If there is one business concern in the Scranton district whose strength and prosperity justly reflects the efforts that have been put forth to raise it to the head of institutions of its kind, that one is the Union Cash Stores Company, conceived and founded by Patrick J Horan, one of the leading merchants and financiers of the locality. Patrick J Horan is a son of Patrick Horan who moved to Carbondale, Pennsylvania, in 1845, entering the mines of the Delaware & Hudson Company. He was afterward appointed tipstaff under Judge Handley, and at the expiration of his term of service retired to private life, his death occurring in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, at the age of eighty-nine years. He married Catherine Ford, who died 1 Jul 1896. They were the parents of: Anthony, one of the superintendents of the coal department of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, died 30 Sep 1896; Patrick J, of whom further; Bridget, died in Dunmore; Meche J, senior partner of the firm of Horan & Merrill, of Scranton; Catherine and Annie.
Patrick J Horan was born in Ireland, and was brought to Carbondale by his parents when he was one year old. He was there reared and educated, at the age of thirteen years beginning his business career as a driver in the coal mines in Dunmore. Later becoming a practical miner, he was thus employed for several years, afterward accepting a position as a weighmaster, serving thus for ten years. At the close of that time he made his entry into the mercantile world, his success and prosperity dating from that period, for two years being associated with the firm of Bryden Brothers & Cooper, later forming a partnership with Williamson & Company. They established in business on Chestnut street, for two years conducting profitable general mercantile dealing. In 1870 the firm of Horan & Healy was formed, and in 1881 Mr Horan purchased the stock and store of Hinsdell clothing house in Scranton, managing the same for three years. Retiring from this line, Mr Horan organized the wholesale grocery firm of T J Kelley & Company which operated until 1905. After the death of Mr Healey who was the head of the company, the firm went out of business. While under the firm name of Horan & Healey, Mr Horan continued in general trade on Chestnut street, Dunmore. In 1896 in conjunction with Messrs Manley & Swift, two prominent merchants of Dunmore, he incorporated the Union Cash Stores of Dunmore, the duties of the partners being so divided that the responsibility of the grocery department rests with Mr Swift, that of the general store with Mr Manley, and the weight of the whole upon Mr Horan, the president. He was also president of the Scranton Packing Company, which is now out of business; director of the Economy Light and Heating Company, now controlled by the Scranton Electric Company; has been president of the Fidelity Deposit and Discount Bank of Dunmore from its organization in 1903; director of the Lackawanna Trust and Safe Deposit Company. Some of the other organizations with which Mr Horan is connected are: Eureka Specialty Company; Consumers' Ice Company, of which he was one of the organizers, the company controlling Lake Henry and Lake Poyntelle, on which bodies of water vast storage houses are built. He was interested in the Mississippi Central Railroad Company; was one of the incorporators of the Lackawanna Lumber Company, later changed to the United States Lumber Company, and is now holding large interests in that company, and at the present time holds wide interests in real estate and building operations. He was president of the Dunmore Board of Trade, and in this position did much to publish the attractions of the city and to place the attractions of the city, its desirability and advantages before those whose presence would benefit Dunmore. For three years he served as a member of the borough council, there , as everywhere, gladly giving his best advice in earnest suggestion, and after the adoption of a plan, placing his shoulder to the wheel and laboring tirelessly to realize the goal to which the body aspired. The even, attractive sidewalks of Dunmore are largely due to Mr Horan's agitation of the subject of improving the borough's walks, which at the beginning of his campaign were in a disfiguring condition, Dunmore now having more miles of this kind of sidewalk than of any other place of its size in the state.
It would be too great a task to enumerate the virtues and qualities that have induced the above record. Let it suffice to say that from a lowly position of endeavor he has striven earnestly, relentlessly, and cheerfully, accepting his triumphs without undue ostentation, learning wisdom and caution from each reverse. The strictest honor and most upright integrity have permeated his slightest dealing, and progress has been the watchword of his upward course.
Mr Horan married Mary A, daughter of Michael and Catherine Garvey, of Dunmore, and a sister of Bishop Garvey, of Altoona, Dr James B Garvey, of Dunmore, and Catherine Garvey Curtin, of Dunmore.