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Ken
Poorman stuff about Lock Haven PA . . .
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Some
Lock Haven Pa places of interest . . .
Here are some photos and links to some Lock
Haven stuff. Especially interesting to me are the many newspaper articles written about Lock Haven by Matt Connor.
I think he captures the essence of the people of Lock Haven and its history. Take a look at Matt's articles on
the Web.
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Remember the "Teen
Canteen" upstairs in the City Hall on Friday nights! Live Rock - Ha! WOW! The '50's! Remember Bill
Haley and The Comets, rocking around the clock! Jay Frazier & I played there with the Teen Tones, John
Caskey's group - and we played the Renovo school & Y. |
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| Fallon Hotel |
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| Lock Haven Pa |
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The Fallon Hotel used to be one of the
best places in town to go to socialize and dine. My uncle Bill Stoddart used to take me there when I was little, and
I went on stage and talked into the mike, played the piano, and he took me to the basement to see the bottles coming down
the chute from the bar into a big box. That was neat. I wondered why they didn't ll break when they crashed into
the box. I played many gigs here with several different bands over the years, and attended many meetings and banquets.
I remember at one time The Arena steakhouse was located in The Fallon.
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This monument to James Logan, brother of Chief John Logan, originally dedicated
in 1917 by Colonel H. W. Shoemaker of McElhattan PA, sits near Zellers Spring on private farmland in Loganton, PA.
Article
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Some
interesting local history - Cayuga Chief John Logan and his brother James were prominent Native American figures in the
Lock Haven area. They travelled often throughout the Bald Eagle Valley, Sugar Valley, Nittany Valley and Pleasant
Valley, from Chatham Run, through McElhattan, Rosecrans, Loganton (named after James Logan), Booneville and Logan's Gap.
To see more, click on the "Article" above. |
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The Columbus House
The "Old Corner" |
I quaffed a few Buds
in this building :)
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| Former Bell Telephone Building |
I worked for Bell
Tel in this building at 25 W. Main. It housed our business office, switching center and test center.
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Old Lock Haven Hospital
Susquehanna Avenue |
I was born in this
building. Ha ;)
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I remember going to
the Irvin House in the 1950's to hear Karl Keller play the Hammond B-3. He was a big hit in town, and there were a lot
of people there. Karl lived in Ft. Lauderdale FL, and his sister, Kate Hamburger, lived next door to us in Castanea
. . . my Mom's best friend.
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We dine at Fox's
Market House every time we visit Lock Haven. Hi to Steph & Matt :) |
Rogers Gym was
called the "Girls Gym" when we played gigs there for College dances. I thought the little narrow balcony on
the second floor was neat. |
| Lock Haven Elks Club |
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| Lodge #182 |
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| Former Jail East Church Street |
I worked for Sheriff
Jack Boyle in this building.
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In addition to the dances we played in Rogers Gym, we played at the Student Union, a couple dorms, and parties
at TKE and Lambda Chi houses . . . Whee Ha! |
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| Washington House East Water Street 1864 |
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Want to see some really good photography
of Clinton County, i.e. Lock Haven, Sugar Valley . . . Check out Tom Bower's website - clicky!
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Could tell you some
racy stories about the Roxy balcony . . . and The Garden . . . and The Martin!
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When I was a teenager, I played with
several bands in Lock Haven, at the YMCA, the City Hall Teen Canteen, and later in clubs like the Clinton Country Club,
the Elks, the Moose, the Sons, the American Legion, the VFW, the Town Tavern, the Masonic Temple, and other venues in State
College, Bellefonte, Renovo, Jersey Shore, Williamsport, South Williamsport and Lewisburg.
Here are a few
Lock Haven links & pix . . .
| Where is this hick town? |
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Right there, in the middle . . .
The Middle of NOWHERE! |
1797 - 1870
Farrandsville
Furnace
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| Lock Haven YMCA |
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Remember the Saturday night dances
at the YMCA?
Remember Pop Ford? Alma Jean & Carthy dancin?
Chugin quarts
& crusin the circuit?
Sorry Mom, I mean, playin ping pong downstairs at the Y.
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The old Avenue Cafe bites
the dust! When I was knee high to a grasshoper, my Great Uncle Bill Stoddart used to take me into Sal Assante's
occasionally. Uncle Bill owned The Town Tavern for many years, first on Mill Street, then when it burned down in the
J. C. Penney fire, on Bellefonte Avenue, until he died. Uncle Bill visited most of his competition in town pretty regularly,
i.e. the Irvin Hotel, the Elks, the Clinton Country Club, Jake's across the street, the Greystone, The Fallon Hotel, the Buffalo
Inn, and Sal Assante's Avenue Cafe - I can't remember them all. Then when I was in my 20's, some of us Bell Tel
guys used to go to Sal's after work for a cold one. Sal would mention Uncle Bill to me occasionally. I felt
close to Uncle Bill when I was there.
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Thanks to Matt Connor for all of the great articles regarding
Lock Haven. His "Peek at the Past" column in The Express not only brings the history of Lock Haven
to life for the public, but includes many personal stories behind the historical events in an interesting way. Thanks
Matt!
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| Matt Connor |
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| Sal Assante's Avenue Cafe |
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Exclusive Sal Assante Story by Matt Connor
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Now
if you want a good motorcycle ride, go up PA Route 44 through Pine Creek Valley and/or out the Coudersport Pike. I used
to ride my Triumph up in that area in the '50's and '60's. And I spent a lot of time up there when I worked for
Bell Telephone, repairing open wire out the Coudersport Pike, and later shooting trouble on the Lenkurt Carrier equipment
up Pine Creek, up to the last box at the Slate Run Bridge. I played at a lot of gigs at the taverns up the crik . . . if you like trees, you'll like it. It's out in the boon docks, bear
hunting, fishing, skidooing, if that's a word.
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| Waterville PA |
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| Restless Oaks, McElhattan |
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| Col. Shoemaker |
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Restless Oaks in McElhattan PA was the home of the late Col. Henry W. Shoemaker who died in 1958.
Colonel Shoemaker was a writer of Pennsylvania Folklore, and his Barn Museum was well known in Central Pennsylvania. When
I was a teenager, I would park my car at Col. Shoemaker's and walk up the dirt road to the McElhattan Reservoir. The
road was blocked off and I couldn't drive up. Sometimes I would take a rifle along. Once I was up there I saw
a big bear swimming across the reservoir. I ran all the way back to my car to get away before the bear got to the shore.
Once I was up there when it got dark, and when I was walking back down the road, looking up at the treetop line to follow
the road, I kicked out a deer that was sleeping on the grassy roadway. It screamed when it jumped up and scared me nearly
to death. Took my breath away . . . ha.
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NOT FOR NAVIGATION. Please procure official charts for flight.
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| Click to enlarge Photo |
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MY BROTHER, Steve Poorman owned that building on the right, 143-147 East Main Street, Lock Haven Pa 17745.
I remember taking piano lessons from Earle Kenneth Mayes on the second floor when I was a kid. That's now my brother's
office. He also owned the Simon Building across the street (tallest one on the left, a couple doors West).
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Lock Haven Trolly Article
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| Click to enlarge Photo |
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I remember MY DAD, Ken
Poorman, telling me about riding this trolley. He said he rode the trolley
to Flemington and Mill Hall to play baseball games. He was also Captain of the LHHS football team. His
name was on a trophy in the High School. I wonder if those tropheys went to the new school in Mill Hall?
Wish I had a closeup photo of that trophy.
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Does this building look distorted to you?
It always seemed that way to me too - inside and out! I really liked LHHS best . . . on Saturday and Sunday!!!
What I liked most about it on Monday through Friday was cutting it to go to Luigi's, Greco's, Blackie's and Draucker's
poolrooms, the Dipsy Doodle & The Sputnik Shop! Remember Big Red & Abby? Didn't they make Algebra
fun?
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Speaking of Algebra . . . I went to a parent/teacher meeting last year at our local high school. I know, I
shouldn't be parenting at age 68, but I am. And I know, I shouldn't have a wife 20 years younger than me either,
but you know me. Anyway, it sort of went like this . . . I basically told the young algebra teacher what I thought about
algebra, you know, big waste of my time, don't need it, never used it once in my life, couldn't we get this course cancelled,
etc. She said that's not true, you have used it. If you painted a room, you had to buy paint, right? No,
I never painted anything, and I don't plan to. And since when was length times width times height considered algebra?
If I had to paint a room, I would go over to the paint store and tell them I had to paint a room, and they would type the
L(x)W(x)H into their computer, and tell me how much paint I needed, right? I had her wound pretty tight. In all
fairness, I have to say that the teachers that we have experienced here have all been wonderful.
| The Bobcats |
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| Remember the Bobcat in the Principal's Office? |
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OK, maybe this would be a good opportunity to mention
that I hated Lock Haven High School, all four years, and I still do. It was a hugh waste of my time. The lowest
period in my life, the pits, It was pernicious, the worst case scenario! Please don't be offended, this is just
MY humble opinion!
Well, since I ventured this far . . . I may as well
comment on some of my teachers at LHHS. My wife taught me "if you can't say something nice about someone, don't
say anything at all." So I'm afraid I don't have much to say. I'll only mention a few
of the teachers I liked . . . 1) Mr. Painter,
who thought I had the ability to become an accountant. Most other teachers thought I had no ability to become anything.
And, I became an auditor for a few years and audited financial systems and operations for three different employers -
thanks Mr. Painter. God bless you. 2)
Miss George, my homeroom teacher, who always liked the ice cream I brought her after lunch (when I left the Cafeteria,
jumped into my car (the old 1951 Chevrolet that had belonged to T. Scott McLean, which I bought used for $90.00 when
I was 16), went down to the Dipsy Doodle, and raced back before it melted. I especially liked taking it into her
classroom to give it to her. She taught Home Ec - Hello! She kept telling me I would get in trouble, but
I only ever got caught cutting once (by Don Malinak). Ha. I moved around a lot. 3) Don Malinak. There was another good guy. Even though I was not a jock, he tolerated
me. I think most of the coaches were biased against non-jocks(?). I remember sitting in the sub shop one day at
lunchtime, and felt a hard smack on my shoulders, a heavy hand around my neck. I didn't even get two bites of the hoagie,
and I was off the stool. Don made me pay up, and hauled me off to the Principal's Office. Detention
Hall again. I wonder if he remembers that? I hope they name the new Stadium after him. 4) Mrs. Lehman, whom I respected and feared (afraid she would call on me to say something in French,
besides "parlez-vous français?"). Fortunately, she was very kind and didn't call on me much.
I think she knew what interests I had in France. The only other thing I knew was "Me donneriez-vous un baiser vous
assez peu de chose?" Although I didn't learn much French after two years, but "je pourrais demander le vin,
la nourriture, et un baiser" which was useful to me later in France. I've been to the South of France
a few times for several weeks, and loved every minute of it, the sights and the people. Thanks Mrs. Lehman.
It was everything you said it was. 5) Mrs. Dean was cool . .
. except for the dangling participles! 6) Mr. Galitski was likable
too. I had him on the edge of his seat in drivers training when I passed a car on the Constitution Bridge. Ha!
I thought he was going to have a stroke. I thought it would be a good exercise to practice passing, but I don't think
it was in his syllabus. I wonder if I passed that course? I wonder if it's still called the Constitution Bridge?
I know, I owe him an apology. 7) Mr. Ferguson was good to us kids. Sorry, can't think of any others. I'm sure there were a few more. Felt
good getting that off my mind.
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| Constitution Bridge |
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| Water Street Dike |
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Is this Robbie Long racing down the river?
Rob could do a 180 in mid air! |
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Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania is
probably one of the largest employers remaining in Lock Haven PA since I left town. When I lived there they had many large employers, e.g. the Piper Aircraft Corporation, the New
York & Pennsylvania Company paper mills at Castanea and Lock Haven, the American Analine dye works, the R. K. Griffin chair factory, the fire brick
works, the Bloomsburg Mills silk mill, the Pennwoven wire mill, Clark printing company, Sylvania in Mill Hall, Jersey
Shore Steel Mill in Avis, Drake Chemical and Crissman Meat Packing Plant in Castanea, Woolrich Woolen Mills, etc. Now,
I think it's pretty much a college town.
| William T. Piper Memorial Airport |
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| Castanea Township PA |
I enjoyed flying out of LHN, working at Piper
Aircraft, and living adjacent to the Piper Airport - never got to visit their facilities at Quehanna, Vero Beach or Lakeland.
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Wish I could remember the names of all the
bars on "The Coast" i.e. East Clinton Street. I remember the Clinton Hotel, The Beck Hotel, The St. Cloud.
I know there was a couple more. Lot of old stories on the Coast.
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| St. Cloud Hotel |
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| Lock Haven PA |
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If you live in the Lock Haven Area and want
to be in the Reserves, I think these are the nearest military/reserve facilities:
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112th Air Control Squadron |
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