Santa at the top of the ladder at Watt & Shand Department Store in downtown Lancaster, PA |
"New York" Store, circa 1878. |
Watt & Shand at Penn Square, circa 1898. The two stores on the far right still are not part of the Watt & Shand store. |
The facade has been totally completed for the Watt & Shand store, circa after 1905. |
Showing some of the ornamentation of the Beaus Style architecture. |
Appel & Weber store became part of Watt & Shand in 1959. |
Store windows were always decorated. It was one of my favorite items to look at on my trips to town. |
Store window around the 4th of July. |
Interior of the store back in the early 1900s. |
Do you know who the Santa was - or what year the Santa photo is from?
ReplyDeleteDear Elizabeth, I'm sorry, but I have no idea who the Santa may be. You can put your cursor on the picture and slide it off onto your desktop and then … write a letter to Jack Brubaker who is the Scribbler for the Lancaster Newspaper. He has a column a few times a week of the Editorial page titled "The Scribbler" and you may be able to write him an email and include the photo with your letter. If you find out, post the answer here so everyone else, including myself, will know. LDub
ReplyDeleteI was the HR Manager the last twelve years of Watt & Shand's history. The outside Santa who went up in the bucket was always a Lancaster City fireman. The identity of the inside Santa was always a carefully guarded secret. It was someone carefully chosen from the local community. To this day, I enjoy telling people that I've been in HR so loing, I hired Santa Claus!
ReplyDeleteWow, I love it!! Aren't tales from the past fun to share. You should write a store about it and send it to the Lancaster Newspaper. The "old-timers" in Lancaster would love it! LDub
ReplyDeleteI just bought a beautiful Christmas picture at my local goodwill. At the top of the building said WATT & SHAND. It was great to read about the history, for I had know idea!!!!!
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