Long history of moving company building starts new chapter with purchase of building by Schuylkill County

Oct. 23—POTTSVILLE — The former Pottsville Moving and Storage building still had couches, chairs, pianos and vehicles in it prior to its sale to Schuylkill County.

The three-story structure at 306 Prospect St., which was designated as a bomb shelter during World War II and reportedly was a storage place for alcohol during Prohibition, took months to clean out.

"It's got a lot of history," Tony Benedict, former president and owner, said in a phone interview about the business his father bought in 1977.

That approximately 100-year business history officially ended with the sale to the county on Oct. 11.

Benedict, who lives in Arizona, and the county completed sale of the main building and two smaller adjoining structures for $381,200.

The purchase came after county officials decided not to renew a $3,000 monthly lease for 15,000 square feet of space in a building at 224 Bulls Head Road in Norwegian Twp.

The former moving and storage operation will be used to house county records.

Benedict said the business was known as Pottsville Storage-Transfer in 1925, the year the original wooden building burned. He said he's not sure how long before that the business existed.

Benedict worked at the moving company as a teenager, and heard stories from others about the contents stored there.

The 18,000-square-foot concrete, steel and block main building was constructed after the fire in 1925.

The basement housed the crating department and doubled as a bomb shelter during World War II, Benedict said.

Walking up stairs to the second floor during a recent tour, the smell of mothballs permeated the air. The space is empty except for metal racks once used to transport larger items like couches.

The third floor of the building has 30 individual rooms for storage, each with heat sensors for fire protection. Benedict was told that alcohol was stored in the rooms during Prohibition, but he has no proof.

An approximately 10,000-square-foot addition built in the 1990s was at times mostly filled with items from military personnel returning to the U.S., Benedict said.

The third building, rebuilt in the 1990s after the roof caved in, encompasses about 4,000 square feet and shares a back wall with the second building. It was used mostly for storage of files for hospitals and other businesses and organizations.

Contents in the buildings not picked up before the sale, including several pianos, were sold or donated to organizations in the community, Benedict said. About 2 tons worth of rugs were discarded because they had rotted, while several vehicles in storage were picked up by the owners or their relatives.

"This place was packed," Eric Seitzinger, a listing and sales agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Realty Inc., Schuylkill Haven, said Oct. 10 as he toured the building with Kevin Mahall, county public works director.

The third floor had a large rug vault with wooden shelves. One customer apparently overstayed his welcome because of wording written on his former space, which said "Dave here two years too long 5/30/79."

Mahall said the heating system needs to be expanded in various areas of the complex. Benedict said the temperature in the main building stays fairly constant but small space heaters were used in the other two as needed.

The county commissioners noted the property's close proximity to the courthouse, less than 1 mile away, was another selling point.

Officials said earlier that they had been researching potential sites for years in search of more space and that this purchase will save money in the long run and give the county control of the property.

Contact the writer: amarchiano@republicanherald.com; 570-628-6023