The large crowd that packed Northampton Borough Municipal Building council chambers March 10 was treated to a journey down memory lane, as Northampton Area Historical Society (NAHS) held a photo perspective on the town’s early business community.

Larry Oberly, presenter and NAHS vice president, showed the pictures on a large screen and had the audience provide its own commentary to each of the 60 photographs displayed for the first time.

“To me, history has always been a chronicle of change,” Oberly, a retired educator, said in his opening remarks.

With more than 40 people present for the event, NAHS President Irene Urban said the turnout was gratifying.

Oberly said much research went in to the project, with hundreds of photos to be shown at future programs. The research involved going through vintage information of churches and schools; the Cement News; a publication called “The Town That Didn’t Quit” by Ray Wahl, written in 1941; discussions with the late Harold Smith, former NAHS president; and input from local historian Ed Pany.

Oberly said a 1941 booklet indicated there were 241 businesses operating at that time in the borough.

The era of horse and buggy was shown on pictures of H.H. Kleppinger, a butcher who first began in the northern outskirts of town. He later operated three stores, including one on Main Street. The cows came in by train to a building next to the Siegfried Train Station and were then walked on unpaved roads to Kleppinger’s site.

The collection previewed also included the bygone Young’s Hosiery Mill and Cross Country Clothes. Also shown was the Tru Blu beer plant, where the beer was manufactured and shipped across Newport Avenue for bottling.

Pictures of uptown Main Street stores included Newberry’s, Coleman’s, Miller’s and Lerner’s. This was a time when the businesses were the commercial hub of the region, before malls and shopping centers.

The Lyric Theater moved across Main Street to the Roxy location, which provided interesting tales.

Churches and bars, such as the Golden Lion, Atlas Hotel and others on Newport Avenue, were prominent decades ago.

Gas stations were plentiful. Danny Geiger had a few.

New car businesses were shown, with Lentz on Main Street selling a new Oldsmobile for $852. Mr. Beil offered a new DeSoto for $898. George Falk was also in the car business.

Plenty of doctors, along with Haff Hospital, kept people healthy and on the mend.

Chip’s Restaurant, bowling alleys and a pool hall across from the Roxy were always busy.

Interestingly, Northampton’s name came about when Atlas Cement expended large amounts of money for its cement bags, but they were returned to Alliance in the western part of Pennsylvania rather than Alliance, which was then part of the borough. The matter prompted the community areas to have a singular name for the borough - Northampton, probably after the county name.

In closing the event, Oberly said NAHS’ goal is to provide walking tours for the public, to see how history evolved.