Category: Water Under the Bridge

As we look forward to heading to Maui and spending Christmas with our children and grand-children, our thoughts return to memories of eight decades of “Christmas Past”. The common themes running through them are family, fellowship, and optimism about the future. In 1938 the Oylers were living in their new home on Lafayette Street. My brother, Joe, was a one-year-old, too young to understand all the holiday fuss. As he matured in the next few years, it was rewarding for me to see Christmas through the eyes of a young child. This experience was repeated thirty-five years later with our…

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The Bridgeville Area Historical Society’s November program meeting featured a presentation on the October 27, 1948, Donora Smog Tragedy by Mr. Brian Charlton, curator of the Donora Smog Museum. In addition to his responsibilities with the museum, Mr. Charlton is also an accomplished high school history teacher. In reality, the Donora Historical Society and the Donora Smog Museum are a single entity. Although the society’s museum is dominated by artifacts and information dealing with the smog tragedy, it also houses an impressive collection of items dealing with the rich history of the Donora area. In 1899 the area that eventually…

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The capability of the collection of electronic/mechanical devices that populate our homes today is remarkable. One of my most useful tools is my printer. Actually the term printer is a major understatement — my printer is a copy machine, a scanner, a fax machine, and a wireless communication instrument, as well as a powerhouse for printing files from my computer. It is an indispensable asset to my hobby of pen-and-ink sketching, providing properly scaled images for me. It was equally valuable for my wife’s painting avocation, because of its ability to reproduce subtle differences in color. When she was in…

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For its November “Second Tuesday” workshop the Bridgeville Area Historical Society continued its series on George Washington’s exploits in western Pennsylvania by focusing on the 1758 Forbes Expedition. Its mission was to capture Fort Du Quesne and expel the French from the Ohio Country. Immediately following Braddock’s defeat in 1755 the frontier was left defenseless against Indian attacks. Washington, as commander of the Virginia Regiment, was left with the responsibility of protecting the settlers over a wide area stretching from the Potomac River to the North Carolina border. Archives of newspapers from the colonies as well as from Great Britain…

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The Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall is a major cultural asset in this local area, regularly offering a wide variety of outstanding entertainment and historical programs. It was my privilege recently to attend one that combined both genres. In commemoration of the Centennial of the Armistice that ended World War I, the Allegheny City Ragtime Orchestra presented a program of World War I era music, largely focusing on compositions by James Reese Europe. Born in 1880 in Mobile, Alabama, Europe was “the leading figure on the African-American music scene of New York City in the 1910s”. His Clef…

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The Bridgeville Area Historical Society welcomed back one of its favorite speakers, Todd DePastino, for its October program meeting. Known primarily as the Director of the popular non-profit Veterans Breakfast Club, an activity focused on helping veterans “ensure that this living history will never be forgotten”, Dr. DePastino is a historian and writer specializing in the United States in mid-twentieth century. His specific topic for this presentation was the Home Front in World War II. He began by quoting President Roosevelt in a statement that the war would not be won because of the valor of our troop nor the…

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I recently made a quick weekend trip to Colorado to check up on the activities of my grandchildren – Ian, Nora, and Claire McCance. My daughter Sara and her husband Jim McCance live in Fort Collins; it is always a treat to go visit them. Each time I visit Colorado I am impressed with the difference between that area and ours in western Pennsylvania. Driving north from the Denver airport the Wyoming slogan “Big Sky” seems particularly appropriate. You feel as if you are in the center of a hemisphere with the entire sky visible to you in every direction,…

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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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