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Business Was Booming on Cabbage Hill a Century Ago

Jim Gerhart

July,2019

In 1919, things were generally looking up in the U.S.—World War I had just ended, unemployment was nearly negligible, and women finally were getting the right to vote. On the other hand, the Spanish flu pandemic made a comeback, and the Ku Klux Klan continued to stoke fear in many states. And, for better or worse, depending on your point of view, the 18th Amendment (Prohibition) went into effect. In the midst of these national events, Cabbage Hill was beginning to recover from the anti-German sentiment brought on by the war. As part of that recovery, the Hill was definitely “open for business”.

Ever since its first neighborhood was established in 1762 on Manor and High Streets, Cabbage Hill has been home to enterprising residents who have operated their own local businesses. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these businesses provided necessary subsistence services that reflected the trade skills of its mostly German immigrants. Blacksmith, shoemaker, carpenter, and butcher shops were common local businesses.

During the late 19thcentury, Cabbage Hill businesses continued to evolve with the times, and businesses such as bakeries, barber shops, tailor shops, cigar factories, and grocery stores were common. A community of immigrants that often felt somewhat separate from the main part of Lancaster, the Hill seemed to have at least one of every type of business, allowing it to get along without depending too much on the rest of the city.

In the early years of the 20th century, continuing technological change led to another gradual shift in the types of businesses on the Hill, but the businesses still offered nearly every possible desired service no more than a couple blocks away. The businesses continued to provide what the residents needed and wanted, but they also embraced new technologies. For example, one might find a car repair shop around the corner from a blacksmith shop, or a new movie theater on the same block as an old beer saloon.

The year 1919 was typical of this evolving business environment on the Hill, as the following paragraphs will show. But first, let me define what I mean by “the Hill”. For this discussion, I focused on what many consider the historic core of Cabbage Hill, that is, the area bounded by Manor on the northwest, West Strawberry on the northeast, Fremont on the southeast, and Laurel on the southwest. Defined this way, the Hill contains seven main streets running northeast-southwest, and four main streets crossing those seven in a northwest-southeast direction, resulting in 21 blocks and 28 intersections.

The 1919 directory for Lancaster City advertised 125 businesses in the 21 blocks of the Hill. They ranged from the small scale (a nurse operating from her house) to the large scale (Follmer-Clogg Silk Mill). Most of the businesses (32) were on Manor, but High, West Vine, St. Joseph, and Poplar each had about 15 businesses. Fifty-eight of the 125 businesses were located on a corner of one of the 28 intersections. Nearly every business was owner-operated, and nearly every business owner lived in or next to his/her place of business.

All the major types of businesses were found in multiple locations on the Hill. Amazingly, there were 28 grocery stores (see map), more than one per block on average. The Hill also had six hotels, six meat markets, five bakeries, five shoemaker shops, five tailor shops, five dressmaker shops, and five barber shops. Additionally, there were seven contractors and eight nurses offering their services on the Hill.

As a sign of the changing times, there was a car repair shop (Crawford Garage, on New Dorwart) and a movie theater that showed early silent moving pictures (The Manor, on Manor). Twenty-five other types of businesses—ranging from a jewelry shop to plumber shops to cigar stores to saloons—were represented at least at one, and at as many as four, locations. No doubt the owners of the two saloons (Joseph Fritsch’s, on High, and Charles Kirchner’s, on Poplar) were wondering how the new Prohibition law might affect them.

Also of interest are the types of businesses that were absent from the Hill in 1919. Despite there being 70 physicians in Lancaster, there was only one doctor’s office (Lewis Shear, on Manor). There were 86 lawyers in Lancaster, but no lawyer’s offices were located on the Hill. There were no banks, insurance-agent’s offices, dentist’s offices, real-estate offices, optician’s offices, photography studios, or restaurants. Clearly, Cabbage Hill was very much a working-class neighborhood. The businesses on the Hill served the basic, day-to-day needs of its residents, who had to go into Lancaster proper on occasion to avail themselves of the professional services found there.

The plethora of businesses on the Hill, and the fact that business owners were also residents, helped make the Hill a dynamic and pleasant place to live in 1919. Starting in the second half of the 20th century, for a variety of reasons, the number of businesses on the Hill declined dramatically. Today, there are only six groceries, and only about a dozen other businesses with advertising signage, and most of the businesses on the Hill today are no longer owned and operated by Hill residents or located in their houses.

SoWe hopes to reverse that trend. One of SoWe’s goals is to improve support for southwest Lancaster’s entrepreneurs and small business owners, which among other approaches involves revitalizing abandoned business locations and opening up old storefronts. If SoWe is successful, perhaps the Hill can recapture some of the favorable business environment that allowed the neighborhood to be so “open for business” 100 years ago.

If you know of a historic Cabbage Hill business that may have an interesting history, and think that its history might make a good topic for a future post on this blog, please contact me at SoWeCommunicate@sowelancaster.org, and I will look into it.

For those of you who like the details…….here’s the list of 125 businesses on the Hill 100 years ago, alphabetically by street name:

East Filbert Street

304-6     Jerome Yecker                  Baker

Fremont Street

413         Mary Brodhecker             Nurse

446         Michael Schaller               Cleaner

447         Matthias Kraft                   Tailor

458         George Smith                    Grocer

478         William Murr                     Grocer

532         John Morrison                   Drayman             

High Street

413         Joseph Kohler, Jr.             Barber

413         Freda Kohler                      Florist

415         Barbara Brehm                  Ladies’ tailor

416         William Bonasch               Painter

425         Samuel Rawhauser          Contractor

440         Harry Morrison                 Upholsterer

450         Joseph Fritsch                    Saloon

464         Lavina Emerine                 Dressmaker

501         Ludwig Stoeckl                  Grocer

502         Leo Huegel                         Grocer

511         Harry Bear                           Barber

558         Merle Gorrecht                 Glen Hotel

627         Anna Baechle                     Music teacher

669         Charles Krimmel               Contractor

705         Abraham Ansel                 Grocer

Lafayette Street

422         Harry Benn                         Grocer

446-48   Samuel Bitner                    Glassware

456         Henry Miller                       Coffee roaster

629         Catharine Mohr                Dressmaker

Laurel Street

—             Follmer, Clogg & Co.       Silk mill

116-18   Fritsch & Son                     Cigarmakers

121         Albert Benn                        Grocer

302         Jacob Gilles                         Grocer

Manor Street

423         Phares Hertzler                 Shoemaker

427         Frank Simpson                  Plumber

428         Louis Shipman                   Music teacher

432         Jacob Hartman                  Used furniture

434         John Gill                               Contractor

446         Louis Kiphorn                     Contractor

464-66   John Stumpf                       Stumpf’s Hotel

471         Henry Kieffer                     Confectioner

503         Frederick Oakley              Grocer

504-6     Barnet Miller                      Dry goods

514         John Kieffer                        Jeweler

519         Jacob Otthofer                  Meat market

528         Jacob Schwendt                Bottler

550         Daniel Brown                     Produce

560         William Paulsen                Baker

561         Albert Fawber                   Grocer

568-72   Louis Fellman                     Hardware

601         Lewis Shear                        Druggist/physician

603         Harry Schmidt                    Gilder

604         Henry Breiter                     Cigars

609         The Manor                          Movie theatre

610         Daniel Engle                       Baker

616         David Harnish                    Painter

622         Dominick Viscuso             Shoemaker

623-25   Harry Goodhart                Confectioner

628         Frank Kirchner                   Grocer

652         Christian Kunzler              Meat market

653-57   Thomas Goodhart            White Horse Hotel

659         Charles Bair                         Barber

661         Anthony Lichty                  Blacksmith

681         William Fox                        Confectioner

703-5     Ambrose Kirchner            Grocer

New Dorwart Street

9              Crawford Garage              Car service

19           George Hauser                  Plumber

23           L & P S Ansel                      Grocers

—             Philip Fellman                    Sheet metal

45           Harry Helfrich                    Grocer

118         Theresa Fisher                   Dressmaker

120         Philip Fisher                       Barber

301         Hyman Cohn                      Grocer

Poplar Street

476         Charles Kirchner               Saloon

501         Joseph Taub                       Shoemaker

505         Sarah Hodgen                    Nurse

512         Fred Shroad                        Tailor

514         Edward Stumpf                 Plumber

532         Paul Meyers                       Tailor

539         Charles Trees                     Baker

546         Reuben Shear                    Grocer

616         Charles Koller                     Grocer

630         Rosa Baechle                     Nurse

634         George Draude                 Painter

648         Anna Gross                         Nurse

667         John Wuerdinger             Cooper

702`        Julius Hoffman                  Grocer

St. Joseph Street

406         Minnie Knodel                   Grocer

409         Anna Hahn                          Nurse

423         George Gerth                    Confectioner

463         Herbert Henkel                 Plumber

503         Philip Kirchner                   Grocer

509-11   Charles Falk                        Butcher

510         Daniel Marks                      Cigars

539         August Krimmel                Carpenter

544         Philipina Ganse                 Nurse

549         Peter Rietschy                   Grocer

551         Adam Burger                      Meat market

552-54   Henry Pfaeffle                   Eighth Ward Hotel

601         George Carroll                   Barber

602         American Stores, Inc.      Grocery

651         John Studer                        Drayman

706         Benedicto Cicero              Shoemaker

West King Street

351         Amos Musser                    Grocer

353         David Wiker                        Wiker’s Hotel

401         Clarence Ergood               Grocer

402         Harry Meily                         Furniture

West Strawberry Street

100         David Stauffer                   Butcher

101         Wilson Stauffer                 Grocer

128         Edward Kirchner               New Centennial Hotel

204         Peter Stratos                      Grocer

209         Otto Paving & Constr.    Contractor

215         Katherine Otto                  Grocer

238         Christian Vollmer             Shoemaker

West Vine Street

306         George Gesell, Jr.             Contractor

404         Rosa Hergenrother         Nurse

459         Elmer Scheid                      Music teacher

467         John Beilman                     Baker

—             Philip Kirchner                   Slaughterhouse

503         John Bernhard                   Cigarmaker

503        Mary Bernhard                 Nurse

534         Burkhart Schlereth          Tailor

543         Henry Benner                    Cigarmaker

611         Rosa Keller                          Dressmaker

629         Rolandus Goda                  Paperhanger

630         Katherine Bartholomae Dressmaker

666         George Kirchner               Player pianos

796         Amelia Strosser                Grocer


Maintenance Tips with the Happyhandyman – Water, part 1

One of the more challenging aspects of being a homeowner is knowing when it is time to call in a professional to take care of a maintenance issue or renovation project. Professional tradesman are expensive, so often people will do as much as they can on their own before resorting to calling an expert. That’s ok! There is a great sense of satisfaction in completing a project on your own, as well as an opportunity for great economic savings to be had. But it is important to know your limits. If you find that you are approaching your personal skill or knowledge limit, do not hesitate – call a professional before you’re knee deep in an emergency situation!

I hope for this blog entry to be the first in a recurring series of tips to help homeowners avoid getting sunk in over their head in a repair or project. I am a licensed Master Plumber with the City of Lancaster, and I’ve been working in the construction and remodel industry for over fourteen years. I’ve seen my fair share of disasters and made many mistakes, so I’d like to start passing on some of what I’ve learned. I love my little neighborhood in SoWe, but the age of the housing stock here is a constant challenge. Old houses can be beautiful and warm and inviting, but they require a careful and thoughtful touch when it come to maintenance. This post will actually be part 1 of two or three entries on managing the various elements of water in your home. I am a plumber after all, so it feels natural to begin with what I know best.

There’s been a lot of discussion (and frustration!) in Lancaster lately about the water meter replacements that have been ongoing for the past year or so. While I understand and empathize with many of the aggravations that people are enduring, I feel that there are at least a few things that folks can do to prepare for their eventual appointment to have their meter replaced. These tips should also be generally useful to any homeowner though; they aren’t only relevant for the current replacement task.

First, and most importantly, know where your water meter is located! For some of you this may seem silly, but you might be shocked at how many times I’ve gone into a home to find that the homeowner doesn’t actually have a good sense as to where their meter is. This is an important piece of information that everyone who lives in a home needs to know. If ever you were to have an emergency situation in which a water supply line breaks or bursts, you absolutely need to know where to go to make the water stop! The water meter is most commonly located in the basement, coming through the street facing (or front) wall. Here is a photo of my own meter, if you’re unclear on what they look like:

On a water meter, there is always a shut off valve on the street side of the meter. This is usually a turning handle, like the one in this picture, or sometimes a newer “ball valve” which is a lever that only requires a quarter turn to shut off. Often there is another shut off valve on the other side of the meter (mine is not pictured, it’s a little further down along the water line). These are the valves that the service technician will need to use in order to replace your meter, and their usability is your responsibility!

This detail has been frustrating to many people. When a technician arrives at your house to find that the shutoff valve or valves are inoperable, they cannot do their job. These valves are a functional part of a homeowners property, and it is the homeowner’s responsibility to make sure that they stay in good working order. This is actually just good sense practice that many homeowners never think about. If you have not checked to make sure your shutoff valves are functioning properly, you should do so ASAP. In the event of an emergency, they are your only recourse to stop water from flooding your house! I would recommend checking them at least once a year, because age and lack of use can and will cause deterioration.

If you find that there is a problem with your shutoff valves, I recommend you call a licensed plumber. This is not a DIY project that can be taken on lightly. It is a critical and often sensitive maintenance issue, and if a mistake is made it can have catastrophic consequences.

I hope this information is helpful. For my next entry, I’ll be discussing everyone’s favorite plumbing fixture, toilets! There are many simple and inexpensive ways to deal with a troublesome toilet, and I hope you’ll read along and discover some easy ways to save on maintenance costs and avoid high water bills. Thanks for reading.

Who’s Who on the Hill: Vicente Ramos

A: I have been involved in this neighborhood since 2001 when we purchased a home on West Strawberry Street for my mother. Before that she lived with my wife and I. We found out about the house through some friends.

by Melissa Hess

Questions and photographs are from an interview Melissa Hess conducted with Vicente Ramos, SoWe Resident and Board Member in 2016

Q: How long have you lived in the neighborhood and why did you decide to move here?

A: I have been involved in this neighborhood since 2001 when we purchased a home on West Strawberry Street for my mother. Before that she lived with my wife and I. We found out about the house through some friends. I learned that even though two women can love each other, they don’t always fit in one kitchen. My mother raised 12 children and she always loved to cook so she was thrilled to have her own place and her own kitchen. A few years later we purchased the house across the street which has a side lot where we plant all kinds of flowers and vegetables.  Just a couple years ago we bought a third house on West Strawberry Street which I manage and rent out. We work with Water Street Rescue Mission to provide a transitional living community for people coming out of homelessness.

Q: What do you “do” (profession, hobby, etc)?

A: I work in the financial services industry and and at a property management company. I am also chairperson of a non-profit organization called Care Force. Right now I am selling a variety of flowers and vegetables at my home to raise money for a service trip to Honduras through Care Force. Every year I take a group of volunteers overseas with the organization. On the service trips we provide medical services to people in need and also bring children’s clothing and other basic hygiene supplies to give away. All of the flowers that I sell to fundraise for the service trip are donated from Esbenshade’s Garden Center. Soon I will have pumpkins and mums for sale which are also donated from a farm in the area.

Q: What is a favorite memory or moment you recall from living on The Hill?

A: My favorite memory is when we bought the house for my mom and I saw how she was so happy to have her own place that she could call home.

Q: If you could change or improve something about the neighborhood, what would it be?

A: I would encourage people to keep the streets and sidewalks clean. I feel that we are making a difference in the neighborhood by making the outside of our home look beautiful. People tell me that they slow down when they pass by to check out all the plants and flowers in front of our house. I hear comments like “we love your place and the way it looks.”

SoWe 2018 Annual Report

We are proud to announce the 2018 Annual Report for the SoWe neighborhood initiative. Much has been accomplished over the past year. We would like to take a moment to thank everyone involved in the SoWe initiative, especially the neighbors, board members, and leaders who dedicate their time to build the SoWe community.

Hello SoWe,

We are proud to announce the 2018 Annual Report for the SoWe neighborhood initiative. Much has been accomplished over the past year. We would like to take a moment to thank everyone involved in the SoWe initiative, especially the neighbors, board members, and leaders who dedicate their time to build the SoWe community. We would also like to recognize and thank Jim Shultz, who retired from LHOP in May of 2018 after spending years organizing and supporting SoWe residents.

The work of SoWe could not be done without the help from Lancaster Housing Opportunity Partnership as the lead agency and all the SoWe Collaborative organizations: Boys and Girls Club of Lancaster, Bright Side Opportunities Center, Lancaster City Alliance, Lancaster Equity CDC, Lancaster Lebanon Habitat for Humanity, and Lancaster Safety Coalition. Thank you to all.
This was a year of many ‘firsts’ for the SoWe initiative including but not limited to our first neighborhood-wide SoWe Block Party in Culliton Park, first porch light installation, first SoWe Clean Crew, first school in SoWe to be recognized as a Community School and much more! We plan to build on these successes in 2019.

Looking ahead in 2019, SoWe will continue to work to create a cohesive and equitable community in Southwest Lancaster. Physical improvements to the neighborhood will be seen throughout 2019. These include improvements to façades through the Façade Improvement Grant Program, renovation of Culliton Park, installation of street trees and pedestrian lighting on Manor St and W. King St., placement of trash receptacles throughout the neighborhood and much more. In 2019, SoWe hopes to be more accessible to its residents. SoWe will hold a series of forums, panel discussions, and presentations to make sure residents have access to resources they need to succeed as well as promote community dialog.

I invite you to read through the 2018 SoWe Annual Report, attend a SoWe meeting or event, stop by our office, and to get out and meet your neighbors!

SoWe Annual Report