The "Lancaster: My City - Part I; The Beginning" Story

Foreword:  Just clicked on the file on my desktop marked PennSquare/Soldiers and Sailors Monument.  It opened and for the next couple of hours I attempted to sort the photographs and postcards that I had been accumulating since I began writing this blog eight years ago.  Over the years I have written quite a few stories about Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the town in which I was born and lived my entire life.  I wrote stories about Lancaster's CentralMarket, Lancaster's first skyscraper and even Lancaster's Soldiers and Sailors Monument, but over time have found many more photos of these places and have saved the photos to feature as a visual story by themselves.  Always neat to see photographs/postcards so you can understand what the written word is really about.   Lancaster is the oldest inland city in America, having been founded in 1730.  So, you can see why I have accumulated over 100 photos while looking for information on different aspects of Lancaster.  I tried to sort out my photographs and post cards based on a few logical criteria; at least it seemed they were basic criteria.  Things such as: (1) when was the monument placed in the center of the square, (2) the year they added the metal fencing around the monument, (3) the year when the trolley tracks were added, (4) the years of the automobiles in the photos, (5) the types and lengths of dresses the woman were wearing in the photos, (6) the year when Woolworth building was opened, (7) the years city hall was built, (8) the year Watt & Shand Department Store was completed, (9) the year the trolley tracks were removed and (10) the year the current Central Market building was built.  As I looked at all the pictures I realized that I had more than one of quite a few of the pictures and even had seven of one of them.  By the time I had tried to add a date to what remained, it was a couple of hours after I began.  Now, I must admit I was watching a young couple look for a home on HGTV while I was working on my project.  So, my story today will give you a bit of the background on how the city of Lancaster began, as per the center of the city, illustrated by the photos I have of that era, while tomorrow will give you a look at Lancaster's center square by decades, as close as I could estimate what decade each photo should be placed.

It was an ordinary day.  Looking at an old book I purchased a few years ago titled "Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, Postcards."  The 128 page book features postcards dating from the mid-to late 1800s.  Photography was developed in France in the late 1830's and by 1840 the first Daguerreotypists were active in America.  Photography gave the common person a better chance to share their lives and knowledge with the world.  One of the best ways to do that was thru the picture post card.  It was on May 19, 1898 that the United States Congress, by means of an Act of Congress, authorized the American picture postcard and three years later set a standardized size with message space.  It gave people unable to travel a chance to see other parts of the world as well as the United States.  The fascination with picture postcards remained strong into the 1970s.  Postcards were our nation's first commercial greeting cards.  Many scenes from Lancaster County are pictured in the postcard book and may be the only photos that exist of certain places and locations in the county.  The photographs and post cards I will show you today will take you to the end of the 20th century, while tomorrow I will usher you through the 21st century.  So enjoy the photos and post cards that I have found that give the history of the town in which I have grown up; one of the best towns in the United States.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.

Artist's drawing of the square before the monument was placed in the center.  The church where I belong, St. James Episcopal was begun in the Court House in the center of the photo.  The church was established in 1744, so the Court House is older than that.

The center of the city of Lancaster before 1874 when the Gothic Revival memorial known as the Soldiers and Sailors Monument was placed in the center of the square bordered by Queen and King Streets.  It was in 1744 that the Treaty of Lancaster between the British and Iroquois was signed in the old Lancaster Courthouse which stood on the site of the monument.  That would be in the right-center of the photograph pictured here. Needless to say this photo was taken before the automobile, since all vehicles in this photograph are horse-drawn buggies.

The Soldiers and Sailors Monument shown here features a 43-foot tall Rhode Island, rectangular granite pillar topped with a statue of a robed woman on a pedestal known as the "The Genius of Liberty."  The woman holds a drawn sword and a shield and her head is crowned with stars.  She faces north which, according to legend, allows her to turn her back on the former Confederate States of America which were defeated in the war.  Stockade fencing and dirt streets surround the monument. 

Iron fence and granite wall enclosure were added to the monument in 1877.  A plaque containing the Gettysburg Address and a picture of Abraham Lincoln were added on June 8, 1931.  Statues of four men representing the four branches of the American armed services surround the granite shaft near the base. The names of several Civil War battles are carved on the monument's central granite pillar.  At the base of the monument is carved the inscription: "Erected by the people of Lancaster County/To the memory of their fellow citizens who fell/in defense of the Union/in the War of the Rebellion/1861-1865.  

This photo is dated 1899.  I have no idea why everyone is gathered on the one side of Lancaster's Square.

This photo is from around 1900.  The building on the right-center of the photo, behind the boy that looks as if he may be selling newspapers, was the Watt & Shand department store.  To it's right is construction that will enlarge the building.  The expansion was completed in the early 1900s. 

This statue is an Artillery man, one of the four statues that depict the four branches of the Armed Forces. This statue is located on the North-East corner of the monument.

A member of the Calvary located on the South-West corner of the monument. 

A member of the Infantry located on the North-West corner of the monument.

A member of the Navy and is located on the South-East corner of the monument.

A picture postcard which is approximately 1905 and shows the square and Watt & Shand with the addition completed.  The Soldiers and Sailors Monument stands on the exact spot where the Second Continental Congress met during the American Revolutionary War on September 27, 1777 in the old Lancaster Courthouse.  The courthouse later burned down in 1784.  The monument has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since April 2, 1973.

Another postcard from approximately 1905 and shows the Woolworth Department Store in the background which was in the first block of North Queen Street.

This is similar in date and position to the last postcard.  Next to the trolley car on the left are people in this photo.

This looks to be the exact same postcard scene as above, but written by a different person.