Pike, George Barr, the Carpenter family, Mark Ambler, Patty Pope, the families of Joseph Farrell, the Shaffer family and the Getzfread’s.  A few other residents Sandy wrote about included Debbie Leister, Joe Costello, Don Messenger, Betsey Shore, Dan Leflar, David Markland and the Clayborne family.

     I think a few residents who attended the celebration banquet at the Marriott might enjoy reading one or two of Sandy’s columns from the late 1970’s describing West Conshohocken from nearly a half a century ago.

The Other Side Of the Bridge

By Sandy

Spring of 1977

     ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRIDGE everything is bursting into bloom and everybody seems to be outdoors enjoying it, as warmer weather settles down to stay.  Young and old alike can be seen rocking, or just reclining on he front porch, greeting one another or talking on a street corner, walking the family dog, painting, fixing and repairing the toll of winter……….Dave Frankenfield, with his friends Lou Zbyszinski and Dennis Schaeffer, are rebuilding a stone wall which collapsed along Ford Street……..Mike Getzfread, a young volunteer fireman at George Clay, advises there will probably be an increase of field and brush fires but hopefully the new ordinance banning burning of trash after dark will help decrease this……..Shril and Mickey Radatti of Front Street are happily preparing for their first baby……..Every time you see Bob Leflar he’s carrying another stringer of fresh Brook Trout…..Yard Sales, garage sales and rummaging have become as old discards for some become new treasurers for others…..Mary Byerly, a waitress at a local luncheonette, is planning to enjoy shorter working hours and more days off………Exciting things may be happening to our side of the riverbank.  Ray Stroup of the Department of Interior Outdoor Recreation will be outlining a proposal for a Bike and Hike Trail along this side of the Schuylkill at the next Borough Meeting.  According to Matthew Szumicki, a member of the Planning Committee, if everything goes right it could mean extended outdoor activity for all to enjoy.  However, there is a lot of work and negotiation ahead to make this dream come true……Whether traveling down Front Street, around Ford or up Rebel Road, children can be seen playing hide-and-seek, riding bikes, playing ball—the winter ice and snow at but forgotten as balmy breezes lift the spirits on the “Sunnyside of the Bridge.”

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Then there’s This from the Spring of 1978

The Other Side of the Bridge

By Sandy

Spring 1978

     The lights are dim, the records spin, elbows bend and the bartender is King as the “Night Life” begins on the other side of the bridge.  Many people like to socialize over a foamy glass of beer or a highball after a hard day’s work.  It’s nice to have a local place to mingle right in your own home town.  For the small borough of West Conshohocken there are a number of choices.  Maguires Tavern, for instance, located on Ford Street has been around for quite a while.

     Small and quaint, it was established over seventy-five years ago and was one of the original taverns in the borough.  For a game of pinball, in between drinks, there’s the La Dolce Vita Inn on the corner of Ford and Front Streets.  Sandwiches, snacks, pretzels and chips, along with frequent discussions on who is the best in the sports world, is offered here.

     For more extensive wining and dining, there’s the Tankard Inn where full course meals are served.  Right up on Moorehead Avenue it has Tiffany Lamps, antiques and interesting Bric-a-brick lining the walls.

    Off Front Street and up around the bend on Ballagomingo Road is Ballagomingo Inn, which also caters to the dinner trade.  Specials are offered weekly to entice the appetite and to lure Mom out of the kitchen.  Last, but in no way least, is O’Shaughnessys on Front Street.  Newly renovated, with large oval bar, giant fans and tiffany Lamps hanging from the ceiling, it has a cozy atmosphere. Sandwiches and light snacks can be ordered with your drinks.

     Night after night it continues, as the jukebox blares, the people laugh and talk, the bartender taps the beer, mixes the drinks and listens to the jokes, for it’s party time, or blues time, or, just tome to unwind, at the local taverns on the other side of the bridge. 

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Let’s finish with a partial Sandy column from the Fall of 1977

The Other Side Of the Bridge

By Sandy

Fall 1977

     Our hills are alive with the sound of music, but it is not Julie Andrews singing, or the radio, or television, it’s West Conshohocken’s very old rock group.  They call themselves “Dust” and consist of five local teenagers; Mike Markland 16, pianist, a junior at Archbishop Kenndy, four guitarists, Joe Bry 15, Mark Hadfield 15, also students at Kennedy, Dennis Godshalk 16, Paul Bianco 15, who attended Upper Merion High school and on the drums, a visitor from “another shore,” Roger Murray 16, a junior at Plymouth Whitemarsh High school.

     Although they do not pattern themselves after any particular group, their favorite popular performers are Lynard Skynyrd who made the hit recording “Freebird.”

     After all the Beatles started in a little hamlet outside of London, Elvis Presley in a little town down south, Frank Sintra in Hoboken, NJ and who knows, one day the world may be talking about a famous rock band called “Dust” who started in a little borough on the other side of the bridge.

The above article is an abbreviated version.

     A portion of a column from the late 1970’s talked about “Spike’s Weightlifting Club,” in a garage at First Alley.  A few members of the club included Bob Bean, Rick Jimenez, Jim Pike, Matt Ryan, Donald Stemple, Joe Blonsky, Dennis Sheedy, Dennis Godshalk, Rick Leister, Scott Leister and Dave Bean.  The article showed that Sandy considered everything and everybody in West Conshohocken was of great value to the community.

     All the above mentioned were taken from just a few columns from 1977 and 1978, Sandy’s columns ran for more than two decades.  When we talk about prominent residents over the past 150 years, Sandy Bonenberger should be mentioned often for her part in recording the borough’s history.

     Sandy was responsible for taking and publishing hundreds if not thousands of photographs documenting the borough’s history.  If one was to take notice, they would recognize that Sandy’s photos were close-up of faces of borough children and borough residents and once in a while the politicians at Borough Hall.  Below are just a few of Sandy’s Photos, the borough of West Conshohocken should be forever grateful for Sandy’s work.