USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Picture of Lycoming County, Vol. 2 > Part 7
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But, the effect of the new roads has not been one-sided. Places such as Jersey Shore, Hughesville, and Muncy were, in former times, rather active centers of shopping and trade. The new roads have given rise to large discount department stores and shopping plazas where parking is both free and easy. The result has been a decline in commerce and trade in most of the county's boroughs, and to a degree, down- town Williamsport. The so called "Golden Strip" has grown up along Route 220 in Loyalsock Township and owes its
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existence to the car and improved highways.
For a period of nearly a year between 1977 and 1978, down- town Williamsport was without a movie theater, the three of them having been replaced by a movie theater complex on the Golden Strip. The Rialto Theater on Pine Street reopened in the Spring of 1978, while the State Theater on Third Street was demolished that summer. The Capitol Theater on Fourth Street was purchased by a local person for use as a performance hall for touring entertainers. Ultimately, the car is to be either blamed or thanked, depending upon how one views this modern mode of transportation.
Williamsport can no longer be regarded as the only important shopping area of the county. The Loyal Plaza on the Golden Strip and the opening in 1978 of the Lycoming Mall at Halls have helped to expand the commercial center of the county eastward. Another casualty of car and truck travel was passenger rail service to Lycoming County which ended in 1971. Now the available means of public transportation from the county is by bus or airline. Growth of these two methods of travel, however, has been held back as well by the populari- ty of the car, even despite recent efforts to conserve energy .
GROWTH OF RURAL AREAS
Finally, another result or cause of increased car travel has been the movement of people from the towns and city to rural and suburban areas. This trend is normally associated with large urban areas like New York City or Philadelphia, but it is also evident in Lycoming County as well. Between 1950 and 1960, Williamsport lost over 3,000 residents, but the county in the same period gained 8,000. Between 1960 and 1970 the populations decreased in Williamsport, Montgomery, Jersey Shore, Picture Rocks and Salladasburg, while large increases were recorded in most of the townships and in Montoursville -- particularly in Susquehanna, Fairfield, Wolf, Eldred, Piatt, Cummings, and McHenry Townships. No doubt the creation of mobile home parks has contributed to much of this growth, but even they symbolize the impact of American mobility since 1940's. The building of new roads has been necessary to carry these rural and suburban residents to work. Also, as families grow up, more cars per family are needed to pro- vide adequate transportation. Thus a cause and effect situa- tion is set up when cars and highways encourage mobility, and mobility generates the need for more cars and highways.
The car is king. From its throne it has decreed major changes in our way of life. Shopping centers and fast-food restaurants have replaced the weekly Saturday night shopping trips to Williamsport or lunch at the Home Dairy Cafeteria on Pine Street -- the nearest thing to a fast-food restaurant
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the 1940's had to offer. The car seems unlikely to yield its preeminent role in travel for a long time to come, if ever.
THE KEYSTONE SHORTWAY
Of all the highways built through or near our region, the story of Interstate 80, or the Keystone Shortway, had its origin with a Lycoming County resident, Charles E. Noyes. Mr. Noyes came to Williamsport from Michigan in 1938 to serve as manager of the Williamsport Community Trade Asso- ciation, now known as the Greater Williamsport Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Noyes, seizing upon the opportunity of the 1939 New York World's Fair, devised a short route from Cleveland through Williamsport to New York City and the World's Fair. This Noyes' route was 75 miles shorter than any other route across Pennsylvania and proved to be very popular with travelers. A committee had been organized to publicize the Short Route and the results were heartening with a large amount of new traffic and business passing through Williamsport. After the World's Fair, plans were laid to continue promoting the Short Route, but World War II intervened, rendering the project impractical.
In 1952 an outgrowth of the Short Route idea was taken up by the Williamsport Chamber of Commerce, still headed by Mr. Noyes. The Chamber set up the North Pennsylvania Turnpike Committee, with the building of a toll road through northern Pennsylvania as its goal. The committee believed that such a toll road would benefit northern Pennsylvania the same way the southern part of the state had benefited from the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The committee, however, struggled unsuccessfully for several years to gain a foothold for the toll road idea. Then in 1954 a William- sport businessman, Z. H. Confair, later to become Pennsyl- vania State Senator from Williamsport, was appointed chair- man of the toll road committee.
In October, 1954, the toll road organization was expanded to involve a larger geographical portion of the state. Mr. Confair remained as chairman. It was in the same month that the editor of the Grit, Kenneth D. Rhone, coined the name "Shortway" which was linked to the word "keystone. " Finally,
in December, 1954, the Keystone Shortway Association was officially formed. Mr. Confair served as president of the Association, with Mr. Noyes named executive director. It was both coincidence and good fortune that at the same time the Williamsport based group was at work, a similar group in Mercer County was trying to get the Pennsylvania Turnpike extended into that region. These two groups were later to join forces creating what was to become the success story of the Keystone Shortway.
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THE SHORTWAY BECOMES INTERSTATE 80
The cause of the Shortway began to gather steam in 1954, thanks to the election that year. Both political parties went on record favoring the highway. George M. Leader, elected governor that year, pledged his support. By June 10, 1955, the State Assembly had passed and Governor Leader signed into law Senate Bill 288 which authorized construction of the Shortway from Sharon in the west to Stroudsburg in the east. After preliminary study of the proposed route, it was determined by state authorities that the Shortway would serve more people and provide a shorter distance across the state than a federally-sponsored Interstate route planned along Route 6. Governor Leader thus recommended to the federal government that the Shortway be designated part of the Inter- state System and that the planned highway along Route 6 be abandoned. Thus, the Shortway was changed from a toll road to an Interstate highway. Ninety percent of the cost of the Shortway was then borne by the federal government.
The Shortway could not be approved as an Interstate high- way until hearings were held by the U. S. Bureau of Public Roads (now the U. S. Department of Transportation). After hearings in Washington and Williamsport, the Federal Highway Administrator, Bertram D. Tallamy, approved the Shortway as part of Interstate 80. Today Interstate 80 is a major transcontinental highway.
THE KEYSTONE SHORTWAY ASSOCIATION
To keep up momentum on the project, the Shortway Association, headquartered in Williamsport, reorganized as a state-wide non-profit corporation in 1958. The Association assisted supporters of the Shortway at public hearings before each segment of the highway could be built. The first hearing was held on May 21, 1958, at Tannersville. On Memorial Day the same month, Governor Leader turned the first shovel of dirt for the Shortway in East Stroudsburg. The last major roadblock to the highway came in 1959 when state money ran out. A two-cent per gallon gasoline tax was proposed but was not approved in the legislature until Senator Confair broke with his party to vote in favor of the tax in early 1960. Confair was joined by his colleague, Senator Harold Flack. The new tax helped pave the way for completion of the Shortway which was to take ten more years.
Finally, in 1970, the last mile of concrete was laid and the final Interstate 80 sign post in Pennsylvania was put in place. The 313-mile Keystone Shortway became an important link in the 3,000 mile non-stop highway stretching from the George Washington Bridge in New York, to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Lycoming County played a central role in bringing the Shortway into being, even without a
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single mile of the road passing within its borders.
Still, due to the Shortway, access to and from Lycoming County is easy. New York City and Philadelphia are only four hours away. Interstate 80 has become a major artery for commercial traffic. Large trucks and tractors take full ad- vantage of its direct route across the state. What began as the Short Route to the 1939 New York World's Fair is today a source of economic strength to much of northeastern Penn- sylvania, and it all began in the fertile mind of a Ly- coming County resident interested in the well-being of his community.
THE SUSQUEHANNA BELTWAY
Though the Shortway does not pass through Lycoming County, the Susquehanna Beltway project, begun in the early 1970's, will eventually link the West Branch Valley to Route 80 at Lock Haven in the west and Milton in the east, crossing through Lycoming County at Jersey Shore and Muncy. The Beltway will put much of Lycoming County only minutes away from the Shortway in either direction. This will lessen further the time required to travel to New York, Philadel- phia, Pittsburgh and Ohio. The Susquehanna Beltway will also connect with the new four-lane section of U. S. Route 15 north of Williamsport. As late as 1970, residents of Lycoming County were unaccustomed to such convenient highway facilities. Not only do the new roads make travel more pleasurable and quicker, but they also lessen gasoline consumption, aiding the effort to conserve energy.
A NATIONAL INSTITUTION
Of course, along with highway improvements and the increase in car use have come higher costs and other disadvantages. In 1940, the average cost of a new Ford or Chevrolet was about $800; a gallon of gasoline sold for about 19 cents. In an age of 70-cents per gallon gasoline and average car prices of over $5,000, the advance in highways is not all that strikes one as dramatic. The growth of vehicular travel and its effects have changed not only the appearance of our county but its way of life.
Cars and trucks have become a national institution, along with fast-food restaurants and shopping malls. These fast- food chains and large shopping complexes are a highway phenomenon. When the highways come, the motels, truck stops and fast-food restaurants spring up like marigolds along a sidewalk. Highways are equivalent to a blood stream carrying nourishment to the body, keeping it alive. Lycom- ing County lives because of its highways. Cars and trucks are both a blessing and a curse. Lycoming County has not escaped them. For better or worse, they are here to stay.
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CITY AND INTER-CITY BUSES
Another highway phenomenon is commercial bus travel. By 1940 commercial bus transportation between Williamsport and other cities was well established, thanks to the Edward's Motor Transit Company. Founded in 1918 by J. Wesley Ed- wards, the company operated commercial bus routes between Cleveland and New York City, Buffalo and Pittsburgh, and Elmira and Washington, D. C. Williamsport served as the headquarters of the company which operated under the name of Edward's Lakes-to-Sea System. The first bus route to New York City from Williamsport was inaugurated by Edwards in 1930. By 1955 the company operated fifty-three buses and employed a total of sixty-eight drivers.
The Edward's Lakes-to-Sea System remained locally owned until 1967 when the Dallas, Texas based company, Continental Trail- ways, purchased the bus company from the Edwards family. Since then, owing to the Interstate highway system, Con- tinental Trailways has introduced express bus service be- tween New York City and Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, using Williamsport as the initial westbound stop. The entire cross-country trip can now be accomplished in about thirty-six hours.
Since the 1930's the Lakes-to-Sea System terminal was lo- cated at East Third and Mulberry streets. The old terminal burned down in January, 1975. Continental Trailways re- placed the burned-out structure with a modern bus terminal in 1977.
CITY BUS SERVICE
The Williamsport city bus service has seen many turns since its beginning. For many years horse drawn and electric trolley cars were the only means of public transportation within the city of Williamsport. Then in 1933, the trolley company, known as the Williamsport Passenger Railways Com- pany, went bankrupt. On June 10th of that year, the William- sport Transportation Company began to operate buses within the city to replace the trolleys. During the mid-1930's federally sponsored public works programs were used to re- move the fifteen miles of abandoned trolley tracks from the city's streets.
The Williamsport Transportation Company, owned jointly by Congressman Alvin R. Bush and John G. Snowdon, sold out in 1955 to a newly formed company called the Williamsport Bus Company, owned by the same Edwards family that owned the Edward's Lakes-to-Sea System. In 1960, the Williamsport Bus Company expanded its service to Montoursville when it acquired the assests and routes of the Lycoming Auto Transit Company, which operated a bus service in the
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Montoursville area.
By 1968, the Williamsport Bus Company was experiencing such deep financial losses that any restoration of profitability to the bus service appeared unlikely. The company threat- ened to end all bus service in the city but responded to an appeal by Mayor Richard Carey to maintain service until the city was in a position to assume control of it. In 1969, the City of Williamsport acquired the Williamsport Bus Company and kept the city buses running with the help of subsidies from the city and state governments. Also, the city is reimbursed for bus service to nearby communities, including South Williamsport, Duboistown, Old Lycoming Township, Loyalsock Township and Montoursville.
Since the city acquired the bus service, now operated by the Williamsport Bureau of Transportation, a new bus garage was built in Elm Park on West Third Street. In 1973, the senior citizens of the area were offered free travel on city buses as a result of funds made available through the state lottery. This free service has quite naturally proved popular with residents over sixty-five. Many new buses have been added so as to improve the quality of service to city bus travelers.
THE WILLIAMSPORT/LYCOMING COUNTY AIRPORT
At the same time that automobiles were winning their place as the major form of transportation in America, air travel was coming into its own as the single most important method of high-speed travel. The growth of air travel in and out of Williamsport has depended partially on the growth of the airport which came into being before 1940; however, only since 1945 has air travel to our county made any significant impact. Compared with the achievements of the aerospace industry, such as manned flights to the moon, supersonic commercial flights between New York and London, and the thousands of daily airline flights in the U. S. alone, developments over the years at the Williamsport/Lycoming County Airport seem relatively modest. Yet, on its own scale the airport at Montoursville has steadily improved and expanded its facilities so that today it is a first-rate airport for its size.
The Williamsport/Lycoming County Airport offers 24-hour flight service, which includes night lighting, control- tower assistance, a weather station, and instrument landing equipment, all for the use of both commercial and private aircraft. Commercial airline service to the airport includes many daily flights on Allegheny Airlines to Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and several commuter flights to Newark, N. J., on an Allegheny subsidiary, Pocono Airlines. The airport also serves several airplane charter companies.
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THE WILLIAMSPORT AIRPORT COMPANY
The origins of the Williamsport/Lycoming County Airport reach back to a time when air travel had only just estab- lished itself as a viable means of high speed commercial travel. It was in July of the same year that Charles Lind- berg made his celebrated solo flight across the Atlantic that the Williamsport Chamber of Commerce (which merged with the Williamsport Community Trade Association in 1937) announced the appointment of a committee to study the feasibility of an airport for Williamsport. The year was 1927. In November of that year the airport committee re- commended that an airport be built on the site where it now stands. As a result, the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce and the airport committee organized the "Williamsport Airport Company." The Airport Company pur- chased a 161} acre tract of land in Montoursville. The original purchase was farm land formerly known as the "Tomb Farm." Over the years additional purchases and extensions have brought the airport to its current size of 735 acres. The first president of the Airport Company was John H. Mc- Cormick, a local manufacturer. In 1928, the Lycoming Avia- tion Corporation (now Avco) built the first airplane hangar at the airport. Avco used the site for testing aircraft engines. The airport was formally dedicated July 20, 1929, in a ceremony which involved 79 aircraft. Among the 35,000 people who attended the event was the famous woman pilot Amelia Earhart.
MUNICIPAL OWNERSHIP
A new chapter began for the airport in the 1930's when it was sold to the city of Williamsport and Lycoming County by the Airport Company for only 40 percent of the original investment. The sale was negotiated because the state and federal governments were making available construction aid through the Works Projects Administration. In order for it to benefit from WPA funds, however, the airport had to be publicly owned. The WPA built the original Municipal Hangar in 1937. The hangar, located at the west end of the Field, housed offices, the Weather Bureau and the Federal Aviation Agency.
It was also in 1937, that Williamsport's Postmaster, Fred Plankenhorn, placed the first sack of airmail on an airplane for delivery outside the county. Then in 1938, another hangar was erected on the north edge of the airfield by the Williamsport School District which pioneered public school training in aviation technology. This hangar was the first public school airport building anywhere in the country. Today the program is offered by the Williamsport Area Com- munity College.
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Dedication of Williamsport/Lycoming County Airport July 20, 1929
TIL
Trinity Place Station
FIRST COMMERCIAL FLIGHTS
The first commercial passenger flights from the airport were initiated in 1938 by Penn Central Airlines, later Capital Airlines, which became United Airlines. The first flights were round trip between Buffalo and Washington, and made stops in Williamsport, Harrisburg and Baltimore. The plane used was a Boeing 247-D, which carried ten passengers. Passenger service to Williamsport lasted only two years be- cause Penn Central switched to DC-3 aircraft which were too large to land on Williamsport's runways. It was not until 1945 that this service was restored after the runways were lengthened through governmental aided programs. At that time United Airlines came back into Williamsport accompanied by TWA, which started flights to Pittsburgh and west, and north to Albany and Boston.
It was still not until 1949 that the first passenger service to New York City began. All American Airlines, now known as Allegheny, operated the first service to New York and has continued to do so ever since. Aboard the first flight in June, 1949, to Newark Airport, were Williamsport's Mayor Leo C. Williamson, Airport Authority chairman William Waldeisen and other local leaders. The return trip took the group an unprecedented two and one-half hours to travel from 42nd Street in New York City to the airport in Montoursville.
In those days driving to New York by car took eight to ten hours. The new air service was a welcome arrival, putting Williamsport many hours closer to the nation's largest city. The first night flights to operate from the airport had begun some months earlier in 1948 when TWA initiated them. As an indication of just how much closer the growth of air service brought Williamsport to the rest of the world, TWA delivered several thousand shammrocks directly from Ireland for Williamsport's Irish residents in March, 1949.
FORMATION OF THE AIRPORT AUTHORITY
The year 1947 was an eventful year in so far as administra- tion of the airport was concerned. In that year the William- sport Municipal Airport Authority was formed by the city and county governments. The new Authority, which came into being January 21, 1947, was vested with the responsibility of operating and developing the airport. The City of Williamsport deeded the airport to the Authority for just $1.00. Three members of the Authority were appointed by the city and three by the county, and the Authority itself ap- pointed a seventh. The first Authority meeting was headed by Dr. George Parkes, then director of the Williamsport Technical Institute. At that meeting Mr. William Waldeisen was elected chairman of the Authority -- a post he held until
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1964. The airport Authority was shared by city and county members until March, 1973, when the city relinquished its role. The name of the airport has remained the same since 1955: The Williamsport/Lycoming County Airport.
AIRPORT EXPANSION
The first major project undertaken by the airport Authority was the planning and construction of a badly needed airport terminal building. Bids for the new building were let in October, 1947; in November the contract was awarded to a Harrisburg construction firm for $300,000. Fortunately the state and federal governments provided most of the funds so that local governments had to assume only a small portion of the cost. The new terminal was opened in January, 1949. In 1957, improvements were made to the runways, and in 1959, an airport tower was erected. The tower greatly enhanced the flight control procedures, making overall operation much safer and more efficient. In 1957, other improvements to the runway were made which made possible the landing of jet aircraft of commercial size. Allegheny Airlines intro- duced jet flights in August, 1974, but discontinued them in March, 1976, due to economic considerations.
Eventually, most of the airlines serving Williamsport dis- continued their services. Recent air traffic here has not warranted the operation of more than one or two airlines. Yet air traffic from the Williamsport/Lycoming County Air- port is unlikely to decrease from its current levels. The extent of traffic growth, on the other hand, will determine airport growth. Lycoming County has good reason to be proud of its excellent airport. The airport is equipped with the resources for expanded air service whenever they are needed.
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QUESTIONS CHAPTER 8
Railroads :
1. Where were the locations of passenger stations and roundhouse ?
2. What was the importance of Newberry in railroad activity?
3. List the names of railroad lines of Lycoming County in the early 1940's.
4. Show the relationship between freight and passenger revenues and their effect on service to Lycoming County.
Highways:
5. Identify the main roads in the county by locations and destinations.
6. How did the idea of a Keystone Shortway originate? What part did Lycoming County play in the promotion of the highway?
7. How have modern highways affected the county?
Buses :
8. What companies have taken the lead in interstate bus transportation for Lycoming County?
9. How was local bus service maintained in the Williamsport area in the face of financial losses?
Air:
10. What organizations and firms led in the establishment of an airport?
11. Why was the airport taken over by the city and county?
12. How was the Williamsport School District involved with the airport?
13. What airlines have provided service at the airport? Describe the present situation.
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PUBLIC SERVICE INSTITUTIONS
Chapter 9 At the close of World War II, changes in living gathered mo- mentum. New and far reaching advances in transportation, communications, and technology began to affect the American way of life. Lycoming County, of course, shared in these developments. Better highways and more cars, cable tele- vision and dial telephones, automatic washing machines and other electrical appliances -- all affected the style and character of daily life in Lycoming County. The impact of these changes is still being felt, even as new changes occur month by month. But along with the improvements in those things which daily touch personal lives have come significant advances in the institutions and organizations which serve the wider community -- the hospitals, emergency services such as the fire companies, the libraries, and water companies.
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