History of Centreport
Source: Centreport Centennial 1884-1984 by Milton K. and Luella E. Blatt, page 558:
Centreport has been richly blessed in that it has very seldom met with
serious tragedy. However, there have been a few occasions in its history
where misfortune knocked at its door and to some extent are found in the
records. The first of these came in 1931 when the John H. BALTHASER radio
shop on Main Street (formerly Billy BOYER’s saddlers shop) burned to the
ground. It is believed that an overload in charging batteries occurred. In
about 1933 the John MOUNTZ Garage burned down. It was located on the Rufus
BALTHASER farm property, today belonging to Kenneth Weist. It is believed
that again a battery charger caused the damage. 1959 seems to have been the
year of real tragedy – On January 24th an oil storage shed at Shollenberger
Farm Supplies was destroyed by fire. The cause was not determined. July 1
brought a freak wind storm to the area when the Centreport Dairies building
was hard hit as you can see by the accompanying picture. At the same time,
across the street, huge trees were blown down, fell on the church and ruined
the apex of the church roof. The roof had to be replaced. NOECKER’s Garage
fell victim to mishaps twice. In 1936 a car came across the crest and hit
the gas pumps, causing some damage and again in 1951 when the NOECKER’s were
visiting son, Marvin in the Service in Georgia, a car hit the pumps and
again started a fire. On the first occasion some of the siding to the
building had to be replaced. On June 21 of 1936, fire of undetermined origin
brought damage to the Borough amounting to at least $2,500 when flames
consumed frame buildings on the rear of Edwin L. FAUST’s lot. A chicken
house, part of a garage on adjoining property of Adam S. REBER and a small
building near Clark MILLER’s residence were hit. Mr. FAUST’s automobile was
lost, and two chickens and a duck of Mr. REBER’s were reported lost.
Contributed by: Diane Klopp.
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