Posts Tagged ledger

    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.

      The single story stone and brick building on the corner of Ninth Street and Lawrence Avenue has one of the most storied histories in Ellwood City. Originally built as a two story stone building, it housed the Pittsburg Company Offices and was officially named the Bank Building of the Pittsburg Company. The second story housed the offices of the company Hartman used to build his town. The first floor was home to the First National Bank of Ellwood City which was organized in 1892. Many of the young town’s most influential men were at one time or another involved in the bank including J.H. Gelbach, president; H. S. Blatt, vice-president, and former board of directors’ members Frank Moore and Captain A.C. Grove.
      The Ellwood City Ledger would later operate out of the stone building, but expansion was necessary. A brick addition was added to the east side and rear (south) of the building. Additional office space was added out the East side and in 1963 the second story of the original building was removed.
      The giant safe of First National Bank is still located inside the Ledger building today but was sealed shut for many years as no one had the combination to open it. When the safe was finally cracked open, to everyone’s disappointment nothing of significant value was found inside.

      It was reported back in 1917, if you were wealthy enough, you could order a Maxwell Roadster for $795, or the Town Car for $1,095 FOB Detroit, delivered to Badger Brothers in Ellwood City, PA. The Maxwell Roadster was considered a mechanically sound car as it was reported to average 27.15 to 29.04 miles per gallon.

The Ellwood City Ledger photograph to the right is a picture of James Shallenberger showing off his brand new 1919 Chalmer that he purchased from John Badger. The picture is taken in front of the front gate of the US Steel mill. Today the gate was later remodeled into a pizza shop and today houses Nico Luciano’s.

     The First Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church originally opened its doors October 28th, 1900 on the corner of Spring Avenue and Fifth Street and continued to grow and prosper. In February of 1925, Trinity sold their building and opened the present Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church on May 20, 1925. Trinity extensively remodeled the inside of the church in early 2005. With the many beautiful stainglass windows, orginal gothic woodwork, and half circle alter, this Lutheran Church is still one of the most beautiful churches in Ellwood City.

      The Ellwood City Ledger photograph pictured here was taken during the construction  church before its dedication in 1925. Notice that Second Street has not been paved with bricks yet in this picture.

      I was flipping through a stack of old Ellwood City Ledgers that someone had let me borrow a couple of weeks ago and came to an article where they made a big deal about a certain Ellwood City baseball standout that was coming to the end of his career as a Wolverine and in his last days, hit a towering home run that not only cleared the fence but actually landed on the roof of the school. Of course this was in the days when the field was beside Lincoln High School, which a few of you might remember.    
      The way the article was written, it made the homerun seem to be a Babe Ruth-ian type of homerun that was typically reserved for movies like “The Natural”. Of course after reading this, I thought to myself that this would make a great History’s Mystery. The only problem I thought of at the time was that everyone would remember a spectacular homerun like this.
      I posted the question in the History’s Mystery section of Ellwood City Memories and it turns out, I had another problem. The home run was indeed a Herculean fete, but not that uncommon. I heard from a number of you including Bob Mallary who guessed Al Miller and Don Tindall who guessed Rich Potter. The article in the Ledger was about the drive off of the bat of Jesse Brown, but like I said, he was not alone. Jim Hockenberry, who grew up around the school remembers playing sandlot ball on the field a lot and also recalls that Mary Ann (Corigan) Caputo would easily hit baseballs onto the roof from home plate. Not only could she do it easily, but she did it regularly.
      If you know of anyone else that hit a drive onto the roof of the school from the old field, please share your memories below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      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

      When this Ellwood City Ledger picture was taken in 1969, the 700 block of Beaver Avenue was a parking lot. The lot was formerly owned by the P&LE Railroad and offered “all day parking” for the exuberant amount of twenty five cents.  Today the pictured area includes Huntington National Bank drive-through and Diamond Milling.
      In the background you can see two railroad freight cars sitting in the freight yard and Michael’s Discount Company.

      The Merchants and Manufacturers Club was the original Chamber of Commerence with almost all the area’s businesses belonging to the organization. The M.&M. Clubhouse was located beside the Baltimore & Ohio railroad at 236 4th St (currently home to the Veterans of Foreign Wars post 252).
      In the year 1900, Lyman DeHaven & A.C. Frey held a banquet in Hotel Oliver’s 40 foot by 50 foot dining room with hopes to form a club. The heads of the manufactures and local business’ were all in attendance and the Merchants and Manufacturers Club was born. The Club was so large that in the Ellwood Citizen (printed August 11, 1911) was an advertisement for the Merchants and Manufacturers Outing reporting that “Rock Point will see the largest crowd of happy people ever gathered at that popular resort.”
      A man who attended this event and watched the St. Clair Girls balloon ascension is quoted in the Ellwood City Ledger as saying “a man holding one of the ropes on the balloon was lifted 60 feet before he let loose and broke a leg in his fall. One girl jumped with a parachute while over the park & the other stayed with the balloon which landed a few miles away.” After Rock Point Park closed for good after the 1911 Labor Day Weekend, the 1912 Merchants and Manufacturers outing was held at the Country Club grounds in now what is the borough of Ellport.

      Caleb Cragle recently shared this picture from the Ellwood City Ledger taken at the former North Star School. The costumes appear to be very creative and not simply store bought. The time period is reflective of the costumes as the dominating theme include E.T. and Sesame Street characters. Among those pictured in their costume for the party are, seated left to right, Kari Emerick, Jenny Seaman, and Carrie Kotuby. Standing from left include, Mindi Meehan, Bronson Bailey, and Janet Kerr.

      The Ellwood City Ledger printed this picture that belonged to the late Henry Bazzichi of Park Gate. The picture was originally taken in 1897 in Ewing Park and read across the back “the uniformed rank of the K of P.”, but it was unknown as to what the K. of P. stood for. We have uncovered that it stood for the Knights of Pythias, who had a lodge here in Ellwood City. The question we have is where in Ewing Park was there such a formidable wall built?
      The Order of Knights of Pythias is an international fraternity which was founded in Washington, DC, after the Civil War February 19, 1864, by Justus H. Rathbone, which records today more than two thousand subordinate lodges in the United States and Canada. The primary object of fraternal organizations is to promote friendship among men and to relieve suffering. Each organization adopts some outstanding principle as its objective. The individuality of an order is determined by its ideal sentiment. The distinguishing principles of the Order of Knights of Pythias are “FRIENDSHIP, CHARITY and BENEVOLENCE”.
      Henry’s picture here originally was owned by Mrs. G.Y. Fike, but we are not sure if her husband or any relatives are pictured. If you recall the Ellwood City lodge of the K of P, we would enjoy hearing from you. Please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

      Leonard and Viola Chapman Sr. lived on the Ellwood-Wampum Road near the Rainbow Grove picnic grounds. Next to the house was a garage with an apartment above it where Virgil and Dorothy Newton lived with their children. Chapman’s back yard was virtualy the neighborhood playground complete with a merry-go-round, slide, and swings that Chapman installed for his grandchildren.
      Those that remember the event recall especially “heavy” water from the Ellwood-Wampum Road draining into the nearby ravine that had been filled with mostly sand and dirt. Water had been draining almost continually that January in 1952 until the drain pipe became clogged.
    The problem was discovered when the Chapman’s discovered a hole ten to twelve feet in diameter in the road to the rainbow Picnic Grounds. After further inspection, Leonard Chapman Jr. saw water gushing up through a hole in the families’ driveway. Mrs. Chapman thought it safer for the children to get higher ground in the apartment above the garage. 
    The Chapman’s (Sr. and Jr.) tried but could not unclog the pipe with the help of neighbors Angelo Bartolomeo Sr. and his sons, Angelo Jr. and Victor. Soon water, sand, and dirt began flowing downhill and everyone heard the earth rumbling.
    Panic started to set in and Mrs. Chapman told her son to get the children out of the apartment, but they were not able to go to the basement of the house as it was already underwater. Leonard Chapman Jr. got to the children and literally “throwing” the youngest down the stairs, everyone was able to get to safety in time to “watch everything go”.
    The merry-go-round, slide, swings, chicken coops, even another smaller building. “Everything washed down creek.”
    No one was hurt in the landslide but according to the Ellwood City Ledger there was damage to basement of the house and the foundation of the garage/apartment was exposed. Do you remember the day the earth moved? We would enjoy hearing your memories. Please leave your comments below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

     The former Ellwood City YMCA was located at the site of the former Hazel Dell School on the corner of the College Street and Line Avenue. Area residents enjoyed a number of organized activities that the “Y” offered including basketball leagues, volleyball leagues, soccer, hockey, and many others. The Ellwood City Ledger pictures here were advertisements for new leagues that were starting at the YMCA. The first was for a new floor hockey league for children in fourth grade through sixth grade (pictured from left to right are Erich Weyant, Jeff Boller, instructor Vic Rangel, and Adam Musse). The second picture was for pre-school soccer using a nerf ball. Pictured from left to right are Damien DeCaria, Michelle Rocco, Michael Rocco, Vic Rangel (instructor) and Paul Weingartner. 
     It was reported in the Beaver County Times in May of 1984 that the Ellwood City Council conducted a hearing to air public views on a YMCA request for the borough to create a municipal authority to handle financing of a proposed $1 million structure.
        “The new facility would have replaced the Ellwood YMCA at College Street and Line Avenue permitting it to expand programs with plans that included the installation of a health center with steam room, Nautilus, sauna, whirlpool, exercise room, and weight room that were not available at the old location. The new facility would also permit an Olympic size swimming pool to replace a 3 by 12 foot diameter children’s pool. Regulation size basketball and racquetball courts would have also been installed.
      The new authority would have been in charge of handling funds from private donations that were to be used to pay for the new facility.”
    It was later reported in August 1984, the Ellwood City Council announced approval of leasing land in Ewing Park to the Ellwood YMCA as a locale for the new YMCA. Building upon the site would cost about $500,000 less than previously planned sites including in the US Steel Industrial Park. Council granted the YMCA a ninety nine year lease on the property at a cost of one dollar a year. The double tennis courts would have to be removed to build the building, but would be replaced.