Exchange, Montour County, Pennsylvania

EXCHANGE, PA

As described in Beers History of Columbia & Montour Counties, 1915.

This interesting rural village received its name in 1840. At that time the settlement consisted of the Crownover mill and a few houses. An ancient log schoolhouse located across the creek added a certain dignity to the pretensions of the community. John Caldwell erected the first brick structure, which later passed to the ownership of Patrick Dennin. The first postmaster of the hamlet was Gersham Biddle. The present one is Boyd E. Stead, who is a merchant also.

Exchange Hotel, H.D. Cox Proprietor

The first hotel at Exchange was opened some time in 1839 or 1840 by Walter Johnston, who subsequently gave it up and moved to Jerseytown. His son, William C. Johnston, was later elected register and recorder of Montour county. William Craig was one of the original settlers at Exchange and his descendants, John and Alexander Craig, were prominent factors in the development of the community. .Another early settler was James McKee. In the records and traditions of Exchange is mentioned one John Bull, who maintained a hotel at "the top of the hill." His descendants long have passed from the ken of human recollection. His place was still standing as the nineteenth century drew to a lose, but as a place of entertainment it had been closed for years.

One of the prominent families of Exchange was that of Patrick Montague, who lived above the hill. Another well known resident, David Wilson, lived to be over eighty years of age. Charles Clark, who lived to a very ripe old age, lived with his family a short distance north of Exchange. Mr. Clark was the first merchant of the community, building and opening a store in 1838. For a time he was a boarder at the hotel which was conducted by Walter Johnston.

The Odd Fellows have long maintained an established foothold in this community. Exchange Lodge, No. 898, I. O. O. F., has had a long and useful history. It was organized in 1874 with Isaac Acor, noble grand; A. H. Litchard, secretary ; and Daniel Liebe, treasurer. They have a fine meeting hall and a good membership in 19 14.

Exchange Grange, No. 65, Patrons of Husbandry, also have a substantial frame hall and a large membership in this agricultural community.

Hon. Lloyd Wagner Welliver

1863-1946

Among the prominent men of the county was Hon. Lloyd Welliver, member of the Legislature and for many years postmaster at Exchange. He held the latter office under three presidents, turning it over to his daughter in 1894 when he took his seat in the Legislature; later he was associate judge of Montour county.

Exchange is the only place in the county outside of Danville which boasts a bank. It seems strange to note a fine brick banking house near a corner of the two main streets of a tiny village, with a stretch of forest on one hand, the new St. James Catholic Church on the other, and a few rural homes along the opposite side of the road. The Farmers National Bank was chartered in 1906, with a capital of $25,000. The present deposits average $50,000, and- the institution has a good surplus. James S. Brannen is president ; A. H. Litchard, vice president; and James F. Ellis, cashier.

Yagel Mill, Exchange Pa

""The  Crownover  mill  at  Exchange  has  been replaced  by  a  more  modern  structure,  operated  by  Charles  J.  Yagel"

Exchange has a population of about eighty, two stores, kept by Boyd E. Stead and Thomas Dennin, the hotel of William Houghton, the gristmill of Charles J. Yagel, and two black- smith shops.

Dildine's Planing Mill on left

A planing mill was at one time operated by W. H. Dildine, but was destroyed by fire in 1912 and not rebuilt.

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Other Mentions Of Exchange, In Beers History
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"In 1856 Capt. John Derr ran the tri-weekly mail coach from the Exchange Hotel at Bloomsburg to the White Hall Hotel at Whitehall. In 1857 the route was extended to Turbotville."

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St James Catholic Church, Exchange Pa

St James Catholic Church was located just east of the village of Exchange.   This photo is of the first church, which according to Beers History of Columbia and Montour Counties: "was established many years ago, and in 1910 the old church on the hill was abandoned and a splendid new one built in the village "

Beers History,  Page 390 states: "St. James' Roman Catholic Church congregation was organized in 1888, by Rev. Michael J. O'Reilly, of Danville. In December of that year a frame church, 30 by 40 feet, built at a cost of $1,700, located about two miles from the village of Exchange, was dedicated to St. James. The congregation was small, but devoted, and served by the rectors of the Danville Church. In 1900 Father A. M. Feeser, rector of the Convent and Home of the Sisters of Christian Charity, Danville, took personal charge of the Exchange Church. In 1909 the present church was built in the village, at a cost of $7,000, and dedicated Oct. 20th of that year by' Bishop J. W. Shanahan, of Harrisburg."

 The St. James Catholic Cemetery remains along Fox Hollow Road.

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 "Exchange is the only place in the county outside of Danville which boasts a bank. It seems strange to note a fine brick banking house near a corner of the two main streets of a tiny village, with a stretch of forest on one hand, the new St. James Catholic Church on the other, and a few rural homes along the opposite side of the road.

Read about the Exchange Bank Robbery in 1931 here:
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2016/06/when-three-unmasked-bandits-robbed.html

 The Farmers' National Bank was chartered in 1906, with a capital of $25,000. The present deposits average $50,000, and the institution has a good surplus. James S. Brannen is president ; A. H. Litchard, vice president ; and James F. Ellis, cashier"

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"Exchange Hall and school was built and opened to the public in 1874. The building cost $1,300, and was erected under the super j vision of Stephen C. Ellis, Patrick Dennin and Dr. McHenry, who acted as a building committee. The first teacher to serve in the school was Augustus Truckenmiller. The hall has long been tenanted by various fraternal orders 1 and was originally owned by twenty-eight stockholders who invested in and constructed the edifice."

Hall on the left

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"For  many  years  Judge  J.  L.  Brannen  of Exchange  had  noticed  in  the  bed  of  the  Chillisquaque  rounded  fragments  of  coal,  but  he did  not  seek  to  ascertain  their  source.  In  October  of  1914  P.  C.  Dennen  and  William Houghton,  farmers  of  the  neighborhood  of Exchange,  about  the  same  date  dug  new  wells, both  going  to  a  depth  of  over  seventy  feet. At  that  depth  they  simultaneously  struck  a stratum  of  anthracite  coal,  measuring  from three  to  four  feet  in  thickness,  which  on  testing proved  to  be  of  similar  character  to  the best  product  of  the  hard  coal  regions.  The coal  lies  in  the  usual  basin-shaped  form  so characteristic  of  this  grade  of  fuel,  and  will be  worked  by  "stripping"  and  shafts.  The quantity  and  extent  of  the  deposit  have  not  yet been  demonstrated. " 

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From the 1860 Map Of Columbia & Montour Counties

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Schools Of Anthony Twp

By the late 1800s, Anthony Twp had eight districts each served by a one-room school.

The Crossroads School - Located along Preserve Rd, about a mile southeast of Exchange

Church Hill School - Two miles east of the Crossroads School.  MacHenry Wagner was one of the teachers.

Glenn School - one and a quarter miles northeast of Exchange.  Teachers included MacHenry Wagner and Blanch Snyder.

Baptist School [Named for the Baptist District of Anthony Twp, not the church] The Baptist School became known as the Exchange School.

The Watts School was 3/4 of a mile northeast of Comly

Rieffensnyder School - Three miles north of Exchange in the Muncy Hills

Hurley School - along rt 54 across from the intersection with Preserve Rd

The White Hall School

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When Three Unmasked Bandits Robbed The Exchange & Allenwood Banks, To Pay A Traffic Fine

On October 30 1931, three unmasked bandits robbed the Exchange Bank in  Montour County 

The Morning News , (Danville, Pennsylvania), 

30 Oct 1931, Fri • Page 1

In 1931, Luther Shook was in an automobile accident, which  broke two traffic light stands in Williamsport Pa.  He was arrested and fined $82, but the police allowed him to go home and find the money - giving him a few hours to do so.   Luther went home, but  he didn't have $82.  So he went to his father for advice.

And his father suggested they rob a bank.

At trial in April of 1932, Reuben, Luther's father,  admitted that he and his neighbor, John Krause, often discussed robbing the Exchange Bank.  Krouse's plan was to to to Wilkes Barre to get a "safe-cracker" he knew to help dynamite the safe.  Reuben, who spent three months the previous year, in prison for violation of the Volstead Act [Prohibition] said that Krouse was "always planning to get easy money."

Krouse was already in the Penitentiary at the time, convicted of stealing 31 tires from gas stations in Williamsport.  Reuben Shook was arrested for the same crime, but after confessing, had been released.

John Maley however, son of the well known Williamsport baseball player,  was at the Shook residence at the time, and he agreed to be the getaway driver, according to the Shooks.  Maley would later insist he only knew that they were "going to Exchange to get money", not that they were planning to rob a bank.

"Rather than see my boy go to jail,'' Reuben explained, at his sentencing trial, "I suggested that we go to Exchange and take a chance on the bank. Krouse was away from home Maley was at our place and heard the conversation. We asked him to drive the car. At first he refused and then agreed. 

"We failed the first time we arrived at the bank. When we got there I lost my nerve. We drove past the bank for a half mile and then turned around and came back. "I got up courage and we stopped in front of the bank.  

"As I entered the building I did not know whether to I run or stick him up. I pulled out my gun. While he (indicating his son) tied Dennin I gathered up the money." Shook explained.   

 According to Reuben, Maley was supposed to go into the bank with him, and Luther was supposed to stay in the car.  But Maley lost his nerve, so Luther went inside with his father.

As it often appears that Luther and Reuben did not get their stories quite straight before testifying, Luther told how he had placed two pieces of clothes line rope in his pocket before leaving home which he used to bind Dennin.

But in a rare moment where the stories aligned, both  Rueben & Luther denied that they had threatened to drill hole in Dennin. 

Dennin had a slightly different memory of the events.

Dennen recalled the two men entering  the bank, both unmasked, and both pointing revolvers in his direction.  "Stick them up!" was their terse order.  

"[Dennen] said he raised his hands but evidently not high enough to suit the bandits and Luther Shook remarked "Stick 'em up or I'll drill a hole in you." He told how the young Shook tied his hands and then forced him to lie on the floor with his face turned away from them while they bound his feet. He said during the process he moved slightly and one of the me again said, "If he don't lay still, drill a hole in him, then he'll be quiet." H admitted that lie did not see Maley who remained in the car during the robbery. "

The robbers then looted the cash drawer and vault.  The exact amount taken was not disclosed, but was thought to be around $1,100.  A small safe within the vault of the bank was on a timer, and that device saved the bank $1,000, as it could not be accessed.

Not the actual get away car, but an example of a 1930 Oakland Sedan

 In fleeing from the bank Reuben said Maley drove 55 and 60  miles an hour. "I became nervous and asked to drive after several miles. I told him I knew the roads better. I cut, the speed to 40 or 45 miles an hour," Shook said. 

An hour and a half after the robbery, Luther's fine was paid in full.  The Shooks testified that they used the rest of their share of the money to pay bills, life insurance premiums, and to purchase a second hand car.

John Maley's share was $200.  He sold it for $140 to Samuel Fischer of Montoursville,  of who took it to New York to launder it.

A month later, on Thanksgiving day, Luther Shook, age 20, married a 16 year old girl.  

And then on February 8th, 1932, the father and son  team robbed another bank.

This time, Maley was "unavailable" to help, out, so Floyd Hoover took his place.   Hoover said he and the two Shooks drank some liquor before the Allenwood robbery, and that him and Reuben were quite intoxicated, but that Luther did not drink much, because he would be driving the car for the getaway.

When they arrived at the Allenwood bank, Luther remained in the car, and Floyd Hoover went into the bank.  Hoover and Reuben Shook wore colored glasses to disguise themselves, this time.. Once inside, Hoover herded Harold Naber and Mrs Edna Sholtz, the bookkeeper, into the vault.  He then fired a shot which hit the safe doo.  The men grabbed  $1540, and fled. 

As they sped away from the scene in Allenwood, they were followed by Fred Ungard, the postmaster at Allenwood.  He followed them through Dewart, all the way to Blue Ball, and as the robbers thought the car was gaining on them, Reuben got out on the running board and waved a pistol.  Ungard gave up the chase.

The men then abandoned the car they used at the Weaver garage in Oragneville.  Mr Weaver, the garage owner, reported that he had gone home for the night when he heard a car pull up to the garage.  He thought they wanted gas and started to put his coat on to go back to the garage, when another car pulled up.  He saw three men get out of the first car, and get into the second car, which was occupied by two women. Weaver went out to inspect the abandoned car, finding the tags missing, the engine number obliterated, and the car covered in mud and dirt. 

The Trial & Sentencing

The men were caught because they abandoned the car at Weavers garage in Orangeville.  Although they had removed the plates and "erased" the registration number, the authorities later received a tip that helped them to trace the cars owner.

Each of the four men were picked up at their homes one by one.  Although they all denied their guilt at first, they later made full confessions "with little trouble."

 The men  admitted that they were planning to rob the banks at Picture Rocks and Laporte, next.

Only $20 of the more than $2600 obtained from the two banks remained.  It was an old $20 bill, issued by a bank in Los Angeles California.  It's type was no longer in circulation, and the bandits knew that, so they did not spend it.

In their confession, the men said they traveled back roads through the Muncy Hills to the Shook homes after each robbery, and then traveled to New York City a few days later to exchange their currency.

At the time of sentencing, Reuben Shook was 40 years old, Luther was 20.
"The latter left behind a 16 year old bride of four months who sat in the courtroom and wept when the sentence was pronounced."

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For More Stories & History Of Allenwood:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/12/allenwood-pennsylvania.html

For More Stories & Histories from Local Towns:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

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READ MORE

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Reuben Shook, who was partially deaf, had trouble hearing the questions in court, his son would repeat them to him.  Reuben testified that it was his suggestion that they rob the bank. He  testified that Luther Shook was his only child, and that his wife was still living. He was employed by Neyhards Hardware Company, Williamsport Pa

Reuben was in jail March 1-June 3 1930, for violation of the Volstead Act [Prohibition].

Luther Shook is arrested again in 1940. He was sentenced 10-20 years for the Exchange Bank Robbery, but was released on parole in 1938, 7 years after the robbery.  In 1940, he committed another robbery.

Reuben & Luther Shook both applied for parole in 1937. Both were denied. In November of 1938, nearly 7 years into their sentence, they applied again. This time Reuben was denied, but Luther was paroled. Reuben applied again Oct 1938, and June 1939, and "Early" 1940. He was denied each time.

Luther returned to prison in January of 1940, just over a year after being paroled. He, along with two other men,  was charged with a burglary of a private home in South Williamsport , and was sentenced to 18 months.

Ruben applied for parole again in 1940, stating that he had been a poisoner of good conduct, had operated a prison barber shop for the past three years, and had saved all of his earnings. His application stated that if he was paroled, he would have employment and live with his brother, J.W. Shook, in Bellefonte. Reuben was granted parole in 1942. In 1949 his sentence was commuted.

Floyd Hoover, age 21, of Newberry was sentenced to 7-14 years in the Eastern State Pennitentiary, and a $1,000 fine. He was married shortly before his sentencing.  In the 1940 Census, Floyd Hoover was listed as an Auto Mechanic, living in Williamsport with his wife. He was apparently out on parole, as the Daily ITem reported that he was refused a pardon in July of that year.

This was the 3rd robbery attempt at this bank [exchange] in 8 years, and the only successful effort. Seven years earlier bandits had broken in through a coal window, and again through a door, and in both cases they dynomited the lock on the vault, but they could not gain access.

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

2 Nov 1931, Mon • Page 1

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

16 Nov 1931, Mon • Page 1

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

20 Nov 1931, Fri • Page 3

Shamokin News-Dispatch 

(Shamokin, Pennsylvania)

8 Feb 1932, Mon • Page 1

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

9 Feb 1932, Tue • Page 1

 A July 26 1932 article in the Morning News tells us that the assets were bought by the Watsontown National Bank.  It says that the Allenwood bank was established in the "horse and buggy days, when it was practically necessary in order to carry on business of the community to have a bank near the center of the community."

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

10 Feb 1932, Wed • Page 1

Two women are linked to the Allenwood & Exchange Robberies. Two women picked up the men after they hid the car in Orangeville.  Fred Ungard, the postmaster and Allenwood merchant followed the bandits as far as Blue Ball where he grave up the chase. One of the men had fired a gun at him.

Shamokin News-Dispatch 

(Shamokin, Pennsylvania)

11 Feb 1932, Thu • Page 2

The Allenwood Bank robbery & Exchange Bank Robbery are believed to be committed by the same bandits. (and they were correct - the Shooks were the primaries in both)

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

11 Feb 1932, Thu • Page 1

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

19 Feb 1932, Fri • Page 1

The Wilkes-Barre Record 

(Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania)

6 Apr 1932, Wed • Page 1

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

7 Apr 1932, Thu • Page 1

.

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

9 Apr 1932, Sat • Page 1

Note - "Dark Moleskin pants"appear,from a google search,to be what we think of as Docker style pants.  "Red Mackinaw" is what we refer to as "Woolrich Plaid" - the typical red and black plaid.

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

13 Apr 1932, Wed • Page 1 & 6

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

15 Apr 1932, Fri • Page 1

Shamokin News-Dispatch 

(Shamokin, Pennsylvania)

21 Apr 1932, Thu • Page 1

The Morning News 

(Danville, Pennsylvania)

22 Jan 1940, Mon • Page 1

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Reuben Henry Shook was the son of Henry H. & Mary Anna Shook.  He was the grandson of Jacob & Mary Snyder Shook.

He married Mabel Weller.

He died on May 2 1980 in Florida, age 87.

Luther Delay Shook was born December 8 1912 to parents Reuben Henry & Mabel (Weller) Shook.

In 1925 he lived at 1525 High St, Williamsport Pa

He married a 16 year old girl in 1931.

He was listed as divorced in 1940, when he was in the Penitentiary in Philadelphia.

Luther Died December 12 1967 and is buried in Lycoming County Pa.

Then they made their escape in an Oakland Sedan,  heading towards Turbotville.  They were later spotted in Comley (just north of Turbotville), where they forced another car off the road, apparently headed towards Jerseytown.

More than 40 state police  officers and highway patrolmen were quickly summoned, but their thorough search of the area found no signs of the bandits. Descriptions of the men were sent throughout the valley, and numerous, conflicting, tips came in.

Two men were arrested in Tioga County, they were similar in description to the robbers, and were driving a blue oakland sedan, similar to the one used in the robbery.  James Dennen, the cashier who was bound during the robbery, could not identify the men, so they were released.

When the Wilkes Barre Bank robbers were caught, James Brennen, and a cashier from the Allenwood bank that was also robbed, went to Wilkes Barre to see if they were the same bandits that robbed them, but again, they were not the same bandits.

Exchange Band

The Exchange Band was organized September 1, 1906

The Exchange Band, 1907

The Exchange Band in the Turbotville Parade, 1907

They also played at the Tri-County Farmers Picnic at DeWitt park, in August of that year.  The Danville News reported: "The Exchange band was organized only last fall. Yesterday afforded the second occasion in which it had ever played away from home and was the second time that it had ever marched. The band played well. "

The Exchange Band giving a concert in Turbotville following the parade in 1912

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 Recently  I was given access to a collection of old band photos.  Rather than stick them in a folder for later, I'm going to put them all online quickly, and then I can come back and fill in the histories at a later date.

Find the Index Of Band Photos Here
https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2019/11/bands-in-susquehanna-valley.html

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