Look at the remains of the City Hotel as the common walls of the adjacent buildings reveal the individual rooms, each with an infinite number of stories. What tales these walls could tell about the early years of Tyrone, because life in the area revolved around the railroad, just a block from the City Hotel, and at least a half-dozen other prospering hostelries. Today motels are found at each exit of any popular interstate highway, and a century ago hotels were built at vital rail junctions such as Tyrone.
Center of Action
A hundred years ago Tyrone was not yet known as “The Hub of the Highways” but instead was the location of the headquarters for the Tyrone Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad. From here passengers and freight fanned out through the area to the northwest into places such as Osceola Mills and as far as Curwensville. Another line went down the valley to Milesburg and on to Williamsport while a third went through Warriors Mark and out the valley to Scotia, the iron-mining area.
The main line of the PRR came through Tyrone. There always were a lot of passengers to transfer to these other lines. And often they’d need to stay overnight to catch a connecting train.
Drummers
Then there were the “drummers” or traveling salesmen who made their living by going out to smaller towns and calling on industries, retailers, and home owners to sell them something. Drummers were vital to companies anxious to move merchandise into the areas beyond the cities; otherwise, the only way these folks could buy things was from a mail-order catalog. Hardware stores, furniture stores, and clothing and shoe stores were all visited by traveling salesmen.
Industries and lumber mills would buy heavy equipment from a technical representative, which was the fancy name for the drummers.
These salespeople often came to Tyrone and would stay for an entire week at one of the hotels, making day trips to different parts of the territory. Then they’d go back to the city and report to their boss, turning in orders and always saying, very optimistically, “the territory is really opening up!” That used to be a common expression of drummers whether or not they’d had a good week. They spent evenings at the hotel or at a nearby taproom. Or they might attend a movie.
From Here to There
In those days Clearfield County was developed as a lumbering area as well as coal mining. Centre County’s iron mines already had taken most of the timber, so the area was not as “vital” and alive. In a tiny village near one of the Centre County iron furnaces, a small land-grant college was started as “Farmers High School.” The first students came by rail to Tyrone and then transferred to the valley line and on to the location that was to grow and become State College. In those days State College was smaller than Birmingham.
Immigrants
Look again at the outlines of those walls of the City Hotel. Make up your own stories about people who may have stayed overnight in those rooms. Think of a family that just came from “the old country” and left Ellis Island for a new life. Those who had some money or a host family in America may have stayed overnight in one of these rooms at the City Hotel before taking the morning train up the mountain or down the valley.
Those who arrived with little money couldn’t afford the luxury of a hotel room and may have slept on one of the benches at the railroad station. Up the avenue was The Pennsylvania House Hotel where the owner, Fanny Troutwine — without fanfare — would provide meals for those unable to pay.
When arriving at Ellis Island, the immigrant families without any relatives or friends here would be given coupons for rail passage, to the limit of the money available. If they had money only to go as far as Tyrone, this is where they settled. Think of the excitement of getting off the train ready to start a new life here — not knowing a word of English, but full of hope and a marvelous work ethic.
Lots of Stories
Who else might have stayed in these rooms back in the heyday of downtown hotels? Think of a sick person from over the mountain or down the valley whose family was taking them to a specialist in Philadelphia or Baltimore. Their overnight here was spent in concern and worry, but hopefully when they caught the early morning train to the city, they found good news at their appointment. And a young college student — perhaps leaving home for the first time — might have stayed overnight in one of these rooms while making the transfer to a train bound for the city.
Rocking Chairs on the Porch
The City Hotel was distinctive because it was in the very heart of the town, at 10th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Guests were met at the station and taken to the hotel by horse-drawn carriage operated by a drayman — the 1990s version of a “courtesy van.” Or they may have walked, since the distance was short. The wraparound-porch had rocking chairs in which hotel guests loved to sit watching the busy streets of this bustling community as people rode by on horseback, and the trolley noisily made its way from the station.
If a guest needed to travel where the rail lines didn’t go, a stable was maintained right behind the hotel, at the back of what today is Conny’s building. Blacksmiths were important then, just as auto mechanics are today.
Railroad Families
Who worked in places like the City Hotel? Often, families had come here from Germany, Italy, Ireland, or other European nations to help build the railroads. The wives of many of these workers found jobs, full-time or part-time, as part of the staffs of the downtown hotels. It was not unusual to find persons working in the kitchens or cleaning the rooms who spoke no English.
These folks back then were good workers and, although the pay was low, it helped in those days when the cost of living also was low. Many families lived in small homes at Irish Flats or other areas until they could afford to build or buy a larger home. After the tracks were laid, many of the immigrants — by now real Americans — continued to work for the railroad company, while others found jobs in the industries that were springing up here. But for many of these folks, their first night in Tyrone was spent in one of the rooms of the City Hotel or another downtown hotel.
Industry
As industries thrived in Tyrone and vicinity, it meant that many officials and experts would come here regularly to work with local management. They’d always come by train and would be put up at the Paper Mill’s Club House or at a downtown hotel.
Many years ago, a man who started in the accounting department of West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company recalled vividly his visits to Tyrone from the New York office. “I remember you’d go underground from the train to the station,” he said. He learned his profession well, later becoming a billionaire in the communications field.
Make Your Own Stories
If you will take thirty seconds now to look back at those hotel room walls, you will begin to see, in your mind’s eye, a story. Use your imagination. Make up a story about a family who stayed in one of those rooms, and why they were here overnight.
If these walls could talk, what would they say?
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