This picture taken in 1968 is of the commonly known intersection of Fifth Street and Lawrence Avenue, which at the time was a one way street. As you can see from the picture, some of the business at the time included Oswald’s  that was on the first floor of the “Stiefel Building” and on the first floor of the “Simon Building” there was a sign for what I believe is Albert Your Druggist.

     Other businesses in the picture you may recall include the two on Fifth Street; Porter Funeral Home in the current Historical Society Building to the right and across the street is a large sign for General Finance Loans. If this is how you remember Lawrence Avenue, then you should also recognize Peoples National Bank on the northeast corner and on the northwest corner I believe is Young’s Drug Store.

A common statement I hear from people is how they remember Lawrence Avenue like these old pictures and how nice it was to grow up at a time like this. The busy street scene with lots of cars and people walking up and down the street going in and out of multiple stores. There was a time when the wide sidewalks along Lawrence weren’t wide enough.

I am hoping I got the two drug stores names correct, if not I have a good feeling that someone will let us know exactly what we are looking at so any feedback you might have would be appreciated. You can leave your comments below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

One of the things I like to do when I get old scenic pictures is to track down the location of the original picture and see how different it looks today. Sometimes it is difficult to do in the case of comparing the business district of Hazel Dell from the layout with the old Veterans Bridge to today. However, in the case of these pictures of the men paving Line Avenue with bricks (by hand), it is very easy to compare.

       On the left of the older picture you can still see the bell tower of Bell Memorial Presbyterian Church. On the right side you can still see the bell tower of the old Hazel Dell School that sat on the corner of Line Avenue and College Street. There are a couple more houses in the new picture but the new picture is missing the line of maple (?) trees that lined the south side of the street.

In an earlier post on building the Shelby Clubhouse, I mentioned that I would post a zoomed in picture of the background of the picture taken August 30th, 1916. Well the wait is finally over.

    In this first picture, almost centralized, you can see the majesty that is the Hotel Lawrence. Even as the town grew around the hotel, it still dominated the skyline. On the left of the picture you can see that horse and buggy was the main mode of transportation still (besides walking). Right above those teams of horses on the dirt road that is Pittsburgh Circle is an interesting scene involving lumber. Lots of lumber. I am only guessing, but perhaps that is the construction of the Second Street overpass?

       Some of these houses are very large houses and I am curious as to how many of them are “company” homes and were used as boarding houses for tube mill employees. A good number of these homes are no longer standing, but some of them are still here today. The one that has thrown me for a loop is the dark colored house above the previously mentioned lumber. Does anybody know what that is on the side of the house?

The second picture also offers some interesting from Ellwood City in 1916. You can see the bell tower of the old Central Public School located on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Sixth Street. Between the hotel and the school you can clearly see the rounded dome of the United Presbyterian Church on Crescent Avenue. I do not know what the barns or industrial buildings are behind the building closest to photographer, do you? I think that would be the general location of the current Trinity Lutheran Church.

I am embarrassed to admit that I had inadvertently omitted the picture of the memorial  in Legion Park Dedicated in Memory of the Ellwood City Area Men Killed in Action During the Vietnam War. A regular to the web site (Dave Larson) kindly pointed this out to me and asked me to post the picture.

CPL. Joseph A. Listorti Jr.
CPL. David L. Brown
CPL. Dennis R. Baker
CPL. Larry E. Boyer
PCF. David Francis Smith
S/4 Leslie H. Sabo Jr.
CPL. Robert M. Kuner Jr.
SPC. William J. Bowers
CPL. John L. Straley
Cpl. David J. Gamble

      We are all indebted to those who fought for their country, for their families, and for us. Not only men and women like David, Joseph, Leslie, Dennis, John, Robert, Larry, and William who did not make it home, but also those who survived the war and for some the struggle once they got home. May we always remember those who were willing to give their lives for this great country and Ellwood City.

      I might be a little weird but I enjoy pictures like this; more of a scene than a picture of something specific. I look at a picture like this and find all kind of things and notice things that are not there anymore.
        For example I did not know that there was a Mobil Service Station on the corner of Fifth Street and Spring Avenue where the old trolley station once stood. I know a lot of you remember that station, but if it wasn’t for this one picture, I may have never known that. It took a magnifying glass, but when this picture was taken, a sign for Smith Drug Store is on the corner diagonal from St. Agatha.
      When you look at the zoomed in picture of the former Veterans Memorial Bridge, it looks like you can make out the “dummy” at the far end of the bridge but I believe that was long gone by the time this picture was taken. Speaking of that particular zoomed in portion, it is still strange to not see McDonald’s and now Rite-Aid. Its funny how quickly we become accustomed to something.
      I have faith that many of you will be able to date this picture. There are one or two of you that might be able to look at the business that were open at this time and say, something like: “Abbaticchio and the hardware store two doors down were both open between 1962-71″ and “the price of gas at Sinclair, makes this picture 1967″. But more likely, there are a few of you that can very easily give us a date of the picture by looking at the vehicles on the road.
      Speaking of vehicles on the road, I need a little help with the blurry delivery truck on the left hand side. Are my eyes deceiving me or does that say Winky’s on the side or is that the old Park Pharmacy delivery van? The letters inside the circle on the front of the van are just blurry enough that I can not make it out. I know someone knows if this was a delivery van or if it was owned by the radio station that broadcasted from Ellwood City. If you know the answer to these questions, or notice something else I missed, please share below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      I recently added a post about Christmas decorations around town and how the stores along Lawrence Avenue would decorate their windows and the town hung illuminations from the street lights. Apparently October is too early in the year to start talking about Christmas for some of you; so how many of you remember the annual tradition of high school students painting the front windows of the stores along downtown for Halloween? I have been told that at one time this was a judged contest but can not confirm what the grand prize was.
      Please feel free to correct me on this post as I am not sure about this. Was there a judged contest or was it just something the high school art club did to get out of classes? If there was a contest, who judged, and was it limited to high school students? Please feel free to share below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      This picture was taken about 1920 in front of the place the stairs to the Lincoln High School auditorium now stand. The picture was given to a man in Fallston and hung in a barroom in the same town where the locals took bets on which community it was. E.J. Wright of Beaver formerly worked at the Aetna-Standard here in town and recognized the background as Ellwood City.
      Although it is fairly easy to establish the date of the picture as 1920, since that was the date the Simon Building in the background was completed, and it is still under construction in this picture, nobody seems to know for certain just what the occasion was. There are some that seem to think it was a Knights of Pythias program, but that has not been substantiated. A graduation ceremony can be eliminated as Lincoln High School was not built until 1925 and at this time students attended Central Public School on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Sixth Street. The older gentlemen on the left, just right of the band are wearing grand uniforms that tend to be more closely associated with the Knights or with the Odd Fellows. The front row of the picture appears to be younger children wearing “sailor” uniforms with round discs on their heads. The flag on the left would be the biggest indicator as to who these folks were and what they were celebrating.
      Notice the bricks on the left where a house is about to be erected (Evans Home) and the vacant spot where the First Methodist Church now stands. At the time of the picture, the Hotel Lawrence was still standing. At the time of the picture there was a half circle (or crescent, if you will) on Crescent Avenue in front of the old hotel. The hotel could not be accessed from Crescent Avenue, but rather it had a driveway that jutted through Oliver Park behind the hotel and circled up to the front. Crescent Avenue had to have the half circle to accommodate the driveway in front. If you look closely, you can still see the crescent in this picture.
We would like to hear your thought about the picture. Please share them below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      After the 7-L building burned down on the corner of Seventh Street and Lawrence Avenue (get it, 7-L, 7th & Lawrence) the city was worried about having another empty lot downtown and instead decided to try to make the area more attractive. The City Centre Mini-Park was built in 1988 complete with playground equipment for children and a number of benches. The mini park was decorated with multiple bushes and tress.

      The Lawrence Service Station was owned and operated by Merit Haberman when this picture was taken around 1927 or 1928. The station was located where PNC Bank has its drive through facility today.
      Advertisements hanging around the station include multiple signs for Quaker State Motor Oil and for United States Tires.
      Merit Haberman sold the Service Station and moved to Zelienople, where he had a Ford dealership in partnership with his father Lewie Haberman.

      The massive facility known as the Shelby Social Club or the Shelby Clubhouse was built only a very short walk from Shelby Works Park located on the corner of First Street and Fountain Avenue. Mrs. Thornhill shared with us that she remembers the park had an outside swimming pool, tennis courts, playground, a place to wash automobiles and a rooming house.
      The clubhouse on the corner of Pittsburgh Circle and First Street was home to an Olympic size indoor swimming pool, a meeting room, a gymnasium, a six lane bowling alley, billiards, an auditorium, a soda grill, lounge room, cafeteria and a basketball court among other things.  The one thing it was missing was a baseball field, but the tube mill already had one; Shelby Field in the Shelby Land Company’s Plan (later to become Ewing Park.)
      Situated directly beside the P.H.B.&N.C. trolley tracks (today Joffre Street) and Foch Street, the tube mill already owned perhaps the most popular recreation of the time, a baseball field.
      An excerpt from “Hack” written by Bob Boone; “People frequently walked far out of their way just to pass Shelby Field to watch Lew (“Hack” Wilson) bat out long home runs and slide on his belly around the outfield. Careful coaching from (Connie) Wardman combined with Lew’s natural talent produced a ten-year-old who played as well as boys many years older. Most of the adults who came to watch this talented youngster also noted that he did little to conceal his pleasure at playing before an audience.”
      When you combine the Shelby Clubhouse, Shelby Park, and Shelby Field; there is not a popular recreation that is not accounted for. The large recreational plan was all within walking distance of work at the tube mill and the employee’s homes in the Shelby Land Company’s Plan.
      We would enjoy hearing from anyone else that remembers Shelby Works Park. There is very little evidence of it’s existence today except this photograph that simply says “Ellwood City” across the back and the memories of but a few. Please share below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      When heading into Rock Point Park, shortly after crossing the railroad tracks there is a large pond from a limestone quarry that operated on the property after the park closed. The water that filled the quarry had a blue tint and was commonly referred to as “Blue Pond”. The story that we got from Leonard Chapman goes that at end of the shift, the men left the stone quarry and everything was fine. In the morning, something was different, the steam shovel was gone. Supposedly some local teenagers that often visited the quarry after hours managed to fire it up and move it. As legend goes, it did not go far and rests at the bottom of Blue Pond.

      This is what a section of a corner at the Mercer Road and the Ellwood-Zelienople Road intersection looked like on October 22, 1980, before construction of the Franklin Township Plaza started. The highway to the far left is Ellwood-Zelienople Road, in the left center in the background is North Star School and at the right in the background is the Ellwood Knitting Mills facility.
      The second picture is less than a year later. The corner of Mercer Road and Ellwood-Zelienople Road intersection would forever look different as construction work is almost completed on the plaza. Still visible is the North Star School in the background, but the Ellwood Knitting Mills facility is hidden by the plaza. At least five businesses were scheduled to open within the next month inside the plaza. After initial construction, there would be facilities for up to eleven businesses.