Erie's History and Memorabilia

In 1954, Erie’s Mayor, Thomas Flatley, was arrested — alongside several people in his administration, top brass at the police station, and members of the city’s crime syndicate — on charges of corruption, abuse of power, and illegal gambling, to which he pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy and violating his oath of office, leaving him to resign facing jail time and fines. Thomas W. Flatley, born September 5, 1890, in San Francisco, California, was the Democrat Mayor of Erie from 1952 to 1954. Arrested in October of 1954 and charged with taking part in a gambling racket, Flatley admitted to receiving payments and pleaded guilty; sentenced, on December 15, to one to two years in jail, and fined $1,000. Mayor Flatley’s downfall followed a Republican-inspired investigation of gambling in the city, involving the bribery of officials and employees of the City of Erie connected with gambling or the operation of the numbers racket in the city. The inquiry resulted in indi...

The Public Steamboat Landing was formally dedicated in June, 24, 1909. The formal dedication was presided over by Pennsylvania Governor Stuart, who turned it over to the city of Erie as a public boat landing. Immediately the Cleveland & Buffalo Steamboat Company arranged to furnish regular passenger and freight transportation between Erie and Cleveland and Buffalo, making use of the new dock. Clark Olds, who at the time of the dedication was the former president of the Chamber of Commerce, was also present at the dedication. The extension of the old original Public Dock northward 600 feet into the bay was made possible by an appropriation of $150,000 voted by the Legislature of Pennsylvania. The accomplishment of acquiring the appropriation to build the landing was due to the efforts of the Erie Chamber of Commerce, and more especially to the individual efforts of Clark Olds, the president of the Chamber, who succeeded in lobbying the Erie representatives in the legislature. ...

Since its grand opening, the Warner Theatre has established itself as a major cultural center for the region. Millions have passed by the freestanding ticket booth of solid bronze through the doors and stepped into the luxurious gold-gilded Grand Lobby. There they saw the beauty of rich tapestries and French gold-backed mirrors. A regal staircase with exquisite bronze banisters leads them through an archway of marble, gold gilding and draped tapestry to the mezzanine. Czechoslovakian glass and crystal chandeliers create the soft lighting that enhances the grandeur of a structure unmatched in stature, opulence and beauty. Warner Brothers today one of the world's largest producers of film and television entertainment, commissioned the building of the Warner Theatre in 1929. The design goal for their luxury movie palaces was to create an environment "twice as rich, three times more fanciful than life." Designed by architects Rapp & Rapp, the theatre was ...

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...

The steamship Erie was one of the fastest and most elegant ships sailing between Buffalo and Chicago. It was a large ship — over 176 feet long and about 27 feet wide. A paddle wheel steamer of 497 Tons, it was built in 1837 at the foot of French Street, in Erie, by the Erie Steamboat Company. On August 9, 1841, the Erie departed Buffalo carrying 343 passengers. It was a windy day and many of the passengers were in their berths with seasickness. In the early evening, there was “a slight explosion, a hissing sound and a cry of ‘Fire!'”  Within minutes 254 lives were lost. A survivor of the ill-fated steamship, Andrew Blila came with his family to America in 1833, he was a child of three years at the time, one the first of the German settlers to arrive in Erie. When the Erie went into commission as part of the Reed fleet of streams on that August day in 1841, Blila shipped as a boy to attend upon the wheelmen. He was then 13 years of age, but a sturdy boy and not u...

The Erie County Almshouse was established in 1870 and built three and a half miles west of the City of Erie. It stood in the vicinity of 23rd and Pittsburgh Avenue in what is now Millcreek Township. The building stood four stories tall, measuring 190 by 57 feet, with a rear wing of three stories extending off the rear measuring 84 by 32.5 feet. The building was constructed of brick and featured three towers, one at the center and one on either end of the building. The building was built to accommodation a population of 270 poor, 135 of each sex. In 1870 the building cost $1440,000 dollars, which was levied from taxes According to the 1885 State Report building center contained the apartment for the Steward and his family, separating the East and West wings of the building which contained the male and female paupers respectively. The first floor of the two wings each contained a sitting/smoking room, a large hall, and a store room. The second, third, and fourth floors co...