News of Yesteryear

News of Yesteryear and Historic Williamsport is a section of the web site by Robin Van Auken dedicated to educating and entertaining visitors of all ages with stories and illustrations of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and its surrounding towns.

The Center: Serving community diversity for more than 85 years

One of the most durable community institutions in the Williamsport area is The Center, formally known as the Bethune-Douglass Community Center at 600 Campbell St. The Bethune-Douglass Community Center was founded on April 7, 1918. It first operated as a branch of the YWCA in a frame house at 429 Walnut St. It

2016-11-30T08:57:43-05:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

Ten Hours or No Sawdust: Sawdust War of 1872
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Ten Hours or No Sawdust: Sawdust War of 1872

Sawdust riot. America in the 1870s was rife with labor strife and turbulence. The lumber camps and sawmills of the Williamsport area were no exception. In 1872, Williamsport’s “lumber boom” was in full flower and great fortunes were being made by a select few. Unfortunately, the great wealth did not make its

2021-04-19T17:00:51-04:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

Daniel Hughes: Giant of Freedom Road
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Daniel Hughes: Giant of Freedom Road

Daniel Hughes The story of the Underground Railroad in Lycoming County includes many heroic and courageous persons, but none towers over the story so literally and figuratively as Daniel Hughes. The Underground Railroad ran from the American South through the northeastern states to Canada from the 1790s until the Civil War. Because

2024-10-15T15:42:12-04:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

Spooky Lycoming County
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Spooky Lycoming County

Almost every area has its own ghostly and haunted tales. Lycoming County is no exception. Many of these spooky tales are steeped in local Native American legend and superstition. Even the area of the valley of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River has otherworldly aspects to it. The area once was known as

2024-10-15T14:14:56-04:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

Schools Through the Years

8-Square School was the first public school in Lycoming County Multi-million dollar physical plants, computer labs, swimming pools, gymnasiums and various bits of audiovisual equipment make a modern day school in Lycoming County a virtual palace of learning, but it wasn’t always this way. The first schools in Lycoming County had the humblest

2016-11-29T12:24:57-05:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

Allen P. Perley

West Branch National Bank In past ages the history of a country was the record of wars and conquests; today it is the record of commercial activity, and those whose names are foremost in its annals are the leaders in business circles. The conquests now made are those of mind over matter,

2017-10-27T13:29:29-04:00By Robin Van Auken|News of Yesteryear|

Lycoming County, Williamsport Firsts

Russell Tavern served as the first courthouse of Lycoming County, PA. According to historians, when founder Michael Ross surveyed the 111 acres that became Williamsport, he could not have imagined that his small community would grow from a one-building village to the county seat of Lycoming. During its first 100 years, the

2017-10-27T13:29:18-04:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

Plain Talk for a Nation
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Plain Talk for a Nation

The following is a reprint from Grit: America’s Greatest Family Newspaper Plain Talk for a Nation January 7, 1945 The United States Army has suffered a major setback in Western Europe. This must be admitted, no matter how the terrific battle in Belgium swings from now on. The Germans have achieved a major objective, the

2021-03-11T11:44:56-05:00By Robin Van Auken|News of Yesteryear|

The Office of the Coroner ~ Then and Now
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The Office of the Coroner ~ Then and Now

“In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes.” ~ Benjamin Franklin Yes—it is certain. Our days on this earth are numbered. Most of us will live a long, interesting, and fulfilling life. Some of us, unfortunately, will die suddenly, mysteriously, or violently. In those cases, that is the time when the county

2021-03-11T14:41:18-05:00By Joan Wheal Blank|Joan Wheal Blank, News of Yesteryear|

Williamsport streets paved with wood at one time

Peter Herdic Today we take for granted smoothly paved streets for our vehicles to safely travel on but it was not always so. For many years, before the advent of asphalt paved streets, streets could be a muddy, rutted horror, particularly in the spring and in the fall.One of the first attempts to change

2016-11-30T10:15:55-05:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

Thomas Cooper: A Remarkable Lycoming Judge

"Knowledge is power. To a nation it is wealth. To individuals it is a virtue."These are the words of arguably the most remarkable man to ever preside over a Lycoming County courtroom. That man was Thomas Cooper. He was a bundle of contradictions. On the one hand he was a brilliant and enlightened man who

2016-11-30T10:53:30-05:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

The Lycoming County Prison: Then and Now
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The Lycoming County Prison: Then and Now

Throughout history, the question of how to punish criminals has been answered quite differently. Throwing the misdeed-doer in jail has not always been the solution. Corporal punishment, forced labor, and social ostracism were methods more often used in medieval Europe, in England and colonial America. But by the 18th century, the first prisons in

2023-04-07T14:19:14-04:00By Joan Wheal Blank|Joan Wheal Blank, News of Yesteryear|

Lycoming Hangings a Spectator’s Event

Executions weren't always such a subject of controversy. Individual counties handled the grim task themselves in many cases. Lycoming County was no exception to this but, surprisingly, the first hanging conducted under the auspices of the county judiciary did not occur until 1836 some 41 years after the county was organized in 1795.

2016-11-30T10:50:13-05:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

Courthouse Bell Rings Once Again
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Courthouse Bell Rings Once Again

A bell has begun ringing in downtown Williamsport recently – and it is one that has been silent for some time. The Lycoming County government maintenance department has repaired the bell in the tower at the courthouse by correcting some corrosion issues with the piston that rings the bell. The hourly chime that you

2021-03-11T14:43:06-05:00By Joan Wheal Blank|Joan Wheal Blank, News of Yesteryear|

Salladasburg and its founder
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Salladasburg and its founder

One of the most picturesque towns in the western part of Lycoming County is Salladasburg. It also is the home of the noted Cohick's Trading Post, a Lycoming County institution.Captain Jacob Sallade founded Salladasburg in 1837, laying out lots for the town and building Lutheran and Presbyterian churches there. Larry's Creek Bridge Located on Larry's

2016-11-30T10:45:44-05:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

Prohibitionism a formidable influence in past area politics

One of the most influential political movements in America and in Lycoming County in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was the Prohibition movement. Lips That Touch Liquor Shall Not Touch Ours, satirical photograph of teetotaller women, still from c. 1890s movie filmed in Edison's Black Maria studio The guiding light for this movement

2016-11-30T10:43:30-05:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|News of Yesteryear|

Lycoming United Way: more than 80 years of caring

Saturday will be the Lycoming County United Way's annual Day of Caring. It is a day in which volunteers perform various types of needed work at many of the United Way's member agencies' facilities.The Lycoming County United Way has been in the business of caring for more than 80 years, beginning in 1922 as the

2016-11-30T10:38:43-05:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

The Herdic Cab: A variation on a transportation theme

When most people think of Peter Herdic they think of an industrialist, a wheeler-dealer and entrepreneur who had much with the development of Williamsport as a major economic center. Most people don't think of him as a transportation innovator.According to an article in the Fall 1973 edition of the Journal of the Lycoming County Historical

2016-11-30T10:34:38-05:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

Friends for Freedom in Pennsdale-Muncy

It is no accident that one of the main centers of the Underground Railroad in Lycoming County was the Pennsdale-Muncy area. This was an area in which many members of the Society of Friends or “Quakers” lived. In fact there was, and still is, a Quaker Meeting House there. Members of the Society of Friends

2016-11-30T10:32:25-05:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|

John D. Musser: A Muncy Civil War Hero

The Grand Army of the Republic was an organization of Civil War veterans located in towns and cities throughout the Northern States of the Union. It was the Civil War equivalent of the American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars.Muncy had the second largest G.A.R. Post in Lycoming County. These posts were named for various

2016-11-30T10:30:35-05:00By Lou Hunsinger Jr.|Lou Hunsinger Jr., News of Yesteryear|