Historic Main Street Tour

Historic Main Street Tour. . Prominent community businessman, Jacob Anthony, constructed the Anthony House in 1857. After an 1860 fire destroyed the enormous hotel, Anthony built the United States Hotel (top left) on the same site the following year. Eighteen years later, in 1879, that hotel also went up in flames. The Smith-Empie-Smith building (lower left) partially situated on the site of both the Anthony House and the United States Hotel, was a department store built in 1910. Through the second half of the 1900's, it housed a succession of businesses including Hayes' variety store and soda fountain, a mail order store, and Smile's Jewelry factory and gift shop-coffeehouse with entertainment., On the south side of the Smith-Empie-Smith store was a row of three buildings (top center) which had, at various times, guestrooms, shops, a luncheonette, the Sharon Springs Post Office, and the telephone office and switchboard. In 1995, the three buildings on the left in the photo were demolished due to severe deterioration., The original Chalybeate Temple was on Main Street. Pronounced as "ka-lib-e-at," this water contains iron, reputedly enough to turn one's teeth brown. The spring was first discovered and commercialized by Leroy Eldredge in the 1850's. It was bottled and sold as a curative for blood ailments such as anemia. The temple pictured here (right center) was built behind the Smith-Empie-Smith building in 1910., A large swimming pool (lower right) was built several yards from the Chalybeate Temple and was in use until the Second World War. The pool was filled with fresh spring water from the hill behind it. In 1994, the Sharon Springs Citizens Council of the Arts assumed ownership of the property and started the development of a community park, including the restoration of the temple and pool house.