Waynesboro’s Arcade Theater by Richard D. L. Fulton Waynesboro’s Arcade Theater was built in 1916, at 75 West Main Street (71-79 West Main Street, according to the Waynesboro Historical Society), Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, and continued to be in operation into the early 1960s. Word began to spread in 1914 that a major theater project for Waynesboro…

The Monterey Tea House by Richard D. L. Fulton The Monterey Tea House operated for decades in Blue Bridge Summit.  An advertisement in the June 4, 1924, edition of The (Baltimore) Sun had announced the opening of the “New Monterey Gift-Shop Tea-House” at the Monterey Golf Course. The tea house was located at Tracy (also…

sugar’s underselling store by Richard D. L. Fulton Sugar’s Underselling Store, also known as Thurmont’s Underselling Store, was—for that particular time—a rather unusual business that operated in Thurmont from 1916 through 1918, one that ultimately accepted eggs in payment for goods purchased. Sugar’s Underselling Store was essentially a late-Victorian version of today’s Ollie’s or Big…

by Richard D. L. Fulton The Distelfink Drive-In The Distelfink Drive-in, which had been located at the intersection of Old Harrisburg Road and Shrivers Corner Road, just off Route 15 in Straban Township, near Gettysburg, thrived as basically a “roadside attraction” in the food category from 1954 until 2011. Distelfink takes its name from the…

T h u r m o n t ’ s D i x i e D i n e r by Richard D. L. Fulton Beginning in the late 1930s, and reaching a peak in the 1960s, seemingly every town or community across America served as home to a genre of eateries commonly referred to…

E m m i t s b u r g  B o w l i n g  L a n e s Emmitsburg Recreation Center, which once contained the Emmitsburg Lanes bowling alleys, was located across an alley from the existing laundromat on West Main Street and was in operation from the 1940s until 1965.…

Emmitsburg’s Gem Theater Emmitsburg’s lone theater, which was located at 125 West Main Street, provided not only theatrical entertainment to the community but also hosted social events and fundraisers. The earliest mention of Emmitsburg’s Gem Theater appeared in the November 1933 edition of The (Hanover) Evening Sun, when according to the Sun, “Fire broke out…

The Slagle Hotels I & II Richard D. L. Fulton The three-story building that was once the Slagle Hotel still stands at the Emmitsburg Town Square and presently serves as a 16-unit apartment building. Over time, the 150-year-old building has undergone several name changes. The Slagle Hotel did have two previous names: one being the…