50 Franklin Avenue
During the early part of the 1920′s Mr. Pirzappia came to America in pursuit of the “American Dream” and a better life for his family. Like a lot of men during the time, he came to this country by himself leaving his wife and children in Italy until he could afford to bring them here. He found work in Ellwood City and in 1926; he was able to build a home for his family and would finally be able to bring his family here. Mr. Pirzappia built a solid brick house that he was so proud of that he even had his name put into the structure.
Then disaster struck. Before he could contact his family and begin bringing them to Ellwood City, Mr. Pirzappia was found dead. His body was discovered on the railroad tracks close to the current site of Blank Concrete and Supply with a bullet wound in the back of his head. It was rumored that he was the unfortunate victim of the Black Hand but we can not confirm this.
The Pirzappia family never made it to Ellwood City, or even America for that matter. After this tragedy, the family left Italy for Australia where his remaining relatives still live today.
I walked down this stretch of road every day on my way to school. We knew this as “Frank’s house” as that was the name of our neighbor’s fishing buddy who lived there at the time.
Once there was a particularly bad storm with high winds and the electric substation right next to the house had electricity arcing between the wires and transformers.
I haven’t been back to EC in a few years, it is really neat to see how the old hood hasn’t changed much.
My father (now deceased) was raised at 504 Franklin, but I wonder if he knew about this story.
Like many in EC, his father (my grandfather) shared a similar story to that of Mr. Pirzappia, but he changed his Greek name to a more English-sounding one before coming to Ellwood City.
Thanks for fleshing out the history of that neighborhood.