From The Faries Castle to Ways Garden in Williamsport Pa

"White's Castle", today the location of Way's Garden

The "Castle", built in the 1861 by Robert Fairies, but was purchased  just a few years later by the Whites.  It is most often referred to as "White's Castle", due to the spiraling towers on each side of the house, and due to the White's living in the home for more than 40 years.   Wealthy Philanthropist J. Roman Way owned the property across the street, which would later become the Taber Museum. Way eventually purchased the Castle, which he could see from his front windows,  had it torn down, leaving the  grounds to the city as Way's Garden.

Robert Faries, standing beside his newly constructed "castle"

"... Located at 847 W. Fourth St,. Designed by Faries in 1859, the sizable mansion known as "The Faries Castle" was completed in 1861. It was later purchased by John White and then Joseph Roman Way, who had it torn down in 1913 and donated the land to the City of Williamsport for the purpose of having a permanent community garden."

 Fairies, a noted architect & engineer, designed and built his home  in Williamsport in 1861 on 2.5 acres of land located at 847 west 4th street.   An "engineer in high standing", according to Meginness History Of Lycoming County, Fairies was superintendent of the West Branch and Susquehanna Canal.  He, along with his brother,  was also a lumberman, who became affluent during the Susquehanna Boom Era, a partner of Peter Herdic.

"Mr. Faries, who according to historian John F. Meginness was one of the borough fathers, had gotten his idea for the mansion during a tour of Scotland. He had incorporated in his plans for the house so many unusual features that the American contractor who built it was compelled by Mr. Faries to tear down portions and rebuild them many times before the “castle” suited him." 1980 article in the Sun Gazette

The home Farie built  was raised on a terrace of mounded earth and centered on a 237 x 319 foot lot. It was made of bricks and stucco, fashioned to resemble stone.  On each side  was a   spiraling tower  causing it to be referred to as, "The Castle".

“The unique brick structure, stuccoed to resemble blocks of stone, was an amalgam of styles. The flat overhanging roof showed a definite Italianate influence, the cupola, Moorish. Perhaps more than any other feature, the crenelated Gothic style towers gain the mansion the nickname…”

Faries died in November of 1864,  just a few years after building his home.    His wife Emma was in her 30s when her husband died, with 4 small children.  In 1870, her and the children were living in Philadelphia.  Emma was Roberts 3rd wife.  His first wife was buried in Milton Cemetery in 1832.  His second two wives are buried at Wildwood, alongside him.  

 The Faries West Fourth Street residence was built c1855, and the family lived there for about 10 years.  

According to Williamsport's Millionaire's Row by Thad Stephen Meckly, Peter Herdic purchased the castle for $25,000 in 1866 - roughly the equivalent of half a million dollars in 2024.   Herdic in turn sold the mansion to  John B. White, one of he partners in the lumber firm of Herdic, Lentz & Whites.

The John B. White Family

John White, his wife Emily, their 8 children and 4 servants, moved into the castle in 1866.

"On September 19, 1843, John White was married to Emily Weaver, daughter of the late Henry S. and Mary (Stauffer) Weaver, of Freeport, Armstrong county, Pennsylvania. Three sons and five daughters were the issue of this marriage, namely: Henry W., mentioned at length hereinafter; Charlotte, widow of Hon. Hugh H. Cummin; Mary L., wife of George L. Sanderson, of Jersey Shore; Hugh L.; Gula W.; Emily, wife of E. P. Almy, of Williamsport; Jennie P., wife of Henry N. Almy, of Philadelphia; John A. White, deceased.  "

The White Family resided in the castle for more than 40 years.

  

Garden On Southwest Side Of White's Castle

Mrs. Emily Weaver White is the white haired woman on the porch.

During the 1880's and 1890s, it was Mrs. White's custom to invite the Trinity Episcopal Church Choice for breakfast at White's Castle following early morning Easter Mass.

The White Family In Front Of The Castle, 1888

Names listed in the photo below:

Winter Scene, showing the Emery House, and the Castle

In 1891,  after her husband death, Emily White put the house up for sale, but it remained unsold for a number of years.

Mrs. Emily White, on her 80th Birthday [1904], Surrounded by flowers in White's Castle

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Interior Photos

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The Castle Destroyed - 1913

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White's Castle is featured on the cover of the book Lost Williamsport

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DEMOLISHING THE CASTLE

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According to Lost Williamsport, "It seemed the only prospective buyer wished to turn the mansion into a boarding house." 

The exact story is somewhat lost to rumors - it's hard to know what Way was thinking specifically.   Some have said that it was going to be brothel,  that that's what "boarding house" referred to.  Others say Way had it torn down as it it's architecture overshadowed his own home -  that Way had restored his house, and did not want his wife to look out the window and see White's Castle across the street.  One story, repeated on the find a grave entry for J. Roman Way, says that the castle was lost in a fire, and then Way bought the property.  [I found no mention of a fire.  My best guess is that they are confusing the castle with the Way home across the street, which became the Historical Society and was lost to a fire in 1960?]

No matter what his reason, Way tore down Faries solid, impressive, castle, to create his own legacy in its place, donating the park to the city of Williamsport.

In March of 1913, the Sun Gazette announced that Way had purchased the White and Merrill properties, to convert them into a park.

Paul Merrill's property was located behind the White Property.

On March 4th 1913, the Sun Gazette published the details of the gift to the city:

"The said land shall be held and used by the said city as an open space for a park or public garden for the use of the public forever, to be known as “Way’s Garden”, but no circuses menageries athletic games for exhibition nor any other kind of public exhibition shall ever be allowed upon said park garden, nor shall said park garden ever be used as a public playground, but only as a park or garden for the beautifying of the city and as a place of rest and recreation for its citizens.

 And with the reservation also of all the buildings now on said land, which said buildings, however, shall be removed there from by the undersigned as soon as the same can be reasonably done after the opening of the spring, and the seller spilled to the level of the lawns without cost are expense to the city"

Way then had the cleared land transformed into a garden visible from the windows of his home across the street.  For the plans of his garden, Way turned to famous Philadelphia landscape architect Oglesby Hall. 

In April of 1913, demolition began with the barn.

In May of 1913, Select council bill No 60 accepted the conveyance of "Ways Garden" and described the condition of acceptance. The Sun Gazette reported that the city would lose $417.24 annually in taxes [over $13,000 in 2024] now that the land was a park.

The Gazette and Bulletin, in 1913, reported:  "So solidly was the building put up that it requires several blows to loosen each brick".  There were five layers of brick beneath the stucco.

"Just as Joseph Roman Way was completing an extensive remodeling of his home across West 4th. Street, a prospective buyer for the Faries-White Castle announced her intention to use the mansion as a “rooming house”. This announcement caused Mr. Way to buy the property and the castle in 1913 and to have it dismantled. Razing of the castle stirred a considerable amount of curiosity among the residents of the city. They took advantage of the shady elm trees that Mr. Faries planted to watch the destruction of the home he lived in for only 3 years." Sun Gazette, 1980

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WAYS GARDEN

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In April of 1913, the  Board Of Trade honored J. Roman Way 

"Most Successful Function In Appreciation of Donor Of Ways Garden"

"The menu card was one of the finest specimens of its kind ever presented at a dinner in this city.  The cover contained a portrait of Mr. Way with a figure typifying Williamsport extending a wreath to him.  The balance of the cover was emblematic of the beautiful garden just presented by to the city.

On its opening pages appeared a splendidly executed half tone picture of Ways Garden as it appears today, and under the picture the following tribute written by the Rev. Dr Elliot C. Armstrong.

WAY'S GARDEN

The sovereign gardener of eternity

Who sows and plants Himself in love to all

Still walks in the gardens as the evenings fall

And the garden makers still his face may see

Who gives a garden really gives that he

of garden-givers first, again may call

In grass and flower, in shrub and vine clad wall

His children to look up and nobler be

O soaring leafy prayer that men call trees

  O banded rainbow sunsets all aglow

     O smiles of God that in this gift shall bloom

Speak here your gracious benedictites

   Till hosts of coming weary souls shall know

        That here the King has one more ante room"

Way officially donated the garden to the  city of Williamsport  in a ceremony held July 14 1913. 

"Speaking of Ways Garden it seems too bad that there is not some sort of protection to keep small boys tearing off limbs of the lilac and other bushes. The splendid Magnolia tree, now and full bloom, has been almost ruined by vicious boys who climbed it and then tore off big bunches in order to carry away a few flowers which they dared not take home. Yesterday the lilac bushes were just getting ready to bloom and the boys were jealously waiting for a chance to get at them." - Williamsport as viewed by a stroller, 1914

In the fall of 1914, a new ornamental iron fence was erected, with spiked tops "that will be considerably higher and not as easy to climb" was installed around Ways Park.  There were at the time four entrances, three on fourth street, and one on Maynard Street.  The fourth street entrances were on each corner of the garden, and in the center.  The Maynard street entrance was directly across from Vine Street.  

"The entrances will be impressive affairs made of brick and Indiana limestone, and will be very handsome"

In April 1915, a $25 reward was offered for information on who had broken the stone top from one of the piers around the garden.

The Suffrage Committee planted a tree in the garden in 1915.

When the park was dedicated in July of 1913, a commission was formed to handle the maintenance of he park.  Way died in 1935, and his estate provided a $20,000 trust fund for perpetual maintenance of the park.  In 1919 the commission was reorganized, after the deaths of several members.  After the 1919 reorganization, the commission appears to have been completely forgotten.  A city Clerk, in October of 1935, came across the commission in municipal records when researching the status of the park.  In the mid 1930s, a variety of work was done to improve the garden.

1937 Aerial View of Williamsport, showing Ways Garden

View of Ways Garden in the 1930s

In 1939, a barberry hedge was planed inside of the fence, "to eventually take the place of the fence when it has reached the point where renewal is necessary."

2024 [early spring] view of Ways Garden

March 15, 1944

In 1944, part of the garden was to be used as a Victory Garden, and 600 road bushes were to be planted along Maynard Street.

 The lumber era however, was over, and Williamsport's era of more millionaires per capita than anywhere else, soon ended as well.  With a decline in financial resources to maintain the garden, it was  no longer the lush garden and tourist attraction it once had been.

In 1957, there there as so much vandalism and destruction in the park [which was located within walking distance of the train station] that officials were thinking about blocking off the park in the evenings.

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Other "castles" in Williamsport:

Plankenhorn Castle

Link Castle

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READ MORE
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In April of 1913, the  Board Of Trade honored J. Roman Way  "Most Successful Function In Appreciation of Donor Of Ways Garden" Read the poem included in the write up of the event, here.

Replica of The Winged Victory Of Samothrace In Ways Garden

See the evolution of the J. Roman Way home, which sat across the street from Way's Garden, and later became the historical society, here. [This building was lost in a fire in 1960]

Lycoming Street was formerly named Faries Street, in honor of Robert Faries.

1876

Wildwood Cemetery

John White, second son of Colonel Hugh and Charlotte White, spent his youth amid the scenes of the homestead farm, and his education was acquired in the schools taught by John Austin and the Rev. John H. Grier, two excellent teachers of pioneer days. He studied mathematics and theoretical surveying under the tuition of Mr. Austin, and at the age of seventeen left school and became a member of the state engineer corps, then in charge of James D. Harris, chief engineer, and thus obtained a practical knowledge of that profession. He assisted in the survey of the Tangascootac and Sinnemahoming extensions of the Pennsylvania canal, also in the construction of the Williamsport and Elmira railroad, now the Northern Central, and later was engaged in locating the eastern and western reservoirs of the canal, and was afterwards engineer-in-charge of the canal for several years. He then engaged in the mercantile and grain business at Freeport, Pennsylvania, which he continued for ten years, and at the expiration of this period of time was employed to locate the dams on the Monongahela river for the Monongahela Navigation Company, which occupied his time until April, 1854. He then took up his residence in Williamsport and the following five years was engaged in the lumber trade in Cogan Valley. In October, 1859, he became a member of the well known lumber firm of Herdic, Lentz & White, which conducted business under that style until 1867, the year of the retirement of Peter Herdic, when it was changed to that of White, Lentz & White, and for the succeeding thirty years continued in the active duties of the lumber business. 

He was a man of sound judgment and broad intelligence, his investments were always conservative and safe, and hence he accumulated an estate estimated among the most valuable in his native county. He was a director in the Williamsport National Bank, a stockholder and director in the Lycoming Electric Company, filled a similar position in the Williamsport Steam Company, a trustee in the Savings Institution, and president of the Citizens and Williamsport water companies. He was a member and vestryman in Christ Episcopal church, and a life-long Democrat, but took no active part in public affairs. He always manifested a deep interest in the social and material development of Williamsport, and contributed liberally of his means to the charitable, religious and educational institutions of the city. 

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John. B. White Died June 1890

"A few minutes before two PM yesterday afternoon John White senior member of the prominent lumber firm of White Lentz & White passed away to his eternal home. His illness was brief but his heath had failed in the last 15 months. It is the impression of many that the death of his son-in -law Hon Hugh H Cummin, who was President Judge of the Courts of Lycoming County for ten years, had much to do with his declining health. His funeral will take place Thursday afternoon at 4 PM from his residence, 847 W 4th St. Interment will be in Wildwood Cemetery.

He was born Nov 4 1818 on a farm owned by his father the late Col Hugh White, about 7 miles above Jersey Shore on the road to Lock Haven. He had 2 brothers George & Henry and one sister who became the wife of Robert Bailey, afterward she married James S Allen. She is the only survivor of the four. Judge Robert White who died at Wellsboro was a half brother.

Early in his life he became a civil engineer, he worked on the Canal above Lock Haven, he assisted in running the Williamsport to Elmira railroad line the Southfork Dam at Johnstown, and the canal boat line between Hollidaysburg & Pittsburgh.

In 1843 he married Miss Emily Weaver of Freeport Pa, a sister of Mrs. Logan wife of Mayor William F Logan. In 1854 they moved to Williamsport. He was in the lumber business in Cogan Valley .

He leaves a wife & 8 children, Henry W White, Mrs Cummin, Mrs George Sanderson, Hugh L White, Mrs E P Almy,Mrs A N Almy, & John A White, to mourn the absence of one who was a faithful and devoted husband a& a kind and affectionate father."

Daily Gazette & Bulletin June 4 1890

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1890 

John White Obituary

The son of a successful soldier/farmer, John White was born in Lycoming County

on November 4, 1818. John's parents, Colonel Hugh and Charlotte (Weitzle) White

insured their son's future by sending him to the best school in the area operated by The Rev. John H. Grief and John Austin. There young White learned mathematics and theoretical surveying, and joined the state engineer corps in 1826. White was

a member of the corps until 1843, when he moved to Free Port, Pennsylvania, and married.

During his ten year residence in Free Port, White engaged in a successful mercantile and grain business. In 1854, he moved to Williamsport and established a lumber mill in Cogan Valley which he operated independently until 1859. It was in that  year that White joined the lumber firm of Herdic. Lantz and White which became White, Lantz and White in 1867. John White enjoyed 23 years of success in the firm , dying in 1890

Emily Weaver White died on Dec. 4, 1912, at the age of 88.

"For 52 years, it stood in majestic isolation on a 2 ½ acre plot along what was then known as “The Great Road to Newberry”.

It towered above all other mansions on “Millionaire’s Row”, and it humbled them with its massive architecture.

Mention "Faries Castle” today and some people might think you belong in Never-Never Land. But Williamsport’s very own castle did indeed exist. It was erected as the residence old Robert Faries, canal and railroad engineer, in 1861 at the southwest corner of West 4th and Maynard Streets.

It was bludgeoned to ground level, however, in the summer of 1913 because Joseph Roman Way envisioned a garden with attractive plantings rather than an “austere castle” in direct line of vision from his own home across the street.

The impressive structure was referred to as a castle by many people because of its striking towers and the elevated mound upon which it rested.

Mr. Faries, who according to historian John F. Meginness was one of the borough fathers, had gotten his idea for the mansion during a tour of Scotland. He had incorporated in his plans for the house so many unusual features that the American contractor who built it was compelled by Mr. Faries to tear down portions and rebuild them many times before the “castle” suited him.

Little is known about these unusual features as most of the historical record about the huge structure has been lost or destroyed through the years.

The walls of the home were stuccoed brick marked to resemble stone. When Faries Castle was dismantled brick by brick, a newspaper article reported that “so badly was the old building put up that it required several blows to loosen each brick”.

The man who lived in the castle played a tremendous part in opening up Williamsport for settlement and expansion by developing the West Branch Canal and the Williamsport & Elmira and Philadelphia & Erie Railroads.

Robert Campbell Faries, born in Antrim Northern Ireland on March 7th, 1804, was brought to Philadelphia by his parents as an infant. Between the ages of five and fifteen, he attended Philadelphia public schools.

His early ambitions centered on a desire to become a farmer. He worked on his parents’ farm in Montgomery County until 1826, when, according to Meginness, he sought to identify himself with “projected improvements rather than being agitated”.

Mr. Faries left for Harrisburg in July, 1826, where he became an axeman in one of the state corps of engineers that were organizing for the survey of the Pennsylvania Canal System. After remaining in Harrisburg for two years on the construction of the lower division of the canal, he was appointed assistant engineer on the West Branch Division of the canal. On April 6th, 1831, he was appointed Chief Engineer.

In the same year, he married Elizabeth Comley, of Milton, and moved to Williamsport, where he lived in a house at the corner of Market Street and River Alley (now Jefferson Street). A year later, his wife died, leaving him a son, Charles.

Mr. Faries remained with the canal engineers until 1836 at which time he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Williamsport & Elmira Railroad. That year he married Mary Campbell of Williamsport, with whom he had 7 children.

For his new family, he purchased a brick home on the northeast corner of Market Square for $4,000. His second wife died in May, 1849.

Mr. Faries laid out and built the section of the railroad between Williamsport and Ralston, a distance of 25 miles. The section was opened on January 12, 1839.

“By dint of hard and untiring zeal, camping out with his corps of engineers many nights with no covering but a few boughs hastily thrown together”, Robert Faries succeeded in establishing a location through to Elmira. He became the first president of the Williamsport & Elmira Railroad in 1839.

In 1850, Mr. Faries resigned as president of the railroad to locate and build a railroad over the mountains between Hollidaysburg and Johnstown.

Said Meginness in his book, “Biographical Annals of the West Branch Valley”, Mr. Faries “spirit of self-reliance was remarkable and his genius of invention peculiarly fitted him for an engineer. He was a strong advocate of the centre bearing or T rail, and produced a model called the 56 Pound Rail, which has since been adopted by many railroads and known by them as the Faries Rail”.

In 1852, Robert Faries became Chief Engineer of the Sunbury & Erie Railroad. For 12 years he held this position, for which time he was largely responsible for the completion of the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad.

On June 7, 1855, Mr. Faries married Emma Canfield who gave him three children. To house his large family, Mr. Faries bought from Peter Herdic the plot of land along West Fourth Street and Maynard Street in December 1859. It was there, in 1861, that his castle was completed.

Before the Civil War, Mr. Faries, an ardent abolitionist, became a conductor of the Underground Railroad. When runaway slaves reached him and his employees, thy often stowed the fugitives in baggage cars on the Williamsport & Elmira Railroad where trains were bound for Canada and freedom.

He so skillfully handled runaway slaves placed in his care that Williamsport could boast of never having lost a passenger on its Underground Railroad and no slave was ever reclaimed after reaching safety through Mr. Fairies.

“He was generous and noble in his impulses and extended the hand of friendship to many who have embalmed his memory in their hearts”, wrote Mr. Meginness.

Late in his life, Mr. Faries became a member of the Wildwood Cemetery Company. He, along with John M. McMinn, laid out the cemetery. Mr. Faries was the first person buried there after he died on November 12, 1864.

After his death, his castle was bought by John White, one of Williamsport’s pioneer lumbermen. The White’s occupied the residence for more than 40 years, until their deaths in the early 1900s.

Just as Joseph Roman Way was completing an extensive remodeling of his home across West 4th. Street, a prospective buyer for the Faries-White Castle announced her intention to use the mansion as a “rooming house”. This announcement caused Mr. Way to buy the property and the castle in 1913 and to have it dismantled. Razing of the castle stirred a considerable amount of curiosity among the residents of the city. They took advantage of the shady elm trees that Mr. Faries planted to watch the destruction of the home he lived in for only 3 years.

Later that year, the property was presented to the City of Williamsport and Way’s Garden was born." - The Williamsport Grit, March 16th 1980

 

October 1935