29-03-2025
Panorama of life in eastern Pine Grove
PINE GROVE — Paging through a new photographic history, Lucille Brinich came across an image of the Washington Twp. farm where she grew up.
It was a photo of an old barn on the property being dismantled in 2002, and it rekindled memories for Brinich, who still lives on part of the property along Route 443.
'We used to have cattle and horses, and stored hay and straw on the upper floor,'' recalled Brinich, a school bus driver in the Blue Mountain school district.
Brinich's reaction underscored the reason Dean H. Klinger compiled 'A Photo History of East Pine Grove' — to chronicle the roots of the area's culture for present and future generations.
An omnibus 600-page hardcover with 1,500 color and black-and-white photos, the book is a people's history.
Almost all of the photos were contributed by Pine Grove area families, who gave permission to have them reproduced. The photos contain inscriptions, and most are dated.
Klinger's third photo history, it focuses largely on the area from Pine Grove borough east toward Freidensburg along Route 443.
'A Photo History of West Pine Grove,' was published in 2019. And 'Pine Grove Borough Historical Pictures' was published in 2024.
The three Pine Grove historical photo books by Dean Klinger shown Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
Owner of Klinger Auto Parts & Recycling, he became a historian by circumstance.
Over the counter in his salvage yard, Klinger would discuss the history of the largely farming area around Pine Grove with customers. They'd bring in old photos for him, and the collection kept growing.
At the suggestion of customers, he decided to work on the first book about 10 years ago.
Klinger has a large collection of railroad photos from around the Pine Grove area, and people are urging him to compile them into his fourth book.
Any thought of the improbability of a junkyard dealer becoming a historian is quickly extinguished during a tour of the property.
A veritable time capsule, the rusting remnants of once proud Packards, Studebakers and Kaisers rest in an automotive graveyard of cars from the 1950s and earlier. An old gas pump with numerals stuck at 25-cents a gallon conjures memories of a bygone era following the end of World War II.
Mine cars resurrected from the depths of mines in Schuylkill's western coal fields mingle with giant gears that crushed coal in the region's breakers.
A mine car sits on tracks at Dean Klinger's Auto Parts & Recycling in Pine Grove, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
And the twin smokestacks of a coal-fired Pennsylvania Power & Light Co. power plant rise in stark contrast to corn fields and a housing development on Hallton Hill in a photo taken around 1954-55.
Frozen in time
Laid out in color-coded chapters devoted to specific country roads, the book depicts a panorama of life in Pine Grove and Washington Township spanning more than a century.
An old stone iron furnace on Rock Road harkens to an era when ore was trucked in from Lebanon County and made into picks and shovels by local craftsmen. A similar stone kiln on Stanhope Road was buried during a road construction project, Klinger said.
The author's salvage yard along Bird's Hill Road, which he founded in 1981, is seen as the 'Great Wall of Cars' lining the yard's perimeter.
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Dean Klinger flips through his latest photo history book while at Dean Klinger Auto Parts & Recycling in Pine Grove, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
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A page of covered bridges within 'A Photo History of East Pine Grove, Pennsylvania,' Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
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A photo from the early 20th century within 'A Photo History of East Pine Grove, Pennsylvania,' Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
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A photo of a man heading off to vote in a donkey-drawn carriage within 'A Photo History of East Pine Grove, Pennsylvania,' Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
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Dean Klinger flips through his latest photo history book while at Dean Klinger Auto Parts & Recycling in Pine Grove, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
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Albert Kieny, wearing a top hat, is at the reins of a cart pulled by a donkey named Maggie on his way to vote in Deturksville in 1953.
And Zimmerman's covered bridge, one of only two surviving in Schuylkill County, stands as an ode to the region's Pennsylvania Dutch heritage.
In calico dresses and bonnets, Della Strouphauer and her daughter, Anna Hummel, tend crops in a field on the family farm circa 1915-1920.
Pauline Berger ice skates on Berger's Dam along Route 443 in 1925. And a local farmer proudly displays his steam-powered tractor in 1931.
Photos from the 1920s within 'A Photo History of East Pine Grove, Pennsylvania,' Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
George 'Dad' Burnam, a former 'cowpuncher' who drove stagecoaches to Dodge City, opened a Sinclair gas station at Miller's Crossroads in 1923. He lived to be 96, and claimed to be the oldest Sinclair station operator in the U.S.
The pronunciation of his surname evolved to Burnham over the years, and a road near the former station is now known as Dad Burnham's Road.
A tall tale
The Crossroads Hotel in Cherryville, north of Pine Grove, was the scene of a tale etched in the region's folklore.
A group of miners celebrating at the hotel, the story goes, were shocked sober when smoke rose from the floorboards and filled the bar with the odor of brimstone. The sound of rattling chains announced the arrival of the devil.
'The devil's cloven feet were burned into the saloon floor' a local newspaper reported in 1974, 'and stayed there for a long time.'
Beverly Sarge used and the Schuylkill County parcel locator in preparing captions for the photos.
'It was sometimes a challenge to find information,' confided Sarge, a retired secretary. 'At times, I felt like a sleuth.'
Beverly Sarge flips through 'A Photo History of East Pine Grove, Pennsylvania' while at Dean Klinger Auto Parts & Recycling in Pine Grove, Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (MATTHEW PERSCHALL/MULTIMEDIA EDITOR)
Little Mountain Printing, Myerstown, printed the book, which is priced at $110. Copies of Klinger's previous books are still available.
Klinger, who has invested countless hours into compiling the books, donates proceeds from sales to the Pine Grove Historical Society.
'I don't feel right,' he said, 'making a profit on somebody else's photographs.'
Information on how to obtain copies of the books is available at 570-345-8778.
