The McCoy House [‡] (17 North Main Street) was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.
Description
The McCoy House, built between 1836 and 1843, was constructed in the Federal style. It is a two and a half story brick and frame townhouse with a gable roof, cornice trim, and a double chimney linked at the base, located on the street side of the house. Straight stairs, flanked by iron railings, lead to the entrance which is at the extreme left as one faces the building. The entrance contains a double leaf, six panel door with side lights. Above the door is a recessed fan transom.
Fenestration is symmetrical. At basement level, to the right of the main entrance, one finds a window, a door, and a window respectively. The two windows are two sash with six-over-six small lights, panelled shutters, plain moulding, lintels, and lugsills. The single leaf door contains six lights, is surrounded by plain moulding, and surmounted by a lintel. On the first floor, to the right of the entrance, are three windows, all which are six-over-six light, two sash, with panelled shutters, lugsills, and lintels. The second floor fenestration is identical to that of the first with an additional window above the door. Projecting from the roof are two plain gable dormers with six-over-six light, two sash windows.
The street side of the house lacks first and second floor windows. There are two basement windows surmounted by lintels and a semi-circular fan window in the gable.
Significance
Frank Ross McCoy was born in this house on October 29, 1874. In 1893 McCoy received an appointment to West Point. Graduating four years later, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Cavalry and was stationed at Fort Meade, South Dakota. At the outbreak of the Spanish American War he was transferred to the Tenth Cavalry and traveled to Cuba.
In 1902, McCoy, now a First Lieutenant, went to Washington and served as a Junior Aide to President Theodore Roosevelt. The next year he accompanied General Leonard Wood to the Philippines, Egypt, India and Java to study colonial administration. McCoy served as Wood's Aide-de-Camp until 1906.
In 1906, McCoy returned to the United States and for the next several years his duties were varied. He accompanied the Peace Commission to Cuba, acted as an Aide to William Howard Taft, the Provincial Governor of Cuba, and as a Senior Aide to President Roosevelt.
With the entry of the United States into World War I, McCoy was assigned to General Headquarters of the A.E.F. in France. McCoy took command of the "Fighting" 69th Regiment of the Rainbow Division and commanded it through the Champagne Defensive and the Marne-Aisne Offensive. He later commanded the 63rd Infantry Brigade until hostilities ceased.
After World War I, McCoy was made Chief of Staff of the American Military Mission to Armenia. Later assignments took McCoy to Nicaragua to supervise elections, to Japan and China to investigate the dispute over Manchuria, and finally to Geneva, Switzerland, where he reported to the League of Nations.
In 1938, McCoy retired from active duty, but his retirement did not end his public career. He was appointed President of the Foreign Policy Association in New York. In 1945 he was appointed by President Truman as the United States member of the Far Eastern Commission, the international organization which dealt with the military occupation of Japan. He held this position until 1949. He died June 4, 1954.
References
Major General Frank Ross McCoy 1874-1954. Lewistown: Mifflin County Historical Society, June 4, 1956.
Letter from Hannah J. McCoy to Dr. S. K. Stevens, January 12, 1966. Harrisburg: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission.
‡ Adapted From: Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, McCoy House, nomination document, 1972, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.
Nearby Neighborhoods
Street Names
Main Street North