Above is the full-page devoted to Amherst, which ran in the paper on May 23, 1956 – sixty-three years ago today. It’s a charming portrait. Photos include the Old Spring, Mayor Jack Koontz, a view of the business district, Powers Elementary School, the old Central High School and a shot of a neighboring quarry in Amherst Township.
Doug Kneeland, the author of the piece, describes Amherst as being more than a town, and more of a way of life. He writes, “From the soft green canopies of shade trees that shelter the neat homes and closely cropped lawns along its quiet streets to the dusty brick Park Avenue stores and the old cannons standing a proud but futile guard over the solemn-faced town hall, Amherst is Hometown, U.S.A.
“Cars move patiently through the narrow downtown streets and pedestrians saunter leisurely about their business.”
I’ll bet most of that description is still applicable today.
This is a nice overview article. Thanks for posting. Good mention about our town slogan as well! Only misinformation piece I see is that it mentions, "The town was founded by Josiah Harris in 1814." Jacob Shupe had already settled in Amherst in 1811, and Harris only visited from Massachusetts in 1814. He settled permantenly in what would become the downtown part of Amherst in 1818.
ReplyDelete“Col.” Nahorn: f.y.i. Harris did NOT “just visit” in 1814...he also purchased the land which was later to become the village of Amherst. Which is precisely why ‘1814’ was consistently considered to be the ‘founding’ of Amherst Village, and Harris was consistently considered to be its ‘founder’....consistently, that is, until you yourself came along and solidified the nonsense that Jacob Shupe founded Amherst ( in spite of the fact that Amherst TOWNSHIP had virtually zero identity of its own until almost two decades after Shupe arrived to this area).
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