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Show HISTORY IN MINIATURES . . . Crowded into the 4.000 square feet of Roadside America, world's greatest great-est Indoor miniature village, is the panorama of American history: ill Sleepy Hollow Is t pical of the pioneer pio-neer days of the West; (21 Shrine church is a replica of a memorial chapel in the Alps: (3) a pioneer village vil-lage of 300 years ago is reconstructed; i4 the airport, laid out like a real field, lends note f modernity; modern-ity; (5) an idea of the scale on which the miniatures are built is obtained by comparing Laurence Gieringer with the figures he is placing on a railroad station platform, and (6) the village of Fairfield represents the modern era. Picturesque Miniature Village Depicts History of America WNU Features. Childhood disillusionment at the shattering of a dream did not deter Laurence Gieringer; instead, it embarked him on a hobby which over a span of 44 years has resulted in creation of a picturesque miniature village which has attracted nationwide nation-wide attention and lured millions of visitors. With the passionate covetousness of a child, the 5-year-old Laurence used to sit nightly in the window ' of his home in a Pennsylvania valley and gaze longingly at a house on the mountainside a toy house. It seemed to him. as its lights blinked enticingly In the distance. He wanted want-ed that tiny bouse, wanted to pick It up in his hands and bring it home. When his repented pleas to set out in quest of his house were ignored, the little boy finally became desperate des-perate and. stuffing a banana and a few crackers into his pockets, trudged off up the mountainside In search of the little house. Searching Search-ing parties were out all night and at 6 o'clock in the morning the frantic parents finally discovered the grimy but undaunted boy two-thirds the way up the mountainside. Bitter at being overhauled, the boy was comforted com-forted only when his parents agreed to take him to the end of the road Drr.im Shattered. Disillusionment clouded Laurence's Lau-rence's eyes when he beheld just another an-other ordinary sized house with no lights at all In the bright moming, no enchantment, no magic lure. But I.anrence C.icrlngcr", dream was not ended; In fact. It had only begun. Today, at T4. he owns countless lighted houses that he can pick up In his hands, along with churches, barns, bridges. highways, railroads, lakes, fields, grist mills, factories fac-tories and scores of other miniature min-iature models depicting the architectural and Industrial panorama of the America of the last few hundred ears. Collectively they are known as Roadside America, which Is situated situat-ed four miles west of Hamburg. Pa., between Harrisburg and Allenlown. Roadside America had Its beginning begin-ning four years after Laurence's abortive attempt to bring home the lighted house from the mountnintop With his younger brother, Paul, he had climbed another mountain near Reading. Far below them Reading I looked like a city Inhnbited by doll men. Fascinated by the sight, Laurence Lau-rence said eagerly: "Paul, wouldn't It be swell to build little houses the same size they look from here?" I Thus was born the Idea which was to grow Into a project enchanting millions of visitors every year. Delving into their venture with en-, en-, thusiasm. the boys scoured the 11-J 11-J brary for books on American architecture ar-chitecture from the pioneer days to modern times A kindly art teacher teach-er gave them drawing lessons at three cents for plain sketching, five cents for pastel work, the fees covering only the cost of material. Early difficulties soon Induced Laurence to adopt an arbitrary scale of three-eighths of an inch to a foot, a scale he has employed through all the Intervening years. Tictures and stories of the way the early settlers in America Amer-ica had lived Induced Gieringer to Milld history Into his miniatures. minia-tures. His models, he decided, could show the development of American home and business life as exemplified In the structure struc-ture of homes and business buildings. As a result there now are three separate sections, one depleting the life of the early settlers, another that of Pennsylvania at the turn of the century and a third showing a modern setting. Gieringer plans a fourth eventually his version of the village of tomorrow. Built From Scraps Scraps of wood, discarded tin cans. wire, pieces of metal, pipe cleaners, paper and numerous other odds and ends have been utilized as construction materials for Giering-er's Giering-er's intricate models. An Idea of the scope of the exhibit may be gained by noting some of the materials which have gone Into its making. They Include 9.530 feet of board lumber. 4.0(X1 feet of building build-ing paper. 1.728 feet of railroad and trolley track. 1 1 ,080 feet of electric wire. 513 light bulbs. 12.000 pounds of plaster. 4.000 miniature figures. 10.000 miniature trees and shrubs. 2M1 pounds of nails. 42 gallons of paint, two barrels of green sawdust, six Ions of slone. 8.000 pounds of sand. 145 miniature railroad cars and 1.700 feet of tracks for trains and trolleys. Highlight among the miniatures la a high-spired church with hnnd-pninted hnnd-pninted windows, a task that re quired months of exacting labor as Gieringer sought means of creating stained glass. As visitors mill about the village, the lights are dimmed and from the open door of the church pours religious music from a liny organ. or-gan. Outside the church a ragged tramp leans lazily against a whita fence, a dog at his heels. Whea the organ strains fade, a different type of music Issues from a large barn, in which an old-fa.shioncd barn dance is progressing. pro-gressing. Nearby planes seem about to take off from an airport air-port while a few feet away people peo-ple are packed into a grandstand grand-stand watching a baseball game. Animation marks the exhibits. There arc youngsters walking on narrow curbstones, a boy whose feet are tangled in an electric wire, dogs sniffing at fire hydrants, women hanging oout their washing or gossiping gos-siping over back fences, trolleys and train In operation, water wheels turning grist mills. Receive Wide Acclaim. The Gieringer exhibits have been widely heralded as the world's greatest miniature village and the most unique and detailed masterpiece master-piece ever evolved. A staunch exponent of hobbles as a means of preventing Juvenile Juve-nile delinquency. Gieringer Insists In-sists that "hobbles keep children off the street." adding that "if youngsters' hands are busy, they don't get Into mischief." His dream Is to see establishment establish-ment of a national hobby center cen-ter where exhibits of all kinds can be shown to Inspire other hobbyists. Throughout the years both Mr. and Mrs Gieringer have worked with countless children from nearby schools and orphanages. Allhourh Gieringer allows boys training In his workshop to use me- I chnnlcal equipment, all of Roadside America has been built completely by hand and with ordinary carpen- trr tools. Originally set up ns a Christmas display In the Gieringer home for showing to neighbors and visitors. , the miniatures later were exhibited In a Reading fire house and In a local park, all earnings going to charity. The present Rondside America was established in 1P41, a portion of (hi proceeds still going to charity. Although wartime gasoline gaso-line rationing shuttered attendance, a record number of visitors viewed ! the displays last season and still larger crowds are expected this summer. |
