On June 23, 1997, developer William McKee purchased the 315-acre Harry H. Straus Park from P.H. Glatfelter, then-owner of the old Ecusta/Olin paper factory, for $4M.
William H. Allison, born to Alexander D.B. Allison and Eveline Lister in 1856, grew up on Beechnut Farm, where Straus Park is today. In the early 1900s Allison was given