Business card of Harry E. Bailey, proprietor of the Lincoln Highway Garage in Wrightsville, PA (Submitted by Tom Keller; dated circa 1915, because information on card is consistent with May 21, 1915 ad in The York Daily)
Earliest Lincoln Highway Garage was in Wrightsville
The Lincoln Highway Garage in Wrightsville was the first such named in York County and possibly the earliest in the country. Harry E. Bailey established this garage as early as 1915; less than two years after the initial organizational meeting of the Lincoln Highway Association in 1913, and only one year after the route of the Lincoln Highway was selected as going through York County.
Tom Keller submitted a business card of Harry E. Bailey. Tom asked if I could date the card and wanted to know if the building still stood. I discovered a May 21, 1915 ad in The York Daily, which contains information consistent with that on the business card; thus the card is circa 1915. Both the card and ad note the garage is agency for the Ford, Dodge, and Buick automobiles.
This post examines the fourth Lincoln Highway Garage in York County, PA. The other Lincoln Highway Garages were established in the 1920s: along EAST and WEST Market Streets in York, and in HALLAM. Of those three Lincoln Highway Garages, only the building of the one in Hallam still stands.
Click on this LINK for a yorkblog.com Full View of the photos in this post.
The September 1917 issue of The Motor Truck contained the announcement that “H. E. Bailey, Lincoln Highway Garage, Wrightsville, Pa.” is appointed as a Koehler agent; to sell the 1-1/4 ton truck produced by The H. J. Koehler Motors Corporation of Newark, NJ. The 1921 Polk York Business Directory notes the garage is distributor in York County for Kohler (Koehler) Trucks and is now agent for Nash and Overland cars. See Wrightsville’s Lincoln Highway Garage with a Movie Theatre for additional details about the Lincoln Highway Garage in Wrightsville.
The business directory notes the Lincoln Highway Garage is located on the corner of Hellam Street and Howard Alley, near the Susquehanna Bridge, in Wrightsville, PA. I utilized a 1923 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, from Penn State Libraries to pinpoint the exact location; the garage is on the southwest corner:
A zoomed-in view reveals details about the garage. The garage is a two-story concrete block structure with 64-feet frontage. The office and stock room front Hellam Street. The first floor garage contains a concrete floor and can accommodate 30 cars. In 1923, the second floor is leased to a cigar factory.
The reason this garage no longer stands is explained in this Gazette and Daily article of September 21, 1929: “Harry E. Bailey, proprietor of the Lincoln Highway Garage, has moved into his new building on Hellam Street near Fourth, which was recently completed by contractor Frank H. Leibhart. The building is modern in every respect, and occupies the site that was formerly the home of Charles W. Shultz. The old building which he vacated this week is now being demolished to make way for the approaches of the new bridge.” That new bridge in 1929 was the concrete arch bridge, which opened in 1930, and is today the Route 462 bridge between Columbia and Wrightsville.
Harry E. Bailey continued to operate the Lincoln Highway Garage in Wrightsville; now on the north side of Hellam Street, about mid-way between Fourth and Fifth Streets. About 1934, when his younger brother Barnum E. Bailey becomes partners in the business; the business becomes Bailey Bros. Garage and soon just Bailey’s Garage. Bailey’s Garage, i.e. the second location of the Lincoln Highway Garage in Wrightsville, no longer stands.
Links to selected Lincoln Highway posts include:
Lincoln Highway Centennial Auto Tour at Haines Shoe House
Wrightsville’s Lincoln Highway Garage with a Movie Theatre
Stony Brook Garage on the Lincoln Highway
The Highway Bridge Service Station on the Lincoln Highway
York was in danger of losing the Lincoln Highway during 1914
ROAD OF REMEMBRANCE Memorial in Paradise Township
Melvin’s Drive-In, Lincoln Highway Ice Cream Bar
St. Joseph reports on John F. Kennedy in York, PA
Lincoln Woods Inn; Mystery of the Medallions
LoPiccolo’s in Violet Hill connection to The Woods in Springettsbury
1906 York Automobile Owners form York Motor Club
Motels & Restaurants named via the Lincoln Highway; Lincoln View
23¢ per gallon at York’s Only Gasoline Shopping Center
