Interviewee: Calvin Cooper
Date of birth/age at interview: 1916/80
Interviewers: Albright Zimmerman and Lance Metz
Interview date: 7/31/1996
Interview Location: Cooper home, Attleboro Village, Langhorne, PA
Interview length: approximately 35 minutes
Time span discussed: 1920 to 1980’s
Summary: The coal yard of New Hope fed by the canal ended in 1933 with the canal’s end. Calvin’s father owned the coal yard and here we find the story of a working coal yard business. We get a good idea of the impression the boat men and women had on town residents and recall the “beautiful” sound of the conch shell. New Hope’s hump-back bridge and three concurrent ice hockey games under the bridge and down to the Ferry Street bridge are remembered. As Mr. Cooper grew up he became aware of the politics of preserving the canal, he worked at the opening summer of the New Hope Playhouse, and he witnessed the flood of 1955. This is a good first person account of some of the key moments in New Hope’s history over a long time span.
