A small Wyoming County borough is celebrating its 150th anniversary in a big way.
Nicholson, incorporated in 1875, is holding themed community-wide monthly events this year to honor overlooked parts of its history.
“What we're trying to accomplish with this sesquicentennial is to highlight and recapture some of the early history that we have lost,” said Kathy Steele, co-chair of the Nicholson Sesquicentennial Committee. “In essence, we kind of want to see Nicholson as 1875 again, as much as we can.”
“Because there was so much on here that we wanted to do, and there's so much of our history that is being lost, we thought it would be wonderful, since we had so much to work with, to honor something each month,” Steele added. “So that's what we're doing.”
The celebration kicked off in January with a history presentation on Nicholson’s six grand hotels. Hospitality was once a flourishing industry in the borough, as indicated by Nicholson’s motto: “Population 1,000. Hospitality for 1,000,000.”
“I found it fascinating that there was such an interest in Nicholson's hotels, since none of them exist as a hotel anymore,” Steele said. “But it kind of gave me the idea that, yeah, people really do want to know a little bit about the history in town.”
The February event was an open house and presentation on Nicholson’s Fire Company, during which attendees learned about fire safety and prevention and received free smoke detectors.
The March event will highlight local stores and businesses. The free “Nicholson’s Historic and Distinctive Stores and Businesses Presentation” will be held on Saturday, March 29 at 1 p.m. at the Nicholson Tourism Center, located in the former Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad station off Route 11.
More than just a viaduct
Nicholson, at just 1.17 square miles, is home to about 700 people. It is known for the Tunkhannock Creek Viaduct, also known as the Nicholson Bridge. It was the largest concrete structure in the world when it was completed in 1915 and remains the world’s largest concrete railroad bridge.
Nicholson commonly celebrates the history of the bridge, but Nicholson Heritage Association members said generational divides and changes in the borough make it difficult to foster a tight-knit community that is interested in other aspects of its history.
“We're natives, not that that matters, but we've all experienced quite an evolution in the town for good or bad,” said Bob Gritman, chair of the Nicholson Heritage Association and member of the Sesquicentennial Committee. “Nicholson has gone from a bustling commercial center for many, many people to simply a bedroom community that you don't know everybody on your street anymore.”
The goal of the sesquicentennial, however, is to unite the community and increase interest in its history, especially among younger residents, through activiti engaging and fun yet informative activities.
'Honoring the entire town'
There are plans for a vintage fashion show in April and a tiger festival in July commemorating a Bengal tiger that got loose in the town in 1986 and attracted national news coverage.
The official sesquicentennial celebration will be on the weekend of Aug. 23, the exact date the borough was incorporated in 1875. The committee intends to infiltrate the borough with historical actors to bring its history to life.
“We're having a newspaper boy with his ‘Extra, extra! Read all about it!,’ a town crier that will announce events as they're happening, shoeshine boy on the corner, and food vendors like the popcorn and peanut vendors that have their carts on the streets,” Steele said. “There are people in this town that have never seen or don't know about, and I think they will find it very interesting.”
Other tentative activities for the August celebration include a parade, horse-drawn carriage rides, hot air balloon rides, a costume ball, a beard/mustache contest and more.
Engagement efforts have been seemingly successful so far. Nicholson residents are contributing to the borough’s historical preservation by donating items and artifacts.
“It's astounding the numbers of items that have been given to us, and we're gladly displaying them,” Gritman said.
To accompany the monthly themed events, the committee is submitting corresponding monthly feature articles to the Wyoming County Press Examiner.
Nicholson has not had such an expansive celebration since the centennial, but Steele said it is worth the effort.
“They celebrated for an entire week, but we wanted to celebrate for the whole year, because, again, we're not just honoring the bridge, we're honoring the entire town,” Steele said.
For more details and updates, visit the group's website or follow Nicholson Sesquicentennial on Facebook.
DID YOU KNOW?
Nicholson was named for John Nicholson. He was former comptroller general of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from 1782 to 1794 and an influential figure in early America.
There are two other Pennsylvania communities named after John Nicholson: Nicholson Township, Wyoming County, and Nicholson Township, Fayette County.
What is now Nicholson was once called Thornbottom. It was part of Luzerne County before Wyoming County was founded in 1842. The community also became known as Baconville and Bacontown, after postmaster Nathan Bacon. When the U.S. Post Office was moved to the railroad station in 1855 the name was changed to Nicholson.
A devastating fire swept through the borough in February 1904, making national headlines. According to an Associated Press report 20 buildings were destroyed after flames spread unchecked "as the water pumps were all frozen and the town pump ran dry."
— nicholsonheritage.org and newspapers.com