Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Caption |
Mr. Swain's Children's Band |
Date |
1934 |
People |
Swain, Harry Edward |
Title |
Mr. Swain's Children's Band |
Description |
From history Center March 2017 Newsletter, article by Joyce M. Tice Mr. Swain's Children's Band Harry Edward Swain, better known as Hack Swain, was not a local boy, but he made his mark in our town. I don't know what brought Hack to town initially, but he married Rachel Matthews, a 1922 graduate of Mansfield High School. Before 1934 he had established Mr. Swain’s Children’s Band with uniforms, instruments, the whole works. In 1935, Harry Taylor bought the candy store that had stood next to the bank. It was relocated so that the Mansfield Diner could be installed in that spot by the bank. Taylor moved the building around the corner to West Wellsboro Street and slipped it into the empty lot beside the Hardware Store, now Cooper’s Sporting Goods. He rented the little building to Hack Swain for his music store. That little building became the New X-Trail Restaurant about 1945, NOT to be confused with the earlier Cheesman’s X-Trail Restaurant on South Main Street. About 1938 Harry Taylor and Hack Swain bought out the Rialto Theater and, combining their names, renamed it the Twain Theater. Also in January 1938, Hack Swain presented to the Businessmen’s Club (and they did mean men only) a marketing plan to present Mansfield as the Gateway to the north, south, east and west by virtue of its place at the meeting point of the Susquehanna Trail and the Roosevelt Highway (Routes 15 and 6.) Hack left town in the early forties and enlisted in the military from 1944 to 1945. He died in Florida in 1982. The little building he used as his music store is still were it was relocated with Black Swan Café on its front. Hack’s story reminds me of the musical, The Music Man. He comes to town, marries a local woman and organizes the children into a band. |
Collection |
Photos - Mansfield |
Catalog Number |
1011.88278 |
Object Name |
Photograph |
Subjects |
Bands Musical Organizations |
Imagefile |
011\101188278.JPG |
Search Terms |
Bands Musical Bands Musical Organizations |
Accession number |
2008.02.01 |
Updated |
2025-07-29 |
Orig/copy |
Copy |