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Garages, gas stations, auto supplies, transportation
[The photo at top left shows my grandfather John Tancin's garage at 303 Centre St., probably in the late 1940s. Photo of Fisher's Livery from Bill Smith; photo of Western Auto from John Zubach; all other photos by Chuck and Steve Tancin.]
GARAGES, GAS STATIONS, AUTO SUPPLIES, TRANSPORTATION COMPANIES
[See also the Transportation page.]
[Thanks to Aileen Mattavi Evans, Joe Zoshak, Ed Merrick, Tom Yaruso, Robert Poddo, Ray Nicholson, Pat Ferko Miller, J. Heller, George Feussner, Loren Bock, Mike Bobby, Mary Ann Rosetta Schaeffer, Steve Kistulentz, Jr., Peter Kundra for additions and corrections.]
Al's Texaco - Ridge St., below Carbon St.
Amentler's (automotive and lawn equipment?) - Ridge St., between South & Luzerne Streets
American Auto - 624 Centre St.
Balas's (new tires) - Freeland/White Haven highway
Paul Biggan Sales & Service, State Inspection and General Repairs - East South St. (from 1986 St. Casimir's booklet via Ed Merrick)
Hugh Boyle's - Washington St. (between Main and Front Streets)
Thaddeus Broskoski's Blacksmith Shop - Pine and Walnut streets (still listed in the 1921 city directory)
Lester Calello, Used Cars & Trucks - Main Street, Drifton (from 1986 St. Casimir's booklet via Ed Merrick)
Pat Delregno's Auto Shop - 1015 Luzerne St. (previously Pat's Texaco - 224 Ridge St., from 1986 St. Casimir's booklet via Ed Merrick)
Ed's Auto & Truck Repairs - Highland Road (Ed Petrick, proprietor) (from 1986 St. Casimir's booklet via Ed Merrick)
Fairway Chevrolet -
Feussner's Ford - South St., near the Public Park (Roy Feussner, proprietor) (From George Feussner: My father,George, and uncles Roy and Jake started the business in the mid 1940's.)
Fisher's Livery and
Boarding Stables
- Front and Birkbeck
Streets in the late 1880s, then later at 525 Washington Street and
still listed
in the 1921 Freeland directory (Henry and John Fisher, proprietors)
(From Loren Bock: My great grandfather and his brother owned a livery
stable in Freeland . His
name was John Fisher. My mom says that it was her grandfather John
Fisher and his brother Henry who had the stables. John Fisher in turn
had three sons,
Harry, Clyde, and Lloyd, my grandfather. My grandfather Lloyd was a
Freeland
cop during the years approx. 1910-1921. My grandfather Lloyd died at a
very
early age, I believe during the Great Depression. He left a widow with
six
children. Those times were very hard on the family, and my mom
remembers picking
coal from along side the railroad tracks to heat their home.)H. J. Chemical Company - Centre St., near MMI (From Tom Yaruso: I worked for "Pappy" Halko , last name may be mispelled, he was our science teacher at Foster Township high school; I worked for him 2 to 3 nights a week at the H.J. CHEMICAL COMPANY, it was in his big shed in his yard on Center Street going north, a few houses before M.M.I., I have in front of me a can of his ALL-PLUS, THE SCIENTIFIC SURE SOLDER FOR LEAKES IN RADIATORS AND CRACKED BLOCKS. His other product was RUBBER BUFF for patching tires; its been almost 50 years and I can remember filling 1 qt. cans of rubber buff by hand pumping out of 55 gal. drums. I am sure some of the oldtimers will remember him.)
Heller's Exxon - Centre
& Hazle Streets (From J.
Heller: My grandfather (Jack Heller) owns a garage on Hazle Street,
formerly owned by my great grandfather.(Mesko)) (From Mike Bobby in
2000: Heller's Exxon was one of the gas stations at Center and Hazle
Streets near the Foster Twp. School. Across from it was a Sunoco and
further down the road was a Mobil station which is currently the site
of an Orloski's outlet.) (John Heller, proprietor, Towing, Hauling,
Body Repairs, General Repairs, and Painting, corner of Centre and Hazle
streets - as listed in 1986 St. Casimir's booklet via Ed Merrick)Herbener's Gas Station and Home Heating - Johnson St., behind Berger's Lumber Yard (From Pat Ferko Miller: Herbener's Gas Station (Flying A Gasoline) and Home Heating Business (both coal and then added oil for delivery) was on Johnson Street behind Berger's Lumber Yard.)
Klinger's Livery Stable - Front St., between Washington & Birkbeck Streets (he also sold harnesses).
Krause's Livery Stable - Birkbeck St. just below Schwabe St.
Kopski's Buick - 450 Ridge St. (Joe Kopski, proprietor)
Kobrick's Garage - Center
& Hazle Streets (From Pat
Ferko Miller: prior to it being Heller's Garage. I think Pete Kobrick
was Jacky Heller's father-in-law.)Jim Lutz, Atlantic Gas -
Luzerne and Carbon County Motor Transit Company (Michael Baran, president) ('53 Minamek)
Masley's Junkyard - across from St. Michael's Cemetery (Pete Masley, proprietor) (From Mary Ann Rosetta Schaeffer: My cousin, Pete Masley use to own and operate a junk yard, started about l949-l950, which was across from the St. Michael's cemetary, I believe. He had it when I was a little girl, until he got sick some years ago and had to sell it to his nephew Thomas Masley about l986-l988, and later he sold it to a person from Blakesly, Pa. around l998-l999)
Maury's Gas Station - Centre St., between Front & Walnut Streets
Medash's (mechanics, car repair)
Morgan's (gas)
O'Donnell's
Livery - Centre St., between Luzerne
& South StreetsO'Donnell's (mechanics) - Carbon St.
Olear's Little Foreign Car Shop - South St., on the mountain road
Orloski's gas station - Ridge St. & Rte. 940
Perkosky's (used tires) - Fern & South Streets
Toots Pollack's - South & Centre Streets (From Mike Bobby in 2000: I remember it as an ARCO station. There was a small car wash behind this station. A vacant lot is all that remains today. Near this site was a recent mine subsidance.)
George Popick's Automotive - across the highway from Balas's (From Robert Poddo: I believe he carried the Sinclair brand name and later changed over to Texaco. He was located across the highway from Balas' (Freeland/White Haven Highway) and had been at that location for some time.)
Poppalardo's - Centre St., between Carbon & Luzerne Streets
Shiner's Garage - East South Street (Andrew Shiner, proprietor) (from 1986 St. Casimir's booklet via Ed Merrick)
Zip Simko's Sunoco - Washington St., near Main St. (From Mike Bobby: Bagged Coal could be purchased from Simko's as recently as the early 1970s.)
Tancin's Recapping - Centre & Carbon Streets (John Tancin, proprietor) (From Chuck Tancin: This was my grandfather's garage (see photo at top left of this page), still standing but now in serious disrepair. He and several of his sons worked at recapping, vulcanizing, repairing tires, and had a gas station selling Atlantic and later Texaco gas, I think. This was his 3rd location, previously being at 520 Washington St. behind Genie Boyle's and before that behind his house on Main St. in Upper Lehigh.) (Please see also a special page on Tancin's Auto Supply and Garage.)
Tancin's Auto
Supply (John Tancin, proprietor) - 303
Centre St. (From Chuck Tancin: This was the other part of my
grandfather's business relating to cars. He sold new tires and
various auto supplies in this store that had windows fronting on Centre
St. I remember rollerskating in the big front room of his store as a
young kid, loving how soft and smooth the old and well-worn wooden
floor felt under my wheels.) (From Peter Kundra: I recall the tire
recapping business that the Tancins operated in the rear garage and the
machines in the basement that cut up tires into strips and then
assembled them into rubber door mats. I often wonder whether those mats
were the origin of the same type of mat that is still available today.)
(Please see also a special page on Tancin's
Auto Supply and Garage.)Tancin's Tires - Carbon St., west of Fern St. (Steve Tancin, proprietor) (From Chuck Tancin: After working for his father for several years, my dad decided to start his own tire business. He bought property 3 blocks away and built a garage in 1955, repairing and selling used tires. In 1960 he was doing well enough that we built a new house next to garage.)
Western Auto - Centre
& Main Streets (Steve
Kistulentz, proprietor) (Photo comes from John Zubach.)Roy Zemany's Auto Repair - Main Street, just east of the Cottage Hotel (Ed Merrick writes: When I was looking at the church page, I checked out the Slovak Lutheran and brought up the photo of the historical marker. On it was the name of Michael Zemany. I then checked out your garage listings and realized you didn't have Roy Zemany's auto repair garage, which Roy Zemany, Michael Zemany's son, ran on Main Street just east of the Cottage Hotel on Washington. Roy's sons, John and Martin, worked for him.)
Alex Zmiejko's Mobile station - Ridge St. & Rte. 940 (now Orloski's)