Volume Four  Issue Two  February 2019
The History Center on Main Street
 83 and 61 North Main Street
Mansfield, PA
The Museum of Us
The History Center on Main Street
Director- Joyce M. Tice: President - Deb Talbot Bastian: V.P - Amy Welch
Windy Smith, Early Air Mail Pilot
Born in Millerton, PA in 1888, Leon D. Smith, better known as Windy, was destined to be airborn. Though Millerton, Elmira and other places claim him as their own, Mansfield has a claim as well. In the 1930 census he lived in Mansfield as a garage owner and trucker.
Shown below: Pilot Windy Smith with Lee Clark of Mansfield.
Surprisingly, his nickname of Windy was not because of his flying activities, but because his father considered him a great talker- full of wind.
Windy was an early aviator who learned to fly from the famous Glenn Curtiss. He graduated from the Curtiss Aviation School in Hammondsport in May 1913.
Windy trained pilots in World War One in Chicago. After the war he became one of the early air mail pilots carrying mail from New York to Chicago. In World War Two he was once again called into service as a trainer of pilots.
He started the first private airport in the country in Washington, D. C. and also had a small airport in Pine City. He operated Windy Smith's Air Circus and did stunt flying for fairs and other events.
After forty years flying, in 1955 he took his first commercial airplane trip to attend a reunion of airmail pilots. Thirty four early air mail pilots who had died doing their jobs were commemorated at the event.
Windy died in 1960 and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira. His tombstone is inscribed "Pioneer Air Mail Pilot- Army Air Force Flight Instructor – World War I – II ". He is also included on a commemorative exhibit in the Town of Southport, Elmira.
Save these dates - 16th & 17th of March 2019
Championship Weekend at The Museum of Us
History Center Hosts March Madness Championship Weekend Celebration March 16 & 17 – Saturday Activities Honor Mansfield’s 1969 Boys Class B State Championship – Sunday’s Celebration Pays Homage to 2018-19 Boys Basketball NTL Championship Squad – Special Championship Cake Cutting Each Day at 2 p.m.
Mansfield - The History Center will stage its own version of “March Madness” on Saturday and Sunday afternoon, March 16 & 17 at the History Center's Museum of Us located at 61 North Main Street. The History Center Museum will open its doors starting at noon and running to 4 p.m. on both days.
The highlight of each afternoon will be at 2 p.m. with the cutting of a special-edition Championship Cake. Players, coaches, and support staff, including cheerleaders, will also have the opportunity to have their memories videotaped and made available in the museum archives for future generations.
Participants and guests will have the opportunity to have photos taken standing next to the championship trophies, and they will meet the players.
In addition to the 1969 and 2019 trophies, a large display of Mansfield High School championship trophies from different decades will be on display along with other Tiger sports memorabilia.
Don’t miss the chance to be part of Mansfield High School Championship Weekend at the History Center's Museum of Us on North Main Street in Mansfield on March 16 and 17.
A Century Old Dental Practice
A Very Long Trail - I n 1866, Dr. Oramel Newell came to Mansfield from his home in Steuben County. N.Y. He set up a dental practice, possibly the first in Mansfield. His earliest office was over C. V. Elliott's Drug Store. That building, on North Main Street, built about 1857 remained a drug store into the 1970s and is now a florist. When the first issue of the Mansfield Advertiser was published in 1873, Dr. Newell was right at the top of the business listing.
The Pitts Block was built in 1874, and Dr. Newell was one of its first tenants in his second floor office of this new building. All the dentists who carried on this practice after him operated from the same rooms for a century. This is the building that Coles Pharmacy occupied.

Dr. Newell carried on his dentistry for 43 years until his death in 1909. He was succeeded by Dr. Andrew W. Edstrom.
Andrew W. Edstrom was born in Antrim in 1882 and worked in the coal mines until he was twenty years old. Deciding that was no way to make a living, he attended Lock Haven Normal School and the School of Dentistry at the U. of Pennsylvania graduating in 1908 just in time to take over the Newell practice. He continued for eighteen years until his death in 1926.
Dr. Robers S. DeWaters of Corning took over Dr. Edstrom's practice in 1926. In 1932 He sold it in turn to Dr. Joseph P. Jaquish who had graduated from Mansfield High School in 1921 and from Dental School in 1931. Tragically his tenure was brief as he was killed in an auto accident in 1935. (Photo at right)

Dr. James McMillen was the fifth dentist in this practice and the third to come from Steuben County. Taking over the offices above Coles Pharmacy that Dr. Newell had occupied from 1874, he continued the business until his retirement in 1972.
Donate
Have You Missed Previous Newsletters? 
Membership
Annual memberships are an important part of keeping us operating. Please consider a new or renewed membership. We now have a lifetime membership option.
The History Center on Main Street
570-250-9829
histcent83@gmail.com
The History Center on Main Street provided no goods or services in exchange for your contribution. Your contribution is deductible to the extent provided by law. The official registration and financial information of The History Center on Main Street, may be obtained from the Pennsylvania Department of State by calling toll free, within Pennsylvania, 1-800-732-0999. Registration does not imply endorsement