Murray’s Row

“Water Under the Bridge” has a guest columnist this week. At one of our recent brunches Sam Capozzoli was reminiscing about the neighborhood where he grew up, and we asked him to report on it for us. His memory of James Street and the folks who lived there in the early 1940s is impressive as well as instructive.

James Street intersects Washington Avenue directly across the street from the Post Office. In the years Sam was recalling, Miller’s Mobil Gas Station was on the southeast corner of James Street and Washington Avenue. On the east side of Washington, going south, the first home was the residence of the Foster family, owners of the grocery store beyond Station Street. Next to Fosters was a family whose name Sam doesn’t recall. The Espy family lived in the next house beyond them.

James Street runs east from Washington to the railroad. The first house on the south side belonged to the Mazza family. Next came Sarasnicks, followed by the Grill family. The Sarasnicks, of course, are well known. They purchased the hardware store from the Poellott family in 1934 and have made it a landmark in Bridgeville. We remember Mr. Grill as the janitor at Lincoln High School when we were students; he was responsible for keeping us all warm on the coldest days of the winter.

Sam’s home was the fourth house on that side of the street. His father was ??? Capozzoli; his mother was originally ???? Their three sons -- Mike, Sam, and Anthony -- were well-known members of their respective high school classes as well in leaders in the James Street neighborhood.

Their next door neighbors were the Mataloich(Matalavage?) family. The final house on the sourth side of James was the residence of Sam’s Uncle ??? Capozzoli. This family included everyone’s favorite grade school teacher, Lucy Capozzoli, and her siblings Mary and John.

Fryer’s Funeral Home was located on the northeast corner of James and Washington. The first house on the north side of James was owned by the Martician family. We are uncertain of the correct spelling of this family name, although all of us remember it.  Next door to them were the Guiannis and then the Ronchettis. Guianni is another name whose spelling is questionable. At the end of James Werner Avenue ran off to the south paralleling the railroad. An alley ran alongside the railroad to the north; the Rosati family had a residence on it.

The next building on Washington Avenue north of Fryer’s Funeral Home was the Sarasnick Electrical Shop. There was a residence next door to it; the name of the family that lived there is unknown. Next to that house was Reed’s Garage, a large building that extended east along an alley paralleling James Street. The Furchi family, which included our classmate Fred, lived behind the Reed Garage and next door to Manzetti’s Bar.

We apologize for the omissions and would be happy if any of our readers could fill in some of the blanks. Similarly we apologize for misspellings and would welcome corrections.

We believe that the documentation of individual neighborhoods as they existed in bygone years is a valuable contribution to our knowledge of Bridgeville’s history and heritage.