As Christmas shoppers scurry around doing their Christmas shopping, it might be good to remember the golden days when downtown Williamsport was the retail center of northcentral Pennsylvania. There were department stores such as L.L. Stearns, Bush and Bull, Penney’s, Sears and Roebuck, and the Carroll House.

The Carroll House was one of downtown Williamsport’s most popular retail destinations for almost 45 years.

The building the Carroll House occupied at the southwest corner of Pine and West Third streets was originally occupied by A.H. Heilman Furniture, who constructed the building in the late 1890s.

In August 1930, the Interstate Store Company acquired the former Heilman building and opened a department store at that location called Lycoming Dry Goods.

The new department store opened on September 27, 1930, with more than 1,000 visitors passing through its doors from opening until closing at 9 p.m.

The Williamsport Sun on September 26, 1930, described it this way in part, “The first floor presents a new appearance along every line. Near the middle of the building, a spacious stairway leads to the downstairs store. The elevator in the building has been completely renovated; Advanced styles of show spaces are installed, giving a maximum of display with a minimum of space.”

Soon, Lycoming Dry Goods became one of Williamsport’s premier stores.

A change took place in 1947 when the store was renamed the “Carroll House,” the name most people can still remember it by. At this time, the store was extensively renovated.

The Carroll House had 65 different departments, and at one time, it had a large warehouse on Hepburn Street. At the height of the store’s popularity, it employed more than 100 people, but at the time it closed, this number was down to about 50.

The Carroll House was air-conditioned in 1956, and the second and third floors were fully remodeled in the early 1960s.

The store had one of the finest toy departments of any store in the area and was looked upon almost as if Santa’s North Pole toy workshop came south to Williamsport. I know for me; it was the best place to look for coveted toys other than Krim’s Toy Store.

The Carroll House continued to serve area consumers well throughout the 1960s and into the early 1970s.

In 1974, the store was caught up in a corporate reorganization by its parent company, and they decided to close this Williamsport retail institution. The Carroll House closed for business in May 1974.

The ownership of the Carroll House building went to the Northern Central Bank, the trustee for the Heilman family.

In late 1974, Fidelity Bank acquired the building and used it as a bank and administrative center. It remained in Fidelity’s hands for several years.

The Carroll House may be gone now, but it is a pleasant memory of the Christmas shopping seasons of the past.