Selinsgrove Commons

One of the busiest spaces in Selinsgrove, for much of its history it was composed of two lots, with commercial establishments on the south side and various residences on the north side.

George Schnure

  • 1845

    PARTNERS

    George Schnure, descendant of Governor Snyder, started a partnership with James K. Davis, Jr., grandson of Anthony Selin and Schnure’s brother-in-law.

  • 1850

    NEW PROPERTY

    Schnure and David acquired this corner property from William Moyer and located their grain trading business here. Their new business replaced E.P. Rohbach’s grocery store at this location.

    1850

  • 1853

    BURGESS

    Schnure was a  local politician and merchant. When Selinsgrove became a borough, Schnure became its first Burgess. He also had several stores in partnership with others and long served as a director in the local public schools and as treasurer of the Missionary Institute, which became Susquehanna University.

  • 1864

    BANK

    In Schnure’s office, behind the store, the First National Bank of Selinsgrove was organized with Schnure as its first President.

    1864

→ In October 1874, the Great Fire which consumed the northern two blocks of downtown Selinsgrove, began in Schnure’s barn on this site. This fire burned all of the buildings up to and beyond Chestnut Streetm many on North High Street and North Water Street. The cause of this blaze was never clearly discerned, though arson was suspected. At the time of the fire, Sigfried Weis had a dry goods store in Schnure’s property. All of his goods were destroyed in this fire.

Sigfried Weis in the 1880s. From the Fasold Flickr collection

→ Until 1884 this property remained undeveloped, part of the “burned district” in town. Then it was purchased by Sigfried Weis for his store, “S. Weis Fancy Goods.” Weis had migrated to the United State from Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) in 1867 and moved to Selinsgrove in 1872. “Fancy goods” were hosiery, gloves, corsets, and the like. At one point Weis sold carpets and oil cloths here.

Weis moved his store to several other locations in town before settling at this spot. Sigfried Weis’s sons, Harry and Sigmund, became increasingly involved in the operation of this store, continuing it after their father’s death in 1907. In 1916, the Weis brothers sold the south side of this property to Daniel Kline who operated a meat and grocery store here. Meanwhile, the Weis brothers opened a grocery store in Sunbury, launching the business that now carries the Weis name.

WEIS

→ A variety of businesses operated on this corner lot from 1927 to 1944, when the Rea and Derick Drug Store chain purchased it.

Rea and Derick in 1985. From the Fasold Flickr collection

→ What was described as a “Tenant House” was on the lot just north of the Weis’s store. It was moved to the back of the store lot in 1914, and the Weis brothers built a brick house here for their mother Ella. She died in 1932. From that year until 1944 the home was rented.

→ In 1944 the Rev. William Loose and his wife Minnie purchased the home.

→ When Minnie Loose died in 1967, the Rea and Derick Drug Store bought the property and enlarged their store so that it occupied these two lots.

→ In 1990 CVS bought out Rea and Derick, but it continued to operate a drug store here until 2001, when CVS took over the business at this site.

Construction of the Commons in 2011. From the Fasold Flickr collection

→ In 2006 CVS closed the store and essentially abandoned it. The building became derelict and falling apart. It was subsequently purchased by a group of local citizens and the property turned over to Selinsgrove Projects, Inc. (SPI), which demolished the building and planned and built the Commons that you see before you.