CLEARFIELD – For approximately 95 years, the Leitzinger’s Department Store offered treasures for all ages in a bustling downtown Clearfield.
“It was a happening place. Clearfield was the place to shop,” said Jim Leitzinger, current manager of Historica Plus Antiques. He said the former department store now offers different treasures with some that date back more than a century.
He said the store building was established in 1901 and only stood three stories in the early years. He said they added the fourth and fifth floors in 1913-14.
According to Leitzinger, the store’s shoe department lined the right wall. He said their shoe selection reached the first floor’s ceiling. Oftentimes, they had to use a ladder to reach shoes on the higher shelves for customers.
He said they had men’s clothing along the right wall. He said their display counter, which formed a center aisle, separated the shoe and men’s clothing departments.
Leitzinger said the store’s ceiling was open until it reached the roof of the top floor. He said they had a centrally-located skylight in the roof for lighting purposes. He said they had railings around the ceiling’s opening on each floor.
“It allowed (customers) to peer down from any floor,” Leitzinger said. From the fifth floor, he said they often hung an American flag through the opening on holidays, such as Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.
He said the flag dangled through each floor until the first. He never witnessed the store’s patriotism in person but said he’s been shown some older store photographs of it.
Leitzinger said they housed jewelry, handbags and the greeting card and gift departments on the first floor. He said they also had their fabric materials along the left aisle in the 1950’s.
Leitzinger noted the department store was later the home of Gardner’s Candies. He believed they added the candy line sometime in the 1980’s.
On the second floor, he said they mostly displayed their ladies fashions, including hats. He said they offered promotions in the department in the late spring.
He said they donated to the ladies hospital auxiliary for each hat purchased during the promotion. He said ladies who were from the auxiliary would come in and work a few hours to sell hats.
“Ladies wore a lot of hats back then,” Leitzinger said with a light chuckle.
Leitzinger noted that they had carpeting and bedding on the store’s third floor. He said they later relocated fabric materials from the first to third floor in the late 1950’s or early 1960’s.
Near Christmas-time, he said they put in seasonal displays around October. He said they offered tree decorations and holiday lighting. During the holidays, he said the store was always “highly decorated.”
He said his grandfather had a display of Santa in his sleigh, taking flight through the ceiling when it was still open centrally on each floor. He said they greeted children who entered the store by giving them a holiday pin.
In his personal antique collection, he removed a Christmas pin from a display case. In the palm of his hand, he held a quarter-sized pin that was painted with a rosy-cheeked Santa. His collectible pin read “Christmas Greetings from Leitzinger’s.”
Leitzinger said they had furniture and records on the fourth floor while toys, small appliances and china dishes were on the top floor. He said they purchased furniture from the Bunting line of Philadelphia.
While ladies’ fashions lured customers in like any store, he said their records were a draw for the teens. He said local teens came in and gathered to play the new “45 records.”
“They had a single song on each side. I believe they were about 89 cents if (my memory serves me) correct,” he said. “When a song took off, they couldn’t wait to come in.”
He also indicated children always seemed anxious for the toy department at Christmas. He said they started their holiday season in October, and it was “a very busy floor.”
Through the 1950’s, Leitzinger said they had a trolley system to process the customers’ transactions. He said they had little cars that took a receipt and payment to the cash department.
He said a store employee calculated the change and returned it by trolley to the appropriate department. He said they tore out the trolley system in the 1950’s.
“Customers would come in with their dogs. They would go crazy, chasing the trolley cars,” recalled Leitzinger. “I wish they wouldn’t have torn it out. It was really neat.”
He said they switched to the pneumatic tubing system in 1951. He added that store employees completed a sales slip and transferred it with payment to the third floor office.
From upstairs, they completed the transaction and returned the customer’s change through the tubing system. He said they eventually began to accept credit card charges but couldn’t recall a date.
“(But) it was a real pain,” he said. He said credit charges were also transferred through the tubing system. However, he said they were referred to a store employee at the credit office’s counter on the third floor.
He added that they obtained credit card information from the customer and then contacted an 800 number for approval. He said it took several minutes and caused a lot of delays, especially around the holidays.
Leitzinger’s Department Stores closed its doors in July 1996. Henry McConnon of State College opened Historica Plus Antiques in the former department store building in 1999.
“He’s always liked and enjoyed antiques,” Leitzinger said. A couple times a year, he said McConnon traveled to France to purchase European antiques.
According to Leitzinger, they have approximately 23 dealers who rent space from them as part of the antique co-op. He said they’ve dedicated three floors and approximately 30,000 square feet to antiques and collectibles.
He said they display pieces that date as far back as the 1850’s. However, he said they also have more recent pieces that are only a few decades old.
“We have so many different things,” he said, “and people like the architecture and history of the building.”
On the second floor, he pointed out a butler’s desk, which he believed was from the 1850’s. He said it would have been used by the butler to maintain records for the house.
Leitzinger said they picked up the desk at an estate sale in Port Royal. He said the gentleman who owned the piece was a collector and had a “house full” of many others.
“We just got it in. It’s a really nice piece. The fella who had this piece has passed. Unfortunately, we don’t have any history for it,” he said.
He also pointed out a medicine cabinet with a swivel drawer below. While he didn’t have a date or time period for the piece, he believed it was likely built by a farmer for his wife.
Leitzinger also called attention to a collection of 10 postcards with some of the opera house fire in February 1917. He said the opera house was located next to their department store.
When they added the fourth and fifth floors, he said they had a sprinkler-like system installed along the side roof. He said they felt it was best to do so, as opera houses had a history of burning down.
He said the fire came right up against the Leitzinger’s building. He said they turned on the sprinkler, releasing a “sheet of water” down the side of the building. He said they still had to replace a lot of bricking though.
“You know what’s good about postcards? Postcards record history,” he said.
In addition to those of the fire, he displayed others of Fourth of July parades, including one from 1928. He said each downtown merchant always entered a float into the parade.
Leitzinger said he has a personal collection on display at the shop. He said he doesn’t have these particular items for sale. Among the pieces, he had a photograph of the Crystal Springs Camp that was located near S.B. Elliot State Park.
He said the camp was constructed in the early 1920’s and used by hunters. He said it was a beautiful establishment and location, as it had a pond close by.
But he said it went through hard times and through a couple different hands during the Great Depression. He said it was later destroyed by a fire.
According to him, patrons were served on the camp’s own china dishes, which were made by Jackson China of Falls Creek. He said he had a rare piece, a gravy boat, which was leftover in remnants of the fire.
After the fire, Leitzinger said a restaurant was built at the camp’s location. He said it was often frequented by snowmobilers during the winter months.
Leitzinger also proudly showed his grandfather’s pottery work that spans from 1851 – 1879. He said he was a potter by trade while living in Switzerland.
He said his grandfather came to Clearfield around 1849, as he heard it had great clay deposits. He said he continued his pottery work here and opened a shop along the present-day Third Street in the area of Mary’s Place.
He said he has many of his grandfather’s pieces at home and is always hunting for more. He said he now has numerous nieces and nephews who are doing so as well.
At a customer’s request, Leitzinger offered history into a prominent, large-sized clock that’s displayed on the first floor wall. He said it was removed from the Clearfield County Courthouse in the late 1990’s.
At the time, he said the county commissioners wanted to replace it with a more modernized system. He said the clock mechanisms had worn out.
He said courthouse clocks were also given to the Moena Restaurant and Best Jewelers, both businesses located in Clearfield.
“And, we were able to get one,” Leitzinger said.
Bob Genua, also of Historica Plus Antiques, oversees their coin collection. He said they identify each coin and determine their worth based on weekly value listings. He said a coin’s value changes all the time.
He said they’ve had some “semi-scarce” coins pass through the shop. Once, he said they had a “nice” 1905 dollar that was valued at several hundreds of dollars.
In addition, he recalled they had a 2-cent piece from 1864. He said it was highly graded and also one that would be harder to come by. But like most treasured items, he said their coins come and go fast.
“They’re a hot item,” said Genua.
Anyone interested in becoming a dealer should contact Jim Leitzinger at Historica Plus Antiques at 814-762-8520. Historica Plus Antiques is located at 234 East Market Street, Clearfield.