The Aldine Hotel, Sunbury Pa

The Aldine Hotel, 1910

The Aldine Hotel building was constructed by the Sunbury Construction Company in the 1880s.

[The Sunbury Train station, next door, was completed in 1872]  It did not become The Aldine until 1905.

The Aldine was famous for its "Candied Beans" - White Northern Beans baked in a lot of white sugar.  See the recipe here: 

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2021/02/the-famous-aldine-baked-beans.html

On the 1887 Sanborn Fire Map, the building is shown as the Tremont Hotel.

In 1898, the Leiby family moved from Lewisburg to Sunbury, where they opened a restaurant at the present location of the Aldine Hotel.  Willard Leiby established his own restaurant at 42 North 3rd street in 1904.  "It has become one of the leading restaurants of the borough, being conducted along strictly modern lines, and Mr Leiby has gained a profitable patronage."

In later years, during prohibition, Leiby would be arrested for bribing officials to "lay off on [illegal] slot machines.  Leiby, who built a mansion in Liverpool, was known as the "Slot Machine King", and gave Gatsby-esque parties every week-end, with limousines and the finest alcohol money could buy.

Frederick Aldinger was born in Linglestown Pa in 1874.  In 1902 he purchased the Hotel Koppenhaver in Millersburg Pa, which he conducted for two years.  He then opened the Aldine Hotel in Sunbury Pa.  He operated that establishment for one year, selling it to Oliver Drumheller in July of 1906.

He then purchased the Marsili hotel in Harrisburg, changing the name of that hotel to the Aldine as well.  - History of Dauphin County by Kelker, 1907

"Homecoming" - A Bradley Shoemaker painting showing the train station and the Aldine

In May of 1906, Oliver R. Drumheller went from Danville to Sunbury, where he assumed charge of the Aldine Hotel, which he had purchased. 

In 1907 the building is shown as the Aldine, on the Sanborn Map

At the time, it was a "modern, up-to-date house with forty guest rooms, located near the Pennsylvania railroad station, and under the present management is considered one of the leading hotels of central Pennsylvania.  Guest are accommodated upon either the European or American Plan.  Mr. Drumheller, having a first-class restaurant in connection with the hotel.  His wide experience, his natural adaptability for business, and his courteous treatment of his patrons merit the success which has  been his portion.  His son, Dr. W.W. Drumheller has been associated with him under the firm name of O.R. Drumheller and Son, since he took charge of the Aldine Hotel."

Charles W. Stahl, along with his father, started Stahl's restaurant at the present site of the Aldine Hotel, conducting the establishment successfully for a period of three years.

The Drumhellers sold the hotel to Charles Stahl.

After Stahl's death, his heirs sold the hotel to Dr. George Deitrick St

Around 1969, the hotel transitioned from a hotel to a boarding house for permanent residents.

In June of 1979 the city of Sunbury offered to purchased the hotel from owner George Dietrick Jr, who owned the building along with his brother Samuel and sister Jane Blevins.  Plans were halted when the Bureau of Historic Preservation.  In May of 1989, the building was declared eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

In 1981 the city again wanted to demolish the hotel, when a developer expressed interest in the Arch Street Urban renewal site.  Manager Sam Dietrick however, refused to allow the city redevelopment inspector to inspect the property to  determine how much it would cost to rehabilitate the hotel.

In February of 1982, the city code enforcement officer inspected the property, and although he noted it was in a state of disrepair, he did not see anything structurally wrong with the building.  Sunbury city council still wanted the hotel demolished, and was fighting the state ruling that it may be a historic property.  Because of this, the inspector did not press for major rennovationa, as if would be a waste of money to order reparis before the council and building owners decided its future.

Mayor Donald R. Morgan called it "the worst dump in the city".  

In 1995 the building was purchased by the Garmans, and years of extensive renovations ensued.  18 dumptruck loads of debris were removed from the building, which had been damaged by several fires and also by water.

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For more Stories & History Of Sunbury:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/07/sunbury-pennsylvania.html

And for more stories and history from nearby towns:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

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1981

"On February 25th 1925, Willard Leiby contributed $1,000 to the community chest of Sunbury, which, at the time, was the largest charitable contribution in the county's history.  A well-known restaurant proprietor who was active in the development of Sunbury, he would go on to build a mansion near Liverpook that would be the source of wild speculation and rumors that exist to this day."- Maria Yohn, Liverpool Mansions Mysteries Unraveled

 Willard Leiby was born in Union County on December 6 1878, the son of William Augustus and Otilia [Boldender] Leiby, he attended public schools in Lewisburg and helped his father on the family farm.

In 1898, the Leiby family moved to Sunbury, where they opened a restaurant at the present location of the Aldine Hotel.  Willard Leiby established his own restaurant at 42 North 3rd street in 1904.  "It has become one of the leading restaurants of the borough, being conducted along strictly modern lines, and Mr Leiby has gained a profitable patronage."

Willard Leiby  Once owned the building which is now the Aldine hotel ,He owned Steffens before it became Johny's Spaghetti bar and then the Peppermint lounge and other buildings in town He was a gambling King pin and hotel Owner  and some of his buildings had Speak Easys ,or Brothels