From Division Avenue there is a little orange brick building with white steel doors that you might not even notice today. Looking at the building, you can see that this little building was something; a store, a garage, something. The only clue today is a little white stone with the letters “W.S.C.” Built “1944 Est. 1934″.

    If you don’t know, W.S.C. stands for the Workingman’s Social Club. What a great name for a club in a mill town. Workingman’s, not Irish, not Polish, not German, but simply a club for Men who Work. Also, that “little” building I was talking about is not that little. When you see the side of the building from Second Street you realize that the old club stretches all the way back to the alley against Pizza King.

We have had a couple of people that have shared their fond memories of the Workingman’s Social Club including Crystal Bonifate who shared that her grandmother (Doris Miller) used to go to the club quite often. She informed me that Bill Strouse and George Crepps operated the club and she can remember Ben Bartle, Bill Strouse, Chuck Gibbons, Jack Maine (Sr.), & Johnny Loccisano coming in after they got done coaching boxing under the municipal building. One of Crystal’s favorite memories was in the back, when you walked in, there were two pool tables, restrooms on the left, bar just beyond them, couple of tables to the right, and just beyond the tables they had a big piano. As a child, the men of the club used to let me go back there and play. Directly across from the club lived a truck-driver named “Bear” whose daughter used to come across the street and teach her how to play the piano.

    Teressa Jones-Wojton also shared her fond memories of the club. When she was first married in 1972, there was not a lot of money to spare for evenings out so the young couple would go to the club on the weekends. She remembers that the men that ran the club were always ready to help you or give you advice. One memory she shared was about the first time her husband was out of town and a pipe broke in her house. Teressa called the W.S.C. to see if anyone could recommend a plumber, but within a half an hour a couple of members where at her house and repaired the pipe themselves. In Teressa’s own words, “You could not ask for a better group of people.”

The club closed in the 80’s but I am not sure of the exact date. We would all enjoy hearing any memories you may have of the club. Please share your memories below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com. A special thank you goes out to Crystal, Doris, and Teressa for sharing your memories with us.

I decided to repost one of my favorite articles on the web site. The post features a priceless snapshot in time of Ellwood City taken from 196 feet above the town sometime between 1909 and 1915. It is amazing how much has changed from then to today. There is so much in the picture it is easy to miss some of the more interesting things. I have added yellow numbers to some of the points I would like to draw your attention to in this picture, of course there is more than the twelve things I mention here and would love to hear about something I missed.
    The first point of interest I see when I look at this picture is the grand Hotel Lawrence surrounded by the majestic Oliver Park. Though it is difficult to get your bearings with this picture, we are actually looking at the side of the Hotel. The front of the Hotel formally called Hotel Oliver is the side with the large white peaks and faces down Fifth Street.
Secondly, in almost the center of the page we see the Central School building built in 1902 on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Sixth Street. Today the Ellwood City Municipal Building is located on that lot of land with a number of memorials displayed in the front lawn. The large World War II memorial in front of the Municipal building was purchased through multiple fundraisers including donations and with the extra money that was raised for Ellwood City’s anniversary.
Number three in the picture is the Park Hotel, built 1895 and located on the North side of the Ellwood City Short Line. Today, most people don’t remember the Park Hotel and I have had a difficult time uncovering the fate of the old Hotel. Did it catch on fire from the sparks of a passing train, or was it simply torn down due to dilapidation? The fact remains that the building is no longer there but if you look the next time you drive past, one of the walls from its foundation is still standing today.
Four and Five go together, almost. Point number four is the old train station that is no longer there today and number five points to something that is actually missing from the picture, the Fifth Street Subway. The railroad you see in the picture beside the train station was the Pennsylvania Railroad, who owned Rock Point Park. The railroad through Ellwood City was known more as the Ellwood Short Line and replaced the B&O railroad that was built along the Northern bank of the Connoquenessing Creek in 1876. After the Ellwood Tunnel was completed in 1892 the railroad connecting North Sewickley & Rock Point ran through the natural plain which Ellwood City was built upon and the hilly B&O railroad was abandoned.
Ellwood City owes its birth more to the Ellwood City railroad tunnel and Beaver Falls then the more common misconception of New Castle. Ellwood’s founder H.W. Hartman was dissatisfied with the conditions in Beaver Falls where he was the head of the Beaver Falls Water Company and Hartman Steel Company.  He heard the railroad was planning to build the tunnel to bypass the slower line through Hazel Dell and put his plan for an industrial resort town into action.
The passenger station in the picture, known as the Union Station, served Ellwood City until the mid 1950’s. One text says the station was torn down as late as 1957, while another says it was torn down as early as 1955. Today, a parking lot is all that remains beside what is now the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Rail line.
Just west of the Union Station is number Six, the freight yards of Ellwood City. The large structure on the Northern side of the tracks is the B.O. Freight Station. The station was located just West of Sixth Street which was a main road at the time of the picture as the bridge connecting Ellwood City to Hazel Dell was the Sixth Street Bridge, not the Fifth as it is today. The “Hazel Dell Bridge” as it was known then connected Sixth Street and College Street. The original Fifth Street Bridge was not erected until 1915.
The B.O. Freight Station was demolished in 1982 and the property was sold to the Ellwood City Forge Group.
Our number seven point of interest is one of the few things in the picture still standing today. Point seven is the Stiefel Building on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Fifth Street. I have yet to discover if the building was named after one of Ellwood City’s most prominent citizens, Mr. R.C. Stiefel, if he actually had the building built, or maybe he even had his offices there.
Number eight is the old tube mill more commonly known to the folks of Ellwood as “Mill B”. Originally the mill was the home of the Ellwood Shafting & Tubing Company, the first manufacturing institution to establish itself in Ellwood City as early as 1891. “Mill B” was dismantled in 1923 and the property was sold to Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad for a freight station and yard. It is hard to see it today but from Sixth Street to Blanks Concrete and Supply was nothing but P&LE spurs. Five or six lines of empty railroad lines loading and unloading freight coming into and out of Ellwood City all day long. August 25th 1981 marked the last day P&LE took a loaded boxcar, cargo from Airway Industries out of Ellwood City.
Nine is less of a specific point as it is a general area. As you can see from the picture, the West End of town was the direction of the growth in the early days of the town. The mills and businesses were more congregated at that end and most Ellwoodians thought that the town would continue to grow in that direction. In fact the first school built in Ellwood City after its founding was the West End School and the first hospitals were all located in that direction of town. It wasn’t until Ralph C. Stiefel and J.H. Nicholson left the Shelby Seamless Tube Company in 1899 and erected the Standard Seamless Tube Company (later called “Mill A”) that the town began spreading east also.
Ten is the beautiful picnic grounds of Oliver Park and the site of Ellwood City’s first murder. According to “A History of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania” James Bell was found in the park next to a tree, murdered. The victim, who had carried the mail from Ellwood City to the Belton Post Office, was also robbed as his pockets were all turned inside out. The park was a popular picnic destination (if you got permission from the Hotel) and how Park Avenue got its name.
Eleven simply points out the large farms and spread out residences that still existed in Hazel Dell. Hazel Dell originally was on both sides of the Connoquenessing until Merrit Green and Henry Hartman purchased all the farms on the South side of the creek to build Ellwood City. The roads through Hazel Dell were the old Indian trading paths from when the Shawnee & Delaware Indian tribes occupied the area. It was these tribes that actually named the Connoquenessing, which means “can’t canoe”. Hazel Dell was cut in half by the Connoquenessing and connected by the covered bridge known as the Jones Mill Bridge or White Bridge (built 1858 and razed 1898) located at the present site of the Fifth Street Bridge.
Hazel Dell did not become a borough until 1901, almost ten years after Ellwood City. The borough of Hazel Dell officially consolidated with the borough of Ellwood City in 1914.
Finally, point number twelve reminds you of the time period that the picture was taken. The buildings with no windows behind the houses are not garages, but barns. Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908 but didn’t begin the moving assembly lines in his factory until 1913, so there were not very many cars in the town when this picture was taken. Some of the buildings are barns, other smaller buildings are outhouses. My grandmother’s house inside Pittsburgh Circle was originally built as a boarding house for tube mill workers before indoor plumbing was the big craze on HGTV. Four bedrooms, BIG bedrooms, and no bathroom.

If you noticed something I missed or if you feel that I got something wrong, please leave a comment below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Originally Posted February 5, 2010

    I had the privilege of working with Jimmy DeLoia and the man seemed to be cooking or planning to cook at the church every single week. This picture was an advertisement that ran in the Ellwood City Ledger for an upcoming pancake breakfast. Pictured from left to right (1^st row) Sam Ricci, Don Carsele, Otto DeOtto, Jimmy DeLoia, and Frank Dombeck. Ed Veres and John DiLeonardo are in the back. The name of the mens group was not given but DiLeonardo was listed as president, Frank Dombeck vice-president, and Carsele was secretary.

Mr. DeOtto and Mr. DeLoia were simply listed as “cook” for the picture, but I hate to understate what it was that they did.

    I know I am going to get in trouble for this, but I am not positive about the history of the Saint Agatha School of Religion. I know the building was built in 1961 but I was hoping you can help fill us in on rest of the history. I did find out that the CCD classes were held here for the children of Saint Agatha but for how many years I am not sure. I do know that it has also been home to a pre-school for many years, home to Boy Scouts troops, and of course the site of the Saint Agatha Bazaar.

Growing up in the area, I always wanted to ride the ferris wheel and the motorized swings but was never aloud as “they don’t look safe”. One year there was a mishap with one of the rides and of course I heard how my mother was right. For not a big area, there sure are a lot of memories about the Saint Agatha Bazaar that come rushing back very quickly. The Ferris wheel, the tables lined up along the side for the food, the smoke filled rooms inside for the adults, and of course seeing your friends you haven’t seen since school let out. It is hard to pick just one thing but next to the unbelievable food, the nickel toss was my personal favorite. What do you remember about the Saint Agatha Bazaar or the School itself?

Please share your memories by leaving a comment below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Originally Published April 29, 2009 

Bob Stevenson was the only one that came forward about the History’s Mystery concerning the local drum and bugle corps from the 1930′s. The mystery put forth asked if anyone recalled that back in the 30′s a local drum and bugle corps band performed in parades and such in full dress. It was believed that they were called the “fireman’s band” but I could not confirm the name. The corps practiced in the P&LE parking lot but no one could recall when the impressive looking band disappeared.

    Mr. Stevenson stated he was not 100% sure but he believes that the drum and bugle corps were sponsored by the American Legion. He does know for sure that the VFW local post still had the equipment and uniforms into the 1950′s. He was told they were from the “old” legion drum and bugle corps but was not positive that this was the same band in question. Bob’s father was the Commander and later President of the Ellwood City VFW and Bob always tagged along with his dad. During his explorations of the building he came across the uniforms so he can confirm first hand that they were there.

    The mystery still remains though, is this the same band? I have seen pictures of the Shelby Social Club Band, the Workingman’s Social Club band and the Saxon Club 346 band. I have been told on more than one occasion that I have inaccurate information on this web site so if you recall which band practiced where, could you help us out? Please share your information below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

These pictures was passed on to me from Ernie Young who got the pictures from a friend, Jim White.

1st Grade Perry School Wurtemburg 1939

This first grade picture from the new Perry School that replaced Wurtemburg School after it burned down in 1933. Ernie Young who gave me these pictures is in the second row fourth from the right side, Ray Campbell in the row right behind him to the left. In the bottom row third boy from right is Ken Ketterer’s brother (?), bottom row second boy from left is Ron Nye. Best part of this picture could be Jim White’s knickers.

Second Grade Ellport School 1940

Back row: Don Hinkle, Jack Simon, Dorothy Paul, Margaret Smilek, unknown, Lucas?, Jerry Toth, James Wiltrout, Teacher unknown. Middle row: Eleanor Chima, Sylvia Toth,  Norma Androla, unknown, unknown, Rose Marie Toth,  Rose Mary Huzinec
First row: Al Jerome , Bob Evans, Jim White, Harry Gerhart?,  Dennis Bucher?

In the first name, Mr. White isn’t sure if the Harry Gerhart name is correct and also the Dennis Bucher name. In the back row, Jim is not sure of the first name of Lucas.

3rdGrade Ellport. Sept 1941
Left to Right: Bob Evans, Jack Simon, Rose Mary Huzinec, Dorthy Paul, Jim Wiltrout, Margaret Smilek, Norma Androla, Lou Conti, Jim White, Jerry Toth, unknown, unknown, Sluggo Powers, unknown, Eleanor Chima, Don Hinkle, Al Jerome, Patty Thompson, Rose Marie Toth.  Teacher unknown

Ellport 4th Grade Sept 1942
Front row: Jim Wiltrout, Harry Gerhart, Jerry Toth, and Jim White. Second row: Rose Mary Huzinec, Bob Evans, Patty Thompson, Peggy Weir, Don Hinkle, Norma Androla, Eleanor Chima. Third row: Unknown, Dorthy Paul, Lou Conti, Margaret Smilek, Jack Simon, unknown, Rose Marie Toth – Teacher unknown

5th Grade Ellport, 1943
 Front row: Don Hinkle, Jim Wiltrout, Harry Gerhart, Lou Conti, Jim White, Jack Simon, and Bob Evans.  Standing: Peggy Weir, Dorthy Paul, Joyce Elchison, Margaret Smilek, Doris Taylor, Eleanor Chima, Patty Thompson, Rose Mary Huzenic. The teacher’s name written on the back as Miss Munell, but it could be Mundell.

6th Grade Ellport 1944
Front row: Harry Gerhart, Ron Nye, Jack Simon, Jim White, Bob Evans, Jim Wiltrout, Don Hinkle. Standing: Rose Mary Huzinec, Patty Thompson, Eleanor Chima, Joyce Elchison, Lou Conti, Don Hazen, Dorothy Paul, Doris Taylor, Peggy Weir – Teacher, Miss Curry – Dog unknown.

I want to express my gratitude to Kirk Zikeli of Zikeli Auto Repair on Clyde Street for providing another picture to Ellwood City Memories. This picture is of the BRAND new Ellwood City Volunteer Fire Department’s 1954 American LaFrance Pumper truck being unloaded from the railway car in 1954.

    The picture of the new fire truck being delivered was taken at the corner of Eighth Street and Beaver Avenue. Thank you again, Zeke.

    On May 10, 1970, SPC Sabo and his platoon were ambushed by North Vietnamese soldiers in the Se San River valley of Cambodia. Approximately sixty soldiers from B Company, Third Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division were ambushed by an enemy force estimated to be a minimum of 150 soldiers. During heavy fire Sabo sustained multiple shrapnel wounds when he used his own body to protect a wounded soldier from a grenade blast. Despite the wounds he continued on gathering ammunition from fallen soldiers to distribute to his comrades during the fight and provided cover to medical helicopters evacuating wounded soldiers.

SPC Sabo did not survive the battle and was killed by enemy fire serving his country.

On Monday April 16, 2012, President Barack Obama officially announced that Ellwood City’s heroic son Leslie H. Sabo Jr. has been awarded the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor. The President will present the award to SPC Sabo’s wife Rose Mary Sabo-Brown at the White House in Washington D.C. on May 16th (42 years and 6 six days after he died.)

In the years I have had this website I have compiled little tid-bits of the big shootout in 1941 at the end of the Fifth Street Bridge between the Elwood City Police Chief Ernest Hartman and three bank robbers. I never posted them here as I didn’t have the full story. Then someone handed me a very old newspaper that contained the entire story. I was going to put it into my own words, but the reporter did all the work, he should get all the credit…

As reported by Kenneth Nevins in the Pittsburgh Press…

   A county cop and a bill collector were town heroes here (Ellwood City, PA) after they shot it out with three bank robbers, killing two and wounding the other. The cop – Police Chief Ernest Hartman, 36 – wounded the three single-handed in a gunfight at a busy street intersection, and the bill collector, Jimmy Pasta, shot one of the bandits dead on a lonely country road a short time later, as they tried to force him to aid their getaway.

    The shootings followed the robbery an hour earlier of the First National Bank at Harrisville, Butler County, when $1,072 in currency was taken along with about $2,000 in money orders and checks. Virtually all of the loot was recovered, much of it stained with blood.   Killed by Mr. Pasta was Earl Everets, 27, of Smithfield, Fayette County near Uniontown. Albert Feelo, 26, of Republic, Fayette County, wounded in the gun battle with Chief Hartman, died (the following morning) in the Ellwood City Hospital. The third bandit, Kenneth Palmer, 33, of Detroit, formerly of Volant, Lawrence County PA., where he joined in the holdup of a Volant Bank in 1930, was wounded badly and (was) near death.

    Chief Hartman was alone in his office when word was flashed that the bank bandits were headed towards Pittsburgh in a black club coupe with white wall tires, bearing Ohio plates. “I grabbed the .45 Thompson (sub-machine gun), hopped into the squad car and headed for Wampum Avenue and the Fifth Street Bridge” Chief Hartman said. “I knew that they’d come in that way if they came.”

          He hadn’t long to wait. the black coupe roared into view and screamed to a stop as the bandits sighted Chief Hartman, standing in the street, his car blocking the roadway. “I hollered for them to get out” chief Hartman said. “But I wasn’t sure of them. There were three and the car didn’t have white wall tires. So I waited.”

     The driver climbed out, and “hollered something about a fine thing stopping a car on a highway,” and the other two followed, the Chief said. “They fanned out, and that made me suspicious,” Mr. Hartman continued. “When they got within 70 feet, guns seemed to jump into their hands, and they were firing at me. “I thought, ‘If I go out I want to take some of them with me,’ so I let ‘em have it with the Tommy.” Palmer fell to the street as Chief Hartman, crouching, backed away shooting. As he stopped to reload his clip, the bandits threw Palmer into the car and sped away.

    Three miles from town, down the dusty, twisty Belton Road, hardly wide enough for one car, sped the bandit’s machine, Everets at the wheel. Struck twice in the chest with Chief Hartman’s bullets, he lost control of the car and it toppled 15 feet down an embankment stopping against a clump of saplings. Mrs. Laura Kash of Ellwood City driving from Beaver Falls with a friend, Angelo DeCarbo, saw the crash.  “We stopped and I got out and hollered. ‘Anybody hurt?’” Mrs. Kash related. “The one fellow standing turned around and he had a gun. He pointed it at me and said ‘Get down here’.” The frightened woman obeyed only to have a 30.30 rifle poked in her side as she and Mr. DeCarbo were ordered to carry the two wounded men from the overturned car. Mrs. Kash told police: “He said ‘Hurry.’ and I said ‘How did he expect a woman to lift a man?’ and he said ‘Shut up and lift.’” “And,” said Mrs. Kash explosively, “did I lift!”     Meanwhile, rookie Policeman Ed Shaffer, on the force regularly only a week, and in plain clothes, reached the scene of the original shooting. He asked Mr. Pasta to drive him after the bandit’s car. As Mrs. Kash and her friend helped the wounded men to the road, Officer Shaffer and Mr. Pasta arrived. They were “covered” at once by Everets, who ordered them to aid in putting the injured two into the DeCarbo car.

    “They said all seven of us couldn’t ride in that old car.” recalled Mr.Pasta. “I’ve read enough gangster stories to be plenty scared by that.” He watched as Palmer and Feelo were placed in the rear seat. Then Everets put the rifle on Palmers lap,” Mr. Pasta said, “and walked around to the driver’s side.”

    “The car was between us and I figured it was now or never,” Mr. Pasta said. “I grabbed the gun from Palmer and pointed it at Everets. He made a move like he was going for a gun and I fired through the window at him. He fell over the hill.” “Then Ed (Shaffer) jumped one of the other two and I jumped the other. Palmer clouted Ed in the eye with a wrench and hit me on the head with it, but we subdued ‘em.” “Then I climbed down the hill where Everets was moving, trying to get up. I hit him over the head with a gun and he passed out.” At a morgue, Everets was pronounced dead of a bullet wound through the neck and two slugs in his chest from Chief Hartman’s machine gun.

     Chief Hartman, after wounding the bandits, took another road to head them off and arrived at the Belton Rd. shooting scene after Everets had been killed and the other desperadoes subdued. Three pistols taken from the bandits showed a dozen shots had been fired, presumably at Chief Hartman who said he “never even heard ‘em come close.” In a golf bag in the luggage compartment of the car, three other pistols were found. Police are checking gun numbers to link the bandits possibly with the robbery of a New Castle hardware store a week earlier. The car the men used was stolen from Cleveland, Ohio and had been riddled in a dozen places with bullet holes from Chief Hartman’s fusillade.

     Both Palmer and Feelo admitted they took part in the Harrisville robbery. Feelo died of his wounds in his back and in his abdomen. Palmer’s legs were almost literally “cut to pieces” by bullets. It was the third robbery of the Harrisville bank in five years, police said, and the second shooting affray in two years for Officer Hartman who was elevated to the Chief’s job a year earlier after serving 11 years on the force. Two years earlier, a burglar exploded a tear gas gun hidden up his sleeve, when surprised by Chief Hartman, and was shot to death, although Mr. Hartman was blinded by the gas.

    According to State Motor Police, the bandit trio first joined forces as inmates of the Rockview Penitentiary near Bellefonte, PA. Everets and Feelo were serving terms for robbery. Palmer was serving a seven-year sentence for participation in the Volant National Bank robbery. Because the Harrisville bank was a Federal Depository, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation were sent here as soon as word of the stick-up and capture was flashed.     Thousands of motorists jammed the dusty Belton Road to inspect the scene of the killing.

It was later reported in a December 1941 edition of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette that the sole surviving bank robber was convicted in US District Court. Kenneth George Palmer was found guilty on three counts of armed bank robbery and transporting stolen firearms across state lines. He was charged of robbing the Harrisville First National Bank and a bank patron of $1,042.

Palmer, who still showed the effects of having his knees riddled with bullets, denied participating in the robbery.

Shortly after the case came to closeure, Chief Ernie Hartman retired.

    Chuck Rockyvich recently submitted a class picture in-front of the Ellport School believed to have been taken either the fall of 1952 or spring 1953. This picture that Chuck got from his aunt, Eleanor (Rockyvich) Castner, has school more visible than other pictures folks have graciously donated to Ellwood City Memories. The only identification on the back of the picture is “8th grade, Mrs. Hoffman.” If you recognize anyone from the picture we would enjoy hearing from you. Please share your memories below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

The Lincoln High School Class of 1962  will hold a Class Reunion June 29 and 30, 2012.    Reservations can be made by contacting Joe Rubino or John Pratt.  A picnic and bonfire will be held on Friday evening  at the Cortez Shelter on Bridge Street beginning at 6:00 pm    On June 30, we will gather at the SOI for an evening of dining and dancing and reminiscing.  Starting at 5:00  with a social hour.  We are hoping that all of our classmates will try to attend and join in on the fun.  If you have any questions, please email Cheryln Butchelle Rangel at Ellwoodian1944@hotmail.com.

Mr. Bob Evans, originally from Ellwood City (Ellport) and now lives in Greensburg, recently found his first grade class picture taken in front of the Ellport School. Though the picture doesn’t much of the building, this is the first picture we have received of the school. This picture was believed to have been taken in 1939 yet Mr. Evans was still able to identify most of the students that would have gone on to graduate from the Lincoln High School in the class of 1951. To the best of his memory, pictured from left to right: First Row – Albert Jerome, Robert Evans, Dan Henton, Dennis Butcher, Harry Gerhart, Jerry Toth Second Row – Rose Mary Huzinec, Sylvia Toth, Norma Androla, Eleanor Chima, Dorothy Paul, Patrica Thompson, Don’t Know, Rose Marie Tot Back Row – Donald Hinkle, Jack Simon, Margaret Smilek, Miss McElwain, Sam Burton, James Wiltrout