Tuesday, December 10, 2013

Former Acme – Tower City, Pennsylvania




Photos courtesy of John from WISL1480.com

Location: Route 209, Tower City, PA

Classic photo of the Acme in
Silver Creek, New York...


(Above image from the web. Source unknown)

We can get an idea of how the Tower City store looked back in its Acme days thanks to the above photo of the Silver Creek, NY store. I grabbed it off the web years ago and posted it on the blog as a mystery store. An email came in shortly thereafter letting me know its location. The building is still standing but has had several additions which disguise much of its original form. You can visit the Silver Creek post by clicking here


Back to Tower City (which is from from being a city)… this store opened on October 14, 1962. Closing date unknown. It sits on the outskirts of town and is paired with a gigantic parking lot. This former Acme came as a complete surprise to me. John stumbled across this treasure while traveling for Thanksgiving. 


It's unusual to see an angled entrance on a pitched-roof model. Can't tell if it's the same way at the Silver Creek store. The tree out at the street is blocking our view. 






Looks as though the building is being used for storage as opposed to a working facility. Can you spot any left-over Acme traits? I caught one after looking very closely at this photo. Some of the beams in the pitched roof are still orange! You can see this orange beam in the classic Somers Point store by clicking here








A small section sticks out of the side there at the back. You can see it better if you click on the photo to enlarge it. Also more visible from the aerial images down below. 


The low pitch at this location probably didn't allow for a second floor in the back. 

The flat-roof section along the left side of the building may have been strictly back room space. 




The Acme was located on the western side of Tower City, a bit outside of town. Not a very convenient location from most residents to run to for a few items. The spot may have been chosen so the store could draw customers from nearby Williams Township. There doesn't appear to have been any other grocery stores servicing these towns from what I can see in the satellite images. 






1968
The only historic image available of the Acme days, assuming it made it to 1968.


Thanks again to John for bringing us this very unique former Acme!

3 comments:

  1. Isn't there a huge atv park in Tower City?

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    Replies
    1. Rausch Creek, It is actually located on top of the mountain in Joliet but they say Tower City because even fewer people heard of Joliet.

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  2. the store was still open in the mid to late 80s i delivered photo finishing to it in 85. was a good volume customer .really surprised me how many pictures the people in the area took to the store, but the nearest store was a long ride

    ReplyDelete