North East Historical Society

"Street History" Series featuring the Roads of North East LOCATION: North Lake Street North Lake Street was originally called Portage Street as goods arriving via Lake Erie at Freeport were portaged up what we know as Route 89 to Judah Colt’s headquarters at Colt Station. The first map of North East was published in 1885 and shows what existed on North Lake Street at the time. ... Starting at Main Street we find on the east side of Lake Street the Archie Duncan Store. This appears to be much smaller than the Duncan building we see there today. As we head north there was a tin shop, and next to that there was Mrs. Boch’s, followed by the M.E. Parsonage and then the M.E. Church. Next was the Academy School, followed by the house of L. Brookins. After quite a bit of empty space was the Ross Manor, built in 1846 and still standing at 52 North Lake. After another large empty space, the last house in the borough was that of G. Morse. On the west side of the street, a little distance from Park Row (now Gibson Street) was the house of Jno. Scouller and down to approx. where Division Street is was the home of P. Barker with an ashery directly north of it. The last house on that side of the street belonged to a Hitchcock. The first public school in North East Borough was built on the site of Heard Park in 1825. It was a small brick building that was found to be in bad shape and replaced by a larger wooden building only 20 years later. That building lasted until 1878, when it was replaced by a large brick building which cost $8,250 to build. It was then that North East started a high school. The wooden building was moved to the northwest corner of Gibson and Mill Streets and stands there today as an apartment building. The brick Academy building stood until 1936, when Heard Memorial School was built. The Heard Memorial School was torn down in 2000. It was 1850 when William Griffith and S.S. Hammond planted the first commercial vineyard in North East on land near Middle Road and what is now Route 89. At first the only use for the grapes was as table grapes. Pasteurization had not been applied to grape juice so when the grapes started to ferment the only possible other commercial use was to make wine. Griffith had convinced many farmers that they would make good money growing grapes, so in order to use all the grapes grown here he decided to build a winery in 1860. He was not successful at first and had to re-organize and bring in others to finance and run this winery which became the very successful South Shore Wine Cellars. The winery went through several owners before being closed by prohibition. In 1922 the building opened business as the South Shore Inn and continued as such until Bob Mazza bought the building and opened the South Shore Winery that we see there today.

"Street History" Series featuring the Roads of North East LOCATION: North Gulf Road North Gulf Road, also known as Twenty-Mile Gulf Road was originally a part of Buffalo Road where one had to make a sharp turn to the north onto Gulf Road in order to travel down to the bottom of Twenty-Mile Gulf where there was a bridge to cross Twenty-Mile Creek. This part of Gulf Road is where Gulf Road got its name. ... Down in this gulf there were once several businesses that existed because of the water power available there. There was a saw and grist mill, a cider mill and a blacksmith shop there for the convenience of the residents of eastern North East Township and western Ripley, New York.

"Street History" Series featuring the Roads of North East LOCATION: North Cemetery Road The main point of interest on North Cemetery Road is, of course, the cemetery. What today is known as the North East Cemetery (some call it Oak Hill Cemetery) had its beginnings in 1805 when the Presbyterian Congregation of Lower Greenfield built a log structure in the northeast corner of Cemetery and Buffalo Roads. ...Continue reading

Happy to be back in North East, Pennsylvania on the New York Border!

JOIN US TONIGHT with Mr. Bryan Farr of The Historic Route 20 Association for the presentation on the historic highway at 7:00 PM. The presentation is free and open to the public. WE WILL BE at the all-purpose room of the First Baptist Church *Following safety protocols to maintain social distancing. See you soon!... #historicroute20 #keepinghistoryalive #northeastpa #northeasthistoricalsociety #northeastmuseum #letslearnmore #thehistoricroute20association

Hello, Friends! We invite you to swing by the North East Historical Society on Fridays and Saturdays! We are open from 4:30pm to 8:30pm *Following all safety recommendations during the pandemic. ... #visitnortheast #history #localmuseum #keepinghistoryalive #stopbyandsayhello #lakeerie #northeastpa #comeoninwereopen