Top 3 Erie Academy High Schools

Long before the Northwest Pennsylvania Collegiate Academy made its debut as a college-prep magnet school in Erie, PA, there was a public high school known as Academy High School. But before the the NPCA and AHS, there was another Academy, the granddaddy of them all- Erie Academy.

Erie Academy was incorporated on March 25, 1817. Its trustees included Rev. Robert Reid, R. S. Reed, Robert Brown, Thomas Forster, Thomas Wilson, J. C. Wallace, Judah Colt, T. H. Sill and Giles Sanford.

During the 1859-60 school year there were 239 students; 115 boys and 124 girls. The tuition in 1891 was $400 per anum and students were admitted from throughout the region.

Erie Academy had a couple of different locations. The one in this illustration was located on Peach Street between 9th and 10th. Not to be confused with the old Central High School on Sassafras Street between 10th and 11th Streets (Central Tech).

"In 1878 the old academy buildings were entirely remodeled and modernized. The stone and brick structure gave place to an imposing edifice surmounted with a Gothic mansard roof, making the building three stories high. There are two main entrances facing Ninth Street. Upon the ground floor are two fine study rooms, spacious halls and stair cases for reaching the second floor, where are two similar large rooms for the intermediate departments, with two smaller ones for recitations. The third story is all in one large hall, with high ceilings suitable for lectures, drill room and school exhibitions." -Erie Pennsylvania Illustrated (1888).

The approximate location of the old Erie Academy would be the present site of Tullio Towers at 21 West 9th St. in downtown Erie, PA. 

Enjoy more historic facts and photos of Erie, PA at: Old Time Erie

Downing Building on 9th and Peach

The Downing Building was a refined structure at 9th and Peach Street in Erie, PA. It was built in 1883 for $40,000, and later demolished for the redevelopment of Downtown Erie.

"The interior is in keeping with the exterior, elegantly and conveniently arranged...finished in attractive hard woods, and provided with stained glass windows. The ceilings are lofty- thirty feet from the floors- tastefully decorated. 

The office force comprises some twenty-five clerks and assistants, a number of whom have been connected with the office for from ten to twenty years. To this office over 2,000 local agents, comprising fourteen states and five territories, render their reports, and are subject to the direction and control of the manager, Mr. Downing.

Jerome F. Downing is a native of Massachusetts, and a lawyer by profession. In 1863 he was elected District Attorney of Erie County, and it was while performing the duties pertaining to that office that he was offered the important position of general western agent of the Insurance Company of North America. In 1872 he accepted the general western agency of the Pennsylvania Fire Insurance Company. He is president of the Keystone National Bank; vice-president of the Erie Dime Savings and Loan Company, and a prominent member of the Board of Trade."

Here's a picture of the Downing Building 75 years later

Enjoy more historical facts and pictures of Erie PA at: Old Time Erie

Grants and Peach Street from 8th to 10th Erie PA

Taken from the top of the parking lot at 8th and Peach by Jeffrey
George in late 1967 or early 1968. Photo ©Jeffrey George 2012.

Postcard of the Second National Bank on 9th & Peach.

The photo of the W. T. Grant Co. in Erie, PA (shown above) was taken in late 1967 or early 1968 by Jeffrey George from atop the parking lot at 8th and Peach. Cars in the bottom right side of the picture are traveling north on Peach Street. The back of the old Lawrence Hotel is clearly visible on the right side of the photo.

Grants was a huge retail store that had entrances on West 8th Street, Peach Street and at 18 West 9th Street. You could cut through the building instead of walking outside in the rain or snow and come out on the other street. Sounds like a nightmare for security.

To help with the orientation, I've included a postcard of the old Second National Bank, which was located on the southeast corner of 9th and Peach. It was still standing in 1967 and was used as a women's clothing store. You can see the side of the old bank in the top photo. The postcard also shows the back and side of the old Lawrence Hotel, which was demolished around 1968 (the Avalon Hotel currently occupies this site). Peach was a two-way street when the postcard was released.

The side of the Baldwin Building/Renaissance Center is also visible in the photo above; it's the second tall building from the  left. The side of Kresge's is visible directly below the Renaissance Center building. (The building that housed Kresge's still stands, but it is covered in mirrors.)

Here is a shot of the front of the Lawrence Hotel: http://oldtimeerie.blogspot.com/2012/10/jfk-kennedy-at-lawrence-hotel-in-erie.html

The old Grants building still stands at 18 West 9th Street. It's now the home of GECAC.