Monthly Archives: August 2011

    Slade’s Service Station was located on Route 288 across the road from the original North Star School in Franklin Township. The station was called Slade’s in the late 1930′s and 40′s and was also owned at one time by Pelloni. William Slade is pictured here on the left and his son Bill Slade is on the right.
Mark Barnes shared with us that his Grandmother lived across the road in the old North Star Two-Room School, and remembers the guy who owned the service station used to raise and sell bulldogs at the gas station across from Easy’s Twin Kiss. Mark also recalled another owner of the station was Vic Nye. He still has old “Christmas photo cards” of the Nye family standing in front of the gas station.
The station was torn down when the present four-lane “new” highway was constructed.

    The enormous house at 301 Fountain Avenue was not quite as large as the Stiefel home less than a block away, but was still referred to as the “southern mansion” of Ellwood City. The nickname may have had more to do with the ornamental ironwork on the flat roof of the house and the railing on the front porch roof similar to the large estates in the southern states.
The house was the home of John Gelbach, who was considered the most powerful man in Ellwood City not involved in the tube mills. He was part of the group that controlled First National Bank of Ellwood City and part of the group that purchased the assets of the Pittsburg Company in 1905 after its head man and Ellwood’s founder, Henry Hartman moved to Denver. The assets of the Pittsburg Company at the time included the power company, water company, the short line railroad and the hotel company, all of which Mr. Gelbach guided until 1933. He was very active in the First Presbyterian Church and one of the organizers of the Ellwood City Country Club.
If you would like to share something either about the house, the current owners and renovations they are making, any of the other folks that have owned the house since the Gelbach’s, or about Mr. Gelbach himself, we would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email us your memories by CLICKING HERE. Don’t forget to mention the “prize” lamp in the large picture window at Christmas time.
Information for this post was gathered from the book Ellwood City Houses and the People Who Lived in Them by Charles R. Moser available at the Ellwood City Historical Society.

           I know the Romanian Club was organized in 1928 and I found a paper along the way stating who the officers were at the time of our town’s 75th birthday celebration. What I am unable to find is what happened to the club.
The clubhouse that is neatly tucked away on the alley between Park Avenue and Crescent Avenue behind Holy Redeemer on Fourth Street, is currently for sale. Did the club decide to close its chapter or is the club still meeting, just somewhere else?  I talked to a person that visits the site often and she mentioned her grandfather was a member ans she remembers going there at Christmas to see Santa and get a baggie treat, but she doesn’t remember anything else about the club.
Do you remember the club? I am looking for memories. Funny stories, touching stories, you know, the good stuff. If you have a story you would like to share about the Romanian Club, please EMAIL us or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.