Millerstown

Millerstown. Business Anchors for the Community. , Surrounded by highly productive farmland and served by good roads, the Pennsylvania Canal and the Pennsylvania Railroad, Millerstown became a commercial hub for northeastern Perry County during the 19th century., On Cluck's Corner, at the southwest corner of Sunbury and Market Streets, a store was in continuous operation from at least 1878 until 2001. There, Thomas Cluck ran a general and dry goods store until sold to T. P. Cathcart in 1833. Four decades later, D. W. Heefner acquired the business but later turned the store over to Blair R. Bice and Howard Swartz. It thrived through the mid-1930s when Bice became the sole owner., Beginning in 1946, Dr.s Harold and Roy Gelnett operated the store as Gelnett's Community store until Dr. Harold's death in 1952. Dr. Roy continued the business with S.S. Lauver as a managing partner, calling it G and L Market. In 1965, Earl Eugene and Robert A. Sweger purchased the store and named it Sweger's Market. Following Eugene's death in 1993, Sweger continued to operate the store by himself until 2001, when he closed the market for good., Other stores thrived in Millerstown, selling furniture, hardware, machinery, clothing, shoes, saddlery meats and groceries, stoves and tin ware. By the early 1900s, the Borough had municipal water, fire protection, and electric and telephone companies. Stores began to offer motorcycles, automobiles, electric appliances and plumbing supplies. Hotels and restaurants prospered, as did carriage and automobile repair shops, funeral homes, warehouses, blacksmiths, barbers, dentists, hairdressers, dog-groomers and printers., The family-owned businesses of Sweger's Garage, J.P. Russell and Son, Inc. and Charles H. Burns, Inc. have prospered and continue to do so., [Captions:] , The First National Bank was located on the northeast corner of the square where the Juniata Valley Bank drive-in was in 2018. Photo ca. 1900., Thomas Cochran built this house for his family in 1813. Later it housed a variety of businesses. Photo ca. 1900., Cluck's store before the 1878 fire., Heefner's Store on Cluck's Corner, ca. 1920., Since the late nineteenth century, a hardware store has anchored the northwest corner of the square. It was established by E.P. Titzel, followed by Ralph B. Thompson, then operated by owners Ralph Beaver, Walter Geig, William Moore and Howard Woleslagle. Since that time various businesses have made this building their home.