The SNYDER COUNTY POST History Page

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From the Archives of
The
Middleburg Post

136 Years Ago - 1879
    Geo. C. Glass of Penn twp slaughtered a hog last week which weighed 497 pounds.
    S.B. Cox, proprietor of the Keystone Hotel in Selinsgrove has a German Bible nicely illustrated which is more than three hundred years old.
    Samuel Winey of Richfield, realized $1100 from tobacco which he had raised from ten acres last summer.
    There was no green Christmas this year since it commenced snowing on Sunday night and since then, some of our folks have been taking sleigh rides.

100 Years Ago - 1910
    By order of the Snyder County Court, proprietors of licensed hotels within the county are requested to close their bars at 10 pm and keep them closed until 6 am.
    Lawrence Funk of Swineford had quite an exciting experience Thursday evening in attempting to kill a rabbit at the leech house window of the Middleburg Tannery. In the excitement, his foot slipped, precipitating him into the vat, painfully scalding his legs and body, incapacating him from work.
    Saturday morning Dr. Boush of Beavertown hitched his horse to his sleigh apparently alright and drove him about one half mile when the horse became so lame that he had to put it into a nearby stable and had Mr. Stroup take him to see his appointments.
    The Division men on the Sunbury and Lewistown Rail-road have been cut down to half time which means just half pay. This is particularly undesirable at this season especially when most of the men have large families.

75 Years Ago - 1935
    On the Saturday before Christmas, Santa Claus was on the square in Middleburg and gave popcorn balls to all the children. Community singing was held under the direction of Evan P. Hassinger around the Christmas tree.
    The Freeburg P.O.S. of A. are to be commended for showing the right Christmas spirit by placing a large ever-green Christmas tree on the square of that fine town.

35 Years Ago - 1975
    The productive Middleburg High School All Sports Boosters Club will be operating concession stands in the lobby adjacent to the gymnasium for all home winter games this year. Patronage at the stands will benefit all Middleburg High School athletes, both male and female.

The History of Snyder County Community Bands

This building served as a rehearsal hall and instrument storage room for a Beaver Springs band, possibly the Men's Band, whose disband-ment during World War I gave rise to the Beaver Springs Girls Band in 1918.

This 1926 photo shows the Beaver Springs Girls Band, the best known and best received of Snyder County's bands. In a 10 year span, the band traveled 27,000 miles and earned $25,000, a huge amount for that time period. A uniform and drum from the band are on display at the Snyder county Historical Museum.

The late 1920's Kreamer Cornet Band was made up of 20 men. Although it was called a cornet band, other instruments are clearly visible. Photographic evidence shows that the band had been around since at least 1908.

   With only one or two excep-tions, the first bands in Snyder County were organized shortly after the Civil War to help forget the horrors of the war. Many of the members of the first bands had some experience during the war and the excitement of band practice remained, along with a desire for music.
   Also, since there was very little to do in the local communities and few places to go, and a local band was a means of driving away the blues and breaking up the monotony that rural life entailed.
    Band practice in most communities was an event to look forward to with a great deal of anticipation. The leader often came from a neighboring community and brought with him all the news and gossip and a few new ideas. Ladies would prepare refreshments in the form of cakes, cookies, or ice cream. Many in the community would turn out simply for the practices, turning them into an event.
    One such traveling band leader was Joe Feeher, of Selinsgrove. He not only traveled from one end of Snyder County to the other, but also to many distant places to give instructions. He not only made band history for Snyder County, but was a band master during the Civil War, as leader and instructor of military bands.
    Band practice was held about once every two weeks as the leader had time to visit the various bands. All activities in a community were well supplied

with music by the local bands. Every picnic, festival, cake walk, or church function had a band carnival and bands were alway in demand for public occasions. If a town did not have its own band, the neighboring town was invited to provide the music.
These early bands were financed in many ways, some by public subscription, some by community activities, others by fees charged when playing away from the home town. However, the financial support of a band was looked upon as local responsibility. The necessary expenses were paying the band leader, instruments, uniforms, and cost of travel. Not all bands had uniforms, but the band that could afford them was considered a "top-notch" band and did not have to go about asking for engagements: invitations came to them.

    The band that could afford a wagon also got special recognition. The band wagon was a specially built vehicle of two sorts. One had a long wagon bed with seats around the outside and a special additional space to care for the bass drum. The other instruments were either held or placed under the seats.
    The other type wagon was a long flat bed with seats crosswise where three or four men sat side by side. The horses often wore some kind of decoration on the harness which would make the whole band-wagon even more attractive.
    The most popular community bands in the area were The Troxelville Band, formed in 1880; The Beaver Springs Military Band, formed in 1881; The Kratzerville Band, formed in 1921; The McClure Band, formed in 1906; The Freeburg Band, formed sometime immediately after the end of the Civil War; The Selinsgrove Band, formed in 1902 and later became known as the Moose Lodge Band; the Port Trevorton Band, formed in 1911; The Freemont Band, formed between 1884 and 1889; The Penns Creek Band, formed 1879.
    Joe Feeher had formed The Feeher "Juvenile" Drum Corps in Selinsgrove, consisting of a group of teenage boys that were taught rudimentary percussion. They made their first appearance on March 25, 1911.