Photo of the MonthApril, 2002
BLOOMSBURG’S MAIN STREET, 1906This is a view of Bloomsburg’s Main Street in 1906 looking east toward the Normal School. The trolley line of the Columbia & Montour Electric Railway Company that began in 1901 can be seen in the foreground. The large building to the right with the window awnings was the Exchange Hotel. Today, this is the site of Magee’s Main Street Inn. To the left is the Columbia County Courthouse. The large four storied brick building just beyond the courthouse was known as the Wirt Building, named for its owner, Paul E. Wirt, inventor of the Wirt Fountain Pen. The original owner of the building was John Brower, a merchant, who built it in 1868-69. Wirt purchased the property in 1886 for $1,800. At one time Alexander Brothers & Company, a tobacco and confectionery store, occupied the ground floor. For years at the doorway stood a wooden Indian figure. Notice that on the first floor there was an overhang that extended over the sidewalk to the street curb. From other pictures of Main Street for this time period, having an overhang in front of the building was not uncommon. At one time various Masonic lodges met on the third floor. On the second floor were the offices of the Bloomsburg Water Company, attorneys Charles W. Miller, Charles G. Barkley, and Clyde Yetter, President of Bloomsburg Town Council from 1904-06. The Democratic Sentinel, one of Bloomsburg newspapers, owned by William Kirkbaum, had its offices at the rear of the building. Wirt sold the building to the Bloomsburg National Bank in 1924 for $35,000. The following year it razed the building to construct a new bank on the site, which today is the location of First Columbia Bank.
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