Charlie Bolander and his wife Hilda lived on what is now the west parking lot at the New Tripoli Fire Company.

Willard Snyder re-called, at the Dec. 7 open house in the old New Tripoli Bank, now the museum for the Lynn-Heidelberg Historical Society, Hilda would run over and open the doors for the firefighters when the siren sounded.

A scale, donated to the historical society by the Bolanders, offers "Honest Weight 1 cent" but does not provide a fortune.

Justin Arifaj explained the bank vault had an air vent in case someone became locked inside.

A heavy outlet could be removed and a pipe with air flow could be inserted. This was called a "vault vibrator."

Snyder said he was responsible for winding the alarm system each day.

There were two batteries and it switched from one to the other each week lengthening their life.

The last date the alarm system was tested was on 5-13-68. Snyder had to mark the date when it was checked.

The boardroom is lined with calendars given out to customers by the New Tripoli National Bank but it was the table below it that said "Christmas."

Two punch bowls and several plates of cookies presented a colorful spread to attract visitors.

Lucille Snyder recallled a young man once came into the bank with a rolled pack of deeds.

"We have them between glass to try and straighten them," she said.

She doesn't know if they were a donation or if he will someday come back for them.

Lucille Snyder said there are many deeds in the collections.

When someone wants to find something among the documentary collection, the person to call is Ginny Woodward, who does quite a bit of cataloging and is good at finding things.

A rag doll sitting in a rocking chair just appeared. No one knows who left it, but Snyder said it seems like she was made for the child's wicker rocking chair.

Amidst a display of butter churns and molds is a bottle of Dandelion Butter Coloring, an extract of annatto seed in an oil base.

The flavoring has a light peppery taste with a touch of nutmeg but is primarily used for coloring.

Snyder said visitors to the museum ask why there are objects from Slatington High School.

He explains to them local students attended school there until 1957.

The museum contains a certificate of appointment for Raymond E. Hausman as postmaster in New Tripoli.

The certificate was signed by the postmaster general and President Lyndon Johnson on March 30, 1965, naming him postmaster at New Tripoli, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania.

The appointment was the result of a "nomination with the advice and consent of the Senate."

Next to it is a certificate signed by the postmaster general two years earlier naming him acting postmaster.

Hausman's wife worked at New Tripoli Bank, Snyder said.

The Ontelaunee Park display is a favorite among museum visitors.

Near the door is a set of post office boxes that had once been in the Lynnport Post Office. People were trying unsuccessfully to figure out the combinations, but even those who used the boxes no longer knew them.