By Elaine Wintjen
“Grand New Year’s Day Parade” was front-page news in the Jan. 1, 1910, edition of the Lewisburg Chronicle.
“Fully fifteen hundred persons will be in line, and the column will be more than a mile in length,” the Chronicle reported.
Leading the parade was Trate’s Sons of Veterans Military Band, of Watsontown; followed by Company A, 12th Regiment, of Company C, of Milton; military degree teams of Woodsmen from Milton, Sunbury, Mifflinburg and Lewisburg; visiting firemen from Milton, Sunbury and Mifflinburg; Lewisburg’s William Cameron Engine Company; secret societies and lodges — Red Men, Hay Makers, Knights of the Golden Eagle and Junior Order of American Mechanics; the ladies’ Degree of Pocahontas; Daughters of the American Revolution; the Rebekahs; floats by businesses; mummers; and “funny boys” at the end.
Marshals included Lt. Samuel Wolfe, Maj. W.R. Follmer, U.R. Swengle, Capt. T.H. Murrow and Fire Chief W.N. Wensel. Charles Stackhouse and Foster Arbogast led the fantastically costumed mummers.
The afternoon parade was to start near Eighth Street and move down Market Street to Water Street, through the south side of Lewisburg, cross town on Fourth Street to St. Anthony Street, go through the north side of town and end at Market Street.
Feature articles
The newspaper printed the names of men of Company D, 150th Pennsylvania Volunteers, who saw action at Gettysburg in 1863, according to the Gettysburg Battlefield Commission. These names were to go on a tablet at the state memorial.
Readers learned about Dr. Lightner Whitmer’s work at Bucknell University with a chimpanzee taught to use tools and understand language, and how Daisy, a trained bear belonging to Sheriff Anderson, prevented four prisoners from escaping the Harris County jail. Other articles included “The Marienbad World: Taking the Cure at the Salt Springs of Bohemia” and “How Insects Breathe.”
Register’s notices listed wills for the coming court session. Marriages were announced. An obituary recalled Lewisburg’s oldest resident, Lucretia Fruit, who died at 95 of “old age.”
Advertisements
Advertisers on Jan. 1, 1910, included Lewisburg merchants A.E. Bowers, jewelers, at 213 Market St.; Joseph C. Traub’s tailoring at 25 N. Front St.; and Irey’s Big Shoe Store.
O.B. Stine’s 5- and 10-cent store offered housewares, paints, hardware, books, stationary, dry goods and chocolates at the best prices. Competition came from J.W. Painer & Co., which sold groceries, candies, hardware and farm tools. K. Derr sold ice cream and candy, and Werner’s Bakery sold Werner’s “NU” Bread at 5 cents a loaf.
Frank Himmelreich, at Baker House Livery, Sales and Boarding Stables, offered “first-class turnouts of every description … safe horses, good vehicles and reliable men to drive.” Norman Mitterling’s orchestra would provide “up-to-date programs for all engagements,” and the Lyceum showed new films daily.
The Leader Grocery in Milton advertised fruits, olives, maple syrup, nuts, lettuce and celery, homemade cider and mincemeat.
J.F. Gauger & Sons, men’s tailors and outfitters in Milton, advertised custom-made, full-dress worsted wool suits for $25. H.F. Clemmer, of Sunbury, sold ladies coats, suits and furs. In Selinsgrove, Will W. Houtz sold chewing and smoking tobacco.
The newspaper itself ran several ads: selling subscriptions for “only one dollar for one year,” an offer of a free sewing machine to anyone who solicited 100 subscribers to the newspaper, plus “correspondents wanted.”
The Lewisburg Chronicle, owned and published by L.K. Derr, was published every Saturday morning.
The Union County Historical Society has newspapers on microfilm for research and reference, including New Berlin’s Union Annalist, Union Times and Anti-Masonic Star of the 1830s, the Mifflinburg Telegraph from 1862-2002, the Lewisburg Journal from 1910-1952 and the Lewisburg Chronicle from 1847-1912.
