h1>
Pascoli's Demolition and the Decline of one of Mahanoy's Most Historic Blocks
Story by Terry Rang
Pictures and Captions - Paul Coombe
A Historic Block
Pictured above is the oldest known view of Mahanoy City. On the right is the Mahanoy House built in 1853 in the first block east of Main Street on the south side of Centre Street ten years before the borough was chartered.
Looking east toward the 1st block of East Centre in the early 1900s.
Hezekiah Stitzer in front of his restaurant at 14 1/2 East Centre Street
George Stitzer in front of his boot and shoe store at 14 East Centre in the 1890s.
Sandborn Insurance Maps Showing 1st Block of East Centre - South Side in 1928
The Noonan Furniture Store at 10-12 East Centre Opened in 1906
The shot above from October 1942 shows a crowd gathered in front of the Mammarella Cafe at 34-36 East Centre to watch a parade of recent inductees march from the American Legion to the Reading Station.
After WWII the Mammarella Cafe became the Mecca Bar. It opened in 1946.
Bean soup and a hot dog for 30 cents!
The Merchants Bank moved from the west corner of the block to a new building in the middle of the block in 1923. The bank closed in the 1940s and in June of 1949 the building was opened as a community youth center known as "The Teen Canteen"
The Young family took over the Jones Stationary Store during WWII. When Elwood Young returned from the war he operated the store with his sisters Beatrice and Charlotte.Elwood along with Charles Engle and Joe Davies were the Mahanoy City's historians who wrote the borough's Centennial History in 1963.
Each summer Mahanoy City merchants held a Sidewalk Sale. This shot from the early 1960s was taken in front of Young's Stationery Store. That's Elwood Young walking toward the camera.
No empty lots or abandoned buildings in this 1963 shot which shows the 1st block of East Centre on a typically busy evening. Visible are the signs for Klechner's and Lechs which opened in 1953 at the former Mecca Bar location.
The Knapp Building was the site of numerous businesses throughout its history. You may remember Friedberg's Womens Shop and the American Legion Pool. The Bell Telephone Company was upstairs.
