Peter Herdic

Peter Herdic (1824–1888) was a lumber baron, entrepreneur, inventor, politician, and philanthropist in Victorian-era Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. He was the youngest of seven children born to Henry and Elizabeth Herdic on December 14, 1824, in Fort Plain, New York. Herdic's father died in 1826 and Elizabeth Herdic remarried shortly thereafter. She was widowed again prior to 1837 when she moved her family to Pipe Creek, New York, near Ithaca. Herdic attended school for just a few years while he worked on his mother's farm. Herdic left his mother's farm in 1846 and arrived in Lycoming County later that same year, where he settled in Cogan House Township.

Herdic would go on to become a millionaire and one of the wealthiest men in Pennsylvania, as well as a major figure in the development of the lumber industry throughout North Central Pennsylvania. Herdic donated large amounts of land and money to various churches in Williamsport. Peter Herdic was the inventor of the Herdic cab (a precursor to the taxi), which was a two-wheeled horse-drawn carriage with side seats and a rear entrance. Peter Herdic died on February 2, 1888, as the result of a concussion sustained when he slipped and fell on ice while inspecting his waterworks in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania. Herdic was able to use his business sense, leadership abilities, and according to some questionable business tactics to rapidly acquire wealth by buying and selling several tracts of timber and several sawmills. He used his gains to purchase several tracts of land in Williamsport, more sawmills, and eventually the Susquehanna Boom.

Peter Herdic and two business partners, Mahlon Fisher and John Reading, purchased the Susquehanna Boom and expanded it so that it could hold up to of lumber. At this time the most efficient sawmill in Williamsport could process only of lumber in a week. Herdic died several days later at the Glenham Hotel in New York on March 2, 1888. Still in his early to mid-sixties at the time of his death and leaving a wife and three children, his body was returned home to Pennsylvania, where it was interred at the Wildwood Cemetery in Lycoming County following funeral services. The official cause of death was listed as paralysis.

Legacy

Peter Herdic left his mark on Williamsport through churches, homes, hotels and other real estate developments. The Peter Herdic House, his personal mansion at 407 West Fourth Street stands today as a fine dining restaurant. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, and located in the Millionaire's Row Historic District. The house and a neighboring mansion were renovated in 1984 to a condition similar to when Peter Herdic lived there. It is an example of Italian Villa architecture with ornate plaster moldings and arches, a curving mahogany stairway and acanthus columns. The Peter Herdic Hotel, also on West Fourth Street, is now known as 800 Park Place. It is the home of two business and several apartments. It was previously served as a nursing home and hotel. The Weightman Block takes up on entire city block on West Fourth Street. Herdic had this block constructed in 1870. He had planned to use it as a center of business in downtown Williamsport. It included an opera house and fifth floor penthouse. Herdic was forced to sell it to William Weightman in 1878 after he declared bankruptcy. His invention the herdic was a small two wheeled carriage that was towed by a horse. The cab had side seats and rear entrance. Many transportation historians regard the herdic as a predecessor of the taxicab. The first herdic cabs carried up to eight passengers. The earliest herdics were painted bright yellow and quickly acquired the canary nickname. Each cab was small enough to move freely through the city streets of Williamsport and leave its passengers at the curb instead of the middle of the street as other modes of public transportation were forced to do. Peter Herdic had moderate success with his cab and was able to sell it to the cities of Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. The herdic cab was in service in Washington as late as 1918.

Herdic's death in February 1888 was noted in the Sunday Grit as the passing of a leader and philanthropist. "Peter Herdic as really the father of Williamsport. He was a progressive citizen; whatever may be said by his enemies, it cannot be denied that had it not been for Peter Herdic, Williamsport might be nothing more than a village of a few thousand inhabitants." An editorial in the Williamsport Sun Gazette on March 4, 1988, marking the 100th anniversary of his death stated, "Historians have been unable to settle on Herdic as a hero or a scoundrel for his financial dealings so he remains somewhere in-between a century later. The mark he made on the city of Williamsport is indelible."