A column entitled “Quarter Century Back,” as published in the Elizabethville Echo, June 5, 1903, refers to the predecessor of the Echo, published in 1878 at Washington Square by J. A. Ettinger, and known at the time as the Weekly Democrat. Ettinger was the owner of the Victor Printing Company located in Washington Square along the railroad tracks in what was Elizabethville’s first railroad depot building. The stop on the Lykens Valley Railroad was then known as the Cross Roads Station. In 1893, the various entities, Elizabethville, Cross Roads, and Washington Square, were all incorporated into a single borough, thereafter known as Elizabethville.
Ettinger published his newspaper under several different names between 1878 and 1882. After 1878, the paper was known as The Independent. Most of what we know about what was published in the Ettinger newspapers is from other sources which re-printed excerpts. Very few of the original copies have survived. The Library of Congress has no copies and the paper is not listed in its U. S. Newspaper Directory, 1690-present.
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QUARTER CENTURY BACK
The Weekly Democrat, published by J. A. Ettinger, at Elizabethville, twenty-five years ago, contained the following:
D. D. Elder, Esq., of Philadelphia, is here on a visit to his farm near this place.
A cabbage stalk in the garden of Mr. John N. Hoffman, when pulled up a few days since was found to have four well developed heads.
Benjamin Dockey, the new proprietor of the stage route between this place [Washington Square] and Berrysburg, was sworn into the service of the post office department, and will carry the mails between these two points. He will likewise carry passengers and merchandise at reasonable rates.
John W. Simonton, Esq., of Harrisburg, spent the evening of election in the vicinity of this place, as the guest of Mr. Eli Swab. He was armed with a double barreled shotgun and accompanied by a setter dog, intending, no doubt, to enjoy a “day’s shooting.”
Thomas Gipple, residing in Powel’s Valley, and aged more than ninety years, is still in the full enjoyment of all his faculties of body and mind, and very active withal. At stated periods he may be found with wheelbarrow and fork engaged in cleaning out stables and performing other outdoor work.
Among the advertisers were: Jonas Swab; Dr. H. F. Heckman; Peter B. Lyter; Jacob Weaver; J. B. Lebo; Lykens Valley insurance Company; F. Weaver; and Joseph Enterline.
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