Valley Girl Views: Williamsport's First Housing Development

After the disastrous flood of 1889, a group of men lead by James B. Krause purchased The Hezekiah B. Packer for the formation of the first planned housing development in Williamsport - Vallamont. The name Vallamont came from combining the words Valley, and Mountain.

Kraus purchased the 418 acre Packer farm for $100,000 in 1889. The land was located north of Rural Avenue, between Market Street and fifth avenue, just outside of the city limits.

1912 Sandborn Fire Map Page 1 - Showing the Location of the Vallamont Land. Vallamont Park is on the top left.

Vallamont's investors formed the Packer Land and Improvement Company. They had wisely guessed that after the flood, residents would want to rebuild on higher ground, where the flood waters were less likely to reach.

During this time, there was a Victorian interest in healthful spacious outdoor conditions, as germ free fresh air became desirable for good health. An early advertisement for Vallamont described the scenery, wooded areas, and lists "pure air" as an incentive to live in that area.

Hunting Springs Grove, a wooded area with natural springs located in the Vallamont development, was reserved as a public site. This grove later became known as Vallamont Park.

Meginness, in his 1892 History Of Lycoming County, writes:

Vallamont is a now suburban district on the northern limits of the city, which was given to it by Hon. H. C. McCormick. A syndicate of gentlemen purchased the farm belonging to the heirs of Hezekiah B. Packer in 1890 and laid it out in lots and drive ways as an addition to the city.

Horse-Shoe Curve, Vallamont Drive Williamsport Pa

A portion of the ground extends up the hill to the summit, affording a very fine view of the city and valley. Fine drive ways have been built along the side of the hill and over the summit, and the grounds, which are timbered, have been cleared of underbrush, making the groves' very attractive to visitors and picnic parties.

Neat cottage residences will be built on the most eligible sites, and other improvements made, which will make Vallamont a very desirable place. The grounds of the Athletic Association are near by, where base ball and other sports are indulged in"

In 1894, the Pastor of the A.M.E church wrote a letter to the Sun Gazette inquiring if the Vallamont park grounds were public, or private, as they had been denied permission to hold a church picnic there. The pastor asserted that they were denied on the basis of color. The editor of the Gazette replied that the fround were private, and that churches and other organizations must secure permission if they wish to picnic there. In the case of the A.M.E church, those applying for the park were told the Hunting Springs Grove was engaged for three weeks, but that the church could have any other portion of Vallamont.

Williamsport Sun Gazette, June 30 1894

In 1904, the Gazette reported that the "old fair grounds in Vallamont will soon be entire covered with homes"

Birds Eye View of the Vallamont Neighborhood, 1933

Taken from the roof of the hospital

The first house built in Vallamont was built in 1899, soon after the flood. It was built by the Vallamont Land Company. Stately homes began to fill the tree lined streets soon after. The developers has a plan for creating an appealing neighborhood. Streets measures 60 feet wide, and were lines with magnolia, elm, poplar, and maple trees. The lots were large, ranging in size from 30x150 to 262x202. "Proper and Effective Restrictions" were given for the homes, guidelines for the buildings ensuring that the quality of the neighborhood would be maintained. Slaughter houses, pig stys, and "other things of that kind" were prohibited in the area, in order to keep the air and water clean.

This map shows Hunting Springs Grounds [Later Vallamont Park] and the trolley line, which extends round to the nearby Athletic Park.

The trolley line came to Vallamont in 1893. Cochran, who owned interest in the railway company, also owned interest in Vallamont. Onlookers gathered on the day the trolley cars made their first run through Vallamont. The cost of a round trip was 5 cents, and took twenty minutes to complete. It ran from Market Street, ran north to Glenwood Avenue, north on Cherry Street, West on Bellmont Avenue, South on Woodmont Avenue, and then west on Glenwood Avenue again for one block before going south on Campbell and back to Market Street.

Vallamont park included an amphitheater, a pavilion, a merry go round, a bandstand and an adjoining 9 hole golf course.

A skating rink was briefly located on the grounds as well, but it burnt down on March 24th 1895.

After the death of W.H. Amer in 1918, the parks pavilion did not reopen. By September of 1919, the buildings were to be torn down and the park cleared so that the land could be cut up into building lots.

View From The Entrance Of Vallamont Park

The houses in the Vallamont section of Williamsport are still today some of the nicest in the area. Unlike the old mansions on millionaires row, many of the Vallamont homes have remained single dwellings, not cut up into apartments.

Not all of the home at Vallamont were mansions - there were smaller lots for more modest homes, and the home for the Friendless was also built on the edge of Vallamont.

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The Horse Drinking Fountain

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The Horse Statue At The Entrance To Vallamont

The fountain was placed at the intersection of 1st Avenue and Prostpect Terrace [later renamed Vallamont Drive]

Elizabeth [Lyman] Nice, wife of John Nice

Elizabeth, the first director of the predecessor to the SPCA in Williamsport, devoted herself to philanthropy. She died in 1895 from typhoid pneumonia, which she is believed to have contracted while caring for another woman who was ill. Elizabeth thought that there should be water for the horses at the entrance to the park, and thus, this fountain was erected as s memorial to her.

August 12 1895

The fountain proposed to be erected in the memory of Mrs Niece, by the Society for The Protection of Cruelty To Animals

1895

The monument was located at the bottom of this road, and can just, barely, if you zoom in, be seen in this photo.

An article in the Sun Gazette states that the statue was moved to the East End of the Golden Strip, but exactly where, or when it was removed, is unknown.

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The Vallamont Park Pavilion

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Vallamont Theater

The upper story of this pavilion featured a bandstand, and the lower level had a restaurant. Gilbert and Sullivan's "H.M.S. Pinafore" was performed at its official opening in 1897.

There are three buildings shown in the 1901 sandborn fire map for Vallamont Park.

The Vallamont Theater has a distinctive shape, and was quite ornate. In the map above, the pavilion is shown as a rectangle, and the amphitheater a square. It would be unusual for the sandborn maps to show a building in an incorrect shape,

July 12 1894

An 1894 article in the Sun-Gazette reports that a new Swiss Pavillion was being erected on the southeast end of Hunting Springs Grove [Vallamont Park] This could refer to the new theater, or perhaps to this pavilion, shown in a 1914 gathering. There is however, no building of this shape in the above Sandborn map from 1901. I am just not certain if the 1894 article referred to the theater being built, or to another building entirely.

The formal opening of the Vallamont Pavilion was June 1 1897.

1914 gathering at Vallamont

The pavilion was set to be torn down in 1919, and a 1922 article tells us that it was donated to the new Camp Kline boy scout camping grounds. It's assumed that the above horse fountain was removed around the same time.

Vallamont Park Pavilion Program

September 15th 1919

In 1922, James N. Kline purchased a tract of land, giving it to the Boy Scouts as a permanant camping place. THe Williamsport Passenger Railway Company donated the pavilion that had "for many years served as a summer theater at Vallamont Park" to the camp.

Camp Kline was abandoned by the scouts after Hurricane Agnes [the 72 flood] and stood empty for a number of years.

The old Vallamont Pavilion/Theater, as the Dining Hall at Camp Kline

In 1982, the Former Camp Kline land, located just south of Waterville, was purchased by the

Susquehanna Boy Scouts Of America in November of 1982. Camp Kline had been operated by the former West Branch Council BSA.

The sale included the former camp buildings, including the largest building, the former dance hall from Vallamont. The building was entered on the Pennsylvania Register of Historic Buildings. Extensive rennovations to the building were planned, to prepare it for it's new use as a central service building.

Unfortunately, by the early 2000s the old theater was falling down. It was torn down, and the wood was burned.

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The Vallamont Trolley Stop

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Bears at the Vallamont Trolley Stop

The entrance gate to Vallamont Park

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READ MORE

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Possible lead Regarding the horse statue:

"I remember an article about it having been on the old concrete abutment to the 3rd St bridge over Miller's Run. "

There are very similar fountains located at:

Waterbury Connecticut

http://waterburythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/11/welton-horse-fountain.html

And Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, CanadaA

"The drinking fountain was donated to the town by Clara Killam, the daughter of Samuel Killam, a wealthy shipping magnate. Clara selected Clara selected casting number 310-k with the statue of a trotting horse from the catalog of J.L. Mott Iron Works, New York."

https://memorialdrinkingfountains.wordpress.com/2015/04/11/golden-horse-fountain/

A similar base, marked SPCA 1882, can be found in St John New Brunswick.

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