When The Presidents, & Other Leaders, Came To The Central Susquehanna Valley

Franklin Roosevelt, In Sunbury Pa

1869 - In 1869, General Grant Passed Through Lewisburg Junction "Gen. Grant passed Lewisburg junction southward bound, Tuesday evening. The train was going at the General's favorite gait, about a mile a minute. He was seen and recognized by some of our citizens. He held a watch in his hand and was evidently timing the train." Lewisburg Chronicle 20 Aug 1869 https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/01/lewisburg-junction-railroad-stop-that.html

James Buchanan, the only president from Pennsylvania, is said to have visited Williamsport on several occasions.

1892, May 28 - President Benjamin Harrison stopped in Williamsport  on his way to Rochester NY to dedicate a Civil War Monument.

1901 - President McKinley's Funeral Train  passed through the valley.  https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/06/when-president-mckinleys-funeral-train.html

1906 - President Teddy Roosevelt passed through Selinsgrove in a parade to the capital dedication in Harrisburg.

1914 - President Teddy Roosevelt addressed a political gathering at the Lycoming Opera House in Williamsport, after making brief speeches in Sunbury,  Lewisburg & Milton https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2023/02/when-roosevelt-came-sunbury-lewisburg.html

?? Three time candidate for President, William J. Bryan at the Methodist Church

1917, Dec - Former President Taft spoke at at the M.E. Church in favor of the Red Cross Liberty Bond Drive.  

1928  - President Hoover passed through Williamsport on his way to J. Cooks Lycoming County fishing lodge https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/06/when-presidents-came-to-fish-in.html   Also, spoke in Williamsport on May 31 1930, on the way to Ognotz

1939 - The King & Queen Of England passed through the valley - https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/08/when-king-queen-came-through-valley-1939.html

1948, 1952 - Harry Truman was in Sunbury  & Williamsport at least twice, on whistle stop tours in 1948 and 1953.

1956 - President Nixon was in Sunbury & Williamsport

1960, October 18 - Future President Lyndon B. Johnson was in Williamsport 

1968 - Vice President Hubert Humphrey

1970  - Congressman Gerald Ford presented an award at a Jaycees Banquet.  Ford would be president a few years later.

1976,  April 17 - Jimmy Carter stopped in Williamsport on a campaign appearance.  He came back years later, to fish in the area.

 1980- George Herbert Walker Bush, candidate for Vice President at the time, appeared at the Little League World Series in Williamsport.

 2001 - President George W. Bush appeared at the Little League World Series.

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A Letter From King Edward

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Edward Duck, half brother of former Selinsgrove Editor J.A. Lumbard (my ggg grandfather), wrote a regular letters to the paper in the mid 1930s.  They were published under a column titled "Do You Remember?"

On March 1936, his column mentioned that he had received a letter from His Majesty King Edward , acknowledging a brief condolence and poem Duck had sent after the January 1936 death of the Kings father, King George [King Edward VIII abdicated the thrown in December of 1936, to the marry the American Wallis Simpson]

Duck said he would keep the letter with a silk handkerchief he had waved at President Teddy Roosevelt when the President had passed down Market Street [Selinsgrove] in the parade to the Capital dedication [1906].  And then Duck went on to list other Presidential appearances in our area that he had been present for.

1906 - President Teddy Roosevelt passed through Selinsgrove in a parade to the capital dedication in Harrisburg.

?? - President Teddy Roosevelt addressed a political gathering at the Lycoming Opera House in Williamsport

??  President Tafts train stopped at Park Hotel Station

?? Three time candidate for President, William J. Bryan at the Methodist Church

1917, Dec - Former President Taft spoke at at the M.E. Church in favor of the Red Cross drive.

1928  - President Hoover when he passed through Williamsport on his way to J. Cooks fishing lodge

Duck also mentions being on the first Steam Line train that came into Williamsport, where he "saw the magnificently arranged interior."

Of seeing Roosevelt in Selinsgrove, Duck wrote:

"I waved to President Teddy Roosevelt when he passed down Market street in the parade on his way to the capitol in Harrisburg on the day of the dedication.

He was standing in the carriage and when he saw my continual waving and when he heard me shout he turned his face right directly towards me, smiles, and bowed.  I was on the front rank and only about fifteen feet from the carriage"