The Story Of "Hager's Department Store"

It was an ordinary day.  Reading a bit more about one of the oldest buildings in the center of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  The store was known as the Hager Building and was located at 25 West King Street and was once home to the Hager & Brothers Department Store in 1821.  It

Hager & Brothers Department Store

laid claim to "the oldest family run department store in America operated continuously under the same family name, management and ownership."  A new building was designed by renowned Lancaster architect C. Emlen Urban and constructed over two years on the same site starting in 1910.  It was a five-story, three bay by five bay, steel frame structure clad in terra cotta in a French Renaissance Revival style.  

The 1910 Hager Building

Mr. Urban was commissioned to design the Hager building in answer to the newly constructed Watt & Stand Department Store that stood on the South-East corner of Lancaster's Square.  Hager's store needed a design that would wow the customers, thus Mr. Urban was commissioned to design the store.  Christopher Hager started the business in 1821 in a very different building on the same site as the new store.  Hager's finally closed its doors in 1977.  The former Watt & Stand Department Store (now the site of the Marriott Hotel) bought Hager & Brother in 1968 and operated it until it closed.  The 1910 building remains today with "The Restaurants at Hager" on the 1st floor and "The Condominiums at Hager" on the upper floors.

The 1910 Hager Building as seen today.

The building still looks as good as it did when it first opened.  It is a shame that it still couldn't be a department store, but at least it is still standing.  Many other stores in downtown Lancaster have been demolished in the past.  So sad to see my hometown of Lancaster being torn down when all they would have had to do was put a new face on them if they wanted to change the business.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.