Willard Snyder of the Lynn Heidelberg Historical Society, reminisced at bit during the annual Christmas open house at the society's old New Tripoli Bank museum.

LaRue Hausman was an assistant cashier at the bank, Snyder said, at the Dec. 6 event.

Snyder also had worked at the bank, and was president for many years before retiring.

Hausman, who started in 1936, received the last postcard mailed from the Lynnport Post Office, he explained.

Una Hartman, Cindy Gallagher's grandmother, had a box at the post office.

A set of post office boxes were donated to the historical society after the post office closed.

Snyder walked to the back of the post office boxes after they were moved to the museum.

He discovered Hartman's name still attached to the box.

Snyder had a list of combinations and gave Gallagher the combination for her grandmother's box, which she was able to open. Gallagher and her husband, Ed, attended the open house.

There was information available at the museum regarding the Ontelaunee Park train restoration project and visitors to the open house could donate to the fundraiser.

A dress worn by the late Ferne Keller when she was part of her husband's country western group, Earl Keller and the Melody Rangers, was displayed alongside dishes from Ontelaunee Park. Susan Kistler donated the dishes. There were more of Ferne's dresses displayed downstairs.

Bill Mantz, teller at the cashier's window in the bank museum, had some Ontelaunee Park medallions made for the Northern Lehigh Chamber of Commerce in 2012. The historical society bought the leftovers to sell as a fundraiser.

In what had been the bank board room,, Irwin Hamm read "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" in Pa. German. He said even those who did not understand the dialect would recognize some of the words.

"When you translate a poem, you have to use poetic license to make it rhyme," he said. He did the translation and invited listeners to correct him if they caught a mistake.

Co-President Neil Oswald said names of the people in the old photos would be appreciated. He said adding names gives the photos greater value by knowing who the people are.

Snyder told those gathered about the safety air feature of the vault.

If someone became locked inside by mistake, there was a pipe that could be removed from the wall and replaced by a pipe that brought air in driven by a fan. The piece removed was made of steel and weighed a 100 pounds so there would be little damage if someone managed to put an explosive in from the outside.