Monthly Archives: September 2011

     Mrs. Jo Ann (Miller) Oxsen recently shared with us a great picture she came across while going through some old family photo albums. The attached photo is of her great aunt’s (Anna Marie Helling) Ellwood City grade school class from the late 1890′s. Anna Marie was her grandmother’s (Nell Helling Young) and great uncle’s (Dr. H.E. Helling) sister. Fortunately, this picture was labeled with the teacher (Miss Cunningham) and all of the students in the class. Some of those in the picture include… Helling, Wilson, Sims, McDonald, Whittaker, Marshall, Taylor, Cox, Ingram, and many more.
      Jo Ann believed the picture to be from 1880′s or 1890′s. If the picture is indeed taken in front of the school, there are four possible schools this could be. The Circle School was built 1895, the Wurtemburg School was also standing at that time and both had similar brick and stone as this picture. Other schools from that period that were believed to be brick buildings were the original West End School and the Texture Building that was used for a school for a period until the Central School was built in 1902. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of those two schools and I am not 100% positive that either was brick.
We would like to thank Jo Ann very much as this is not the first picture she has contributed and hopefully not the last.

      Shoe Stores, Flower shops, Men’s Clothing, Women’s Clothing, Pool Halls, Candy Stores, Pet Shops, and of course Pe Wee’s. “Downtown” Ellwood City has been home to almost every kind of store you can imagine. From large department stores like Dambach’s and Murphy’s to the little Ma & Pa shops that have thrived here for many years.

      I can not list every single business in Ellwood City, but everyone that has ever lived here has fond memories of downtown. Whether they are memories of where you worked, shopped, or just “hung out”, there is always at least one place that you remember fondly. Whether the story you repeat the most happened at the Drug Store on the corner, or one of the multiple restaurants, maybe the flower shop where you bought your homecoming mum or the story about you and your friends at one of the movie theaters (Majestic, Manos, or the Liberty). If you are too young to remember the Majestic, ask someone a little older if they remember it. Not only will you get that story, but I will almost guarantee they can remember what was playing when it burnt down.

      It is always quite enjoyable to talk to someone and see the look they get in their eye when the memories they haven’t thought about in years start flooding back. The diners and drug stores always seem to bring back memories like nothing else can. When someone mentions the Lemon Blendd drinks from Albert Your Druggist’s or the Soda Fountain at Young’s Drug Store or the Ice Cream Sunday’s at Acme Lunch, it is almost as if the person can still taste it and are suddenly taken back to their childhood. Memories of food seem to do that. Whether it was the world famous pies from Margaret’s, the roast beef sandwiches from the Jayhawk, or the sausage sandwiches from Nick’s over in the park. Of course, as soon as someone mentions Nick’s Snack Bar the stories start flowing but I’ll save those for another time.

      The food isn’t the only memories people have of Ellwood City. Duck pin bowling alleys and pool halls have been everywhere in Ellwood. It seems that every other building in the “downtown” area has had one of these either in the basement or upstairs at one time or another. If it didn’t have one of these, it may have gotten people in the door by hosting weekend dances like the S.O.I. the Jaycees, and the Shuffle Shop. Of course you couldn’t miss the show at the Ellwood City Opera House, or one of the famous performers at one of the clubs, or the Saturday matinee at one of the movie theaters. Friday nights were spent at the local teen hangout like Willies, Winkys, or Johnny’s.

      Ellwoodians have special memories of each and every business In Ellwood City. Even those that haven’t lived here in over twenty five years still love their hometown. Like the memories Bruce Brenneman from Houghton, New York shared with us of Blochers Jewelery Store and that black marble front. Or the memories of her dad’s Barber shop (Turners) at the end of Lawrence Avenue that Linda Tidemanson in California shared with us. Once you live in Ellwood City, you are an Ellwoodian. No matter where you may move to, folks always consider Ellwood City their hometown.
We would love to hear from you and about your favorite place to go downtown and the stories you have because of it. Please share your memories of downtown Ellwood City with in the “comments” section below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    We would like to thank Rob Wilson for sending us these great pictures of his old service station on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Fourth Street. The small brick building that was torn down to make room for Rob’s Ignition and Taco Bell Express looks a little different then what I remember. As you can see, in 1933 there was no attached garage to the building. In fact there was a massive brick building directly west of the service station. Does anybody remember this building? I do not know if this was a residence, business, or more likely if had something to do with the railroad. Whatever it was, it was large enough to have three fireplaces.
    Even though the Gulf Station did not have a garage then, it does not mean that it was not able to work on cars. If you look closely at the pictures you can see that J.V. “Vic” Rabberman had a car lift, it was just outside the building on the Fourth Street side. At the time of the pictures, “That Good Gulf” only charged ten and a half cents a gallon plus a three cents tax for gas. Not to bad actually as Charley Turner used to cut hair diagonal from the service station at Turners Barber Shop for thirty five cents.
    Some other things we noticed about the pictures were the brick roads. Fourth Street was lined with bricks as you can see but it appears that Lawrence Avenue past Fourth Street was still a dirt road. Across the railroad tracks was a familiar scene but with little differences. The VFW as we know it today was still the Merchants and Manufacturers Club, and across Fourth Street is the long building along the North side of the railroad tracks that burned to the ground around the turn of the century. You may also notice that there is no Uneeda Tire on Lawrence Avenue across from the Gulf Station. Instead there is a row of houses, nice large houses at that too.
If you know the stories behind any of the mystery buildings, or want to share anything about the pictures please leave a comment below or email us by clicking HERE.

      If you stop for a second and ask yourself what was the most dominant high school sports team in Ellwood City history, what comes to mind? Perhaps it was the 1925 football team considered by many as the best football team to come from the area. Or perhaps you thought of one of the other teams from Ellwood to win the WPIAL in their sport including the 2005 Boys Cross Country team, the 1942 Football team, the 2000 Girls Track and Field team, the 2008 Girls Softball team, or a number of Baseball teams including the 1945, 1962, 1968, and the 2001 teams.
      The 2003 Baseball team won the WPIAL & the State PIAA Championship as did the 1930 Track and Field team. However, when you hear dominant, you think not just one great year, but a number of years like the Girls Cross Country teams that won the 1992 and 1993 Class AA WPIAL and PIAA Champions.
Though they never won the PIAA State Championship, one Lincoln High School sports team dominated the WPIAL year after year after year. The Boys Gymnastics team coached by the legendary Mr. Ansell produced nine consecutive W.P.I.A.L. championships, eight consecutive A.A.U. championships and despite not winning the state championship, his teams had two third place finishes at the P.I.A.A. meets and in 1951 they came in second place at the P.I.A.A. State Finals.
 
    
Having won so many WPIAL championships in a row like they did is a testimony to how good the TEAM was and their success was not the result of any one or two particular players. However, these teams did produce some phenomenal athletes. I got these pictures from various Ellwood City Yearbooks. The pictures include Joe Barbati in the middle of a flip during his thrilling floor routine, a perfect lever exhibition by F. DeNome, a giant roll on the parallel bars by F. Wallace, hand stand by Mark Jamison, a hand stand on the rings by team captain Roland Stone, and State champion rope climber Leo Minotti displaying his perfect form that he used to pull himself up the 20 foot rope in 4.0 seconds to repeat as State Champion.

    
  These men were just a small handful of the spectacular student athletes that competed for Coach Ansell. We would all enjoy hearing from any of those that competed on one of these championship teams or just remembers these teams. Please share your memories of Mr. Ansell or the Ellwood City Gymnastics Team by leaving your memories in the comments section below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

          I was talking to a young man that is in the fifth grade about what he thought about going to Hartman “Intermediate School” this year instead of North Side Elementary as he did last year. His biggest complaint was the different playgrounds. I agreed, there was a big difference, but I told him “Back in my day…”, you know, etc. etc.
I have never been on Perry’s Elementary school’s playground but have heard from former students that claim it was the largest recess area of all the schools. I will have to take their word for it as I said I have never seen it, but I have heard of the big field behind the former Wayne Elementary School that also had two playgrounds. Another school with an exceptionally large recess area was the former Walnut Ridge Elementary school as its yard was bigger than the school itself. As a kid, I remember having little league baseball practice there and we would not even come close to disturbing anyone who was playing on the playground at the time.

I was also fortunate enough to attend the old North Side Elementary school when the yard was located where the current school stands. The field behind the school was big enough to have a game of kickball going on at one end and a game of football at the other end. The flat field was big enough that when you were down at the other end, it felt like you were no longer even at school. All of a sudden you were just out playing with friends in a field.

The yard at Ewing Park Elementary School at one time had a slide and swing set, but little else except grass. Kickball and tag were the more common games played at recess. From what I have heard, another popular game at Ewing Park School was “chase the ball across the road”.

Then we get to Hartman Elementary School. Not the fancy state of the art one that stands today, but I am talking about the original one that had coat rooms, old wooden creaky floors and eight foot wooden heavy doors. That school had a unique playground to say the least. It had a very big metal swing set, metal slides, eight foot high metal monkey bars, a big metal jungle gym; all on blacktop. Ahh, just what every kid wants, to have recess in a parking lot. At least the modern school today has a grassy area, it’s only 8 foot by 8 foot, but there is grass. Today, Holy Redeemer is the only school where the children scrape knees and elbows and occasionally rip a pair of pants playing on blacktop. At least the playground equipment at Holy Redeemer is not bent and crooked from cars backing into them as was usually the case at Hartman.

We have heard from a couple of you about the playground at the former North Side School, but we would like to hear your memories. Please share your memories of recess in Ellwood below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      The First United Methodist Church was organized one year after Henry W. Hartman founded Ellwood City. The land for the church on Fourth Street and Park Avenue was donated by Hartman’s organization, the Pittsburg Company. After only twenty-five years, the building became inadequate for the number of members that attended the church. On August 2, 1925 the church acquired prime real estate in the young town on Crescent Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Street. The original building along Park Avenue was sold to the Blessed Virgin Mary Roman Catholic Church.

    The United Methodist Church is under the direction of the Reverend James A. Cannistraci and continues to be a presence in the community.
The Cub Scouts of America have used the basement of the church as their den for years and I look forward to the Wednesday’s during the winter as the church offers some of the best homemade soup for lunch.
If you have a story you would like to share about the Methodist Church in Ellwood City, please share your memories below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com