Posts Tagged Wurtemburg

    Construction for the School in what is now Ewing Park began in 1925 when the area was still part of Wayne Township. The eight room school was officially dedicated January 1st 1926 as an independent school and not part of the Ellwood City School District. The park area continued to be a part of Wayne Township until 1931 when it became the fifth ward of Ellwood City at which time the school became part of the Ellwood City Area School District and became the Ewing Park Elementary School.
    The area was originally called Wayne Park before becoming more commonly known as the Shelby Land Company’s Plan. The mill decided to honor the Generals and Admirals of World War I with its street names in the park. The name of the plan was later changed to Ewing Park after Thomas Ewing. Mr. Ewing was the assistant to the Vice President of the National Tube Company and was also the tube mill attorney who did the legal work associated with the building of the community in the park.
    The last time the school was used for education purposes was during the construction of the new Hartman Elementary School on Fourth Street. This was however not the first time displaced students attended the school. After the Wurtemburg School burned down in 1933 grades first through third were bused to the Ewing Park School while fourth through sixth grade were bused to Hazel Dell to attend Northside Elementary. The temporary classrooms were setup in the basement of the school. School children from Wurtemburg and Perry would walk a mile to meet at the old school building and get on a modified bus that the students called the Chicken Coop.
    After the students were back at the current Perry Elementary School, the basement was reverted back to its previous state. I have never personally been inside the school building, but luckily Bob Burrows filled us in on the layout of the basement classrooms. The small room under the entry stairs that faced Wood Street was reserved as a shelter in-case of an emergency and some government supplies were stored in that room as well. The room was also used on occasions to house the visiting dental hygienist and other similar temporary uses. The room to the left (North towards Adams Avenue) was the music room and arts and crafts room. The room to the right (South towards Beatty Street) was used as the indoor dodge ball/gym class when the weather prohibited outdoor physical education.
    After the school closed, the yard was used for a number of years for football and cheerleader practice for the Ellwood City Packers and later the Ellwood City Little Wolverines. I remember running the triangle shaped field before and after each practice. We would love to hear your memories of the school, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    Pat Downer shared with us this picture of the Wurtemburg Coronet Band from the early 1900′s.  Those in the picture include…
Seated:  Jim BADGER, Joe FRY, Warren BOOTS and Harry KETTERER  Back row : Jim RAPP, Bill DUNHAM, Herman STRICKHAUSEN, John BADGER, Reed LIEBENDORFER, Elmer NEWTON,  Andy MILLER,  Fred BINGLE, Ray VAN GORDER, Zeke COWEN and George RAPP.
 
The Rapp brothers were the brothers of Pat’s Grandmother, Rachel Rapp Rodgers.

    If you would like to leave any comments, please feel free below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

   The United Presbyterian Church of Wurtemburg was organized in 1859 by Rev. Thomas Guthrie, D. P., who served the church until 1867. The members of the new church originally belonged to the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Perry Township until splitting. The Reformed Presbyterian Church of Perry Township traces its roots back to the old Camp Run Reformed Church formed sometime before 1825. The old Camp Run Reformed Church originally was located on Samuel McElwains farm, over the hill from Pleasant Hill Grange Hall with Thomas C. Guthrie serving as pastor. In 1833, a group split from the church and the new movement became the Pleasant Hill Church. In 1840, the church built a new building on Harvey McElwains farm. The original Camp Run Reformed Church ceased to exist by 1851.
    The Wurtemburg large frame building was built in 1860 upon land donated by James Mehard, a member of the congregation, to house the original eighty members and a Sunday-School that has been kept up most of the time since. 1861 marked the year Pleasant Hill & Wurtemburg congregations united to form the United Presbyterian Church of Wurtemburg. The first regular pastor of the new organization was Rev. J. H. Peacock, who came about 1867 and preached here for five years. Rev. John P. Glenn took over the duties November 1, 1874, at the same time supplying the Center Church in Shenango Township.
    A portion of the congregation, some forty-five members, left the church in 1873, and formed a new congregation in Perry Township called Camp Run. They built a church in 1874 and held meetings in connection with the Mountville United Presbyterian Church.
    Sunday June 2, 1985 the Wurtemburg Presbyterian Church marked it’s 125th Anniversary by opening the church’s time capsule from September 1948. The contents of the capsule contained a church bulletin from 1948, a complete listing of the membership and a history of the church 1922-1948. The time capsule was put back into the cornerstone along with mementos from the 125th celebration.
    If you got a little confused reading the history of the churches above don’t worry, I got a little confused writing it. This is a very old church that has continued to grow, split, and evolve over the years and we would love to hear your memories of the church. If you would like to share you memories of the church or its members, please leave a comment below or email us by CLICKING HERE.

    The picture here is of the Wurtemburg Combined School (late 1920′s) given to us by Mr. Thomas Gregg of Grove City College. The school is but a memory as the building was completely destroyed by fire in 1933. The current Perry Elementary School was built to replace the Wurtemburg School on the same grounds in 1936. 
    After the Wurtemburg School burned down in 1933, for the following three years, grades first through third went to Ewing Park Elementary School, while students in fourth through sixth grade went to Northside Elementary School. As you may recall, Ewing Park School was not very large so additional classrooms were setup in the basement of the building. Young children that lived in Wurtemburg and Perry would walk up to a mile to meet at the old school building and get on a bus unlike today when each child gets picked up at their own individual house. The bus was not actually a bus; rather it was an old Lorry that had chicken wire fence wrapped around to keep children from falling out. The students that we have talked to that recall the odd looking vehicle told us that they used to refer to it as the “Chicken Coop”. 
    If you have any memories of the old Wurtemburg Combined School you would like to share with everyone, please leave a comment below or email us at info@ellwoodcitymemories.com

    As early as 1850, families in Wurtemburg began meeting in each others homes for a Methodist Church service. The church without a church was known as the Wurtemburg Society of Methodists and continued their weekly meetings in homes (usually the Dobbs Home in North Sewickley) until finding a home at the Wurtemburg’s schoolhouse.
    In 1876, the Methodists got their own building on land donated by Reverend John J. Liebendorfer as was named the “The Centennial Methodist Church”. When the church was built in 1876, there were 15 charter members.  The church remained largely the same until 1934 when a basement was dug out underneath the original church, creating an area for classrooms for Sunday School classes.
    In the late part of the 1930′s the Sunday School department raised enough money to purchase a parsonage on Cutoff Street. It was not until the late 1940′s that the church grounds would undergo some major remodeling with the addition of a stone fireplace, shuffle board court, horseshoe courts, and a volleyball court. A couple of years after the current parsonage was purchased the church continued to grow with a new educational building added to the grounds in 1960.
    Though the church’s history goes back many years, it was not until 1968 when the Methodist Church combined with the Evangelical United Brethren, that the church got the name “United Methodist Church”. The church in Wurtemburg was at one time known as the Centennial Methodist Episcopal Church in Wurtemburg, but we have not yet been able to find out exactly when it was called that.

    During the early years the church was on a circuit with Ellwood City, Brush Creek, Harmony, Unionville, and Concord until it became a Station in 1923. By the year 2000, the church has grown to over 300 members and still continues to meet Sunday mornings 10:20AM-11:30AM with Sunday school classes meeting 9:15AM-10AM. There is a nursery available for those with younger children during the Worship service.

    Now we have listed the history of the church but here is where we need your help. We need the good stories of the people who have attended, of the things that have happened, the MEMORIES. We have heard thet the two doors in the front of the black and white picture above had a special purpose. One door was for the men and the other door was for the women. Was this true?

    If you would like to share your memories of the United Methodist Church in Wurtemburg, please leave a comment below or email us by CLICKING HERE. We would especially like to thank Jonica Walters for providing information and pictures used for this post.

   It was almost 11:30 AM on a very cold January morning in 1984 when a small fire was discovered that would change the structure of Lawrence Avenue forever.
   The fire started at the rear of the Majestic Theater and spread to three adjoining structures causing almost a half a million dollar in damages. The burned out Theater was not the only business devastated as ten other businesses on either side sustained fire, smoke, and water damage.  The Majestic Hall that was located at 506 Lawrence Avenue was completely destroyed and the two story building on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Fifth Street (known as the Young Building) was heavily damaged. Helen’s Dress Shop immediately to the west and Stereo Systems immediately to the East of the Theater were complete loses. Stereo Systems had moved to 504 Lawrence Avenue after a fire at the 7-L building almost exactly two years earlier caused damage to their shop next door to it. 
    The Ellwood City Fire Department assisted by firemen from Wurtemburg-Perry, Wayne Township, and Franklin Township fought the large fire for over four hours before they could get control and the thick dark smoke could be seen for miles away. Helen Mantz, owner of Helen’s Dress Shop, and Joseph Sobczak, owner of Stereo Systems, were two of nine people that were taken to the hospital and treated from various injuries that ranged from smoke inhalation to injuries sustained from falling on the ice that formed quickly with the mixture of multiple hoses and the cold Ellwood City January weather.
    The fire at the Majestic Theater was the fourth major fire on Lawrence Avenue in two years. The other fires included Keller’s Department Store at 613 Lawrence Avenue, Vinny’s Pizza and Sub Palace at 705 Lawrence Avenue, and the 7-L building on the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Seventh Street.
    If you have any memories you would like to share of the Majestic Theater please leave a comment below or email us by CLICKING HERE.

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Ellwood City has had a strong history of powerful churches (inside & out). Bell Memorial Presbyterian Church, Berean Presbyterian Church of America, Calvin Presbyterian Church, Christ Presbyterian Church, Christian Assembly, Christian Missionary Alliance Church, Dayspring Harvest Ministries, Ellport Community Church, First Baptist Church, First Christian Church, First Church of God, First United Methodist Church (First church in Ellwood City), and Free Methodist Church .
Holy Redeemer (formerly BVM & St Agatha), Immanuel Reformed Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Knox United Presbyterian Church, Lighthouse Assembly of God Church, Lillyville Church of God, Love Hope Baptist Church, North Sewickley Presbyterian Church, Orthodox Monastery of the Transfiguration, Park Gate Baptist Church, Providence Baptist Church, Scenic Hill Baptist Chapel, Slippery Rock Presbyterian Church, St John the Baptist Carpatho-Russian Greek Catholic Church, St Pauls Evangelical Lutheran Church (oldest Siebenburger church in America), Tree of Life Synagogue, Trinity Lutheran Church, United Brethren in Christ Church, Wiley Hill Baptist Church, Word Alive Church, Wurtemburg United Methodist Church, Wurtemburg United Presbyterian Church. If I missed one, please let me know.