Some interesting observations regarding Sellersville, Pennsylvania, the 1913 typhoid fever epidemic, and the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. Further reading: http://www.topix.com/forum/city/quakertown-pa/TPEQLOCLMKDU9C174

1. Sellersville, the 1913 Epidemic, and the 1918 Pandemic
The gentleman from the Sellersville Historical and Achievement Authority who was adamant in
claiming that houses “B” and “C” (left-hand side of the below pic, which was taken from a 1930s U.S.
Gauge newsletter) were “photo-shopped” onto the pic of U.S. Gauge Plant #1 makes one wonder what
(if in fact this portion of the picture was 'edited') needed to be covered up in that location.
Source: http://patch.com/pennsylvania/lansdale/bp--did-you-know-sellersville-is-275-years-old
During one of many record review sessions at Sellersville Borough's municipal building, an early
1900s Sanborn Map was found showing that a milk bottling facility existed in the area of the left-hand
“B” and “C” homes.
Subsequent research of U.S. Census data uncovered that the area encompassing and behind the
AMETEK Plant #2 tract (which was right next to this milk bottling facility on the eastern side) was
noted as “Home Farm.” However, this description of "Home Farm" was handwritten (poorly) over the
words "Radium Plant" on line 14, Sheet No. 2A of the 1920 U.S. Census form for Sellersville Borough.

3. “Home Farm” was also listed as the industry for the second resident of that address. However, here it
appears that “Home Farm” was written over the words “Dairy Farm.” This would mean that an area of
approximately 100 acres (which would later become “Sellersville Estates”, AMETEK Plant #2, and
Wyckford Commons) served simultaneously as both a radium plant (where uranium was milled and
radium was extracted) and an adjacent dairy farm (where cattle were raised and dairy products [i.e.
milk] were produced).
For obvious reasons, these were two industries that probably should not have been operating together
or on shared acreage...
Dots Locations
Orange (1911*): Radium plant (facility where pitchblende [uranium] was milled and oxidized)
Orange (2011): The Mews at Wyckford Commons
Red (1911*): Radium plant (facility where radium was extracted from the milled uranium)
Red (2011): AMETEK Plant #2
Yellow (1911*): Dairy farm (portion), adjacent to future milk bottling facility
Yellow (2011): Wooded acreage
Green (1911*): U.S. Gauge Plant #1 tract across from dairy farm/milk bottling facility
Green (2011): Former U.S. Gauge Plant #1 tract and former Harvey Clymer home, dairy farm,
and milk bottling facility
*ca.
So why would this dairy facility need to be “photo-shopped” out of a picture published in a U.S. Gauge
newsletter? And why was U.S. Census data that memorialized the existence of both the radium facility
and adjacent dairy farm overwritten? Subsequent research uncovered the following:

4. From 1913, the first summer that the uranium mill was fully operational, processing and discarding
literal tons of uranium ore on a daily basis (and discharging sediment into the Perkiomen Creek):
It's a safe bet that radiation exposure was not a suspected cause of the typhoid epidemic at the time.
However, it very well could have laid the groundwork:
Above screen shot is an excerpt from The Effects of Nuclear War, Diane Publishing Co, Library of Congress CCN 79-600080

5. And in a town notorious for these kinds of contamination-related “mishaps” spanning a time frame of
100 years and involving vast human health-related repercussions, it raises the question: Were these
events truly accidental?
Even more interesting is the fact that 1913 was the year that Grand View Hospital opened in the
Sellersville area...with funds donated by U.S. Gauge. This occurred just in time to provide
vaccinations and treatment for the typhoid fever epidemic. A nice gesture made by U.S. Gauge?
That's also questionable...
Sellersville and Perkasie were known for their constituent involvement in numerous fraternal
organizations like the Freemasons, Knights of Malta, etc. Additionally, the world headquarters of one
of the Rosicrucian orders is located just north of both boroughs in East Rockhill Township on Clymer
Road. But it is unclear as to what kind of influence these organizations and their related belief systems
pertaining to issues of government, common land ownership, population control, etc. had on the area's
industries. Either way, the 1918 pandemic is speculated to have originated in Pennsylvania.
If there is any relationship here, and these pieces do in fact fit together, this could very well explain
why such great lengths and measures have been taken to ensure Sellersville's radium days were quickly
forgotten. It also makes one question why Sellersville approved expansive residential communities to
be built in areas known to be unsuitable for human habitation--and on ground owned by the same
company involved with many of these“mishaps” for well over a century. The level of non-disclosure
and blatant dishonesty regarding said “mishaps” has remained consistent for every occurrence, from the
“erased” radium industry of the early 1900s to the numerous undisclosed drinking water, underground
chemical plume, and radioactive contamination issues of today. Incidentally, regardless of intent, the
arsenic in Sellersville's drinking water was never solely “naturally-occurring;” nor was the size and
progression of the underground TCE plume ever affected by “natural attenuation;” nor were normal
background radiation levels in a given area ever supposed to be “naturally this high.”
Bottom line: When things don't happen innately, there are other forces present.
http://www.topix.com/forum/city/quakertown-pa/TPEQLOCLMKDU9C174

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