SAYERS CORNER

Sayers Corner with its red tin roof is prominently located next to the Court House.  The street sign reads: Danger, Run, Slow. Ca. 1915 postcard printed by W. T. Hays. greeneconnections.com

Long known as “Sayers Corner,” the building at the corner of High and Church Streets dates back to the very beginning of Waynesburg. Much of it is more than 200 years old.  

The two-story building is named for the Sayers family who owned it almost 150 years, beginning in 1840. Long a retail hub, it is one of two early 19^th century buildings that have miraculously survived in downtown Waynesburg. The other is the Messenger Building located a block away at the corner of High and Washington. 

Sayers & Hoskinson sold dry goods across the street from the Court House which is being renovated in this ca. 1876 photo.  Greene County Historical Society, gift of Miss Catherine Sayers. greeneconnections.com

 

Sayers Corner is best appreciated from across High Street near First Federal where one can observe that the front and side wings, although both brick, are not the same height. The shorter wing along Church Street is older, dating to 1808-1812. From its front room, innkeeper Robert Cathers enlisted men to go to Baltimore to fight in the War of 1812.  

 By 1825, Sayers Corner had gained its current appearance when innkeeper Thomas Hoskinson erected the main wing facing High Street. His establishment was described as a “Tavern Stand” in an early advertisement. In the days before paved roads, this was one of many inns in Waynesburg that accommodated residents of outlying townships who were conducting business at the county seat.

In his landmark book, “Early Architecture of Western Pennsylvania” (1936), author Charles Morse Stotz described colonial structures like Sayers Corner as “buildings without traditional style”. He wrote:   “These must be counted among the most interesting architectural remains of the district. Their quiet lines and excellent mass are wholly satisfying.”  

Sayers Corner before 1931. Waynesburg scrapbook at Cornerstone Genealogical Society. greeneconnections.com

 Today, Sayers Corner maintains its colonial look despite having had its bricks painted, windows replaced and storefront entrances expanded. 

William Wood (W.W.) Sayers was the first of his family to own the building beginning in 1840. He lived on the second floor with his wife and seven children while operating the inn plus his primary business, a stone and marble yard next door on Church Street. His partner was Simon Rinehart. Known in later years as “Uncle Billy”, he owned other real estate with his brother Ezra M. Sayers, an attorney. According to his 1886 obituary, W. W. owned three-fourths of the town at one time or another.

Early photo of Court House (ca. 1860) shows Sayers & Rinehart marble yard to the right on Cider Alley (today Church Street). greeneconnections.com

 By 1866, if not earlier, the corner room had become “Sayers & Hoskinson,” a dry goods store. Partner George Hoskinson’s father had built this wing fronting High Street 40 years earlier. George Hoskinson and W. W. Sayers were cousins, grandsons of Robert Adams, one of the first settlers of Waynesburg.

Sayers Corner looking west, some time after 1926. Patterson & Milliken and J. R. Cross Groceries/Confectionary are advertised. Photo by William E. S. Fletcher, greeneconnections.com

Moving ahead to 1896, the corner storefront was “Morris & Sayers” advertising that they clothed head and foot.  While the shoe department was managed by Lewis Wetzel Sayers, a grandson of W.W., Mrs. Henrietta Morris supervised millinery. She was one of the first women engaged in business in Greene County. At the same time, the other large storefront on High Street was the Silveus & Sayers bicycle shop. Years later, it was Joe Riggs Sporting Goods Store, site of my first job during high school selling Pendleton wool. 

Next month, I’ll write about the innovative 3-story office building that in 1908 rose from the site of the old Sayers & Rinehart marble yard, and the architect who designed it.

Here's another one-time occupant of Sayers Corner:

The painted letters on the right (corner) window mark the first location of Peoples Bank-- from its founding in 1897 until it completed in 1907 its own office building across High Street.

The interior of People Bank in its Sayers Corner location. "Waynesburg Prosperous and Beautiful," Fred High, 1907.

 

THE HELPHENSTINE BUILDING: FROM TIN SHOP TO LAW OFFICE

 

South Washington Street ca. 1922 with Helphenstine Building on the left. Courthouse dome is in the background.

From 19^th century tin shop to 21^st century law office, diverse businesses have occupied the southeast corner of Washington Street and Cherry Alley, long known as the Helphenstine Building. 

The building’s history began in 1834 when William A. Helphenstine, an accomplished tin- and coppersmith, came to Waynesburg and set up shop to handcraft housewares and construction materials. He married a local girl, Elizabeth Piatt, and together they reared eight children in a frame house next door that in 1865 was described as a “dwelling and front room occupied as tin shop.”

Some experts believe this photo shows the Greene County Courthouse in construction, 1850-51. Source: Greene County Historical Society, greeneconnections.com

 

Detail from previous photo shows man working on the statue of General Greene. Could it be W. A. Helphenstine?

Among his more significant local projects was the new (1850-1851) Courthouse where William roofed the copper dome and lined the hat in General Greene’s hand. An 1868 ad in the  “Waynesburg Republican” promoted his sale of cooking, heating and parlor stoves, tin, copper and sheet iron wares, and spouting and roofing at “the old stand south of the Sheriff’s House.” Four sons joined him in the trade. 

In 1882 eldest son Amon Piatt Helphenstine erected the present building on the stone foundation of the earlier frame house.

The new Helphenstine Building had a large storefront on the left next to Cherry Alley with the family residence on the right.  The whiskey sign predates a strong local prohibition movement. Source:Waynesburg Borough, greeneconnections.com 

The 1882 building was Italianate in style, featuring a low pitched roof with elaborate brick corbelling under the cornice and recessed bricks in a cross pattern. Ornately carved stone lintels topped the windows and doors and on the second floor there was a wrought iron balcony that survived until 1967. 

View from High Street shows on left: Sheriff's House, Helphenstine Building and spire of the United Methodist Church, long gone. Source: Greene County Historical Society, greeneconnections.com

 

Sanburn fire insurance maps from 1886-1925 identify a variety of rental uses in the new storefront: “Liquors” in 1886, the “Waynesburg Independent” newspaper printing plant in 1891, and the store of W. T. Hays in 1901. He sold books, wallpaper, stationery, postcards, children’s toys and rotary sewing machines. By 1908 a frame building had been added in the rear for printing plus a bicycle repair shop run by his son James Hays. 

One of many postcards printed and sold by W. T. Hays at his shop in the Helphenstine Building.

  

The onset of the automobile era brought with it the opening in 1919 of a battery shop that sold Willard products, but recharged all brands. 

In 1922, car dealer Charles P. Meighen purchased the site from the Helphenstines and used it to showcase now long forgotten models such as Scripps-Booth, Durant-Dort and ReoSpeedWagon. 

A ReoSpeedWagon from 1917 advertisement. wikimedia

During his brief ownership Meighen added two garage doors on the alley and a ramp from Washington Street. Today, the garage doors are once again windows but the basement garage remains a large open space. The “Fresh Ground Coffee” sign above the ramp remains from another former tenant, a wholesale food business. 

Former garage doors are now windows.  Front ramp was added in 1976.

When Harry Cummings bought the building in 1925, he replaced the rear frame addition with brick and remodeled the apartments. His estate sold the property in 1976 when it became the “Jury Box,” a popular bar/restaurant. More recently, it has been a gymnasium/rehab center and office space for State Representative Bill DeWeese, Jacobs Petroleum and now Pollock Morris Law Firm. 

The Helphenstine Building today.

 Dave Pollock has owned the building since 1982 and generously helped with this article.

 

ST. ANN CHURCH AND RECTORY BUILDINGS

Aerial view (1971) of the church and rectory, on left.

The site of St. Ann Church is even more historic than its 1871 building. From 1799 until today, the Roman Catholic diocese has owned the corner of High and Cumberland Streets.    

While some historians described a simple log chapel on the site ca. 1800, others said there was no early building and the few Catholics in Waynesburg worshipped in private homes. The truth is lost in time.  What is known is that in 1817 a traveling priest wrote to the Bishop of Baltimore: “There is scarcely a Catholic in Waynesburg and very few in the neighboring county. Of course there is scarcely any prospect of building a church there for several years.”

We do know that a chapel of hand-made bricks, begun in 1832 and completed in 1839, was dedicated to St. Ann. It, however, became unstable and within 20 years, in the 1850’s, services resumed in private homes. 

The church in 1903.The large log house on the left was replaced in 1924 by the Reed/Clendenning House, today the Rectory. Photo by Gilbert Hays. Source:greene connections.com

In 1870-71, a period of prosperity after the Civil War, the present sanctuary was erected at the same time as the Downey House, Opera House and Hook/Morgan Building (which the author recently renovated).

The church today.

 

The style of St. Ann Church is Victorian Gothic Revival. Tall lancet windows inside pointed arches are on the side elevations, separated by brick pilasters that function as faux columns, repeating a design device used twenty years earlier at the Courthouse and Hanna Hall.

Transom over entrance doors is today hidden by a porch roof.  In this early view, one wonders if it is awaiting stained glass. Pilasters adorn the front and sides of the building. Source: St. Ann Church Centennial brochure, 1971.

The sole window in front is a large rosette of decorative stained glass with pairs of pilasters on either side. Brick corbels project under the cornice to support roof beams. An octagonal belfry tops the steeply pitched gable roof, crowned by a pyramidal spire and cross. Inside, an antique bell rings regularly with beautiful tone. 

An early 20th century postcard view of the interior. Source: greeneconnections.com

During its nearly 150-year history, as might be expected, the church building has been expanded and remodeled several times. On the exterior, double entrance doors, a covered porch and ornamental iron trim are newer additions. The 20^th century also brought more stained glass windows. 

The interior today.

Contemporary view of side wing added to the sanctuary in the 20th century.

In 1897, the congregation erected a rectory along Cherry Alley after the arrival of its first resident priest. Major additions in 1934 and 1967 added two wings to the sanctuary, a rear parish hall and classrooms. 

First rectory, built 1897. View from Cumberland Street.

   

Today’s rectory is the former home/office of Dr. William Clendenning which the church purchased in 1975. It was built in 1925-26 by William K. Reed, a local contractor and Waynesburg Borough engineer, for his wife Jane (Ross) Reed. At the same time, Reed’s company was excavating foundations for the new Ft. Jackson Hotel and Silveus Buildings following the tragic Downey House fire.   

The Rectory, formerly Reed/Clendenning House.

Typical of the 1920s, the house plan is irregular with wide overhanging eaves, strong horizontal lines, and limited ornamentation in the Prairie style of architecture developed by Frank Lloyd Wright. This example of early “modern” design features a low slate roof and squat dormers with many windows grouped in twos and threes. The entrance is covered with a bay porch.

Both the church and rectory are important contributors to the architectural integrity of downtown Waynesburg. I commend the congregation for their continuing care.