One more highlight in an adventure-filled October for me was a recent visit to the Bridgeville Area Historical Society’s History Center in the lovingly preserved Pennsylvania Railroad passenger station, at the corner of Railroad and Station Streets. The previous day I had received a call from one of their volunteers, Karen Godwin, regarding a request for information on the Pittsburgh, Chartiers, and Youghiogheny Railroad (PC&Y). I placed a call to the gentleman making the request and learned that it was Bob Smith, a Bridgeville expatriate now living in Ohio. After determining his specific interest, I advised him that I believed we had a three-ringed binder dedicated to the PC&Y in the railroad collection.
My first errand at the Center was to locate that binder and confirm my recollection of its contents. The errand was accomplished quite easily. Following a talk I gave on the PC&Y ten or fifteen years ago, Mike Carrozza gathered a large amount of information he had on the railroad – photographs, timetables, and articles – and donated it to the Historical Society. I telephoned Bob and left a message describing the binder and suggesting it warranted a visit to the History Center. Bob is descended from the Vidoni family and, in the 1940s, lived in their house on Chestnut Street, the historic house currently occupied by the Gualazzi family.
The volunteers on duty at the History Center that day — Linda Tome, Laura Gibbons, (Mayor) Betty Copeland, and John Shipe – were busy with the usual logistical affairs associated with the Society but welcomed the opportunity to show me some prized recent acquisitions. A few weeks ago they had a message from a lady in North Carolina looking for an appropriate organization to be gifted with her husband’s Higbee Glass collection. Unlike a previous similar situation, she wanted to make a donation immediately. The Society accepted her offer; shortly thereafter two large boxes arrived, containing three or four dozen carefully wrapped Higbee pieces. Linda and Laura were delighted to show me a few samples of what promises to be a very welcome addition to the Society’s already impressive collection of Higbee Glass.
The first piece we examined was an elegant, tall bud vase. I confidently identified it as a “Colonial” pattern piece, then confirmed it was an authentic John B Higbee piece when I found the “bumblebee” trademark on its bottom. Next was a small cup, followed by an eight-inch bowl – both also “Colonial”. We then unwrapped a beautiful pitcher. Spotting a thistle on it, I immediately pronounced it “Delta” and retold the story of Andrew Carnegie and the pattern he commissioned in honor of the opening of Carnegie Institute of Technology. Another eight-inch bowl — obviously “Gala”, I declared. Then came another lovely pitcher, with a much more complicated thistle pattern. It was definitely a different pattern from the first one, but which one was “Delta”? And what was the other one? So much for being an expert! We have a session scheduled in the future when a committee of us will unpack all the pieces, categorize them by pattern, and catalogue them. Our glee examining each new piece as it was unwrapped rivaled a group of five-year-olds at Christmas.
It appears that this windfall occurred because the donor found one of our columns dealing with Higbee Glass on the Historical Society website and realized that the Society might be interested in her collection. For curiosity, I input “Higbee Glass” into Safari, the search engine on my laptop, and confirmed that my September 29, 2016, column entitled “The J. B. Higbee Glass Company” was the second reference it found. Other columns showed up at number 6, number 9, and number 18. In addition, a query “Higbee Glass” addressed to AI star Chat GPT immediately referenced three of the columns. The Internet certainly is a powerful medium for finding trivial information on niche subjects. Perhaps the archiving of columns and articles on its website is the most effective way the Society can make Bridgeville’s historical heritage available to the general public. Linda told me that she recently had an inquiry from a gentleman in Hampton Roads who had found a brick with “C P Mayer and Bridgeville Pa” on it and was curious about its origin; her response was to send him a copy of our January 26, 2017 column on the Brick Company.
It did seem strange to visit the History Center and not find Mary Weise there. The combination of her advanced age and recent health problems have confined her to her home. Laura had recently visited her and reported that she was cheerful as always and apparently resigned to curtailment of her activities. The Historical Society and especially the History Center are her legacy. We are fortunate that the volunteers she has recruited and inspired are well equipped to continue her mission to preserve historical local artifacts and to celebrate Bridgeville’s rich history and heritage.
One of the Society’s most successful traditions has been the publication of a calendar each year, illustrated with photographs and anecdotes relevant to Bridgeville’s history. This year’s calendar has the theme of historic homes, primarily those that are at least one century old. The volunteers showed me the first drafts from their printer, and the various places where there were disagreements on layout and graphic design. It is obvious to me that this will be an excellent calendar. In the past, local history buffs have retained each year’s calendar and referred to it for historical information. I am sure that the 2026 calendar will be a classic collector’s item. It will be available for purchase early enough to serve as an appropriate Christmas gift for anyone with ties to Bridgeville.
We all should be grateful for “doers” like Mary Weise and the Historical Society volunteers whose efforts have made it possible for Bridgeville’s historical heritage to be preserved and shared with the rest of the world.