The property at 149 Main Street was purchased by Anson Sharpnack in 1922 for the purpose of erecting the building to house Sharpnack Motors, a Hudson dealership. Although the Sharpnack family owned the building until 1968, when it ceased operation as an auto dealership, the business itself was sold in 1943 to the chief mechanic, Josepeh Clarchick.
Earl King, who lived in Rice's Landing, shares the following story:
“My father purchased a 1929 Essex Coupe from the Sharpneck Motor Co. in Rice’s Landing. The dealership was owned by Anson Sharpneck who walked on an artificial leg. Many people called him the "Peg Leg Bastard." He was very anti-social and extremely stingy. Charged us kids 1 cent to pump up our bicycle tires."
Rice's Landing was a key river port on the Upper Monongahela River and served as the distribution point for all of northeastern Greene County including Waynesburg and Jefferson. Buildings from the river port era include the Methodist Episcopal Church built in 1873, an 1850’s brick jail, and several vernacular wood houses from the Mid-to Late-Victorian period. The general store, an Art Deco bank, and an early Hudson-Rambler garage express the community's importance as a local commercial center for the distribution of goods and services relating with river transportation. Industrial resources are represented by the Y.A. Young Foundry and Machine Shop, Excelsior Pottery, and the company houses which were once owned by the H.C. Frick Coke Company during the bituminous coal era. Monongahela River Lock #6, two brick lock keeper's houses from the 1930s, and concrete structures from the railroad period symbolize the significance of transportation to the development of Rice's Landing. Structures include the remains of Lock #6, a concrete bridge from 1914, a 1913 railroad bridge, and a 1913 railroad tunnel.
Anson Sharpneck is third from the left. Photo courtesy of Brad Kline.
When the business was purchased by Josepeh Clarchick in 1943, it was then renamed Clarchick Motor Co. which sold the Hudson brand until the merge and then continued on as an American Motors dealer under the brand of Nash/Rambler. Clarchick passed away sometime between 1965 and 1970.
This Jet was fairly new when someone rolled it over and the Clarcheck boys decided to make it into a convertible and placed the 1940 hood backwards to make it a “boat tail”. Wonder what ever happened of it? Read on!
Website viewer Ben Bradmon, Sr. shares the following:
In 1967 or so my father found a 1936 Terraplane two door sedan in a barn. He and his brother got it running.
Soon afterwards my father joined the HET Club. In the 1969 edition of the WTN he found an add: For Sale 1937 Terraplane Utility Coupe, rod through block, $35.00. My father and a friend headed off to Wisconsin to buy it. They brought it back to PA. Now just needed an engine. The custom boat tail Hudson Jet was for sale for it had been wrecked. One of the Clarcheck boys had run it up against a guard rail. So the plan was to place the Jet engine in the Terraplane. Sad to say my father not knowing the importance of the one of a kind Hudson Jet…scrapped it!
The engine never found it’s way into the Terraplane. The Terraplane passed through a few people here. I think my father has owned it twice.
The rest of the story. A man by the name of Lyle DeVault from Grafton WV owned a 1937 Terraplane Coupe. After his death in the 1980s my father purchased it. Now, believe it or not my father took parts from two Terraplanes and mixed them up. The first Utility Coupe (from Wisconsin) was sold WITHOUT the bed in the back. Then my father took the bed and hood emblem and placed it in DeVault’s 37 Terrapalne and then sold it.
The person who bought it was from Masontown PA. They made it into a street rod: 350 Chevy engine, Mustang front end, power steering, custom interior and modern wheels with the slide out pickup bed in the back.
Recently my son was called upon to repaint the Terraplane. It was completed last year. See pictures below.
The current owner of the building is in the process of restoring it! Here's a view of the boat launch behind the building.
Please visit LivingPlaces.com for further detail on Rice's Landing Historic District!
