The Historical Society of Montgomery County’s newest exhibit, “Downtown: Then and Now” is on display now through March 31, 2025, which features different communities throughout Montgomery County and their changes – or lack thereof – over the decades.
The Society has a wide range of artifacts on display including, but not limited to: photographs, textiles, business cards, and furniture.
Printed copy of a drawing made by T.M. Fowler depicting Ambler as it was in 1899. (Credit: Historical Society of Montgomery County, Pa.)This exhibit is free and open to the public during it normal business hours. Visitors are welcome to take pictures in our gallery as long as the flash is off on their camera.
Curator Karen Ploch told MediaNewsGroup that the exhibit was inspired by a partnership with Fresh Artists, a Philadelphia nonprofit that works to connect youth to philanthropy and exhibit artwork that will support art programs in return.
Local historians provided photos of historic sites to the nonprofit, who distributed them to area schools for art projects.
“As we went through those photos, we realized that we had items here at the historical society from some of those businesses and former businesses,” Ploch told MediaNewsGroup. “That made us wonder, what did some of Montgomery County’s various downtown areas look like in the past? So, we put together some before and after pictures of downtown areas in places like Norristown, Ambler and Pottstown, and we also have artwork and artifacts from businesses that existed in other townships and boroughs in the county — places like Bridgeport, Souderton, Lansdale and Conshohocken — just to give people an idea of what’s changed and what’s stayed the same.”
The sign for ‘Star and Eagle,’ a former tea shop located in Center Square. It operated in the summers during the Great Depression and was owned by Martha and Ernest Robert Armstrong. (Credit: Historical Society of Montgomery County, Pa.)Most visitors comment on the way places looked years ago that are almost unrecognizable.
“Some people say, oh, I know exactly where that is, and, then, other times, they look at a picture without reading the label next to it and don’t recognize a scene at all because things have changed so much. That’s been interesting,” she said.
HSMC is located at 1654 DeKalb Street, Norristown, and is open Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Wednesday from 1 to 8 p.m. Call 610-272-0297 and visit www.hsmcpa.org.