Of the 12 storefronts on the “Brick Block,” the steps leading to 547 Market Street should be worn down the most. This was the address of the iconic Johnsonburg News Agency or “News Stand” as it was commonly known, for over 100 years. Thousands of Burgites trapsed through its large wooden glass-enclosed door over the decades to purchase newspapers, comic books, greeting cards, magazines, gifts, candy, or to play the lottery or pay ones television bill. It was a seemingly irreplaceable institution of Johnsonburg life stuck in the middle of an Arcade-style shopping plaza with little parking for horse or auto, yet it thrived at this location from the buggy whip era to the days of jet engines. I bought my first baseball and football cards there, my first bag of penny candy, and delivered the Sunday papers for the newsstand in the East End of town for several years. Those memories are priceless.
We know that M. Flynn had a shoe store at 547 Market Street in the late 1890’s. Jacob Dubler, a tailor from Lock Haven opened up his tailor shop there in 1898, but he went back to Clinton County in 1904 and an “unknown to this day entrepreneur” started selling tobacco products from this location until a Jewish merchant, Israel Rich, purchased the inventory and changed the enterprise into a news stand in 1906.
Mr. Rich, a German by birth, immigrated to the United States in 1867 and helped start a shoe and boot store in Titusville, Pennsylvania, in the process marrying the owner’s sister Rachael Strauss. Later, in 1879, Israel and Rachel opened a shoe and boot store in Bradford, Pennsylvania but in 1892 they went into the metal recycling business in Jamestown, New York. In 1906, getting along in years, Israel looked for a less physically demanding job and found one in Johnsonburg courtesy of his brother-in-law, Maurice Deiches, who assisted in managing the E. Deiches Clothing Store on Centre Street in Johnsonburg and who put Israel onto the little stationary store in the brick block.
Around 1916 and in poor health Israel sold out to Edward and Marie Brennan. Edward was the son-in-law to George Younger Sr. who owned a millinery store on Centre Street. Edward and Marie ran the news stand until 1928 when they sold out to Josephine Beaver (Bevacqua) Menniti after the untimely death of her husband Samuel Menniti Sr. The Brennan’s went back to helping run the millinery shop. Josephine, needing a livelihood to support her and her three young children, Evelyn, Olivia, and Samuel, took over the Johnsonburg News Agency. After World War II daughter Evelyn and son Samuel (Chick) assisted with the operation of the store. Josephine and her brother George Beaver (Bevacqua) operated the store together with assistance from Evelyn and Chick until Josephine’s death in 1968. George, Chick, and Evelyn continued the business until George died in 1973. Chick owned the store until his death in 1981 when his wife Pat took it over. Later that year Evelyn Menniti and Olivia Vallone, Chick’s sisters, purchased the store. In 1987 Steve Vallone went into partnership with Evelyn and Olivia. Olivia passed away in 1991 and Evelyn and Steve continued to manage the Agency until Evelyn’s retirement in 2008. Steve and Barb Vallone ran the enterprise until its closing in ?
Sad to write, but the traditional newsstand like the Johnsonburg News Agency is dead. The digital era of news, the diminished use of tobacco products, and the overhead costs now exceeding the low profit margins of small gifts, paperbacks, candy, greeting cards, and lottery sales have contributed to the demise of newsstands across the nation and of course, in Johnsonburg. Those newsstands that still hang on have added drinks, snacks, over-the-counter drugs, and pre-paid gift cards to their sales mix in an attempt to continue on. Some have even garnered property tax relief, rental reductions, and utility rebates in order to remain as a service to their communities. But the fact of the matter is; until a better mouse-trap business model is created to ensnare more paying customers, the newsstand is a dying enterprise. Someday I hope one may return to the “Brick Block.”
Kevin (Reg) Barwin December 2022
Kevin Barwin, a Johnsonburg native, who spent his youth peddling newspapers in Johnsonburg and reading the newsprint, while walking his routes, acquired a taste for the past.
THE PAPER BOY FROM THE PAPER CITY, More on his book: here