Posts Tagged fire

    We would like to thank Rob Wilson for sending us these great pictures of his old service station on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Fourth Street. The small brick building that was torn down to make room for Rob’s Ignition and Taco Bell Express looks a little different then what I remember. As you can see, in 1933 there was no attached garage to the building. In fact there was a massive brick building directly west of the service station. Does anybody remember this building? I do not know if this was a residence, business, or more likely if had something to do with the railroad. Whatever it was, it was large enough to have three fireplaces.
    Even though the Gulf Station did not have a garage then, it does not mean that it was not able to work on cars. If you look closely at the pictures you can see that J.V. “Vic” Rabberman had a car lift, it was just outside the building on the Fourth Street side. At the time of the pictures, “That Good Gulf” only charged ten and a half cents a gallon plus a three cents tax for gas. Not to bad actually as Charley Turner used to cut hair diagonal from the service station at Turners Barber Shop for thirty five cents.
    Some other things we noticed about the pictures were the brick roads. Fourth Street was lined with bricks as you can see but it appears that Lawrence Avenue past Fourth Street was still a dirt road. Across the railroad tracks was a familiar scene but with little differences. The VFW as we know it today was still the Merchants and Manufacturers Club, and across Fourth Street is the long building along the North side of the railroad tracks that burned to the ground around the turn of the century. You may also notice that there is no Uneeda Tire on Lawrence Avenue across from the Gulf Station. Instead there is a row of houses, nice large houses at that too.
If you know the stories behind any of the mystery buildings, or want to share anything about the pictures please leave a comment below or email us by clicking HERE.

      The tragic death of Charles Johns and his son George on the evening of April 6th was shrouded in mystery and suspicion.
      On the morning of April 7, the bodies of Charles Johns and his son George, burned almost beyond recognition, were found in the ruins of their shanty-home which was destroyed by fire the night before. Their bodies were discovered by J. C. Wardman, Larry Yoho, and Carl Lattimer who lived nearby and were sifting through the ashes looking for anything that may be salvageable, not bodies.
      Neighbors watched the shack burn the night before but were led to believe that there was no one inside it. The bunkhouse was located on the John Newton farm in Wayne Township near Ellwood City. Both victims were miners and were employed in a mine on a nearby farm. Father and son evidently were burned to death while sleeping, the bodies having been found in a corner where a bed had stood. At the morgue it was said that the father looked to be aged about 50 and the son between 18 and 20.
      Reports are that a man who lived with the Johns was standing in the road while the shack burned. He is said to have had a large bundle under his arm and when asked if there was anyone in the place he replied in the negative. Sheriff Reynolds and deputies are investigating and are looking for two other men who are said to have lived at the same place.
      By noon, the day after the fire, Sheriff Reynolds said he had learned nothing as a result of his investigation so far. He said he was not looking for anyone in particular, but hopes to find someone who saw the victims the evening before. On April 9th an inquest into the death of the two Johns, father and son, was held in Ellwood City.
      A note of interest is that April 6th, the day of the fire, was pay day for the miners.

      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.

      The first school in Hazel Dell on the north side of the creek was located at the corner of Line Avenue and College Street. Built in 1892, the school was originally two rooms, but more rooms were added later. When Hazel Dell became part of Ellwood City in 1914, the school was still in use.
     Through the years there were many who taught at the school including Mary Morrison, Bell McKnight, Etta Freshcorn, John Houk, Miss Springer and Edna Book. Ms. Book’s class is pictured here in the photograph that once belonged to Minnie Mingione (third girl in the second row).
      The Ellwood City School Board decided to build a new school (North Side) on the corner of Orchard Avenue and North Street in 1916, the Hazel Dell School was closed shortly after.
      In later years a factory was built on the corner of Line Avenue and College Street to produce Jessie Jeans. After a fire destroyed the factory, a portion of the building was salvaged and converted into a YMCA. Today, the building is used for the Family Fitness Center.

     During Wampum’s 200th Anniversary Celebration, the smell of black powder and musket rifle fire filled the air. On August fourth, the 19th Ohio Light Artillery and the 63rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Company C reenacted battles fought during the Civil War.
    Captain Bill Smith of the 19th Ohio Independent Battery is standing here with an authentic Civil War cannon that was on hand during the event in Wampum.

    This small building at the five-point intersection in Ewing Park was torn down in the spring of 1967 and the site sat empty for many years before the gazebo that stands today was built. The building that was commonly mistaken for an old one room school house was built around 1922. It served many functions over the years including a place to store tools, as a voting place, to store the fire department’s hand cart, for clerical work in connection with driver’s tests and as a storage place for borough materials.
    In this picture, you can see the local “hangout” Dairy Queen in the background on Sims Street.
 

     On a cold and rainy Sunday morning tragedy struck the beautiful stone Christ Presbyterian Church on the corner of Spring Avenue and Fourth Street. On the morning of Sunday April 23, 1950 the call went out, that the church was on fire. The fire did extensive damage to the interior of the church but the structure itself was not a loss and most importantly, no one was hurt in the fire.

    For the next several months, the nearby First Baptist Church opened their doors to the Presbyterian Church and permitted them to hold their service inside the Baptist sanctuary. The Christ Presbyterian Church was remodeled and continues to be a strong church in Ellwood City today. If you remember the fire and would like to share any memories you might have of the event, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    At the corner of North Street and Line Avenue was Pinkey James Gulf Station. The service station used to be the hang out for the Road Rebel Car Club which Pinkeys son, Earl was a member.

     Pinkey’s Gulf Station later became Luttons Atlantic and then eventually Buccelli’s ARCO. In the 70′s, Buccelli’s added a restaurant in the back of the service station. Those that lived in Hazel Dell around the service station all knew when there was a fire because the fire whistle was located on top of the gas station and an older gentleman, Mr. Potter would go out and direct traffic for the firemen and tell them where the fire was.

    If you remember when the Central Tax Bureau building was a gas station, we would love to hear your memories, or any memories you might have of the Road Rebel Car Club. Please share your memories below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    Are you aware that the P&LE station is still standing in Ellwood City today?
     According to the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Historical Society web site www.plerrhs.org. The Beaver and Ellwood Railroad Company was organized May 20, 1890 and in April of 1892 The Ellwood Connecting Railroad was incorporated by the P.& L.E. to make the connection to the Beaver and Ellwood Railroad but did not open until June of 1893. In May of 1899, the Beaver and Ellwood Railroad was leased to the P&LE for twenty years. On a side note, July of the same year, the Beaver and Ellwood Railroad acquired the Ellwood Southern Railroad Company.
    Finally June 6, 1910 the P&LE purchased the entire issue of stock of the Beaver and Ellwood Railroad Company and merged it with the Ellwood Connecting Railroad Company in January 1911.
     The P&LE and B&O passenger station in Ellwood City off of Fifth Street beside the subway was torn down long ago, however the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Freight Station is still standing today along Beaver Avenue. In 1966, the freight station was converted into a warehouse and offices by Fotia Brothers Sales & Service owners, Sam & Joseph Fotia. After converting the old P&LE station into a business, they operated their dry goods firm there beside Vinny’s Family Restaurant for a number of years.
     The business took a big hit on Christmas morning in 1985 when fire swept through the Fotia Brothers warehouse on the 600 block of Beaver Avenue. The one story warehouse was gutted by the flames but firefighters from four departments managed to save part of the two story concrete office/store section. The firm made pillows, chair pads, and other dry goods that fueled the flames and produced a thick dark smoke visible from almost all of Ellwood City.
    The B&O freight station along Sixth Street, on the north side of the tracks, was demolished in 1982. That property is now owned by the Ellwood City Forge.
    You can leave any memories you may have about Fotia Brothers or the P&LE Railroad below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

     Only FOUR coaches in Ellwood City football history have posted career winning records. The best percentage is held by Denny Schill 8-1-1 in the single season he coached during 1935. Howard Gills is next in winning percentage after coaching two seasons during the war (1944 and 1945). Not many people would argue that the two most successful coaches in Ellwood City football history were Peck Lee and Dutch Croft. Lee coached ten seasons from 1919 to 1930 (missing the 1922 and 1923 seasons) and had a winning percentage of .667. Coach Croft coached from 1938 to 1953 missing 1944 and 1945 years for World War II while posting a .640 winning percentage with the most wins (88) and most losses (48).

    Coach Ganzy Benedict still holds the school record of most tie games with eight in just three years of coaching. Other notable head coaches that coached here at Ellwood City include NFL Head Coach Chuck Knox, Kansas University Head Coach Mark Mangino, and Butler Head Coach Jim Rankin.

    For the first half of the decade, the Ellwood City coach was not measured by wins or losses, but whether or not they beat New Castle. However bad we beat Evans City, usually worked out to how bad New Castle beat us; until 1925 when Ellwood City beat New Castle for the first time. New Castle cried foul that the Head Coach had water-downed the field to make a muddy mess to slow down the smaller, faster New Castle team. I do not know if there is any truth to this but as you can see in the pictures, it was a “little” muddy.

    This would not be the last time that New Castle would use this excuse to try to justify a loss to the “Big Blue”. Sue Campbell recalls hearing back in the 1930′s folks from New Castle complaining that Ellwood City went to New Castle and watered the field until it was nothing but mud and Ellwood said that New Castle did it themselves. The day after this “sprinkling” the Wolverines pulled off the upset and won the game and the controversy began again. She recalled still hearing the charge of “watering” in 1961 when she graduated from Lincoln High School.

    Due to the size of the schools, Ellwood City and New Castle did not play each other in regular season games for a number of years until New Castle dropped down to Triple A in the late 1990′s. The two schools would occasionally meet in pre-season scrimmage games and the rivalry was surprisingly still there. I recall in a pre-season game 1993 or 1994 the banter back and forth between the two teams along with the pushing and shoving and etc., caused the referees to walk off the field. The teams decided to continue the game with coaches officiating and coincidently New Castle and Ellwood did not play each other in pre-season games again for a number of years.

     We may never know if the “watering” was true or not or even if it affected the outcome much as both teams still had to play in the mud but someone always knows someone who knows. One rumor we heard was that the owner of the Ellwood City Ice Company who hired football players during the summers to keep them in shape and ready for the upcoming season, took one of his delivery trucks full of suspects to New Castle the night before the game in the 30′s and the dastardly deed WAS done. Of course we also hear rumors that someone’s grandfather told them that they were in New Castle the evening before the game and SAW with his own eyes a fire truck at the field and knows that it was New Castle that watered the field.

    If you would like to leave a memory you might have about the coaches or the rivalry with New Castle, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    There was a time when you could find anything you might need right here in Ellwood City. Lawrence Avenue was lined with shoe stores, furniture stores, children’s clothing stores, women’s clothing stores, and even men’s clothing stores. The town had premium stores and discount stores like the 5 and 10 and Gen Sales on Pittsburgh Circle.
    Before K-mart was nearby and Wal-Mart was even heard of, Gen Sales was the area’s first discount department store. Opening in 1956, Gen Sales was the place to get appliances, televisions, and other household items.
    We have talked to many people that not only remember the store, but miss it and the products it offered Ellwood City. We have heard of wedding rings, the family’s first television set, and coffee pots that are still used today.
    Frank, the son of one of the co-owners of Gen Sales Company Joseph Geniviva, shared with us why the store closed. Right around Thanksgiving, Gen Sales got in their largest shipment of the year to gear up for the very busy Christmas season. Shortly after, disaster struck in the form of a devastating fire. The big fire was complete loss in both inventory and in the money that was invested in the large Christmas inventory. Because of those, Ellwood City lost a valuable asset.
    If you recall Gen Sales and would like to share your memories, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    We posted a number of pictures that Bud Dimeo took of the National Plumbing fire on Second Street in little Italy. In 1959, the year of the fire, South Second Street was the main road in and out of Ellwood City as the four-lane highway was not even considered yet. We focused on the destroyed building itself in the original post, but Tim Gerard pointed out in one of the pictures you can see Summit Avenue before the four-lane cut the road in two. We tried to zoom in the best we could and as you can see, there were a number of houses that were torn down when the four-lane was put in. If you have any memories of the houses that are long gone or the families that were displaced as a result of the highway construction please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com