Posts Tagged Stiefel

    The enormous house at 301 Fountain Avenue was not quite as large as the Stiefel home less than a block away, but was still referred to as the “southern mansion” of Ellwood City. The nickname may have had more to do with the ornamental ironwork on the flat roof of the house and the railing on the front porch roof similar to the large estates in the southern states.
The house was the home of John Gelbach, who was considered the most powerful man in Ellwood City not involved in the tube mills. He was part of the group that controlled First National Bank of Ellwood City and part of the group that purchased the assets of the Pittsburg Company in 1905 after its head man and Ellwood’s founder, Henry Hartman moved to Denver. The assets of the Pittsburg Company at the time included the power company, water company, the short line railroad and the hotel company, all of which Mr. Gelbach guided until 1933. He was very active in the First Presbyterian Church and one of the organizers of the Ellwood City Country Club.
If you would like to share something either about the house, the current owners and renovations they are making, any of the other folks that have owned the house since the Gelbach’s, or about Mr. Gelbach himself, we would love to hear from you. Please leave a comment below or email us your memories by CLICKING HERE. Don’t forget to mention the “prize” lamp in the large picture window at Christmas time.
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.

      On the 24th of October 1968, the Beaver County times reported that Councilman Dom A. Viccari revealed plans for a municipal park in the abandoned limestone quarry bordering North Sewickley Township. The area that was commonly referred to at the time as the “brick yard” would be called Limestone Park. A number of legal battles ensued following the announcement including a claim by North Sewickley Township Supervisors who declared that the land belonged to them as it was in their township. The final ruling was however that the land had been annexed to the borough five years earlier.
       Plans were drawn up immediately for a paved road to be built to the area of the park where several large caves are located. Viccari, who served as the chairman of the parks committee at the time hoped to preserve the caves for their natural beauty and interest along with all seventy six acres.
      Construction of the “new highway” or “four lane highway” had not yet started and it was believed that this new road would make access from the east to the park easier. Today, access is only possible at Brighton Road to the west onto Hack Wilson Drive that goes through the park. Hack Wilson Drive is the sole acknowledgement in Ellwood City of the Major League Baseball Hall of Famer who was born and raised in our town.  
      In 1978, Ellwood city borough obtained Federal Funds through the State Department of Community Affairs to install four lighted tennis courts, a soccer field, and two softball fields in the now forty four acre park. It was then Mayor Sam Teolis who came up with the idea to re-name the park Stiefel Park in honor of Ralph C. Stiefel (re-inventor of Ellwood City with his patented process for making seamless tubing). Today, the park is home to four various size softball fields with lights, lighted soccer field, roller hockey rink, a small playground, and the entrances to the caves have been blocked off.
      Depending on who you are talking to, the park still goes by a number of different names. Stiefel Park still gets called Limestone Park but more commonly we get people calling it the brick yard or even Brickyard Hill. The entire area the park now resides was once an operating coal mine called Kirkman’s Coal Mine.

    In 1894, the Swiss-born engineer Ralph C. Stiefel came to the Ellwood City from England to work for the Ellwood Weldless Company. Along with becoming a stockholder in the company, Stiefel accepted the position of general manager and introduced his own patented process for making seamless tubing. Ellwood Weldless became the first company in the United States to make tubing by the Stiefel method making it one of the leaders in the tubing industry.
     By 1908, the U.S. Steel Ellwood plant had consolidated the Shelby Steel Tube Company (Mill A) and National Steel Tube Company (Mill B) into the National Tube Company (a subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation) and all the seamless tube works was produced in Ellwood City. Due to the growth, the Ellwood City Works of the National Tube Company expanded to 127 total acres with 23 acres under a roof with an annual capacity of 350,000 gross tons of tubular goods by 1942 and employment during World War II reached 4,000 employees.
     In 1974, U.S. Steel closed its doors in Ellwood City and the last seamless tube was produced at the National Tube Company. When the plant closed everything that was not sold off, was to be shipped to the Gary, Indiana plant however not everything made it. In the U.S. Steel (Ellwood Works) conference room was a beautiful hand made table with a glass top and under the glass were samples of all the products the Ellwood Works produced. These pieces of tubing were not made for this specific purpose but were taken from parts of tubing made to customers order and thus demonstrate to some extent the wide adaptability and range of shapes and sizes of this interesting material. The Shelby Seamless Steel Tubing could be formed into a large variety of shapes and uses were almost limitless.
    The legs of the table were taken off of the table and the table top went to Mr. Stiefel’s family. Someone asked his daughter what she planned to do with the decorative piece. Since she had no plans for the piece, it was given to the local citizen who had himself worked at U.S. Steel and hung in his home, where it still hangs today.
    If you would like to comment on this post, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    I recently met with Mr. Frank Geniviva to discuss things on and things missing from our web site like Gen Sales on Pittsburgh Circle.  While we were drinking coffee in Thanks A Latte discussing our memories of Ellwood City, Frank mentioned that the road to the old power plant along the Connoquenessing Creek was the best sled riding hill in Ellwood City. I had never even thought of sled riding there, but he said it was so common that the workers used to leave the fence open for them so they wouldn’t crash into it.
    That hill would be fun to go down, but I can’t imagine climbing back up the hill. My brothers and I used to always go sled riding behind the old US Steel time clock station (Nico Luciano’s today). This part of Pittsburgh Circle rarely got used in the snow and when you started getting tired, there was a wooden staircase you could use. By no means do I think this was the best sled riding hill in Ellwood, but it was close to home. If we could get a ride, our hill of choice in Ellwood City was behind the women’s softball field at Stiefel Park in the old brickyard on the hill.
    Here is my question to you, where is the best hill for sled riding in Ellwood City? Please leave your comments below, or you can email us by CLICKING HERE.

    308 Spring Avenue was built in 1902 for the Mulcahys when he was the ticket and express agent for the Pittsburgh & Western Railroad. The house on Spring Avenue was sold in 1905 when he bought the City Hotel. Mr. Mulcahy fell on hard times after all the liquor licenses were denied in the county and he was forced to close the hotel.  Suffering huge loses from his hotel venture, Mr. Mulcahy left Ellwood City.
    Charles Cobau bought the house on Spring Avenue in 1905. Mr. Cobau was quite successful in Ellwood City serving as President and General Manager of Standard Engineering and Vice President of the First National Bank of Ellwood City. Charles also helped build Ellwood City as he was instrumental in securing the right of way for the Harmony Line through Ellwood City, served on the borough council, and was even a 32nd degree Mason.
    Mr. Cobau was not only an influential man in Ellwood City, but through the First National Bank, he was associated  with the town’s other most influential men including H.S. Blatt, Thomas Dugan, R.C. Stiefel, David Cartwright, S.M. Hazen & J.H. Lowry. In 1910, he helped organize the Ellwood City Forge Company with Jonathan & David Evans, Charles Martin, Charles Wilson, H.L. Wilson, & J.E. Butler.
    We are trying to uncover more of the history behind this house but also the families that have lived here since Mr. Cobau. If you have any memories about this house, whether it be who lived here, who lives there today, the time you broke your arm falling out of the tree in the back yard, or even the great treats they gave out on Halloween. 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.

    One of our favorite pictures of Ellwood City is the picture taken from 196 feet above the town sometime between 1909 and 1915. It is amazing how much has changed from then to today. There is so much in the picture it is easy to miss some of the more interesting things. We have added yellow numbers to some of the points we would like to draw your attention to in this picture, of course there is more than the twelve things we mention here and would love to hear about something we missed.
    The first point of interest we see when we look at this picture is the grand Hotel Lawrence surrounded by the majestic Oliver Park. Though it is difficult to get your bearings with this picture, we are actually looking at the side of the Hotel. The front of the Hotel formally called Hotel Oliver is the side with the large white peaks and faces down Fifth Street.
    Secondly, in almost the center of the page we see the Central School building built in 1902 on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Sixth Street. Today the Ellwood City Municipal Building is located on that lot of land with a number of memorials displayed in the front lawn. The large World War II memorial in front of the Municipal building was purchased with the extra money that was raised for Ellwood City’s anniversary.
    Number three in the picture is the Park Hotel, built 1895 and located on the North side of the Ellwood City Short Line. Today, most people don’t remember the Park Hotel and we have had a difficult time uncovering the fate of the old Hotel. Did it catch on fire from the sparks of a passing train, or was it simply torn down due to dilapidation? The fact remains that the building is no longer there but if you look the next time you drive past, one of the walls from its foundation is still standing today.
    Four and Five go together, almost. Point number four is the old train station that is no longer there today and number five points to something that is actually missing from the picture, the Fifth Street Subway. The railroad you see in the picture beside the train station was the Pennsylvania Railroad, who owned Rock Point Park. The railroad through Ellwood City was known more as the Ellwood Short Line and replaced the B&O railroad that was built along the Northern bank of the Connoquenessing Creek in 1876. After the Ellwood Tunnel was completed in 1892 the railroad connecting North Sewickley & Rock Point ran through the natural plain which Ellwood City was built upon and the hilly B&O railroad was abandoned.
    Ellwood City owes its birth more to the Ellwood City railroad tunnel and Beaver Falls then the more common misconception of New Castle. Ellwood’s founder H.W. Hartman was dissatisfied with the conditions in Beaver Falls where he was the head of the Beaver Falls Water Company and Hartman Steel Company.  He heard the railroad was planning to build the tunnel to bypass the slower line through Hazel Dell and put his plan for an industrial resort town into action.
    The passenger station in the picture, known as the Union Station, served Ellwood City until the mid 1950’s. One text says the station was torn down as late as 1957, while another says it was torn down as early as 1955. Today, a parking lot is all that remains beside what is now the Buffalo & Pittsburgh Rail line.
    Just west of the Union Station is number Six, the freight yards of Ellwood City. The large structure on the Northern side of the tracks is the B.O. Freight Station. The station was located just West of Sixth Street which was a main road at the time of the picture as the bridge connecting Ellwood City to Hazel Dell was the Sixth Street Bridge, not the Fifth as it is today. The “Hazel Dell Bridge” as it was known then connected Sixth Street and College Street. The original Fifth Street Bridge was not erected until 1915.
    The B.O. Freight Station was demolished in 1982 and the property was sold to the Ellwood City Forge Group.
    Our number seven point of interest is one of the few things in the picture still standing today. Point seven is the Stiefel Building on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Fifth Street. We have yet to discover if the building was named after one of Ellwood City’s most prominent citizens, Mr. R.C. Stiefel, if he actually had the building built, or maybe he even had his offices there.
    Number eight is the old tube mill more commonly known to the folks of Ellwood as “Mill B”. Originally the mill was the home of the Ellwood Shafting & Tubing Company, the first manufacturing institution to establish itself in Ellwood City as early as 1891. “Mill B” was dismantled in 1923 and the property was sold to Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad for a freight station and yard. It is hard to see it today but from Sixth Street to Blanks Concrete and Supply was nothing but P&LE spurs. Five or six lines of empty railroad lines loading and unloading freight coming into and out of Ellwood City all day long. August 25th 1981 marked the last day P&LE took a loaded boxcar, cargo from Airway Industries out of Ellwood City.
    Nine is less of a specific point as it is a general area. As you can see from the picture, the West End of town was the direction of the growth in the early days of the town. The mills and businesses were more congregated at that end and most Ellwoodians thought that the town would continue to grow in that direction. In fact the first school built in Ellwood City after its founding was the West End School and the first hospitals were all located in that direction of town. It wasn’t until Ralph C. Stiefel and J.H. Nicholson left the Shelby Seamless Tube Company in 1899 and erected the Standard Seamless Tube Company (later called “Mill A”) that the town began spreading east also.
    Ten is the beautiful picnic grounds of Oliver Park and the site of Ellwood City’s first murder. According to “A History of Ellwood City, Pennsylvania” James Bell was found in the park next to a tree murdered. The victim, who had carried the mail from Ellwood City to the Belton Post Office, was also robbed as his pockets were all turned inside out. The park was a popular picnic destination (if you got permission from the Hotel) and how Park Avenue got its name. 
    Eleven simply points out the large farms and spread out residences that still existed in Hazel Dell. Hazel Dell originally was on both sides of the Connoquenessing until Merrit Green and Henry Hartman purchased all the farms on the South side of the creek to build Ellwood City. The roads through Hazel Dell were the old Indian trading paths from when the Shawnee & Delaware Indian tribes occupied the area. It was these tribes that actually named the Connoquenessing, which means “can’t canoe”. Hazel Dell was cut in half by the Connoquenessing and connected by the covered bridge known as the Jones Mill Bridge or White Bridge (built 1858 and razed 1898) located at the present site of the Fifth Street Bridge.
    Hazel Dell did not become a borough until 1901, almost ten years after Ellwood City. The borough of Hazel Dell officially consolidated with the borough of Ellwood City in 1914.
    Finally, point number twelve reminds you of the time period that the picture was taken. The buildings with no windows behind the houses are not garages, but barns. Henry Ford introduced the Model T in 1908 but didn’t begin the moving assembly lines in his factory until 1913, so there were not very many cars in the town when this picture was taken.

    If you noticed something we missed or if you feel that we got something wrong, please leave a comment below or email us by CLICKING HERE.

    Ellwood Shafting & Tubing Company was the first manufacturing institution to establish itself in Ellwood City in 1891 and the first to manufacture seamless tubing in the United States. Just three years later in October of 1894, the Ellwood Shafting & Tube Company was sold to H.A. Lozier the “Bicycle King of America” and the name of the company was changed to Ellwood Weldless Tube Company. The founder of Ellwood City, Henry W. Hartman was appointed vice president of the new company. The Ellwood plant was only the second seamless tube plant in America. Also in 1894, Ralph C. Stiefel came to the Ellwood City from England for the company. Along with becoming a stockholder in the company, Stiefel accepted the position of general manager and introduced his own patented process for making seamless tubing. Ellwood Weldless became the first company in the United States to make tubing by the Stiefel method making it one of the leaders in the tubing industry.
     In the early part of 1897, The Weldless Tubing Co. built a new plant located between Sixth and Eighth Street stretching from Beaver to Factory Streets. By the fall of the same year, the new plant was absorbed by the Shelby Steel Tube Company and would become known as Mill “B”. Ellwood Weldless Tube Co.’s name was also changed to the Shelby Steel Tube Company. The newly formed Shelby Steel Tube Co. was actually a merger of plants in Shelby Ohio, Greenville PA, and the Ellwood Weldless Tube Company. Mr. Emsworth of Ellwood City was named the first Superintendent and R.C. Stiefel was appointed manager.
    From the time Ralph C. Stiefel accepted the position of Superintendent at Ellwood Seamless Tube Co. straight from England, he was connected with the Shelby Seamless Tube Company until 1899. At that time along with J.H. Nicholson, he left the Shelby Company and erected the Standard Seamless Tube Company with some friends in Ellwood City and was in direct competition with Shelby Seamless. The National Steel Tube Co. bought the Standard Company in 1901.
   Soon after National purchased Standard, the United States Steel Corporation absorbed National Tube and at the end of June 1901, it also absorbed the Shelby Steel Tube Company and Mr. Stiefel was made General Superintendent of all the plants in the country. Now all the seamless tube works were now conducted under the name of the Shelby Steel Tube Company.
    In 1905, the U.S. Steel Ellwood plant consolidated Shelby Steel Tube Company (Mill A) and National Steel Tube Company (Mill B) and became National Tube Company (a subsidiary of United States Steel Corporation). After a fire destroyed the Shelby Ohio Works plant in 1908, all the seamless tube works was produced in Ellwood City. Due to the growth, the Ellwood City Works of the National Tube Company expanded to 127 total acres with 23 acres under a roof.  The plants were served by direct connection with the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad and by the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad.  The Ellwood Works had an annual capacity of 350,000 gross tons of tubular goods in 1942. Employment during World War II reached 4,000 employees.
    August 1,1946 an announcement was made that operations at the Ellwood Works would be phased out over a three year period. The closing was avoided and 1959 saw major expansion adding two new structures for stainless steel adding 40,000 more square feet. In 1974, U.S. Steel closed its doors in Ellwood City and the last seamless tube was produced at the National Tube Company. When the plant closed employment had dipped down to a little over one thousand people.
    Please share your memories of these mills or of Mr. Stiefel by leaving a comment below or email us by CLICKING HERE.

    The deceivingly large house located at 10 Pittsburgh Circle was the home of Jonathan A. and Nancy Evans from 1919 to 1958. J.A. Evans along with his older brother D.A. Evans organized the Ellwood City Forge in 1910.
    Mr. Evans purchased the lot on Pittsburgh Circle in 1919 and had the house that was already on the lot moved to the rear of the lot next door. After moving the house, he was able to build a house more in line with the other grand house in the neighborhood like Rich Brown’s and Ralph Stiefel’s homes. Jonathan served on the Ellwood City Council and School Board for twenty years and was on the Hospital Board and President of the Ellwood City Forge twenty two years. He also served as Director of the Chamber of Commerce for twelve years. It was Mr. Evans that donated the “Ellwood City” sign across Fifth Street in 1925 so passengers on the trains that stopped at the local station by the subway would know where they were.
    We are trying to gather more information not only about this house but also the families that have lived here since 1958. 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 back yard, or even the way they used to decorate the house for Christmas, 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 large house on Fountain Avenue with the stately pillars in the front is known as the Blochers house. The property was originally purchased by Ralph Stiefel from the Henry Hartman controlled Pittsburg Company so that Mr. Stiefel could choose his neighbors. He sold the land to Paul Blocher and his wife Eva in 1914. The Blochers operated a jewelry store that first opened in 1907 and moved to its more well known location with the memorable marble front on Lawrence Avenue in 1947. The house stayed in the Blocher family for seventy five years.
    If you know who has owned the home since the Blochers or if you would like to share a certain memory you have of the Blochers 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.

    The first tenant in the Stiefel Building at 310 Fifth Street was the first Ellwood City Post Office. We do not know how many years the Post Office was based out of here, but we do know that as early as June of 1918, the Ellwood City Public Library moved there from the Ellwood City School Board owned Hotel Lawrence. The Library was only at the Stiefel Building for three years before moving again in1921.
    The next tenant we know of was J.I. Porter who set up his undertaker business here. Eventually the building became Porters Flower Shop until Mr. Hall moved his business closer to the family home along Route 488. The Ellwood City Historical Society took possession of the commemorated building and remains there today.
    The Historical Society has multiple displays that change often; currently there is a tribute to the Ellwood City icon Pe Wee’s Lunch with pictures, artifacts, a counter stool, and the actual menu on display. Other displays include the Hotels of Ellwood City, tributes to the tubing industry, artifacts from the old train station, the Jewish heritage of Ellwood City, and many more.
    We realize that there are some considerably large holes on the dates and know that there were other business located in this building on Fifth Street. If you remember a business that we did not mention, please leave a comment below or email us by CLICKING HERE.

    The enormous stone house at 329 Fourth Street was built in 1893 for Ellwood City founder Henry W. Hartman. Built at a time when the only other structure close by was Hotel Oliver (later named Hotel Lawrence) the house was Mrs. Hartman’s dream home.  
    Henry Waters Hartman, born in Huntington County Pennsylvania December 21, 1850, married Mary Holliday in 1876 and had two sons, Holliday Ellwood Hartman and Henry Waters Hartman Jr. Some folks have suggested that Ellwood City was not named after Col. Isaac Ellwood but after Mr. Hartman’s first born son Holliday (who was named after Col. Ellwood).
    Frustrated that Ellwood City never got the electrical streetcar system he desired, Mr. Hartman moved to Denver Colorado to start an electric streetcar system there. After Henry Hartman passed away in 1913 in Colorado, his widow Mary lived in the house in Ellwood City until 1923.
   Since Mrs. Hartman sold the house on Fourth Street, it has been owned by a handful of people including George Sewall III & R. Charles Stiefel Jr.  Over the years the house was also the Ellwood City Public Library, doctor offices, & bridal shops. During the 1950′s, the owners of the house at the time wanted to tear down the building to build a gas station on the corner of Fourth Street and Crescent Avenue. Currently the house is the offices of Century 21 realtors. If you have any memories of the large house or the families that have lived here, please leave a comment below or email us by CLICKING HERE.

    Richard T. Brown, one of Mr. Ralph C. Stiefel’s closest associates in the tubing business, built their family home next door to the Stiefels in 1901. Mr. Brown, like Mr. Stiefel left his mark not only in the Tube Industry of Ellwood City but on the community as well. He was elected President of Borough Council in 1900, ‘01, ‘03, ‘04, ‘05, ‘06, and again in1920, ‘21, & ‘23. He also was the successful campaign manager for David A. Evans in 1925, a thirty-second degree Mason, and served fifteen years as president of the M&M Club.
     Ten years after Mr. Brown’s death, his daughter sold the house to the Brown’s longtime housekeeper Regine Schuster, who turned the large house into a duplex. Other owners of the house include Ralph & Jeannette Viccari (who turned it back into a single dwelling) and borough manager Bret McLachlin. In 1993 Craig & Jane Brooks Cavanaugh purchased the home and restored the interior back to the original layout.

    Do you have any memories of this house you would like to share with us? Please leave a comment below or email us by CLICKING HERE.