My friend Troy Bogdan has a YouTube Channel with the name “Farmer Troy” that regularly has a wide variety of interesting videos. Recently he posted one entitled “Sweet Gum Trees of Bridgeville, Pa.”, documenting a well-known group of trees, many of which were scheduled to be cut down.
The southeast (uphill) side of Gregg Avenue boasts a stand of twenty mature sweet gum trees, primarily known as the source of disruption for the adjacent, very old stone slab sidewalk. Having learned that many of them were doomed, Troy walked along the sidewalk, filming the trees. In passing, he mentioned that a neighbor had told him the trees were planted by a Union soldier returning from the Civil War.
I forwarded the video to Don Colton, whose family lived on Gregg Avenue during the late 1940s and was quickly rewarded with an eloquent discussion of the neighborhood in those days and a partial listing of its residents. Obviously, a column focusing on this neighborhood was long overdue. Researching it has been an extremely enlightening experience.
The earliest ancestor of Gregg Avenue appears on the map of Bridgeville inset on the Upper St. Clair Township map in the 1876 Allegheny County Atlas. The map includes the “W. Foster Plan” which clearly shows a street (named Bayard) planned where Gregg Avenue eventually was built.
Similarly an 1886 “Driving Map of Allegheny County” shows a street meandering through what became Greenwood Place and ending in the portion of Gregg Avenue currently on that side of Bank Street.
The next relevant source is Frank Russell’s painting of Bridgeville as it appeared in 1893. It clearly shows open fields running uphill from the railroad to at least the top of the hill. On the back of the painting the artist identified recognizable landmarks, including three houses near the intersection of Bank Street and Gregg Avenue.
The house on the uphill/Chartiers Street side of the intersection was identified as belonging to the Harriot family; by the 1940s it was known as the Mayer House. Directly across Bank Street was the residence of Samuel and Louella Poellot Patton. They were married in 1887; the house was built in 1893. The W. Frank Russell family were their next-door neighbors. All three houses are still in existence. They appear in a 1907 photograph on page 45 in the Bridgeville Area Historical Society book “Bridgeville”.
The same book has a photograph dated “after 1910” on page 55, looking toward Bank Street, which identifies four impressive residences as belonging to “Orth, Meise, Franks, and Poellot”. These four houses also still exist and have been well maintained. At the time the photograph was taken, the sidewalks were wooden. And, relative to our interest in the origin of the sugar gum trees, there are no trees between the sidewalk and the street.
The 1907 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows these four houses, two houses on the Chartiers Street side of the alley, the “Mayer” house, and a large house between the Orth house and the Mayer House. The only house shown on the downhill side of Gregg Avenue is the one on the corner with Chartiers Street.
By 1924 the Sanborn map showed four houses on the downhill side of Gregg Avenue. The house we knew as the “Frank Weise House” had been added on the uphill side of the avenue.
The best information we have regarding the 1940s is gleaned from the 1940 U. S. Census, the most recent one whose original documents are available to the general public. Unfortunately the census taker who entered information onto them had no interest in the possibility that someone in the future would wish to decipher the entries. We had a lot of difficulty with it when it was released in 2012 and still are unable to have confidence in our ability to extract credible information from it
So, let us begin our imaginary stroll down the hillside sidewalk of Gregg Avenue, from Bank Street to Chartiers, sometime in the middle or late 1940s. The white frame house on the corner, probably 700 Bank Street, is the residence of Frank Mayer. He inherited responsibility for the Mayer family interests, including the Mayer Aviation Company, when his father, C. P. Mayer died in 1934.
Directly across Gregg Avenue is a relatively new house that was built in the early 1940s. Occupied initially by Joseph Barrett and later by the Cichinelli family, it featured a confectionary store on the first floor, a popular magnet for teenagers after school. I particularly remember its juke box blaring out “Near You” by honky tonk pianist Francis Craig. “Near You” reached number one on the Billboard charts in the Fall of 1947 and stayed there for seventeen consecutive weeks, a record tha stood for many years.
The next house, on our left, was the residence of the Frank Weise family. At 609 Gregg Avenue. According to the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps, it was constructed between 1913 and 1924. A significant member of the Weise family was my nemesis, the high school music teacher Alma Weise. She made life difficult for me because I “couldn’t carry a tune in a wheelbarrow”. Apparently I was unique in that respect, as all of my friends were successful members of her choral groups.
A comment and apology in advance regarding house numbers. Many of the ones I report are a combination of guesses between me and Google maps. I lack a resource to provide the correct numbers.
At that time there was a vacant lot on the other side of Gregg Avenue, where the Delphus family built a handsome home in the early 1950s. Lincoln High School occupied the rest of the block on that side of Gregg.
The house at 617 Gregg Avenue was occupied by the George McCoy family in those days. George Jr., better known as “Hipper”, was my first Patrol Leader when I joined Boy Scout Troop 245. According to the 1940 Census, Charles Harding lived in this house in 1940.
Next, at 625, was the home of the Colton family. In 1940 James Koch and his wife lived there, along with three lodgers. Don Colton reports that his family acquired the house at a sheriff’s sale in 1943 or 1944. His father was Superintendent of Schools for Bridgeville; this acquisition provided him with a very short commute to work. It was the “Orth” house in the previously mentioned “after 1910” photograph. George Orth was a prominent architect who designed a number of memorable homes throughout Allegheny County. Don also reported that there was evidence that Neil Swanson, author of the novel that spawned the popular movie “Unconquered” (Gary Cooper and Paulette Goddard), had lived in the house at some point.
Beyond Coltons’ there was a vacant lot that eventually was the site of a new home built by Don Toney’s brother Tom in the early 1950s. Alfred Barzan reported that the Malarkey family, including basketball star and future dentist “Tay”, lived in the next house, a duplex at 639, that they shared with Eddie Croft and his wife. I have a vague recollection of an incident when a motorcyclist came roaring up McMillen Street, thinking he was on Bank, and drove right up the front steps of that house. In 1940 it had been occupied by the Waddington family.
My sources are not sure about the occupants of 649, the next house. The 1940 Census reports two families living at that address – James Franks and David Styche – both of which make sense to most of us. Directly across the street, on the corner of McMillen (eponym?), was the residence of the Wesley McMillen family; Gary was another member of Troop 245. This house apparently was built after the 1924 Sanborn map.
My sources are also not unanimous regarding the house at 657 Gregg. It was identified as “Poellot” on the “after 1910” photograph. Larry Godwin is the Historical Society’s “go-to” guy for a lot of local history, and particularly that related to the Poellot family. He reported that the house was originally built for Nelle Poellot, the sister of his grandfather, Will Poellot.
According to the 1940 Census, the Russell family lived at 657; this confirms Don Colton’s memories. By then Guy Russell Sr. had died and the family consisted of his widow and four children. A few years later they were living in the W. Frank Russell house at 709 Bank Street previously mentioned. Alfred Barzan remembers Dr. (dentist) Walter Patton living at 657. He is the son of previously mentioned Samuel and Louella Poellot Patton, so that makes sense too. To complicate matters even more, the 1940 Census shows Walter Patton living at 614 Chestnut Street.
Immediately beyond 657 we cross Cherry Alley. In those days this alley ran from the alley between Elm Street and Elizabeth Street (today known as Spruce Street) all the way past Dewey Avenue where it turned and paralleled the railroad. The portion between the alley between Elm and Chestnut Streets was not accessible by vehicles, but provided us with an easy path on our walk to the high school.
We are not clear on the number of houses between McMillen Street and Cherry Alley on the other side of Gregg. The 1940 Census indicates that the August Petrick family lived in a house between the Wesley McMillen house and 656, which was occupied by Ella McMillen. We suspect Petricks lived at 652, and that the current house at 654 had not yet been built. We recall the Petricks living on Bank Street in our neighborhood a few years later.
Back to the hillside of Gregg the 1940 Census shows August Raymond at 663 – Alfred Barzan thinks the Massimino family lived there before moving to Chartiers Street. Next came the Willard Cooper family at 665. We remember Coopers as neighbors when they moved to Elizabeth Street. Ben Rupnik reported that the Carlisle family lived in that house a few years later; Grace Carlisle was his 1948 BHS classmate.
The John Baldwin family lived at 667; Bob was my classmate and good friend, and Don Colton’s “best friend”. Don remembers Bob’s father having the unenviable job of being on the Draft Board during World War II.
The last house on this side of Gregg is listed in the 1940 Census as 701 Chartiers Street, housing two families – Edward McCaffrey downstairs and the Rupniks on the second floor. A few years later the Massimino family replaced the McCaffreys.
On the other side of Gregg the Louis Erbrecht family lived at 664 and the John Styche family in the corner house at 678, according to the 1940 Census. The Styche house is shown on the 1907 Sanborn map; the Erbrecht house doesn’t show up until the 1924 version.
Now that we have completed our hypothetical walk along Gregg Avenue I think I will head for home, up Cherry Alley. Many thanks to all the folks who provided information on this subject, and, in advance, to those who will provide feedback to correct it.