History of the Batona Hiking Club

by Marvin L. Feldman

May 5 1988

I am one of the original 13. This letter is intended to tell you how the Club was formed and something about the early days.

Early in April 1928, the Evening Bulletin ran an announcement in the paper that they were interested in sponsoring a series of hikes in the Phila. area and that they were bringing a well know Dutch outdoor enthusiast to lead the group in hiking. The first hike was held in early in April and in order to attract the greatest number of people the paper announced that the first hike would be held on a Thursday evening about 5:30 p.m.. Almost 500 people showed up on the plaza at City Hall and we were told that we would hike up the Parkway to the Art Museum. The hike took approximately an hour and half and was led by Capt. Albert Rodriguez, a member of the Dutch Army who was on leave at the time. He made a dashing appearance, about 6' tall and very military in appearance. The brief hike was a great success and the Bulletin announced that the following Thursday we would hike down Broad St. to Oregon Ave.. Again a great turnout of several hundred. The last Thursday of April, we hiked out Broad St. to Lehigh Ave. The crowds were so large as to present a serious traffic problem. At the end of that hike a man who introduced himself as Dr. Benjamin Schneyer told us all that if anyone was interested he would meet at 69th St. Terminal, Sunday, May 10 and would lead a hike to Valley Forge. Unfortunately, that Sunday it rained very hard and only 13 of us showed up and we all completed the hike. Some of the Early members were Sidney Moss (still living in Northeast Phila.), Tony DeFalcis, Jos. Buckman. I regret I cannot remember any other names.

The Evening Bulletin announced that in view of the difficulty in hiking through the city streets and all the traffic problems created, that they would run weekly announcements of the Sunday hikes and would encourage our efforts to publicize the hikes and do whatever was necessary to encourage people to join. Jimmy was a very dynamic leader and each Sunday would create new hiking areas to keep us interested. After several months we realized that one person could not do it all and Jimmy asked us to meet at his home at 6614 Woodland Ave. where he lived and maintained a dental practice. Jimmy and I became quick friends and from my own standpoint I never missed a hike for any reason until I was inducted in the Army in the spring of 1942 which meant that for a period of 14 years I never missed a Sunday regardless of weather and we certainly encountered some rough weather problems.

About two years after we started hiking, someone suggested that we meet at 69th St. on Thursday evening at 7:30 for a moonlight hike and that continued indefinitely. The Sunday group would always be anywhere from 75 to 200 people.

And now for some personal history about Jimmy. He was born in 1896 and married in 1924. His first wife died in childbirth in 1926. He remained single until he met a girl hiker named Anna Kubel who lived in Oak Lane. The night he was married he walked to her house where a small group of us attended the wedding. The marriage lasted about 7 years (Not too sure of this time). In May of 1932 his cousin was accepted in the U. Southern California for the semester beginning that fall. They decided to spend the summer hiking to California and completed this trip of about 3500 miles in early October of that year. His wife took the train to California and they returned home via boat through the Panama Canal, arriving back in Nov. 1932. The hikes had never stopped and when he came back he picked up where he left off. And as Paul Harvey would say, 'Now you know the rest of the story'. Incidentally, the Evening Bulletin abruptly dropped the hiking club after about one year when Captain Rodriguez became involved with a woman he met while in Phila.. By that time, however, we were well on our way and did not need him anymore.

All the original hikes left from 69th St. Terminal and it was nothing to have five busloads.