Valley Girl Views: Christmas at Stearns

L.L. Stearns decorated the store for Christmas on Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year. In 1955, they first hung a paper mache bell with an elf , which was to become a symbol of Christmas Past, in Williamsport PA.

The Stearns Store, All Wrapped Up For Christmas

In an 2017 interview for the Sun Gazette, Cindy Stearns said “I remember there were elves that were stuffed dolls with plastic faces,” she said, preserving the memory by keeping one in the attic of her residence.

The elves were positioned throughout the floors and in various acrobatic states, including swinging or hanging on ornaments or doing somersaults.

"One of the big front windows of the mammoth store of L. L. Stearns & Sons, Third & Pine Streets, is given up entirely to the display of toys, and among them are many of a very interesting character, sufficient to keep people standing in front of the window a long time looking at them."

"In 1850 Laten Legg Stearns, a farmer from Massachusetts, came to Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania, and opened his first store - L.L. Stearns. Shortly after the Civil War, he moved his merchandise by raft down the Susquehanna River to Williamsport, establishing a general store on Market Street. In 1883 the store name became L.L. Stearns & Sons when he admitted his three sons as partners. L.L. Stearns & Sons developed into a department store when, in 1889, it moved to this location at Pine, West Third and Laurel Streets. Here it was the center of Williamsport's shopping district for 95 years. Through five generations of Stearn's [sic] family ownership, L.L. Stearns & Sons became the largest and oldest family owned and operated department store in the United States."

Find more of Stearns History Here:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2023/09/trade-transit-center-history-stearns.html

1889

Stearns capitalized on Christmas Sales early on - in the 1880s! He placed tables in the carpet sales room on the uppermost floor. He'd arrange the tables by price, with a 5 cent table, a ten cent table, a 25 cent table, et - all the way up to $1. "Toys of all kinds abound, and the variety is so great that you cannot fail to find something that will suit," the ads boasted.

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THE BELL

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Stearns closed in 1984. The Christmas bell was sold to the Lycoming Mall on August 21, 1986, for $525.00.

In 1989 the bell was donated to River Valley Transit. It was displayed there for many years, before being moved to the Peter Herdic Transportation Museum.

During the holiday season, the museum would loan the bell out to local businesses, to display in their store windows. [Although the Sun Gazette reported it was loaned to "businesses", I so far only found reference to it being placed at Patinaz Jewelers]

From December 2022 into January 2023, the bell was part of a holiday exhibit entitled "Shopping During the Holidays: The L.L.Stearns Department Store." at the Taber Museum.

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THE TRAIN
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When you got off the elevator on the 3rd floor of Sterns at Christmas time, you stepped down into a wintr wonderland. The room with a train that went through a tunnel, Santa, and a talking Rudolph. Coloring books and hard candy was passed out to the children who visited.