501 Wayne Avenue
The house at 501 Wayne Avenue was built in 1914 by Robert and Elinore Curry. Mr. Curry built a large number of homes in Ellwood City including as many as eight on Pershing Street between Line Avenue and five points. Mr. and Mrs. George Nickles purchased the home from the Currys in 1917, before selling the large brick house to Doctor Hosea Gold in 1925.
H.E. “Frank” Biordi purchased the house from Dr. Gold in 1946. Frank was part of the family that was already in the theater business but in 1921 he also became owners of the Majestic Theater. Mr. Biordi owned the Majestic Theater from 1918 to 1924 when he sold it to the Shuler family. He purchased the Theater again from its new owner Thomas Barnes in 1936.
Frank served as the manager as his brother Andy played on the legendary 1925 Ellwood City High School football team. On October 29th of 1974, Mr. Biordi collapsed in the lobby of his Theater and taken to the Ellwood City Hospital where he was pronounced dead.
If you remember “Frank” Biordi or Dr. Gold or have any memories of the house at 501 Wayne Ave you would like to share, please leave a comment below or email us your memories by CLICKING HERE.
Information for this post was gathered from the book Ellwood City Houses and the People Who Lived in Them by Charles R. Moser available at the Ellwood City Historical Society.
Dr. Hosea Gold was my grandfather. My father, George, changed the Gold name to Gould in the early 1950′s. My father was born in 1926 and grew up in this house. My father told me many stories about his experiences living there and took me there to see it in the 1960′s.