Cornwall Borough resident Bruce Chadbourne offers another of his “Who Knew?” installments of Lebanon Valley history.
In the last installment of this story, we briefly traced the roots of the Lebanon Farmers Market in telling the story of James Fairburn, huckster and real-life caricature of a typical street merchant.
Now, the continued story of the evolution and consolidation of Lebanon’s markets in the late 19th century, setting the foundation for today’s modern conveniences.
Lebanon’s early grocers
Street markets were not the only place of trade for food.
There were many grocers where you went to get your canned and dry goods. Cornwall’s Edward C. Freeman (mentioned in part one for his love of oysters) and his shopping habits have been preserved in great detail in the records left behind in his estate.
C. W. Shiffler & Bro. offered “Fancy and Staple Groceries” at 819 Cumberland Street, having taken over the establishment of J. A. Mark & Co, which had operated for years prior. Among their offerings of eggs, potatoes, etc., Freeman visited them several times a month to purchase several pounds of “Prescott Butter,” two pounds for 52 cents.
Just up the street at 838 Cumberland Street was S. G. Valentines “Fine Groceries and Provisions.” Freeman stopped in here for bacon, ham (15 cents a pound), sardines, rice, sugar, “Bert’s Snaps,” roquefort crackers, olive oil, and . . . “sapolio.”
Incidentally S. G. Valentine served as pianist for the Perseverance Band in some of their concerts. Previously he had been in charge of Lebanon’s Colebrook furnaces; he opened his grocery late in 1894.
Freeman (or one of his house servants who purchased on his account) might then head several blocks east to Shugar’s Groceries & Provisions at 623 Cumberland Street. Here he shopped for beef, bacon, candles, maple syrup, and butter.
John H. Shugar may have been one of the longest-standing grocers. Newspaper records for Shugar’s store go back to 1872. He also acquired property 1874 at Cumberland and 7th streets and began building three-story brick houses with at least one storefront.
He was carrying fresh fish in 1874, the year James Fairburn had come to town.
Ed Miller was another who got his start in 1891, with a store at market square on North 9th Street. Within a few years he opened four more “branch stores,” the one above at 243 S. 10th Street, and others at 9th & Mifflin streets, 9th & Spring streets, and South 8th Street.
The outdoor produce markets
Looking back a few decades before the expansion of grocers, the largest marketplace was at 9th and Cumberland Streets. An 1860 city map shows (circled area above) the widened blocks on 9th Street (formerly called Market Street) planned as a town square or marketplace.
This 1875 city map shows (see circle) the large pavilion standing in the square on 9th Street, just north of Cumberland Street. This had been erected in 1834 and finally demolished in March 1884.
The pavilion possibly was replaced by an earlier one that stood on South 9th Street on the opposite side of Cumberland Street in the widened square.
There were other markets: Mr. Asa Weimer had organized one on North 8th Street near the railroad. Other “enterprising gentlemen” had a market at North 9th and Lehman streets, which became known as the Central Market House Company, near the railroad crossing. These convenient locations provided wares freshly offloaded from the trains.
Progress of a sort
Progress came slowly after the 1884 removal of the 9th and Cumberland streets pavilion (shown in the previous map), the public expressing growing demand (“we are a city!”) for the construction of a new market.
“Where is our new market?,” one editorial lamented in January of 1886. Two months later another story reported Mr. Weimer taking the lead in “giving the people of Lebanon better market house accommodations.” He organized a meeting with local “capitalists” who realized “profit could be made out of a first-class market house.”
For the lack of an appropriate structure, market would be held along the curbstones in front of places of public businesses, to the annoyance of pedestrians and injury to businessmen. In part one of this story, James Fairburn had been arrested for encroaching too much of the street with his stand.
Furthermore, “the accumulated filth on a hot windy day, settling down upon the edibles we purchase and put into our stomachs” and the freezing inconvenience of purchasing one’s necessities during the winter, fueled the outcry.
Lebanon’s centralized markets
You may have visited Philadelphia’s historic Reading Terminal Market, which offers a glimpse, on a larger scale, of the development of Lebanon’s markets. Before its construction in 1893, Philadelphia markets had been described as a “ragtag crowd of farmers, fishermen, and huntsmen hawking their goods all over the bustling settlement.” By the 1800s they had evolved into a string of market sheds six blocks long along appropriately named Market Street.
Such conditions were considered health hazards and nuisances, and later became obstacles for the growing streetcar traffic. By 1859, Philadelphia’s city planners ordered a change from the street sheds to two centralized markets.
Over time, the fresh air produce hucksters gravitated to various districts. As one wagon or “truck” established clientele in a neighborhood, others set up shop on the same block to take advantage of the draw.
Likewise, markets evolved in Lebanon, as they did also in Lancaster and Harrisburg.
A Harrisburg editorial in 1884 described the interest in demolishing its old market sheds “which still disfigure one of the principal business streets… a disgrace to the city… should not be permitted to exist in this age of progress.”
The same editorial upheld Lebanon as an example to follow: “If Harrisburg people desire to see what a change has been made by the removal of the Lebanon market house they need but come here and witness the improved condition of the street. Market houses standing in the middle of streets are at best but eyesores and have a tendency to depreciate property in the vicinity.”
A turning point, finally
In 1891 the old city jail had been destroyed by fire and demolished. In April the same year, a board of directors was formed for a new market company, “The Lebanon Market House Company,” which included Lyman Nutting, Jacob Shenk, and Samuel Brightbill among others, 11 in all.
The directors planned the new Lebanon market on South 8th Street. They had visited several cities before declaring Lancaster’s central market the finest they’d seen.
The plan called for building on the site of the old jail on South 8th Street, resulting in the beautiful structure that has stood on the spot today since 1892, known now as Lebanon Farmers Market.
Consolidated market in 1908
Lebanon’s markets progressed for several more years until 1908, with the formation of a syndicate that would control every market house in Lebanon. The market house owners combined their respective businesses into the “Consolidated Market House Company.”
Although Lyman Nutting had passed away the year after the completion of the Lebanon Market House his sons William and Harry remained very much in control of his businesses that had been modernizing the city of Lebanon. They were also central in the new syndicate, along with Jacob Shenk, S. L. Light, and others.
In addition to “Shenk’s” market house on South 8th Street, other markets named in the consolidation were “Seltzer’s” on North 9th Street (the Central Market House Company), Asa Weimer’s on Sixth Street, and Martin Wengert’s on Liberty Square.
The reason for consolidation was profitability. Shenk’s, the largest market had never paid a dividend and the others made barely a one or two percent return. They believed that centralizing would improve returns without burdening the farmers, the renters or the general public.
They also intended to close one of the other houses as there were more stalls than needed.
Those outdoor curbside stalls in their day rented at $40 to $50 a year. The newer houses had provided well-lit, comfortable accommodation renting for only $10 to $30 a year. Consolidation would also result in uniform rents, giving equal privilege to all farmers.
Last stop: Lebanon’s Central Market
For those curious about the location of the Central Market, which had been hailed as one of the city’s first modern market houses, it no longer stands. In its place is the 9th Street bridge that passes over the railroad.
The Market suffered a significant fire in 1914. The building was repurposed for a textile business and again destroyed by fire in 1984.
Lebanon’s remaining Lebanon Farmers Market on 8th Street is a treat to visit. When you go, be sure to pause and breathe in reminders of our history.
Read More: Lebanon Farmers Market’s new owner begins making plans to revitalize site
Story Credits
Thanks to Mike Trump for providing maps and photos.
Thanks also to Cornwall Manor for Edward C. Freeman’s shopping records.
Additional research comes from Helen Tangires’ “Public Markets.”
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