Hager's 1st Department Store in downtown Lancaster dated 1821. |
This old poster shows many of the workers of Hager & Bros. Across the top of the poster reads: The oldest department store in the United States under the same family name and ownership. |
C. Emlen Urban's Hager's Department Store which was built 1910-11. This is how the building looks today with stores below and condominiums on the upper four floors. |
Closeup of some of he the detail on the Hager building. |
I remember my mother taking my brother and I to town by bus and we would go to Hagers, Garvins and Watt and Shands. Many times it was only to window shop and it reminded my mother of her childhood home in New York City. I was very young but I remember Nat and Helen (Hager) walking around and greeting us, making us feel special and showing mom bargains(she was thrifty).The old Garvins elevator frightened me but I liked riding it. Watt and Shands was so large and full of "modern" stuff. I disliked their dressing rooms. I remember the "death" of downtown after the opening of Park City. I miss the intimacy of the old stores and clerks that would assist us. Gone are the days of Woolworth hot dogs while waiting for the bus. Those truly were the good ole days for me.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am only 59 at this time,I miss downtown as it was when I was a child. I no longer feel the "comfort" that I felt when my Mom would take us shopping. My Mom is from Cabbage Hill right down from Steinbacher's. I remember my grandfather being tired of the ruckus during the holidays saying to my grandmother "Mother I'm going up to the corner". Peter Watt was a close relative of my Godmother so Watt and Shand was a favored store of my mothers. My how things have become so cold compared to those days. I truly miss the good ole days and my mother most certainly would tell you the same.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this comment. I haven't lived in Lancaster since 1963 when I graduated from MTHS, but I remember many of the same things you do.
ReplyDeleteI still have some 8 mm color movies my dad took of Santa arriving by fire engine and climbing the ladder to the 4th floor window of Watt & Shand. I loved to get fresh Utz's potato chips at the Central Market. If my parents didn't want me to run off while they shopped, they'd leave me at Farmer's Supply to see watch the model trains at Christmastime which I could do for hours. I believe Farmer's Supply also had live chicken "peeps" and ducks in various dyed colors around Easter. I remember the department stores: W&S, Hager's and Garvin's as the big three. I too remember sticking my feet in an Xray unit to see the bones in my feet, but in my case it was at Schaub's shoe store in the first block of N. Queen St.
God Bless those of us who remember. Amen. the pony girl
ReplyDelete