Category: Water Under the Bridge

I had the pleasure recently of giving a presentation to the Collier Township Historical Society in the township’s magnificent Community Center. My subject was the industrial complex between Kirwan Heights and the Pennsylvania Railroad, that thrived from the early 1900s through World War II. When Sal Sirabella, the acting president of the Society, first discussed the possibility of this presentation, I suggested I discuss the J. B. Higbee Glass Company. We jointly concluded that the whole industrial complex of which Higbee was a part would be a more appropriate subject. Its story begins with the arrival of C. P. (Casper…

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The Bridgeville Area Historical Society October “Second Tuesday” workshop was a review of the Bridgeville High School classes of 1954 and 1955. As could be expected, it was a nostalgic trip back to an era when life seemed much simpler. Once again the football team had a new head coach; this time Cyrill “Night Train” Lane fresh from four years at Kiski Prep as head basketball coach. Coach Lane’s credentials included playing for Paul Brown on the undefeated 1942 Ohio State football team. In addition, Pat Malarkey had been announced as head football coach at the Pennsylvania Training School at…

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The Bridgeville Area Historical Society kicked off its 2018/219 program meeting sequence with a presentation entitled “History Hounds – Preserving and Saving Local History Through Metal Detecting” by two hobbyists, Rob Hilt and Rob Best. Mr. Hilt had given a talk on the same subject last Spring; this time Mr. Best provided some additional information. The two speakers discussed their hobby and their commitment to local history. The audience was duly appreciative and asked numerous questions following the presentation. In Mr. Hilt’s presentation last March he mentioned the fact that his colleague, Mr. Best, had found an interesting artifact in…

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Sixteen members of the Bridgeville High School Class of 1948 and an equal number of friends and family gathered at the Walnut Grill in Heidelberg last month to celebrate the seventieth anniversary of their graduation. I was unable to visit with them but have been able to piece together a second-hand account of this very special event. Our Class of 1949 followed these folks through school all the way from first grade till they graduated. They were our honorary big brothers and sisters, our role models. We looked up to them then and still do. The organizer of this annual…

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One of the nicest things about this time of year is the number of festivals scheduled throughout the area each weekend. It has been my habit to take in the Washington and Greene Counties Covered Bridge Festival each year whenever possible. Usually their website was full of information on activities at each of the numerous locations and detailed instructions on how to get to each one. This year they have switched to FaceBook, a format better suited for social interaction than for communicating such relevant facts. They should check out the Ashtabula, Ohio, covered bridge festival website for an example…

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The recent passing of my high school classmate Arlene Scola Ellenberger has initiated a virtual time travel trip for me back to the summer of 1948 when she, Bob Baldwin, and I worked as soda jerks at McMillen’s Drug Store. Dolores “Debbie” DeBlander, another BHS alumna, was a full-time employee and being two years older than the three of us was heavily involved in the management of the store. I am sure we were very impressed with ourselves at that point. Come September we would achieve our goal of being Seniors, “top dogs”, at Bridgeville High School. Arlene had just…

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We have begun the melancholy task of cleaning out our Conneaut Lake cottage prior to putting it up for sale. Last Sunday my daughter Beth, her husband Mike, and I drove up there in my van intending to retrieve the small amount of personal items we wanted to retain. When we bought the cottage, in 1980, it was a strange duplex – a fairly conventional rental property in the front with a tiny apartment for the owner stuck on the back. As the years passed we converted it into a very comfortable summer home for our family. Consolidation of two…

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When I endeavor to consider my numerous blessings, my love of reading never fails to pop up near the top of the list. I suspect it is partly genetic but certainly the nurturing environment of our home when my brother and I were growing up was a major contributor. Eighteen years ago my neighbor, Larry Kennedy, asked me if I would be interested in participating in a book review club. His wife, Marie, belonged to one, made up of her friends, and was getting a lot of pleasure from it. I immediately agreed and soon found myself heavily involved with…

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Three recent deaths and the donation of a collection of valuable artifacts to the Bridgeville Area Historical Society have influenced me to focus on Bridgeville High School in the late 1940s, a subject we have discussed recently in our series of “Second Tuesday” workshops. Incidentally we should report that the Historical Society has cancelled the September “Second Tuesday’ workshop because of a conflict with the annual 9/11 memorial service at Holy Child Church. We will be back on October 9 with our review of the 1954 and 1955 BHS classes. Arlene Scola Ellenberger recently donated an envelope full of photographs…

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The third workshop in the Bridgeville Area Historical Society’s series dedicated to George Washington’s seven visits to Western Pennsylvania focused on General Edward Braddock’s campaign against Fort DuQuesne in 1755. The previous workshop had left Washington back in civilian life in October 1754. After the Fort Necessity disaster, Governor Dinwiddie had decided to disband the Virginia Regiment and replace it with ten independent companies. When he offered Colonel Washington a captaincy commanding one of the companies, our future president chose to end his military career by resigning his commission. However, events in England would soon lead him to reverse this…

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