Posts Tagged franklin

    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.

    After living on Lawrence Avenue in Ellwood City for a short time in 1944, Harvey Monroe Best and his wife, Vesta Marie nee Swick, decided to move out to Franklin Township, into a small apartment duplex located directly on the northeast corner of the intersection of Rt. 288 and Mercer Road, (today Giant Eagle plaza). Previous to becoming an apartment complex, this building was the original North Star two-room schoolhouse, also known as the old North Sewickley School.
    Vesta shared that they had two bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen and a washroom. She also remembers that since the building had been an old school building, the ceilings were very high and it was cold, drafty, and hard to heat in the winter. She once recalled: “We had two stoves for heat, a pot bellied stove in the front room and the cooking stove. We always hated to use the pot bellied stove because you could see flames coming out of the chimney, so we used the cooking stove a lot to heat with.” Years later, Vesta also shared with her family: “When Linda came home, there was snow this high [holding her hand about two feet off of the floor], and Grandpap had to shovel the snow for us to get in the house. Oh man, was it cold!”
     On January 19, 1945, Linda Marie Best, the first of two children to the Best family was born. The family still lived in the old school at that time, and Vesta has many pictures of Linda, her father Harvey, and many members of the family that were taken on the porch and in the yard of the old school during this period. Jessie Coblentz (in the photos) is the sister of Harvey Best, and Lena Crans is Vesta’s sister. The Best’s continued living at the old North Star schoolhouse until 1947 when they built a house on North Tower Road in Franklin Township.
     While the Best family resided in one side of the duplex, Dale and Mary Jane Bonzo lived in the other side. Mr. Mike Mozier had lived in the school apartment building previously, but he had built a house out in Hardyville, leaving the apartment available for the Best’s to move into.
    Many thanks go out to Mark R. Barnes of Crescent Avenue Ellwood City for providing this post and all pictures included. Mark is the grandson of Harvey Monroe & Vesta Marie Swick Best. If you would like to share any memories of the two-room North Star schoolhouse or the families mentioned above, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Picture #1 Left to right: Mae Coblentz (little girl in white); Jessie Coblentz (black clothes against pole); Bobby Crans (white shirt in yard); Cecil “Dick” Crans (white shirt on steps); Bill Coblentz (black clothes on chair); Harvey Best holding Linda Best (kneeling down in yard).

Picture #2 Left to right: Jessie Coblentz (black clothes against pole); Cecil “Dick” Crans (white shirt on steps); Mae Coblentz (little girl in white); Bobby Crans (white shirt on swing); Bill Coblentz (black clothes on chair); Lena Crans (woman in white dress); Harvey Best walking Linda Best (Harvey bending over).

Picture #3 Left to right: Jessie Coblentz (black clothes against pole); Lena and Bobby Crans (on swing); Cecil “Dick” Crans (white shirt on steps); June Coblentz (little girl on steps); Linda Best (little girl on chair behind June Coblentz); Bill Coblentz (black clothes on chair); Mae Coblentz (little girl in white dress); Harvey Best (white shirt leaning against pole).

Picture #4 Cal Swick sitting on porch.

   In 1906, Joseph Rubino bought the building on the corner of 200 Franklin Avenue and ran a General Store there selling dry goods as well as groceries until 1922. Joe’s daughter Fanny Lanzi and her husband Nick took over the General Store and moved it into a new building next door at 202 Franklin Avenue. Joseph Rubino’s mother in-law decided to open a confectionary store in the old empty building at 200 Franklin Avenue. 
    The Lanzis closed the General Store at 202 Franklin Avenue in 1932 and opened the New Deal Bar in their new building but Mrs. Miele continued to operate her candy store at 200 Franklin Avenue until 1936 when she passed away at the age of 80. After her death, Steve Rubino took over the store, remodeled it and he and his wife Rose operated Rubinos Korner Market until 1973. When Steve and Rose closed the Korner Market, their son Joe opened an electrical equipment store in its place that continues to operate today.
    Joe’s father, Steve Rubino, was born in Biano, Italy in 1877 and became one of Ellwood City’s most powerful political figures.  Mr. Rubino served five consecutive terms as councilman and was eventually nominated for Mayor of Ellwood City.
    If you have any memories about the Korner Market or the Rubino family, 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.

    Earl Slocum built the house at 515 Park Avenue in 1917. Mr. Slocum operated the Ellwood City Slocum Hardware Company on Lawrence Ave and Seventh Street in the old Blatt Building, a business that was started by H.S. Blatt in the early 1890’s.
    The house was sold Carl & Mollie Davidson in 1928 and George & Nadine Coder purchased the home from the Davidson’s in 1965.
   Mr. Davidson was born in Ellwood City in 1891 and became an engineer for the United States government in Washington D.C. He returned to Ellwood City to enter the flour and feed business with his father W.W. Davidson and remained in that business until 1940. This is the same business George Coder later owned.
    When we researched this beautiful house we came across an article in the book “Ellwood City Houses and the People Who Lived in Them” by Charles R. Moser that says that the Ross family also owned this house at one time. It says that Benjamin Franklin Ross’s widow Margaret sold the house at 515 Park Avenue to her daughter Matilda Davidson in 1918. We have been unsuccessful so far in uncovering if the house was built for the Ross family or if Earl Slocum sold the house to Margaret Ross, or if we just got our facts crossed.
    If you know more about the history behind not only this house but also the families that have lived here, please leave a comment below or email us your memories by CLICKING HERE. We are not only looking for the history of the house but also the memories about this house, whether it is who lived here or even the games you played in the back yard.

   It was almost 11:30 AM on a very cold January morning in 1984 when a small fire was discovered that would change the structure of Lawrence Avenue forever.
   The fire started at the rear of the Majestic Theater and spread to three adjoining structures causing almost a half a million dollar in damages. The burned out Theater was not the only business devastated as ten other businesses on either side sustained fire, smoke, and water damage.  The Majestic Hall that was located at 506 Lawrence Avenue was completely destroyed and the two story building on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Fifth Street (known as the Young Building) was heavily damaged. Helen’s Dress Shop immediately to the west and Stereo Systems immediately to the East of the Theater were complete loses. Stereo Systems had moved to 504 Lawrence Avenue after a fire at the 7-L building almost exactly two years earlier caused damage to their shop next door to it. 
    The Ellwood City Fire Department assisted by firemen from Wurtemburg-Perry, Wayne Township, and Franklin Township fought the large fire for over four hours before they could get control and the thick dark smoke could be seen for miles away. Helen Mantz, owner of Helen’s Dress Shop, and Joseph Sobczak, owner of Stereo Systems, were two of nine people that were taken to the hospital and treated from various injuries that ranged from smoke inhalation to injuries sustained from falling on the ice that formed quickly with the mixture of multiple hoses and the cold Ellwood City January weather.
    The fire at the Majestic Theater was the fourth major fire on Lawrence Avenue in two years. The other fires included Keller’s Department Store at 613 Lawrence Avenue, Vinny’s Pizza and Sub Palace at 705 Lawrence Avenue, and the 7-L building on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Seventh Street.
    If you have any memories you would like to share of the Majestic Theater please leave a comment below or email us by CLICKING HERE.

    Mr. Alfonso Barbati & Filomena Mae Rubino built their home in 1919 across the street from her family’s corner grocery store Rubino’s. Mrs. Barbati later operated Mae’s Pizza Shop in the enclosed front potion of the house for sixteen years beginning in 1957 until closing the shop in 1973.
    We would like to hear more about the history behind not only this house but also the families that have lived here. If you have any memories about this house, whether it is who has lived here, if Mae’s Pizza was any good, or who lives there today. If you know more about the brick house at 217 Franklin Avenue, 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.

    The Corner House at 323 Franklin Avenue once belonged to James Runyan, who bought the large brick house that was built in 1899 from Albert & Louise Keller in 1912. James Runyan originally owned the land on which the Connoquenessing Country Club is built and was a charter member of the Glen Park Lodge I.O.O.F. that was instituted September 10, 1891.
    During the 1920′s, Mrs. Runyan and her three sons started the Runyan Service Station at the house on Fourth Street and Franklin Avenue across from the old Chevrolet Garage. The Runyan Service Station business continued to grow until at one point the sons operated three service stations in Ellwood City. The other service stations included the one on the corner of Line Avenue and Wampum Ave (currently Barry’s Ice Cream), and the other one was at the Runyan Buick Agency at the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Ninth Street.
    We do not know who has owned the house since the Runyan’s or when the gas pumps were removed. If you know more about the house than we have here, please share your memories by leaving 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 Themby Charles R. Moser available at the Ellwood City Historical Society.

    When you leave Lincoln High School from the “commons area” heading west on Park Avenue, for a brief moment it is like going back in time. The almost one hundred year old brick road that was laid by hand is flanked on both sides by large majestic houses that are as beautiful today as when they were built one hundred years ago. The nuclues of the group is the house at 523 Park Avenue sitting on the corner of Park Avenue and Sixth Street.
    The large brick house was built by Benjamin Franklin Ross in 1909.  Mr. Ross also built the Ross building, now more commonly known as the Barnes building.  A couple of years after Benjamin Ross passed away, his widow sold the house to Dr. Lewis & Mabel Ullom around Thanksgiving of 1923. The grand estate was later owned by Carlo Zabadlija, who later sold the house to Kenneth & Regina Turner in 1975. Before selling the house Mr. Ross’s widow, Margaret, sold the building that would later become the Sons Of Italy building to Morgan Rowlands in 1916. Margaret also sold the house across Park Avenue at 515 Park Avenue and two additional lots to her daughter Matilda Davidson in 1918 and the Ross building to Harry Caplan. 
    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 backyard, or even the New Years Eve party you may have attended here, please take a minute to share those memories with us. Please leave a comment below or email us your memories by CLICKING HERE.