The history of city hall continues
Hannah Gross
NLJ Correspondent
With Leonard Cash
In last week’s edition of “History on Main,” historian Leonard Cash recapped the tearing down of city hall. The workers found a “corner stone box” (similar to a time capsule) which took them through a time journey to when Newcastle was newly founded.
Going back in time once again to Cash’s records from Mar. 20, 1891, we find that the dramatic company presented “The Last Loaf” and “Thirty Minutes For Refreshments” at city hall on opening night. The place was crowded, and between the plays, the guests were treated to the performance Master Charlie Benns, who is described as a “bright boy” and one of Newcastle’s soprano singers.
“His efforts were received with great applause,” the article reported.
Opening night was a great success, and the opera house continued to be a success throughout its day, because many famous people performed there, Cash said. But picking up where we left off in 1949, it remains only a memory because when city hall was torn down, the opera house went with it.
A few years after the city hall was demolished, the land on which it sat (lots 1 and 2, block 9) was sold to Joe Aimonetto, according to news reports from February 1953.
However, Aimonetto lost the land in a court case.
In the Sept. 12, 1963, issue of the paper, “Castle Conoco,” the company occupying lots 1 and 2 on block 9, leased by Jim Passons and Gary Polston, was planning to have its grand opening on Saturday.
A year later, the Aug. 11, 1966, edition of the paper reported that Conoco was celebrating its first-year anniversary on the Aug. 13. In honor of the celebration, anyone who bought at least 10 gallons of gas received a free sixpack of soda.
The Conoco building was opened for lease and anyone interested was to contact bulk manager Jack Holwell, according to an article from the News Letter Journal on March 9, 1967. Cash said the building was open for lease because they didn’t have a manager, but that problem was soon resolved when Marv Novak came to manage the business, according to news reports from May 18, 1967.
The newspaper from May 14, 1970, reported that Zingery Service and Repair opened in the Conoco building around 1970. After 10 years of service, according to the News Letter Journal of Oct. 16, 1980, Zingery sold Zingery Castle Conoco (also known as Zingery Service and Repair) to Jack Nelson. The business was to be known as Castle Conoco again, with Tom Russell as the new manager.
According to Short Form Lease Agreement—Photo Record Book 114, Page 843, Jack and Virginia Nelson leased the land where the former Conoco building was to Wymodak Inc., which built a 7-11 gas station. Cash said this is the building that currently resides on lots 1 and 2, block 9.
However, the News Letter Journal reported on Oct. 30, 1997, in an article titled “Oh my heaven, they’ve closed 7-11” that the gas station closed with no notice to its six employees, who showed up to work one day to find the doors locked.
A later article from Feb. 26, 1998, titled “Oh, thank heaven for Gabbie’s” said that Contemporary Industries Corp., owners of the 7-11, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Feb. 17, 1998. The same article said that two former employees of the gas station, Denise Anderson and Stephanie Kline, decided to open up their own convenience store in the same building and called it Gabbie’s.
Unfortunately, after five years of operation, Gabbie’s closed due to the loss of its lease, according to a report from the News Letter Journal on Jan. 30, 2003.
“It has been a pleasure,” Anderson and Kline said. “We will miss everyone.”
According to Cash, Nelson sold the land to Fresh Start, which operated in Newcastle for about 17 years. And that brings us to the present, which wraps up the “History on Main” series on city hall, lots 1 and 2, block 9.
The News Letter Journal/Leonard Cash history series continues in next week’s issue.