One of the bicentennial celebration events was a walking history tour of Kutztown, held on Monday, July 27.
“As we planned the tour, we wanted to share the history of some of the properties in Kutztown while showcasing what a great town we have to take a walk,” said Bicentennial Committee Chairman Craig Koller. “The problem is, if we spoke about every property, we’d be walking for months, so we decided to focus on buildings that are either gone or have undergone drastic renovations.”
The tour started at the Kutztown Area Historical Society’s 1892 Public School Building, which also has a special exhibit about Kutztown’s previous celebrations, notably 1915 and 1965.
“We’ve been wanting to do walking tours for a while, so what better time to do them than Kutztown’s bicentennial year,” said Historical Society President Sheila Fulton.
The tour moved north on Whiteoak Street to Main Street, where it turned west to College Hill. From there, it did a u-turn and moved east on Main Street to St. John’s Lutheran Church.
What made the tour more interesting was the use of QR codes to connect smartphones to a website featuring old photographs of the sites visited.
“While discussing the route, bicentennial committee member Kerri Schegan suggested the use of QR codes so people could compare the current structures to their historic selves,” added Koller. “It was a stroke of genius and really helped us out during the tour when so many people showed up. When we first started planning the walking tour, I expected maybe 25 people would want to do it. As we got closer to the event, I thought maybe 100 people would show up. When I saw the actual crowd, I was completely overwhelmed. Someone counted and said there were 400 people on the tour.”
Luckily, the QR codes and directions to their corresponding properties were printed on a handout.
“Colasanti Printworks printed 100 hand outs,” said Koller. “They were snatched up in no time.”
People could use the handout for a self-guided tour, and some chose to do that. Others followed Koller as he lead the crowd on Whiteoak and Main Streets.
“Luckily, Officer Sanchez of the Kutztown Police Department helped us with crowd and traffic control, and he let me use the police care PA system when my bullhorn proved inadequate,” said Koller.
The Kutztown Area Historical Society will host monthly walking tours starting in the spring of 2016.
