Posts Tagged Wurtemburg

I have been contacted by a couple of people that have found milk bottles buried in their backyard however I was recently contacted by Jackie Eidenmiller who found much more. She mentioned that her husband and her stated using a metal detector in the area around their home between Ellwood Road and the Wurtemburg cutoff (part of the old Gardner farm).

Jackie shared that they are finding old railroad tracks and wheels from carts or small trains. They are also finding tools like sledge hammer heads, wedges and picks. There is a lot of cut limestone in the area, and there are remnants of a railroad bed there also.

It is believed that the defunct Elmwood Brick and Limestone Company formerly operated in the area in the late 1800′s. Some of the artifacts are dated from 1878. Interestingly they are also finding watch parts and harmonica parts everywhere. If you can shed any information it would be helpful. Please share below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

These pictures was passed on to me from Ernie Young who got the pictures from a friend, Jim White.

1st Grade Perry School Wurtemburg 1939

This first grade picture from the new Perry School that replaced Wurtemburg School after it burned down in 1933. Ernie Young who gave me these pictures is in the second row fourth from the right side, Ray Campbell in the row right behind him to the left. In the bottom row third boy from right is Ken Ketterer’s brother (?), bottom row second boy from left is Ron Nye. Best part of this picture could be Jim White’s knickers.

Second Grade Ellport School 1940

Back row: Don Hinkle, Jack Simon, Dorothy Paul, Margaret Smilek, unknown, Lucas?, Jerry Toth, James Wiltrout, Teacher unknown. Middle row: Eleanor Chima, Sylvia Toth,  Norma Androla, unknown, unknown, Rose Marie Toth,  Rose Mary Huzinec
First row: Al Jerome , Bob Evans, Jim White, Harry Gerhart?,  Dennis Bucher?

In the first name, Mr. White isn’t sure if the Harry Gerhart name is correct and also the Dennis Bucher name. In the back row, Jim is not sure of the first name of Lucas.

3rdGrade Ellport. Sept 1941
Left to Right: Bob Evans, Jack Simon, Rose Mary Huzinec, Dorthy Paul, Jim Wiltrout, Margaret Smilek, Norma Androla, Lou Conti, Jim White, Jerry Toth, unknown, unknown, Sluggo Powers, unknown, Eleanor Chima, Don Hinkle, Al Jerome, Patty Thompson, Rose Marie Toth.  Teacher unknown

Ellport 4th Grade Sept 1942
Front row: Jim Wiltrout, Harry Gerhart, Jerry Toth, and Jim White. Second row: Rose Mary Huzinec, Bob Evans, Patty Thompson, Peggy Weir, Don Hinkle, Norma Androla, Eleanor Chima. Third row: Unknown, Dorthy Paul, Lou Conti, Margaret Smilek, Jack Simon, unknown, Rose Marie Toth – Teacher unknown

5th Grade Ellport, 1943
 Front row: Don Hinkle, Jim Wiltrout, Harry Gerhart, Lou Conti, Jim White, Jack Simon, and Bob Evans.  Standing: Peggy Weir, Dorthy Paul, Joyce Elchison, Margaret Smilek, Doris Taylor, Eleanor Chima, Patty Thompson, Rose Mary Huzenic. The teacher’s name written on the back as Miss Munell, but it could be Mundell.

6th Grade Ellport 1944
Front row: Harry Gerhart, Ron Nye, Jack Simon, Jim White, Bob Evans, Jim Wiltrout, Don Hinkle. Standing: Rose Mary Huzinec, Patty Thompson, Eleanor Chima, Joyce Elchison, Lou Conti, Don Hazen, Dorothy Paul, Doris Taylor, Peggy Weir – Teacher, Miss Curry – Dog unknown.

I recently had someone ask me if I had any interest in a 1971 Ellwood City phonebook. I did not think at the time that I did, but I was wrong. I flipped through the yellow pages and just happened to stop on the Groceries and Meats section. In 1971, there were a number of grocery stores in Ellwood City compared to today where there are two.

I was a little surprised to find that in 1971, there were six grocery stores on Lawrence Avenue; yes six. I have posted stories about a couple of these stores, have stories but no pictures of others, and never even heard of a number of these. In alphabetical order..

A&P Food Store on Beaver Avenue

Best Groceries in Frisco

Christy’s Super Market on 65 in Frisco

Curb Market on Sixth Street ???

Dan’s by the US Steel guard station on First Street

Decaria & Son on Division ???

DeLoia Super Market on Lawrence Avenue

DeMauro & Spencer on the 400 block of Lawrence ???

Dom’s IGA Foodliner at the end of Wampum Avenue

Ewing Park Market at the end of the Ewing Park Bridge

Fruit City Super Market at the west end of Lawrence Avenue ???

George’s Food Market located on the 1200 block of Lawrence Avenue

Henton’s Market in Burnstown. The last of the “corner” stores in town.

Herbert’s Super Market in Ellport

Ideal Food Stores (Christy’s Super Market)

Ketterer Store in Wurtemburg ???

Keystone Super Market on the 400 block of Lawrence Avenue ???

Lanzi’s Market on Pershing Street ???

Loblaw Store on Wampum Avenue

Loccisano Brothers on Pittsburgh Circle

Mario’s Fine Foods on Spring Avenue where Pizza Joes is today

Mercuri’s Market on Fifth Street

Morini’s Golden Dawn Foods at the end of the Fifth Street Bridge on Wampum Avenue

Paglia’s Grocery at the bottom of Derby Hill across from Barry’s

Pavlovic Market on Brighton Road ???

Port Frank Grocery on the 700 block of Lawrence Avenue ???

Quinn’s Clover Farm Store on Zelienople Road in Frisco ???

Riccardi Grocery on Hazel Avenue ???

Rubino’s Korner Store in the corner of Franklin Avenue and Second Street

As I mentioned, some of these stores I have never heard of. If you remember them, please share your memories below or email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    The house was built in 1872 by Levi Ward as you can see from the picture below of the stone on the eve of the house inscribed L.Ward 1872. Levi, who was married to Jane Bennett Ward, spent his whole life in Wayne Township except a short period in Palestine, Ohio learning the trade of a tanner and a short period in the “Great West” (Illinois) after his apprenticeship. He returned to Wurtemburg where he built and operated a tannery with great success. He later added the manufacturing of boots which was very successful due to what was regarded as “the excellent quality of workmanship”.

Levi was an ardent politician and regularly attended church, Sunday school and prayer meetings at Slippery Rock Presbyterian Church. In 1856, he sold his tannery and turned his attention to farming and raising sheep and hogs. He purchased the 121 acres upon which this house sits, and the farm would become known as “Limestone Stock Farm”.

Levi came from one of the oldest families in Wayne Township as his father William Ward settled in the area in 1796. Levi’s son, Robert Bennett Ward, had a residence in Perry Township with his wife Agnes Mehard Ward, but purchased and moved back to his father’s house after Levi passed away in April of 1900.

Later owners included Ward Wehman, who married John Wehman and they owned and lived in the house until Dr. James Gardner purchased the farm about 1956.  Residents of the home after that include Vetenarian Dr. Swartz, Ralph Burnette and then it was sold to Don and Janet Hinkle.  Mr. and Mrs. Hinkle then sold the home to Robert and Pat Cairns who have restored the house back to its original beauty.

I would like to thank Mr. Everett Bleakney, David Bauder, and Patricia Gillespie Adams for providing the complete history behind this beautiful home. David and Patricia are Great Great Grandchildren of Levi Ward and Mr. Bleakney has been associated with this home since 1940 and we appreciate the sharing the information and many fond memories about the home, and the families living there. If you would like to share your memories of this house or families that have lived there, please leave a comment below or you can email me at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

Originally Published April 22, 2009

Mr. Spoa had been in the grocery business in Ellwood City as long ago as 1922, which was the same time he arrived in Ellwood City. “Uncle Gus” as he was affectionately known, came to this country from a war torn Yugoslavia in 1922 through Ellis Island at the age of seventeen to join his brother. Originally born in the village of Gobesh, Macedonia (later part of Yugoslavia) May 12, 1905, he was one of eleven children.
    His brother Ernest, who came to Ellwood City in 1917, was in the grocery business with Gus Henton at the corner of First Street and Spring Avenue. Costa Spoa later became a partner in the business when his brother died of appendicitis at the age of 26 on February 22, 1923. At that time, the area the store was located in was still part of Burnstown. Mr. Spoa returned to Yugoslavia in 1930 to marry his business partner Mr. Henton’s sister Donce Torbu on November 28th 1930.
As his family grew larger and Henton’s family also grew, the store was no longer able to sustain both families. Mr. Spoa branched out on his own and developed Spoa’s Market on First Street (later First Street Bakery & currently an apartment) in1940. Eventually he moved the market to Spring Avenue at the present site of Pizza Joes. In 1960, he built the Wampum Avenue Value King Store and leased it to Loblaw. 1963 Costa bought the “8 till Late” store in Frisco (later Riverside Chrsyler Dodge) and in 1965 he developed Christy’s Plaza which has housed a grocery store, a bank, pharmacy, restaurant, and other stores over the years. The grocery store at the plaza originally was not Costa Spoa’s store as it was leased out. The Spoas bought the former Herberts Market in Ellport in 1974 and sold the Spring Avenue location to Mario Morini in 1965. In 1985, Uncle Gus opened Christy’s Market in Christy’s Plaza in Franklin Township.
Mr. Spoa saw the grocery business change around him from a time when grocers went to the customers to get their order and groceries were delivered later in the day to a time when nothing was purchased with money but instead everything was bought on credit, to the current state of the industry today. He was one of the last area business men that could recall the days when supplies were unloaded from the Harmony Line street cars onto a horse drawn wagon and the cash registers were all hand cranked.
Costa Spoa was an avid supporter of the community receiving awards for his support of the Boy Scouts, the local YMCA and almost every other organization that asked. Since he spent up to 18 to 20 hours a day at the store, he had little time to join the various organizations himself. To say that Mr. Spoa was just a strong supporter of the Monastery of Transfiguration in Wurtemburg would be a gross understatement.
A little unknown fact is that Mr. Spoa owned the area’s first television; a large consol television with a seven inch black and white screen. He owned the television so early in the television era that he actually had to wait for the Dumont Station (later KDKA) to start broadcasting so he could use it. Even though there was no broadcast, people would come into the store just to see the test pattern on this new fangled machine.
Uncle Gus’s life in Ellwood City had a rocky beginning in Ellwood City as the passenger train he rode from Pittsburgh to Ellwood City in was involved in a collision with a freight train in the tunnel in Frisco. Even with the rough start, Mr. Spoa was a true patriot. He was very proud of America and that he became a citizen of this country. He loved the opportunities this country offered and the life he was able to have here.
If you would like to share your memories of “Uncle Gus” please leave a comment below or you can email us by clicking HERE.

Originally Published October 16, 2009

We have received a number of team photographs from people who are curious if we can identify any of the players. Unfortunately we are not able to name but a few, but hopefully you might remember one of these teams. We are going to attempt to run this post once a month or so in hope that someone, somewhere, will say something similar to the Wurtemburg United Methodist Church softball team picture we posted awhile ago… “That’s my dad. The rest of the team is…” If you have any information on any of these pictures, please leave a message below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com 

The first picture is of the 1944 Industrial League Softball Champions. It appears that the picture was taken in front of the Shelby Clubhouse on the corner of First Street and Pittsburgh Circle. We know that Charlie Zona is one of those pictured here and Marty Tomei is pictured in the second row, third from the left, but we can not positely identify anyone else. If you recognize anyone, please email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com 

The S.S.E. 1944 Softball Team. Among those pictured include coach Tom Reese and Charlie Zona. Frankie “Hooks” Lagana is the last one in the front row with the catcher’s mitt. If you recognize anyone else, please share.

This picture is of the 1945 Lawrence County Champions, the Ellwood City Boosters. It looks like this was also a softball league from the size of the balls in the mandatory pile in front of the players. JoAnn Miller Grejda contacted us and believes the gentleman on the left side in the white outfit is John Flanagan and six down from him is her father Al Miller. One of our local sports history experts, Bob Mallary, recognized the gentleman at the other end from John Flanagan as Elwin (Hink) Richards. If you know of anyone else that was on this team, please email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com 

Here is another picture from Anita Zona-Peters that includes her father Charlie Zona, the 1950 Ellwood City USA 122- C.I.O. Labor Union’ team. Jack Snare is in the back row first one on the left. If you recognize anyone else here, please let leave a comment below. 

Pictured here is the 1949 City League Softball Champions, the United Nations Veterans of America’s team. Bottom row left to right; Jack Snare, Onorato “Russia” Funari, Bob Snare, Tony Pratt, Quido Antonelli, unknown and Marty Tomei. In the back row, first is Coach Joe Haydo, the third gentleman from the left is Russ Snare, the sixth guy is Jimmy Schialdone and the last man on the right is Coach Russell Butchelle.

Perhaps the most impressive picture Maria sent us of her father Chalie Zona is this picture McGlincy Studios took of the 1947 Pennsylvania Moose Softball Champions. In the first row Jack Snare is the first person on the left and the fifth from left is Sammy “Skit” Lagana. In the second row third from the left is Frankie “Hooks” Lagana and we are told that the top row includes the fourth person, Dominick “Beanie” Lagana and Marty Tomei is the sixth from left. Unfortunately we are unable to identify any of the players or anymore of those in the back row pictured with the team. If you can identify any of them, please email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com 

Another picture of the S.S.E. softball team including Charlie Zona, except this picture is the 1943 team. We were kindly informed that the bottom row consists of left to right: unknown, Marty Tomei, unknown girl, Tony Pratt, and “Russia” Funari

We have additional unidentified team pictures that we will be posting soon including a couple High School basketball teams and a couple of teams from Wampum so please keep an eye out.

     Mrs. Jo Ann (Miller) Oxsen recently shared with us a great picture she came across while going through some old family photo albums. The attached photo is of her great aunt’s (Anna Marie Helling) Ellwood City grade school class from the late 1890′s. Anna Marie was her grandmother’s (Nell Helling Young) and great uncle’s (Dr. H.E. Helling) sister. Fortunately, this picture was labeled with the teacher (Miss Cunningham) and all of the students in the class. Some of those in the picture include… Helling, Wilson, Sims, McDonald, Whittaker, Marshall, Taylor, Cox, Ingram, and many more.
      Jo Ann believed the picture to be from 1880′s or 1890′s. If the picture is indeed taken in front of the school, there are four possible schools this could be. The Circle School was built 1895, the Wurtemburg School was also standing at that time and both had similar brick and stone as this picture. Other schools from that period that were believed to be brick buildings were the original West End School and the Texture Building that was used for a school for a period until the Central School was built in 1902. Unfortunately I do not have pictures of those two schools and I am not 100% positive that either was brick.
We would like to thank Jo Ann very much as this is not the first picture she has contributed and hopefully not the last.

      This picture is from a collection of pictures that were recently shared with us. The picture is of the former tube mill taken from the grounds of the old baseball field known as “Tunnel Field”. In the immediate background of the picture is the small village of Burnstown.

      Burnstown is located along the south side of route 488 between Ellwood City and Ellport in the third ward. The area was built up upon the Burns farm that stretched from the Northeastern edge of Ellwood City, east, and included parts of Ellport, Rock Dell, and Wurtemburg Heights. When Merrit Greene was purchasing land for the Pittsburg Company, Burns refused to sell any of his property to the group.

      Burnstown was home to many large homes as you can see in the pictures, and was largely made up of families that worked in the tube mill. Burnstown also housed a number of business including corner grocery stores and barber shops and even had its own school.

       In his eighteen year coaching span here, the ledgendary coach Bill Spellman turned Ellwood City into one of the best High School teams in the area winning two WPIAL championships back when the league consisted of 130 teams as there were no separations based on school size such as single A, triple A, as it is today. His team barely missed a third title during his tenure on the final at at-bats in the final inning. 
       During Spellman’s final ten years, Ellwood City won the section title eight out of those ten years, won two league championships, finished runner-up once and reached the semi finals three other times. His career total of 320 wins and 87 losses gives him a remarkable winning rate of 79%. His teams compiled incredible records such as 23-3 (1962), 20-2 (1965). 27-2 (1968) 26-4(1969) and 30-7 (1971), winning sixteen games in a row that his final season.

Excerpt from Spellman: One Man’s Influence by Rev. John Zingaro
       “In that day, athletes tended to play two sports, sometime three. Many teens from the schools in the area who faced each other in football and basketball would also meet in baseball. Thus, stars from nearby towns like Joe Namath and Mike Ditka who gave Ellwood City headaches in the autumn and winter also played against the local boys in the spring. But, in the spring, schools which gave Ellwood City trouble in other sports met their match. Ellwood became a powerhouse in baseball. Playing against schools two to five times its size, Spellman’s teams rose to renown in the second largest high school league in the nation, the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL).
      A modest man, Spellman often gave credit to others. And rightly so. He knew how dedicated were many dads and moms in the steel town of Ellwood City – as well as those in its neighboring communities of Koppel, Wampum, Chewton, Wurtemburg and Ellport. They formed the foundation for the coach’s success by creating one of the nations earliest and best-organized sandlot baseball programs. But once the youths arrived at Lincoln High School, it was Spellman who took them to an even higher level.”
 

     In 1922, the Pittsburgh, Harmony, Butler & New Castle Railway Company created the Harmony Short Line Motor Transportation Company primarily for freight purposes but the busses were soon after used to supplement the Beaver Falls branch of the trolley line. Additional bus lines were added by 1924 to supplement Ellwood City and New Castle rail service along with a new route in 1925 between Butler and New Castle where rail service was not present. These bus lines were originally used primarily for getting freight and additional passengers to and from the already established trolley operation. 
     In 1929 a new route was added to the regularly scheduled routes between Pittsburgh and Zelienople which was extended in 1930 to Ellwood City. The extended route connected Pittsburgh to the existing Ellwood City – New Castle route.
     Unfortunately due to increasing popularity of privately owned automobiles and ultimately the Great Depression; in April of 1931, the entire Harmony system including bus and trolleys went into receivership. The Harmony rail service was eliminated and the Ellwood City – Beaver Falls – New Castle portion was converted to bus operation.
     It was reported on August 12, 1954 that two men purchased the Ellwood City Motor Coach Company from Beaver Valley Motor Coach who had purchased the company in 1952. Donald Wooster of Koppel, who was employed at Ellwood City Motor for fifteen years and Gerald Wallace of Ellwood City purchased the bus line and renamed it Wooster-Wallace Motor Coach line. 
     We have heard that there were a number of bus stops in Ellwood City including the main stop at the Jayhawk Restaurant on Lawrence Avenue. Lincoln High School students from Ellport had the option of either walking through Burnstown and around the tube mill to school or pay to ride the city bus each day. Other bus terminals we have heard about included a stop in Wurtemburg, Ellport, Wampum, Chewton, and stops in Hazell Dell. 
     We would love to hear your memories of the busses in and around Ellwood City. Please leave a comment below or email us your memories at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

     There has been a recent effort to make the Connoquenessing Creek a usable waterway again with the addition of boat landings from Zelienople to Ellwood City. Those that have gone down the “Conny” know that West of Ellwood City Forge to the Wild Waterways Conservancy at the site of Ellwood City’s old Amusement Park, Rock Point Park, the rapids get a “little” rough. They also know that there are places in Ellwood City that the creek gets very shallow during the summer. 
     This was not always the case. The Slippery Rock Creek that feeds into the Connoquenessing Creek in Wurtemburg used to double the size of the Conny but has dwindled down in size since Moraine State Park was built. Also, another contributing factor to the depth of the creek was the large dam built by the old power plant just west of the Ewing Park Bridge. The two pictures here were taken when the dam was still intact and according to a 1903 map the area was referred to as “the pond”. This area was the site of Foley’s famous jump and from what we hear the site of pretty good fishing including some record size catfish.
     Of course the dam failed in the early 1900′s and was not rebuilt. The creek that once almost touched the Ellwood City Nature Trail in Ewing Park is now fifty feet away from the trail and canoeing is restricted in the hot months late in the summer. We would enjoy hearing any fond memories you may have of the Connoquenessing Creek. To share your memories, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    For a number of years the churches in Ellwood City had a softball league. A number of churches were involved over the years but so far the only picture we have received is the Wurtemburg United Methodist Church’s softball team. We are not sure of the year but we do know a couple of the players. Some of the folks in this team photo include:  Danny Boots, Tom Boots, Diana (Boots) Franus, Mike Esposito, Tom Butler… We are pretty sure someone can name them all!
    We would love to hear any memories you might have of the church league and would appreciate any pictures anyone has. Please leave any comments you might have below or you can email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com