The BIG Snow of 1950
Every time it snows, we hear stories of the BIG snow of 1950. It started the day after Thanksgiving a little over 48 years ago, do you personally remember it? From Thursday to Saturday thirty three inches of snow fell upon Ellwood City setting a record that still has never been matched. It may be hard to understand fully today but nearly all commercial activity was shut down, everything. Streets were blocked, barns were inaccessible, and some folks could not even get their front door open. Remarkably the town never lost electric service but telephone service was limited to emergency use only.
Some people still argue how, but R.J. “Denny” Schill jumped into action and contacted someone, somewhere, somehow and got the roads cleared. In November 1950, the Turnpike was in the process of being extended to Ohio. Mr. Schill pulled some strings and got a couple of giant earth movers to come to Ellwood City from the construction site in Koppel to clear the streets. To fully understand how big these machines are, compare the height of the people standing close by and the tires alone. The tires are taller than the doorways of the local shops. These monsters quickly got Ellwood City moving again, long before New Castle even had a plan.
Another great thing these pictures give us is a snapshot of some of the business in 1950 and a picture of the Dambaugh building (or McKlinsky Building) on the corner of Lawrence Ave and 6th Street that burnt down. The first picture shows the machine on Sixth Street between Lawrence Ave and Crescent Ave. If you look hard you are able to see Young’s Pontiac Dealership, City Drug Store, Zeigler Furniture, and the A&P Market in the background before it built the building last occupied by Shop N Save and Foodland.
The second picture is taken on Lawrence Avenue in front of Ellwood Electric and offers an even better view of the Dambaugh building. Notice the beautiful street lights and the billboards painted on the building beside the Municipal Building even back then. I believe you can still see the Oswald sign today.
If you would like to share your memories of the big snow or of one of the business in the pictures please email us or leave a comment below.
I lived on 9th St. above Park Ave. during the “big snow”. 9th St. was one of few routes to the hospital at the top of the hill and was first to be opened. They plowed it several times in the evening and by the next morning it was closed again. Of course us kids thought it was great fun trying to keep the sidewalk open.
The first plow to go up the hill was a bulldozer that was being used as an ambulance to get patients to the hospital. At the time 9th St. had a grass area 8 or 9 feet wide on both sides. A real two lane street. After the bulldozer they used road graders and kept piling the snow higher and higher. Cars that were left on the street got completely covered. The street became a one-way ditch about 8 ft. deep. Cars couldn’t move. We could see the street from our house because it was on a hill but from the sidewalk, which was another ditch, you couldn’t see the street. We dug a tunnel to the street and a cave from the sidewalk into our yard big enough to live in. We’re lucky we didn’t get killed. The following week or so that schools were closed were great fun for us without responsibilities. Since I’ve now outlived most of my responsibilities, I’ed do it again!
My parents, Midge & Harry Miller, owned Miller’s Gift Shop at 622 Lawrence Ave. at the time of the Nov. 1950 big snow. They were decorating their store window for Christmas when the snow hit and had a heck of a time getting home. I was only 4 years old at the time and what I remember of the snow was standing on the sidewalk in front of our house with Dad shoveling snow that went way above my head on both sides. Have a picture of it in an old photo album.