Mahanoy City's Community Christmas Trees

Ninety-nine years ago in December of 1924 Mahanoy City's first Community Christmas tree was placed near the intersection of Main and Centre Streets.
The next year the construction of the Victoria Theatre was completed and the community tree was placed on the theatre's large marquee.

In 1937 the Mahanoy City Social Club placed the first tree at the intersection of Centre and Catawissa Streets.

Each year the Community Tree was placed at this site up until 1986.

A number of automobile accidents had occurred at the tree over the years and finally Penn Dot said the tree could no longer be placed on the street. In recent years the Community Tree has been located in Veterans' Park just a few feet from its former site.

The tree pictured above is from the late 1930s and may be the first tree placed at Centre & Catawissa

Above is another tree from the late 1930s. This shot was taken by Maurice Pedriani, a member of the
Mahanoy City Photo Club at the time.

Above is the 1947 Community Christmas Tree. On the committee that year were
Joe Lobichusky, Jack Burgess and Joe Pangonis.

This shot of the 1955 Community Tree is courtesy of the Souchak family. Larry Souchak Sr. was a long time member of the Mahanoy City Social Club. The view above is looking north toward Railroad Street.
All the other tree photos are shot from the west looking east.

The photo above came to us courtesy of Mark Purcell .
Mark's uncle, Michael DeCesare, took this shot in 1969 during one of Mahanoy City's snowiest holiday seasons.

This photo by Emil Yenchick is probably the last shot taken of the Community Tree at its Centre and Catawissa site. Over the years there had been a number of accidents involving cars running into the tree late at night. Finally in November of 1985 there were three accidents in a span of four days. One accident resulted in a fatality. Penn Dot ordered the tree to be removed from Centre Street which is PA Rt. 54. The tree was removed on December 1, 1985. The Community Christmas tree had been at Centre and Catawissa for forty-eight consecutive years.

In 1986, the year after the Community Christmas tree was removed from Centre Street it found a new home in the parking lot of the Meridian ( former American ) Bank on the northeast corner of Centre and Linden Streets.

Here's a shot of the 2023 Community Christmas tree in Veterans' Park.

The scene above from 1938 was shot by another amateur photographer, Bill Miles. Bill was also a member of the Mahanoy City Photo Club . On the right, constuction is ongoing at the former Union National Bank building which was in the process of being converted to Woolworths on the ground level and apartments and offices on the floors above. The Union National Bank had moved across Main Street to the First National Bank Building which had declared bankruptcy. The former Woolworth Building and the adjoining Reing Building were converted into the Senator James J. Rhoades Downtown Center in 2004. The Rhoades Building is now the home of the Mahanoy Area Historical Society.

Above is the same scene over forty years later. This shot was taken by Charles Palulis around 1960. The Mansion Hotel and the Embassy Grill are still visible on the corner.