Excerpts from these topics are from Nick Myers' book Philadelphia's New Hope - Manayunk, and articles written by Nick Myers appearing in the Roxborough Times.

    As Manayunk entered into the 19th century, it became one of the main
industrial centers in Philadelphia. By 1819, there was the completion of the Manayunk Canal. Captain Tower, who built the first industrial mill on the canal banks purchased the rights for the use of the canal. In the same year Silas Gilbert Levering built Manayunk's first hotel on Main Street. The hotel had many owners and different names through this period. Owners from Levering's time were James Bramble, James Renshaw (Manayunk's first Postmaster), John Brower, Richard Collett, Hartley Shoesmith, J. Madison Richman and in 1890 the hotel was sold to Harry Firth, who renamed it the United States Hotel.

    The "gay 90s" period was the beginning of Manayunk's largest economical climb with a variety of businesses opening up on Main Street. The already existing factories began to produce upholstery for home furnishings, automobiles and railroad coaches. This elevated Manayunk's industrial sector into national recognition. One of the largest employers of the local people was the Pencoyd Iron Works on the southern end of Main Street near the Wissahickon Reading train station. At its peak, approximately 8,000 people were employed at Pencoyd. Pencoyd produced iron for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania Railroad Station at Broad Street, the Boston subway and the immigration center at Ellis Island, New York.

    Main Street was "busting at the seams" as it moved into the 20th century. Saturday night was a big night! Having been paid on Saturdays, the mill workers would flood Main Street in throngs. The laughing and chatting neighbors congregated in the street, dancing and singing, while some attended the local theater, taverns and pubs including The United States Hotel Bar & Grill (since 1903). The old Manayunk Farmer's Market buzzed with folks shopping for food and clothing. There was no problem with any automobile traffic at that time since the only mode of transportation was the horse and buggy. During the stage coach era, sheds and stables where horses were kept for Jacob Shuster's stage lines were part of the rear section of the United States Hotel.

As the workers became more prosperous,new homes were being purchased further up the hills. It was understood that the further up the hills you resided, the more you were looked upon as being successful since you were away from the dirt and the grime of the mills along the river.

In 1900, Peter J. Leibert purchased the United State Hotel and leased it to James P. Seery who renamed it Hotel Liebert.

Sketch drawn by Katherine Tyrrell

Tioga's Lazarus Lemisch bought the hotel from Liebert in 1913 and built the Empress Theater.

    After 1910, Arts, Sciences, Education and Entertainment were beginning to influence Manayunk. The first library on Green Lane was built on the estate of John Morris. After many years of encouraging education, this library closed its doors when the new library opened on the Ridge. A library at 148 Krams Avenue was built in honor of William B. Stephens, who was a textile manufacturer interested in educating his workers so they could improve their social standings. When this library closed down, most of the books were donated as reference material to the new Roxborough Library. In the sciences, many pioneering techniques and innovations were put to use here in the manufacturing industry. As for entertainment, the Empress Theater on Main Street (site of the United States Hotel) and Dixie Theater on Levering Street provided the hard-working mill worker with an "escape". Movies and vaudeville shows were popular at the Empress (notice an ad in the photograph below for a rerun of the famous Jack Dempsey v Gene Tunney heavyweight fight). It was at the Dixie Theater that many top performers of the day got their start. People like Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy performed here. Some even mention Bob Hope as saying that the time he spent in Manayunk was very rewarding.


The Empress Theater

    As the '20s passed by and the '30s moved in, the crash of the stock market left Manayunkers stunned. Mills and factories were closed, and unemployment rose rapidly. The "growth" experienced in the previous years came to a screeching halt. It took just one "Black Monday" to crush the people of this country; one day of gloom to wipe out all the prosperous years of yesterday. In desperation, many of the "Yunkers" out of employment took their families and moved out, hoping to find work in another place. They left behind their beloved little community that they had grown to love.

Now...

    Since the 1940s when Lazarus Lemisch renamed the Empress Theater the Riviera, to the 1960s when the theater became a discotheque called The Kaleidoscope and up through the 1980's when former Philadelphia Mayor Bill Green owned the United States Hotel Bar & Grill, there has been tremendous change in the social and business atmosphere of this community. Main Street is now the site of Factory Outlet stores, fashion boutiques, variety shops, and a dozen or more restaurants. Add to this the gala festivals of Modern Manayunk such as the annual Canal Day which is held during the spring, and the Stroll down Main Street which is held during the summer. During these two events, the section between Shurs Lane and Green Lane is roped off and all traffic is rerouted. The street becomes a mass of thousands of citizens and visitors. The Mayor of Philadelphia and the famous Mummers String Band are on hand for the celebrations, which remind one of Mardi Gras. From a bevy of Manayunk's young ladies, a Miss Manayunk is crowned. In the summer, the Stroll down Main Street features the gay nineties period with long dresses being worn by the ladies and handlebar moustaches being sported by the men. This reminiscence adds to the revival of yesterday's Manayunk.

...and Then

    The old time Manayunker, the senior citizen of today, may take a stroll down Main Street and ponder, is this really Manayunk? Some of the old stone buildings of yesteryear still exist, and it gives one the old feeling of this town as it was before. Gone are the old streets of Belgium Blocks that were used to construct roads that horse and buggy could ascend. Gone also are the old gas lamps and the tracks of Trolley 61 to center city Philadelphia. One might remember the fifteen cent roundtrip fare, the nickel beer, the fifteen cent haircut, and the ten cent admission to the Saturday matinees at the Empress Theater (now Loring Building Products - formerly the United States Hotel).