Then and Now…

In the coming weeks, Pete Harmon will be releasing a series of Then and Now photos to kittanningonline. His series will be reviewing the 1898 Souvenir of Kittanning, Pa arranged and photographed by George S. Young. As Pete will share with us, George Young moved to Armstrong County with his family from central Pennsylvania sometime between 1880 and 1898.

Young was an avid photographer, and captured many wonderful images at the turn of the century. His 1898 Souvenir of Kittanning, PA, show the quality of his work. By the time of 1920 Census, Mr. Young had moved to the other side of the country. He with his wife were residing in Yamhill County, Oregon. It appears that he resided there the rest of his life, and was buried in neighboring Washington County upon his death in 1945.

I thought I would share a picture I captured while visiting Kittanning on my last trip home over News Years and showcase it with colored postcard of the same location dating to the late teens. The location is the Northwest corner of Market and McKean Streets. In the photo the tall reddish brick building is the Colwell Arnold Building. It was completed in 1906, and replaced a small white washed two story brick building that also appeared to be owned by the Colwell and Arnolds. It was said that an early vaudeville style theater was briefly housed on the left store front of the building. Many readers will undoubtedly remember with great fondness, Allen’s Drug Store that was located for many years on the corner of the building. This corner location was home to drugstores from the days of the previous building in the 1860’s, until Allen’s closed just about the turn of this past century. Murrays, Dershimers and Peecooks were names of previous pharmacists that occupied this location.

At left, one can note several changes to the Buffington Building, while to the right of the Colwell Arnold building, you can see that the Crossett Building hasn’t been erected in the older picture.

I certainly welcome comments and stories anyone has….

Postcard from the collection of Christopher Anthony
modern picture taken January 2, 2011 by Christopher Anthony