Established Business in Freeland
John Temshia, who conducted a vulcanizing and auto repair shop in Upper Lehigh, during the past several years, is now established in Freeland, having secured shop quarters in the Adolph Zimmerman garage in the rear of his business place at the corner of Main and Washington streets.

Here at left is an interesting relic from that time, courtesy of Bob Celentano. It was a common practice to distribute cards containing the borough's fire alarm codes, to which were added an advertisement for a local business, in this case my grandfather's tire shop. Here's a larger view. [There are some interesting features about the alarm codes, such as for example the "riot alarm," to be explored at another time.]

In the late 1940s John Tancin bought a property at 301-305 Centre Street, Freeland, which some years earlier had housed a bottling works and some other businesses run by Peter Timony. My grandfather opened an auto parts, tire repair and gas station business there. The front of the shop is shown below, and the garage is at the top of the page, with an enlarged action shot available here.

Also shown below is one of his return address labels, which were printed in green on white.



John's sons helped him in the early days of his business. John Jr. worked with his dad at the Washington Street garage, and then all of the sons worked in the garage at Centre and Carbon Streets, while their father worked in the auto supply store. Most of this extended family lived in three apartments that were also on this property, and some of the family still live there today.


At right is a form letter that my dad Steve put together to solicit business from other tire dealers, probably in the early 1950s. Click here for an enlarged view that's a little easier to read. I remember that 62-J phone number from the days when we lived above the shop. An interesting sideline about this phone number: I recently had an opportunity to see a Hazleton area phone book from 1952, and found that the only Tancin listed in Freeland at that time was my mother, who was a registered nurse and needed the listing for her job. So the family business was apparently not yet "online" in 1952, so I'd guess this letter is from 1953-1955.

John Tancin, Sr. died in 1965. His son Joe had gone some years earlier to work for General Tire Company in Hazleton. John Jr. and George continued to work in the garage at 301 Centre Street for some years, then finally closed down the business. The auto supply store had been closed some years earlier. Steve built his own garage in Freeland in 1955 and ran a used tire / tire repair business until his death in 1991. To this day I run into people in Freeland who remember Tancin's tires and who were regular customers of my grandfather's and uncles' or my dad's businesses.