The Magazine of the Greater Jim Thorpe Area
jttoday.com
Dec. 2005

Where You Can See Forever

Flagstaff sign (Courtesy Mauch Chunk Museum)
Once a sign located at the entrance to Flagstaff recounted the conflict between the Lenape and the Moravians in Gnatten Heutten, now Lehighton.

Roof Top of the World (Courtesy Mauch Chunk Museum)
Franklin Wehr, the owner of Flagstaff in the 1980s allowed hang gliders to launch off the roof of Flagstaff’s ballroom. To reduce the difficulty of carrying the hang gliders onto the roof, Wehr constructed a stairway leading to a platform called the “Roof Top of the World.”

Tim Markley Hang glider (Courtesy Tim Markley)
In 1977, Tim Markley the twenty-something president of the Blue Ridge Hang Gliding Club of New Tripoli, received permission to launch hang gliders from the peak of the Flagstaff ballroom roof. “I fell in love with the place right away.” Markley and his girlfriend, Lisa Mirth Lutterschmidt, are the current owners of Flagstaff.

Part 3 of 4 parts

Roof Top of the World

On a clear day you can see forever from Flagstaff Park. It’s been an amusement park, a home of swing bands and nearly became the City of God.

After the end of World War II, Flagstaff became part of the post-war big band jitterbug craze. In 1950, Elizabeth R. & John C. Dolon sold Flagstaff to Stewart K. and Mabel L. Evans. In November of 1963, the borough of Jim Thorpe held a referendum to purchase Flagstaff Park. The voters defeated the proposition 1,335 to 533.

Stewart Evans is said to have sold Flagstaff Park to Attilio Pillon, Ernest Renda and his brother, Oscar Renda of New Jersey in 1964 (although my reading of the deed records do not confirm this.) In 1969, after the passing of her husband, Mabel Evans sold Flagstaff Park to A. Franklin Wehr of Lehighton, a newspaperman retired from the Philadelphia Bulletin, .

In 1977, Tim Markley the twenty-something president of the Blue Ridge Hang Gliding Club of New Tripoli, received permission to launch hang gliders from the peak of the Flagstaff ballroom roof. “I fell in love with the place right away.” Markley and his girlfriend, Lisa Mirth Lutterschmidt, are the current owners of Flagstaff.

“Franklin Wehr, the owner at the time really got a kick out of us flying off the roof,” said Markley. “In return, we helped him take care of the property.” Markley was a tree surgeon and his club helped by mowing Flagstaff’s lawn and trimming its trees.

To reduce the difficulty of carrying the hang gliders onto the roof, Wehr constructed a stairway leading to a platform on the roof of the Flagstaff ballroom called the “Roof Top of the World.” Hang gliders found it to be a perfect place to launch from, descend into the Lehigh Gorge, and land in the Carbon County Parking Lot behind the railroad station. When the winds were not quite right, some poor souls found themselves landing across the river at the Jim Thorpe Sewer Plant. Fortunately, no one landed in the treatment basins. The stairway was removed in the early 1990s.

In 1978 and 1979, the Jim Thorpe Fire Department sponsored a Hang Gliding Fundraiser. About 20 flyers descended from the roof of the Flagstaff Ballroom for a five minute fight to a landing pad behind the railroad station. The hang glider of Beltzville State Park Ranger Bob Doleiden of Weatherly was exhibited at the Jim Thorpe Railroad Station.

Concluding in Part 4 - Struggle to Survive