Reconstructing means rebuilding a destroyed building exactly as it was. After a fire or natural disaster, many people choose to reconstruct their home or building rather than build a new one.

In 1988, there was a great fire in Perkasie. Many of the oldest buildings in town were destroyed. In addition to 31 displaced residents and eight businesses, victims of the fire included many buildings. Several architectural treasures including the American House Hotel (with charming Victorian details), Lesher's 5 &10 & $1 store (with beaded board woodwork and old fashioned candy counter), and the Shelly Building - formerly the 1895 H.G. Moyer building were totally destroyed. Several buildings were only partially burned though the contents of the buildings were destroyed, several structures had enough structural integrity to rebuild. Three buildings are rebuilt today, but they can never truly replace these historic landmarks and their artifacts from the past.

The Herstine Building located at 4 & 6 S. Seventh Street (7th & Market Streets) was almost completely destroyed in the fire. The building was originally erected as a woolen mill in 1856. On the Market Street end of the building, the first railroad tickets were sold out of this building,the first freight and express was handled there, and the first post office operated there for a number of years.

Three businesses and several apartment residents in this building were left homeless by the fire. One business, the Treasure Trove antique store after relocating to the former Renner Bros. Furniture Store building on Market Street, later returned to this building (seen at right). Come Travel II (Travel Agency) relocated to the Renner Bros. Building at Sixth & Market Streets and Shirl Gilbert's Hairstyling salon relocated to 117 South Sixth Street.

Herstine building viewed from Eighth Street.		Herstine building as viewed from railroad tracks.		Herstine building from Shelly's parking lot - the massive clean up begins.

Through much of the Seventh Street facade of the building survived, the majority of the building was left unusable. Owner Estelle Brager decided to rebuild the historic landmark as closely as possible to its original look.

The building was built in 1856, five years before the Civil War started, and it was difficult to rebuild it to make it look like it did before the fire. It took some time to complete the project and it now looks like it is from the era it was originally built in. When asked about the building, Jeffrey Marshall of the Heritage Conservancy commented that this type of building is no longer being built today. He said that some things could have been done differently when rebuilding. When looking at a picture of the building, he stated "that some features were not historically accurate, but the building was rebuilt very well."

Rebuilt Herstine building as it appears today.		Building marker placed on the Seventh Street side of the building.

Another building that had to be rebuilt was the Kanter Funeral Home building, a funeral home & residence (formerly Moyer Funeral Home). The building at 623 Market Street was built circa 1870 and was a fine example of late nineteenth century architecture that appeared on the 1876 map of the town. The funeral home was one of the oldest buildings in the Perkasie area and was constructed of Perkasie made bricks.Other than a shortened front porch and parlor addition (1952) the exterior walls or footprint of the house was the same as in the 1800's.

The interior structure was completely destroyed by the fire. The building was rebuilt on the same site as the previous building using the original exterior walls. The Kantner family like many other displaced residents lost all of its family possessions in the fire. The Kantners temporarily lived with friends and operated funerals out of the local churches of bereaved families.

Ornamental fence that somehow survived the fire on the American House property (located on property line with Kantner Funeral Home).		Rebuilt Kantner Funeral Home today.

The Perkasie Improvement Building was built in 1929 to replace the beautiful Cressman building that burnt down in 1922. Mr Roy Benner relocated his grocery business from Seventh & Market Streets to the Perkasie Improvement Building in 1942. Upon his retirement the business was owned and operated by Dorothy and Paul Meas from 1954 until their retirement in 1977.

The building later became home to Triple Crown America and Scandinavian Design. These two businesses were located on the southern side of the Perkasie Improvement Building.at the time of the Great Perkasie Fire of 1988. Triple Crown America at 13 N. Seventh Street specializes in pharmaceutical chemicals and Scandinavian Design is a world wide natural health care product company that markets its products with health food stores and health centers.

The fire damaged the front of the store and the entire building was damaged by water and smoke damage. During reconstruction the business relocated one door down from its original location on Seventh Street. The structure of the building remained intact. The original deep set store front included a picture window; the building was changed to a front wall with four windows on the first floor. The owner, Katheryn Petlak, indicated that on humid days one still can faintly smell smoke on the upper floors of the building.

Firemen examine damage in 1988. Perkasie Improvement Building is in the background.		The rebuilt storefront with a new facade. Four windows replace the deep picture window on the first floor.

The original tin ceiling on the first floor fell down during the fire of 1988.This material was salvaged along with the thick crown moldings (now gold).		The tin ceiling has been returned to its original place on the ceiling. Note the deep set beams in the ceiling design.		Near the front of the building one can locate the original placement of the edge of the deep-set picture window. This is the way the forms on the molding appeared at the time of the fire, and the way it again appears today.