ON CASEY’S: “Limestone was then a booming railroad center, had a
tannery which employed many of the villagers as well as being
surrounded by virgin forests that provided lumber for some of the
area’s finest homes. The hamlet also shared in the wealth taken
from the world famous Bradford oil fields.”

We quote again today on an article from a 1959 edition of the
Olean (N.Y.) Times Herald which details history about Casey’s
restaurant which includes chapters on some spectacular
visitors:

“Even the loveliest women of the age made it a point to visit
the country hotel. Lillian Russell and Sara Bernhardt have their
names recorded in the guest book. … Miss Bernhardt was then playing
at the Wagner Opera House, which was located at the corner of
Chamber and Main streets in Bradford. Bradford in those days was a
great theatre town. …

“Also popular in the days that are only memories now were sleigh
rides taken by the ‘stained glass’ people of Bradford. A trip to
Casey’s by the Pennsylvania city’s elite provided a popular sidebar
from the routine activities as they found themselves ‘letting go’
for an evening of fun, food and beverage.

“Items of historical interest that are spread throughout the
first floor ‘fun’ rooms are an Elgin National Coffee Mill, a copy
of the Bradford Daily Record of Sept. 26, 1898, and an old
grandfather clock occupies one corner of the dining room,
punctuated with checkered tablecloths.

“Not to be excluded is an old-time juke box, complete with
instruments which include a drum, a triangle, xylophone, piano and
a mandolin bar. On a wall adjacent to the main music room is a
sample ballot machine, the first ever used. It still contains the
winning Republican ticket in the muckraking days of the first
decade of the 1900s. …

“Outside, three converted gas lamps line the facade of the
building. Casey’s, Mr. Burke proudly says, was the first place in
Limestone to have gas lighting installed.

“Upstairs in the two-story frame building constructed of
seasoned lumber from the green-clad Cattaraugus Hills are 14 rooms
which are still rented to customers who decide to spend the night
in the fashion of the last century.”

Incidentally, the story was published just before New York was
ready to construct a new roadway through Limestone, and the
original Casey’s was set to “fall victim to the bulldozer of
progress.”