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The Boston Store

Erie, Pennsylvania

Circa 1950s

Meet Me Under the Clock

"Meet me under the clock", inside the store on the first floor .. a phrase that is sure to stir up fond memories of a longtime Erie landmark .. The Boston Store.  

Black and white wooden road sign mile markers told motorists every 15 miles how far they were from this downtown Erie department store, the shopping destination before plazas and malls changed the landscape, forever!  Many former Erie residents requested a mile marker that read the distance from their own home.  The Boston Store was happy to oblige with perhaps the farthest being in St. Paul, Minnesota which read 932 miles to the Boston Store in Erie.  In the 1930s the Boston Store placed these black and white signs every few miles on fifteen major roads leading to Erie.  They were first made of cypress, then redwood and alumnium.  In 1971, the Boston Store was required to remove all the signs as the result of the Highway Beautification Act which prohibited their placement near the roads though people wanted to remove the signs themselves and keep them as souvenirs! As a result, there are more than likely many throughout Erie area in resident homes being displayed, today!  Do you know anyone with one of these nostalgic sign?

Boston Store Shoppers

Circa 1930s

The Boston Store, originally known as the Erie Dry Goods store, opened in 1884 located at 1604 Peach Street.  The Erie Dry Goods failed in 1885 and a New York Company Sibley, Lindsay & Curr, owners of Sibley's Department Store in Rochester, New York purchased the Erie store.  Locals in Rochester called Sibley's "The Boston Store" which was apparently the reason for the name change. 

In 1887, the store moved to 718 State Street, site of the old Warner Brothers Theater.  By the late 1920s, the Boston Store expanded in size to have frontage on the four surrounding streets .. 7th and 8th, State and Peach. Renovations in 1931 and again from 1949 to 1953 increased the size of the store from three stories to five and eventually six. In 1953, modern escalators were installed and by 1966, air conditioning and sprinklers on every floor.  The building's landmark clock tower topped off the structure.

Clock Tower

 Boston Store on Right

Christmas on State Street

Circa 1960s

Erie Pennyslvania

Erie Dry Goods Co. During the Holiday Season

Notice the Large Street Level Window Displays

Ad in City Directory

Circa 1968

The Boston Store is a former department store located on State Street in downtown Erie, PA.  The store was found in 1885 with the building being constructed in 1929.  At its peak, two other Boston Stores were opened in addition to the downtown store.  The Boston Store closed in 1979 and the building remained abandoned until 1988 when it was renovated into a combination of 125 apartments on the upper five floors and a commercial building.  It was then renamed Boston Store Place.  On September 22, 2016 a casual pub and eatery opened on the ground floor.  

The Boston Store was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 24, 1996.  The Boston Store was bought by Associated Dry Goods in 1959.  Management of the Boston Store was assumed by Horne's Department Store of Pittsburgh in December 1975.  

Due to the loss of sales caused by competition from the Millcreek mall in nearby Millcreek Township, the Boston Store was closed on July 7, 1979 though the Boston Store did open branches at the West Erie Plaza in 1968 and at the Millcreek Mall in 1974.

A Friendly Cashier Waiting to Assist Customers

The Easel facing the Women indicates a Store Contest was being held.

It was a gentleman by the name of Elisha H. Mark who bought the bankrupt Erie Dry Goods Store.  Mack renamed the store after Boston, Massachusetts, then the "perceived center of fashion and culture".  The store was moved from its original location on Peach Street to the 700 block of State Street in 1886.

The Boston Store had a cafeteria in the basement and a dining room on the 6th floor which many shoppers recall to this day!

Cafeteria 

Dining Room

A Boston Store Luncheon Menu

Providence, Rhode Island

Circa 1929

Beauty Shop

One of Several Decorative Tile and Porcelain Fountains 

throughout the Boston Store

Revolving Charge Account 

issued to

Mrs. Frank Alonge

 

Wurlitzer 1015

One of the most coveted jukebox models is the Wurlitzer 1015.  Introduced in 1946, this iconic machine became an instant sensation with its vibrant colors and elegant design.  The 1015 was forward-thinking and the perfect machine for a war-weary nation that wanted to .. dance into the future!

Wurlitzer in North Tonawanda, NY famous for organ production also made jukeboxes.  The 1015 sold to distributors for $750 and the demand was enormous.  In 1946 and 1947, a time when the average manufacturing production run for a new jukebox was 10,000, Wurlitzer shipped 56, 246 of the 1015.  The company stoked the public's appetite with the largest promotional campaign.  The success of the 1015 ushered in a great postwar boom in the jukebox business.  The number of jukeboxes soared from four hundred thousand just after the war to a high of about seven hundred thousand in the fifties.  

What happened then is a sad, familiar story.  The interstate highway system drove countless little roadhouses out of business.  Portable radios got smaller and cheaper. Home phonographs got better and cheaper.  Top 40 radio took over as the arbiter of the hits.  Wurlitzer saw the writing on the wall and diversified.  By 1973, jukeboxes which had once accounted for 80 percent of its revenues made up just 15 percent.  In 1974, as the strains of the polka "Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye" played, the company shut down its jukebox production line in North Tonawanda.  Today there are only about 225,000 jukeboxes operating in America.

The 1015, though, has survived its time.  It is the single most sought-after piece among jukebox collectors.  A reconditioned 1015 may fetch as much as thirteen thousands dollars, today!  Scholars of pop culture may see in it the perfect expression of a precise moment in twentieth-century history, a confluence of trends in economics, entertainment and material technology.  The 1015 is just that!  To collectors, it is something else!  A gaudy, romantic, beautiful thing that stands five feet high, glows in the dark and plays great music. *

*My high school had a 1015 that was wheeled out into the gymnasium after basketball games from nearby Coach Wally Johnson's office for after-the-game dances.  It is one of my favorite high school memories because it stood five feet high, glowed in the dark and played great music. 

Charleston Chew Vanilla is a candy bar consisting of marshmallow flavored nougat covered in a chocolate flavored coating.  It was created in 1922 by the Fox-Cross Candy Company and founded by stage actor, Donley Cross and his friend Charlie Fox.  The candy was named after the Charleston, a popular dance at the time. 

The company was purchased in 1957 by Nathan Sloane. Although Sloane did not invent the Charleston Chew, he did change original chocolate-covered vanilla nougat's original form.  In the 1970s, he introduced such new flavors as chocolate and strawberry.  Warner-Lambert purchased Charleston Chew from RJR Nabisco in 1988, then Tootsie Roll Industries purchased the brand in 1993.  "Mini Charleston Chews" are a bit-sized, similarly-shaped version of the candy bar introduced in 1998.

 

The Heath bar is a candy bar made of toffee, almonds and milk chocolate.  It was first manufactured by the Heath Brothers Confectionery in 1928.  The Heath bar has been manufactured and distributed by Hershey since its acquisition of the Leaf International North American confectionery operations late in 1996.

In 1913, school teacher L.S. Heath bought a confectionery shop in Robinson, Illinois as a likely business opportunity for his oldest sons, Bayard and Everett.  In 1914, the brothers opened a combined candy story, ice cream parlor and manufacturing operation there.  With the success of the business, the elder Heath became interested in manufacturing ice cream and opened a small dairy factory in 1915.  His sons worked on expanding their confectionery business.  At some point, they reportedly acquired a toffee recipe, via a traveling salesman, from Vriner's Greek Confectionery in Champaign, Illinois.  In 1928, they began marketing the toffee confection locally as "Heath English Toffee" proclaiming it "America's Finest".

In 1931, Bayard and Everett were persuaded by their father to sell their confectionery shop and work at his dairy.  They brought their candy-making equipment with them and established a retail business there.  The Heaths came up with the marketing idea of including their toffee confection on the dairy products order form taken around by the Heath dairy trucks.  Customers could then order Heath bars to be delivered along with milk and cottage cheese.  

Early ads promoted Heath as a virtual health bar .. only the best milk chocolate and almonds, creamery butter and "pure sugar cane".  The motto at the bottom of one ad read "Heath for better health!"  The motto was surrounded by illustrations of milk, cream, butter, cheese, ice cream and in a corner of the ad .. a Heath bar and a bottle of soda.  The soda may have been Pepsi as the Heath Co. bottled the drink for a number of years. 

The Heath bar grew in national popularity during the Depression, despite its one-ounce size and the 5-cent price, equal to larger bars.

In 1940, family members invested in one of the few available oil leases near Newton, Illinois which had been overlooked by major oil companies.  In July 1940, the lease struck oil eventually pumping 2,700 barrels per day and earning over $1 million for the family.  Two years later in 1942, the U.S. Army placed an order for $175,000 of Heath Bars to be included in soldiers' rations.  The size of this order led the family to modernize the plant equipment.  The candy was manufactured consistently on a major commercial scale thereafter.  

Popularity of the Heath Bars grew after the war.  In 1946, L.S. Heath, his four sons, two daughters and grandchildren incorporated L.S. Heath & Sons, Inc.  The manufacturing process remained largely a hands-on, family-run operation.  In the 1950s, the Heath Toffee Ice Cream Bar was developed and was eventually franchised to other dairies.   By 1955, the operation had grown to produce at 69,000 candy bar centers at one time.  The automatic wrapping machines turned out 1,600 candy bars per minute.  The company had 35 candy salesen who called on appproximately 7,200 wholesale distributors in the United States along with thousands of other outlets such as theatres, vending machines, supermarkets and chain stores.

In the 1960s the huge national success of the Heath Bar lead to disagreements within the family with at least one grandchild, Richard J. Heath being expelled from the business in 1969.  He eventually published a book in 1995  .. Bittersweet:  The Story of the Heath Candy Co.  The book tells the inspiring story of how L.S. Heath rose above the deprivations and humiliations of early poverty.

Bittersweet details one of the sweetest success stories in American business, the Heath family and the complex relationships among family members.  It shows how the Heath family business grew from a small-town ice cream parlor and confectionery to a successful national company, spanning the early pioneer days to the present and gives some insight into America's national psyche.  

Co-Author, Ray Elliott grew up in a small Southern Illinois town and longed to see the world. Throughout his travels, he's been a novelist, a Marine, an English and journalism teacher, an oilfield roughneck and a newspaper columnist.  He's been many things and visited many places, but his passion has been constant: to tell stories that touch people's lives and truthfully explore the effects of war, the power of family and the resiliency of the human spirit.  

hersheyland.com/heathbar

oldtimecandy.com

Cracker Jack's mascots were Sailor Jack and his dog, Bingo.  They were introduced as early as 1916 and registered as a trademark in 1919.  

Cracker Jack is an American brand of snack food that consists of molasses-flavored, caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts, well-known for being packaged with a prize of trivial value inside.  The Cracker Jack name and slogan, "The More You Eat the More You Want" were registered in 1896.  Food author, Andrew F. Smith has called it the first junk food.  Cracker Jack was once owned by The Cracker Jack Company/Borden.  Today, the owner is PepsiCo (via Frito-Lay).  

Cracker Jack is famous for its connection to baseball lore.  The Cracker Jack brand has been owned and marketed by Frito-Lay since 1997.  Frito-Lay announced in 2016 the toy gift would no longer be provided having been replaced with a QR code which can be used to download a baseball-themed game.  Cracker Jack originally included a small "mystery" novelty item referred to as a "Toy Surprise" in each box.  The tagline for Cracker Jack was originally "Candy-coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize", but has since become "Caramel-coated popcorn & peanuts" under Frito-Lay. 

Prizes were included in every box of Cracker Jack beginning in 1912.  One of the first prizes was in 1914 when the company produced the first of two Cracker Jack baseball card issues which featured players from both major leagues.  C. Carey Cloud and his company called Cloudcrest was best known as a designer and producer of hundreds of different prizes for Cracker Jack from the 1930s through the 1960s. It is estimated that Cloud created, produced and delivered to the Cracker Jack Company 700 million toys!  Early "toy surprises" included rings, plastic figurines, booklets, stickers and decoder rings.  Books have been written cataloging the prizes and a substantial collector's market exists. 

Until 1937, Cracker Jack toy prizes were made in Japan.  Many metal toys were also made by Tootsie Toy who also made Monopoly game markers.  During WWII, the prizes were made of paper.  

In the 1961 movie Breakfast at TIffany's, the lead couple played by Audrey Hepburn and George goes to Tiffany and Co. where they have a ring from a box of Cracker Jack engraved.  

Each July from 1982 to 1985, Cracker Jack sponsored an Old-Timers Classic game featuring former MLB players, held at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C.  On June 16, 1993 the 100th anniversary of Cracker Jack was celebrated at Wrigley Field during the game between the Chicago Cubs and the Florida Marlins.  Before the game Sailor Jack, the company's mascot threw out the ceremonial first pitch.  

In 2004, the New York Yankees baseball team replaced Cracker jack with the milder, sweet butter toffee-flavored Crunch'n Munch at home games.  After public outcry, the club switched back to Cracker Jack.  

Cracker Jack is known for being commonly sold at baseball games and is mentioned in the American standard, "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". 

Similar popcorn coated products were Fiddle Faddle and Poppycock. The history of Poppycock is uncertain.  According to Lincoln Snacks, Poppycock was invented by Howard Vair in the 1950s as a snack to accompany him on road trips.  In 1960, Wander, a Swiss company bought the rights to Poppycock and moved production to their Villa Park, Illinois facility.  In 1969, a snack matching the description of Poppycock was patented by Arnold Rebane, who workd for the Wander Company.  In 1991, Lincoln Snacks Company acquired Poppycock and on September 7, 2007 Lincoln Snacks was purchased by ConAgra Foods.  The product is also now cross-branded with the Orville Redenbacher's brand of popcorn.

Fiddle Faddle is a candy-coated popcorn produced by ConAgra Foods.  Introduced in 1967, the snack is commonly found in US discount and drug stores.  It consists of popped popcorn covered with either caramel or better toffee and mixed with peanuts.  

fritolay.com/crackerjack

 

The Legendary Busby Berkeley 

Busby's real name was Berkeley William Enos (1895-1976) though known professionally as Busby Berkeley, an American film director and musical choreographer noted for  elaborate dancing-girl extravaganzas. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns.  Berkeley's works used large numbers of showgirls and props as fantasy elements in kaleidoscopic on-screen performances.  

During the 1920s, Berkeley was a dance instructor for nearly two dozen Broadway musicals including hits such as A Connecticut Yankee (1927) and No, No, Nanette (1971).  As a choreographer, Berkeley was less concerned with the dancing skills of his chorus girls as he was with their ability to form themselves into attractive geometric patterns.  His musical numbers were among the larger and better-regimented on Broadway.  His earliest film work was in Samuel Goldwyn's Eddie Cantor musicals where he began developing such techniques as a "parade of faces" (individualizing each chorus girl with a loving close-up) and moving his dancers all over the stage (and often beyond) in as many kaleidoscopic patterns as possible and often times shot from overhead.  

'By a Waterfall"

Production Number from the film, Footlight Parade 

Circa 1933

One of the largest soundstages ever built and specially constructed

by

Warner Bros. to film Berkeley's creations.

Berkeley's popularity with an entertainment-hungry Depression audience was secured when he choreographed five musicals back-to-back for Warner Bros that included 42nd Street. 

Una Merkel, Ruby Keeler and Ginger Rogers

Movie Stars in 42nd Street