Castor Shops to Be Sold. Manufactured First Horse Cars

for Frankford & Southwark. Announcement is made in another col-

umn that the old Castor properties6 at the northeast corner of Frankford ave-nue and Overington street, will be sold to settle the estate of the late Thomas Castor, at a master's sale, in partition, on Saturday afternoon, May 27th, by-Samuel T. Freeman & Co., auctioneers. The property is occupied by the carriage

<4-Thomas Castot's Sons, the Castor blacksmith shop, the saloon property of James McCaffrey and the livery stables in the rear, at Frank-lin and Overington streets. The prop-èrty has a frontage of seventy-five feet on Frankford avenue and Franklin street and two hundred and forty-seven on Overington street, and is considered one of the most valuable pieces of real estate on Frankford avenue. 11

THOMAS CASTOR

The wheelwright and wagon bulldhrt business of the Cantors was first es-tablished about 1835, on the site of the buildings, 4620 and 4622 Frankford ave-nue, on the north side of the Old Jolly Post Hotel. Thomas Castor managed the wheelwright and Peter Castor the blacksmith end of the business. He also manufactured a patent kitchen range, known as the Castor range. Thomas re-sided in the present rough-cast stone building at 4630 Frankford avenue, all of the stone for which was quarried out of the cellar. Peter Castor resided op-posite, on the present site of the Dis-patch ofilce. The site at Frankford ave-nue and Overington street; (formerly Al-len street) wis purchased about 18is4.., At that time it formed part of the old Red Barn lot, which extended back to Leper street, bdfure either llrankfln ur Penn streets had been opened through. The first iron railings and marble posts ised in the Cedar Hill Cemeteries were iiaixufactured by the Castor Brothers.

F1 PETER CASTOR

The business grew from that time to large dimensions, the firm receiving a contract to equip the Fifth and Sixth and Race and Vine streets passenger railways with horse cars. They were double deck affairs with a spiral ladder for the agile passengers to ascend and descend from the upper deck. Illumina-tion at night was by smoky oil lamps, set on shelves at either end of the car

i'S winter was nstptiy ursi' by a thick bedding of hay or straw on the floor of the cars, into which the shivering passengers dug their feet for warmth. Those cars, however, the first improvement over the old omnibus line, made just as much of a sensation as when the trolley car succeeded the Jimmy.

Thomas Castor was of an inventive; 'turk, and shortly patented the first

method of lighting cars from a venti-lated bracket in the centre of the car. 1e held four other car patents, and all

of them were sold to Stevenson & Co., of New York. Mr. Castor also secui'd patents on the first contractor's sliding dump wagon ever made in the country.

lic -patentu were, aeed in the United States and Great Britain. The same principle is still in use in the construc-tion cars used in railroad operations.

The shop was noted for its fine wagon and car work, and for many years had a most extensive business in the erec-tion of circus wagons, including baggage

i

trucks and animal cages. The firm made hundreds of wagons for the circuses of Adam Forepaugh, John O'Brien, Bar-num & Bailey and Bachelor & Doris.

Peter Castor died in 1883, aged 791 years, and Thomas survived him about a year, dying in August, 1884, at the age of 74 years.

In recent years the business has been conducted by T. Elwood Castor and William 0. Castor, sons of Thomas Cas-tor. Another son, Lewis F. Casr has an extenstre a -t am ctrt'ftage man- ufacturing business at Margaret and Ce-dar streets.

Mayor Reyburn Visits Frankford Mayor Reyburn and a number of city

officials arrived in Frankford this morn-ing to go over route of the Auto Transit Company, and to view the Cornelius place on Bristol pike, also a lot at the corner of Harrison street and Frankford avenue, proposed for a new police or fire station. The pasty in Auto Transit hue went over the Bustleton _pike and had luncheon at Somert n. The party was escorted by Select Councilman J. Emory Byram, and President Frank Deere, of the Auto Transit Co

Fish for Pennypack Creek. The Torresdale Fish Hatcheries on I

Saturday last stocked the Pennypack Creek, above Lodge's dam, with twenty cans of yellow perch. This will be fsI lowed by a like number of catfish a.fl sunfish. The fish were placed in the stream through the efforts of (us Won-nenberg, of Bustleton, who is an enthu-siastic fisherman. It is expected that there will be excellent fishing in the stream within two years.