The Quakertown Band

Our Historic Past, Enter the Players

On February 22, 1877, the founding members met in Aaron B. Walp's shoe factory on East Broad Street in Quakertown, located on the site later occupied by the Quakertown Furniture Store. The factory building was also used as the band's first rehearsal hall.

It is interesting to note that seventeen of the band's twenty-three charter members were shoemakers by trade, including Charles H. Walp, a son of the owner of the factory. Another son, Tilghman Walp, was the first member admitted to the band in the following year.

A list of the charter members, by section, reads as follows:

CORNETS Hirman Tice Gideon Harmer Peter Smith Edwin P. Fretz Daniel Hoffman William Eichner	TENORS Andrew Hoffman Peter Hillpot Monroe B. Dill BARITONE Charles H. Walp	SNARE DRUM John Bleam Allen Harmer CYMBALS George Bleam
ALTOS Harry B. Scheid Edwin Scheid William Ortt Henry Hoffman	BASS William Bleam, Sr. William Bleam, Jr. William Scholl Allen Barndt	BASS DRUM Joseph Harmer PICCOLO Elam Baringer