Auto buffs who are visitors to this website will appreciate this beautiful ad from 1929 for Johnston, Inc. ad for luxury autos. They will look closely ath the autos, especially looking for the familiar "bull frog" headlamps on the Pierce Arrow. I always wanted to be an antique auto collector, but learned early on that it is a very expensive hobby. I had a 1940 Buick straight 8 4 door sedan back in the 1960's, but it needed work and the $$$ necessary to restore it was far above my meager salary. I sold it to Nat Adelstein who shipped it to a collector in Sweden. However, I am still always interested in the autos of yesterday and you can look for more similar posts of little-known local auto lore in the future.Local auto Historian Ray Paszkiewicz has added additional information on William Johnston's automobile history. This was posted in my guest book, but I find that relatively few visitors take the time to sign the guest book or read the comments, and his auto expertise is a valuable addition.
Ray writes:
Hi Tom,
You are absolutely correct. This is the same William S. Johnston, who operated the Cadillac dealership at 1655 North Olden Ave. for many years.
The building shown, stood at the corner of Artisan St.
William Johnston was born in Trenton in 1899. The family home was at 602 Greenwood Ave. Both his parents passed away when he was a teenager and when he was 18years old, he opened his first dealership at 44 North Stockton St. He sold Marmons, Chalmers,and Maxwell cars, as well as Selden Trucks at this location. In 1929, he added Pierce Arrow to the Marmon franchise at 222 North Hermitage. Pierce folded in 1937, and in 1938, Johnston became the Cadillac distributor for the Trenton area.
Johnston was called up for service in 1941 and served in WWII for the next 4 and a half years. Ending up as a Brigadier General in the Army Air Corp. He served from WWI and was a rated Command Pilot, serving many years in the Reserves.
In 1946, he purchased the former Heinemann Electric plant on Olden Ave., totally renovating the building into the Cadillac dealership.
General Johnston's brother, T. Irving Johnston, was the owner of the local Oldsmobile agency, first operating at the Hermitage address, and then building a very modern facility near the corner of Olden and Prospect St. That is another story.
I might add that General Johnston's dealership was one of the most respected in the area.
Much of this information was taken from the December 1957 issue of Trenton magazine. My own experience with this story, is that I was helping my father (if you can be of much help at the age of nine) on a Saturday afternoon. He was doing some cabinet work at a home on Edgewood Ave. Restless, I took a walk to the corner of Hermitage, and saw the Oldsmobile sign, just up the block. I walked to the building and went inside. I picked up the latest sales literature and looked over the shiny new cars. My guess is 1948, but that was a long time ago. I do remember the wooden floor and potted plants. Neat old place. My Dad wasn't too happy about my wandering away.
Ray Paszkiewicz
Hi Tom,
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely correct. This is the same William S. Johnston, who operated the Cadillac dealership at 1655 North Olden Ave. for many years.
The building shown, stood at the corner of Artisan St.
William Johnston was born in Trenton in 1899. The family home was at 602 Greenwood Ave. Both his parents passed away when he was a teenager and when he was 18years old, he opened his first dealership at 44 North Stockton St. He sold Marmons, Chalmers,and Maxwell cars, as well as Selden Trucks at this location. In 1929, he added Pierce Arrow to the Marmon franchise at 222 North Hermitage. Pierce folded in 1937, and in 1938, Johnston became the Cadillac distributor for the Trenton area.
Johnston was called up for service in 1941 and served in WWII for the next 4 and a half years. Ending up as a Brigadier General in the Army Air Corp. He served from WWI and was a rated Command Pilot, serving many years in the Reserves.
In 1946, he purchased the former Heinemann Electric plant on Olden Ave., totally renovating the building into the Cadillac dealership.
General Johnston's brother, T. Irving Johnston, was the owner of the local Oldsmobile agency, first operating at the Hermitage address, and then building a very modern facility near the corner of Olden and Prospect St. That is another story.
I might add that General Johnston's dealership was one of the most respected in the area.
Much of this information was taken from the December 1957 issue of Trenton magazine. My own experience with this story, is that I was helping my father (if you can be of much help at the age of nine) on a Saturday afternoon. He was doing some cabinet work at a home on Edgewood Ave. Restless, I took a walk to the corner of Hermitage, and saw the Oldsmobile sign, just up the block. I walked to the building and went inside. I picked up the latest sales literature and looked over the shiny new cars. My guess is 1948, but that was a long time ago. I do remember the wooden floor and potted plants. Neat old place. My Dad wasn't too happy about my wandering away. Ray Paszkiewicz
The wonderful thing about this web blog is found in the additional comments from folks like Ray Paszkiewicz, who is a recognized automobile historian. We now have Gary Lippincott bringing us Groveville and Crosswicks history, Jim Collelo for Broad Street Park, and hopefully Mack McNicoll will be back with his interesting Chambersburg lore. If this humble blog survives through the years in this form or another yet to be discovered mode, imagine the treasure it will be for future generations!
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