How times have changed! Or have they? It is always constructive to turn back the calendar and try to imagine what life was like in Bridgeville one century ago. Fortunately there are lots of resources available to help us paint this picture, including archived newspapers. Between the Pittsburgh papers and the Canonsburg “Daily Notes”, we have found a plethora of interesting information regarding Bridgeville in the first three months of 1923.
Things were booming in Bridgeville in those days; the papers were full of want ads. Flannery Bolt needed men to operate a “1000 pound Chambersburg Steam Drop Hammer” and a “Sixty Pound Bradley Helve Hammer”. Universal Steel Company needed a plow shearman, “best wages paid”. L. Colussy & Sons were advertising a “1923 Superior Model 5-Passenger Touring Car” at their Baldwin Street store for $525. Mayer Aircraft Corporation was touting “Advertising, Passenger Flights, Photography, Flying Instructions, and Exhibitions”. An interesting ad reported a general merchandise and meat market for sale at 207 Washington Avenue. “Stock and all, $2,343 invoice, cheap, come and see it”. So far we have not been able to determine who was involved in this business.
There was the usual collection of bad news. Two-year-old Robert Vidoni got into a bottle of “poison pills”; Drs. S. J. Fife and Arthur W. Hopper were unable to save his life. Dr. Hopper came to Bridgeville in 1911and occupied the house at the bottom of Bank Street, on the Greenwood Place side, until 1924, when he left to become Coroner of Washington County.
All twelve grades of the school district were still squeezed into Washington School while the School Board, led by Dr. McGarvey, was considering borrowing money to build a new high school. The current Senior Class held a dance at the American Legion Hall, music by the Washington Society Sextette.
As always, sports were a big deal in 1923 Bridgeville. One newspaper clipping reported that the “Crafton Baptists” were about to entertain the “Bridgeville Buicks”, a powerful team starring Silhol, Kasputis, and the Jones brothers (Burke, T. Walter, and Pete?). In those pre-Title IX days, girls also played competitive basketball. A Bridgeville team including two Oelschlagers (Bertha and Henrietta), Margaret Kollar, Evalyn Thompson, and Anna Betschart visited Canonsburg and were overwhelmed, 30 to 5. “The Bridgeville girls put up a hard fight”, according to the “Daily Notes”.
At the movies, William Russell could be seen starring in “A Great Night” at the Star Theater. The Star theater was operated by Dominick Delphus at 429 Railroad Street.
The “Daily Notes”, on February 23, reported a serious fire at H. Poellott & Sons Hardware (eventually to become Sarasnicks’) causing $10,000 damage. The fire was reported by a Pennsylvania Railroad train crew, probably on the B & M Branch, and finally extinguished by volunteer firemen by 3:00 am. Nearby stores, a confectionery run by Mike Mazza and a tailor shop run by Thomas Gelches, also suffered damage.
There apparently was a strong connection between the Methodist Church in Bridgeville and the one in Houston. Two articles described services in Houston where a gospel team from the Bridgeville Epworth League participated. The Epworth League was a national Methodist youth organization. At one of them Jessie Hortstman “sang two beautiful sacred selections”.
A sobering event was reported by the “Daily Notes” on March 30. World War I veteran Lyle McDonald, of Heidelberg, was interred at Melrose Cemetery. After an honor guard of veterans had fired a final volley in tribute to their comrade, seven Ku Klux Klan members, in full regalia, got out of a limousine and carried a floral cross “bearing the three Ks of the Invisible Empire” to the grave and stood there in silent tribute for two minutes. I am aware the Klan was active in this area in those days, but I am shocked at the image of hooded Klansmen in Melrose Cemetery.
Perhaps even more sobering were comments made by C. P. Mayer, safely home after a four-month tour of France, Germany, Belgium, and the Netherlands. “It is a world turned upside down”, he reported. These comments were literal as well as figurative. He spent a week driving through what had been the western front. Literally, “The strata of the earth has been inverted by shell fire. The white marl which formed the subsoil now composes the surface. This ground will never be good for agriculture again”.
As ominous as this sounds, his description of the German society, saddled with massive war reparations and an oppressive Socialist government, was even worse. “The principal thoroughfares of Berlin lined with beggars. Maimed soldiers crouching in their rags on the cold pavement.” He viewed Germany and France as “worlds that have been overturned spiritually and physically”. In every German conversation the subject of the next war came up. Mayer reported a significant desire for a merger with Bolshevik Russia; the combination of their huge army and German officers and munitions would have been unbeatable.
Mr. Mayer’s observations were remarkably perceptive; one wonders if the leaders of the western powers shared his perception. Late in 1923 Hitler’s “Beer Hall Putsch” failed and he was imprisoned, a sentence that he served while writing “Mein Kampf”. The possibility of a Communist alliance between Germany and Russia is particularly frightening – what an impact that would have had on history!
So, how much have things changed? The median American family today has far more “creature comforts” than it did a century ago, but appears to be faring poorly in intangible areas – both social and moral. International conflicts between major powers are as prevalent today as they were in 1923. Nonetheless our tiny part of the world is populated by some truly wonderful people. I prefer to focus on our “half-full glass” and not worry about the empty half.