Erie's History and Memorabilia

The Talon zipper factory in the city of Erie was located in the 900 block of West 26th Street, between Plum and Cascade streets. The factory was at its height of production during World War II manufacturing zippers for flight suits worn by the pilots who served during the war. The factory in Erie was a branch of the main factory that was located in the city of Meadville, in Crawford county. After the war, as business declined, the factory was closed in 1960, following the closing of the main factory in Meadville. Though Talon survived, as a result of a merger with foreign interests, the business no longer exists in Erie or Crawford county. Talon Zipper was company founded in 1893, originally as the Universal Fastener Company in Chicago, Illinois. Later, they moved to Hoboken, New Jersey, before finally settling in Meadville, Pennsylvania. It was in Meadville that the zipper as we know it was invented, until then they were producing hookless fasteners for boots and shoe...

Born in Erie, October 13, 1850, George Canfield Blickensderfer, early in his life, at the age of 10, showed himself to be an inventor by nature when he attempted to build a flying machine, but like most childhood projects his efforts were unsuccessful. George spent his childhood on his father's farm near Erie, and was educated at the Home Academy. His first business training was obtained in the dry goods business in Erie, where he remained six years. When George left Erie, he became a traveling salesman for a large New York firm, his trips took him through the middle and western states. Through his visits to the large department and dry goods stores his attention was directed to the somewhat crude systems of cash and package carriers then in use. Seeing room for plenty of improvement, George began developing his first invention — a store carrier service that could transport packages and money from different store counters to a central packing station and back. His invention...

When it was a small town, in the middle of the nineteenth century, Dr. John Samuel Carter, a graduate of Scotland’s University of Edinburgh, was engaged in the practice of medicine in Erie, after serving in the Union Army’s medical Corps during the Civil War. He was the proprietor of a pharmacy, at 21 North Park Row, while maintaining his physician office within the building next door, where he would see his patients. Like nearly all general practitioners of his time, he had his favorite prescriptions, which he had found effective, and which he prescribed when the occasion required it — Dr. Carter was one of the first Doctors in the country to hold a pharmacological patent. Many of his patients suffered from the results of imprudent eating and the accompanying disarrangement of the working of the alimentary canal: which was polite society’s description of constipation, the common national ailment at the time. Carter's Little Liver Pills was the Doctor’s creation an...

Invented by Erie native Hugh Neely Fleming, the Fleming Mail Catcher and Deliverer was a much-improved mail catcher used by the railroads to pickup and/or deliver bundles of mail without the need for the train to stop. Hugh Neely Fleming was the secretary of the Perry Iron Works of Erie. There were 10,520 railroad stations in the United States at which mails was taken onto the trains by means of mail catchers and cranes while the train was in motion, the bag of mail to be delivered, thrown from the car to the ground or platform. By this method the mail was often damaged or destroyed, and the safety of persons standing near was endangered. The need of some better system of exchanging mails at such points was apparent. In 1895 the Department advertised for devices for this purpose. Of the thirty-five models submitted, four were selected as the most meritorious, and in 1896 the various railroad companies were requested to adopt some one of the four. Subsequently questions arose as to ...

John S. Hicks was a local businessman and inventor who lived in Erie. He was born in Virginia on February 14, 1845. He came to Erie around 1878, and operated a business at 1406 Turnpike Street for about three years. John later purchased a three-story building at 1216 State Street, which housed his ice cream manufacturing business and retail store in the late 1800s and early 1900s. During the summer season his specialty was the furnishing of ice cream for his parlors, and for supplying orders for private families, parties, picnic and church festivals. Hicks was granted a U.S. patent, number 801,379 on October 10, 1905, for an Ice-cream Mold. Hicks was chosen by the Governor of Pennsylvania to be a delegate to the Illinois National Half-Century Exposition held in Chicago in 1915 to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation. After retiring from the ice cream business around 1910 he passed away on November 13, 1933. He is buried in Erie Cemetery. His buildi...