Learning from Lewisburg
3. Lewisburg and the river
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| 6 |
Turn right and walk down St. George: |
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You are approaching the river, the West Branch of the
Susquehanna. |
| The river and the town; a continual negotiation. |
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The street sign at the corner measures
flood depths. (The label is wrong, The marks measure gauge height
— depth above the bed of the river — not feet above flood
depth, which would be 19 feet deeper.) The 50 year flood, defining
the "statutory floodplain" that is illegal to build upon,
is at about 29 feet depth ... about five feet over your head. The
house on the right (south) was built upon an earthen pad to lift it
above the floods. The "flood proof" condominium group recently built
along lower St. George St. appears to be normal townhouses until you
look closely. |
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The theory: an unoccupied lower-level,
only garages and steps ... |
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... the practice: it's legal, but it's
still pretty disconcerting to be half-flooded (here in the January
1996 flood). |
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Land uses on the floodplain ... modest-priced
rental housing (right) and a reclaimed hazardous waste site (left)
where the coal gas works used to be. |
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Note that the "St. George St. boat
launch" — the sad stub of pavement that runs halfway down
to the mud flats by the river — is the only formal governmental
river access in the entire county. Lewisburg has clearly not embraced
the full potential of being a river town. |
| 7 |
Walk back up St. George and turn right up the alley: |
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Note the arrangement of the typical Lewisburg residential
lot with a house fronting on the street (usually not set back to any
degree), a long narrow yard, and a garage — formerly at horse
stable — on the alley. |
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Stables in alleys; relict of horse-and-manure
days; we can only imagine the tons of hay and oats that were imported,
and the tons of manure to be exported. |
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All blocks in the area of the original town survey
were split by an alley running north/south (parallel to the river)
except the blocks fronting on Market St. in which the alley runs east/west. |
| 8 |
Turn left up St. Catherine, turn right on Second St.
and walk up to the Union County Courthouse: |
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Union County courthouse, built about
1845. after Union County broke off from Snyder County ... a small-town
revel in the majesty ascribed to Greek Architecture in the 19th Century. |
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Stand on the sidewalk in front of the Cronrath Funeral
Home and admire the neo-Classical east façade of the courthouse in
the Ionic order, rendered in wood. |
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Turn right down St. Louis and walk toward the river: |
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Look to the left and the right at the alley to see
again the typical arrangement of alleys running north/south behind
the houses. |
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To the right, the Tasker Bliss House (just down Front
St. a half block) – see the Historical Marker for details of another
sidelight to Lewisburg history |
| 10 |
Continue down toward the river ... to the corner of
St. Louis and S. Water St.: |
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Most major transport routes have been located on the
other side of the river — the Atlantic side, closer to Philadelphia,
etc. Shortly before the middle of the 19th Century, the Susquehanna
Branch of the Pennsylvania Canal was laid about a mile east of here.
It is still visible just west of the trail park west of Montandon;
the linear depression that crosses Rt. 45 by the last row of trees.
Lewisburg immediately linked up with a "cross-cut canal"
running the mile from Montandon along the current path of Rt. 45.
In the river are the remnants of the slack water dam just south (right
.. downstream) of the Water St. corner, extending all the way across
the river and visible only in low water. The dam pooled river water
to create a boat basin for canal boats. |
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Historic picture of canal mouth looking
toward Lewisburg. This figure was taken from a history of Union County
published by the county historical society: Charles M. Snyder, Union
County: a celebration of history, 2000 |
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The 1845 slack water dam, still visible
at very low river levels at the foot of St. Louis St. |
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Canal boats themselves were an early exportable product
of the town, and that industry was the antecedent of Pennsylvania
House Furniture, Lewisburg’s most noted industry. |
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