321 Market Street
The photo on the right was taken October 2017. The photo on the left is from a postcard from the Pete DiBartolomeo collection. The sandwich special the day this photo was taken, according to the sign in the window, was baked ham and Sweitzer cheese.
This is printed on the back of the postcard:

Milo’s Restaurant
321 Market St., Williamsport, PA
On route 15, half way between Buffalo N.Y. and Washington D.C. A good restaurant with a large selection of sandwiches, dinners, platters, combined with a delicatessen and soda fountain.

101 West Third Street
The photo on the left was taken in the late 1950s. The photo on the right was taken October 2017. The Carroll House was one of the many lives that this building has seen. Prior to being the Carroll House is was Lycoming Dry Goods, and a furniture company. After the Carroll House closed it was several banks. An exterior stucco wall was added to the façade of the
building at one time but has since been removed to show it’s original beauty once again.
A special thanks to the Nichols family for allowing the use of this vintage photograph.

West 4th Street from William
The picture on the left is undated. The photo on the right was taken April 2017.
This is a view facing east on West 4th Street. The building with half circle window on the right was the Moon & Raven and is now the Crooked Goose. Plankenhorn’s Stationery is on the other side of the street. In the modern photo, the large building in the distance on the right is the Center City Building. It can be seen in the older photo also, but it would have been known then as the Updegraff Hotel. It has been converted into apartments.

146 West Fourth Street – Outside
The photo of the women in front of Foresman’s Millinery, from left to right, is of an unknown lady from the shop, Pamela’s great grandmother, Mary (Mamie) Meyrick, her great Aunt Bess Meyrick and another unknown lady from the shop.

146 West Fourth Street – Inside
The photograph above is of Oliver Hastings Foresman and also Pamela’s great grandmother and probably her great Aunt Martha (Pat) Conine are also shown in this photograph.

Foresman’s Millinery was first at 144 and then 146 West Fourth Street. After much consideration, interviews of store owners and the taking of measurements inside and out of both buildings, it has been decided that the vintage photographs were taken of 146 West 4th Street, though it is conceded that both locations are very similar.
Some background on the family – Mamie Meyrick was was English on her mother’s side but born in Maryland.
Oliver Hastings Foresman was born in Ireland but was Scottish. Pamela’s grandmother, Grace Foresman Ferguson
lived in Williamsport and her grandfather James VanKeuren Ferguson was general manager of Bethlehem Steel Wire Rope.

In 1909, when Foresman’s Millinery moved from 144 to 146, Plankenhorn’s Stationery bought 144 West Fourth and are still there today. The millinery moved to Philadelphia in the early 20s. At some point a dress shop moved in to
146 West Fourth Street (see picture below). At the time of these photos, in 2016, it was Dirty Dogs Studio and Gallery. Presently, it is Texas Vape.

Developing History wants to thank the people at Plankenhorn Stationery and Dirty Dogs Studio for their
assistance in this particular project and allowing us to photograph and wander around inside their properties.
And a very special thanks to Pamela Atwood for the photographs and history of Foresman’s Millinery.

460 Market Street – George Bubb & Sons
The picture on the left was taken in the early 1900’s of George Bubb & Sons Wholesale Grocer. The picture on the right was taken March 2016. It is now called the Williamsport Building and sits next to the Brown Library Parking lot. In 1869, George Bubb became a member of the firm Corcoran, Weaver & Company, which became Corcoran,
Bubb & Company in 1876 when Weaver retired. In 1880, George’s son Henry succeeded Corcoran and the name George Bubb & Sons was created. It was described as being one of the most prominent wholesale establishments in the Susquehanna Valley. George Bubb died in 1896. A few years later, his sons moved the business to this building which was built in 1910.

East Fourth Street and Market Street – The William Howard Memorial Masonic Temple
The postcard on the left is from around 1908, the photo on the right was taken March 2016.
The Masonic Temple (far right) was built in 1898. The William Howard Memorial sits next to it.

William Howard was a prominent Mason and a member of the firm Howard & Perley, lumber manufacturers. He
also was an active factor in securing Demorest Sewing Machine Works (now Lycoming Engines) to Williamsport
and had many business and political influences in Emporium, PA. He provided the land for the Howard Memorial
Cathedral, which was built and named in his honor, after his death in 1901.

The Howard Club, also named for him, sits on the left of the memorial in the postcard only. This was known as
the Piper House.  In 1860, Edmund L.(also seen as Edwin) Piper moved from Watsontown to this house in Williamsport. His wife, Harriet Watson Piper, was the daughter of David Watson who, with his brothers George and John founded Watsontown. The Pipers had 4 children and lived in this house for the rest of their married life. At some point the widow, Mrs. Piper, moved elsewhere but their daughter Elizabeth L. Piper stayed until around 1899, when she moved to Mt. Morris, NY. The Masons have owned the property ever since.

West Fourth Street and Pine Street – The Updegraff Hotel
The postcard on the left is early 1900’s, the photo on the right was taken March 2016.
The Updegraff Hotel was built by brothers William and Fremont Updegraff in 1891-2. Prior to that, on this location, was one of the oldest hotels in the city – the Doebler Hotel. Later, it was the Hepburn House, also a hotel. The Hepburn hotel was torn down to build the “new Updegraff House”. Today it is known as the Center City Building and it has been converted to apartments.

West 3rd Street looking west near William Street
The postcard on the left is early 1900’s or perhaps even earlier, the photo on the right was taken March 2016. In the
foreground on the right of both is the old county jail, now a nightclub. Further down, still on the right, is the Grit building and a little closer on the left is Washington School (in the postcard only).

West 4th Street from Court Street
The picture on the left dates to about 1914 and the one on the right is from March 2016.
Hotel Updegraff is the tall building on the left in both photos, though not known as Hotel Updegraff now.

East Third and Academy Street
The picture on the left was probably taken prior to 1933, due to the trolley tracks. The photo on the right was taken July 2015.

The corner building, now a U-Haul, has an interesting past. In a map of 1861, this lot and a building on it was owned by a “T. Lyon”. Most likely this was Dr. Thomas Lyon, the oldest practicing doctor in Lycoming County. He came to Williamsport in 1838 and continued his practice until his death in 1887. He married Elizabeth Priestly, great grand daughter of the man who discovered oxygen, Joseph Priestly. He had one son and three daughters. The son Edward became a doctor, his daughter Sarah married L.L. Stearn’s eldest son. Many of his descendants still reside in Williamsport. However, that is not the building in the picture. Sometime between 1861 and 1870, that building was removed and George Quinn built the house seen here. Quinn only stayed there for 5 years then moved away from Williamsport. The house was sold to John Coryell, one of the most prominent and successful businessman in the area. He was the Director Lycoming National Bank since it’s organization in 1875. He established the Williamsport Gas Company and was the Director of the Edison Electric Illuminating Company. The house to the left of the Coryell residence belonged to John Gamble (son of Judge Gamble), and in 1913 was purchased by Dr. John Haag. He also purchased the Coryell residence with the intention of renting it but by 1933 it was so run-down that is was demolished. It then became a large flower garden. Both houses were where the U-Haul lot was at the time of this photo in 2015.

144 West 4th Street – Plankenhorn Stationers and Printers
The pictures on the left were probably taken around the early to mid 1900’s. The photos on the right were taken July 2015, before the recent renovation. In 1891, this building was a furniture store, then the J.E. Jones Dry Goods Company. In 1909, Charles Plankenhorn moved his business  from Market Street, where it had been since 1899, to this building at 144 West 4th Street, where it still is today.  Ownership only left the family recently but today you can still find Chip Plankenhorn there. A true printer and stationery store, walking through the doors brings one back in time. Every shelf and crevice is filled to the brim with any stationery need you could possible have, just like it probably was over 100 years ago. If in Williamsport, be sure to stop in.

East Third and Mulberry Streets

The pictures below are of the same location through the years.

East Third Street and Mulberry Street
The pictures from the James V. Brown Library are from the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s. The picture top right was taken April 2015. This was quite a busy intersection at one time. Opposite this corner, was the first structure built in Williamsport but this corner has earned a place in history too. Once the Crawford Hotel, built by the construction of the Hartman Brothers Co, at the employ of William Crawford, it changed hands and names often. Among others, it was the Porter House, the Hotel Walford, and after a fire destroyed part of it, a bus terminal. Eventually that bus terminal was torn down and a new one built. It too was torn down and replaced with a parking lot. In fact, of all the buildings on this entire intersection, only the church remains, the rest are empty or parking lots.

West Third and Market Street
The photo on the left is circa 1900, the picture on the right was taken April 2015.
According to the notes at the James V. Brown library, where the vintage photo was obtained, the building in right foreground was destroyed by fire in 1988. It was replaced with a much smaller building and a parking lot. Electric street cars stayed around until the 1930’s.

West Fourth above Pine Street
The photograph on the left was taken in the early 1900’s. The photo on the right, April 2015.
In the picture on the left, at the corner of the alley, is S.L. Gage Funeral Services, a fairly long standing business of the era.
The Genetti Hotel is in the background of both pictures. Also in both are the next four buildings towards the viewer.
The rest of the buildings are all modern with the former First National Bank closest to the photographer.

West Fourth and Elmira Street
The First Baptist Church on the left, the building the YMCA occupied is on the right in these pictures. The date on the left drawing is unknown, but an approximation can be taken from the cars. The photo on the right was taken February 2015.