Posts Tagged ewing park

    I have mentioned Nick’s in Ewing Park many times but many people have also shared their memories with us of the Dairy Queen in Ewing Park. We have heard about the great summer that the banana splits were on sale all summer long and Dave Weingartner shared with us his memories of hanging out in the parking lot of the Dairy Queen with all the other young kids of Ellwood City on their bicycles. Most of the boys were on little league teams and they could be identified by their little league hats.
The Dairy Queen is no longer there, having been gone for quite awhile now. In the mid 90′s a small Italian Ice shack set up business on the old foundation but was replaced by the current apartment building. Do you have any memories of the old Dairy Queen? We would love to hear from you, please leave a comment below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Originally Published April 17, 2009

     Paul Weingartner owns this original picture from 1951 taken from the location of Paul’s Auto Body showing the intersection of East Line Avenue and Joffre Street. It is faint, but if you look close you can see the Ewing Park baseball field in the background.

Originally Posted Dec 10, 2010

    Loccisano’s Golden Dawn first started in 1916 in Burnstown, Pennsylvania where Nick and Bettina Loccisano lived while Nick worked for US Steel. It was Bettina who got the idea to make a little money by selling penny candy and chewing tobacco in the front window of their house for the men that walked past on their way to work at the tube mill each morning. Eventually she added fresh produce and Loccisano’s Market was born. The Loccisano’s built a small store next to their home in Burnstown and stayed at that location until 1926.

From there, they moved their small enterprise to the corner of Fountain Avenue and Pittsburgh Circle what is today T&M Hardware, across from the current Loccisano’s store. The family lived in the apartment above the store. In the early years of the store, Nick utilized the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler, and New Castle Railway (more commonly known as the Harmony Line), a trolley service that ran from Ellwood to the strip District of Pittsburgh, for fresh produce.

     A second location (pictured above) was opened at 840 Lawrence Avenue today the site of the McElwain Bros. Paint and Collision Center. The pictures here were taken for the Ellwood City Ledger in July of 1963. Today, the store is located across the street from the location they moved to in 1926. Sitting at the end of the Ewing Park Bridge, Loccisano’s remains in family hands and is now operated by third and fourth generation Loccisano’s.

    Originally located on the present site of the borough of Ellport on the opposite side of the Connoquenessing Creek from the most Eastern end of Ewing Park, The Ellwood City Country Club first elected a Board of Directors in the beginning of April 1912. Later in the same year, the Club added a dance pavilion that would also host picnics to the grounds that already sported a two room building and its own golf course (how Golf Avenue got its name).
    In 1919, The Ellwood City Country Club purchased Dr. J.M. Hazen’s farm in North Sewickley Township and some additional acreage from James Runyan. The old Hazen homestead was renovated with an improved kitchen and added a 16 foot porch for use as a dining room and dance floor.
    Transportation was made possible to and from the club when a “private” stop was added on the “Harmony Route” only a few minutes walk from the clubhouse. The nine hole golf course was in top shape for the grand opening on May 30, 1919. A large number of lots on the Southern shore of the Connoquenessing Creek were leased on extended terms to club members which quickly erected a number of summer cottages.
    The current clubhouse was erected a thousand feet south of the original clubhouse in 1926-27. It wasn’t until the early 1940’s that the club added an additional 9 holes to become one of the finest 18 hole golf courses in the area. Bob Thompson is still considered the best hacker to be a member of the club. Besides being the areas leading golfer for over 25 years, he also was crowned the Connoquenessing Country Club golf champion 18 times. Many amateur and even a couple professional golfers have golfed at the Country Club including one of the greatest of all time, Arnold Palmer.
    If you would like to share a memory you have of the Country Club or any of its members, please leave a comment below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Post Originally Published 12/30/2008

How often do we get to sit back and enjoy the view? Mr. Young, who contributes to this site often, mentioned going to the steps of the Lincoln High School auditorium (soon to be renamed Leslie H. Sabo Jr. Auditorium) and look out over the town and soak in the view. For those that are no longer living in Ellwood but still call Ellwood City their hometown, I will have to take a picture for you when I get a chance to sit back and enjoy the view.

There are many views in our town that we have seen thousands of times but how many times have we actually stopped to sit back and enjoy the view. This was brought home to me two times in the last week. Being on a little bit of a health kick, I have been running in the evenings and last Monday I took my dog with me. Half way across the Ewing Park Bridge (soon to be renamed the Leslie H. Sabo Jr. Bridge) my dog just stopped and was looking down at the creek. After I tripped over him and got mad, I looked down at the creek below with the leaves beginning to change and remembered how beautiful that view can be.

The second reminder began with my bicycle getting a flat tire by McDonalds on the way home from work. As I was pushing the (censored) bicycle across the Veterans (Fifth Street) Bridge, fifteen feet in front of me a bald eagle came up over the deck and flew across the bridge ten feet above the road and back down to the creek on the other side. I watched as this majestic bird floated along following the creek without flapping his spread wings once. This eagle was not as big as the one people often see over Giant Eagle but it was still a stunning bird with the sun gleaming off the brilliant white head. Had I not gotten the flat tire, I would have missed the opportunity to see this (I would have saved $30 but would have missed the grandeur).

One of the most commented on posts on the web site is about sled riding memories. This picture would be looking over the town from the upper end of North Street which is a part of the sled riding memories of many. Ernie who gave me the picture just thought that those who rode down that great hill during those years so fondly remembered would enjoy sitting back and enjoying the view.

    Legend has it that Tom Foley jumped off the Ewing Park Bridge for a case of beer.

On a bet, Tom was supposed to jump off of the old Ewing Park Bridge into the Connoquenessing during the Shelby company picnic in Ewing Park. Company authorities heard of the wager and prevented Tom from making the jump. But the following day Tom showed up wearing a bright red bathing suit and jumped off of the Ewing Park Bridge.

    Tom’s world famous jump was from the middle of the blue steel bridge into the water and yes, he survived to collect his winnings. I have discovered that the wager was not for a case of beer but rather the wager was for a fifth of Whiskey and fifty dollars. He never got the fifty dollars. PLEASE NOTE: Before you try this yourself, there are some things you need to know. Foley was in the Navy and was specifically trained to dive into the ocean from the masts of ships while at sea. Also when Foley made his legendary dive, there was a damn just West of the bridge that made the creek deep enough for the dive. On maps of the area in the early part of Ellwood City, this area was actually listed as Connoquenessing Pond. The dam is no longer there making this feat impossible to duplicate so please do not try this. Ever.

Originally Published September 2009

I recently had someone ask me if I had any interest in a 1971 Ellwood City phonebook. I did not think at the time that I did, but I was wrong. I flipped through the yellow pages and just happened to stop on the Groceries and Meats section. In 1971, there were a number of grocery stores in Ellwood City compared to today where there are two.

I was a little surprised to find that in 1971, there were six grocery stores on Lawrence Avenue; yes six. I have posted stories about a couple of these stores, have stories but no pictures of others, and never even heard of a number of these. In alphabetical order..

A&P Food Store on Beaver Avenue

Best Groceries in Frisco

Christy’s Super Market on 65 in Frisco

Curb Market on Sixth Street ???

Dan’s by the US Steel guard station on First Street

Decaria & Son on Division ???

DeLoia Super Market on Lawrence Avenue

DeMauro & Spencer on the 400 block of Lawrence ???

Dom’s IGA Foodliner at the end of Wampum Avenue

Ewing Park Market at the end of the Ewing Park Bridge

Fruit City Super Market at the west end of Lawrence Avenue ???

George’s Food Market located on the 1200 block of Lawrence Avenue

Henton’s Market in Burnstown. The last of the “corner” stores in town.

Herbert’s Super Market in Ellport

Ideal Food Stores (Christy’s Super Market)

Ketterer Store in Wurtemburg ???

Keystone Super Market on the 400 block of Lawrence Avenue ???

Lanzi’s Market on Pershing Street ???

Loblaw Store on Wampum Avenue

Loccisano Brothers on Pittsburgh Circle

Mario’s Fine Foods on Spring Avenue where Pizza Joes is today

Mercuri’s Market on Fifth Street

Morini’s Golden Dawn Foods at the end of the Fifth Street Bridge on Wampum Avenue

Paglia’s Grocery at the bottom of Derby Hill across from Barry’s

Pavlovic Market on Brighton Road ???

Port Frank Grocery on the 700 block of Lawrence Avenue ???

Quinn’s Clover Farm Store on Zelienople Road in Frisco ???

Riccardi Grocery on Hazel Avenue ???

Rubino’s Korner Store in the corner of Franklin Avenue and Second Street

As I mentioned, some of these stores I have never heard of. If you remember them, please share your memories below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    The Ewing Park Nature Trail starts in the parking lot between the tennis courts and Helling stadium. The wide path winds down to beautiful spots along the Connoquenessing Creek and back uphill to the loop on the paved road through the park. At one time there were “look-outs” roped off at the very end of the loop looking over the nature trail but they have since been abandoned and overgrown. A sturdy sitting area has been added recently to the lowest part of the path, closest to the creek and picnic benches have re-appeared at the picnic area of the path. Through the years there were stairways put into place from the park to spots on the path but were not maintained. Fortunately, a couple of those rock stairways have been restored recently so that those unable to walk up and or down the hills can also enjoy the Nature Trail.

The Ewing Park Nature Trail was one of a number of projects completed in the Ellwood City Area by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930′s. Part of the New Deal, the WPA employed millions of unemployed workers during the Great Depression to carry out public works projects, including the construction of public buildings, parks, bridges and schools which especially benefited rural areas.

    This picture taken in 1936 included Charles St. John (seated front left), Walter Houk (seated front right), Cap Stone (overalls, middle in back), and Raymond Houk (next to Stone with his hat on his knees).

       The current Hartman Elementary School is located on the same property as the original school at the corner of Fourth Street and Crescent Avenue. The school sits upon property that was once Oliver Park that surrounded the Hotel Lawrence. The hotel and land were sold in 1915 to the Ellwood City school board and converted to a school building and apartments until it was torn down in 1925 to make room for the newly planned civic center that included Lincoln High School, Hartman Elementary School, a public library and more. Unfortunately half was through the massive project, the great depression hit and the civic center was cancelled due to the lack of money needed for a project so large.

When it came to naming the new elementary school and the high school, it was decided to put it to a vote. It was decided by the vote to name the high school Lawrence but was later changed to Lincoln High School and the elementary was named after the towns founder Henry W. Hartman. The original Hartman Elementary School was finished before the new high school and classes started in 1923.

For a number of years the school was alongside the baseball field and attached football field. These fields were moved to Ewing Park when the High School was expanded and a parking lot was added. Those that went to the original Hartman School remember that parking lot as their playground for recess and gym classes. The school had a unique playground to say the least. It had a very big metal swing set, metal slides, eight foot high metal monkey bars, a big metal jungle gym; all on blacktop.

I have only been in the new modern school once or twice but I remember Hartman with the old creaky floors, coat rooms, and eight foot wooden heavy doors. In a previous post, we were told by Cheryl Franus that when she started teaching there was a room in the basement of that school that was full of food supplies, gas masks, bedding, etc, all marked appropriately with the triangular design of the Civil defense and the fallout shelters.

When the Ellwood City School Board decided to tear down the original building and build a new school the current students were displaced to the other elementary schools in the district with the large majority attending the previously closed Ewing Park School. We would like to hear your memories of your time at Hartman. Whether it be the teachers, the intimidating hall ways, the art/music room, dungeon of a cafeteria anything; we would like to hear your memories. Please share below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

I forgot to mention the orange and gray gym. I went to that school two or three years and only remember going into that gym ten times at the most and half of those times were for class pictures and Santa’s workshop.

Originally Published 12-22-08

    The first picture of the tube mill was believed to have been taken late summer/ early fall of 1916 from the area that was formerly Tunnel Field. For the younger generations, it is easy to forget how big the National Tube Company (a subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation) was.

    The second picture with a close-up of “the smoke stacks” was only a portion of the tube mill that ran from the railroad tracks by the Second Street overpass to the Ewing Park Bridge. The Ellwood City Works of the National Tube Company later expanded to 127 total acres with 23 acres under a roof. Employment reached its highest point during World War II when 4,000 people were employed.

      I am always very appreciative to all those who have shared pictures with Ellwood City Memories. Sometimes I am unable to get the pictures onto the site right away as I have to make sure they are not copyrighted, but pictures like these that were donated by Scott Mackey make my task very easy.
I would like to thank Scott for these pictures he took of the construction of the current Veterans Memorial Bridge on Fifth Street. It is very easy to forget how much further west the old Fifth Street Bridge was located. I know it is mentioned a lot how the construction of the current bridge drastically changed the landscape to the Hazel Dell business district and also led to the destruction of the oldest building in Ellwood City. However, I for one do not miss driving around that island at the intersection where the end of the bridge ran into Wampum Avenue (west), Todd Avenue, North Street, and Wampum Avenue (east).
      In the one picture you can still see that under portion of the bridge closet to the bank where outside pillars are cement, there used to be a large arch like a road ran under the bridge. Does anyone know if there was a road or walkway that ran under the bridge?
Speaking of under the bridge, that pathway they built to get the cranes and cement trucks to the creek would have been a fantastic addition to Ellwood City. A pathway to the creek and a path wide enough to ride a bicycle to Ewing Park would have been a nice little side effect project. There is still a pathway up from the creek at the Ewing Park Bridge. A smaller foot bridge at the site of the old Harmony Line Bridge connecting the path to Ewing Park would have been nice and maybe someday might happen. You can see that the construction workers built a temporary bridge across the creek in one of these pictures so I guess I can hope.
      Back to the bridge, who remembers the 4′ x 4′ sheets of steel they used to cover up the holes on the sidewalk of the old bridge? I remember walking to school across that bridge and the cement would be crumbling away exposing the steel grid under the cement until one day you are walking to school (freezing) and then all of a sudden there was a hole. After a couple of days, they would just cover the hole with a steel plate and you would start watching the next spot wear away.
Speaking of the sidewalks, do you remember the large cement barriers separating the sidewalks from the roads? Those were not there when the bridge was originally built. The only thing separating the road and sidewalk originally was a normal six inch curb. I remember the way the bridge moved when the Forge trucks or Blanks trucks went across, who ever decided to add the barriers, thank you.

          I was talking to a young man that is in the fifth grade about what he thought about going to Hartman “Intermediate School” this year instead of North Side Elementary as he did last year. His biggest complaint was the different playgrounds. I agreed, there was a big difference, but I told him “Back in my day…”, you know, etc. etc.
I have never been on Perry’s Elementary school’s playground but have heard from former students that claim it was the largest recess area of all the schools. I will have to take their word for it as I said I have never seen it, but I have heard of the big field behind the former Wayne Elementary School that also had two playgrounds. Another school with an exceptionally large recess area was the former Walnut Ridge Elementary school as its yard was bigger than the school itself. As a kid, I remember having little league baseball practice there and we would not even come close to disturbing anyone who was playing on the playground at the time.

I was also fortunate enough to attend the old North Side Elementary school when the yard was located where the current school stands. The field behind the school was big enough to have a game of kickball going on at one end and a game of football at the other end. The flat field was big enough that when you were down at the other end, it felt like you were no longer even at school. All of a sudden you were just out playing with friends in a field.

The yard at Ewing Park Elementary School at one time had a slide and swing set, but little else except grass. Kickball and tag were the more common games played at recess. From what I have heard, another popular game at Ewing Park School was “chase the ball across the road”.

Then we get to Hartman Elementary School. Not the fancy state of the art one that stands today, but I am talking about the original one that had coat rooms, old wooden creaky floors and eight foot wooden heavy doors. That school had a unique playground to say the least. It had a very big metal swing set, metal slides, eight foot high metal monkey bars, a big metal jungle gym; all on blacktop. Ahh, just what every kid wants, to have recess in a parking lot. At least the modern school today has a grassy area, it’s only 8 foot by 8 foot, but there is grass. Today, Holy Redeemer is the only school where the children scrape knees and elbows and occasionally rip a pair of pants playing on blacktop. At least the playground equipment at Holy Redeemer is not bent and crooked from cars backing into them as was usually the case at Hartman.

We have heard from a couple of you about the playground at the former North Side School, but we would like to hear your memories. Please share your memories of recess in Ellwood below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com