Submitted by Leona Baker for the Historical Society of Salisbury Township

Three Worst brothers immigrated to the Lancaster County area in 1760. One brother, Peter, and his wife, Barbara, moved to Springville in Salisbury Township. In 1864, Jacob, another member of the family, owned the first store in Springville, where the town's first post office was set up.

In the 1800s, it was common practice to house a post office in the general store. Post office is somewhat of a misnomer, for the entire setup was a desk, a chair and an upright box partitioned into small cubicles. Postal patrons' names were printed on the fronts of the cubicles. When mail was delivered by the U.S. Postal Service, it would be sorted by the postmaster, usually the store owner, and checked for proper postage; if postage was due, the recipient had to pay up before given his or her mail. After being sorted, it was placed in the patron's cubicle for pickup the next time that person came to the store. For those who lived on outlying farms, that might be more than a month.

The Salisbury Township 1870 census lists Henry K. Worst, age 35, as a dry good merchant, running the Springville store. He and his wife, Susan, had three children. Ten years later, the now 45-year-old Henry was again listed as owner of the store, but his son-in-law, Clayton DeHaven, ran it. Clayton's son Edward P. was expected to take over when he was old enough. However, tragedy occurred: Clayton died in 1898, leaving wife Catherine with four young children.

By the turn of the century, 64-year-old Henry was again running the store. His daughter Catherine, age 36, and her children were living with Henry and his wife. Henry's other son, Henry L. Worst, age 30, appears to have taken over the operation of the Springville General Store. By 1910, he is listed on census records as a "retail merchant, general store."

Young Edward, Catherine's son, seems to have spent much of his youth helping out in the store, and by the time he became proprietor, the store was a thriving business.

In Joan Lorenz's book, "A History of Salisbury Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania," Edward's daughter Kitty Ann described the store as she knew it: "Entering the store, Ed's office was located immediately to the left. Candy and other cases (of goods) made up the left-hand counters; a wide aisle led to the back. To the right were benches covering kegs of nails, and chairs were there as well. Along the wall were many kinds of merchandise in display cases, on counters and in wall shelves. Most evenings the 'storesitters' wandered in to sit and talk, munch pretzels and cheese and gather the news of the day. The cheese sold was considered the best in the county. People came from as far as Mountville and Lancaster to buy a chunk cut from the big round that sat on a counter."

Local resident Fred Seldomridge remembers when the only telephone in Springville was at the store and people came to make calls. Incoming calls meant that a clerk would run to the recipient's house to report the call.

When competition from big chain stores reduced his clientele, Ed sold the store in 1962. It closed soon after. The Worsts' store had served the community for at least 100 years.