Monthly Archives: February 2010

    Butler High School hired the former Ellwood City coach Jim Rankin recently to be the Golden Tornado’s next football coach. When I first heard this, I chuckled a little bit because from the stories I heard about the coach during his stay in Ellwood, a tornado fits accordingly.
    Rankin’s coaching career began as an assistant at Fox Chapel, followed by eight years as head coach at Ellwood City. He coached here from 1979 to 1986 compiling a 37-44-1 record. Coach Rankin is a member of the Pennsylvania High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame, and has won the WPIAL and Pennsylvania State titles with North Allegheny High School in 1990.
    I personally did not play for Coach Rankin but have heard enough stories about the man and his coaching style that I feel like I know him. The men that played for him still enjoy recalling the stories and there really is no need to exaggerate them even though they may seem exaggerated.
    His players still talk about him like Chicago Bear fans talk about Mike Ditka. You can see the scene straight out of the Saturday Night Live skit taking place when four guys got together on a wing night and the subject turned to football in the early 80′s. You can almost picture the conversation…
 Who would win in a fight, Rankin or Mike Tyson? – Rankin
 Okay, how about Rankin versus a hurricane? – Rankin
 Okay, but what if the hurricane was named Rankin? – hmmmm.
    This might seem a little far fetched but this is how much regard his players still have for their former coach. Since I did not play for the coach myself, I am not going to try and re-tell one of many stories I have heard about Coach Rankin. Instead, I am going to let you tell your stories to all of us. Please leave a comment below, or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    After living on Lawrence Avenue in Ellwood City for a short time in 1944, Harvey Monroe Best and his wife, Vesta Marie nee Swick, decided to move out to Franklin Township, into a small apartment duplex located directly on the northeast corner of the intersection of Rt. 288 and Mercer Road, (today Giant Eagle plaza). Previous to becoming an apartment complex, this building was the original North Star two-room schoolhouse, also known as the old North Sewickley School.
    Vesta shared that they had two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a washroom. She also remembers that since the building had been an old school building, the ceilings were very high and it was cold, drafty, and hard to heat in the winter. She once recalled: “We had two stoves for heat, a pot bellied stove in the front room and the cooking stove. We always hated to use the pot bellied stove because you could see flames coming out of the chimney, so we used the cooking stove a lot to heat with.” Years later, Vesta also shared with her family: “When Linda came home, there was snow this high [holding her hand about two feet off of the floor], and Grandpap had to shovel the snow for us to get in the house. Oh man, was it cold!”
     On January 19, 1945, Linda Marie Best, the first of two children to the Best family was born. The family still lived in the old school at that time, and Vesta has many pictures of Linda, her father Harvey, and many members of the family that were taken on the porch and in the yard of the old school during this period. Jessie Coblentz (in the photos) is the sister of Harvey Best, and Lena Crans is Vesta’s sister. The Best’s continued living at the old North Star schoolhouse until 1947 when they built a house on North Tower Road in Franklin Township.
     While the Best family resided in one side of the duplex, Dale and Mary Jane Bonzo lived in the other side. Mr. Mike Mozier had lived in the school apartment building previously, but he had built a house out in Hardyville, leaving the apartment available for the Best’s to move into.
    Many thanks go out to Mark R. Barnes of Crescent Avenue Ellwood City for providing this post and all pictures included. Mark is the grandson of Harvey Monroe & Vesta Marie Swick Best. If you would like to share any memories of the two-room North Star schoolhouse or the families mentioned above, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Picture #1 Left to right: Mae Coblentz (little girl in white); Jessie Coblentz (black clothes against pole); Bobby Crans (white shirt in yard); Cecil “Dick” Crans (white shirt on steps); Bill Coblentz (black clothes on chair); Harvey Best holding Linda Best (kneeling down in yard).

Picture #2 Left to right: Jessie Coblentz (black clothes against pole); Cecil “Dick” Crans (white shirt on steps); Mae Coblentz (little girl in white); Bobby Crans (white shirt on swing); Bill Coblentz (black clothes on chair); Lena Crans (woman in white dress); Harvey Best walking Linda Best (Harvey bending over).

Picture #3 Left to right: Jessie Coblentz (black clothes against pole); Lena and Bobby Crans (on swing); Cecil “Dick” Crans (white shirt on steps); June Coblentz (little girl on steps); Linda Best (little girl on chair behind June Coblentz); Bill Coblentz (black clothes on chair); Mae Coblentz (little girl in white dress); Harvey Best (white shirt leaning against pole).

Picture #4 Cal Swick sitting on porch.

    Terry C. Keefer and Russell L. Clyde were honored on the fifth of May 1964 at the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission’s spring meeting. Keefer 17 years of age and Clyde 18, each received a bronze medal and five hundred dollars for their heroic deed following a two car collision on December eleventh the year before. The two Ellwood City youths rescued a steelworker from his burning automobile and were among twenty five Carnegie Hero award winners announced at the meeting.
    A vehicle operated by Thomas D. Morgan 36, (previously mentioned steelworker) burst into flames when it was hit from behind by another car, knocking the driver to the floor. As onlookers shouted warnings of the impending explosion, young Mr. Clyde tried without success to open a car door while Mr. Keefer climbed onto the hood and kicked in the windshield.
 With the Keefer youth holding him from behind, young Clyde leaned into the car and pulled the injured Morgan through the opening shortly before the rapidly spreading flames engulfed the car.
    The Carnegie Hero medal was the second for the Keefer family. In 1917, his grandfather Wilbur E. Keefer was also recognized for a rescue effort in Ellwood City. If you would like to share any memories about the incident, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    The Ellwood City Lincoln High School Wolverines ended its 1962 WPIAL baseball season with Coach Bill Spelmans team being crowned the District Seven Champions for the first time in school history.
    Although their sophomore right handed pitcher, Bob Poholsky was uncharacteristically erratic in giving six base on balls, he gave up only five hits to hurl Ellwood City to a 4-1 triumph over the McKeesport Tigers before twelve hundred fans at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh.
    This was Ellwood City’s twenty-third victory on the season with only two loses (Beaver Falls & Canon-McMillan). The win was the tenth straight win for Poholsky and his fourth in the elimination tournament.
    The Wolverines started the game strong when leadoff batter John Pratt opened the game with a soft single to left, up next Blythe singled to right moving Pratt to third. Blythe moved to second on a fielder’s choice at first on Jim Bukac’s hit and Toy Laitinen blasted a shot up third that scored Pratt and Blythe before he stole second and scored on Randy Chesko’s single.
    Ellwood City scored their final run in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly. Laitinen started the inning of fright when he singled to center but was forced at second by Bob Latiano who promptly stole second and advanced to third when a wild pitch landed in the Wolverines dugout. After Bill Pratt walked, Chesko’s sacrifice fly scored Latiano.
    If you would like to share any memories you may have of this team or any of its players, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    On August 15, 1982 Frank and Elisabeth D’Ambrosios of Ellwood City, got to do something very few Americans will ever have the opportunity to do. The inseparable couple celebrated their seventy fifth wedding anniversary.
    The two were married August 15, 1907 at the St Theresa Catholic Church in Waterbury, Connecticut. Frank was nineteen year of age and Elisabeth was fifteen, and they had only known each other for eight months when they were wed. The bride and groom were both originally from Italy; however they lived in Ellwood City since 1918.
    The anniversary celebration hosted many special guests including United States Rep. Eugene Atkinson, Lawrence County Judges, Lawrence County Commissioners and other state and local officials. The D’Ambrosios were also presented with federal, state and local commendations. Also, the couple received a congratulatory phone call from President Ronald Reagan.
    At the time of their anniversary, the D’Ambrosios had fourteen children, sixty eight grandchildren, and fifty three great grandchildren already. The couple was still able to enjoy playing cards, fishing, and was still very much in love.
    If you have a memory you would like to share about the D’Ambrosios’, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    According to Flostor.com, the conveyer industry started around 1900 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area by a group of men unloading wooden shingles off of trains. Part of that group of men decided to produce this new contraption and decided upon Ellwood City, “the Seamless Tube Capital of the World“. The men that stayed in Minneapolis started the Standard Conveyer Company, while the men that moved to Ellwood City started the Mathews Gravity Conveyer Company with Rufus P. Mathews serving as president.
    Mathews Gravity Carrier Company located on Tenth Street quickly expanded their catalog to not only gravity roller conveyers, but also included gravity roller spirals, belt conveyers, metal spiral chutes, automatic straight lifts and automatic inclined elevators.
    After Mathews, Frank Moore officially became president though many considered him the head man there since the company came to town. After Mr. Moore stepped down in 1948, Bill Dean served as the president followed by Mr. McLeary. It was Frank Moore that built Mathews Gravity Conveyer Company to the forefront of the industry when he set up Mailer-Searles in San Francisco to be a manufacturer of Mathews Conveyers on the west coast and he also built a new plant in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada. During this time, Norton Meyer was Chief Engineer and John Offutt was Chief Draftsman. John Offutt was the son of the superintendent of the U.S. Steel Ellwood works, John Offutt, who also owned a considerable amount of stock in Mathews Conveyer.
    Bill Dean built the Mathews Conveyer Plant in San Carlos with plans to sale the Mathews products direct instead of through Mailer-Searles. Along with the new San Carlos location, P.W. (Joie) Brown was appointed President of Mathews-West Coast until his untimely death and Bill Peppard was appointed Vice-President and General Manager. Upon outgrowing the San Carlos facility, Mathews built a new plant in Chico, California.
    Odd McLeary, as President of Mathews, arranged the sale of Mathews to Rex Chainbelt of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Rex also bought Nordberg a rock crushing equipment manufacturer and changed their name to Rexnord. The cost of Mathews to Rex was nine million dollars with an additional twenty five thousand dollars a year retirement to McLeary for an additional five years. Legend has it that Mathews Gravity Conveyer Company had nine million dollars in the bank when they were purchased by Rex. Since all of Mathew’s assets became Rex’s property, the actual cost to Rex would have been nothing.
    On October 6th 1975, after months of hints and speculation, it was announced that Rexnord Inc., will close the Ellwood City plant within three to four months. Company president Robert L. Blackman attributed the shut down to “economic reasons”. The closing was the second big blow to the job market in Ellwood City as U.S. Steel closed its Ellwood City location within the year. At the time of the closing, Rexnord employed one hundred and sixty people which had dropped down from a little over five hundred at its peek.
    If you would like to leave share your memories of Mathews, please do so below in the comments section or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    Many different social organizations and business in the Ellwood City Area have sponsored baseball and softball teams in Ellwood City. I grew up playing for the McElwains in the farm League and for the Moose Little League team. Other teams included the S.O.I. team, the Eagles, V.F.W., Jaycees’s, Kiwanis, Elks, and many more including the Beatrice Sporting Goods Little League Team shown here.

    Players on that Beatrice team are left to right front row…Coach Wally Weich, Russ Rangel, Michael Morrow, Chad Weich, Elliot Pecoraro (not sure of the spelling) Eric Buzzard, Greg Brandt, Kasey Greco
Left to right row 2….unknown, Domenic Domaggio, unknown, Landon Costa
Left to right row 3….Coach Victor Rangel, Coach Bill Brandt, Coach Don Buzzard

    A great thing about this picture is the background. Do you remember the flimsy wooden fences in the outfield of not only the small fields but also in the large Sanders Field. If this picture was taken in the same spot today, the only thing you would be able to see in the background would be a gaint scoreboard. Since it was not, we get the oppurtunity to see the old Freidhoff field before it was moved back into the hillside.

    If you would like to share your memories about your little league team or if you would like to share a team picture, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    Does anybody remember the big snow storm of 2010? The first wave of storms hit Ellwood City Friday evening on the sixth of February. When we woke up Saturday morning to a very beautiful day, the storm had dumped 20.75″ of snow on our little town. Just about the time most people had finally got their sidewalks shoveled off, their neighbors sidewalk shoveled, and their cars dug out (and re-dug out after the plow trucks came by); the news broke that another storm was coming. Tuesday/Wednesday, Ellwood City got hit with another storm getting an additional eight to ten inches of the white stuff. While lying on the couch with the heating pad on my back, after shoveling the driveway again, I started recalling the other big winter storms Ellwood City has seen through the years.
    Of course, anyone that remembers the storm of 1950, quickly points out that this is nothing compared to that storm. Though the actual snowfall from Thursday to Saturday of that year was thirty three inches of snow (setting the record), those that remember it usually remember a larger number than that.
    I personally recall the storm of 1993 that left twenty seven and a half inches of snow on the ground. Those snow storms also hit us on a weekend as I was a dishwasher at Christy’s Restaurant at the time and recall the State Police coming into the restaurant and telling us we had to close. However the snow and police did not close everything down as I recall making our way to Pe’Wee’s Lunch around ten o’clock that night and the place was busy. The only tracks up and down Lawrence Avenue belonged to the snowmobiles parked in front of Pe’Wees as the drivers enjoyed a couple of hot dogs.
    The winters of 1977 seem to stick in a lot of people from Ellwood City’s mind. Whether they are recalling the cold winter of 76/77 or the amount of snow all winter long in 77/78.
    What storms do you personally recall? If you would like to share your memories of Ellwood City snow storms, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com by CLICKING HERE.
    If you remember the snow, then it is safe to assume that you remember sled riding in Ellwood City. Be sure to join our discussion as to where the greatest sled riding hill in Ellwood City is located.

    It was close to midnight on a Monday night when the peaceful night air was broken with the fearful cries of “Fire!” The men and women of Wampum ran from their homes to discover A. Moser Clothing Store erupting in flames. The flames completely consumed the store then moved onto the nearby schoolhouse, leaving but a pile of charcoal and ash.
    The fire was not done with Wampum yet as the flames spread to J.C. Davidson’s Drug Store. The men that were awaken by the desperate cries fought vigorously against the fire and saved some of the goods from the store, but the building itself was reduced to only four blackened bare walls. The church next to the drug store only just survived the ravaging inferno thanks to the exhaustive and heroic actions of the citizens of Wampum that night.
    Remarkably, despite the towering flames, walls caving in, and even one man falling from the roof of a building, no one was gravely injured. Though everyone escaped with their lives, the fire was devastating to the small town of Wampum. Davidson’s Drug Store was the busiest store in town in that day and losing the school was a big loss.

    There have been at least ten Presidents of the United States to have come through our little town. There have been more than a couple from here that that have gone on to serve in the Executive Branches of our government including the State Legislature; but so far, nobody from Ellwood City has yet gone on to become President of the United States.
   It is true that none of us may have become President yet, but one of our own went to Washington to protect the President of the United States.  Dave Baldelli is a former Ellwood City Police Officer that became a United States Secret Service Field Officer. Agent Baldelli pictured here with President Johnson protected multiple Presidents and their families. In a later interview, President Nixon’s daughter Trisha recalled the agent and even claimed him as her personal favorite.

    These maps are amazingly detailed snapshots of the Ellwood City in 1894, they were donated to us by Jan Williams of Wayne Avenue. As you can see, there are many things in the picture that have not only disappeared from the skyline, but there are not many people left that remember what these places looked like outside of the few exterior pictures we have.
    Almost at the center of the picture is the Ellwood Shafting & Tube Company (later to be known as “Mill B” of the National Tube Company a subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation). The picture gives a general idea of the structure, but is detailed enough to show each of the different departments inside of the building. The other industrial building shown is the Hartman Manufacturing Company (on both sides of the railroad tracks). Again, all of the various departments like drawing and weaving department are broken out. Additional items on the first map include the freight house off of Sixth Street and a Railroad turn table behind it. On the North side of Lawrence Avenue between Sixth Street and Seventh Street is the Ellwood City Opera House. Again, so detailed are these maps that it shows the billiards room on the west side of the first floor and a bakery on the east side. It even shows where the stage on the second floor was located. Also on the corner of Seventh Street and Lawrence Avenue, you can clearly see the Honorable Henry S. Blatt’s and Captain A.C. Grove’s hardware store buildings.
    The second map is more of a collage of the more prominent buildings in the town in 1894 than a map. The detailed map includes the Derwent Foundary and Peerless Glass Lead Works, the Ellwood Enamel Company and Ellwood Gas Stove and Stamping Company on Tenth Street, the Ellwood Tin Plate Company and Northwood Glass Company on Factory Avenue, and the layout of the Ellwood Brick Company Limited and G.W. Wallace. Notice in the drawing of the Ellwood Brick Company Limited, there is a foundation laid out for a proposed forge but not yet built.
    In the zoomed in picture of the Hotel Oliver, you get a clearer picture of the layout of the Hotel. In 1894, there were two separate cottages on the grounds and the saloon was also a separate building in the courtyard. You can also see just how large the legendary dining hall and kitchen were as they took up almost the entire first floor of the south wing of the Hotel.   
    At the time of this survey, the population of Ellwood City was approximately eight hundred people. The buildings with a large ‘D’ are “dwellings” or residential houses. If you would like to leave any comments please feel free below or email us by CLICKING HERE.