USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania : from its first beginnings to the present time, including chapters of newly-discovered early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume V > Part 16
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Regarding early trading conditions, Bradsby writes: "The Hollenback storehouse was built to accommodate the river traffic in salt, plaster, grain, etc., which was brought down from York State in arks during high water in the river. The salt was in barrels and the plaster in bulk, which was deposited upon the bank and weighed out to farmers, in quarter and half tons, as required. The same was true of the Arndt stone house, which stood opposite the Darling property. John Arndt kept the tavern, which stood upon the site
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of the Darling property, adjoining which was his store. Thomas Morgan kept the Stage House there in 1830, from which the Troy coaches departed for New York, Philadelphia, etc. As money was scarce in those days, most of the business was barter of produce for goods, and farmers brought grain in wagons many miles to trade. This grain was also deposited in these store- houses, taken from the wagons to the shoulders of the clerks and carried up into the second story and deposited in the bins. It was in the Arndt stone house that 'old Michael' lived alone for many years, and died there. In the year 1846 John Myers, not being able to agree with the terms of the Bridge Company, started a ferry immediately below the bridge, and ran a flat and skiff until he brought the company to terms. The tolls were high, and many farm- ers and others tied up their teams on the west side and crossed on foot with light produce, and so many took advantage of the free ferry that it was kept going to its capacity. The trade in butter, eggs, etc., was never so great in the town. Butter was worth eight to ten cents and tons of it were brought in, showing what an advantage a free bridge would have been." Apparently, the bridge, which was built in 1818, had considerable effect upon Wilkes-Barre merchandising.
In the "Historical Record" in 1888 was a letter from Dilton Yarington, giving, so far as he remembered, the names and occupations of Wilkes-Barre men in 1818. According to this "directory" of the county seat, Wilkes-Barre then had fifteen attorneys, one author, one baker, one basket-maker, eight blacksmiths, one butcher, two cabinet-makers, seventeen carpenters, one cloth dresser, one coal dealer, one confectioner, two constables, one cooper, one court crier, one distiller, two druggists, forty-one farmers, two ferrymen, two gunsmiths, three harness makers (see also saddlers), four hatters, one Indian killer, three judges, two justices of the peace, seven landlords (inn keepers), one manufacturer, fifteen merchants, two millers, two nailmakers, four paint- ers, eight physicians, one plasterer, one poet, two potters, four printers, four preachers, one river pilot, one saddler (see also harness makers), one sexton, one shipbuilder, seven shoemakers, one silversmith, six owners of stage lines, two stone cutters or masons, three surveyors, three tanners, four tailors, five teachers, two teamsters, two wagon-makers.
It will be interesting to compare this with the classified business directory of Wilkes-Barre for 1892. There were in the city in that year eighteen bak- eries, five cracker factories, two basket-makers, one bedspring factory, one belting factory, two bird dealers, twenty-six blacksmiths, two blank book- makers, three boiler makers, eleven stationers, twenty-two boot and shoe dealers, two shoe jobbers, sixty-two shoemakers, three shoe factories, two brass and copper foundries, three breweries, two brickyards, one brush fac- tory, two bus lines, twelve carpet weavers, ten wagon and carriage factories, three china and glassware dealers, thirty-six cigar factories, three wholesale tobacco factories, seventeen clothiers and merchant tailors, six clubs, fifteen coal mines and handlers, three coal screen manufactories, one coffee roaster, six com- mission merchants, seventy-five confectioners, three wholesale confectioners, twenty dentists, twenty-eight drug stores, twenty-three dry goods stores, six dyers, four dealers in electrical supplies, three engine and boiler factories, two engravers, five express companies, ten fancy stores, six florists, two flour grist- mills, four wholesale fruit dealers, eight furniture stores, three galvanized cornice dealers, one gun factory, twenty-one hardware stores, eight harness and saddle shops, five hat and cap stores, four heaters and rangers, fifty-two hotels and restaurants; eight house furnishing, two ice companies, six instal- ment stores, one lace factory, one dealer in ladies' furnishings, eleven laun- dries, one hundred and nineteen lawyers. two leather and findings (mer- chants), six lime and plaster, seventeen livery-stables, seven lumber yards, three mantels and tiles, four marble and granite works, fifty-one meat markets,
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seven wholesale meat dealers, thirty-four merchant tailors, two postal and messenger services, sixteen milk dealers, seven mill and mine supplies mer- chants, eight dealers in millinery goods, seven oil dealers, one overall fac- tory, one paper manufactory, one hundred and sixteen physicians, six piano dealers, four planing mills, thirteen printing offices, ten produce dealers, two soap factories, eight stone merchants, seven tea and coffee merchants, twelve undertakers, two upholsterers, seventeen jewelers, two wire-rope fac- tories, five variety stores. In addition, there was, in 1892, a grand opera house, just completed, a music hall, and one other attraction, "Wonderland."
For further comparison, it might be well to put into this record statistics from the business directory of the Wyoming Valley for the current year, 1927. In part, the directory shows: Advertising agents, twelve ; aldermen, fifteen ; artists, three: ambulance service, three; antique shop, one; architects, nine- teen ; armories, four; art glass dealers and makers, three; art studio, one; artificial limbmakers, four; art school, one; asbestos dealers, four; asbestos material maker, one: attorneys, about one hundred and forty; automobile dealers, about one hundred and twenty-five: auto accessories, fifty ; acces- sories, wholesale, two; automobile service, about one hundred; awning makers, eleven; badge and regalia makers, one; bakeries, eighty-seven ; wholesale bakery, one; bakers' supplies merchant, one; bands, two; banks, forty-five; barbers, sixty-three ; barbers' supplies, four; basket-maker, one; auto and radio battery service, twenty-seven : beauty shops, about one hun -. dred ; bedding manufacturers, six ; belting, one ; bicycle dealers, four ; billiard halls, sixty-five; blacksmiths, five; blasting supplies, three; boiler manufac- turers, two: bookbinders, one; booksellers, three; bottlers, forty-eight ; box- makers, five; brass foundry, one; brickmakers, ten; bridge builder, one; broommaker, one; builders, twenty; building supplies, twenty-one; butter, wholesale, two; cabinet-makers, four shops; calendars, two; can manufac- turers, three ; cap manufacturers, one; caterers, seven; cement blocks, two; cement contractors, two; cement products, four; cheese, wholesale, two; chemist, one : children's wear, six shops : china shops, two; chiropodists, ten ; chiropractors, twenty-five: Christian Science practitioner, one; cigar dealers, about one hundred and sixty ; cigars, wholesale, five; cigar manufacturer, one: clay products, two; cleaners and dyers, twenty-four; clergymen, two hundred and eighty-eight; clothing stores, fifty-eight; retail coal dealers, nineteen ; wholesale, six; coal producers, see Chapter LII; coal novelties, two; coffee wholesalers, two; concrete block makers, four; concrete contrac- tors, seven ; concrete products and fireproof specialties, three; conduit mate- rials and constructors, one ; confectioners, about two hundred and ninety ; con- fectioners, wholesale, five; contractors, general, sixty-four ; cooperage, one .; coppersmith, one; corset dealers, ten ; house decorators, four ; delicatessen shops, seven : dental laboratories, two; dentists, about one hundred and sixty ; department stores, twenty-two in Greater Wilkes-Barre, thirty-seven in whole of Wyoming Valley ; detective agency, one ; diamond merchants, seven ; dress- makers, eight ; druggists, about one hundred and forty-five; druggists, whole- sale, six; dry goods stores, about sixty-four ; dry goods, wholesale, three; eggs, wholesale, two ; electrical equipment, thirty-six shops ; electrical service, thirty-two; elevator companies, five; embalmers, twenty-four; employment agencies, three ; engineers, twenty ; engravers, five; explosive companies, six ; express companies, two ; feed stores, eight ; fertilizer works, one; iron fence makers, six ; fire escape makers, five ; fish dealers, eleven ; five and ten- cent stores, eighteen ; flavoring extract maker, one; florists, forty-six; flour millers and merchants, twenty ; fruiterers, sixty-eight ; funeral directors, about ninety ; furniture dealers, eighty-one ; furniture manufacturers, two; furriers, seventeen ; garages, about ninety ; garbage disposal, two contractors ; gaso- line service stations, eighty-two-gasoline consumption in Wilkes-Barre zone
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alone was 435,343 gallons monthly in 1926; general merchandise stores, one hundred and sixty-eight; gift shops, seven; glass dealers, eight; grocers, retail, about seven hundred and twenty; grocers, wholesale, twenty-five; hardware stores, sixty ; hardware, builders', three; harness dealers, three; hatters, five; hauling contractors, thirty-eight ; heating plant specialties, ten ; heating contractors, twenty-eight; horse dealers, four; horseshoers, three; hotels, twenty-two; house furnishings, wholesale, one ; house mover, one; ice merchants, twenty-seven ; ice cream manufacturers, eighteen; ice cream cone maker, one; investment brokers, twenty-five; jewelers, forty-seven; jewelers, manufacturing, two; lace works, two; landscape gardeners, three; laundries, twelve; leather merchants, seven ; livery stables, one; locksmiths, one; lum- ber merchants, forty-nine; lumber, wholesale, eight; malt dealers, two; mar- ble dealers, two; mattress makers, two; meats, wholesale, seventeen; meat markets, about three hundred; men's furnishings shops, forty-six; mercan- tile agencies, three ; merchandise brokers, four ; milk dealers, eleven ; millinery shops, twenty-nine; mine supply contractors, eleven; motor truck dealers, eight; motor cycle dealers, six; movers, furniture, sixteen; music stores, seven ; musical instrument shops, six; nurserymen, six; nurses, about three hundred and twenty-five; oil merchants and refiners, twenty; olive oil importer, one; opticians, seven; optometrists, eighteen ; osteopathic physi- cians, eleven ; overall factories, two ; packing, meats, six ; paint shops, twenty- three; master painters, eighteen; paper dealers, twelve; paper, wholesale, three ; paperhangers, see painters; paving contractors, three; photographers, eight ; physicians and surgeons, about three hundred ; piano dealers, nineteen ; planing mills, six; platers, nickel, two; plumbing jobbers and wholesalers, twelve ; plumbers, sixty-nine ; potato chip maker, one; poultry dealers, eight ; printers, thirty-four; produce merchants, forty ; produce wholesalers, six; radio broadcasting station, one ; radio dealers, twenty-seven ; real estate agents, about sixty-five ; refrigerator companies, eight ; renderers, three; restaurants, about one hundred and fifty ; roofing contractors, seven; saloons, about two hundred and twenty; sand merchants, twelve; sausage-makers, wholesale, four; scrap iron merchants, nine; screenmakers, five; shoe dealers, about ninety ; shoe manufacturer, one; shoe repairers, forty-seven; shovel works, one; sign painters, four; silk mills, fifty ; silk mill supply companies, three ; soda fountain supplies, five; sporting goods stores, twelve; squib manufac- turer, one ; stationers, seven ; stationers, manufacturing, one ; steamship agen- cies, four ; steel specialties, ten ; stone merchants, five ; storage warehouses, five companies ; store fixtures, nine companies ; tailors, forty-nine shops; tan- ners, three; taxicab service, ten companies; tea merchants, four; telegraph companies, two; telephone company, one; theatres, thirty-one; tiles and mantles, eight companies ; tinners, sixteen ; tire dealers, fifty-one; vulcan- izers, eight; tobacco packers, seven companies ; transfer companies, twelve; typewriter agents, six ; undertakers, see funeral directors ; upholsters, twelve; veterinarians, seven ; washing machines, seven companies; welding, nine plants ; window cleaners, five companies; wire rope manufacturer, one; women's wearing apparel, sixty-one shops.
It is thus seen how extensive is the scope of the mercantile business of the Wyoming Valley. A Chamber of Commerce publication gives the infor- mation that the business done in Greater Wilkes-Barre in 1923 totaled to $128,519,610. Wilkes-Barre, of course, is the business center of a populous industrial area, one in which the bulk of the annual pay roll of mining and manufacturing enterprises is spent in the retail establishments.
These are so many that individual mention here is hardly possible. The many large department stores-hives of mercantile activity-of Wilkes-Barre, furnish assuring proofs of the prosperity of the region. A few of these great mercantile houses are historic in Wilkes-Barre associations, and, passing
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through several generations, have connected Wilkes-Barre's colorful past with its busy present. Miss Brower, in her enchanting story, "Little Old Wilkes- Barre, As I Knew It," makes several references to these stores; and, in earlier chapters of the current work will be found other references. In addi- tion, the two succeeding volumes, devoted to the individual record, will be able to do justice to those capable business men who have led in the mercantile affairs of the Wyoming Valley.
In their multitudinous transactions with a constantly changing population, the retail merchants have been very well served by an alert credit reporting agency. In these days of extensive credit and extravagant living, the wage-earner is often tempted beyond his immediate means. It is in keeping these transac- tions within sane proportions for the buyer and safe limit for the seller that the Retail Credit Reporting Association, of Wilkes-Barre, has efficiently and effectively had part in both encouraging and safeguarding merchandising operations. The officers and directors of the Association in 1926 were: George M. Huey, president ; George E. Shepherd, of Shepherd-Rust Electrical Co .; C. Robbins, of Duncan and Homer Co .; S. Hirshowitz, of The Hub; Griffith Lloyd, of the Snyder Music Co .; A. H. Popky, of the Select Furniture Corpo- ration ; T. F. Kane, of the Hurley-Loughran Co .; W. E. Black, of Lazarus Bros. ; and M. F. DeMun, of Fowler Dick and Walker, directors.
CHAPTER LVI. THE PRESS.
The story of the press of Luzerne County will never be fully told. The editorial activity has been so self-sacrificing, the journalistic effort so strenu- ous, the publications so numerous, the changes so frequent, and the ramifica- tions so tortuous that it is doubtful whether anyone will ever have the courage, as well as the time, to attempt to explore the Luzerne County highways and byways of newspaperdom back to the period covered by Mr. Harvey in his sketch of "Wilkes-Barre's Earliest Newspapers" (Coll. Wyoming Hist. & Geol. Soc., Vol. XVIII). Colonel Smith refers to these earliest newspapers in Chapter XXXV. Again, in Chapter XLV, he writes about the first daily newspaper; but no attempt has been made to set down the brief histories of the innumerable journals that have come and gone in the last century of printers' ink-spilling.
Indeed, it is doubtful whether such a study would be worthwhile. In Wilkes-Barre it might be, but in other parts of the county it would not-at least, if the press history of most places is at all like that of Pittston. During the last half century, it seems, rival journals of the Pittston "Gazette" have come into fitful circulation almost as frequently as hay fever ; but few have survived the first touch of frost. Indeed, it is said that the most elaborate attempt to establish a second Pittston journal was that which recently launched the Pittston "Press"; but that paper barely lived through its first year of discouragement and public neglect. Joseph Wright, of the Wilkes- Barre "Gazette," in 1799-1801, was not the last editor of a Wyoming Valley journal to finally recognize that he had "worked long enough for nothing." The lot of a founding newspaper editor has invariably been hard. In almost all cases, it has been his misfortune to be quite unable to make the reader see even one-tenth of the labor that has gone into the making of a page of print. Consequently, his valedictory has rarely cast prostrating gloom over his com- munity. His fellow-townsmen have not appreciated his effort to serve them, because he has been unable to show them his full worth. Consequently, news- papers have come and gone, and those that have survived have generally passed through many, many hands, for it seems that there was not even one year, in the last century of journalism in Luzerne County, in which some courageous knight of the quill had been unwilling to prod a neglectful public into closer attention to the news of the world, or to the purveyor of the news.
The Wilkes-Barre "Times-Leader," for instance, holds aloft the torch of publicity first lighted in 1810, by Samuel Maffet, editor of the "Susquehanna Democrat." By the way, a collateral line of the "Times-Leader" is "The Gleaner and Luzerne Intelligencer," edited by Charles Miner, in 1811. The "Susquehanna Democrat" passed through many hands before it passed alto- gether into another Democratic journal, the "Republican Farmer," in 1832. The latter had been founded in 1828 by Henry Pettebone and Henry Hold, and in its first decade or so absorbed almost all rival Democratic journals in its field, including: The "Wyoming Herald," founded by Edward Butler, in 1818, and the "Wyoming Republican," founded by Sharp D. Lewis, in 1832. From 1839 to 1852, the "Farmer" was owned by Mr. S. P. Collings, "a man of brilliant parts." He was the first to attempt a daily paper. In 1852, he was appointed consul at Tangier, in Africa. His newspaper interests then passed to Mr. S. S. Benedict. The latter, soon afterwards merged the "Farmer" with the "Luzerne Democrat," which had been in existence for seven years. The
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consolidated journal took the name of the "Luzerne Union," but within a year or so it was again controlled by a former owner of one of the merged papers, the "Wyoming Republican." Seven or eight changes of ownership occurred during the next twenty-five checkered years of the "Union." In 1879, its involved property was sold to the Leader Publishing Company. Joseph K. Bogert and George B. Kulp were at that time the owners of the "Luzerne Leader," which had been founded in July, 1876, by E. A. Niven and C. H. Chamberlin, of Pittston. The paper and plant were removed to Wilkes- Barre in 1877, and in 1879, with the purchase of the "Union" plant and paper, Messrs. Bogert and Kulp launched the "Union-Leader," the first issue of that paper leaving the old "Luzerne Union" office on the Public Square on Janu- ary 17, 1879. On October 1, 1879, the "Union-Leader" became a daily paper, though the weekly edition was not discontinued. A few months later, Mr. Bogert became sole owner. He published the paper until his death, in 1887. A year later, his brother, Edward Freas Bogert, who, with John S. McGroarty, had been publishing a "Sunday Leader" since 1885, purchased the daily and weekly "Union-Leader" papers.
As the century lagged to its close the "Union-Leader" was feeling the decrepitude of old age. In January, 1903, steps to rejuvenate it were taken. In March of that year additional capital was obtained, the reorganized com- pany introducing Abram Nesbitt, W. P. Billings and Fred C. Kirkendall. With the last named as editor, the journal passed the next two years, being issued as "The Leader." In 1905, Mr. Mulligan withdrew, and Mr. Ernest G. Smith took his place. For more than twenty years thereafter Mr. Kirkendall and Colonel Smith were the active principals of the paper, their partnership in newspaper building ending only with the death of Mr. Kirkendall in Decem- ber, 1925. The standing of the "Times-Leader" of today is the measure of the success of these two capable newspapermen. That it was a newspaper of uncertain future twenty-five years ago is indicated by the reorganization in 1903. That it is today the leading newspaper of Luzerne County is indicated by its circulation. During the last ten years the "Times-Leader" has out- grown two plants, and in 1926 took possession of its last enlargement-adding the remodeled Grand Opera House to the enlarged Fraser Building to give the needed floor space.
The "Times-Leader" gets its hyphenated name from the merger of the "Times" and the "Leader" in 1908. The "Times" was first published in Decem- ber, 1885, as a weekly. In August, 1889, it became a semi-weekly. On Deceni- ber 4 of the same year the first "Daily Times" was issued. Not long after- wards it was removed to Wilkes-Barre, and became an afternoon daily journal of the county seat. Its affiliation was now Republican. Formerly, the "Times" had been independent. But when the "Times" and the "Leader" merged, the new afternoon journal, "Times-Leader" became an independent paper ; and it still is. The American Newspaper Directory records the paid daily circulation of the "Times-Leader" in 1926 as 26,204,* the next highest in Luzerne County being its morning contemporary, the "Wilkes-Barre Rec- ord," which had a paid daily circulation of 23,020 .*
At one time politics played such an important part in the life of news- papers that one is somewhat surprised to find that Luzerne County has now not even one Democratic newspaper and only a few of Republican affiliation. Wilkes-Barre has two Republican papers-the "Record" and the "News." Outside, the only G. O. P. journals are the Pittston "Gazette" and the White- haven "Journal." All other newspapers in the county are classed as inde- pendent. However, the editorial masthead is apt to bend a little to the wind. When politics get tempestuous, the party lines of most newspapers are more clearly seen.
*A. B. C. statement.
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The leading Republican journal, the Wilkes-Barre "Record," is almost one hundred years old ; and throughout the century it has been loyal to the Repub- lican party and its Whig ancestors. Of course, as a daily, the "Record" is not one hundred years old. It had its beginning in the weekly "Anti-Masonic Advocate," which was published in Wilkes-Barre in 1832, by Elijah Worthing- ton. The Anti-Masonic party was to all intents a faction of the Republicans, or rather of the Whigs, who were the party predecessors of the Republicans. As a matter of fact, the Democrats of that time were more commonly known as Democratic Republicans. The Anti-Masonic furore soon passed, and the Anti-Masonic party passed into the Whig. Hence, we find that when, in 1838, Amos Sisty acquired the Wilkes-Barre paper, he dropped its Anti-Masonic name, and published the journal as the "Wilkes-Barre Advocate," a Whig organ. After his death, in 1843, it passed to Sharp D. Lewis, and in 1853 to William P. Miner. A few years later Mr. Miner dropped the "Advocate" and founded the "Record of the Times." In 1866, the "Record" plant, on West Market Street, below Franklin, was gutted by fire, and in the new material that Mr. Miner quickly gathered was a steam power press-the first installed in Luzerne County. Four years later, Mr. Miner began to publish the "Record" daily as well as weekly. This was not the first daily to be published in Luzerne County, but it was the only one then in the field. Nevertheless, it taxed all of Mr. Miner's excellent journalistic abilities to keep it going. Like all pioneers, he had to pay for pioneering. In 1876, he sold the plant to a stock company, the stockholders being mostly men who were prominent in political and public affairs. Mr. Miner retained a stock interest, but relinquished edi- torial control. Dr. W. H. Bradley became managing editor. In 1883 the plant was leased to C. B. Snyder, F. C. Johnson and J. C. Powell. In 1888, Mr. Snyder withdrew, but his partners subsequently acquired all of the oustanding stock of the Record of the Times Publishing Company, and continued to pub- lish three journals : The "Daily Record," the weekly "Record of the Times," and Dr. F. C. Johnson's "Historical Record."
The morning "Record" has ever since led in its field, and, generally has followed the English style of journalism and make-up. It avoids scare head- lines. Indeed, until a year or two ago, its front page was given over to classi- fied advertising, after the style of the front page of a most conservative English newspaper. Now, the front page of the first section of the "Record" carries only National news. Local news of importance one finds on the front page of the second section, and classified advertisements take an inside page. Both Dr. Johnson and Mr. Powell are dead, but the paper is still owned by their families. Guy W. Moore is general manager, and E. T. Giering has been editor for many years; indeed, he has been a journalist in Wilkes-Barre for thirty-nine years. In 1927, the "Record" Building was torn down, and a new building is rising. Its estimated cost is $600,000.
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