Posts Tagged Forge

    One of our favorite pictures of Ellwood City is the picture taken from 196 feet above the town sometime between 1909 and 1915. It is amazing how much has changed from then to today. There is so much in the picture it is easy to miss some of the more interesting things. We have added yellow numbers to some of the points we would like to draw your attention to in this picture, of course there is more than the twelve things we mention here and would love to hear about something we missed.
    The first point of interest we see when we look at this picture is the grand Hotel Lawrence surrounded by the majestic Oliver Park. Though it is difficult to get your bearings with this picture, we are actually looking at the side of the Hotel. The front of the Hotel formally called Hotel Oliver is the side with the large white peaks and faces down Fifth Street.
    Secondly, in almost the center of the page we see the Central School building built in 1902 on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Sixth Street. Today the Ellwood City Municipal Building is located on that lot of land with a number of memorials displayed in the front lawn. The large World War II memorial in front of the Municipal building was purchased with the extra money that was raised for Ellwood City’s anniversary.
    Number three in the picture is the Park Hotel, built 1895 and located on the North side of the Ellwood City Short Line. Today, most people don’t remember the Park Hotel and we have had a difficult time uncovering the fate of the old Hotel. Did it catch on fire from the sparks of a passing train, or was it simply torn down due to dilapidation? The fact remains that the building is no longer there but if you look the next time you drive past, one of the walls from its foundation is still standing today.
    Four and Five go together, almost. Point number four is the old train station that is no longer there today and number five points to something that is actually missing from the picture, the Fifth Street Subway. The railroad you see in the picture beside the train station was the Pennsylvania Railroad, who owned Rock Point Park. The railroad through Ellwood City was known more as the Ellwood Short Line and replaced the B&O railroad that was built along the Northern bank of the Connoquenessing Creek in 1876. After the Ellwood Tunnel was completed in 1892 the railroad connecting North Sewickley & Rock Point ran through the natural plain which Ellwood City was built upon and the hilly B&O railroad was abandoned.
    Ellwood City owes its birth more to the Ellwood City railroad tunnel and Beaver Falls then the more common misconception of New Castle. Ellwood’s founder H.W. Hartman was dissatisfied with the conditions in Beaver Falls where he was the head of the Beaver Falls Water Company and Hartman Steel Company.  He heard the railroad was planning to build the tunnel to bypass the slower line through Hazel Dell and put his plan for an industrial resort town into action.
    The passenger station in the picture, known as the Union Station, served Ellwood City until the mid 1950’s. One text says the station was torn down as late as 1957, while another says it was torn down as early as 1955. Today, a parking lot is all that remains beside what is now the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Rail line.
    Just west of the Union Station is number Six, the freight yards of Ellwood City. The large structure on the Northern side of the tracks is the B.O. Freight Station. The station was located just West of Sixth Street which was a main road at the time of the picture as the bridge connecting Ellwood City to Hazel Dell was the Sixth Street Bridge, not the Fifth as it is today. The “Hazel Dell Bridge” as it was known then connected Sixth Street and College Street. The original Fifth Street Bridge was not erected until 1915.
    The B.O. Freight Station was demolished in 1982 and the property was sold to the Ellwood City Forge Group.
    Our number seven point of interest is one of the few things in the picture still standing today. Point seven is the Stiefel Building on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Fifth Street. We have yet to discover if the building was named after one of Ellwood City’s most prominent citizens, Mr. R.C. Stiefel, if he actually had the building built, or maybe he even had his offices there.
    Number eight is the old tube mill more commonly known to the folks of Ellwood as “Mill B”. Originally the mill was the home of the Ellwood Shafting & Tubing Company, the first manufacturing institution to establish itself in Ellwood City as early as 1891. “Mill B” was dismantled in 1923 and the property was sold to Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad for a freight station and yard. It is hard to see it today but from Sixth Street to Blanks Concrete and Supply was nothing but P&LE spurs. Five or six lines of empty railroad lines loading and unloading freight coming into and out of Ellwood City all day long. August 25th 1981 marked the last day P&LE took a loaded boxcar, cargo from Airway Industries out of Ellwood City.
    Nine is less of a specific point as it is a general area. As you can see from the picture, the West End of town was the direction of the growth in the early days of the town. The mills and businesses were more congregated at that end and most Ellwoodians thought that the town would continue to grow in that direction. In fact the first school built in Ellwood City after its founding was the West End School and the first hospitals were all located in that direction of town. It wasn’t until Ralph C. Stiefel and J.H. Nicholson left the Shelby Seamless Tube Company in 1899 and erected the Standard Seamless Tube Company (later called “Mill A”) that the town began spreading east also.
    Ten is the beautiful picnic grounds of Oliver Park and the site of Ellwood City’s first murder. According to “A History of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania” James Bell was found in the park next to a tree murdered. The victim, who had carried the mail from Ellwood City to the Belton Post Office, was also robbed as his pockets were all turned inside out. The park was a popular picnic destination (if you got permission from the Hotel) and how Park Avenue got its name. 
    Eleven simply points out the large farms and spread out residences that still existed in Hazel Dell. Hazel Dell originally was on both sides of the Connoquenessing until Merrit Green and Henry Hartman purchased all the farms on the South side of the creek to build Ellwood City. The roads through Hazel Dell were the old Indian trading paths from when the Shawnee & Delaware Indian tribes occupied the area. It was these tribes that actually named the Connoquenessing, which means “can’t canoe”. Hazel Dell was cut in half by the Connoquenessing and connected by the covered bridge known as the Jones Mill Bridge or White Bridge (built 1858 and razed 1898) located at the present site of the Fifth Street Bridge.
    Hazel Dell did not become a borough until 1901, almost ten years after Ellwood City. The borough of Hazel Dell officially consolidated with the borough of Ellwood City in 1914.
    Finally, point number twelve reminds you of the time period that the picture was taken. The buildings with no windows behind the houses are not garages, but barns. Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908 but didn’t begin the moving assembly lines in his factory until 1913, so there were not very many cars in the town when this picture was taken.

    If you noticed something we missed or if you feel that we got something wrong, please leave a comment below or email us by CLICKING HERE.

    The deceivingly large house located at 10 Pittsburgh Circle was the home of Jonathan A. and Nancy Evans from 1919 to 1958. J.A. Evans along with his older brother D.A. Evans organized the Ellwood City Forge in 1910.
    Mr. Evans purchased the lot on Pittsburgh Circle in 1919 and had the house that was already on the lot moved to the rear of the lot next door. After moving the house, he was able to build a house more in line with the other grand house in the neighborhood like Rich Brown’s and Ralph Stiefel’s homes. Jonathan served on the Ellwood City Council and School Board for twenty years and was on the Hospital Board and President of the Ellwood City Forge twenty two years. He also served as Director of the Chamber of Commerce for twelve years. It was Mr. Evans that donated the “Ellwood City” sign across Fifth Street in 1925 so passengers on the trains that stopped at the local station by the subway would know where they were.
    We are trying to gather more information not only about this house but also the families that have lived here since 1958. If you have any memories about this house, whether it be who lived here, the time you broke your arm falling out of the tree in the back yard, or even the way they used to decorate the house for Christmas, 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.

    Brothers D.A & J.A. Evans bought lots beside each other in 1916 on Crescent Avenue right across from Hotel Lawrence (formally Hotel Oliver). The brick house built on the Evans’ lots was to be the home of Mr. & Mrs. David A. Evans for rest of their lives. Ten years after the purchase, the hotel became Lincoln High School.
    Mr. Evans was elected Burgess of Ellwood City in 1925, served on the borough council, served as president of Chamber of Commerce, was on the Ellwood City Hospital Board of Directors, Ellwood City Industrial Corporation Board of Directors, the Community Savings and Loan Board of Directors, was one of the founders of Peoples National Bank in 1907 and he was a member of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. Along with his brother J.A. Evans, he also founded two of the largest employers in Ellwood City today, the Ellwood City Forge and Mary Evans Hospital (named after their mother). Mary Evans Maternity Hospital broke ground in 1943 and the Ellwood City Forge will be celebrating 100 years of service in 2010.
    The house on the corner of Fifth Street & Crescent Avenue is presently owned by Robert & Helen Powell who live and operate their real estate business there.
    If you have something you would like to share about the beautiful brick house, Mr. Evans or the Powells, 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.

   We can not talk about the history and memories of Ellwood City without mentioning baseball. The two seem to go hand in hand. The first “official” baseball game in Ellwood City took place in 1892, the same year the town was founded. At the time, the town’s baseball field was located on Spring Avenue separating Fourth and Fifth Street. Shortly after the town’s founding, it got another field for the growing population and its love of the game. The new baseball field was named Fullner Field but was known more as Tunnel Field because it was located on the Ellwood City side of the B&O Railroad tunnel. Other fields in the surrounding area at that time included a field in Hazel Dell (the North Side) and the baseball field at the amusement park, Rock Point Park, complete with an elaborate grandstands.
    When the Shelby Tube Company started its own baseball team to represent Ellwood City along with the previously established Steel Car Forge Team, Ellwood got its newest baseball field. The Shelby Steel Tube Company purchased a large lot of land in what is now known as Ewing Park to build houses for its employees. The “Shelby Land Company’s Plan” had a little patch of land between Joffre Street and Petain Street that was turned into a baseball field and called Shelby Field. The Shelby Tube team competed with other teams located on the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler & New Castle Trolley line (also known as the Harmony Line). In only its second season the Shelby team won The Trolley League Championship beating teams like Mars, Evans City, and Butler.
   An article in the Ellwood City Ledger stated that both Terry “Cotton Head” Turner and Bill Marshall were local players that once starred on this team and made it to the Major Leagues. We have been unable to find any other reference to either player ever playing or living in Ellwood City, so if you know for sure please let us know. 
    ‘Cotton Head’ played 19 seasons with the Cleveland Indians after starting his professional career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. When he retired, his 1,619 games played was a team record and he also held six offensive team records including 264 sacrifices ranking him 26th all-time. Sportswriter Gordon Cobbledick once wrote that Turner was “a little rabbit of a man with the guts of a commando.” ‘Cotton Head’ was also the pioneer of the head first slide because of ankle injuries earlier in his career. Bill Marshall played only two seasons, one with the Boston Red Sox and the other with the Cincinnati Reds.
    Two other players that played on the Shelby Tube team but did not live in Ellwood City also made it to the Major Leagues. First baseman Jack Lewis played pro ball in Brooklyn and Howard Shanks of Monaca played on a couple of Ellwood teams before making it big with the Washington Senators.
    By the time Ellwood City celebrated Community Day in 1921, the town had a new field in Ewing Park complete with a fence and grandstands. The town celebrated the remodeling of the new field by hosting the Homestead Grays with the largest crowd in the history of Ellwood. Largest crowd that is until Ellwood City hosted the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1930.
    Baseball attracted crowds in Ellwood City, but one kid in particular seemed to always attract a crowd long before Ellwood City had a Youth league. “… 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.” excerpt from “Hack” written by Bob Boone and available at the Ellwood City Library.
    When Ellwood City started the Little League and Knee Hi programs, the games were played at the field by Lincoln High School until moving to a field on the football practice field in Ewing Park. While the games were played there, the teams practiced on the old Shelby Field that was now used primarily for Men’s softball leagues. Dave Weingartner shared with us his memories of the ball field at the current Veterans Municipal Swimming Pool parking lot. He recalled in 1954 his team, the Eagles, using this field as practice and was able to explain to us how the field was laid out. Home plate was just across the street from the entrance to the pool and right field was in the direction of the tennis courts. We have talked to many people from the area that used to play baseball…

     “Most of the boys wore the ball caps from their little league team all the time and became identified by the team we played for. When I received my first little league uniform at our coach’s home in Ewing Park, I can still remember how happy and proud of that uniform I was. The coach’s name was Carl Meise, the uniform was yellow and grey and the number was 4.” -  “The parking lot of Nick’s Snack Bar and later Dairy Queen next door would be full of kids on their bicycles and each one had his teams hat on to let everyone else know who they were.” – “All the clubs in Ellwood had a team like the Eagles, Elks, Moose… and you wore their jersey and hat like a badge of honor.”  – “Kids today can’t even imagine the number of bicycles that used to line the field. Parents didn’t drive you there, you rode your bike and after the game you rode over to Nick’s to get your free hot dog if you hit a homerun.”

    In 1965, the Little League Field was built at the opposite end of the high school field along Woodside Avenue in Ewing Park. All the games in the complex were all played during the day as the both fields did not have lights. Then in 1970, the Pittsburgh Pirates played their last game at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh and Ellwood City league commissioner Denny Schill stepped in. Through Mr. Schill’s negotiations, the Ellwood City Borough managed to buy the old lights from Forbes Field so the kids in Ellwood City could have night games.
    Thanks to the many, many volunteers that have coached and shaped the youth of the area through the years, many great players have played in Ellwood City. Some went on to fame, some are remembered for that one great play they made, and others are simply remembered by those they played with. Not many reached the level of success as Major League Hall of Famer Hack Wilson, but he is by far not the only Ellwood native to achieve success at the next levels. Butch Babcock pitched for the Texas Rangers for three seasons and Don Schaly of Ellwood City was the head coach at Marietta College for forty years. When he retired in 2003, Schaly was the winningest coach in NCAA Division III history with a 1442 career wins and only 329 loses. His winning percentage of .814 is still the highest percentage in any NCAA Division ever.

    If you have a memory you would like to share about baseball in Ellwood City, please leave a comment below or email us by CLICKING HERE. We know we just touched on the history of baseball in Ellwood City and there is much, much more. If you would like more information, a great site you may want to visit is Ellwood City Amateur Baseball Federation.

Ellwood City Memories would like to thank Dave Weingartner & Charles Hall for providing information for this post.

Ellport Roller Rink

As a kid in Ellwood City, you always looked forward to the Tuesday night it was your elementary school’s night at Ellport Roller Rink. You would get there twenty minutes early and pack as many kids into the four foot by four foot waiting room just counting down the seconds until the little block of wood in the window was removed so you could pay your dollar and get into the door. You would funnel four or five kids at a time through the door as they were kicking their shoes off but not forgetting to get their number written with a sharpie onto their hands. With shoes in hand, running to the skate window to exchange your shoes with a pair of skates so you could be one of the first kids onto the rink and not miss a minute of skating fun.

Ellport Roller Rink fun

     Once everyone was inside and had their skates on, it was time to line-up for the LIMBO. Each time, it was the same three little girls that would be the last ones in while all the other kids were cheering them on or busy playing the arcade games during the break. As soon as the last little girl bumped the pole off the stands, it was like a flood gate opening and the kids were back onto the rink in a flash. Occasionally you would get yelled at over the microphone for racing and of course the loud bangs from running into the fire exits. Eventually as you would skate around the rink singing along at the top of your lungs to YMCA, showing off a little, you ended up on your backside at least once. The trick to falling was to bring your hands in as fast as possible because your friend right behind you was going to run them over if you didn’t.

Ellport Roller Rink opened 1971

    After a couple of minutes, the kids were called back off of the rink to spin the wheel. Tim would spin the big wheel and as that wheel started slowing down, you would look at your swollen hand (from getting run over) to the number written in marker, like the prize was millions of dollars. Then when the disappointment that you didn’t win the candy bar this time subsided, it was back to skating. A little hokey pokey, a backwards skate, and then the announcement you have been waiting for all night. “Couples Only!” All the guys quickly turn to find a girl to hold hands with, but alas, all the girls are already on the rink skating with their girlfriends as most of the guys sit on the benches waiting for the next skating party.
Please share your memories of Ellport Roller Rink by clicking on the “comments” link below or email us.

At least ten Presidents of the United States have come through our little town. Not all of them were President at the time but were President none the same.

The list includes Harding, Bush Sr. and Jr., JFK, Garfield, Washington, McKinley, Taft, Taylor, Coolidge, and Roosevelt. The first President of the United States to come through Ellwood City was the first President George Washington. In 1753, while surveying western Pennsylvania, he and his brothers stayed some time in what would later become the Fourth Ward of Ellwood City. A descendant of the Matheny family has a handsaw that dates back to the mid 1700’s given to Moses Matheny by the future President’s survey crew. It is thought that this saw was used in the construction of the Matheny Inn.

In 1847, President James A. Garfield came through the locks at Rock Point as a teenager. Actually he came very close to drowning there after tumbling overboard into the muddy waters on a dark rainy night. Mrs. Moses Mathany took care of him that night with some hot coffee, hot bath, and a warm bed in the old “Matheny Tavern”. Three years later in the early summer months of 1850, Mrs. Moses Mathany also hosted President Zachary Taylor at the tavern on his way to New Castle.

The funeral train of President William McKinley slowly came through Ellwood City September 1901. Pictures of the train passing under the old wooden bridge that crossed the railroad tracks at Second Street are quite amazing. Then on May 29, 1907 President Teddy Roosevelt came to Ellwood City. He stood on the rear platform of the Baltimore and Ohio coach shaking hands and chattering for some time.

December of 1918 saw President Taft visit the National Tube Company in Ellwood City. Originally the plans called for President Taft to spend the night at the Offutt home but the Presidents plans were changed at the last minute and he was forced to leave on the 10 pm train headed east.

The funeral train of President Harding came through town on August 4th, 1923 and his successor President Coolidge is noted to have come through Ellwood City a couple of times.  On one such occasion, his special eight coach train came through town on his way to attend President Harding’s funeral on August 7th, 1923 and again during his bid for re-election in 1924.

George Bush was in town to present a check from the federal government to the Ellwood City Forge Nov 3, 1984 while he was Vice President and people still talk about how he did not receive the warmest of welcomes from some local citizens. On Aug 3, 2000 his son George W. Bush & Dick Cheney came North through Beaver County and Rock Point by train waving to people in their back yards and stopped in Wampum to give condensed speeches while campaigning for office.

Bob Grandey shared with us his memory of when John F. Kennedy’s motorcade came up Fifth Street and turned onto Crescent in front of Lincoln High in 1960, students were released from classes to line the sidewalk.

If anyone has a picture of any of these events, please contact us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Additional Presidents may have been in our town as they were in the area including President Truman who was in New Castle Oct 21, 1958, Herbert Hoover campaigned from train in New Castle, and Harry Truman stayed the night in New Castle Oct 21, 1958. Richard M Nixon campaigned for VP to Eisenhower in New Castle in 1951 and in August 1992 Bill Clinton & Al Gore swung through the area and stopped at the Lawrence County Fair to make speeches but did not get an opportunity to get a Leroy’s hot sausage sandwich.

Several Presidential candidates also visited Ellwood City including Senator H. Styles Bridges of New Hampshire, who spoke in the auditorium of Lincoln High School on October10, 1940.