WYOMISSING, Pa. – At the entrance to Wyomissing Hills, something is missing.
Kate Murray grew up just a house away.
“My dad lives two houses up the street here,” Murray said. “This is where I grew up, and he sent me a picture, and he said, ‘Oh my gosh, somebody just hit the pillar in Wyomissing Hills.’”
Wyomissing Police say a single car crashed there around 1:18 p.m. Saturday. No one was hurt, but one of the historic stone pillars came down.
“These pillars actually had wooden gates on them, and if you look closely at the side of this pillar that’s still standing, you can see the little brass knobs,” Murray said.
Murray says those gates were once closed in the 1920s as members of the Ku Klux Klan attempted to enter the community.
One pillar remains standing, while across the street, the other has been reduced to a pile of debris.
“This is original fieldstone that came out of our quarries, right?” Murray said. “And I know this, because my house is built with the same fieldstone.”
Wyomissing Borough Council President Kristen Gajewski released a statement saying, “We recognize the significance of this space and will take that into consideration as we evaluate the available options.”
Murray hopes restoration will be among those options.
“Restoration is the harder thing to do. It’s the more costly thing to do. It’s the more time-consuming thing to do, but it’s the right thing to do,” Murray said.