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Back when Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla were battling over whos electricity was the safest, Edisons DC current or Teslas new AC current, Edison actually used Teslas AC current to electrify dogs, and even an elephant once, directly in the central park of Sunbury near the edison hotel. The Edison Hotel itself has an unwavering feeling about it even driving past... look at the second story windows and tell me if you dont get a wierd feeling
Back when Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla were battling over whos electricity was the safest, Edisons DC current or Teslas new AC current, Edison actually used Teslas AC current to electrify dogs, and even an elephant once, directly in the central park of Sunbury near the edison hotel. The Edison Hotel itself has an unwavering feeling about it even driving past... look at the second story windows and tell me if you dont get a wierd feeling
Well doesn't' surprise me all the deaths that happened there, the place is a mecca for spiritual energy.
It's also supposedly haunted by Ramona, not sure if it's the same Ramona who is mentioned in this thread? I remember her walking around market street in the 70's and 80's.
I think your wrong on the electrocution of animals, that did not happen in Sunbury, Topsy was at Coney Island NY in 1903.
I've just spent an hour or so reading all the posts on this "forum." I was born in Sunbury in 1946, graduated from H.S. in 1964, and moved away for good after graduating from college in 1968. My family stayed in town until 1981, and I was back every summer for most of those 13 years. Now, I only get back every couple of years or so, the last being in the summer of 2010 (I live in the Pacific NW).
One of the most striking things about the posts is the slow changing of the ideas of what's "safe" and what's "normal" over the generations. One post commented that Sunbury is safe, but don't walk around at night and keep your wits about you. Well, trust me, that would have been far from "safe" when I was still at Hill School and walking or riding my bike from the Hill section all the way down to the John R. Kaufmann library on Arch Street every Monday, Thursday, and Saturday evening in the summer. Another poster seemed satisfied that there have been only a couple of gang fights. Can any of these latter day posters even imagine living in a world in which you didn't have to keep your wits about you, or look lively about who's around you, or stay away from or don't go to certain areas just to walk from point A to point B? Hard to imagine, I'm sure. But that was what Sunbury was like in the 1950s and 1960s when I was growing up there.
I took my son back to visit in 1999. He, my cousin (whose father worked at the Westinghouse plant...they had to leave in 1954 when the plant closed), and I were walking up and down Market Street reminiscing about all the stores long gone when it hit me that what we were seeing was basically the result of negative cash flow. Whatever was left (mostly fringe businesses and various assistance agencies from the city to the federal level) was there to serve the bulk of the residents, and those residents were taking, not earning. Okay, I know there were businesses struggling and trying to make a go of it, but they stood out like sore thumbs in a very depressing landscape, and I know that there are working residents, but obviously not enough to support the number of stores that used to inhabit Market Street. In 1963-64 I worked for Stacy Brager at The Bon Ton on Market Street. When I took the cash bag up to the First National Bank on the corner of 4th and Market at 8:30 PM on Saturday night, I had to fight my way through the shoppers and window shoppers. Downtown Sunbury would be literally packed with people with cars all up and down Market Street looking for a parking spot like the scene at Mel's Diner in the movie American Graffiti. Not anymore. My most vidid memory of the modern Sunbury was when I attended a high school pre-reunion get together at the Edison Hotel on a summer Friday evening. I was sitting in one of those incredible overstuffed chairs looking out at the 4th & Market intersection and had the fascinating pleasure of watching three drug deals go down inside of 30 minutes. Nobody on the street even noticed.
And I guess that's the point, which several posters have made: there has to be a stable job base that pays living wages so that people will move to Sunbury, buy houses, fix them up, be active in the community, and turn the place into a positive cash flow. Well, give the city fathers a break: they're in a Catch-22. Which comes first, the big factory or whatever to employ people or the qualified labor pool? The definition of "qualified" can be whatever you like. You're not going to get bright, young people to move to Sunbury "on the come" (as they say in Las Vegas) and then hang around waiting for something to happen. Likewise, unless there's an existing good labor pool, good transportation, etc., companies will be very hesitant to locate or relocate to the town. The loss of jobs out of Sunbury was not the politicians fault. That drama was being played out on a global scale. (Read Jack Welch's autobiography From The Gut for an understanding of what happened to USA manufacturing.)
So, for those of us now just in or rapidly approaching the retirement age and who knew Sunbury as it was, the city now is some sort of grotesque changeling out of a Ray Bradbury story. I prefer to remember it as it was. In 2002, the three of us were back in town (my son, my cousin, and I) for a marathon college interview trip for my son that included Bucknell University. After the usual graveyard visits (Pomfret Manor, Stone Church in Augustaville, Malack's, Donegal Springs...the family goes back to 1712 in PA), the walk around the old neighborhoods (all on the Hill, including the neighborhood around Hill School), a walk out on "the ****" [the P.C. software is censoring the common name for the earthen flood control device that runs along Kirschner's Hill..hmmm, maybe it'll take d**e]on the east end of town, the obligatory "tour" of Market Street, we visited Helen Wolfe, who had recently retired as Head Librarian of the old John R. Her house and yard were immaculate and stood out like a beacon amongst the sad row houses along the street. We sat and looked at her picture albums (her father was one of the founders of the City Band) and talked about Sunbury as it was. Miss Wolfe (for those of you who never knew her, rent the movie Good Morning Miss Dove), when she was living at home, lived next door to my father's family on Oberdorf Street, and she was there as several of them marched off to WW II. Her memories focussed on the 1940s, but they were substantially the same as how I remembered Sunbury over the next 20 years. It was fun to listen to her talk about the people, businesses, and social life of a long-ago city now lost to time and change and slow decay. I honestly don't know how she related to what Sunbury had become. If it affected her, she gave no hint. But, to paraphrase Margaret Mitchell, she did admit to us, sitting on a chair with antimacassars on the arms, that it was all "gone with the wind," never to return again.
I've lost my ability to edit my post. It was Helen Wolf's grandfather who was a founding member of the City Band, sorry. And yes, Miss Dove was a grade school teacher, but that's hardly the point...
And for those who REALLY don't know how it was, watch the Jean Sheppard movie A Christmas Story. Because NOBODY bought anything during WW II, Hill School in 1951 looked EXACTLY like the grade school in the movie (supposedly around 1940-41). Even the teacher in the movie looked like Miss Stein, Miss Silvias, Miss Faust...all rolled into one. Dick, Jane, Sally, Spot, Puff, and all the gang were radically new for us in first grade. Whew. Nothing like dating yourself into the dim recesses of ancient history. If you carefully watch that movie about Ralphie wanting a BB gun for Christmas, you'll know exactly why my generation waxes nostalgic over Sunbury and "the way we were."
And for those who REALLY don't know how it was, watch the Jean Sheppard movie A Christmas Story.
Train whistles and all too, the railroad was a big deal in Sunbury. PRR and Reading tracks all over the place. Now a shell of it's former shelf, that was a big blow to the local economy and along with the industry that is now gone. Celotex, not that I ever cared for the aroma it produced was demolished a few years ago, looks odd seeing the space it occupied now.
Weis Markets is keeping the city barely above water, if they moved out that would be it.
I remember how it use to be but I was born on the tail end and only saw what it was like before in old pictures and films. The Strand and Rialto were the place to see movies, but I do remember the streets being crowded with people somewhat even in the 70's and there was a lot of stores still in existence.
If you want to reminisce, I suggest you check out Penn Valley Pictures Sunbury Vol 1 & Vol 2.
Thanks for the reply posting. I have all of Clarence Weaver's movies, purchased on my various trips "back home" over the years. I have a trains scrapbook with the first snapshot taken in 1954 of a mixed freight entering Sunbury over the Shamokin Creek bridge powered by a Pennsy M1a steam engine. I photographed all the trains and tracks everywhere in Sunbury from that date until 1968. Memories include: the four-beat clack-clack...clack-clack of railroad cars banging over the Reading-Pennsy crossing on Third Street (yes, you could hear that all the way out at the east end of Market St. in the summers when the bedroom windows were down); the double chuffing of the Pennsy decapod steam engines at the head and rear ends of the ore trains going around the Horn and out the Mt Carmel branch; NEVER putting out the wash on the line until the ore train went through town; the incredibly lonesome steam engine whistle as the evening mixed freight drove over the crossing at Black Mills outside of town, almost precisely at 9 PM every weekday night; having to close the front door in the summer when the trains went by when we lived on Wolverton St....they sounded as if the train would run right into the house. Mr. Weaver and his father had a large, O-scale model railroad in the attic of their home on 2nd St close to the Square, based on the real railroads in the area. I took a bunch of slides of it over Christmas 1963, which I still have. I wonder what happened to all that stuff?
I wonder if anyone would give a whoop about all the pictures I took? I went up on Kirschner's Hill on the road to Mrs. Arnold's cabin and took panorama shots of the whole town and then walked everywhere taking shots of everything, all during the winter of 1962-63. Lots of things long gone, such as the gas works, the old train station, the pedestrian overhead at the end of Packer Street over all the Pennsy RR tracks.
Thanks for the reply posting. I have all of Clarence Weaver's movies, purchased on my various trips "back home" over the years. I have a trains scrapbook with the first snapshot taken in 1954 of a mixed freight entering Sunbury over the Shamokin Creek bridge powered by a Pennsy M1a steam engine. I photographed all the trains and tracks everywhere in Sunbury from that date until 1968. Memories include: the four-beat clack-clack...clack-clack of railroad cars banging over the Reading-Pennsy crossing on Third Street (yes, you could hear that all the way out at the east end of Market St. in the summers when the bedroom windows were down); the double chuffing of the Pennsy decapod steam engines at the head and rear ends of the ore trains going around the Horn and out the Mt Carmel branch; NEVER putting out the wash on the line until the ore train went through town; the incredibly lonesome steam engine whistle as the evening mixed freight drove over the crossing at Black Mills outside of town, almost precisely at 9 PM every weekday night; having to close the front door in the summer when the trains went by when we lived on Wolverton St....they sounded as if the train would run right into the house. Mr. Weaver and his father had a large, O-scale model railroad in the attic of their home on 2nd St close to the Square, based on the real railroads in the area. I took a bunch of slides of it over Christmas 1963, which I still have. I wonder what happened to all that stuff?
I wonder if anyone would give a whoop about all the pictures I took? I went up on Kirschner's Hill on the road to Mrs. Arnold's cabin and took panorama shots of the whole town and then walked everywhere taking shots of everything, all during the winter of 1962-63. Lots of things long gone, such as the gas works, the old train station, the pedestrian overhead at the end of Packer Street over all the Pennsy RR tracks.
Okay, I'm getting sentimental.
Cheers.
Must be some nice history and memories you have back when the city was full of life and interesting. I knew of Mr. Weaver but did not know him personally. From what I heard, he supposedly made a scale model steam engine from scratch actually ran on coal, after he died nobody knew what happened to his things, I heard the Pontius family got it all, they are the ones that released his films and have something to do with the North Shore Railroad in the area.
I am sure our pictures would be appreciated on one of the train sites like railpictures.net or etc, a lot of people into history with the internet a lot of old photos of Sunbury are popping up stuff I never knew even existed.
I no longer live in the area, but get back occasionally each time it looks less like I remembered it, so much has changed for the worse in many respects.
I have no idea if this situation still exists, but one of my enduring memories of Sunbury is the progression of whistles and horns through a typical day. Back in 1980, my wife and I got a Drive-Away car and took it from Portland, OR to Syracuse, NY. (Boy, I wonder if that company still exists??). It was very hot and humid in the Valley, and all the windows of the house were open that night (air conditioning was reserved for the very rich). At 7AM, the steam whistle at the "Silk Mill" blew and about gave my wife a heat attack. (My parents' house was on Wolverton St. close to 11th.) Then the damn thing blew again at noon, followed by the air horn on top of the car barn down at the east end of 10th St. We had just gotten back to the house and were sitting on the front porch when the 3:30 swing shift whistle went off at the Silk Mill. After diner, we were back on the front porch trying to survive the heat and humidity. I knew what was going to happen, but said nothing. Right at 7 PM, the "curfew" blew out from the air horn down by 10th St. bridge over Coal Creek. My wife declared the entire town to be run by lunatics. Things finally calmed down, no more whistles. It happened around 2 AM. We were sleeping in the "guest room" at the front of the house, again with every window open and not a hint of breeze. Off went the car barn air horn, blowing six blasts. My wife went into hysterics. I just rolled over and mumbled, "Out of town." Then at around 3:30 AM came two more blasts from the air horn. "Fire out," I said, and went right back to sleep.
Oh, as I recall there was another air horn at a city facility at the north end of town.
I have considerable time in Sunbury. Grew up there in the fifties and sixties. Graduated from Shikellamy in 1971. Yes, the town has taken to the skids but it seems the city leadership has tried to bring it back. Problem is as you noted, little in the way of economic base. Paulsen Wirerope is now closed if I remember right. Weis is nearly the only game in town.
As for Clarence Weaver, Clarence was the local fixer of American Flyer products in town. I believe he did some Lionel as well. Never married. Lived with his father until first dad died, and then Clarence. Clarence worked for the PRR back in the forties then went into teacher and taught drafting at Shikellamy. Hard working, no nonsense kind of guy. He use to film not only the railroad activity in town but the Shikellamy football games as well. Even in the most crappy weather, which included from time to time thunder and lightening, he would be standing on top the pressbox filming. Only the refs clearing the field for weather brought him down.
Remember Ms Wolfe as well. Glad to know she is still with us. She was a fixture at the library and I do remember learning to love reading thanks to her and my mother. Sunbury was a great place to grow-up when I was a kid.
Last edited by walden1854; 04-14-2013 at 07:47 AM..
Reason: Just a little more to add on the folks.
Hi! I actually go to Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove nearby, which is probably where you'd want to live if you have family in Sunbury. I work in Sunbury at the YMCA and the people in the area are great for the most part, but the area doesn't have much to offer. Harrisburg is a really easy hour drive so that's always a trip, and Selinsgrove has a decent mall, movie theatre, and a few great food places like BJ's, Bella's Pizza, Isabellas, Kinfolk and Dawns. But the strip has a lot more, which is on the way to Sunbury. The strip has the mall and other restaurants like Applebees, Perkins, Subway, Long Horn Steakhouse ect. The housing is not very expensive, my boss lives in Selinsgrove and only pays about $400 a month for her and her daughter.
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Sunbury PA
