The Lock Haven Legend

           Recently, we wrote about a racetrack in New Jersey that has faded into the mists of time – little-known Guttenberg, which was located in urban North Bergen, in Hudson County.

         See the blog post here: http://www.pathoroughbred.blogspot.com/2012/11/remembering-gut.html

          Today, we’ll take a look at a track in Pennsylvania that is as equally as obscure as Guttenberg. It’s the long-gone harness oval Lock Haven, which vanished off the map in 1919, nearly 100 years ago.           
           The city of Lock Haven is located on the banks of the Susquehanna River, in largely rural Clinton County. It was originally known for its thriving lumber industry.  
            It was around 1900 that the Lock Haven Race Track was built near the Susquehanna, and was immediately popular. According to the article, “Tracking history: When horse racing came to the Haven,” published in The Express newspaper on December 4, 2010, “hundreds flocked to the location on a regular basis to watch, cheer and bet on their favorite steeds in the days when horse racing had a home in Lock Haven.”
           “Everything in the shape of a fine looking horse, sporty looking men, men who like sports and a goodly number of ladies wended their way to the driving park Saturday to witness the initial races of the season,” reported the Clinton County Times in its May 8, 1903 issue. “The interest centered on Orange Chief and Joe Wilkes who were matched for a purse of $175.”
           “Horsemen tell us that Lock Haven now has more good races than any town in the state of Pennsylvania,” the Clinton County Times reported in October of 1903. “Some of these horses have won national fame during the season, while others have won first and second money at every entrance.”
           At a time when horse racing was being shut down in many parts of the country due to gambling and corruption concerns, the sport continued to flourish at Lock Haven. In 1911, The Express reported that more than 500 people attended the races on a June day of that year, where the top event involved George Harvey’s “Wahee Boy” and John Pfenninger's “Bud O’Real.”
           But all good things eventually come to an end, and the demise of Lock Haven came at the end of World War I. The land upon which it stood was owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad, which sold it to a silk manufacturer in 1919. The Madison Textile Company erected a silk mill on the site, and then in 1936 it was sold to the Piper Aircraft Corporation, which became a major employer in Lock Haven with its production of small planes.
           Today, the William T. Piper Memorial Airport occupies the land, as well as the Piper Aviation Museum. The sound of plane engines now drowns out those long-ago echoes of hoofbeats and the roar of the crowd.

 

 

The William T. Piper Memorial Airport, formerly the site of the Lock Haven Race Track. The large structure in the lower right hand corner of frame is the old Piper factory, converted from a silk mill that already existed on the site, and thought to be where the grandstand once stood.