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Tri-Counties Genealogy &
History by Joyce M. Tice
Tri-County Communities
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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Joyce's Search Tip - November 2008
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Do You Know that you can search just the
articles on the site by using the Articles button in the Partitioned
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G. Keagle & Son
After graduating from Mansfield Normal School in 1912 with a diploma
in Piano, Leon Keagle worked as a piano salesman in Elmira, Rochester and
Corning. In 1914 he and his father, Grant Keagle, organized the firm
of G. Keagle & Son. Grant bought a building on Troy Street in
Canton, Pa. which had been a grocery store operated by Stan Lyons.
On the second floor was a photography studio operated by a Mr. Wright,
and later by Clarence E. Dewey. Grant and Ida Keagle made this building
their home for the duration of their lives.
Photo Caption – page 218p:
This photograph shows the building as it appeared when it was purchased
in 1914. There are still grocery items in the window and a milk can
in front. The second floor porch was torn down sometime later and
the building underwent several renovations. The small window near
the top on the side of the building was where the dark room for the photography
studio was located. The barn showing at the rear of the building
burned down when Williams Construction Company burned. |
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Photo Caption – page 219Ap:
G. Keagle & Son store on Main Street, showing the interior of the
store, with Eleanor Keagle and Howard Bullock. |
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Photo Caption – page 219p:
This photograph shows the store after it had been converted into a
music store. The Victor Phonograph and dog are clearly apparent.
In addition to selling pianos and musical merchandise, the firm also sold
Singer Sewing Machines, and later, Radios and Maytag washing machines.
For the first few years, Allen Case used part of the building for his jewelry
store, but sometime later he moved to a location on Main Street.
The house on the right was rented by Leon and Eleanor Keagle until they
built their home on Carson Street. Phyllis, Roger and Catherine were
born here. |
In 1923 Leon Keagle was awarded first prize by the Weaver Piano Company
for the greatest individual volume of sales among retailers of that firm’s
pianos in the United States during a four month period.
Sometimes in the mid 1920’s the store was moved to a location on the
north side of Main Street immediately to the east of the Packard House,
and Robert McManigle rented the front part of the Troy Street store for
a Bakery. In the back of the Main Street store was a hand operated
elevator to take merchandise up to the second floor. The second floor
was used for storage and there was a radio repair shop in the front of
this floor.
After the firm changed location, radios were added to their line of
merchandise. The radio had recently been developed to a point where
the average family was willing to invest in one. Most of these earliest
radio sets were battery operated and needed an “A” battery and a “B” battery
for power. The “A” battery was the same as a car battery, but the
“B” battery was a unit of 48 or more flashlight batteries connected together
and packaged as a unit. These batteries did not last very long, so
a family had to restrict the amount of time they spent listening to the
radio to the amount of money they could afford for batteries. The
“A” battery could be recharged, but the “B” battery had to be replaced.
These early radios were a far cry from the modern radio that can be stuck
in one’s pocket, battery and all.
Another item that sold well in the 1920’s and 1930’s was sheet music.
Grant Keagle made a music rack where the sheet music could be displayed
with the title of the music showing at the top. This allowed the
customer to see what was readily available for sale.
Most customers shopping for sheet music could play the piano, so they
would use one of the pianos in the store to try out their selection.
Sheet music had been popular throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and
reached its peak in the 1920’s and 1930’s, and then slowly died out.
Phonograph records were another popular item in the Keagle store.
Both the Edison and Victor machines were competing with each other for
the market, but the heavier Edison records lost popularity with the lighter
Victor and other makes. The store had two rooms where costumers could
play a record before buying it. Electricity was not available outside
of Canton, and those living in the farms nearby did not have it until later
in the 30’s. The early phonographs that had to be changed often so
it would not damage the record. These were far less faithful in the
reproduction of sound than our present Hi-Fi sets, but they were better
than nothing.
Sometime during the 1920’s, the firm opened a branch store in Troy,
Pa., but this venture was not successful enough to continue and was closed
down.
In 1932 the store was moved back to the original building on Troy street.
The depression caused many wage earners to lose their jobs, so people could
only buy those items that were absolutely essential. The business
was able to survive through the 1930’s from the sale of Maytag washing
machines, radios and Singer Sewing machines. The Maytag company developed
a two-cycle gasoline engine for use on its washers, and these sold well
to the farmers before rural electrification brought electricity to the
farms. You could tell from quite a distance away who was washing
clothes by the sound of these Maytag washing machine engines.
Photo Caption – page 221p:
The photograph below shows Grant and Leon Keagle with the popular aluminum
tub Maytag washing machine, with a young James Keagle sitting on the top
lid. |
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During the 1940’s, World War II caused the production of non essential
goods not needed for the war effort to be drastically curtailed.
Factories were needed to product military supplies. This made for
difficult times for all retail stores selling non essential consumer goods,
as they were unable to get things to sell. Even after the end of
the war, it took some time before factories could retool for their usual
line of consumer goods. Somehow the business was able to survive
these trying times.
After the death of Grant Keagle in 1954, the name of the business was
changed to “Keagle’s Music Store,” and moved to a new location on the west
side of Sullivan street. Leon and Eleanor purchased a building that
was formerly Ayers farm equipment store. They ran the business from
this location for a few years, then bought a building directly across the
street. They continued at this location until ill health forced their
retirement. The last few years saw a decline in the number of sales,
but they preferred to spend their days downtown at the store as they had
done for over fifty five years. This kept them in contact with the
many friends they had acquired over the years. They had operated
the business from 1914 to 1971, a period of fifty-six years.
--Roger M. Keagle
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Photo Caption – page 222p:
The Troy Street Store as it appeared in the 1950’s |
Tri-Counties Page 16165
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Bradford County PA
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Chemung County NY
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Tioga County PA
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