Monthly Archives: January 2011

      Leonard and Viola Chapman Sr. lived on the Ellwood-Wampum Road near the Rainbow Grove picnic grounds. Next to the house was a garage with an apartment above it where Virgil and Dorothy Newton lived with their children. Chapman’s back yard was virtualy the neighborhood playground complete with a merry-go-round, slide, and swings that Chapman installed for his grandchildren.
      Those that remember the event recall especially “heavy” water from the Ellwood-Wampum Road draining into the nearby ravine that had been filled with mostly sand and dirt. Water had been draining almost continually that January in 1952 until the drain pipe became clogged.
    The problem was discovered when the Chapman’s discovered a hole ten to twelve feet in diameter in the road to the rainbow Picnic Grounds. After further inspection, Leonard Chapman Jr. saw water gushing up through a hole in the families’ driveway. Mrs. Chapman thought it safer for the children to get higher ground in the apartment above the garage. 
    The Chapman’s (Sr. and Jr.) tried but could not unclog the pipe with the help of neighbors Angelo Bartolomeo Sr. and his sons, Angelo Jr. and Victor. Soon water, sand, and dirt began flowing downhill and everyone heard the earth rumbling.
    Panic started to set in and Mrs. Chapman told her son to get the children out of the apartment, but they were not able to go to the basement of the house as it was already underwater. Leonard Chapman Jr. got to the children and literally “throwing” the youngest down the stairs, everyone was able to get to safety in time to “watch everything go”.
    The merry-go-round, slide, swings, chicken coops, even another smaller building. “Everything washed down creek.”
    No one was hurt in the landslide but according to the Ellwood City Ledger there was damage to basement of the house and the foundation of the garage/apartment was exposed. Do you remember the day the earth moved? We would enjoy hearing your memories. Please leave your comments below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      The first annual Ellwood City Arts, Crafts, and Food Festival was a two day event that stretched all over the town. On that Fourth of July weekend back in 1981; Ellwood City hosted bicycle races, hot air balloon rides, a 10K race, a car show, and a parade.

      As you can see in the picture here Lawrence Avenue was still a one way street with parking on the south side of the street. Also, there are a number of buildings that are no longer part of the Ellwood City landscape and business like the Ellwood City Hardware and G.C. Murphy that are also but a memory. The old firetrucks taking part in the Saturday afternoon parade are also quite impressive.

      The free hot air balloon rides for children were to take place at the baseball fields in Ewing Park. A large crowd gathered as the balloon was unfolded but were disappointed when officials decided that due to the weather, the balloon was not erected. The picture of the balloon sprawled out on the field is the only picture we at EC Memories have of the old Helling stadium football field.

      It was estimated that 1,500 people walked through Helling Stadium Saturday and Sunday to view the eighty vehicles entered in the Arts, Crafts, and Food Festival Auto Show. It was sponsored by the Woman’s softball league at Stiefel Park.

       As for the festival itself, it was not quite like the festival we are used to today. In this section of the park, the crowd is walking to the various displays while children are playing on the park’s outdoor equipment. Most, if not all, of the playground equipment in the picture including the three swing sets, the tables, and the slide are no longer in the park.
One thing that has not changed from the first Arts, Crafts, and Food Festival to today was that on that first Festival, Saturday’s crowd was smaller because of rain.  We would enjoy hearing your memories of the festival in the park. Please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      There was a time in our history when Jockey Moore Road was lined with large family owned farms. The farmers helped each other out when possible, especially during harvest time. Walt McQuiston owned the local thrashing machine and would go to all the local farms along Wampum Avenue, Jockey Moore, and couple of farms on Line Avenue Extension. An annual tradition, the wife of the farm the men were working on that day would cook lots of great food. Walt McQuiston is pictured here posing with his J1K Separator thrashing machine with a Frick engine in 1911. Also in the picture are John McQuiston sitting on the wheel and John Wilson on the roof of the engine.
     A couple of the farms included the Phelner farm, located on the east side of Line Avenue Extension almost where Jockey Moore meets today and the Koser Farm (Elijah), opposite Jockey Moore & Line Avenue. The one room school house (still standing today) is located on what was the Clark farm on Jockey Moore Road. 
      In addition to farms, Jockey Moore area was also a productive coal mine. There is a section of the current road that has worn enough that one of the old railcar rails has become exposed again. We would love to hear your memories of this area. Please leave you memories below in the comments section or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      Ellwood City has the distinction of having the oldest Saxon church in America. St Paul’s Lutheran Church is still active with a small congregation on Wayne Avenue.
      A Brief History of the church was recently shared with us by Al Schuller whose family the Schullers and step family the Umlings were a large part of the congregation….

1865  St. Paul’s Evangelical German Lutheran Church was first established as Bethlehem Lutheran church in Wurtemburg, PA.
1894  Building was relocated to Wayne Avenue, Ellwood City.
1902  Purchased and organized First Siebenburger Saxon Church in America.
1905  Named St. Paul’s Siebenburger – Original enrollment listed 66 members.
1917  Remodeled in harmony with Saxon tradition and ideals.
1939  Modernized interior, added basement and kitchen.
1943  Began Sunday School classes in English.
1955  Renamed St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church.
1959  German language services ended.
1976  Remodeling including new siding, new front steps and gas furnace.
2001  Enlarged front entrance and steps.
2002  Celebrated a Century of History, Heritage and Faith September 20, 2002.

      We would love to hear any memories you may have of the church and the families that attended. Please leave any comments below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    The home at 12 Fifth Street is remembered most commonly as the home of Dr. C.R. Carnahan and family. The doctor purchased the home in 1935  and had his dental office there until he retired in 1993. The office was on the first floor and the Carnahan family lived in the rest of the house. He retired at 89 yrs of age.  His daughter Patricia Carnahan Newton shared the picture with us.
      Anyone who would like to share their memories of the doctor or his family, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

January 21, 2011 marks the twentieth anniversary of Mother Alexandra’s passing…

Excerpt taken from the following post…
http://bonovox.squarespace.com/journal/2005/7/11/mother-alexandra-of-ellwood-city.html
     Princess Ileana was the daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Marie of Romania. After marriage and raising six children, she became a novice at the Monastery of the Veil in Bussy, France in 1961. She professed monastic vows there in 1967 and later that year founded The Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania—the first English speaking Orthodox monastery for women in the United States. She fell asleep in the Lord on January 21, 1991 and is buried at the monastery she founded.
    We can list the history of the Monastery in Ellwood City, date it was built, location, so on and so on. However that is not really what we started this site for. If you would like to share any memories you may have of the Monastery or Princess Ileana herself, we would love to hear. Please leave your comments below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com 

Monastery Brochure including photographs, history, facility, guest information, events, chapel schedule, & directions.

      Perhaps one of the most enduring records in all of baseball belongs to Ellwood City native Lewis “Hack” Wilson. The professional legend of Hack began in 1926 when the New York Giants sold the 5-foot-6, 190 pound, barrel chested, thick limbed Lewis “Hack” Robert Wilson to the Chicago Cubs. Hack would go on to lead the league in home runs three years in a row; 21 in 1926, 30 in 1927, 31 in 1928. In 1929, Hack hit 36 home runs (third in the league) and drove in 150 runs.
      Then in 1930, Hack Wilson set a National League record with 56 homeruns (10 more than Babe Ruth) and set the record that still exists today of 190 Runs batted in, leading the Cubs to the World Series with a .356 batting average. He was not only a homerun hitter though, as he compiled an impressive lifetime .307 batting average over twelve seasons and drove in 100 or more runs six times in his major league career. A few other remarkable feats accomplished by Hack were the two homeruns he hit in one inning in 1925 and three in a single game in 1930.
      During his career, the boy from Ellwood City that everyone in town walked to Shelby field to watch smack the ball compiled 244 home runs and 1,063 RBIs in the Majors. He established the Major League record of 190 runs batted in and the National League record of 56 homeruns in 1930. The homerun record stood for sixty eight years before being broken* but the RBI record remains to this day.
      Hack played hard and aggressive with his long blasts and head first slides and he lived his life the same way. He was believed to have been paid more than any other player except Babe Ruth in 1930, but he died penniless in Baltimore in 1948. Hack Wilson was inducted into The National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.

      There are a number of books written about Hack Wilson, but one in particular paints a clearer image of his life in Ellwood City – Hack – written by Bob Boone  click HERE for an exerpt

 If you would like to share any memories you have, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      On the 24th of October 1968, the Beaver County times reported that Councilman Dom A. Viccari revealed plans for a municipal park in the abandoned limestone quarry bordering North Sewickley Township. The area that was commonly referred to at the time as the “brick yard” would be called Limestone Park. A number of legal battles ensued following the announcement including a claim by North Sewickley Township Supervisors who declared that the land belonged to them as it was in their township. The final ruling was however that the land had been annexed to the borough five years earlier.
       Plans were drawn up immediately for a paved road to be built to the area of the park where several large caves are located. Viccari, who served as the chairman of the parks committee at the time hoped to preserve the caves for their natural beauty and interest along with all seventy six acres.
      Construction of the “new highway” or “four lane highway” had not yet started and it was believed that this new road would make access from the east to the park easier. Today, access is only possible at Brighton Road to the west onto Hack Wilson Drive that goes through the park. Hack Wilson Drive is the sole acknowledgement in Ellwood City of the Major League Baseball Hall of Famer who was born and raised in our town.  
      In 1978, Ellwood city borough obtained Federal Funds through the State Department of Community Affairs to install four lighted tennis courts, a soccer field, and two softball fields in the now forty four acre park. It was then Mayor Sam Teolis who came up with the idea to re-name the park Stiefel Park in honor of Ralph C. Stiefel (re-inventor of Ellwood City with his patented process for making seamless tubing). Today, the park is home to four various size softball fields with lights, lighted soccer field, roller hockey rink, a small playground, and the entrances to the caves have been blocked off.
      Depending on who you are talking to, the park still goes by a number of different names. Stiefel Park still gets called Limestone Park but more commonly we get people calling it the brick yard or even Brickyard Hill. The entire area the park now resides was once an operating coal mine called Kirkman’s Coal Mine.

Dave Larson who has shared his memories on a number of topics has shared with us his memories of Ewing Park as a child…
       “In the 1950′s the Ewing Park swimming pool and picnic grounds were a mainstay of a kid’s life during the summer months. Seems to me, although it may only be how my mind wants to retain it, that we got out of the North Side Elementary School for Memorial Day and did not go back to school until after Labor Day. The parade coming over the Fifth Street Bridge on Memorial Day signaled that summer had arrived.
     A typical day caught you on your bike riding over to the Ewing Park swimming pool after lunch and staying until you had to leave to get home in time to beat your dad getting home from work. I remember it costing twenty-five cents to get into the pool and with that you got a metal tag on elastic with a key to open and put your clothes in a locker. Shower up and out to the pool for an afternoon with your friends. Shower up, get dressed and get back on the road home with a stop over at the Dairy Queen.
      The other day I was in a CVS drug store spending my Bonus Bucks and the clerk told me I had money left and to find something “that cost twenty-three cents or less.” Try that the next time you are in a variety store. At the Dairy Queen in the 1950′s a quarter would buy you a large ice cream cone that I would guess today would put you back a good three bucks. So for fifty cents you could have one fine day at the park.
      My dad worked for the Bell Telephone Company and every summer they would have a company picnic at Ewing Park. There were always family reunions and company picnics going on in the park’s picnic shelters. Little known to me until years later did I learn that the stone buildings in the park were built by the CCC, Civilian Conservation Corps. It would be nice to know more history about the building of the park and the role the CCC played.”
      Thank you Dave. We would love to hear your memories about the days you spent in Ewing Park. Please leave a reply below or you can email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    The members of the 1996 Ellwood City Area Veterans Honor Guard are shown here. In front, from left are Kenneth Bleakney (chaplin), Carl Castellani, Elmer Derrow (quartermaster), Walter Hudson, Edward Kohlmetz, Thomas Perell, Ron Snare, Sam Teolis, and Ray Hammond, bugler. Second row left to right, Walter Bates, Robert Campbell, Larry Crespo, Andy DeCecio, Don Gillespie, Frank Halko, Joe Hemskey, and Sam. Third row include George Luke, Don McCarty, Roger McPheron, Bill Owens, Don reese, Armond Riccardi, Paul Costa, and Ed Schuller. Back row from left are Leo Sicard, Arthur Wehman, Bill Young, Bill Zombeck, and Tim Locke.

      We have heard from a number of people that remember the small news stand at the end of the previous Fifth Street Bridge for various reasons but no one can agree on the name. Those that do remember the little store remember the model airplanes, the comics, but overwhelmingly the thing remembered most is the candy.
      We had one visitor who shared that the newsstand had “the best penny candy” and ten cents would get you a nice little bag full. Those from Hazel Dell would stop at the newsstand on their way to one of the movie theaters in town, the Majestic and the Manos. A ticket to get in either theater would run you two bits and people were outraged when the price later went up to 35 cents. Back then, we have heard, if you wanted to you could even stay and watch the movie over again without paying again.
      The name we have been given the most is Triangle News, but the building has housed numerous other businesses over the years including realtors and even an arcade in the late 70′s early 80′s. We would like to hear your memories of the little building with a big history. Please share your memories below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com
      A little side note on the attached picture, we noticed that the “dummy” is missing. The dummy was the cement block about three feet in diameter and between four or five feet tall. The top was rounded at and one time had a light atop and sat right in the center of the road on the Hazel Dell side of the bridge. We were told that both ends of the bridge at one time had one of these dummies and that they were originally designed to separate traffic.

      We recently received a picture from one of many times that the Sacred Heart Council of the Knights of Columbus in Ellwood City sponsored a communion breakfast at BVM Church. The members at the time of the picture included from left in the front row; Carl Chiocchi (P.F.N.), Paul Beggs, Craig Pessolano (breakfast Chairman), Mark Nagel (Grand Knight),  Bernie Durkin, William McCartney, and Anthony Jarzynka. Back row included left to right Walt Kolakowski, Tim Taormina, Mike Moran (Faithful Navigator), Albert Susie (F.M.), Stan Jankowski, and Chuck Bedekovich.

      If you have any memories you would like to share of the Knights of Columbus, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com