Around 1939 the white facade Post Office at the Southeast corner of 5th and Washington Streets was constructed.
The present post office replaced another post office located at the same corner.
Erected in 1889, the turreted brick and limestone edifice was constructed in pseudo-Germanic style. The ground was secured by purchase January 6, 1887, for $47,000, and work of excavating for foundations was commenced during the latter part of that year, the building being completed and occupied in September. 1889. The cost of construction was $132,578.15.
Still further in time there stood a tavern, a two-story limestone house operated under the sign of the British Crown.
The Southeast corner plot acquired an early prominence due to the fact that the local courts with their attendant audits and arbitrations were conducted in the jail premises on opposite before the erection of the first Court House in 1760.
With the advent of the Revolution, a new landlord, a Virginian named William Tillman, immediately dubbed his tavern The American Eagle and repainted with appropriate insignia.
After landlord Tillman came Daniel Oyster, a clock maker, who ran the inn for three years from 1798 to 1801.
In 1848, Benjamin B. Peter bought the tavern and razed it to make way for his Pennsylvania Hotel, later renamed Pennsylvania House.
Principal owner-operators following Peter were Isaac Ely (1850s) and then Elias Bickel, 1860s to its closing and demolition to provide a site for “the new post office,” erected between 1887 and 1889.
Leave A Comment