The death of Curtin Cleveland McLaughlin on February 10, 1938, brought to an end a garage and auto dealership (McLaughlin Motor Company) located on Market Square, Millersburg, in the brick building presently [2023] occupied by the Millersburg Borough Offices. According to McLaughlin’s obituary, he had been operating the dealership for 14 years, but little has been found to verify that.
In 1927, the Market Square Garage, a seller of gas and oil, was listed as a business in Millersburg (Lykens Standard, July 1, 1927); no owner or operator was named. In 1928, the Market Street Garage was officially designated as a headlight testing station (Elizabethville Echo, January 26, 1928). In 1931, Mrs. McLaughlin returned from the hospital, and it was reported that her husband was the manager of the Market Street Garage in Millersburg (Elizabethville Echo, October 8, 1931). In 1932, a vehicle involved in an accident at Rife, was taken to the Market Square Garage for repairs (Elizabethville Echo, July 21, 1932). Also in 1932, the Market Square Garage was named as a business in Millersburg but again, no owner or operator was named (Harrisburg Evening News, July 18, 1932).
1937 was not a good year for the business.
In February 1937, a fire broke out at the garage of the McLaughlin Motor Company. It was extinguished by the Millersburg Fire Department. From the Elizabethville Echo, February 25, 1937:
MILLERSBURG GARAGE DAMAGED BY BLAZE
Estimated damage of between $300 and $400 was the result of a blaze in the furnace room of the C. C. McLaughlin Motor Company garage, Market Square, Millersburg, about 6 o’clock Sunday evening. Millersburg firemen, hampered by dense smoke, conquered the flames, after a fifteen minute battle.
Constant hammering by a swinging basement window, as it was lashed by the the winds of the storm that evening, is believed to have loosened an electric wire leading to a conduit box, causing a short-circuit.
Thirty-three cars were removed from the first floor of the garage.
Most of the damage resulted to the floor, the furnace and a stairway.
In May 1937, Blair Brosius and his father Carlos Brosius, of Upper Paxton Township, brought a damage suit against McLaughlin and his wife for an auto accident which occurred on the Millersburg–Berrysburg highway in which an auto operated by an employee of McLaughlin Motor Company struck the Brosius vehicle causing $659.70 in damages. The suit was almost immediately settled against McLaughlin Motor Company for the amount of $659.70, for “medical expenses.”
Also in May 1937, one of McLaughlin’s salesmen, A. S. Allen, was killed in a crash in Lykens. From the West Schuylkill Herald, May 13, 1938:
AUTO SALESMAN KILLED IN LYKENS CRASH
A. S. Allen, 41, of Shippensburg, and automobile salesman employed by the McLaughlin Motor Company of Millersburg, was instantly killed at 5 o’clock, Wednesday evening, when the car in which he was riding, collided with a truck at the briquette plant, a half mile north of Lykens.
John H. McLaughlin, driver of the car, suffered abrasions of the right arm and knee. Frank A. Wynn, of Tremont, operator of the truck, suffered abrasions of an arm and bruises of the chest.
Motor policemen from the Lykens sub-station were called to investigate the crash and Wynn was held under $500 bail for a hearing.
Curtin C. McLaughlin died on February 10, 1938. His obituary appears at the end of this post.
An advertisement, previously presented on this blog, was for a 1938 four door (Fordor) sedan, sold by the Crissinger Motor Company, Market Square, Millersburg. Crissinger, who had been operating a Ford dealership in Rebuck, Northumberland County, leased the Market Square facility in August 1938, from C. T. Romberger, according to an article that appeared in the Lykens Standard, August 12, 1938:
MILLERSBURG MOTOR AGENCY MOVED
The C. C. McLaughlin Motor Company, West Market Square, Millersburg, has been transferred to the Crissinger Motor Company, of Rebuck, by Mrs. Jennie McLaughlin and on Monday, M. R. Crissinger assumed the management.
The buildings and equipment, including show rooms, office, stock rooms, repair departments and garages, recently acquired by C. T. Romberger, of Elizabethville, from Mrs. Laughlin, have been leased by the Crissingers.
It appears from this property transfer, that Marlin Ray Crissinger, shortly afterward began advertising that the Crissinger Motor Company, “Ford Sales and Service” was “Formerly C. C. McLaughlin Motor Company” and was operating on Market Square, Millersburg. However, by 1940, Crissinger moved his operation to the highway one mile north of Millersburg. Some time afterward, the Market Square buildings became Weaver’s Garage – but was still known as Market Square Garage.
____________________________________________________________
The obituary of C. C. McLaughlin appeared in the Lykens Standard, February 11, 1938:
CURTIN C. McLAUGHLIN
Curtin C. McLaughlin, a prominent businessman of Millersburg, for the past fourteen years proprietor of the C. C. McLaughlin Motor Company, of that place, died following a two day’s illness in the Harrisburg Hospital, yesterday morning at 5 o’clock, death having resulted from pneumo-cocci.
Mr. McLaughlin was 53 years of age and took sick with the illness that proved fatal Tuesday afternoon while returning from Harrisburg where he was administered a treatment for the removal of tonsils. He had been a sinus sufferer for years. Following his arrival home Tuesday, his condition became more alarming and on Tuesday evening he was taken in an ambulance to the Harrisburg Hospital.
During Mr. McLaughlin’s residence in Millersburg, extending over a period of 20 years, before becoming associated in the mercantile business, he was proprietor of the Millersburg Milling Company, later operating the McLaughlin Billiard Parlor. He was a member of Trinity Reformed Church of Millersburg, and was fraternally connected with Ashlar Lodge, Lykens, Harrisburg Consistory; Zembo Temple; Harrisburg Motor Club; Millersburg Fire Company; I. O. O. M. and P. O. S. of A.
Besides his widow, Mrs. Jennie McLaughlin, he is survived by three brothers, John. H. McLaughlin, Millersburg; Harry E. McLaughlin, Harrisburg; Robert McLaughlin, Lucknown; and one sister, Mrs. Ida Yerges, Elizabethville.
Funeral services will be held from the late residence, 171 West Union Street, Monday afternoon at 2:30 with Rev. John H. Sando, pastor of Trinity Reformed Church, Millersburg, will officiate. Burial will be made in the Maple Grove Cemetery, Elizabethville.
____________________________________________
News articles from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.