The below article and video were submitted by the Conshohocken Historical Society.
Battery C was a Conshohocken-based group of soldiers who served in World War II and participated in both the African and Italian campaigns. The parade depicted in this video shows the men of Battery C marching down Fayette Street on Jan 21, 1941 to the Conshohocken Pennsylvania R. R. station to board a train bound for Camp Shelby Mississippi. Eighty of these 92 men were residents of either Conshohocken or West Conshohocken. Some of the members of Battery C paid the ultimate price for their service. The last survivor of Battery C, Joseph Horn, passed away in 2016.
This film was donated to the Conshohocken Historical Society by Tom Kowalkowski in the early 1990s and was shot by his father on the day of the parade. Tom’s father built and operated the Fayette Grille at 826 Fayette Street. The Fayette Grill was later operated by Tom and his mother Isabel. This building is now occupied by O’Neil Optical.
The quality of the film is not always the best due to a combination of age and lighting. There is no sound. We also have some questions, which are highlighted below in bold, concerning certain content of this film.
The first 10 seconds of the film show a young adult with two small children. We then begin to view the Battery C portion of this film.
Starting at 1 minute and 35 seconds until the end of the film you can view Battery C (in sometimes very bad light) marching down to Pennsylvania R. R. station. There are some smokestacks in the background at the station. Does anyone have any information concerning these smokestacks? Finally, you can see (in very bad light again) the train transporting Company C pulling out of the station.
At 17 seconds in the background, we can see a drug store sign. Does anyone have information concerning this drug store sign?
At 24 to 26 seconds, we begin to see the Conshohocken High School Band with the Conshohocken High School building in the background at West 7th Avenue and Fayette Streets.
At 1 minute and 3 seconds, you can see St. Matthews Roman Catholic Church in the background at East 3rd Avenue and Fayette Streets. Many of the buildings seen on the east side of Fayette Street are still standing.
At 1 minute 8 seconds you can see the Calvary Episcopal Church in the background on East 4th Avenue and Fayette Streets. This building was purchased by Christ the King Presbyterian Church in 2013.