Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-07-14
Ehrntr,g G1at


II in Boyds 1919 directory Of Har-
risburg and Steelton the whole OF
Napey's Harrisburg Directory and
Strangers Guide for 1S42. A copy
of this early directory, said to have
been the first worth while in Har-
risburg, has been made available
for comparison with the 1919 guioe
to the homes of 100000 people by
d. c. Fadden, 112 Charles street.
It is certainly an interesting basis
upon which to rebuild the Harris
burg of seventy-seven years sgo.
The population of the borough, as
it was then, was about $500. Har-
risburg although settlement since
around 1919 old not become place
with many people until 1855, when
it was made the seat of the new
county of Dauphin and later IN 1oi@
became the Capital of PennsylVahla;
In the fifty-seven years that hau
passed up to 1872 Vt had not pro-
gressed much and uipolyte NapeS
directory reveals a town smaller
than Middletown, Mechanicsburg or
| gettysburg today and actually con-
| tanning fewer persons than were IN
the Second and Eighth wards OF
| Harrisburg at the 1910 census. In.
| deed the whole population OIL
| Dauphin county at that time was
not much over 10000, and less than
Cumberland or York.
Mr.. Napey's director venture gave
way the following year to j. A.
Spofford's Harrisburg Directory, the
first of the Spofford publications on
Harrisburg. A copy of this lS4S
directory has been loaned by John
Gastrock to the Harrisburg Puphc
| Library and it, too, affords some IN
| teresting information. Mr.. Spol-
ford was a printer at North sec
ond street now Market Square. MT.
Napey conducted grocery, Hour
and feed establishment at 90 South
Second street, which was at Null
berry street before the borough
abandoned the Broadway system OF
continuous numbers and numbered
! houses according to blocks Thls
| early business man also Kept plllS
and various medicines on hand
and handled letters cut in Zinc' 10
make barrels, etc. He did not make
a success of his directory, but ne
woke up the town by showing lCs
varity of opportunities. The names
of the residents are contained IN
ten pages of the siXty-four In the
book, the rest being very interest
ing classified business directory, d
Capital Hill list, statistical data and
advertisements with a sketch OF
Harrisburg.
It is of this sketch that much
might be said because 1t mas peen
taken as the foundation of nine
| Of ClxpfphpG written OF
Harrisburg since, cribbed from,
stolen bodily, revamped and en-
bellished by more than one am
bilious historian, chronicler or
annalist of our fair city, were few
of whom credit Napey's enterprise
and most of whose plagorisms can
be traced by their use of certain
facts and arrangement of narratives;
This sketch is generally attributed
to Gearge Washington Harris, an
attorney and grandson of the Soc
ond John Harris, the founder or
Harrisburg. AIR. Harris had access
to family records and being a great
admirer of his sturdy patriotic
grandsire, was especially we'll posted
in the lore of the locality. The
sketch is most interesting and two
facts are worthy of repetition. one
was that letters addressed John
by London merchants came to his
stone masion that still stands on
the river front and the other that
long before 1885 he predicted that
his infant town would be the seat
of government of Pennsylvania. He
was so positive of this that he left
a place for Capitol Park in his
town plan, and his faith never
wavered in the future of Harris
| IL in, lou ta NJ
Maclay, one of the first two United
States Senators from Pennsylvania,
he urged it for years and two de-
cades after he had been laid to rest
in Paxton church yard and Maclay
was beside him, the State Capital
came here, and the prophecy made
in the time of the Revolution was
fulfilled.
The classified business shows
twenty-four attorneys, twenty tailorS,
twenty-five shoe and boot stores.
with one last maker, forty-two
grocery, dry goods and -four stores,
eleven butchers, twenty-four hotels,
fourteen boarding houses, the latter
occupied largely by State officials,
attaches and Legislators, eighteen
carpenters, seven masons, twelve
physicians, seven hardware stores,
nine CdDlneI MAKERS IOuF ndJ
stores, four justices of the peace,
five chair makers, one potter, six
plasterers, three tobacco stores, nine
clergymen, fourteen smiths, four
confectioners, four soap and candle
makers. two dentists, six saddlers,
seven drug stores, ten bakers, ten
painters. four warehouses, "at the
canal" FIVE tinware and stove manu-
facturers, fifteen milliners and
"Mantua makers" two tanners and
morocco dressers," five bookbind-
ers. three liverymen, two brewers,
three clockmakers, five lumber mer-
chants, six briclImakers, four book
stores, ten "oyster and eating
houses" eight barber shops, three
auctioneers, eleven printing houses,
three coal and wood yards, two
locksmiths and the same number of
gunsmiths, and nine churches, only
one of each denomination. In the
business list are names of several
men whose families are in the same
lines of daily activity today notably
Gilbert, Gross. Roberts, OFT, Alricks,
Shearer. Eager, Orth. Magluachlin,
Jauss and Hutter. There are many
firms listed whose names are
familiar to older Harrisburgers such
as John Brandts warehouse and
wharf Peter Bernheisel, the build
er; Zoilinger's hat store, the Felix
candy store. Wyeths book store,
Duncan's tobacco store, the Haze
hulens. Greenawalt's tannery, Clyde
& Co.. the book binders, and Feun