Posts Tagged hazel dell

One of the things I like to do when I get old scenic pictures is to track down the location of the original picture and see how different it looks today. Sometimes it is difficult to do in the case of comparing the business district of Hazel Dell from the layout with the old Veterans Bridge to today. However, in the case of these pictures of the men paving Line Avenue with bricks (by hand), it is very easy to compare.

       On the left of the older picture you can still see the bell tower of Bell Memorial Presbyterian Church. On the right side you can still see the bell tower of the old Hazel Dell School that sat on the corner of Line Avenue and College Street. There are a couple more houses in the new picture but the new picture is missing the line of maple (?) trees that lined the south side of the street.

      There has been a lot of discussion about the business section of Hazel Dell at the end of the Veterans Bridge, but here is a new name. The first of the buildings erected in the “downtown” section on the south side of Wampum Avenue east of the former Fifth Street Bridge was home to the Zona & Sulia Confectionery. The building was built by T.C. Marshall. Pictured here outside the confectionery building are Mike Sulia and his daughter Effie.

      I am always very appreciative to all those who have shared pictures with Ellwood City Memories. Sometimes I am unable to get the pictures onto the site right away as I have to make sure they are not copyrighted, but pictures like these that were donated by Scott Mackey make my task very easy.
I would like to thank Scott for these pictures he took of the construction of the current Veterans Memorial Bridge on Fifth Street. It is very easy to forget how much further west the old Fifth Street Bridge was located. I know it is mentioned a lot how the construction of the current bridge drastically changed the landscape to the Hazel Dell business district and also led to the destruction of the oldest building in Ellwood City. However, I for one do not miss driving around that island at the intersection where the end of the bridge ran into Wampum Avenue (west), Todd Avenue, North Street, and Wampum Avenue (east).
      In the one picture you can still see that under portion of the bridge closet to the bank where outside pillars are cement, there used to be a large arch like a road ran under the bridge. Does anyone know if there was a road or walkway that ran under the bridge?
Speaking of under the bridge, that pathway they built to get the cranes and cement trucks to the creek would have been a fantastic addition to Ellwood City. A pathway to the creek and a path wide enough to ride a bicycle to Ewing Park would have been a nice little side effect project. There is still a pathway up from the creek at the Ewing Park Bridge. A smaller foot bridge at the site of the old Harmony Line Bridge connecting the path to Ewing Park would have been nice and maybe someday might happen. You can see that the construction workers built a temporary bridge across the creek in one of these pictures so I guess I can hope.
      Back to the bridge, who remembers the 4′ x 4′ sheets of steel they used to cover up the holes on the sidewalk of the old bridge? I remember walking to school across that bridge and the cement would be crumbling away exposing the steel grid under the cement until one day you are walking to school (freezing) and then all of a sudden there was a hole. After a couple of days, they would just cover the hole with a steel plate and you would start watching the next spot wear away.
Speaking of the sidewalks, do you remember the large cement barriers separating the sidewalks from the roads? Those were not there when the bridge was originally built. The only thing separating the road and sidewalk originally was a normal six inch curb. I remember the way the bridge moved when the Forge trucks or Blanks trucks went across, who ever decided to add the barriers, thank you.

      I do not know if it is because of Louise Carroll’s articles in the Ledger or what it is but I have found out that the folks from Hazel Dell are apparently the most nostalgic people in town. Ellwood City Memories gets more stories from them than from any other section of town. I actually had people that were upset that I had yet to mention Taylors Dairy Store (formerly Tritt’s Dairy). Apparently it was THE place in the Northside where everyone went for homemade ice cream. Tritt’s Dairy Store sold milk, snacks, ice cream and candy. 
      The building itself has changed a little from it’s days as Tritt’s Dairy as the front door has been covered over, but if you look carefully at the picture you can still see two of the steps that led into the store. The original owners, the Tritts, lived in the back of the store and upstairs, as the white addition was added years later. The Taylor’s, who owned the stores later, lived in the white house attached to the store for sometime.
      The empty lot next door to Taylor’s Dairy used to be a grocery store (when facing the building, it would be to the left of Taylor’s.) The small store called Nagel’s Grocery is still remembered today by those nostalgic Hazel Dellions for its “wonderful produce and lunch meats”. We do not know yet if the “missing” building was later the home of the Suds and Duds and Ray’s Toy town that burned down, but I am sure we fill find out…
      Please share your memories below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      This picture was sent to us as a question. The owner was not sure of the names of any of the players, dates or team name. All that was assumed was that it was a Hazel Dell team as it was with other pictures of Hazel Dell’s past.
      This might be an all star team from 1913 or 1914. Four or five gentlemen are wearing uniforms with a black box with a white “X” through it which was the logo of the Hazel Dell ball club, which we have a picture of the 1908 team all sporting the same uniform. The Hazel Dell black box’s are not the only team logo’s as a couple guys are wearing National Tube Mill uniforms, two or three are wearing the Shelby Tube Mill uniform, and two uniforms we have yet to identify.
      We did however identify the team members. Those in the front row left to right, Harry Ott, Joe James, Earl Woods, Mansel Hogue, Walter Houk, and Scott Cornelius; second row, Cash Vorhees, Dick Shirling, Carl Kingston (not in uniform) Earl Marshall, Herb “Javens” Jennings, Holiday Newton, Fred Markle (or Markel; far back), Loyal Marshall, Chance Forbush, and John Snare.

      Yet another remaining building from the Hazel Dell Business District that survived the construction of the new Veterans Memorial Bridge is this building along North Street. Many people from yester year remember this as Jake Britton’s North Side Market. Jake’s supported a good portion of the Northside and like a lot of neighborhood corner stores of the time, ran credit accounts and everyone would go in on payday and clear their accounts. “Jakies” is also recalled as the place to get Kosier foods and during the hard times one could still get groceries on tab. During the Great Depression, Jake’s was a place in town where you were able to get food with the small paper stamps.
      At the North end of the building (left side when facing the building) was a “beer garden” where humorously Kathy Blank recalled women would wait for their husbands on payday to get their paychecks before they went into the store. More recently memories recall a feed and grain store at the present location of Snyder Saw and the North Side News had a separate entrance north of the grain store. . The second floor has always been an apartment complex, and still is today.
      If you remember these stores and would like to share any memories you may have, please email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com or share your memories below.

      As we mentioned in one of our most popular posts “Ellwood City 100 Years Ago“, Ellwood City owes its birth to the railroad. Ellwood’s founder H.W. Hartman heard the railroad was planning to build the tunnel to bypass the slower railroad line through Hazel Dell and put his plan for an industrial resort town into action.
      The railroad did indeed play a vital role in the growth of Ellwood City and at one time ran four main lines wide through town. There were places it looked like the tracks ran eight wide as there were a number of side tracks owned by the various industries in town. We have heard from a number of people that recall the freight yard from Sixth Street to Blanks Cement that ran six to eight lines wide.
      There are numerous pictures from many different angles of the Union station that was used by both the P&LE Railroad and the B&O Railroad as a passenger station. The beautifully ornate building that sat so prominently beside the subway on Fifth Street is no longer there. The P&LE Freight Station is still standing today, however the B&O Freight Station was torn down in the 80′s. As you can see from the 1908 map of Ellwood City, The B&O freight house and the Union Station are not the only buildings associated with the railroad that are long gone. The first P&L freight and Passenger station used to stand in front of “Mill B” of the tube mill on Sixth Street. Another structure that many people did not even know existed was the engine turn table behind the old B&O Freight Station. Unfortunately, there are no traces of any of these buildings today.
      The trains came through town so often and so fast, a number of people were severely injured or even killed just trying to cross the tracks. Mrs. Kathy Blank shared a memory… “It was during one of those days (when the circus came to town), that I broke away from my Mom and wondered toward the railroad tracks. I can still hear my Mother screaming for me to “stand still”-”stand very still” as she lay on the ground and I was in between two moving trains. I can still feel the wind blowing my hair, as those trains moved. My dad was at work at the “Little Tube mill” and someone must have gotten him ’cause when those trains ended and left town there stood my Dad on one side and Mom on the other crying. That was when I started to cry, never realizing the danger I was in, but crying because my parents were crying. I received many hugs and kisses and a scolding and a BIG smack across, you know where!!!”
      Today there is only one main line running through Ellwood City. A train might come through two times a day with no stops, or anywhere to stop. There are only two side tracks but they rarely, if ever get used. Only shadows remain of what was once there along what is now the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Rail line.

      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.

      Another landmark that still remains from the downtown section of Hazel Dell is this brown building, formerly Pettibon’s Ice Cream Parlor. Pettibon’s had booths inside to sit and eat snacks, sundaes, etc. It was a place to meet friends and in 1949 possibly even meet a future husband (Hi Kathy). The ice cream parlor was on the first floor and the Mack family lived upstairs. To the left of Pettibon’s was Ralph’s Barber Shop, owned and operated by Ralph Taylor.
      One of our web site contributors recalled going to Ralph’s for haircuts growing up. “Ralph would be sitting in the Hazel Manor having a “cold one or two” and would keep an eye on the shop. He came over one afternoon and gave me the worst haircut I ever had and it made me wonder how long he had been in the Manor.” Ralph Taylor later bought out the Tritt’s and kept the store the same but changed the name to Taylor’s Dairy.
      In was mentioned to us that in the mid-50′s Pettibon’s became more of a small convenience store as Tritt’s Dairy was so close.
      We would like to thank Vonnie-Kaye, Chris Pavkovich, Dale Brown, Bob Mallary, Delores Kammermeier, and Kathy Blank for sharing their memories and we would all enjoy hearing your memories of Pettibon’s and Taylor’s. Please share below or email us your stories at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      Another one of the few remaining buildings in the often discussed Hazel Dell Business District was Jake Britton’s “North Side Market”. Dale Brown shared with us how he recalled Jake’s store supported the entire North Side. Like a lot of the smaller corner stores in Ellwood, Mr. Britton ran credit accounts for all of the families and everyone would go in on payday to pay their tabs.
      Kathy Blank remembers Jake Britton’s Grocery Store’ was lovingly known as Jakies store. The store used to carry lots of Kosier foods and she also mentioned that Jake’s was where families could get groceries during hard times on tab. She also shared that during the end of the Great Depression, customers could get food from the North Side Market with small paper stamps.
      When you are facing the building, on the left there was a “beer garden” at one time, North Side News has been in the building for years but at another door, and there has always been apartments on the second floor. Over the years, the front has changed slightly and a number recalled the feed store before Snyder Saw. We would like to hear what you remember. If you have any memories of the building or of Jake Britton, please share your comments below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      We have heard from a number of people that remember the small news stand at the end of the previous Fifth Street Bridge for various reasons but no one can agree on the name. Those that do remember the little store remember the model airplanes, the comics, but overwhelmingly the thing remembered most is the candy.
      We had one visitor who shared that the newsstand had “the best penny candy” and ten cents would get you a nice little bag full. Those from Hazel Dell would stop at the newsstand on their way to one of the movie theaters in town, the Majestic and the Manos. A ticket to get in either theater would run you two bits and people were outraged when the price later went up to 35 cents. Back then, we have heard, if you wanted to you could even stay and watch the movie over again without paying again.
      The name we have been given the most is Triangle News, but the building has housed numerous other businesses over the years including realtors and even an arcade in the late 70′s early 80′s. We would like to hear your memories of the little building with a big history. Please share your memories below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com
      A little side note on the attached picture, we noticed that the “dummy” is missing. The dummy was the cement block about three feet in diameter and between four or five feet tall. The top was rounded at and one time had a light atop and sat right in the center of the road on the Hazel Dell side of the bridge. We were told that both ends of the bridge at one time had one of these dummies and that they were originally designed to separate traffic.