Williamsport History

While visiting with Gypsy and her daughter, we stopped in to say hello to her grandmother, who sent me away with a volume of Williamsport history to peruse.

Interesting bits (especially wedding venue related):

~ That is a Tiffany stained glass window at Annunciation. I knew it was particularly nice. (I just hope it's not one of the windows out to be cleaned during our wedding. How are there no pictures of this window online?)

~ There's no steeple on Annunciation Church because four men died, falling from the heights, when they were building it. So they stopped building the steeple and capped it off with a cross.

~ The Park Home/Hotel used to be called The Herdic House. Construction on Annunciation Church began two years after the hotel opened.

What I found funniest:

~ "Today, Williamsport is at a crossroads. It is facing the decline of its retail trade and relatively high unemployment in its traditional industries. But again, the community seems determined to move forward. In 1982 the city adopted the motto, 'A Proud Past and a Promising Future.'" (This makes it sound like the only thing that Williamsport has going for it is a good motto.)

~ After describing a competition between Jaysburg and Williamsport to be the center of county government in the 18th century, and the waylaying of a Jaysburg messenger arguing that Williamsport was too floodable [the Williamsport contingent him drunk and stole his message]: "Jaysburg, like many aspiring frontier communities whose future was bound to the acquisition of a county seat, a canal dock, or a railroad terminal, soon passed out of existence. It is now the site of the Williamsport sewage treatment facility."