Posts Tagged franklin

1. George Buck, 2. Logan Benninghoff, 3. Billy Williams, 4. Bion E. Leech, 5. Luthar P. Shaffer, 6. Bob Gillespie, 7 Ray Leech, 8 Alex Orr, 9 Fred Foxall, 10 Mike Curran, 11 Edward Hildebrand, 12 Frank “Indian” Craig, 13 Harry Y. McCool, 14 Dave Carson, 15 Rex Piersol, 16 Herman Buck, 17 LeRoy Beatty, 18 Edwin “Shaggy” Logan, 19 Charles Keefer, 20 Charles Carson.

I have posted a number of pictures from older football teams from Ellwood City  and heard many stories of the great Shelby baseball teams and Shelby basketball teams but no one mentioned the 1906 Shelby Tube Mill Football Team (oops Foot Ball Team, in 1906 that was two words.)

    I have to thank Ms. Miriam Filer for taking the time to send me all of these pictures along with the story of the 1906 Shelby team that was another great team that before now, seems to have been forgotten and to be honest, great is not a strong enough superlative. The 1906 team beat teams such as Youngstown, Sharon and Butler by scores of 10-0, 27-0, 23-0, 21-0, 44-0. Franklin was the only team all season to score a point against our boys in a 5-5 tie; touchdowns then were only worth five points.

    The more recent photographs are from 1949 when ten members of the 1906 Shelby Team held a reunion dinner at The Fireplace but got together at Robert W. Gillespie Sr.’s home to share stories and catch up. Those attending the reunion included 1. Bion E. Leech, 2. Harry Y. McCool, 3. Logan Benninghoff, 4. Mr. Gillespie, 5. Luthar P. Shaffer, 6. Edwin Logan, 7. W.R. Williams, 8. Fred Foxall (manager), and 9. M. J. Curran. George G. Buck was also at the reunion but was not pictured. He must be the one taking the picture (?). Only four other members of the 1906 undefeated team were still living in 1949 but were unable to attend the reunion including Frank Craig, Herman Buck, Charles Carson, and Edward Hildebrand.

    I would like to thank Ms. Filer again and apologize at the same time. She had sent me these pictures in April of 2011 and I am just now (January 2012) putting these onto the site. I was very excited when I received these pictures especially since I had never heard of them and do not know how they were skipped.

    Did you know the Elwood City area used to have a pizza shop? Okay, so we still have one or two, however, do you remember Frisco Pizza in the Franklin Plaza? Here is a picture from the Ellwood City Ledger showing the owner Ed Kingston pilling on the toppings. Frisco Pizza differentiated itself from the other various pizza shops in town as they delivered.

Mr. Spoa had been in the grocery business in Ellwood City as long ago as 1922, which was the same time he arrived in Ellwood City. “Uncle Gus” as he was affectionately known, came to this country from a war torn Yugoslavia in 1922 through Ellis Island at the age of seventeen to join his brother. Originally born in the village of Gobesh, Macedonia (later part of Yugoslavia) May 12, 1905, he was one of eleven children.
    His brother Ernest, who came to Ellwood City in 1917, was in the grocery business with Gus Henton at the corner of First Street and Spring Avenue. Costa Spoa later became a partner in the business when his brother died of appendicitis at the age of 26 on February 22, 1923. At that time, the area the store was located in was still part of Burnstown. Mr. Spoa returned to Yugoslavia in 1930 to marry his business partner Mr. Henton’s sister Donce Torbu on November 28th 1930.
As his family grew larger and Henton’s family also grew, the store was no longer able to sustain both families. Mr. Spoa branched out on his own and developed Spoa’s Market on First Street (later First Street Bakery & currently an apartment) in1940. Eventually he moved the market to Spring Avenue at the present site of Pizza Joes. In 1960, he built the Wampum Avenue Value King Store and leased it to Loblaw. 1963 Costa bought the “8 till Late” store in Frisco (later Riverside Chrsyler Dodge) and in 1965 he developed Christy’s Plaza which has housed a grocery store, a bank, pharmacy, restaurant, and other stores over the years. The grocery store at the plaza originally was not Costa Spoa’s store as it was leased out. The Spoas bought the former Herberts Market in Ellport in 1974 and sold the Spring Avenue location to Mario Morini in 1965. In 1985, Uncle Gus opened Christy’s Market in Christy’s Plaza in Franklin Township.
Mr. Spoa saw the grocery business change around him from a time when grocers went to the customers to get their order and groceries were delivered later in the day to a time when nothing was purchased with money but instead everything was bought on credit, to the current state of the industry today. He was one of the last area business men that could recall the days when supplies were unloaded from the Harmony Line street cars onto a horse drawn wagon and the cash registers were all hand cranked.
Costa Spoa was an avid supporter of the community receiving awards for his support of the Boy Scouts, the local YMCA and almost every other organization that asked. Since he spent up to 18 to 20 hours a day at the store, he had little time to join the various organizations himself. To say that Mr. Spoa was just a strong supporter of the Monastery of Transfiguration in Wurtemburg would be a gross understatement.
A little unknown fact is that Mr. Spoa owned the area’s first television; a large consol television with a seven inch black and white screen. He owned the television so early in the television era that he actually had to wait for the Dumont Station (later KDKA) to start broadcasting so he could use it. Even though there was no broadcast, people would come into the store just to see the test pattern on this new fangled machine.
Uncle Gus’s life in Ellwood City had a rocky beginning in Ellwood City as the passenger train he rode from Pittsburgh to Ellwood City in was involved in a collision with a freight train in the tunnel in Frisco. Even with the rough start, Mr. Spoa was a true patriot. He was very proud of America and that he became a citizen of this country. He loved the opportunities this country offered and the life he was able to have here.
If you would like to share your memories of “Uncle Gus” please leave a comment below or you can email us by clicking HERE.

      Paul W. Blocher opened Blocher Jewelers and Silversmiths in the 600 block of Lawrence Avenue in the summer of 1907. The shop moved to 314 Sixth Street for a number of years before settling in at the location most of us are familiar with at 507 Lawrence Avenue in 1947.
For a little over sixty years, Blochers was a staple of downtown Ellwood City before moving to a larger location in the Franklin Township Plaza. We have heard from a number of people that remember the unique black marble front and how it just seemed to “class up” the area. So many Ellwoodians have a tie to Blochers either through engagement rings, wedding gifts, anniversary gifts, Christmas gifts and so on. When someone mentions Blochers, it seems that everyone is inclined to give an inventory of the important items they purchased there through the years.
      Paul’s daughter Ruth took over the business her father started in 1938. The Ellwood City’s Centennial Queen’s daughter Rikki continued the business until 1999 when her daughter Mary took over and became the fourth generation to carry on the family business.

    Slade’s Service Station was located on Route 288 across the road from the original North Star School in Franklin Township. The station was called Slade’s in the late 1930′s and 40′s and was also owned at one time by Pelloni. William Slade is pictured here on the left and his son Bill Slade is on the right.
Mark Barnes shared with us that his Grandmother lived across the road in the old North Star Two-Room School, and remembers the guy who owned the service station used to raise and sell bulldogs at the gas station across from Easy’s Twin Kiss. Mark also recalled another owner of the station was Vic Nye. He still has old “Christmas photo cards” of the Nye family standing in front of the gas station.
The station was torn down when the present four-lane “new” highway was constructed.

      The East End Hotel was built around 1893 on the outer edge of the new town located on the Southwest corner of Franklin Avenue and Second Street. The building was a hotel for only a year before being taken over by Professor Hogue of Rose Point in 1895 to be used as an Academy.
      After the Academy closed, Cell White purchased the former hotel and operated a wholesale liquor store in the first floor of the massive building and rented rooms on the second floor. A number of years later the building was converted into a boarding house named the Library Inn.
      The old hotel later became a paint factory and then an apartment building. Today the building is gone and all that remains is a parking lot for Ronaldo’s Pizza King on Second Street. We have not been successful in uncovering if the building was dismantled or if it burned down as we have been told. If you remember the building or the fate of the building, please share your memories below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      Horace O. Abbaticchio opened the first 5 & 10 store in Ellwood called Abbey’s Racket Store in 1907. The name of the store later became Abbey’s 5 & 10. He owned and operated the store until selling it George Clinton Murphy’s chain called G.C. Murphy’s in 1917.
      G.C. Murphy’s was founded in 1906 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania and became popular for offering inexpensive yet reliable merchandise. The G.C. Murphy’s in Ellwood was originally located at 631 Lawrence Avenue before moving to the much larger location in the center of the north side of the 500 block of Lawrence Avenue. Murphy’s 5 and dime originally occupied only the east side of the building and W.T. Grant Company operated out of the western side. When Grant moved out of the building, Murphy’s expanded their business into both parts of the building as most people today remember it. In 1981, G.C. Murphy’s opened “Murphy Mart” in the new Franklin Plaza along Ellwood-Zelienople Road and would close the location downtown on Lawrence Avenue.
      In 1985, G.C. Murphy Co., “The Friendly Store” was celebrating seventy nine years of service when the company was acquired by the Ames Department Stores. Do you remember Murphy’s, if so we would like to hear your memories? Please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      This is what a section of a corner at the Mercer Road and the Ellwood-Zelienople Road intersection looked like on October 22, 1980, before construction of the Franklin Township Plaza started. The highway to the far left is Ellwood-Zelienople Road, in the left center in the background is North Star School and at the right in the background is the Ellwood Knitting Mills facility.
      The second picture is less than a year later. The corner of Mercer Road and Ellwood-Zelienople Road intersection would forever look different as construction work is almost completed on the plaza. Still visible is the North Star School in the background, but the Ellwood Knitting Mills facility is hidden by the plaza. At least five businesses were scheduled to open within the next month inside the plaza. After initial construction, there would be facilities for up to eleven businesses.

     The “five and ten” store originally featured merchandise priced at only five cents or ten cents. There were a number of these stores like Ben Franklin Stores, and G.C. Murphy’s, and the original “5 & 10″ – Woolworth’s. These stores were also known as nickel and dime, five and dime or dimestores, although later in the twentieth century the price range of merchandise expanded. Inflation eventually dictated that the stores were no longer able to sell any items for five or ten cents, and were then referred to as “variety stores” or more commonly in this area are now known as dollar stores. 
     The first “5 & 10″ store in Ellwood City was not actually G.C. Murphy’s but rather belonged to Horace O. Abbaticchio. Mr. Abbaticchio (1872 – 1970) was involved in a number of popular businesses after coming to Ellwood City in 1900. He was a partner with Mr. Biordi at the Majestic and also was part owner of the Manos Theater for a time. Before he got into the theatre business though, he opened the first 5 & 10 store in Ellwood called Abbey’s Racket Store in 1907. The name of the store later became Abbey’s 5 & 10. 
     Mr. Abbaticchio owned and operated the store until selling it Murphy’s in 1917. G.C. Murphy’s was founded in 1906 in McKeesport, Pennsylvania by George Clinton Murphy. The G.C. Murphy’s in Ellwood was originally located at 631 Lawrence Avenue before moving to the much larger location in the center of the north side of the 500 block of Lawrence Avenue.

    The building that today houses Kimmels Bakery on Franklin Avenue was originally a grocery store and the home of Frank Bellissimo. Frank raised his family on the second story above his Clover Farm Grocery Store. When Bellisimo, who often traveled abroad, would go on an extended trip he would leave the Clover Farm grocery store and meat market to be managed by his brother-in-law Frank DeMauro.
    We have had some difficulty uncovering when Clover Farm closed and Kimmels Bakery opened. If you may be the person to answer this, we would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below, or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com
    A personal memory I recall was during the summer Lincoln High School offered students the chance to take their History class during the summer and be done in six weeks instead of taking it all year long. To a tenth grader this sounded like a great deal and I jumped at the opportunity. Unfortunely it wasn’t until school started in the fall that I realized that history was one of the classes that helped me get through the typical school day. Back to my point, the entire summer we would get 15-20 minutes for lunch and none of us had a driver’s license so we had the choice of packing a lunch, Johnny’s if it was open, Four Star, or Kimmels Bakery. For one dollar and fifty cents we could get a couple long donuts filled with crème and covered in powder sugar and milk. I ate more donuts that summer than I have my entire life. Hmm, come to think of it, that might explain my weight problem.

    In 1925, Franklin Township built an eight-room, two-story red brick building to replace the two-room North Star School at the corner of Mercer Road and Zelienople Road. The students from the old Frisco School and the old North Star building were assigned to the new brick building for the 1925-1926 school year. The Frisco School building reverted back to its owner from when it was an old bank building.
    In 1931, plans were made for an eight-room addition to the North Star School but the proposed $25,000 bond issue to build was rejected. The school continued to grow and as other schools in the area closed the students were sent to the brick North Star building. The Old Furnace School closed in 1943, Greenwood closed in 1947, and the American School was shut down in 1948.
   The school was used for pupils from first grade through eighth grade. After eighth grade, the North Star students were sent to Ellwood City, Zelienople, or Beaver Falls High Schools to finish their education.
     The school was eventually torn down after standing empty for a number of years to make room for a shopping plaza along the four lane highway (Route 288). We would love to hear any memories you may have of the old North Star School. If you would like to share, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    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.