Category: Water Under the Bridge

Visits from my ex-student and long-time friend Kevin Abt are always red-letter days; a recent one was no exception. He had suggested we spend a day exploring history in Fayette County, hoping we could locate some old beehive coke ovens. Kevin knew that there was a battery of coke ovens in Smock (near Uniontown) twenty-five years ago, but we were unable to find any trace of them. We had passed a building with a sign “Smock Historical Society Museum” in the village, so we returned there hoping to find someone there who could help us. This was a wise decision….

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Bob (known to his life-long friends as “Boompsy”) Rosa is an occasional participant in our bi-weekly brunches with our fellow alumni of Bridgeville High School. He lives in Freedom; the drive to Bob Evans Kirwan Heights is a quite a bit longer for him than for the rest of us. His brother John (Yunner), a classmate of mine (’49), lives in Arizona and comes back to Bridgeville every summer and stays with Bob. During that time we see both of them regularly; the rest of the year Bob’s appearance is less frequent. He was a welcome guest at our last…

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I have just returned from a quick trip to Fort Collins, Colorado, to visit my daughter Sara and her family and, once again, I am impressed with this modern world in which we live and grateful that a feeble nonagenarian like me is still able to make such a trip. The flight west was primarily above thick clouds, which broke as we passed over Fort Collins, with a magnificent view of Rocky Mountain National Park and Long’s Peak to the west. Skies were clear for most of the flight home and I was able to observe the remarkable change in…

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The Bridgeville Area Historical Society program for April was an interesting discussion of the life of Roberto Clemente and the museum dedicated to his memory. The presenter was a docent at the museum, Gary Euler, whom I know through his association with the Transportation Research center in Pitt’s Civil and Environmental Engineering Department. His detailed knowledge of and passion for his subject made for a very instructive evening. It would be difficult to grow up in Pittsburgh and not be aware of Clemente’s remarkable career with the Pirates and his tragic death that terminated it much too soon. Clemente’s began…

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In 1918 Irving Berlin wrote a novelty song about an Irish mother watching her son march up Fifth Avenue with his regiment, headed to France in World War I. It begins with “Did you see my little Jimmy marching with the soldiers up the avenue?” and ends with its title, “They Were All Out of Step but Jim!” I suspect most of us can occasionally relate to that feeling; I have always felt it described me personally. The older I get, the more accurate it becomes. My recent experience with Pitt’s Senior Design Program seemed to highlight it. This is…

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Last week Ed Wolf posted all twenty-four pages of the June 19, 2008, “Bridgeville Area News” on the “Bridgeville, Then and Now” Facebook page. My column in that issue discussed the optimistic plans for the Bridgeville Public Library, located at that time in the old railroad station, to build a new facility at the end of McMillen Street, funded by a campaign to raise $3,500,000. I lauded their efforts and recorded my hope that the station would survive as an historical building. What a change we have seen in the ensuing sixteen years! Thanks to the generosity of the McDivitt…

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For the third straight year, Public Art Bridgeville is sponsoring an outdoor sculpture exhibit. This year’s exhibit includes three popular holdovers from last year and seven intriguing new ones. Let’s take a self-guided auto tour and check out all ten pieces. We will begin driving south on Washington Avenue from Kirwan Heights. After we pass under the Wheeling and Lake Erie Railroad bridge, we see, on the right, a striking combination of interwoven curved blue shapes with an orange thread inter-twined with them. Immediately, we realize this must be one of Guy Bellaver’s “Quarks” series. And, of course, it is….

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My favorite fellow brick collector, Jean Bear, recently received an inquiry requesting information on brick making in the Bridgeville area in the late nineteenth century. The questions were posed by a gentleman named Brendan Gallagher, who is the great-great-grandson of James Frain, a well-known local resident in his time. Mr. Frain died in 1896 at the age of fifty-two. His son “lived on Prestley Road with the Schultes and Mayers”. Family lore reports that he or his heirs sold a brick yard to C. P. Mayer. There is also a family rumor that there are bricks with the name “Frain”…

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In March the Bridgeville Area Historical Society reverted to its traditional “last Tuesday Evening” schedule with an excellent presentation on the Whiskey Rebellion by local historian Brady Crytzer. Mr. Crytzer spoke extemporaneously, covering the “big picture” causes of this significant event in the early years of our new nation and the important role it played in defining the nation’s identity. He is a history professor at Robert Morris University; the author of seven books about local history, including one on this subject; and narrator/commentator on several television series dealing with American history in the colonial/Revolutionary War era. The speaker began…

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Several times each year my daughter Sara takes a break from her busy routine and comes here to visit me. This year her visit coincided with a trip to Seattle by Beth and her family, and the opportunity for us to baby-sit their dog, Gunnar. It’s been well over seven years since I have had a dog; Gunnar was a welcome visitor. Recent DNA tests have reported that he is part Walker Tree Hound, part Great Dane, and part Pit Bull; I still think he is mostly Blue Tick Hound. I have been declared too feeble to take Gunnar for…

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