The first store at Shamokin was opened in 1838 by Jehu John and Ilef Houseworth in the frame building at the northwest comer of Shamokin and Commerce streets which forms the front part of the National Hotel. The proprietors were brothers-in-law. Houseworth was from the vicinity of Snydertown, Northumberland county; after relinquishing the mercantile business he engaged in farming in the valley of Plum creek, near Sunbury, where he now resides at an advanced age. John subsequently taught school at Shamokin, but removed to the West and died there.
The first store in the lower part of the town was established by Henry Yoxtheimer, a prominent merchant of Sunbury and pioneer coal operator at Shamokin. It was conducted in a frame building opposite the present site of the Eagle Hotel. After Mr. Yoxtheimer failed the business was continued a year or two by Samuel John.
William and Reuben Fagely opened a store on the east side of Shamokin street between Sunbury and Commerce in 1839. This was the location of the first post office of the borough. At this site a store has since been conducted by different members of the Fagely family, George K. Fagely being the present proprietor.
Samuel John located at Shamokin in April, 1889, and established a store at the northwest corner of Shamokin and Spurzheim streets. He succeeded to Yoxtheimer’s business when the latter failed. In 1844 he was appointed postmaster, and during his incumbency of two years the office was conducted at his store. Mr. John was connected with the mercantile interests of Shamokin for many years.
John & Houseworth were succeeded by Jacob Bear, from Lancaster, who removed the establishment to the northeast corner of Shamokin and Independence streets. His immediate successors were Zuern & Ammerman; Benjamin Wolverton, who had a store in the extreme western part of the town, may also be classed with its first merchants, and there were no stores of any importance established in the place except those mentioned until after the reopening of the railroad in 1853.
Early Hotels
The first hotel was opened in 1835 by Joseph Snyder in a frame building since incorporated in the Hotel Vanderbilt, but lack of patronage shortly afterward compelled him to relinquish the business at this point. He subsequently resumed, however, and continued in the hotel business several years.
Jacob Kram was the successor of Mr. Snyder and second proprietor of the hotel that occupied part of the site of the Vanderbilt, which was variously known as the Shamokin Hotel and the United States Hotel before it received its present name. The first marriage in the town was that of Rebecca Kram, daughter of the proprietor, and Joseph Bird, subsequently a well known coal operator. Mr. Kram conducted this hostelry with fair success for several years, after which he removed to Minersville, Schuylkill county.
Dr. Robert Phillips, who resided in a two-story frame house at the gap as early as 1836 and five or six years after that date, kept a hotel that received a fair patronage from persons traveling over the old Reading road and from the workmen employed on the construction of the railroad. This was beyond the borough limits, however.
In 1839 John and Jacob Gearhart erected a large two-story frame hotel at the present site of the First National Bank, northwest corner of Sunbury and Rock streets. The first landlord was Jacob Dyer, who removed to Catawissa and was succeeded in the same year (1839) by Franklin A. Clark, who continued as proprietor many years. The property was subsequently purchased by John B. Douty. from whom it received the name of the Douty House. It was eventually destroyed by fire.
Jacob Dyer and Joseph Snyder were the first to keep hotel at the present site of the National Hotel, which was established in 1851 by William M. Weaver and has since been one of the well known hostelries of the town. Sheriff Weaver conducted this hotel until his retirement in 1886, with the exception of the years 1863-66 and 1878-81, when he was sheriff of Northumberland county.
