Posts Tagged Frisco

What Was That Restaurant: Thank you to Bob Stevenson and Susan for supplying the information on the El-Mar Restaurant (owned by Ray Gillespie) across from the Ferndale trailer court in the 1950′s and 1960′s.

Mysterious Letter – There is a letter sent from Ellwood City by Samuel Hayden on October 8th 1945 in possession of Mr. George Bannister from South Yorkshire England that sends the news that Mr. Haydens grandson has retuned safe from the war in Europe and additional information. If you are related to Mr. Hayden, Mr. Bannister would like to get in contact with you. Email us and we will give you his email address.

Ellwood City Tobacco Pickers – Local teenagers traveled to New England every summer to work on the tobacco fields there. We would like to thank Denine (Jinar) Rough, Beverly Greenberg, Janice Sodergren, and Mary Joe Davis for their contributions and for setting us straight on the facts.

Fallout Shelters: Thank you to those who have pointed out a couple of the fallout shelters in town. We know there were more so anyone who knows more or has any pictures of them, we would love to hear from you.

Early Tube Mill Products:  Thank you to the Champalin Valley Transportation Museum for supplying pictures of the bicycles made from the tubes Ellwood City produced.

U.S. Steel Conference Table: Thank you to those who helped us to track down this treasued relic that represents a very important part of Ellwood City’s past.

Grimm Bridge:  Thank you to Bruce Wells at the Pennsylvania Trolley Museum and Wayne Cole formerly of Ellwood City and author of Ghost Rails VI: The Harmony Route for helping us identify the old Harmony Line Bridge that crossed the Connoquenessing into Ewing Park after running along the East side of the Tube Mill.  However, we are still looking for anybody that might have a picture of this bridge. We originally thought the Interurban Bridge was the bridge in question, but that bridge was a quarter mile downstream from the current railroad bridge in Frisco and also called the Knox Bridge.

Unmarked Indian Grave: In the back of an Ellwood City yearbook from the 1920’s, there is a small article on the legend that Col. Isaac Ellwood, whom our town is named after,  accidentally shot and killed a Native American somewhere behind the old Ellwood City Hospital. The story goes on to say that people came from as far away as Pittsburgh to visit this “Indian’s” grave and to honor him. The mystery, “where is the grave site”?

Friday’s Dairy: Thank you to the many people who helped with this mystery including Kirk Zikeli who pointed us to the actual Friday Dairy’s shop.

Blue & White Restaurant: It was located on 6th Street across from the current ESB bank between Lawrence Ave & Beaver Ave. There was a drugstore on the corner and then the Blue & White Restaurant. They were not exactly positive about the dates but believed it to be open late fifties and early sixties.

Roundheads: Thank you to Bob Stevenson for his information on the roundheads and the Sons of Veterans.

      The Railroad has played a very important role in the development of Ellwood City. The first lumber was brought in via the Pittsburgh & Western Railroad to the Frisco Station, where it was hauled into Ellwood City by Elmer E. Hazen and his team of horses.
Multiple railroad companies have scheduled Ellwood City as a stop at the Union station including the B&O (Baltimore & Ohio) previously known locally as Pittsburgh & Western and the P&L.E (Pittsburgh & Lake Erie) railroad. Ellwood City was also on the P.H.N.C. & Butler (Pittsburgh, Harmony, and New Castle) interurban railway and housed the Harmony line trolley station on the corner of Fifth Street and Spring Avenue.
       By 1910 horse and buggies shared the paved streets of Ellwood City with more and more automobiles but the city was still divided by the main railroad line. There was already a bridge over the railroad tracks on Second Street but it was not until 1912 that B&O built the Fifth Street underpass “subway” railroad span across Fifth Street.
The Connoquenessing Creek also runs through the middle of Ellwood City so a number of bridges have been necessary over the years. Originally Hazel Dell (North side) and Ellwood City were connected by a covered bridge. This bridge was replaced with the Hazel Dell steel bridge in 1896 that spanned bank to bank and connected Sixth Street with College Street. In 1915 Ellwood City replaced this bridge with the Veterans Memorial Bridge (also known as the Fifth Street Bridge) that connected Fifth Street with Todd Avenue. Eighty years later, this bridge was replaced with a new bridge linking Fifth Street with North Street. The original Ewing Park Bridge was built 1918 by the Shelby Tube Co. and was a toll bridge until the city took it over in 1939. Ellwood City replaced this bridge in 2004 with a new bridge in the same location.