By Anthony G. Noel
Special to The Pottstown Mercury
Of the three A.D. Moyer locations in the Pottstown area, one - in Gilbertsville - is where it all started for the family-owned lumber yard.
In 1939, Amandus D. Moyer purchased the wooden roller coaster at the Sanatoga Amusement Park, had it dismantled, and the parts shipped to his home. That home stood on the site of the company's present-day Gilbertsville location.
It didn't take long for the lumber culled from the coaster to be used up by the local tradesmen, so the late Mr. Moyer turned to Pennsylvania's coal region for his next supply. He purchased a coal cracker, which was similarly dismantled and hauled back, and his reputation as a lumber supplier grew.
According to company literature, new lumber came on line in 1940, and other building materials soon followed.
Amandus' sons, Donald and Francis, joined the company during the post-war boom years of the 1950s. The Armand Hammer Boulevard store opened in 1974.
Shortly after Donald's death in 1980, his son, Scott, became an owner.
In 1982, the Gilbertsville, location grew to 8,000 square feet. A year later, Moyer's expanded into the Lehigh Valley, opening a store about the same size in Bethlehem, and in 1985, the Pottstown location doubled in size, to nearly 13,000 square feet.
Francis' son, Terry, joined the company in 1993.
The latest store in the tri-county area opened in 1995 in Birdsboro, better positioning Moyer's to serve eastern Berks county.
Francis Moyer died in 1997.
Apart from the aggressive physical growth both have overseen since joining the company, Scott and Terry have also guided Moyer's into the information age. Not only are all Moyer's locations fully computerized, but the company has had an online presence since 1997.