Back in September 1987, they were still constructing the Keystone Fire Company in Boyertown, PA. They had sold the building at 24 North Reading Avenue and bought a lot at Walnut Street and Spring Street.

I used to live in one of the houses along North Reading Avenue, and the fire company would have been right at our backyard. We moved out in 1986, and I remember the lot had been sold to the fire company then, but when we moved construction had just begun. Specifically, they had begun digging. Kids from the neighborhood would take pieces of cardboard and climb the pile of dirt they created, probably from digging the basement, and slide down.

When I was growing up, the lot where the fire company was built was half grassy field (which they mowed about once a year so it was full of weeds and you couldn't play in it) and half parking lot for H&R. It wasn't H&R Block, the tax people, it was H&R a clothing manufacturer. They must have had some type of retail store, because I remember going into the building a few times with my mom. But basically it was a factory and the lot was for people working there.

Because parking was limited in back, most yards only had one spot, and no one wanted to park out front along Reading Avenue because your car could get hit, many of the neighbors would park in the lot and walk up the alley to their houses.

These pictures were taken when I was 15. I was a junior in high school, and one day a friend and I were riding our 10-speeds around town and I took along my camera. I suppose the statute of limitations on trespassing has run out, so I can admit we walked all through the construction checking it out and taking photos.

The Keystone's website says the building opened in December 1987.