Downtown Williamsport

Downtown Williamsport. Birthplace of the Little League World Series. , Carl Stotz (1910-1972) , a lifelong Williamsport resident, was the founder of Little League Baseball. As he later told it, Stotz, a lumberyard clerk, was playing a backyard game of catch with his nephews when he came up with the idea. "How would you like to play on a regular team with uniforms, your own cap, a new ball for every game and bats your size?" he asked them. The next year, 1939, he recruited local businesses to sponsor the first three teams: Jumbo Pretzel, Lundy Lumber, and Lycoming Dairy (shown here). The first Little League World Series, in 1947, included teams from Pennsylvania and New Jersey only, but the League quickly expanded. , Stotz's dream of giving children a game where they could develop sportsmanship, fair play, and teamwork has flourished. Today's Little League includes 2.6 million players worldwide, with 200,000 teams in all 50 U.S. states and more than 80 countries. , Daniel Hughes (1804-1880) , was a conductor, agent and station master in the Underground Railroad in the Williamsport area. He was probably of mixed ancestry, African American and Mohawk Indian. Hughes married a local free woman, Ann Rotch, who was called a mulatto in the records. As owner of a Pennsylvania Canal barge, he traveled the Susquehanna from Williamsport to Maryland and was able to transport runaway slaves in the hold on his return trip upriver. He provided shelter to runaways on his property just outside the city before they fled further north and to eventual freedom in Canada. , Peter Herdic (1824-1888) , was a lumber baron, entrepreneur, inventor, politician, philanthropist, and developer in Williamsport. He was one of the wealthiest men in Pennsylvania and led the development of West Fourth Street, known as "Millionaires' Row." Herdic served as the city's mayor, donated large amounts of land and money to several of the city's churches and its original synagogue, and invented the Herdic cab, a horse-drawn carriage that was a precursor to the taxi. According to one newspaper obituary, "Peter Herdic was really the father of Williamsport. He was a progressive citizen; whatever may be said by his enemies, it cannot be denied that had it not been for Peter Herdic, Williamsport might be nothing more than a village of a few thousand inhabitants." , Madame Montour (1667-1753?) , was an influential interpreter and go-between who moved to Pennsylvania in 1727. Her village stood at the mouth of Loyalsock Creek, just east of Williamsport. Always known as "Madame Montour" in Pennsylvania, she was probably born in New France (Canada) as Élizabeth Couc; her father was a French fur trader and her mother, an Algonquin Indian. She lived her entire life in fur trading communities near Detroit, in New York, and in Pennsylvania. No portrait exists from her lifetime, but this painting offers some idea of her appearance later in life. , [photo captions] , . Old City Hall (1875) , . The Church of the Covenant, later St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, and now Christ Community Worship Center , . Trinity Church (1876) , . Park Hotel