In 1924 our grandfather's brother, P.D. Crotty, opened a store at 6th & Parade Street (P.D. Crotty's Confectionery). He sold penny candy. I can remember going there with a nickel or dime and spending a lot of time choosing the candy I wanted. The candy was in display cases. You pointed to the pieces that you wanted, and the clerk, possibly Lucy Crotty, put them in a little white bag. The other thing I remember about the store was the large pendulum clock that hung on the wall.
Sometime after P.D. died in 1947, his wife Mayme (grandma's sister) sold the store, and it became Vine's Cut-rate. About 1952 it was bought by the Filipkowski's, who had also bought grandma and grandpa's house in 1946 at 509 Parade Street. The Filipkowski's named the store Harriet's Dairy Bar. The Filipkowski's also had a place called Harriett's Ice Cream on Glenwood Park Ave. Ext., and also Harriet's Confectionery at 1435 Parade St.
In 1955 the store became Bernie's Dairy Bar, and in 1956 it became Dan Borden's PX.
Many years later the location became the Emmaus Soup Kitchen.
A few years ago, the large front windows at the store were removed, and the dark red brick was painted a light green. This is how the place looks at this writing.
3 comments:
The Filipkowski's (Steve & Harriet) had five kids. The youngest were twins (Jacqueline and Gwendolyn), and we were playmates. Donald, Wanda and Carl were the others.
I remember that the Filipkowski's had some kind of chicken farm off of Old French Road. If you followed a path through the woods at their farm, you came to a creek, and if you went further, you came to another road, which must have been Glenwood Park Ave. That's where they had a store of some kind. I can remember going in there once for candy.
I also remember that there was a horse out there, and I can remember riding double, and hanging on for dear life as the horse ran through the woods. It was scary. I also remember drinking some water out of the creek one time.
The last time I saw Mr Filipkowski was at Urbaniak's Meat Market on 24th and German. He had a table in there and was selling candy. That could have been around 1990. I was with my dad one Saturday when he went in there to get some meat.
Mr. Filipkowski started corresponding with Eleanor Roosevelt in the early 1950's, and invited her to visit him in Erie. There's a picture of her with Nancy in the Crotty reunion book.
Dede said....
filipkowskis had a place on old french rd (?) that had a tree growing in it!! they called it hyde park after fdr's summer home. eleanor roosevelt spent the night there..........there is a picture of her with wanda, nancy, and phyllis smyklo, i believe. how in the world someone like eleanor roosevelt got to know them is a wild thing!!
Nancy said....
Mr. Vine was a short stocky balding dark haired man with twinkling eyes. Very nice man.
I also remember Eddy's - the small store on 4th and Parade (southwest corner).
Post a Comment