Sayre evolved far beyond the days when horse-drawn delivery wagons regularly brought ice, coal, milk, bread, groceries, meat, and other goods to homes and when ragmen traveled the streets buying worn-out clothing and junk, and as automobiles became common those wagons gradually disappeared. At Springs Corners, an advertising kiosk stood for generations outside a flatiron-shaped corner building that served at different times as a tavern, soda bar, or grocery store under changing Prohibition laws, while curbside gasoline pumps with tanks beneath the highway were once common. Sayre also had more than its downtown passenger depot, including the Lehigh Valley Railroad Freight Station at North Lehigh Avenue and Spring Street, built in 1907 to receive and ship freight, with a 954-foot platform, partly covered, that handled many freight cars at once as railroad freight was processed there and then carried onward by wagons for local delivery or brought there for shipment out of Sayre. The Elmer Block at Desmond Street and West Lockhart Street, named for founder Howard Elmer, housed Sayre's Merchants and Mechanics National Bank of Sayre, later the First National Bank of Sayre, along with offices and apartments, until a nighttime natural gas explosion in 1961 smashed windows, bulged walls, and caused such extensive damage that the building had to be demolished and replaced. Farther along Desmond Street, a two-story, four-faced clock installed in 1919 outside a jewelry store became known for nearly half a century as Sayre's Town Clock, visible along the business blocks and to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Passenger Station, used by many people to set their timepieces and serving as the unofficial clock for events in Desmond Street Park until it was sold in 1966 to a new owner in Ithaca, New York. At Desmond Street and West Packer Avenue, the Wilbur Hotel, named for Elisha Packer Wilbur, began construction in 1880 and opened in May 1884 with 60 rental rooms, later expanded to 100, a dining room seating 100 people, and space on the first floor for six retail stores.