The handsome man smoking the pipe is Charles Mattern, the father of Carolyn Jane Mattern, who sent us these photographs.

Robert managed the West Point Feed Store until sometime during World War II. Charles, who was a professor at Ursinus College, also had some role in the feed store. Apparently they took it over from Edwin Mattern and his partner, Robert Knerr. (More about the feed store can be found in the "History" section.)

This is an interesting photograph. Charles and the man next to him, as well as the woman in the center of the photo, seem to be looking at something across the street. Click on the photo for a full size version, and notice the expressions on the faces, especially the little girl front and center.

Here's Carolyn Jane Mattern on the left with her grandmother Verona.

    I have rather strong memories of the Mattern’s house on the West Point Pike. I recall hearing that it was a “Sears” house, but I don’t know that for a fact, and I suspect the Matterns were not the original owners. The property was quite large, or so it seemed to me. There was an oval driveway that curved in on one side of the house and out on the other. There was a large vegetable garden in the back, which you can see in the 1950 picture of Robert, as well as a chicken coop. I hated those chickens. When I would help my grandmother gather eggs, they would fly up in my face in a most frightening way. I also distinctly recall playing under a large weeping willow tree in the backyard with my great grandmother who had more interest in playing than my grandmother.
 
   The pictures inside the house are rather remarkable, I think, for what they show of the interior. I remember the house as very dark and full of dark furniture; in the 1950s there were still portiers between the doorways. The interior photographs were taken by my mother during the 1930s. I still have the framed needlework that appears on the wall behind the napping Robert Mattern in the Morris chair.
 
    Another of my memories of that house is that there were two stoves in the kitchen: one electric and one coal. Quite possibly my grandmother needed both; on one day each week, she baked enough pies to last for an entire week. I also remember an icebox in the entryway in the back of the house although by the 1950s but they were certainly not using it for refrigeration.

During the 1960s Verona moved to the Friends home in Norristown, and my recollection is that she “gave” the West Point house to the church. Could someone inform me, did she give the house or sell it to the church at a reduced price or am I misremembering entirely, I'd like to know.
 

Note: Montgomery County property records show that the house was sold by Hans and Charlotte Hartung in 1979, but do not show what year the Hartungs purchased the house or if it was sold to them by Grace Church.

Left-to-right: Robert Mattern, Lesher Mattern, Mrs. Lesher Mattern, Harry Mattern, Ethel Garretson, Florence Linster.

Mr. and Mrs. Lesher Mattern certainly look stern in this photo. Perhaps it's a reflection of their personalities. Lesher came to the area in 1882 and was the bookkeeper for the West Point Feed House. He later became a partner with Henry Moyer, then became the owner at Moyer's death. Between 1905 and 1918, Lesher built the West Point Feed House into one of the largest hay pressing operations in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He was married to Sophia Foster Trucksess, the woman third from the left. Something tells me she usually got her way.

In spite of Sophia's grim expression, her obituary states that she was beloved by all, and was a member of Grace Reformed Church. She lived in West Point for almost 40 years and for the greater part of her life took an active part in community work. Her death was a great shock to the community. She died on February 10, 1921.