South Third Street
South Third Street: West Side
 

1 South Third Street: Alpha Bldg. This building occupies two adjacent lots, beginning at the corner with South Third Street. " In the 18th Century, the corner lot was the shop of clock-maker Moritz Bishoff. Bishoff moved his store and sold the property to Henry Bush, who built a stone hotel. After Bush's death, this hotel was run for many years by his widow, and became known as the Widow Bush's Hotel. The hotel was demolished in 1869, and replaced with a brick building known as the Porter Building. The adjacent lot on Centre Square (to the west) was also originally a hotel - one of the first licensed in the county. It was owned by William Craig (Easton's first elected Sheriff ) and his partner...more detail on 1 so. Third st.
  Pine Street
  25-27 South Third Street: Easton Parking Garage & Police HQ - Built in the 1970s as part of the Urban Renewal Program. This entire block had once (in the 1780s) become the property of Conrad Ihrie, Sr. who had divided it among three of his children. " The most southerly third, at the corner of South Third and Ferry Streets, was given to John Arndt, Conrad Ihrie's son-in-law ...more detail on 25-27 so. Third st.
  Ferry Street
South Third Street: East Side
 

6 South Third Street: Wachovia Bank Bldg. - Wachovia is the successor to The Easton Bank (later Easton National Bank), and The Easton Trust Company. The modern building includes mosaic plaques on both the Centre Square and Third Street sides, showing cameos of famous Easton historical figures. In approximately 1800, the present bank's location was occupied by Easton's first bank, a branch of the Pennsylvania Bank. It occupied a stone building built on the corner by Jacob Arndt in 1790....more detail on 6 so. Third st.
  Pine Street
  20-22 South Third Street: Knecht Bldg. (Masonic Temple) - This was the site of the earliest official building in Easton: the town jail, built of logs just after the founding of the town in 1752, and improved with stone by 1755, to serve as a refuge from Indian attack if necessary. " In 1784, during the "Pennamite War" between Pennsylvania and Connecticut settlers over the land around Wilkes-Barre, 27 captured Connecticut ("Yankee") settlers were held in Easton's stone jail for several months, but they ultimately overpowered the guard and escaped....more detail on 20 so. Third st.
  Parking Lot
 

44 South Third Street: "Old" Odd Fellows Hall (Masonic Hall) - Despite the modern white and brown concrete façade, the cornerstone for this building was laid on 13 June 1847, after a procession of various Odd Fellows lodges including Easton's Peace and Prosperity, No. 69. The building was dedicated the following year, on 18 May 1848, with another Odd Fellows's procession around downtown Easton, starting at "Drinkhouse's corner" (now 1 Centre Square - the "Jakie" Mayer Building ) and ending here, at the new hall....more detail on 44 so. Third st.
  Ferry Street
 

100 South Third Street: Benjamin Ihrie Bldg. - A plaque high over the front door identifies the building as "B. Ihrie, c.1850", apparently referring to Benjamin Ihrie, a son of Easton investor Conrad Ihrie. In approximately 1850, the building served as a refuge for Easton's Odd Fellows, after they lost the hall they had constructed for themselves on the corner across Ferry Street. Easton's "Peace and Plenty" Lodge was, however, disbanded as a result of troubles arising from the building crisis. The building became the home of the H.G. Tombler Grocery Co., before it moved in 1903 to build the Tombler Building next door on Ferry Street...more detail on 100 so. Third st.
Also nearby are:
  219 Ferry Street: Phonix Fire Company House - In 1824, the Phoenix Fire Company was organized as the second fire company in Easton. In 1858, the Company's house became "unfit for use", and it built this building as a new fire house. The building was equipped with an alarm bell, which was the first in Easton. " The building is one of Easton's more successful commercial restorations ...more detail on 219 Ferry st.
  230 Ferry Street: Tombler (Easton Arts) Bldg. - J-shaped building with tall tower at the back, and courtyard. It was built in 1903 for the H.G. Tombler Grocery Co. " H.G. Tombler founded this large wholesale grocery business in 1857, and continued to head it until the first decade of the 20th Century. Tombler was also the first President of the Easton Board of Trade; an organizer and first President of the Edison Illuminating Company; President of the Matteawan Felting Company; and a Vice President of the Easton Shoe Company. Working through the Board of Trade, he was instrumental in (among other things) bringing Herman Simon and the Simon silk mill operation to Easton in 1883...more detail on 230 Ferry st.
  233-35 Ferry Street: Old Nevin Building - now Ocean restaurant. In 1910 and 1912, this building was listed as the “Nevin Building”. Nevin purchased the property in 1907 from the heirs of John Bercaw, who had owned it since 1865. Nevin sold it in November 1913, and remodeled another property that he and his wife had assembled at 24-28 South 2nd Street, which then became known as the “Nevin Building” by 1914. The Old Nevin Building on Ferry Street passed through four owners before becoming the property of a partnership between Isaac B. Hochman and William L. Folk in 1923. The partners had also acquired the new Nevin Building on South 2nd Street the previous year... more detail on 233-35 Ferry.
  237 Ferry Street: Elizabeth Innes House - This small house and property was purchased on 4 January 1841 by James R. Innes. Eighteen years later, James conveyed the “frame Dwelling House” to a trustee, whose instructions were to hold the house as a residence for (or alternatively give the rents to) Elizabeth Innes, Widow of Samuel Innes. He was then to sell the property after Mrs. Innes’s death. Elizabeth Innes’s husband, Easton Argus newspaper co-founder, publisher and editor Samuel Innes had died unexpected at age 38 in 1841 – just before the first purchase. It thus seems likely that James Innes in fact purchased the small house in 1842 in order to make some accommodation for his [sister-in-law?]. In the 1870s, the house on Ferry Street (then numbered 69 Ferry street) was the residence of John A. Innes, who was Elizabeth (and Samuel) Innes’s son. Late that year, with the impending inauguration of the modern street numbering scheme, the house was assigned the modern 237 Ferry Street address. ...more detail on 237 Ferry.
  357 Ferry Street: Susan Innes Building (357-61 Ferry Street) Ground floor has a modern façade applied over the brick, around a large show window. Adjoins the Parsons-Taylor House at the corner of Ferry and South 4th Streets. This is part of Original Town Lot No.176, as laid out by Easton founder William Parsons in 1752. By 1757, the small stone Parsons-Taylor House at the corner (one of the oldest surviving houses in Easton) had been built at the corner for Easton’s Founding Father William Parsons. Parsons died in the house in 1757. Parsons never obtained formal title to his stone house in Easton – perhaps because he was never happy about his appointment to Easton, despite his pivotal role in founding the town. Nearly a year after Parsons’s death, his Executor obtained a formal patent from the Penn Family for the stone house at an annual ground rent of 7 shillings, and sold the property several months later to Charles Swaine, a Philadelphia merchant. Swaine held the property until 1767, when he sold it for £200 to fellow Philadelphia merchant John Hughes. Hughes’s Executor and heirs sold it in 1780 to yet another Philadelphia merchant, Joseph Dean. In 1780, George Taylor (signer of the Declaration of Independence) returned to Easton to lease the Parsons stone house from the Hughes Estate just before it was sold. Taylor himself died there the following year... more detail on 357 Ferry.

this site is brought to you by local historian Ricard F Hope, and local realtor Ellen Shaughnessy - realSellen.com
* updated 11/4/2009 eps *