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Collection
C. Emlen Urban Collection
Title
C. Emlen Urban Collection
Object ID
MG0100
Date Range
1889-1939
  1 document  
Collection
C. Emlen Urban Collection
Title
C. Emlen Urban Collection
Description
Collection consists of records by Cassius Emlen Urban, a Lancaster architect. He supervised the construction of the Lancaster Post Office at 120 N. Duke St., Lancaster. Many letters from James H. Windrim, supervising architect of the Treasury Department, Washington, D. C. Book of correspondence contains details of the construction. Also includes letters he wrote to his son, Rathfon, dated February 14-29, 1939, while on the Italian liner, Roma.
Admin/Biographical History
C. Emlen Urban
Throughout Downtown Lancaster numerous iconic buildings make up the city's landscape giving it its unique and ornate character. Landmark buildings such as the Greist Building, the Watt and Shand Department Store, Hager Building, Southern Market, along with many more churches, residential units including the facade of the Fulton Opera House were the design of Cassius Emlen Urban. Urban was Lancaster's first architect and one of the most significant influences on the city. 1 Urban modernized the city's landscape as he designed buildings in a new era where technologies never before available to architects made it possible for himself to leave such a grand impression.
Urban was born on February 20, 1863 in Conestoga Township to a Civil War veteran Amos Urban, a distinguished citizen known for his modesty and community service. Urban finished high school in 1880 and would get his architectural training through an apprenticeship with Scanton, PA architect E.L. Walter. Later in 1884 Urban would move to Philadelphia where he served as a draftsman to Willis G. Hale. Upon returning to Lancaster roughly a year later Urban would open his own practice in Lancaster.2
Only a few years after Urban opened his practice through a family connection he would receive a commission to design Lancaster's Southern Market. Urban's career would take off leading him to design many more iconic buildings in Lancaster and Hershey as well. Urban, through his membership at the Hamilton Club made acquaintance with Milton Hershey who hired him to design such buildings as Hershey Chocolates original company offices and even his own mansion.3
Urban spent the majority of his life in Lancaster with the exception of his time studying as a young man. Urban is remembered for his buildings designed in Queen Anne and Beaux style architecture.4 Shenk in his A History of Lancaster County wrote of Urban, "Few men of Lancaster county can point to a finer array of useful and beautiful work than can Cassius Emlen Urban."
Nicole O. Sturla, "Cassius Emlen Urban: Lancaster's First Native Architect," Susquehanna Monthly Magazine, September 1980.
2 History of Lancaster County, ed. E.M.J. Klein (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company Inc., 1924), 443.
3 "Urban, C. Emlen; 1863-1939," Hershey Community Archives, accessed September 30, 2014. http://www.hersheyarchives.org/essay/details.aspx?EssayId=34&Rurl=%2Fresources%2Fsearch-results.aspx%3FType%3DBrowseEssay.
4 "Introduction," To Build Strong and Substantial: The Career of Architect C. Emlen Urban, (2009): 2-3.
Date Range
1889-1939
Year Range From
1889
Year Range To
1939
Creator
Urban, C. Emlen, 1863-1939
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
Archives South
Storage Wall
Side 03
People
Rote, Andrew B.
Urban, Cassius Emlen
Urban, Rathfon Merrill
Windrim, James Hamilton
Subjects
Architects
Buildings--Specifications
Business records
Letters
Historic buildings
Lancaster (Pa.)
Post Office (Postal service)
Search Terms
Architects
Buildings, Specifications
Business records
Correspondence
Finding aids
Historic buildings
Lancaster
Letters
Manuscript groups
Post offices
Extent
1 box, 4 folders, .25 cubic ft.
Object Name
Archive
Language
English
Object ID
MG0100
Related Item Notes
See also the Photograph Collection; Blueprints and Architectural Plans
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions.
Copyright
Collection may not be photocopied. Please direct questions to Research Center Staff at research@lancasterhistory.org.
Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory.
Credit
C. Emlen Urban Collection (MG-100), Folder #, LancasterHistory.org
Other Numbers
MG-100
Other Number
MG-100
Classification
MG0100
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Cataloged prior to 1997. Updated by HST, 18 March 2010; Biographical information by DJ, Fall 2014. Added to database 22 August 2017.
Documents
Less detail
Collection
Alice E. Brown Family Papers
Title
Alice E. Brown Family Papers
Object ID
MG0583
Date Range
1727-1963
. Isaac Taylor and Asahel Walker, executors of Joseph Elliot to John Murry and Susanna. Record land holder of 1702. �230 North President Avenue • Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17603-3125 717.392.4633 • www.LancasterHistory.org Folder 22 Land draft for Philip Howell, 1809, mentions 1702 recording. Indicates
  1 document  
Collection
Alice E. Brown Family Papers
Title
Alice E. Brown Family Papers
Description
The Alice E. Brown Family Papers contain genealogy and family records, deeds, land drafts, ads and ephemera for local businesses, bonds, estate papers, wills, and personal papers. Some of the deeds and maps are for property also owned by the Coates and Pownall families. Alice's father was a race horse breeder and the collection contains certificates from the American Trotting Register for some of his horses.
Admin/Biographical History
"Alice E. Brown, age 93, of Christiana, PA passed away on Monday, March 15, 2010 at Tel Hai Retirement Community. She was born in Salisbury Twp., daughter of the late John H. & Lizzie F. Brown. She was a member of Latta Memorial Presbyterian Church of Christiana. Alice graduated from the Millersville Normal School in 1934. She was a School Teacher for 7 years at the former Simmontown one-room schoolhouse. She also worked for Dr. Beacher of Gap. She was known as a wonderful artist. She was preceded in death by 4 siblings: Norris, Phares, Lela, and Leah Brown. She was the last of her immediate family. Funeral service will take place from the Shivery Funeral Home, 111 Elizabeth Street, Christiana, PA on Wednesday, March 17th, at 11 a.m. with Rev. Jane DeFord officiating. Interment will be in the Sadsbury Friends Burial Grounds, Gap, PA."
From the obituary of Alice E. Brown, Lancaster Intelligencer Journal, 16 March 2010.
Date Range
1727-1963
Year Range From
1727
Year Range To
1963
Date of Accumulation
1727-1963
Creator
Brown, Alice E., 1916-2010
Storage Location
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, PA
Storage Room
Archives South
Storage Wall
Side 12
People
Bedard, A. J.
Beecher, Eleanor
Beecher, Samuel
Beyer, W. F.
Brinton, Susanna
Brown, Alice E.
Brown, Barbara
Brown, Clemson
Brown, David
Brown, David, Jr.
Brown, Elizabeth F.
Brown, Hannah
Brown, J. Norris
Brown, Jacob
Brown, John H.
Brown, John Henry
Brown, Leah
Brown, Lindley T.
Brown, Lizzie F.
Brown, Lydia
Brown, Margaret C.
Brown, Phares
Brown, Samuel
Brown, Sarah "Sallie"
Brown, William
Coates, Lindley
Davis, Benjamin F.
Dubree, Absolom
Dubree, Ann
Elliot, Joseph
Eshleman, Jacob
Fleming, John
Hipple, Mary Ann
Hostetter, Abraham F.
Howell, Philip
Jackson, Mary Louise
Kunkel, H. Clinger
Lindley T. Brown
McNeely, Abigail
Mews, Hannah
Mews, John
Moore, Thomas
Murray, John
Murry, John
Murry, Susanna
Pownall, Deborah
Pownall, Ellen
Pownall, George H.
Pownall, Harriet
Pownall, Levi
Wasson, Samuel
Pownall, Martha
Pownall, Theodore
Rhea, Ann
Samson, Margaret
Samson, William
Steele, Elizabeth
Steele, Hugh E.
Swanger, John H.
Taylor, Isaac
Walker, Asahel
Wasson, Ann
Wasson, Ruth
Wasson, Usher
Wayser, Janet L. Knox
Whitson, George
Williams, Robert
Subjects
Advertisements
Deeds
Family archives
Genealogy
Horse breeders
Probate records
Search Terms
Advertisements
Certificates
Deeds
Family records
Finding aids
Genealogy
Horse breeders
Lutheran and Reformed Church
Manuscript groups
Pikeland Church
Probate records
Sadsbury Friends Cemetery
Simmontown School
Union Cemetery
Extent
1 box, 35 folders, .5 cubic ft.
Object Name
Archive
Language
English
Object ID
MG0583
Location of Originals
LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Related Item Notes
See also the Photograph Collections
Notes
Preferred Citation: Title or description of item, date (day, month, year), Alice E. Brown Family Papers (MG0583), Folder #, LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Access Conditions / Restrictions
No restrictions.
Copyright
Collection may not be photocopied. Please direct questions to Research Center Staff at research@lancasterhistory.org.
Permission for reproduction and/or publication must be obtained in writing from LancasterHistory.
Credit
Courtesy of LancasterHistory, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
Accession Number
2010.MG0583
Other Numbers
MG-583
Classification
MG0583
Description Level
Fonds
Custodial History
Processed by RW, February 2010; finding aid typed by SH, July 2013. Added to database 26 December 2021.
Documents
Less detail