(Photo by Richard F. Hope)

Jones Building (22-24 Centre Square, recently Bixler’s Jewelers)

3-story, 5-bay “Italianate” style1 structure with projecting window pediments and bracketed roof cornice. The Jones Building was built here by the family of Attorney Matthew Hale Jones. Attorney Jones acquired the property as part of a legal fee for breaking a charitable bequest in the will of Easton’s “merchant prince”, Peter Miller. [See details below.]

The property was originally designated as Lot No.129 by William Parsons when he founded Easton in 1752. It was officially acquired from the Penn Family by Jacob Sickman (also spelled Sigman) in 1789, along with several other Easton properties including the eastern half of Lot No.130 next door (to the West). In addition to a previous metal (“in Specie”) payment of £ 76, an annual rental fee of “one Barley Corn” was also due on the first of March each year, “if Demanded”. Sickman’s occupation was listed as a cordwainer (shoemaker) by trade.2

1 City of Easton, Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form, Attachment: Building Description Survey Area 1 Zone H (City Council Resolution approved 12 May 1982).

The building was featured in the artistic rendition in Timothy George Hare, Easton Inkscapes No.78 (Easton: Inkwell Publications 1989).

2 Deed, John Penn the Younger and John Penn the Elder to Jacob Sickman, G1 63 (20 Oct. 1789); A.D. Chidsey, Jr., The Penn Patents in the Forks of the Delaware Plan of Easton, Map 2 (Vol. II of Publications of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society 1937)(£76 “in Specie” for Easton original town Lot No.129 and the eastern half of Lot No.130 – collectively measuring 100’ broad by 120’ deep – plus Easton original town Lot No.109 and Out Lot No.51).

The current property is also 40’ X 120’ deep. Northampton County Tax Records Map, www.ncpub.org (for 22 Center Sq).

A year later (in 1789), Sickman sold Lot No.129 and his eastern half of Lot No.130 to William Craig for £140 in paper money.3 Craig had already purchased formal title to Lot No.128 (next door).4 Coming from Northampton County’s Irish Settlement, Craig had originally presented the petition to the Pennsylvania Assembly requesting the creation Northampton County.5 He was granted the first tavern/inn license in the new county.6 Along with Easton founder William Parsons, Craig had been one of the county’s nine first court justices in 1752; he was elected as the county’s first sheriff, and held the important court position of Prothonotary in 1788-95 and 1797-98.7 “He might be called the founder of what has become known as ‘The Court House Gang’, being the county’s first perpetual office holder.”8

At some point, William Craig left Easton.9 In 1797, he transferred properties to John Craig, in a hastily drawn deed that is unclear exactly what properties it covered.10 The Craigs owed money all over town, including £ 60 (plus $13.53 in damages) to Samuel Moore, acting as a trustee for Minne Gulick.

A map apparently kept by the Penn clerks in the 1890s reversed the occupancy of Lot No.130, showing Sickman as occupying the western half, and listing John Simon as the owner of the eastern half. Charles de Krafft, Map of Easton Original Town Lots (from the collection of Luigi “Lou” Ferone (“Mr. Easton”) auctioned 27 Feb. 2010, said to have been used by the Penn clerks for notations to keep track of the town lots c.1779-1801).

3 Deed, Jacob (Elizabeth) Sickman to William Craig, F1 673 (15 Apr. 1790)(recital that Sickman was a shoemaker).

4 Deed, John Penn the Younger and John Penn the Elder to William Craig, E1 550 (27 Feb. 1789); see A.D. Chidsey, The Penn Patents in the Forks of the Delaware Map 2, Lot No.128 (Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, 1937).

5 A.D. Chidsey, Jr., A Frontier Village: Pre-Revolutionary Easton 18, 116 (Vol. III of Publications of The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society 1940).

6 William J. Heller, Historic Easton from the Window of a Trolley-Car 63 (Express Printing Co. and Harmony Press, 1911/1912, reprinted 1984); accord, E. Gordon Alderfer, Northampton Heritage 104 (State College: Penns Valley Publishers, Inc. 1953); Lou Ferrone, “??Who and What in Easton?? Saloon Keeper – Attorney – Judge All in One Day”, THE IRREGULAR, April 2008, p.4 (partner was named William Anderson, not John Anderson, apparently based on text of the original license); James A. Wright, Colonial Taverns of Northampton County, Pennsylvania 6-7 (1993) (places Craig’s hotel on the SE corner of the Square).

7 Rev. John C. Clyde, Genealogies, Necrology and Reminiscences of the “Irish Settlement” 239 (self-published 1879); see also A.D. Chidsey, Jr., A Frontier Village: Pre-Revolutionary Easton 20 (Vol. III of Publications of The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society 1940)(first Sheriff).

8 A.D. Chidsey, Jr., A Frontier Village: Pre-Revolutionary Easton 18, 116 (Vol. III of Publications of The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society 1940).

For additional information on William Craig, see www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Alpha Building (Lot No.128) at 1 South 3rd Street.

9 See Deed, Deed, Henry Spering, Sheriff, for William Craig, to George F. Wagener, G2 237 (10 Jan. 1799)(recital that William Craig was “late of Your County”).

10 Deed, William Craig to John Craig, E5 289 (2 Feb. 1797)(sale price £ 100).

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This mixture of pounds and dollars indicates that this transaction falls in the midst of the transition from one currency to the other in the new American Republic.

Craig (along with others) also owed money “for erecting a Bridge over the River Delaware at the Borough of Easton”11 – apparently referring to what became the Palmer Bridge, whose financial difficulties delayed its construction and opening until 1806.12 William Craig’s property transfer to John did not protect the properties from seizure to pay these debts. In 1799, Northampton County Sheriff Henry Spering (acting in his official capacity on Court instructions) seized Craig’s Lot No.128, as well as the corner parcel composed of Lot No.129 and his half of Lot No.130, and sold them to George Frederick Wagener for £ 915. Two months later, Sheriff Spering confirmed the transaction back to court, in a Sheriff’s Deed dated 25 March.13 The very next day (26 March), Wagner resold these properties back to Sheriff Spering personally, for the very same £ 915 sale price,14 making it clear that the Sheriff’s involvement in the transaction was entirely self-interested!

Henry Spering’s family had lost their homestead on Easton’s Centre Square during the Revolution, when his father, John Spering Sr., had abandoned his wife and four children to restore his allegiance to his King, and sailed for England. Thereafter, John Spering’s two daughters were indentured as servants to families with solid Revolutionary credentials: one to Andrew Kichlein (son of Colonel Peter Kichlein who commanded the “Flying Camp” regiment that fought in the Continental Army at the Battle of Brooklyn), and the other to Jacob Arndt (brother of Captain John Arndt, from Col. Kichlein’s regiment).15 also developed good credentials with the new Revolutionary government. Spering’s older son (John Jr.) saw active service during the Revolution in the “Continental Line” – the core of General Washington’s Continental Army – and served during major battles including Brandywine and Monmouth.16 The younger son, Henry, may also have served in the army during the Revolution – at least according to family history later in Henry’s life.17 He certainly saw service in the Pennsylvania militia shortly after that War, as a volunteer private (substituting for another person),18 rising in subsequent years to a rank of captain.19 Based in part on

11 See Deed, Henry Spering, Sheriff, for William Craig, to George F. Wagener, G2 237 (10 Jan. 1799)(recitals, including identifying Craig as being “late of Your County”); Deed, Henry Spering, Sheriff, for John Craig, to George F. Wagener, Sheriff A2 41 (25 Mar. 1799). See generally Mortgage, William Craig to John Arndt, G1 104 (4 July 1789)(mortgage on Lot No.128 for debt of £ 150, with penal bond of £ 300 for nonpayment).

12 A.D. Chidsey, Jr., A Frontier Village: Pre-Revolutionary Easton 53 (Vol. III of Publications of The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society 1940).

13 Deed, Henry Spering, Sheriff, for John Craig, to George F. Wagener, Sheriff A2 41 (25 Mar. 1799)(Lot No.128, Lot No.129 and half of Lot No.130); see also Deed, Henry Spering, Sheriff, for William Craig, to George F. Wagener, G2 237 (10 Jan. 1799)(Lot No.128, apparently consistent with the actual public sale date).

In 1798, John Craig had sold two other lots at the NE corner of Ferry and Fermor (now South 3rd) Streets to Henry Spering for £ 100. Deed, John Craig to Henry Spering, E5 289 (17 Nov. 1798).

14 Deed, George F. (Catharine) Wagener to Henry Spering, G2 239 (26 Mar. 1799)(sale price £ 915 for Lot Nos.128, 129 and eastern half of Lot No.130).

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John’s Revolutionary War service, Henry Spering succeeded in obtaining an Act from the Pennsylvania General Assembly dated 22 November 1782 restoring his family’s “Wooden House” and property to the four Spering children.20 Henry subsequently acquired his siblings’ shares to become the property’s sold owner,21 and obtained a formal deed from the Penn Family in 1791.22

Henry Spering made use of his political skills to achieve a succession of public offices. He was appointed Easton’s first Postmaster for four years, beginning in 1793. He became Northampton County Sheriff from 1797 until 1800.23 He then served as County Prothonotary (from 1800 until 1821). At various times he was Northampton County’s Recorder, Register, and Clerk of Sessions.24 He served as Chief Burgess of Easton in 1804-05 and again in 1806;25 and finally became a Brigadier General of militia during the War of 1812.26 General Henry Spering died on 6 January 1823 at age 67.27 His burial in the Lutheran burial ground [at 4th and Ferry Streets] was “attended by an unusual large train of friends, and the three volunteer companies of Easton, accompanied with solemn music, performed by the bans attached to the ‘Easton Artillerists’ & ‘Easton Union Guards,’ and the firing of cannon.”28

In the month before his death, Henry Spering’s lawyer, George Ihrie, visited him at home, and found him “lying on his sofa”. Spering assured his lawyer that he “felt quite well except a little pain in the back”, but nevertheless “a conversation took place . . . respecting person[s] dying without having made wills”. George Ihrie’s later affidavit account (with some needed punctuation added) is remarkably descriptive of the conversation about Spering’s will.

[Ihrie] “observed[:] one of these days[,] General[,] you will drop off without having made yours[.] [H]e said it was true he had not yet made his[,] but as soon as he was able to be up[,] he would prepare a memorandum of it and get deponent [Ihrie] to draw one[,] that he intended to give the house he lived in and the lot thereto belonging to his daughter Mary Cooper . . . .”29

Spering made no mention of how he wanted his other property handled, and “that was the last time” George Ihrie saw Spering before Spering’s death. No request for a formal will was ever made. However, apparently as a result of this conversation, Spering did write out a single paragraph on less than half a page of paper, willing “to Mary J. Cooper the hous ]house] Lot the appurtenances Situat in the great Square of the borouf [borough] of Easton . . . .”30 After Spering died, this partial will was attested by George Ihrie and by John Erb (his physician) as being in Spering’s handwriting, and it was probated as his will.31 Because it contained no mention of Spering’s other property, the rest of his real estate passed under Pennsylvania’s “intestacy” law in common shares to all of his four children.32 This led to the curious (and otherwise apparently contradictory!) statement in certain legal documents that Henry Spering had “Died Intestate except so far as by a Certain Instrument of Writing purporting to be the Last Will and Testament of the said Henry Spering”.33

Henry Spering’s oldest son, lawyer Charles F. Spering, petitioned Orphans Court in 1824 to split up (“partition”) the common interests of the siblings in his father’s property into separate pieces.34 A committee set up by the Sheriff to split up and appraise the real estate into separate pieces. Henry Spering’s former residence – where Mary

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Cooper was left in possession – was not included for consideration by the committee, but the rest was divided into three “Purparts” and assigned values.35 Each of the four Spering children refused to take any of the resulting “Purparts” of property at the assigned valuations, and so they were offered for sale to the public.36 In 1825, Lot No.129 and the half of Lot No.130 owned by Henry Spering (which had been divided into separate “Purparts” by the committee) were sold to Peter Miller for $1,820.37 [The committee had appraised these two Purparts at $1300 and $650, respectively, for a total of $1950.]38

Peter Miller was known as one of the three “rich men of Easton”,39 the town’s “merchant prince” and a noted “philanthropist”.40 Miller’s residence was on Northampton Street, on the site of the present Two Rivers Landing.41 When Peter Miller died in 1847, at age 81,42 his property was inherited by his nephew (also named Peter Miller, of Ohio), except for some large charitable bequests.43 Nephew Peter Miller hired an agent in Easton to manage his properties there, and two of Easton’s most prominent attorneys to challenge one of the will’s charitable bequests creating a trust for the accumulation of income to make loans to “Farmers of industrious and sober habits”, and for eventual use to build a hospital. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in a landmark decision, voided this bequest as a violation of the legal “rule against perpetuities”. Nephew Miller’s lawyers in his successful challenge were James Madison Porter and Matthew Hale Jones,44 both of whom had mansions on North Third Street.45 In 1849, nephew Peter Miller used 2/5 of this inheritance to pay his agent in Easton, named Samuel Wilhelm,46 and another 1/5 to his two prominent Easton lawyers (presumably to settle his legal bills).47 Within two months, the lawyers agreed to return their general 1/5 interest in all the inherited real estate48 in exchange for complete ownership in certain of the properties; the property at what became 24 Centre Square was among those that went to the lawyers.49 A few days later, the two attorneys split up their properties between them, allotting this property (among others) to Matthew Hale Jones.50

For his share of the legal fee, Judge Porter (the founder of Lafayette College, among other things) got other properties, including the one at the corner of Centre Square and 3rd Street,51 on which his son built the “Porter Block” which is incorporated in the Alpha Building that stands there today.52 The two attorneys also jointly sold a strip of land partly located on the western side of Centre Square to the Borough of Easton.53

The building that stands on the property today is the Jones Building,54 which was built as a commercial investment by Easton lawyer Matthew Hale Jones.55 Attorney Jones (1811-83) was a noted Easton lawyer and District Attorney,56 who also purchased and expanded Chippy White’s old hotel building at the corner of Centre Square and North 3rd Street and used it for his family mansion and office building. His grandson later converted it into the Hotel Huntington.57

Matthew Hale Jones probably built the existing Jones Building by 1858,58 and likely after 1852.59 A lithograph from the 1850s shows that before the Jones Building, a smaller building (apparently a single story) stood on the spot, at that time housing “Stillwell’s Printing Office”. Next door (in the corner of the Square’s SW Quadrant) was a marble yard.60

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Valois Lithograph, Centre Square SW Quadrant

Attorney Jones’s Centre Square structure was identified as the Jones Building repeatedly in the City Directories of the early 20th Century.61 The property continued to be owned by the Jones Family’s heirs long into the 20th Century62 and the “Jones Building” name continued to be used in directories until at least 1962.63

The Jones Building was used from the beginning for a variety of commercial purposes. In 1863 (during the Civil War) and into the 1870s, this was the location of Henry A. Sage’s wholesale liquor store, at 104 Centre Square (Northampton Street).64 It was also the location of John D. Sigman’s hardware and cutlery store in the early 1870s, with the address of 102 Northampton Street.65 With the adoption of the modern street numbering scheme in 1874, Sage’s store was assigned the modern address of 24 Centre Square,66 while J.D. Sigman & Co.’s hardware store was assigned the modern address of 22 Centre Square.67 The modern tax records list the property on which the Jones Building stands as 22-24 Centre Square.68

In 1874, Henry A. Sage lived at 5 Lehn’s Court.69

Henry A. Sage was a grandson of Adam Lehn,70 who had owned the land surrounding Lehn’s Court.71 After attending the Vanderveer Academy and public schools in Easton, he taught school for a time. He then learned the printing trade by working on THE JERSEYMAN in Morristown, NJ, later returning to Easton to work on the SENTINEL. In 1858, he opened his own liquor business – “Sage’s family liquor store” – located in the Masonic Hall building now numbered 44 South 3rd Street, at the NE corner with Ferry Street.72 Although Henry Sage’s liquor career was interrupted by a brief service in the Union Army during the Civil War,73 by 1863 Sage’s liquor store had moved to the Jones Building in Centre Square.74 As the liquor business prospered, Sage entered other ventures as well. In 1871, he established a horse car trolley line from Centre Square to shops on the South Side of the Lehigh; the Easton Transit Company later took over that line. In 1878 he entered a “harness manufacturing business”75 – apparently succeeding as the owner of Henry Bender’s leather and harness business in Military Hall (now 353-55 Northampton Street).76 The liquor business also moved to 348 Northampton Street at

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about this time.77 Henry A. Sage was an Easton schools director for 13 years, and at the time of his death at age 80 in 1913 was the oldest living Mason in Easton.78

The Dry Goods Houses

In the 1880s, William G. Stewart & Son’s wholesale dry goods and notions business was located in this building.79 William G. Stewart was one of three sons of wire manufacturer John Stewart80 living in a row on North Second Street.81 He was born in Easton in 1827,82 and worked as a merchant at least by 1855, probably for iron merchant and “gentleman” John Green, in the building at the corner of Spring Garden and North 4th

Street.83 (William’s brother, Edward, had worked for John Green until 1854.84) In 1860, William apparently began his wholesale dry goods and notions business.85 By 1877, Stewart had added his son, Frank W. Stewart, to the firm, and changed the name to W.G. Stewart & Son.86 By 1883, the store was located in the Jones Building at 24 Centre Square.87 William G. Stewart retired by 1897,88 and died in 1909.89

His son, Frank W. Stewart, had also left the dry goods business by 1900 to become a real estate and insurance broker.90 By 1910, Frank W. Stewart (now a widower) was no longer in his home at home at 111 North 4th Street; instead he and his son, Frank W. Stewart Jr., had become boarders in the Karldon Hotel91 (located at he NW corner of 3rd and Spring Garden Streets92). Three years later (in 1913), Frank Sr. shot himself in his office “over Rader’s store” after a long illness. Frank Jr. heard the shot and rushed in to discover his father’s suicide.93 Rader’s Store was located at 327 Northampton Street, in the second building West of Bank Alley.94

James W. Correll succeeded to the W.G. Stewart & Son wholesale dry goods business in 1896 or ’97, and remained until 1899.95 Correll was born in 185296 in Forks Township. At the age of 17, he began to work in Jacob Hay’s dry goods store,97 where he met fellow employee Floyd Bixler. In 1880, they formed their own dry goods partnership;98 the Knecht Building (at 20 South Third Street) was built a few years later in part to fulfill their needs.99 Correll was also a member of the Easton City Council from 1889 – 96, and was the President of the Council in the last two years.100 After he left City Council – and after about 16 years in partnership with Bixler – Correll withdrew from the partnership and opened his own wholesale business in the Jones Building, occupying most of the space.101 Based upon his street address, Correll’s store occupied the western street-level store of the Jones Building. In order to obtain even more space, he also built a new brick building at the SW corner of Bank and Pine Street (part of the location now occupied by the Easton Parking Garage), and moved there in October 1899.102 Correll’s new store apparently replaced George D. Lehn’s livery stable at that location,103 and was also presumably built on the additional address of 313 Pine Street that he had obtained from the Stewarts.104 The City Directory would later refer to that property as the “Correll Building”.105 He also brought two of his sons into the firm.106

In 1899, the same year that he moved to the Correll Building, James Correll ran for Mayor of Easton, but lost to Dr. B. Rush Field. In 1916, Correll “discontinued” his firm107 due to bankruptcy. His wife had to repurchase the family home at 75 North 4th Street from Henry D. Maxwell, the Trustee in Bankruptcy, in that year.108 Thereafter,

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Correll “lived retired”. He was one of the organizers of the Pomfret Club in 1885, and remained a member for 40 years.109 An avid fisherman, he also organized the Easton Anglers’ Association with stove merchant E.B. Mack.110

Two other businesses occupied space in the Jones Building in the 1890s. The eastern street-level store (at No.22 Centre Square) was occupied from 1887 by John S. Osterstock’s hardware, farm implements and seeds store.111 Osterstock had come to Easton at the age of 13 or 14 from Butztown, and worked for Easton dry goods merchant William H. Lawall.112 He continued the business until his death in 1914,113 and his son, Harry J. Osterstock, continued that business after him.114 On the second floor was the Easton College of Business.115 The school was headed from the 1880s by C. Lincoln Free. It taught “business transactions” by conducting “actual business dealings”, as well as instruction in stenography and typewriting, “vertical writing, engrossing, lettering, box-marking, etc.” It continued into the 20th Century, when it advertised that “in nearly every manufacturing industry, bank, wholesale or retail house, lawyer’s or broker’s office in Easton and vicinity, there can be found from one to five graduates of the Easton College of Business”.116 It changed its name to the Easton School of Business early in the 20th Century,117 and remained in business until approximately 1916.118 In 1911 the school’s Manager, William E. Churchman,119 quit and started a new, competing business college in the Northampton National Bank Building,120 which ultimately became the well-known Churchman Business College at 355 Spring Garden Street.121

Bixler’s Jewelers

Although the building has been identified recently with Bixler’s Jewelers, that store only came to the property via a lease beginning in 1925. The Bixler Family did not buy the property until 1979. The store has been advertised as the oldest jewelry store in America, and until recently was still family-owned.122

Bixler’s store was founded in approximately 1785 by Christian Bixler III, selling clocks (especially “tall case”, e.g. “grandfather” clocks) from his family homestead at the NE corner of Bank and Northampton Streets (now 321 Northampton Street). Christian Bixler made some 465 tall case (grandfather) clocks between 1784 and 1812, which (when in good condition) are expensive collector’s items today. Bixler soon began selling jewelry as well.123 He was a very visible public citizen in Easton, who worked on many civic projects.124

After Christian Bixler III died in 1840, two of his sons (William and Daniel Bixler) continued the jewelry and silversmith business. However, within a few years “they separated . . . each branching out in the same business under his own name.”

109 Obituary, “James Correll Dies at 91, Ill Two Years”, EASTON EXPRESS / EASTON ARGUS, Wed., 26 May 1943, p.1, col.3 (withdrew in 1897. See generally separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the John O. Wagner Mansion (Pomfret Club) at 33 South 4th Street.

110 Obituary, “James Correll Dies at 91, Ill Two Years”, EASTON EXPRESS / EASTON ARGUS, Wed., 26 May 1943, p.1, col.3 (withdrew in 1897). See generally separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for Mack House at 349 Ferry Street.

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William Bixler’s half of the jewelry business was continued by his widow and later his son, J. Elwood Bixler, until 1891.125

Bixler’s other son, Daniel L. Bixler, ultimately went into the hardware business.126

In 1852, he lost his portion of the family homestead in a Sheriff’s sale.127 However, two of Daniel’s eight children – Rush H. Bixler and C. Willis Bixler – continued the jewelry business,128 while another son (Floyd S. Bixler) became a successful dry goods wholesaler and Easton historian.129

Rush Heintzelman Bixler (1839 – 1925)130 was listed both as a watchmaker and silversmith in 1860 (for silversmithing, possibly as an apprentice – although the writing in the 1860 Census notation is unclear). He was then 20 years old, and still lived at his father’s address on Ferry Street.131 He saw a month’s emergency military service in 1863, during the Civil War. He enlisted as a Private in Company D of the 38th Pennsylvania Regiment of Emergency Militia. That regiment was mustered in on 3 July and discharged on 7 August of 1863, in response to Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s brief invasion of Pennsylvania that was blocked at the Battle of Gettysburg.132 By 1864, and continuing until 1873, his street listings as a watchmaker and jeweler gave his commercial address as 148 Northampton Street under the numbering scheme in effect at that time.133

Based upon surrounding numbers, it appears that this address may have been in the building that later became 406-08 Northampton Street (on the South side of the street).134

This was also his home address in 1873.135

He had lived separately from his father by 1870, but his home address has not been recorded.136

However, in late 1873 when the jewelry store assigned its new address of 406 Northampton Street under the modern street numbering scheme being then adopted, the store was listed in the name of Walter Hamman, and Rush Bixler no longer appears thereafter in Easton directories.137 At that time, Walter Hamman was a young man of about 21 years of age, just starting in business.138 Walter Hamman (also spelled Hammann) continued at that business address into 1877,139 but had moved his shop to other locations in 1879 through 1884.140

Walter Hammann’s obituary [note the slightly different spelling] stated that “for many years he managed the store of the late J. Ellwood Bixler”141 – that is, the other branch of the Bixler Family stemming from Christian Bixler’s older son, William.142

J. Elwood Bixler did not take control of his family store until after his mother’s death in 1879.143 It is thus quite likely that Walter Hamman took over Rush Bixler’s store location on the South side of Northampton Street in the mid-1870s. Hamman married a girl from Philadelphia in 1878144 (shortly before J. Elwood Bixler took over his family’s store). Elwood’s mother had run the store with Eli Fox, who had become her partner in the business145 and had lived at the same address as the Bixlers in the residential part of the building.146 The year after Elwood’s mother died, Fox left the business with

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his nephew (who had been an employee) to set up his own, competing, jewelry store.147 Walter Hamman apparently became Elwood’s store manager at some point after Fox’s departure, probably in about 1886.148

Hamman moved to Philadelphia after Elwood Bixler died and his jewelry store closed149 in 1891.150

In the 1875 and 1877 Easton directories, a Bixler jewelry store was listed at 407 Northampton Street (on the North side of that street), listed to C.[hristian] Willis Bixler151

(apparently known generally as Willis). Willis Bixler was another of Daniel Bixler’s sons (one of Rush Bixler’s brothers), born in 1846.152 Curiously, Willis Bixler’s obituary states that he “succeeded to the [family] jewelry business” only in 1879,153 and does not indicate his ownership prior to that time – contrary to these listings in the Easton directories. It is accordingly possible that although Willis was the name on the door, the store was still being run by his brother, Rush.

Rush H. Bixler’s obituary indicates that he remained in the family jewelry business until some years after the store moved to the location at the corner of Northampton and 4th Streets154 -- a move that would not occur until abut 1890 (see below).

At least one chronicle of the Bixler Family history has dismissed these 1875 and 1877 address entries, evidently as typographical errors for the 406 Northampton Street address that the Bixler store had in 1879.155

In 1879 – the year that Willis Bixler took control of the family store – its address was listed at 406 Northampton Street – back in the prior location on the South side of the street.156 It may have been forced to move back there, because the owner of the building at 407 Northampton Street, Levi Rosenbaum,157 moved his own millinery business into his building by 1879.158 Bixler’s jewelry store continued at the 406 Northampton Street address for some years thereafter.159

The building that the Bixler store occupied at 406 Northampton Street has since been replaced by the Odenwelder Building at 404-06 Northampton Street.160

Willis Bixler’s home address in the 1870s was listed as 132 Bushkill Street.161 This was the home address of prominent grocer H.G. Tombler and his family.162 The 1880 Census confirms that address to H.G. Tombler, but also lists the Tombler household as including his son-in-law W. Bixler and his wife F. Bixler163 – presumably Willis and his wife Fannie Tombler Bixler.164 By 1881, Willis Bixler had moved into a separate home at 121 Bushkill Street.165

Apparently shortly after his father Daniel Bixler’s death in 1892,166 Willis and Francis Bixler had moved into the family home at 643 Ferry Street.167 That house had long been occupied by his Daniel Bixler,168 and may have been built for him.169 A 2½ story frame Victorian house still stands at that address today, on the opposite side of Ferry Street from the Northampton County Juvenile Justice Center.

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Daniel L. Bixler & Family170

Center: Daniel L. Bixler & wife, Eloisa Back: Adelia, Rush, Floyd, Caroline and Willis Bixler.

Front: Georgianne and Lewis Edward Bixler.

In 1890, the C.W. Bixler & Co. store relocated again, this time to the SE corner of Fourth and Northampton Streets, then called the Smith Building.171 An advertisement in December of 1892 for the store at that location promised that Bixler’s was ready for Christmas shopping “with a stock of Diamonds, Watches, Silver Novelties that is nothing, if not complete, and yet not more complete than it is artistic and beautiful.”172 A photograph of the store’s interior in 1900 showed the “cherry wood showcases . . . packed with product”. The modern store manager’s comment on this photo was that “Clearly there was no inventory control”.173 However, it may have reflected the store’s policy at the time to afford customers a “complete” selection of product.

Willis Bixler died in 1908 of cirrhosis of the liver, after being confined at home for some two years prior to his death.174 Willis’s son, Arthur Brookfield Bixler,175 had joined the family business as a young man, and is said to have taken control in his own name in 1908176 -- the year of his father’s death. [It is unclear whether he was, in fact, running the store during the two years of his father’s last serious illness.]

Three years later, in 1911, Arthur Bixler made “extensive improvements to leased space in the Pomp Building at the NW corner of Fourth and Northampton Streets, and moved the store there.177 Eight years after that (in 1919), he purchased the entire Pomp Building.178 However, he left that location in 1925, when he moved the store into the

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western storefront of the Jones Building in the SW corner of Centre Square.179 The store remained in Centre Square until 2008.

Bixler’s Jewelers did not initially occupy the entire commercial space in the Jones Building. For example, in 1932 the eastern storefront of the Jones Building housed the Singer Stores (clothing), and also provided office space for many of the prominent legal names in Easton, including Hon. William S. Kirkpatrick,180 the Chidsey, Maxwell & Strach law firm,181 J. Douglas Fackenthal, and the Steckel Estate.182

Despite his reputation as “a gentleman and a well respected craftsman”, Arthur Bixler “slowly lost interest in running the store. His lethargy became legendary.”183 This

180 See generally history of Judge William Sebring Kirkpatrick included in the separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Dr. Innes Residence at 20 North Third Street.

181 See generally history for Henry D. Maxwell, Jr. included in the separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Maxwell Mansion at 208 Spring Garden Street.

182 West’s Easton, Pa and Phillipsburg, NJ Directory 617 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1932). See generally history of Henry J. Steckel included in the separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for The Clockmakers’ Property at 48 and 50 Centre Square.

15 A.D. Chidsey, Jr., A Frontier Village 259 (Vol. III of the Publications of The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society 1940)(Building No.51). See also XIII Pennsylvania Colonial Records 252 (Harrisburg: Theo Penn & Co. 1853)(petition by Henry Spering, tabled 5 April 1782, refers to his father as “an attainted traitor”); Lorenzo Sabine, II Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution 580 (Baltimore: Clearfield Company, Inc. 2nd ed. 1864, reprinted 1979, 1994)(John Spering of Easton, Pennsylvania “Attainted of treason, estate vested in his four children”).

Chidsey gives the names of the girls as Jane and Elizabeth. At the time, Jane was over the age of 14, and was “bound out as a servant to Jacob Arndt. The daughter Elizabeth, under fourteen years of age, was bound out to Andrew Kachline.” Chidsey, A Frontier Village, supra at 259.

Elizabeth Spering’s name is confirmed below by her deed selling her share in the family property to her brother, Henry Spering. However, the older sister may have also been called Johanna. The Parish Records of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Easton PA (Marx Room Reference “G”) 358, 360 (Easton PA n.d.) show an Elisabeth, the daughter of “Johan Spurring” confirmed into the congregation in 1788, and a Johanna, the daughter of “Johan Spuhren”, confirmed in 1786.

Regarding the history of Jacob Arndt, see, e.g., www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 5 North 3rd Street. Regarding the history of Andrew Kachlein, see Richard F. Hope and Virginia Lawrence-Hope, Easton PA: The Lower Bushkill Mills 46 (Lulu Press 2012), and for his father, Colonel Peter Kichlein, id. at 31-36.

16 Edward Hagaman Hall (ed.), Register of the Empire State Society of the Sons of the American Revolution 543 (1899, available online on www.ancestery.com)(John Spering, 1846 – 1846, private, 3rd Pennsylvania Regiment of Continental Line, transferred to 2nd Regiment, discharged 1783, “engaged at Germantown and Monmouth”); John Blair Lynn & William H. Egle (eds.), I Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution Battalions and Line 1775 – 1783 414, 437 (Harrisburg: Lane S. Hart, State printer 1880)(John Spearing, private in 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment of Continental Line); Thomas Lynch Montgomery (ed.), II Pennsylvania Archives Fifth Series 889 (Harrisburg: Harrisburg Publishing Company, State Printer 1906)(John Spearing, private, 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line); Virgil D. White, IV Index to Revolutionary War Service Records 2554 (Waynesboro (TN): The National Historical Publishing Company 1995)(John Spering service as a private in the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment).

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may have occurred late in his life, when he “was dying of leukemia, and assumed there was no one to inherit the business.”184 The Great Depression of the 1930s had significantly reduced the number of customers. When Arthur died in 1945, leaving no sons, the “business almost died with him”.185 At his funeral, his sister (“Aunt Clara”) asked Arthur’s son-in-law, Kenneth Mitman, to take over the business.186 Mitman was an engineer working “in the defense department of Western Electric in New Jersey”, and knew nothing about the jewelry business, but decided to take the gamble, and took over control of the family store.187 He also had to expand the meager inventory (worth only $11,000 when he took over – in contrast to the celebrated complete line offered in 1892), in part by selling his car in 1947.188 For transportation, he had to borrow his father’s

17 See Obituary of Henry Spering, SPIRIT OF PENNSYLVANIA, Fri., 10 Jan. 1823, transcribed in Ethan Allan Weaver, Notes and Biographies of Easton and Eastonians 1802 – 1861 20 (Oct. 1877, with index by Jane Moyer)(Justice of the Peace, Sheriff, Notary Public, Prothonotary 1800-21, “soldier of two wars”, 1814 brigade of militia and volunteers). But see Virgil D. White, IV Index to Revolutionary War Service Records 2554 (Waynesboro (TN): The National Historical Publishing Company 1995)(no mention of any Revolutionary War service by Henry Spering).

18 Thomas Lynch Montgomery (ed.), III Pennsylvania Archives Sixth Series 823-24 (Harrisburg: Harrisburg Publishing Company, State Printer 1907)(Henry Spering, private, enlisted as a substitute for George Ehrit, in Muster Roll of 20 August 1784 in “Wioming Service”, stating that Spering and most of the Regiment had served from 29 July until 25 August). Since the date of service is 25 August and the record itself was dated only 20 August, it might be argued that this month of service must have taken place in the prior year (1783) – but in that case, no one would have been left in the Regiment for it to be in “Wioming Service” in 1784. It thus seems more likely that the record was made to reflect the expected dismissal of the troops five days later.

19 Thomas Lynch Montgomery (ed.), III Pennsylvania Archives Sixth Series 835-37 (Harrisburg: Harrisburg Publishing Company, State Printer 1907)(militia private under Capt. Jacob Arndt Jr., muster roll dated 9 May 1785); Id. at 864 (Hering Spering a Captain in the 3rd Battalion of Northampton County Militia); Thomas Lynch Montgomery (ed.), V Pennsylvania Archives Sixth Series 421, 424 (Harrisburg: Harrisburg Publishing Company, State Printer 1907)(Henry Spering, Captain of Light Infantry of 1st Battalion, 3rd Regiment, Militia Brigade of Northampton County).

20 See Deed, John Spering to Henry Spering, C3 296 (26 July 1790)(recital that John Spering Jr. obtained his ¼ interest from the General Assembly on 22 November 1782); A.D. Chidsey, Jr., A Frontier Village 259 (Vol. III of the Publications of The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society 1940)(Building No.51).

See generally XIII Pennsylvania Colonial Records 252 (Harrisburg: Theo Penn & Co. 1853)(petition by Henry Spering to Provincial Council, tabled 5 April 1782, for himself and the other children of John Spering, “an attainted traitor”, requesting “some relief from this Board, with respect to the forfeited estate of their said father”); Lorenzo Sabine, II Biographical Sketches of Loyalists of the American Revolution 580 (Baltimore: Clearfield Company, Inc. 2nd ed. 1864, reprinted 1979, 1994)(John Spering of Easton, Pennsylvania “Attainted of treason, estate vested in his four children”);

21 A.D. Chidsey, Jr., A Frontier Village 259 (Vol. III of the Publications of The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society 1940)(Building No.51).

Recorded deeds commemorate his purchase of property interests from two of his siblings: John Spering (Jr.) and Elizabeth Spring. Elizabeth’s deed was signed with an “X”, which was carefully witnessed. No recorded deed was found from the other sibling. Deed, John Spering to Henry Spering, C3 296 (26 July 1790)(sale price £12 10s.); Deed, Elizabeth Spering to Henry Spering, C3 296 (24 Apr. 1793)(sale price £12 10s.; signed by “her mark X”).

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Buick.189 He also made the store a lot more systematic, joined the American Gem Society (of which he ultimately became a Vice President), and “expected his buyers to become registered gemologists.” 190 In 1955, he rehabilitated the store façade with stone from a local Unitarian church being renovated. He continued the renovations in the late 1950s, in part by installing a drop ceiling inside.191 The store became “Easton’s downtown gift center, the epitome of a full-service jewelry store.”192

In February 1961, a fire damaged the top (third) floor of the Jones Building, then occupied by two Hellenic Community Center organizations. [That organization had suffered from another fire eight years previously, in another location.] Although below-zero temperatures hampered firefighters, the blaze was brought under control without

22 Deed, John Penn the Younger and John Penn the Elder to Henry Spering, H2 279 (27 Sept. 1791).

23 A.D. Chidsey, Jr., A Frontier Village 234, 258-59 (Vol. III of the Publications of The Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society 1940). See generally A.D. Chidsey, The Penn Patents in the Forks of the Delaware Map 2, plot 140 (Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, 1937)(Henry Spering obtained the patent). His father,John Spering, had purchased the property from Melchoir Hay in 1771. Title was restored to John Spering’s children by an Act passed on 22 Nov. 1782. Chidsey, A Frontier Village, supra at 258.

24 See Rev. Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 179-80 (George W. West 1885 / 1889); see Leonard S. Buscemi, Sr., The Easton PA Trivia Book 240 (Pinter’s Printers, Inc. 1985)(first Postmaster); Obituary of Henry Spering, SPIRIT OF PENNSYLVANIA, Fri., 10 Jan. 1823, transcribed in Ethan Allan Weaver, Notes and Biographies of Easton and Eastonians 1802 – 1861 20 (Oct. 1877, with index by Jane Moyer)(Justice of the Peace, Sheriff, Notary Public, Prothonotary 1800-21, “soldier of two wars”, 1814 brigade of militia and volunteers).

Rev. Condit states that it is “probable, though not absolutely certain”, that Spering did not use this location as his post office, but instead placed it “in the southwestern portion of the Public Square, in a frame building on the lot where the First National Bank is now erected.” Condit, supra. This is the western portion of the lot currently occupied by the Alpha Building. See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 1 South Third Street.

25 Article, “Chief Executives of Easton Since 1789”, EASTON EXPRESS, Sun., 12 June 1937, Jubilee Section A, p.5, cols. 1-2.

26 Obituary of Henry Spering, SPIRIT OF PENNSYLVANIA, Fri., 10 Jan. 1823, transcribed in Ethan Allan Weaver, Notes and Biographies of Easton and Eastonians 1802 – 1861 20 (Oct. 1877, with index by Jane Moyer)(command of a brigade of milita and volunteers in 1814); Thomas Lynch Montgomery (ed.), IV Pennsylvania Archives Sixth Series 789, 791-92 (Harrisburg: Harrisburg Publishing Company, State Printer 1907)(Henry Spering Brigadier General of 1st Brigade, Militia of Northampton Pike & Lehigh Counties, appointed 4 July 1814); Thomas Lynch Montgomery (ed.), VII Pennsylvania Archives Sixth Series 5, 937, 939, 941, 950, 953, 955 (Harrisburg: Harrisburg Publishing Company, State Printer 1907)(showing command as a Brigadier General from 1812).

27 See Obituaries for General Henry Spering, transcribed in Ethan Allen Weaver, Notes and Biographies of Easton and Eastonians 1802 – 1861 14-15, 20 (Oct. 1877, with index by Jane Moyer).

28 Obituary of Henry Spering, EASTON CENTINEL, Fri., 10 Jan. 1823, transcribed in Ethan Allan Weaver, Notes and Biographies of Easton and Eastonians 1802 – 1861 14-15 (Oct. 1877, with index by Jane Moyer) and in Henry F. Marx, I Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1799 – 1851 Newspaper Extracts 110 (Easton Public Library 1929)(died in 68th year [= age 67] on “Monday night last” [= 6 January]).

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causing extensive damage to Bixler’s store on the ground floor. The firefighters had covered the jewelry with tarps, and despite some water and smoke, Kenneth Mitman promised that the jewelry store “will open after being cleaned”.193

In approximately 1966, the Bixler store doubled its square footage by adding the other half of the Jones Building’s commercial space to the jewelry store.194 Ken’s son Phil Mitman came home from college and three years of retail employment in 1968 – and questioned continuing the business in downtown Easton as the economic fortunes of the town declines. Ken Mitman remained adamant, despite the decline of Easton “into a scene of smashed windows, dangling doors and caved-in roofs.”195 Despite the business climate, in 1973 Kenneth Mitman increased his bets on Easton by formally purchasing the Jones Building property for $79,000 from the heirs and descendants of Matthew Hale

29 Transcription of Affidavit of George Ihrie in Will Book 5 54, original in Estate of Henry Spering, File No.3524 (Northampton County Orphan’s Court 1823).

30 Will, Estate of Henry Spering, File No.3524 (Northampton County Orphan’s Court 1823).

31 Estate of Henry Spering, File No.3524 (Northampton County Orphan’s Court 1823)(copy of will and two probate affidavits); see Estate of Henry Spering, 9 Orphan’s Court Record 469 (29 Aug. 1823)(statement that Henry Spering died “intestate (as respect the following Real Estate)”); Deed, Jacob Weygand Jr., Administrator of the Estate of Henry Spering, to Peter Miller, A5 342 (25 Feb. 1825)(recitals that Henry Spering died intestate except for his probated will).

32 Cf. Estate of Henry Spering, File No.3524 (Northampton County Orphan’s Court 1823)(copy of will and two probate affidavits); Estate of Henry Spering, 9 Orphan’s Court Record 469 (29 Aug. 1823)(statement that Henry Spering died “intestate (as respect the following Real Estate)”); Deed, Jacob Weygand Jr., Administrator of the Estate of Henry Spering, to Peter Miller, A5 342 (25 Feb. 1825)(recitals that Henry Spering died intestate except for his probated will).

33 Deed, Charles F. Spering, Eliza S. Mott, and Milo M. (Mary Alice) Dimmick, to Mary S. Cooper, C8 10 (21 July 1849)(sale price $3,000 for original town Lot No.128); accord, Deed, Charles F. Spering to Jefferson K. Heckman, H5 375 (3 Aug. 1833).

34 Estate of Henry Spering, 9 Orphan’s Court Record 449 (3 May 1823). 35 Estate of Henry Spering, 9 Orphan’s Court Record 469 (29 Aug. 1823)(inquisition

ordered); 10 Orphan’s Court Record 13 (21 Nov. 1823)(Three Purparts recognized: Forks Township Farm; Lot No.129, appraised at $1300; and Spering’s half of Lot No.130, appraised at $650).

36 Estate of Henry Spering, 10 Orphan’s Court Record 79 (20 Aug. 1824)(William P. Spering’s refusal to take); 10 Orphan’s Court Record 205 (25 Nov. 1824)(refusals by Charles F. Spering, Edward Mott (married to Elizabeth Spering) and Mary S. Cooper). See Deed, Jacob Weygand Jr., Administrator of the Estate of Henry Spering, to Peter Miller, A5 342 (25 Feb. 1825)(recitals).

37 Deed, Jacob Weygand Jr., Administrator of the Estate of Henry Spering, to Peter Miller, A5 342 (25 Feb. 1825); Estate of Henry Spering, 10 Orphan’s Court Record 209 (21 June 1825).

38 Estate of Henry Spering, 10 Orphan’s Court Record 13 (21 Nov. 1823). 39 Article, “Rich Men”, EASTON ARGUS, Thurs., 21 Nov. 1861, p.2, col.3. The other two

identified by the ARGUS were Col. Thomas McKeen and Hon. David D. Wagener. See generally separate entries for the Wagner Mansion (Pomfret Club) at 33 South 4th Street (owned by David Wagener’s son) and the Col. Thomas McKeen Mansion at 231 Spring Garden Street.

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Jones.196 Kenneth Mitman’s son, Phil and his daughter, Joyce Mitman Welken, gradually took over control of the business from their father, and he retired from active participation in 1983, although retaining the title of Chairman. In the meantime, Phil won election as Easton’s Mayor for two terms, on a platform of revitalizing the City.197 He and Joyce also opened two other jewelry stores in nearby towns, to form a Bixler’s chain.198

In later years, the tide once more began to turn against Bixler’s. In 1995, Bixler’s Bethlehem store closed after about 20 years in operation.199 In 2002, Kenneth Mitman’s widow (acting as the executrix of his will) placed the Bixler’s Jewelry property into a

40 Floyd S. Bixler, The History with Reminiscences of the Early Taverns and Inns of Easton, 12 (Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society 1931)(Paper Read before the Northampton County Historical Society at the St. Crispin Anniversary Dinner at the Lafayette Hotel on 25 Oct. 1930); accord, William J. Heller, Historic Easton From the Window of a Trolley-Car 72 (The Express Printing Co., Inc., 1912, reprinted by Genealogical Researchers, 1984)(“famous Easton philanthropist and merchant”). See separate entries on www.WalkingEaston.com for Library Hall, 32 North Second Street, and The Log Cabin Lot / Peter Miller Building, 209-17 Northampton Street.

41 For a more complete history of Peter Miller, see separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Two Rivers Landing at 30 Centre Square.

42 Henry F. Marx (compiler), II Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1885-1902 Newspaper Extracts 694 (Easton Area Public Library 1929)(from The Whig and Journal, Wed., 10 March 1847, article stating that Miller had died on the third).

43 See Deed of Partition between Samuel (Mary) Wilhelm and Peter (Elizabeth) Miller (of Ohio), C8 113 (29 Dec. 1849)(Property No.14).

44 Hillyard v. Miller, 10 Pa.State 326-38 (Pa.Sup.Ct. 1849), on appeal 10 Pa.State 326 (Pa.Sup.Ct. 1849); see Barbara Fretz Kempton, A History of St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Congregation of Easton, Pennsylvania 1740-1940 217 (The John S. Correll Co., Inc. 1940)(decision established Pennsylvania law on trusts for the accumulation of income).

45 See separate entries on www.WalkingEaston.com for the Hotel Huntington at 5 North Third Street and the Parking Lot (formerly the Porter Mansion) at 53 North Third Street.

46 Deed, Peter (Elizabeth) Miller to Samuel Wilhelm, H7 573 (5 Sept. 1849)(stated sale price $100,000 for 2/5 interest in Miller’s entire inheritance).

47 Deed, Peter (Elizabeth) Miller to James M. Porter and Matthew Hale Jones, H7 572 (5 Sept. 1849)(stated price $50,000 for 1/5 of the inheritance “and for divers other good causes and considerations”).

48 Deed, James M. (Eliza) Porter and Matthew Hale (Mary F.) Jones to Peter Miller and Samuel Wilhelm, C8 94 (21 Nov. 1849).

49 Deed, Peter (Elizabeth) Miller (of Ohio) and Samuel (Mary) Wilhelm to James M. Porter and Matthew Hale Jones, B8 1 (1 Nov. 1849)(Tract No.16 of attached Estimate Schedule, described as having a 40’ frontage on the “Public Square” bounded on the East by the property of Milo M. Dimmick; an earlier description of Tract No.15 of the estimate had identified that one as the SW corner of Pomfret Street and the “Public Square” bounded on the West by the property of Milo M. Dimmick).

50 See Deed, James Madison (Eliza M.) Porter to Matthew Hale Jones, B8 18 (6 Dec. 1849)(sale price $10,000 for three properties: No.1 Lot No.129 that later became 24 Centre Square; No.2 the “Brick Messuage or Tenement” at the SW corner of Bushkill and Pomfret Streets; and

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trust, with Phil and Joyce and a bank acting as trustees. The property was valued at $310,000 in this transaction.200 In 2006, Bixler’s merged with Avalon, Maurer and Bash of Whitehall Township, and the Bixler name was added to the merged company’s Lehigh Valley Hall store. Bixler’s then planned to close its Village West Shopping Center store in South Whitehall Township (Allentown),201 but that location ended literally with the bang “after a car crashed through the front window and killed one customer.”202 In 2008, Bixler’s announced that the Centre Square Easton store would be closed the following year, leaving the single location on MacArthur Road in Whitehall Township, with hopes to open another store “along the Route 33 corridor.”203 In September of that year, the corporate trustee was eliminated; in 2009 Phil and Joyce (acting as the remaining trustees) sold the building to Osmaro LLC for $400,000.204 In June 2013, the restaurant

No.3 a “Messuage Tenement in Forks Township). See also recitals in Deed, Executor of Estate of William H. Kirkpatrick, et al., to Kenneth H. Mitman, 450 4 (1 Jan. 1979); D.G. Beers, Atlas of Northampton County Pennsylvania, Plan of Easton (A. Pomeroy & Co. 1874)(M.H. Jones).

51 See Deed, Matthew Hale (Mary E.) Jones to James Madison Porter, C8 112 (9 Dec. 1849)(sale price $10,000 for the property at the SW corner of Pomfret (later 3rd) Street and Centre Square, plus three other lots in Forks Township).

52 See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Alpha Building at 1 South 3rd Street. 53 See Deed, James M. (Eliza M.) Porter and Matthew Hale (Mary E.) Jones to the

Corporation fo the Borough of Easton, B8 21 (3 Nov. 1849)($3,000 for a 48’ wide strip of property on the western side of the “Public Square”, beginning 80’ South of Northampton Street and running 160’ to Pine Alley – now part of the Two Rivers Landing property); see also Deed, Peter (Elizabeth) Miller (of Ohio) and Samuel (Mary) Wilhelm to James M. Porter and Matthew Hale Jones, B8 1 (1 Nov. 1849)(tract No.17 of the attached Schedule granted to the two lawyers).

54 E.g., Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 1910 (The West Job Printing House 1910); see Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 21 (The Union Publishing Co. 1914)(“Blocks, Buildings, Halls”, Jones Building at 22-24 Centre Square); H.P. Delano (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton Pennsylvania 25 (Union Publishing Co. Inc. 1925)(“Halls, Blocks, Buildings” entry for “Jones Building, 22-24 Centre Sq”); Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1944-45 (R.L.Polk & Co., Inc. 1945)(reverse directory for 22-24 Centre Square).

55 The Deed, James Madison (Eliza M.) Porter to Matthew Hale Jones, B8 18 (6 Dec. 1849), by which Attorney Jones acquired sole ownership of the property refers to the lot “and the buildings thereon erected”, suggesting that there were several buildings on the lot at the end of 1849 – rather than the single, handsome Jones Building structure shown in the picture published by Mr. Buscemi.

56 John W. Jordon, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 105-06 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.).

57 See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Hotel Huntington Building at 5 North 3rd Street.

58 See Advertisement by Roberts & Lewis, “The Central Restaurant, Centre Square”, EASTON EXPRESS, Sat., 17 July 1858, p.1, col.2 (proprietors’s new saloon located in the “Basement of Jones NewBuilding”).

59 Cf. Northampton County Tax Records, www.ncpub.org (listing 1850 as the approximate construction date); Its construction was more broadly attributed to the 1820-50 time period by City of Easton, Pennsylvania Historic Resource Survey Form, Attachment: Building Description Survey Area 1 Zone H (City Council Resolution approved 12 May 1982).

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“Frozenlandia” opened in the commercial space in the building, featuring “a wall of self-serve flavors” of frozen yogurt with a toppings buffet, as well as a “kid friendly” menu of hot food.205

The Street Clock

The 8-foot tall street clock now in Centre Square206 (formerly in front of Bixler’s Jewelers) was originally installed in front of the Bixler’s jewelry store when it was located farther up Northampton Street. One source suggests that the Bixler clock may

An 1850s picture of this Quadrant of Centre Square showing the Courthouse and the Farmers and Mechanics Bank, does not show the Jones Building next to the Bank. Thus, the date of that lithograph is an important clue to the date of the Jones Building itself – if the lithograph can be dated. See Ethan Allen Weaver, “Forks of the Delaware” Illustrated xxiii (Easton: Eschenbach Press 1900)(picture at bottom center of the collage); Rev. Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 378 (George W. West 1885 / 1889). A larger copy of this picture, entitled “View of Easton Pa”, is located in the Marx Room, which identifies it as a lithograph by E. Valois.

The Valois lithograph must represent a date after 1852, when the Bank bought its property and constructed its building. See Deed, Mary S. Cooper to The Farmers & Mechanics Bank of Easton, E8 418 (1 Apr. 1852); West’s Easton, Pa and Phillipsburg, NJ Directory 43 (R.L. Polk & Co. of Philadelphia 1930)(legend contained in advertisement for the Bank read “On the Square in Easton Since 1852”); accord, C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA 5 (Cole & Eichman’s Office 1855)(building listing for “Farmers’ & Mechanics’ Bank” at 100 Northampton St., in the SW corner of the Square); see www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 1 South 3rd Street (and sources cited therein).

Putting an upper bound on the lithograph’s date is more difficult. It clearly represents a date before the old Courthouse was removed in the 1860s, but more exactly can be dated to before the year 1860 itself. This is because the name “David Abel” can be identified in the larger Marx Room copy, located upstairs in the corner house located where the Porter’s Block was later constructed, and Weaver’s caption points to “David Abel’s Rope Store” as being in the picture at that location.

In fact, David Abel was listed in the 1855 City Directory as a rope maker at 1 South 3rd Street, with his house at 47 South 4th Street. C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA 13 (Cole & Eichman’s Office, 1855).

However, by 1860 David Abel had become a hotel-keeper at another location (81 Centre Square). See William H. Boyd, Boyd’s Directory of Reading, Easton, [Etc.] 117 (William H. Boyd 1860). Under the older numbering scheme, buildings on the South side of the Square were given even numbers, and odd numbers (such as 81 Centre Square) were located on the North side.

Some data suggests, further, that the Valois lithograph represents a period before the year 1855. Ethan Alley Weaver’s caption identified Abraham Correll’s Marble Yard in the corner of the SW Quadrant of the Square, next to the spot where the Jones Building would be built. However, Correll appears to have already left Centre Square by 1855, suggesting that the Valois lithograph represents a time before that year. C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA 21 (Cole & Eichman’s Office, 1855)(Abraham Correll, marble carver, at 40 South 5th Street).

However, Rev. Condit’s caption to the lithograph identified the marble yard as “Frey’s”. In 1855 Aaron Frey’s marble yard was located at 104 “public square”, which is consistent with this location. C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA 26 (Cole & Eichman’s Office, 1855). Although the Frey Family’s stoneworks business does not appear in Centre Square in 1860, A. Fry was identified in 1864 as a marble worker and dealer in Centre

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have been installed earlier, perhaps as early as the 1860s or 1870s.207 This tradition is partially corroborated by a picture of Northampton Street taken c.1880, which appears to show a street clock at the Bixler store’s second (and fourth) location at 406 Northampton Street.208 However, as indicated above, the Bixler store may have had a brief sojourn to the opposite of Northampton Street during the mid-1870s.

An old photograph of Northampton Street appears to also show a street clock suspended from a post in front of the Bixler homestead location, at 317-21 Northampton Street. It is not immediately clear from the picture whether the clock had been suspended in front of Daniel’s or William’s half of the

Square. Compare Talbot’s Lehigh Valley Gazetteer and Business Directory 1864-65 13 (Press of Wynkoop & Hallenbeck 1864)(A. Fry, marble worker and dealer, Centre Square) with William H. Boyd, Boyd’s Directory of Reading, Easton, [Etc.] 121 (William H. Boyd 1860)(Aaron Frey, miller; Levi Frey, marble-worker at 22 South 3rd Street).

A different picture (a photograph) published in Leonard S. Buscemi, Sr., Easton Remembered 114 (Buscemi Enterprises 2007) displays part of the Jones Building at the extreme right. Mr. Buscemi suggests this photograph may have been taken in 1852, but such a date is unlikely. Dr. Buscemi’s picture of the Bank shows a later (pillarless) façade for the Bank building, which was not the initial 1852 appearance of the bank building as shown in the Valois lithograph. Moreover, Dr. Buscemi’s photograph shows an “Agricultural Implements and Hardware Store” in the Jones Building. One likely suggestion for this is the John S. Osterstock seed and hardware store, which was not established in this location until approximately 1887. See American Journal of Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 20 (originally printed c.1903 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics)(established in 1887); Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton Pennsylvania 368 (The Union Publishing Co. 1914)(John S. Osterstock, hardware and seeds, 22 Centre Square); see Obituary, “John S. Osterstock”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 31 Dec. 1914, p.5, col.3 (established in the Centre Square building about 1886).

60 See Ethan Allen Weaver, “Forks of the Delaware” Illustrated xxiii (Easton: Eschenbach Press 1900)(picture at bottom center of the collage, and caption); cf. C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA 51 (Cole & Eichman’s Office, 1855)(M.F. Stillwell, editor, office at 102 Northampton Street – located in Centre Square under the numbering scheme in effect at that time).

61 See, e.g., Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 1910 (The West Job Printing House 1910); see Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 21 (The Union Publishing Co. 1914)(“Blocks, Buildings, Halls”, Jones Building at 22-24 Centre Square); H.P. Delano (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton Pennsylvania 25 (Union Publishing Co. Inc. 1925)(“Halls, Blocks, Buildings” entry for “Jones Building, 22-24 Centre Sq”); Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1944-45 (R.L.Polk & Co., Inc. 1945)(reverse directory for 22-24 Centre Square).

62 See Deed, Executor of Estate of William H. Kirkpatrick, et al., to Kenneth H. Mitman, 450 4 (1 Jan. 1979)(sale price $79,000). This deed recites the various family inheritances and wills involved. Matthew Hale Jones “the Elder’ willed the property to Matthew Hale Jones Jr. (who had two sons), Robert Innes Jones (died with no issue in 1898) and Elizabeth H. Kirkpatrick, the wife of William J. Kirkpatrick. Kirkpatrick was a Judge and U.S. Congressman – a brief summary of his carrer is included in the separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Dr. Innes Residence (Quandrant Bookstore) at 20 North 3rd Street.

63 See Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1962 Street and Avenue Guide 50 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1962); accord, Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1956 823 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1956); Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1955 882 (R.L. Polk & Co.

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building.209 That photograph is dated to 1897, after both branches of the Bixler Family no longer did any jewelry business there.210 This clock is almost certainly not the Bixler-Orr’s clock, because a photograph taken in 1940 by Clarence Felker showed both this clock and the Orr’s clock standing on opposite sides of Northampton Street.211

However, several later newspaper articles specifically dated the Bixler street clock’s installation to 1890, in front of the Bixler store’s third location at the SE corner of Northampton and 4th Streets (“the site now of the Lafayette Bank”).212 That is about the time that the store moved to that location.213 It is possible that this installation was, in fact, a relocation of an older clock from the prior store.

1955). 64 See Advertisement for H.A. Sage’s Wine and Liquor Store, ARGUS, Thurs., 5 Feb. 1863,

p.4, col.7; Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 110 (1873)(Henry A. Sage, liquors, at 104 Centre Square). See also Talbot’s Lehigh Valley Gazetteer and Business Directory 1864-65 28 (Press of Wynkoop & Hallenbeck 1864)(A.A. Sage, wholesale and retail wines and liquors, at 104 Centre Square – this is presumably a typographical error for H.A. Sage).

65 Fitzgerald & Dillon, Easton Directory for 1870-71 77 (Ringwalt & Brown 1870)(at 102 Centre Square).

66 Article, “The New Numbers”, EASTON DAILY FREE PRESS, Fri., 21 Nov. 1873, p.3, col.5; see also J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1877 124 (M.J. Riegel 1877).

Curiously, Henry Sage’s directory listing did not point to the H.A. Sage & Co. firm in 1877 (a manufacturer of leather belting, collars and harness at 353-55 Northampton Street). Instead, Edward H. Green was listed as a member of that firm. Id. Mr. Green was a former President of the Keystone Iron Company and a major landowner in Easton. See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 83 North 4th Street, and sources cited therein.

67 Article, “The New Numbers”, EASTON DAILY FREE PRESS, Fri., 21 Nov. 1873, p.3, col.5; Webb’s Easton and Phillipsburg Directory; 1875-6 112 (Webb Bros. & Co. 1875)(J.D. Sigman & Co. [with partner S.V.B. Kachline] hardware and cutlery at 22 Centre Square).

Partner S.V.B. Kachline also maintained his law office at the 23 Centre Square address. See Webb’s Easton and Phillipsburg Directory; 1875-6 70 (Webb Bros. & Co. 1875).

For additional information on John D. Sigman, see www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the J.D. Sigman House at 82 North West Street.

68 Northampton County Tax Records, www.ncpub.org. 69 Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 110 (1873); J.H. Lant,

Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1877 124 (M.J. Riegel 1877). It is interesting that, unlike the numbers for the rest of Easton, the Lehn’s Court number for this residence did not change. See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Easton Dollar Savings & Trust Co. Building at 8 Centre Square (discussion of 5-7 Lehn’s Court).

70 See John Eyerman, I The Grave-Yards of Northampton and Adjacent Counties in the State of Pennsylvania 48-49 (Easton: self-published June 1899); Rev. Uzal W. Condit, The History of Easton, Penn’a 78 (George W. West 1885 / 1889).

71 See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 8 Centre Square, and sources cited therein.

72 Obituary, “Henry A. Sage Has Passed Away”, EASTON EXPRESS, Mon., 4 Aug. 1913, p.5, col.2.

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At all events, the Bixler clock of 1890 was made of brass on an iron post and stand. It operated initially by a lead weight, which had to be wound, and the time had to be corrected by hand.214

As discussed above, in 1911 Christian Willis Bixler’s son, Arthur Bixler, moved the store across the street to the Pomp Building (on the NW corner of the intersection).215 At that time, to raise some needed cash,216 the street clock was sold Arthur’s cousin Fordham Bixler, of Orr’s Department Store, 306-12 Northampton Street.217 The clock thereafter became known as “Orr’s clock”.218

73 Although not listed in his obituary (see below), Henry Sage’s grave in Easton Cemetery is marked with a G.A.R. marker, indicating some Union Army service. See Easton Cemetery Find A Grave Memorial # 18945997, www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Sage&GSfn=Henry&GSiman=1&GScid=44735&GRid=18945997& (accessed 28 May 2011).

There are three listings for “Henry Sage” in Pennsylvania regiments during the Civil War.

In Company A of the 107th Regiment, Henry Sage was mustered into service on 2 January 1861, and mustered out on a Surgeon’s Certificate on 2 December 1862. Samuel P. Bates, III History of Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861-5 870 (P. Singerly, State Printer 1870).

If this is the correct listing, then Sage became ill while in military service, and started up his liquor store shortly after returning to Easton.

In Company I of the 97th Regiment, Henry Sage was drafted on 26 September 1864, and discharged by General Order on 28 June 1865. Samuel P. Bates, III History of Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861-5 456 (P. Singerly, State Printer 1870).

In Company C of the 119th Regiment, Henry Sage was mustered in on 12 September 1864, but is not listed on the muster-out roll. Samuel P. Bates, IV History of Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861-5 13 (P. Singerly, State Printer 1870).

If either of these latter two entries are Henry A. Sage of Easton, then he would have started his business in Centre Square and continued there in time to receive a listing in the 1864 city directory, but then had his business interrupted by a brief service at the end of the Civil War.

74 See Advertisement for H.A. Sage’s Wine and Liquor Store, ARGUS, Thurs., 5 Feb. 1863, p.4, col.7 (at 104 Centre Square); accord, Talbot’s Lehigh Valley Gazetteer and Business Directory 1864-65 28 (Press of Wynkoop & Hallenbeck 1864)(A.A. Sage, wholesale and retail wines and liquors, at 104 Centre Square – this is presumably a typographical error for H.A. Sage).

75 Obituary, “Henry A. Sage Has Passed Away”, EASTON EXPRESS, Mon., 4 Aug. 1913, p.5, col.2.

76 See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for Military Hall, 353-55 Northampton Street; J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1877 80, 124 (M.J. Riegel 1877)(H.A. Sage & Co., apparently as a successor to Henry Bender & Co. of 1875).

77 J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directo ry for 1883-4 121 (J.H. Lant 1883)(H.A. Sage, wholesale liquors at 348 Northampton Street, house at 9 Lehn’s Court).

78 Obituary, “Henry A. Sage Has Passed Away”, EASTON EXPRESS, Mon., 4 Aug. 1913, p.5, col.2.

79 J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1883-4 140 (J.H. Lant 1883)(W.G. Stewart and Frank W. Stewart of the firm of W.G. Stewart & Son, wholesale dry goods and notions, 24 Centre Square and 313 Pine Street); J.H. Lant, Easton, [Etc.] Directory for 1884-5 133-34 (J.H. Lant

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Just three years later, in 1915, the clock was knocked down by a truck, but restored in 1917. An electric movement was installed in 1918. It was knocked over again in 1935 by a skidding car, and again in 1980 by a milk truck. In March of 1987 a tractor-trailer brushed it, wrecking the face of the clock, and then in December of that year it was knocked down again by a LANTA bus, causing extensive damage.219 It was restored in 1988, at a cost of $12,000.220 In that year, it was also made the subject of a Christmas ornament, sold as part of a series to raise money for the Peace Candle.221 After Orr’s went out of business in 1991, the clock was repurchased in late 1994 by Bixler’s Jewelers. It was removed from its position in front of the old Orr’s store in 1995, to

1884)(same); George W. West (compiler), West’s Guide to Easton [Etc.] 145-46 (George W. West 1887)(same at only 24 Centre Square); George W. West, West’s Guide to Easton [Etc.] 216 (George W. West 1889)(same, but Frank W. Stewart is listed first instead of his father).

80 See Obituary, “Wm. G. Stewart Has Passed Away”, EASTON EXPRESS, Fri., 30 Apr. 1909, p.6, col.6; separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 133 North 2nd Street (and sources cited therein for history of John Stewart).

81 See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 133 North 2nd Street (father John Stewart and brother Edward F. Stewart), and entry for 123 North 2nd Street (brother Clement Stewart).

82 See Obituary, “Wm. G. Stewart Has Passed Away”, EASTON EXPRESS, Fri., 30 Apr. 1909, p.6, col.6. (birth date based on age of 82 at time of death); accord, 1900 Census, Series T623. Roll 1447, p.90A (William G. Stewart on Paxinosa Avenue, “Capitalist”, age 73, birth in 1827, wife Ella M. Stewart).

83 C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA 55 (Cole & Eichman’s Office, 1855)(William G. Stewart, merchant, 51 North 4th Street, residence at 67 Bushkill Street, under the street numbering scheme in effect at that time). The business address (in pre-1874 street numbers) refers to John Green’s building. See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 83 North 4th Street, then numbered 51 North 4th Street. Since (according to his Obituary, see below) he did not begin in the dry goods and notions business until 1860, and he was working in John Green’s building in 1855, it seems probable that he was actually working in John Green’s iron business.

84 Obituary, “Edward F. Stewart”, EASTON EXPRESS, Tues., 25 Feb. 1902, p.5, col.2. 85 See Obituary, “Wm. G. Stewart Has Passed Away”, EASTON EXPRESS, Fri., 30 Apr.

1909, p.6, col.6; accord, Fitzgerald & Dillon, Easton Directory for 1870-71 80 (Ringwalt & Brown 1870)(W.G. Stewart, notions, 73 Northampton Street); Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 121 (1873)(W.G. Stewart, “notions &c, wholesale”, at 73 Northampton Street under the numbering scheme in effect at that time); Webb’s Easton and Phillipsburg Directory; 1875-6 119 (Webb Bros. & Co. 1875)(William G. Stewart, wholesale notions at 17 South 3rd Street); J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1877 80 (M.J. Riegel 1877)(); 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.382C (William Stuart, “Merchant Dry” presumably meaning dry goods).

86 J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1877 135-36 (M.J. Riegel 1877). See also J.H. Lant, Easton, [Etc,] Directory for 1879 150 (M.J. Riegel 1879)(W.G. Stewart & Son at 21 South 3rd Street, wholesale notions). F.W. Stewart lived at 338 Spring Garden Street. See also separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for Green Duplex at 338-40 Spring Garden Street.

87 J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1883-4 140 (J.H. Lant 1883)(W.G. Stewart and Frank W. Stewart of the firm of W.G. Stewart & Son, wholesale dry goods and notions, 24 Centre Square and 313 Pine Street); J.H. Lant, Easton, Etc. Directory for 1884-5 133-34 (J.H. Lant 1884)(same); George W. West (compiler), West’s Guide to Easton [Etc.] 145-46 (George W.

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make way for the construction of Two Rivers Landing. The clock was then stored, and finally reinstalled in Centre Square in 1998,222 with the original C.W. Bixler inscription painted over the now-defunct “Orr’s” name by the new owners just below the clock’s face.223

When Bixler’s Jewelers closed in 2009,224 the clock remained in place. A source reported that an agreement was made in 2012 with the City, under which the Bixler Family owners (Phil Mitman and Joyce Mitman Welken) would keep the clock painted and maintained, while the City of Easton’s Public Works Department would keep the movement operable. By 2014, the clock was no longer operating, for lack of a properly

West 1887)(same at only 24 Centre Square); George W. West, West’s Guide to Easton [Etc.] 216 (George W. West 1889)(same, but Frank W. Stewart is listed first instead of his father).

88 1990 Census, Series T623, Roll 1447, p.90A(William G. Stewart – erroneously catalogued as William E. Stewart – “Capitalist”, age 73, residing on Paxinosa Avenue).

89 Obituary, “Wm. G. Stewart Has Passed Away”, EASTON EXPRESS, Fri., 30 Apr. 1909, p.6, col.6. He was still listed in the 1889 City Directory with the firm, although his son Frank’s name was listed first. George W. West, West’s Guide to Easton [Etc.] 216 (George W. West 1889). Both men were listed with the W.G. Stewart & Son firm in the 1892 and 1894 Directories, still with its addresses at 24 Centre Square and 313 Pine Street. George W. West (compiler), West’s Directory of Easton [Etc.] 209 (George W. West 1892); George W. West (compiler), Directory of Easton, [Etc.] 249 (George W. West 1894). They were still listed with it in 1896 as well, although the firm’s address was given (curiously) as 26 Centre Square. George W. West (compiler), Directory of Easton, [Etc.] 260 (George W. West 1896).

90 1910 Census, Series T624, Roll 1381, p.37A (Frank W. Stewart, real estate agent, age 60, and Frank W. Stewart Jr., lawyer, age 25).

91 1910 Census, Series T624, Roll 1381, p.37A (Frank W. Stewart, real estate agent, age 60, and Frank W. Stewart Jr., lawyer, age 25).

92 See generally separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 100 North 3rd Street. 93 Obituary, “F.W. Stewart Shoots Self. Real Estate and Insurance Broker Has Been Ill a

Long Time”, EASTON EXPRESS, Mon., 15 Sept. 1913, p.1, col.6. 94 See Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 20, 441 (Union

Publishing Co. 1920); separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 325-27 Northampton Street. 95 The 1897 Directory shows Correll’s new wholesale dry goods business at exactly the

same two addresses that the Stewarts had occupied previously – 24 Centre Square and 313 Pine Street, while William G. and Frank Stewart are both described as gentlemen. Northampton County Directory 1897 front matter advertisement page, and 90 (Easton Express 1897); see American Journal of Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 22 (originally printed c.1903 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics)(operated in Centre Square from 1896-99); Obituary, “Floyd Smith Bixler, 90, Dies; retired Wholesale Merchant”, EASTON EXPRESS, Friday, 17 Nov. 1933, p.1, col.1 (separate Correll firm established in 1897).

96 Portrait and Biographical Record of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon Counties, Pennsylvania 807-08 (Chapman Publishing Co. 1894, reprint by Higginson Book Company); accord, John W. Jordan, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 203 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.).

97 John W. Jordan, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 203 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.); contra, American Journal of

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functioning clock movement.225 The clock movement used at that time required about $40 of repair every four years, but the repairman had died. Although the owners determined that a new, more durable clock movement could be purchased, no progress was made. The owners eventually offered to sell the clock outright to the City, but pending those negotiations, the clock still remained under repair in 2017.226

Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 22 (originally printed c.1903 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics)(1896-99)(“born and educated in Easton”).

98 Jordan, Green & Ettinger, I Historic Homes, supra. 99 Easton Daily Express, Illustrated Industrial Edition 15 (Jan. 1893, reprint sold by

Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society); see Portrait and Biographical Record of Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon Counties, Pennsylvania 807-08 (Chapman Publishing Co. 1894, reprint by Higginson Book Company)(after 4 years of the partnership, “John Knecht was induced to erect the building they now occupy”).

100 American Journal of Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 22 (originally printed c.1903 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics); see Jordan, Green & Ettinger, I Historic Homes, supra (2 terms as President of Easton Common Council).

101 See Jordan, Green & Ettinger, I Historic Homes, supra (withdrew in 1897); American Journal of Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 22 (originally printed c.1903 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics)(withdrew in 1896); Obituary, “James Correll Dies at 91, Ill Two Years”, EASTON EXPRESS / EASTON ARGUS, Wed., 26 May 1943, p.1, col.3 (withdrew in 1897.

102 American Journal of Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 22 (originally printed c.1903 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics); see Northampton County Directory 1897 front matter advertisement page (Easton Express 1897)(James W. Correll, wholesale dry goods, notions and hosiery at 24 Centre Square and 313 Pine Street, suggesting that the Pine Street location may have also been in use by 1897).

103 Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 92 (1873)(George D. Lehn, livery at “Bank cor. Pine”); see D.G. Beers, Atlas of Northampton County Pennsylvania, Plan of Easton (A. Pomeroy & Co. 1874)(“G.D. Lehn Livery Stable” at SW corner); separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Grotz / George Lehn Row House at 115 North 2nd Street.

104 See above. No.313, just West of Third Street, appears to refer to the same property. 105 Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 175 (Union

Publishing Co. 1916). 106 Obituary, “James Correll Dies at 91, Ill Two Years”, EASTON EXPRESS / EASTON ARGUS,

Wed., 26 May 1943, p.1, col.3 (withdrew in 1897; see Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 1910 171 (The West Job Printing House 1910)(firm named “James W. Correll & Sons”); Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 72 (The Union Publishing Co. 1914)(advertisement shows name of firm was “James W. Correll & Sons”).

107 Obituary, “James Correll Dies at 91, Ill Two Years”, EASTON EXPRESS / EASTON ARGUS, Wed., 26 May 1943, p.1, col.3 (withdrew in 1897.

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108 Deed, Henry D. Maxwell, Trustee in Bankruptcy of James W. Correll, to Ida J. Correll, D43 514 (8 July 1916)(purchase price $16,010 bid and paid).

111 American Journal of Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 20 (originally printed c.1903 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics)(established in 1887); Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton Pennsylvania 368 (The Union Publishing Co. 1914)(John S. Osterstock, hardward and seeds, 22 Centre Square); see Obituary, “John S. Osterstock”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 31 Dec. 1914, p.5, col.3 (established in the Centre Square building about 1886).

112 Obituary, “John S. Osterstock”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 31 Dec. 1914, p.5, col.3 (about 1886). William H. Lawall was originally located in North 4th Street; in 1845 he built and occupied a new brick building at what is now 450-52 Northampton Street, which was later renamed the “Bricker Building” by William R. Bricker. See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entries for the Lawall-Bricker Building at 450-52 Northampton Street and the Express Building at 30 North 4th Street.

113 Obituary, “John S. Osterstock”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 31 Dec. 1914, p.5, col.3. 114 William J. Heller, II History of Northampton County and The Grand Valley of the Lehigh

325 (The American Historical Society 1920); see Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 97, 404 (Charles M. Barnard 1918)(John S. Osterstock & Co., hardware dealers, agricultural implements, “Clover, Timothy and Grass Seed”, 22 Centre Square).

The 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.456B shows Harry J. Osterstock, age 8, as one of two sons of John S. Osterstock, who was then a clerk in a store.

115 Marie and Frank Summa & Leonard Buscemi, Sr., Images of America: Historic Easton 71 (Arcadia Publishing 2000). The Easton College of Business (C.L. Free, proprietor) appears at 23 Centre Square in West’s Guide (Easton City Directory) for 1887. An entry for the Easton Business College in Centre Square appears in the 1883 Easton Directory (J.H. Lant), but no entry for either college name appears in the 1884 Directory.

116 American Journal of Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 7 (originally printed c.1903 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics)(C. Lincoln Free “presided over” the school, and had “devoted himself exclusive for seventeen years” to this instruction).

117 See Easton Area Community Center’s Easton History Club 2005 – 2006 (under direction of Leonard Buscemi, Sr.), A Chronological History of Easton, Pa. & Its Citizens 1700 – Present 19 (2006)(changed its name in 1901); but see American Journal of Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 7 (originally printed c.1903 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics)(article for the Easton College of Business).

118 See Charles M. Bernard, West’s Directory for City of Easton 1916 (The West Job Printing House 1916)(alphabetical listing for Easton School of Business)(no such listing found in 1918 edition). The same Directory for 1910 showed S.L. Jones as the President of the Easton

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School of Business, while listing William E. Churchman as the Manager. 119 Churchman managed the school from 1907 – 1911, and had been the Principal of the

Shorthand Department of the school from 1901 – 1907. George L. Seibel, Men of Easton and Phillipsburg (1920)(alphabetical listing). See also Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 1910 (The West Job Printing House 1910)(alphabetical listing for William E. Churchman, Manager, Easton School of Business located in the Jones Building, 22-24 Centre Square). See also Leonard S. Buscemi, Sr., The 1995 Easton-Phillipsburg Calendar unnumbered p.1 (Buscemi Enterprises 1994).

120 Article, “A History of Churchman Business College”, Easton Is Home, Heritage Edition 1998 51 (1998); see George L. Seibel, Men of Easton and Phillipsburg (1920)(alphabetical listing). See also Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 1912 (The West Job Printing House 1912)(alphabetical listing for Churchman Business College showing William E. Churchman as the co-proprietor with Russell E. Eckert). Accord, e.g., Easton Directories for 1914 through 1920.

121 The College moved to the Smith Bldg. at the NE corner of South 4th and Pine Streets in 1919, and then moved again in 1942 to Spring Garden Street. Article, “A History of Churchman Business College”, supra. See also Easton Is Home, Heritage Edition 13 (2003); Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 106-09 (Oct. 2002); Easton Area Community Center’s Easton History Club 2005 – 2006 (under direction of Leonard Buscemi, Sr.), A Chronological History of Easton, Pa. & Its Citizens 1700 – Present 21 (2006)(asserts Churchman opened at 355 Spring Garden St. on 4 Sept. 1910).

122 E.g., Bixler’s Jewelers’ Website, www.bixlers.com; Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 106-09 (Oct. 2002), summary available online at www.jckonline.com/article/293484-Preserving_History.php.

123 See Easton Is Home, Easton Christmas Book 2005 at 15; Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 106-09 (Oct. 2002); Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 80 (Carol Publishing Group 1989); Bixler’s Jewelers’ Website, www.bixlers.com; Ronald W. Wynkoop, The Old Home Town 118 (self published, 1977); Scott Hill, A Self Guided Tour . . . Historic Forks of the Delaware 3 (Eagle Scout Project, April 29, 1992)(copies sold by Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society); Obituary, “Owner Of Easton’s Oldest Business Establishment Founded in 1785, Dies At 63 After Week’s Illness”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 11 Oct. 1945, p.1, cols.5-6 (store established in 1785).

Bixler Family historian Floyd Bixler (one of Christian’s grandsons) at one point placed the beginning of the business in 1784, but elsewhere stated that Christian Bixler didn’t settle in Easton until 1787. Compare Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 15, 30 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates

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written in 1930) with id. at 15.

Easton’s tax lists (originals located in the Northampton County Archives) do not show Christian Bixler until he appears as a “Single Freeman” in a list dated 23 February 1788. Some secondary sources have used this later date for the opening of the Bixler business. John W. Jordan, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 110-11 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.)(store established in 1788, Bixler came to Easton in 1785); Obituary, “C. Willis Bixler”, EASTON EXPRESS, Mon., 31 Aug. 1908, p.5, col.2 (jewelry business established in 1788). See also Marie and Frank Summa & Leonard S. Buscemi Sr., Images of America: Historic Easton 48 (Arcadia Publishing 2000)(places the opening in 1787).

A photo display of one of Christian Bixler’s tall clocks, made in 1805, is available from the Adams Brown Company of Cranbury, NJ on their website at www.adamsbrown.com/bixler.

The formal deed to what became the Bixler Family homestead property at the NE corner of Bank and Northampton Streets was not concluded until 1789. Deed, Penn Family to Christian Bixler, A2 559 (9 Nov. 1789); A.D. Chidsey, Jr., The Penn Patents in the Forks of the Delaware Plan of Easton, Map 2 (Vol. II of Publications of the Northampton County Historical and Genealogical Society 1937). However, many deeds in Easton were concluded in that year, after the property owners had unofficially occupied them for some time prior to concluding formal agreements with the Penn Family.

124 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 80 (Carol Publishing Group 1989). These included, among others, the Easton Union Academy, and the Easton Water Company. See Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 30, 35-36 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930).

130 Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 113, 122 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930)(born 4 July 1839, died 21 May 1925).

131 William H. Boyd, Boyd’s Directory of Reading, Easton, [Etc.] 118 (William H. Boyd 1860)(Rush H. Bixler, watchmaker, house at 227 Ferry Street; Daniel L. Bixler, clerk, house at 227 Ferry Street); 1860 Census, Series M653, Roll 1147, p.387 (Rush H. Bixler, silversmith [apprentice?], age 20, listed as part of the household of Daniel L. Bixler, age 50).

132 See Obituary, “Rush H. Bixler Dies in Hospital – Civil War Veteran Is Victim of Heart Trouble”, EASTON EXPRESS, Wed., 20 May 1925, p.5, col.5 (served as a private in Company D, 28th Regiment of Pennsylvania Militia under Captain W.A. Thompson and Captain Jacob Hay, from 3 July until 7 August 1863); Samuel P. Bates, V History of Pennsylvania Volunteers 1861-5 1222-28, 1261-62 (P. Singerly, State Printer 1869)(makes clear this was an Emergency Militia regiment). The 38th Emergency Regiment did see some brief service “enforcing authority” in civilian areas after the Confederate Army retired. Id. at 1229.

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133 Talbot’s Lehigh Valley Gazetteer and Business Directory 1864-65 5 (Press of Wynkoop & Hallenbeck 1864); Fitzgerald & Dillon, Easton Directory for 1870-71 30 (Ringwalt & Brown 1870); Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 55 (1873).

134 See Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 95 (1873)(Mack & Edelman, and E.B. Mack at 150 Northampton Street). The Mack stove store was located in the Groetzinger Building, which became 406-08 Northampton Street under the new numbering scheme. This appears to place Bixler’s jewelry next door, at the location now numbered 406 Northampton Street. (That is in the building which was replaced by the Odenwelder Building in approximately 1908). The 1874 “New Numbers” article (see below) does confirm that address as a jewelry store, although not listed in that year to Rush Bixler (see below).

135 Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 55 (1873). 136 1870 Census, Series M593, Roll 1382, p.82. 137 The Article, “The New Numbers”, EASTON DAILY FREE PRESS, Friday, 21 Nov. 1873,

p.3, lists Walter Hamman’s jewelry store at 406 Northampton (with W.G. Detweiler at No.408, and the Mack & Edelman stove store at No.410), tending to confirm the location.

138 1870 Census, Series M593, Roll 1382, p.129 (back) shows Walter Hamman at age 18, living in the Easton household of bank teller William Hamman (apparently, his father).

139 Webb Bros. & Co., Webb’s Easton and Phillipsburg Directory 1875-6 58 (M.J. Riegel 1875)(Walter Hammann, watches and jewelry at 406 Northampton Street, house 1134 Northampton Street); J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1877 82 (M.J. Riegel 1877)(Walter Hammann, jeweler at 406 Northampton Street, house 1132 Northampton Street).

140 J.H. Lant, Easton, [Etc,] Directory for 1879 87 (M.J. Riegel 1879)(Walter Hammann, watchmaker, 141 Northampton Street, house 1132 Northampton Street); J.H. Lant & Son, Easton [Etc.] Directory 1881-2 51 (1881)(Walter Hammann, watchmaker, 10 South 4th Street, house 1132 Northampton Street); J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1883-4 60 (J.H. Lant 1883)(same); J.H. Lant & Son, Easton [Etc.] Directory 1884-5 61 (1884)(same).

141 Obituary, “Walter Hammann Dies In Phila.”, EASTON EXPRESS, Sat., 8 Oct. 1927, p.2, col.7.

142 See Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 24 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930); www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 215 Northampton Street and sources listed therein.

143 The firm was still listed as Bixler & Fox in 1879, and Elwood was just listed as a jeweler living at his mother’s address of 315 Northampton Street. See J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1879 58 (M.J. Riegel 1879).

His mother, Sophia Bixler, died on 18 May 1879. Henry F. Marx (compiler), I Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1871 – 1884 Newspaper Extracts 161 (Easton Area Public Library 1935). J. Elwood Bixler took control of the firm thereafter. See Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine

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and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 24 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930); J.H. Lant & Son, Easton [Etc.] Directory 1881-2 (1881)(alphabetical listing for J.E. Bixler, jeweler, evidently referring to J. Elwood Bixler). See generally John W. Jordan, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 110-11 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.); John W. Jordan, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 111 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.).

Eli Fox left the Bixler firm in 1880, to start his own jewelry store. Obituary, “Eli Fulmer Passes Away”, EASTON EXPRESS, Sat., 12 Dec. 1931, p.1, col.2; accord, American Journal of Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 21 (written c.1902 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics)(opened 1880); see J.H. Lant & Son, Easton [Etc.] Directory 1881-2 41 (1881).

144 Henry F. Marx (compiler), III Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1871 – 1884 Newspaper Extracts 665 (Easton Area Public Library 1935)(Walter Hamman married Mollie T. Barr of Phildelphia on 22 May 1878).

145 See Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 55, 71 (1873)(alphabetical listings, Bixler and E.M. Fox). See generally separate www.WalkingEaston.com listing for 32 North 3rd Street, where Eli M. Fox lived.

146 Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 71 (1873)(E.M. Fox of Bixler & Fox, house at 115 Northampton Street under the street numbering scheme in effect at that time); Webb Bros. & Co., Webb’s Easton and Phillipsburg Directory 1875-6 28, 49 (M.J. Riegel 1875)(Eli Fox of Bixler & Fox, house at 317 Northampton Street); J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1877 75 (M.J. Riegel 1877)(E.M. Fox of Bixler & Fox, house at 315 Northampton Street); J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1879 79 (M.J. Riegel 1879)(same); see also www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Bixler-Nightengale Building at 315-21 Northampton Street.

154 Obituary, “Rush H. Bixler Dies in Hospital – Civil War Veteran Is Victim of Heart Trouble”, EASTON EXPRESS, Wed., 20 May 1925, p.5, col.5 (“for many years a jeweler and watchmaker in this city” “for a number of years was located at Fourth and Northampton street”).

Other dating listed in this obituary is consistent with his retirement from the business only well after 1890, possibly not until the 20th Century. The 1925 obituary indicates that “following his occupation” he “resided in the West for a short time”. He had then spent 12 years in a Soldiers’ Home in Erie [Pa.?], and another two years at a Soldiers’ Home in Hampton Roads, Va., before returning to Easton where his medical condition sent him to Easton Hospital.

155 Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 108 (Oct. 2002), lists the SE corner of Northampton and 4th Streets as the store’s “third location”.

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156 J.H. Lant, Easton, [Etc.] Directory for 1879 58 (M.J. Riegel 1879). 157 Deed, William J. (Ebegena H.) Harmony, et al., to Levi Rosenbaum, B15 366 (23 Mar.

1876). 158 Rosenbaum was still listed at 419 Northampton Street in 1877, the year after he

purchased the building at No.407. J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1877 122 (M.J. Riegel 1877).

Rosenbaum had clearly moved to the new location by the listing in the 1879 Directory. J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1879 135 (M.J. Riegel 1879)(L. Rosenbaum, millinery at 407 Northampton Street, residence at 327 Lehigh Street).

159 See George W. West (compiler), West’s Directory for Easton [Etc.] 52 (George W. West 1889)(C. Willis Bixler, jeweler, at 406 Northampton Street). Accord, Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 107 (Oct. 2002)(C. Willis Bixler moved to second location; picture showing store on South side of Northampton St.); Photograph of Northampton Street c.1880 in possession of Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society (apparently showing the Bixler street clock outside the location in the 400 Block of Northampton Street)

160 See www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Odenwelder Building at 404-06 Northampton Street, and sources cited therein.

161 J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1877 55 (M.J. Riegel 1877); J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1879 58 (M.J. Riegel 1879).

162 Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 124 (1873)(at 24 Bushkill Street, under the numbering scheme in effect at that time); Article, “The New Numbers”, EASTON DAILY FREE PRESS, Thursday, 4 Dec. 1873, p.3; 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.385B (wholesale grocer); 1900 Census, Series T623, Roll 1447, p.57A; but see Joseph H. Werner, Census Directory of Northampton County (Eleventh U.S. Census, 1890) 88 (Joseph H. Werner 1891)(Henry G. Tombler, wholesale grocer, at 124 Bushkill Street).

163 1880 Census, Series T9, Roll 1161, p.385B. 164 See Obituary, “Owner Of Easton’s Oldest Business Establishment Founded in 1785, Dies

At 63 After Week’s Illness”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 11 Oct. 1945, p.1, cols.5-6. This obituary names C. Willis Bixler and Fannie Tombler Bixler as Arthur Brookfield Bixler’s parents. Accord, Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 114 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930)(Christian Willis Bixler married Fanny Tombler, daughter of Henry G. Tombler).

But see Obituary, “C. Willis Bixler”, EASTON EXPRESS, Mon., 31 Aug. 1908, p.5, col.2 (C. Willis Bixler lived from birth to death at 643 Ferry Street).

165 J.H. Lant & Son, Easton [Etc.] Directory 1881-2 18 (1881)(C.W. Bixler, jeweler at 406 Northampton Street, house at 121 Bushkill Street); see also Census Directory of Northampton

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County, Eleventh U.S. Census, 1890 (Joseph H. Werner, assisted by Geo. W. West 1891), A-D transcribed online at www.bethlehempaonline.com/beth1890/eastoncityabc.html; George W. West (compiler), West’s Directory of Easton [Etc.] 42 (George W. West 1892)(C.W. Bixler, jewelery at the corner of Northampton and 4th Street, house at 119 Bushkill Street). But see Obituary, “C. Willis Bixler”, EASTON EXPRESS, Mon., 31 Aug. 1908, p.5, col.2 (C. Willis Bixler lived from birth to death at 643 Ferry Street).

166 Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 113 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930). According to this source, Daniel Bixler was born in 1810.

167 Compare George W. West (compiler), West’s Directory of Easton [Etc.] 42 (George W. West 1892)(C.W. Bixler, house at 119 Bushkill Street) with George W. West (compiler), Directory of Easton, [Etc.] 52 (George W. West 1894)(C. Willis Bixler, house at 643 Ferry Street); George W. West (compiler), Directory of Easton, [Etc.] 22 (George W. West 1896)(same). See also 1900 Census, Series T623, Roll 1447, p.153B.

168 C[harles] Kitchen, A General Directory of the Borough of Easton PA 15 (Cole & Eichman’s Office, 1855)(D.L. Bixler, sup. Water Works, house at 227 Ferry Street); William H. Boyd, Boyd’s Directory of Reading, Easton, [Etc.] 118 (William H. Boyd 1860)(Daniel L. Bixler, clerk, house 227 Ferry Street); Fitzgerald & Dillon, Easton Directory for 1870-71 30 (Ringwalt & Brown 1870)(Daniel L. Bixler, clerk, Farmers’ and Mechanics’ Bank, house 227 Ferry Street); Jeremiah H. Lant, The Northampton County Directory for 1873 55 (1873)(Daniel L. Bixler, clerk, house at 227 Ferry Street); Webb Bros. & Co., Webb’s Easton and Phillipsburg Directory 1875-6 27 (M.J. Riegel 1875)(Daniel L. Bixler, bookkeeper, Easton National Bank, house 643 Ferry Street); J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1877 55 (M.J. Riegel 1877)(Daniel L. Bixler, house 643 Ferry Street); J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1879 58 (M.J. Riegel 1879)(Daniel L. Bixler, bookkeeper, house at 643 Ferry Street); Obituary, “BIXLER”, EASTON EXPRESS, Tues., 13 Dec. 1892, p.2, col.2 (Daniel Lewis Bixler died at his residence at 643 Ferry Street).

169 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 85 (Carol Publishing Group 1989); Obituary, “C. Willis Bixler”, EASTON EXPRESS, Mon., 31 Aug. 1908, p.5, col.2.

Both of these sources, however, pose elements of doubt. Buchholz and Crane state that the house was built for Daniel Bixler “when he married Catharona Opp on April 26, 1789.” This date is erroneous – Daniel Bixler was not born until 1810 (see above), and it was Christian Bixler III who married Catharine Opp. John W. Jordan, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 111 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.); see www.WalkingEaston.com entry for the Hotel Lafayette at 11 North 4th Street.

Willis Bixler’s obituary is also erroneous in certain related respects: for example, it insists that the Ferry Street property had been owned by the Bixler Family for 135 years (i.e. from 1773) despite the fact that Christian Bixler did not come to Easton until 1785. The obituary also insists that

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Willis Bixler lived from birth to death in the Ferry Street house, despite addresses at other locations found in the city directories (see above).

171 Compare George W. West (compiler), West’s Directory for Easton [Etc.] 52 (George W. West 1889)(C. Willis Bixler, jeweler, at 406 Northampton Street) with George W. West (compiler), West’s Directory of Easton [Etc.] 60 (George W. West 1892)(C. Willis Bixler, jeweler, at 4th and Northampton Street). See also George W. West (compiler), West’s Directory of Easton [Etc.] 42 (George W. West 1892)(C.W. Bixler, jewelery at the corner of Northampton and 4th Street); George W. West (compiler), Directory of Easton, [Etc.] 52 (George W. West 1894)(C. Willis Bixler, jewelry at 358 Northampton Street); George W. West (compiler), Directory of Easton, [Etc.] 22 (George W. West 1896)(same). This indicates the move took place between 1889 and 1892. The repeated references to the street clock having been installed in 1890 at the 4th and Northampton Street address (see sources below) suggests that the move actually took place in 1890.

Accord, Article, “Bixler’s New Location”, EASTON EXPRESS, 7 July 1911, p.1, col.6 (“The C. W. Bixler Jewelry Company, that now has its store in the Smith building, southeast corner of Fourth and Northampton street, has leased the room on the first floor of the Pomp building, northwest corner of the same thoroughfare”); accord, Ronald Wynkoop Sr., It Seems Like Yesterday 341 (self-published 1989)(1906 picture of South side of Northampton Street 300 block, showing C.W. Bixler Jewelers at SE corner of 4th and Northampton Streets); Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 108 (Oct. 2002)(picture said to be dated to 1900 of Bixler’s “third location at Fourth and Northampton” Streets; picture of exterior of Pomp Building described as “One of Bixler’s locations”).

See also George W. West (compiler), Directory of Easton City 24 (George W. West 1906); Charles M. Bernard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 30 (The Easton Directory Company 1908); Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 1910 91 (The West Job Printing House 1910); Charles M. Barnard (compiler), West’s Directory for City of Easton 1912 118 (The Easton Directory Company 1912).

Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 81 (Carol Publishing Group 1989) states that the name of the business under Willis and Rush Bixler was W.W. Bixler & Co. This is apparently an error, possibly caused by misreading “C.W.” Bixler as “W.W.” Bixler.

172 Advertisement, EASTON EXPRESS, Tues., 13 Dec. 1892, p.2. This is the same page on which Daniel L. Bixler’s brief obituary notice was printed.

173 Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 108 (Oct. 2002).

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174 Obituary, “C. Willis Bixler”, EASTON EXPRESS, Mon., 31 Aug. 1908, p.5, col.2; see also Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 114 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930)(Christian Willis Bixler born 1 Oct. 1846, died 31 Aug. 1908).

175 1900 Census, Series T623, Roll 1447, p.153B (Arthur B. Bixler, age 8, son of C. Willis and Francis Bixler, at 643 Ferry Street); Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 24, 113-14 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930); accord, Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 80-81 (Carol Publishing Group 1989).

176 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 81 (Carol Publishing Group 1989).

177 Article, “Bixler’s New Location”, EASTON EXPRESS, 7 July 1911, p.1, col.6 (“The C. W. Bixler Jewelry Company, that now has its store in the Smith building, southeast corner of Fourth and Northampton street, has leased the room on the first floor of the Pomp building, northwest corner of the same thoroughfare, at present occupied by W. S. Pursel’s clothing and furnishing store, and will occupy the same about the 15th of September, after extensive improvements”).

178 Article, “Pomp Building Sold to Bixler”, EASTON EXPRESS / EASTON ARGUS, Monday, 20 Oct. 1919, p.1, col.3 (sale to A.B. Bixler & Co., jewelers, who already occupy the first floor).

179 See Easton Is Home, Heritage Edition 13 (2003); Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 108 (Oct. 2002); West’s Easton, Pa and Phillipsburg, NJ Directory 617 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1932)(Arthur B. Bixler, jeweler at 24 Centre Square, while Singer Stores clothing and other tenants listed at 22 Centre Square).

183 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 81 (Carol Publishing Group 1989).

125 Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 24 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930). See generally John W. Jordan, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 110-11 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.). But see Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 80 (Carol Publishing Group 1989)(Christian Bixler died in 1811 – although this same source on the same page indicates that Bixler continued to make grandfather clocks until 1812).

126 See Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 24, 38, 44 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930).

127 See Notice of Seizure from Daniel L. Bixler and Sheriff’s Sale, Deed Book Shff 2 141 (19 April 1852); Deed from John Bachman Sheriff to John A. Nightengale, Deed Book F8 138 (27

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April 1852); see Mortgage Deed, John F. Magee, Jr., Executor for Elizabeth A. Magee, to Easton National Bank & Trust Co., Deed Book 571 200 (8 Sept. 1977)(ownership recital for 321 Northampton St. property, dates sheriff’s sale to 1852). But see Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 24, 38, 44 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930)(states that after Daniel moved out of his portion of the Northampton Street family homestead in 1854, L.M. Cohen, a Philadelphia merchant, operated hardware store there from 1854-55, and then the property was sold to Nightengale).

128 See Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 24, 113-14 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930)(states that two of Daniel’s children continued the jewelry business); accord, Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 80-81 (Carol Publishing Group 1989). See generally Jane S. Moyer (compiler), II Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1885-1902 Newspaper Extracts 60 (Easton Area Public Library 1976)(Daniel Bixler’s sons included C. Willis Bixler and Rush H. Bixler).

129 See, e.g., Obituary, “Floyd Smith Bixler, 90, Dies; retired Wholesale Merchant”, EASTON EXPRESS, Friday, 17 Nov. 1933, p.1, col.1. See generally Jane S. Moyer (compiler), II Marriages and Deaths Northampton County 1885-1902 Newspaper Extracts 60 (Easton Area Public Library 1976)(Daniel Bixler’s sons included Floyd S. Bixler); www.WalkingEaston.com entry for Floyd Bixler Residence at 206 Spring Garden Street.

147 Obituary, “Eli Fulmer Passes Away”, EASTON EXPRESS, Sat., 12 Dec. 1931, p.1, col.2; accord, American Journal of Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 21 (written c.1902 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics)(opened 1880). Fox’s nephew was Eli Fulmer – the separate store became the Fox & Fulmer “jewelry palace of Easton” initially located at 345 Northampton Street (the Fraley Building). See American Journal of Progress, “Greater Easton of To-day” 21 (written c.1902 during Mayor B. Rush Field’s second 3-year term, reprinted courtesy of W-Graphics); J.H. Lant & Son, Easton [Etc.] Directory 1881-2 41 (1881). See generally Photograph of Northampton Street 300 Block c. 1880 in possession of Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society, showing the store.; www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 345 Northampton Street.

148 As seen above, Walter Hammann had his own watchmaker shop address in the early 1880s, until the 1884-5 City Directory. J.H. Lant & Son, Easton [Etc.] Directory 1884-5 61 (1884). However, beginning in 1887, he was listed as a jeweler, showing only his home address at 1132 Northampton Street. It seems likely that his employment with Elwood Bixler started before that time, and continued until Elwood Bixler’s death. See George W. West (compiler), West’s Guide to Easton [Etc.] 53 (George W. West 1887); George W. West (compiler), West’s Directory for Easton, [Etc.] 102 (George W. West 1889).

149 Obituary, “Walter Hammann Dies In Phila.”, EASTON EXPRESS, Sat., 8 Oct. 1927, p.2, col.7.

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150 William J. Heller, III History of Northampton County and the Grand Valley of the Lehigh 316-17 (American Historical Society 1920); accord, John W. Jordan, Edgar Moore Green & George T. Ettinger, I Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of the Lehigh Valley Pennsylvania 111 (The Lewis Publishing Co. 1905, reprint by Higginson Book Co.).

151 Webb Bros. & Co., Webb’s Easton and Phillipsburg Directory 1875-6 27, 295 (M.J. Riegel 1875)(C. Willis Bixler, watches &c., 407 Northampton Street, home at the corner of Ferry and Walnut Streets); J.H. Lant, Easton [Etc.] Directory for 1877 55 (M.J. Riegel 1877)(C.W. Bixler, watchmaker and jeweler, 407 Northampton Street, house at 132 Bushkill Street).

152 See Floyd Smith Bixler, The Vine and Background of Christian Bixler, 3 rd and Some Collateral Branches 24, 113-14 (typed by Edith Jane Stires, undated but text at 15 indicates written in 1930)(states that two of Daniel’s children continued the jewelry business); accord, Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 80-81 (Carol Publishing Group 1989). See also 1860 Census, Series M653, Roll 1147, p.387 (Willis Bixler, age 13, living in Daniel L. Bixler’s household).

Accordingly, he is not Rush Bixler’s son, also named Willis, shown in the 1870 Census, Series M593, Roll 1382, p.82 as being 3 months old.

153 Obituary, “C. Willis Bixler”, EASTON EXPRESS, Mon., 31 Aug. 1908, p.5, col.2. 184 Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers

Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 107 (Oct. 2002).185 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the

Family Firm 81 (Carol Publishing Group 1989); see generally Obituary, “Owner Of Easton’s Oldest Business Establishment Founded in 1785, Dies At 63 After Week’s Illness”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 11 Oct. 1945, p.1, cols.5-6.

186 Compare Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 81 (Carol Publishing Group 1989)(Aunt Clara) with Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 107 (Oct. 2002)(Arthur Bixler’s sister).

187 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 81 (Carol Publishing Group 1989).

188 Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 107 (Oct. 2002).

189 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 82 (Carol Publishing Group 1989). This article does not specify the year in which the car was sold, but indicates that he borrowed his father’s 1948 Buick.

190 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 82 (Carol Publishing Group 1989).

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191 Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 107 (Oct. 2002)(façade renovation in 1955 with stone from Unitarian Church being renovated); Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 82 (Carol Publishing Group 1989)(drop ceiling and store front in late 1950s).

192 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 82 (Carol Publishing Group 1989).

193 Article, “Blaze Damages Top Floor Of Jones Building”, EASTON EXPRESS, Thurs., 2 Feb. 1961, p.1, col.5. This article correctly referred to the Jones Building, suggesting that the custom of misapplying the Bixler name to this building grew up at a later date.

The prior fire suffered b the Hellenic Community Center organization was at the “Grube and Betts Building”

194 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 82 (Carol Publishing Group 1989).

However, Polk’s City Directories show the Triangle Shoe Store located at 22 Centre Square in both 1966 and 1967. It was not until 1968 that only the Bixler listing at 24 Centre Square appears. Compare Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1966 Street and Avenue Guide 53 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1966) and Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1967 Street and Avenue Guide 24 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1967) with Polk’s Easton and Phillipsburg City Directory 1966 Street and Avenue Guide 69 (R.L. Polk & Co. 1968)

195 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 81 (Carol Publishing Group 1989).

196 Deed, Executor of Estate of William H. Kirkpatrick, et al., to Kenneth H. Mitman, 450 4 (4 Jan. 1973). This deed contains a detailed recital of the various owners of partial interests in the property, based upon their relationships back to the original acquisition by Attorney Matthew Hale Jones from Peter Miller’s heir in 1849. Mathew Hale Jones’s will gave partial interests to three people (apparently his children):

o Robert Innes Jones, who died intestate on 31 Oct. 1898.

o Matthew Hale Jones Jr., who died intestate on 26 May 1913, leaving two sons: (1) Matthew Hale Jones III, who died on 15 Oct. 1914 leaving heirs by will, and (2) Robert Innes Jones Jr., who died 28 May 1919, age 29, leaving a Widow Emily Stewart Jones (later Emily Stewart Bisset).

o Elizabeth H. Kirkpatrick (died 24 Jar. 1918), wife of William S. Kirkpatrick (died3 Nov. 1932), leaving family. William S. Kirkpatrick was at various times the President Judge of the Pennsylvania Third Judicial District Court, Attorney-General of Pennsylvania, and a U.S. Congressman. See separate www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 20 North 3rd Street, and sources cited therein.

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197 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 83-85 (Carol Publishing Group 1989); see also Jennifer Heebner, “Preserving History, How Heirs to the 217-Year-Old Bixler’s Jewelers Keep the Past Alive”, Jewelers Circular Keystone (trade publication) 107 (Oct. 2002).

198 Barbara B. Buchholz and Margaret Crane, Corporate Bloodlines: The Future of the Family Firm 86 (Carol Publishing Group 1989).

199 Thomas Kupper, “Couple Chooses Bethlehem for 3rd Store”, MORNING CALL, Fri., 21 Apr. 1995, p.B-8 (Bixler’s jewelry store at 512 Main Street in Bethlehem closed “at the end of the [1994] Christmas season after 18 years in Bethlehem”).

200 Final Accounting, Kathryn B. Mitman, Executrix of the Will of Kenneth A. Mitman, to Philip B. Mitman, Joyce M. Weleken , and Summit Bank as trustees, 2002-1-310026 (25 Oct. 2002).

201 See Tom Zanki, “Jewelers merge operations: BIXLER’S JOINS FORCES with Avalon Mauer and Bash of Whitehall Twp.”, EXPRESS-TIMES, Sat., 11 Nov. 2006, p.A-9; accord, AllBusiness (a D&B Company), “Oldest jeweler Bixler’s merges with Avalon, Mauer and Bash”, NATIONAL JEWELERS NETWORK, Mon., 13 Nov. 2006, online at www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-miscellaneous/4223344-1.html (accessed 29 Dec. 2008).

Despite the EXPRESS-TIMES headline spelling, the correct name of the predecessor firm was Avalon, Maurer & Bash Co., according to a telephone conversation with Joyce Welken on Saturday, 29 Dec. 2008; accord, Bixler’s website, www.bixlers.com/warranty.html (accessed 29 Dec. 2008)(under “Diamond Trade Policy” heading). The text of the EXPRESS-TIMES article reporting on the merger spelled it both as “Mauer” and “Maurer” at different points.

202 Colin McEvoy and Edward Sieger, “Easton gem to close next year, Bixler’s Jewelers to shut its Centre Square store, to remain open in Whitehall Township”, EXPRESS-TIMES, Thurs., 6 Nov. 2008, p.A1; see also Editorial, “Bixler’s closing hard blow for Easton”, EXPRESS-TIMES, Fri., 7 Nov. 2008, p.A-8.

A telephone conversation with Joyce Welken on Saturday, 20 Dec. 2008, established that the car crash at the Allentown store did not take place a week after that store’s opening, contrary to the EXPRESS-TIMES editor’s understanding. Accord, AllBusiness (a D&B Company), “Oldest jeweler Bixler’s merges with Avalon, Mauer and Bash”, NATIONAL JEWELERS NETWORK, Mon., 13 Nov. 2006, online at www.allbusiness.com/retail-trade/miscellaneous-retail-miscellaneous/4223344-1.html (accessed 29 Dec. 2008)(South Whitehall Township store scheduled to close by the end of the year).

203 Colin McEvoy and Edward Sieger, “Easton gem to close next year, Bixler’s Jewelers to shut its Centre Square store, to remain open in Whitehall Township”, EXPRESS-TIMES, Thurs., 6 Nov. 2008, p.A1; see also Editorial, “Bixler’s closing hard blow for Easton”, EXPRESS-TIMES, Fri., 7 Nov. 2008, p.A-8.

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204 Deed, Kenneth A. Mitman and Joyce M. Welken, Trustees under the Will of Kenneth H. Mitman, to Osmaro LLC, 2009-1-181744 (24 June 2009); see Northampton County Tax Records, www.ncpub.org. The Parcel ID is identified as L9SE2A 17 4 0310.

205 Hollie Cummings, “Dining with the Irregular – Frozenlandia”, The Easton Irregular Easton Christmas Book 40 (Winder 2013).

206 Madeleine Mathias, “Old Face, New Place – Easton’s Landmark Clock Shows Its Face Again – Old Orr’s Timepiece Comes Home to Original Owners at Centre Square”, MORNING CALL, Sat., 4 Apr. 1998, p.B-8.

207 Heebner, “Preserving History”, supra at 107. This article states that the clock was in place “By the time Bixler’s moved to its second location”, and shows an old photograph of the clock “outside the second Bixler store”. The directory listings above indicate that the store had probably moved to its second address by 1860, probably at the location that became 406 Northampton Street. Ms. Heebner has not dated the photograph of the clock at the “second location”, and although it appears to be of South side of Northampton Street looking towards Centre Square, it is not immediately clear whether it refers to the location at 406 Northampton Street, or the later (1890) location at the SE corner of Northampton and 4th Streets.

208 Photograph c. 1880 in possession of the Northampton County Historical & Genealogical Society showing street clock in front of Bixler’s location in the building at 404-06 Northampton Street; Leonard S. Buscemi, Sr., The 1998 Easton-Phillipsburg Calendar unnumbered p.39 (Buscemi Enterprises 1997)(street scene showing clock on South side of Northampton St.).

209 Ronald Wynkoop, A Time to Remember 131 (self published, 1985)(picture dated 1897). The same picture was published in Easton Is Home, Heritage Edition 2001 40 (2001), and there (incorrectly) identified as the Fox & Fulmers Jewelry Store.

210 While Eli Fox and Eli Fulmer had worked for Mrs. William Bixler, they had left that Bixler firm in 1880 (upon son J. Elwood Bixler joining the firm), to open their own store at 345 Northampton Street. By 1897, J. Elwood Bixler was also dead, and his Bixler’s store had become the photographic business of Kreidler & Crider. The 1897 photograph appears to show the name of Kreidler & Crider over the store, although the clarity is in doubt.

Meanwhile, Fox and Fulmer apparently had their own clock. After Eli Fox’s death in 1901, Eli Fulmer moved their jewelry business to 421 Northampton Street in 1907. When Fulmer sold that building in 1928, there was a street clock in front of it, which he donated to the City. See www.WalkingEaston.com entry for 421 Northampton Street. It is not presently known when this Fox & Fulmer clock was first installed.

211 See Article, “Photograph Makes Time Stand Still”, MORNING CALL, Mon., 6 May 1991, p.B-3.

212 E.g., Madeleine Mathias, “Old Face, New Place – Easton’s Landmark Clock Shows Its Face Again – Old Orr’s Timepiece Comes Home to Original Owners at Centre Square”, MORNING CALL, Sat., 4 Apr. 1998, p.B-8; accord, Article, “Bus topples Orr’s clock”, EASTON EXPRESS,

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Sat., 5 Dec. 1987, p.A-1, cols.1-3, & A-2 (97 year old clock); Article, “Orr’s Clock on Hiatus”, MORNING CALL, Fri., 7 Apr. 1995, p.B-1.

213 Compare George W. West (compiler), West’s Directory for Easton [Etc.] 52 (George W. West 1889)(C. Willis Bixler, jeweler, at 406 Northampton Street) with George W. West (compiler), West’s Directory of Easton [Etc.] 60 (George W. West 1892)(C. Willis Bixler, jeweler, at 4th and Northampton Street). This indicates the move took place between 1889 and 1892.

214 Madeleine Mathias, “Old Face, New Place – Easton’s Landmark Clock Shows Its Face Again – Old Orr’s Timepiece Comes Home to Original Owners at Centre Square”, MORNING CALL, Sat., 4 Apr. 1998, p.B-8.

215 See Article, “Bixler’s New Location”, EASTON EXPRESS, 7 July 1911, p.1, col.6.216 Tony Rhodin, “Gone for now, historic Easton clock awaits its future on Centre Square”,

LEHIGHVALLEYLIVE, http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2017/05/bixler_clock_centre_square.html (31 May 2017).

217 Tony Rhodin, “Gone for now, historic Easton clock awaits its future on Centre Square”, LEHIGHVALLEYLIVE, http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2017/05/bixler_clock_centre_square.html (31 May 2017)(Fordham Bixler owned Orr’s).

Another source indicates that Orr’s at that time was actually owned by E. Stanley Bixler, Fordham’s father. See Frank Whelan, “A Grand Emporium Owen Rice Opened Mercantile in 1821”, MORNING CALL, 14 Feb. 1992, p.M-3. See generally Obituary, “S. Fordham Bixler, 88, Chairman of Orr’s Stores”, MORNING CALL, 14 Aug. 1991, p.B.10 (Fordham’s father was Stanley Bixler; Fordham became Chairman of the Board of Orr’s).

218 Madeleine Mathias, “Old Face, New Place – Easton’s Landmark Clock Shows Its Face Again – Old Orr’s Timepiece Comes Home to Original Owners at Centre Square”, MORNING CALL, Sat., 4 Apr. 1998, p.B-8 (in 1912); see Article, “Bus topples Orr’s clock”, EASTON EXPRESS, Sat., 5 Dec. 1987, p.A-1, cols.1-3, & A-2 (sold in 1912); Heebner, “Preserving History”, supra at 107-08 (store moved in 1911).

See also Leonard S. Buscemi, Sr., Easton Remembered 65 (Buscemi Enterprises 2007)(picture of Orr’s showing the clock); Marie and Frank Summa & Leonard Buscemi Sr., Images of America: Historic Easton 70 (Arcadia Publishing 200)(street scene showing clock in front of Orr’s).

See generally Frank Whelan, “A Grand Emporium Owen Rice Opened Mercantile in 1821”, THE MORNING CALL, 14 Feb. 1992, p.M-3 (Floyd S. Bixler acquired Orr’s in 1907, and his son, E. Stanley Bixler, later became Chairman of the Board).

170 Photograph in possession of the family. A copy was reproduced with the Article, “Completing the Circle”, EASTON EXPRESS, Sun., 1 Sept. 1985, p.F-1, cols. 1-4.

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219 Article, “Bus topples Orr’s clock”, EASTON EXPRESS, Sat., 5 Dec. 1987, p.A-1, cols.1-3, & A-2; but see Madeleine Mathias, “Old Face, New Place – Easton’s Landmark Clock Shows Its Face Again – Old Orr’s Timepiece Comes Home to Original Owners at Centre Square”, MORNING CALL, Sat., 4 Apr. 1998, p.B-8 (brushed by tractor-trailer in 1980 and hit by bus in 1988).

220 Article, “Orr’s Clock Is Back, and It’s About Time”, MORNING CALL, Sun., 19 June 1988, p.B-16.

221 Article, “Postcard, Tree Ornament Depict Easton Traditions Briefly”, MORNING CALL, Tues., 29 Nov. 1988, p.B-2.

It was also made the subject of an artistic rendition in Timothy George Hare, Easton Inkscapes No.87 (Easton: Inkwell Publications 1989).

222 Madeleine Mathias, “Old Face, New Place – Easton’s Landmark Clock Shows Its Face Again – Old Orr’s Timepiece Comes Home to Original Owners at Centre Square”, MORNING CALL, Sat., 4 Apr. 1998, p.B-8; see Article, “Orr’s Clock on Hiatus”, MORNING CALL, Fri., 7 Apr. 1995, p.B-1; Heebner, “Preserving History”, supra at 107-08.

The Heebner article actually says the clock was purchased as Orr’s went out of business in the “late 1990s”. When this statement was carried in the February 2009 edition of THE IRREGULAR, an email from Carole Heffley pointed out that this was an error, because Orr’s in Easton closed in 1991, and the Two Rivers Landing building opened in the mid-1990s. Compare Michael J. Thomas, “’It won’t be downtown’ when Orr’s closes tomorrow”, MORNING CALL, Friday, 1 Feb. 1991, p.B-1 (Orr’s closing) with Crayola Factory website, www.crayola.com/factory/index.cfm?action=plan.about (accessed 9 Sept. 2006); Easton Area Community Center’s Easton History Club 2005-2006 (under direction of Leonard Buscemi, Sr.), A Chronological History of Easton, Pa. & Its Citizens 1700 – Present 33 (2006). Accordingly, the Heebner article probably meant to say that the clock was purchased in the “late 1980s”. On 10 February 2009, a telephone conference with Joyce Welken, Chairman of Bixler’s Jewelers, and an email from Phil Mitman (a former owner-operator), confirmed the chronology as described in the text.

223 Tony Rhodin, “Gone for now, historic Easton clock awaits its future on Centre Square”, LEHIGHVALLEYLIVE, http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2017/05/bixler_clock_centre_square.html (31 May 2017).

224 Colin McEvoy and Edward Sieger, “Easton gem to close next year, Bixler’s Jewelers to shut its Centre Square store, to remain open in Whitehall Township”, EXPRESS-TIMES, Thurs., 6 Nov. 2008, p.A1.

225 Email from Philip B. Mitman to Richard F. Hope (31 Dec. 2013, 5:01 PM). 226 Tony Rhodin, “Gone for now, historic Easton clock awaits its future on Centre Square”,

LEHIGHVALLEYLIVE, http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/easton/index.ssf/2017/05/bixler_clock_centre_square.html (31 May 2017).

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