Category: Water Under the Bridge

The Bridgeville Area Historical Society kicked off its 2016/2017 program season with a presentation on the evolution of the election process in our country, by Todd DePastino. Mr. DePastino’s annual appearance in their series is always a treat – this specific illustrated talk was not an exception. It seemed particularly relevant this year. The speaker began by reminding the audience that the U. S. Constitution contains very few specific requirements regarding the popular election of our officials. The members of the House of Representatives were the only ones initially chosen by the voters, Until 1913 U. S. Senators were selected…

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I recently had the pleasure of attending an Open House at the Walker-Ewing Log House, on Noblestown Road, between Oakdale anf Rennerdale. Thanks to Loraine and Rich Forster, I was familiar with the house although I had never previously had the opportunity to visit it. Loraine and Rich have discussed it several times at meetings of the Bridgeville Area Historical Society; I was not surprised to run into them at the Open House. The house is currently owned and lovingly maintained by Pioneers West Historical Society, a non-profit organization with the sole purpose of preserving this magnificent example of frontier…

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The Bridgeville Area Historical Society kicked off a new series of audience-friendly workshops, eponymously called “Second Tuesday”, to remind each of us that they will be scheduled at 7:00 pm on the second Tuesday of each month, at the History Center in the old Pennsylvania Railroad Station in Bridgeville. Our first subject was the J. B. Higbee Glass Company, and there certainly appear to be lots of folks interested in it. The Higbee Glass Plant produced glass tableware in this area from 1907 through 1918 at which time General Electric purchased it, primarily to manufacture light bulbs. The workshop began…

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My daughter Elizabeth, my grand-daughter Rachael, and I visited the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden one recent Saturday afternoon. Getting there turned out to be a bigger challenge than we anticipated. Google Map took us out the Parkway to the Campbells Run exit, then southwest to the site. Right after we encountered a sign saying two miles to the Botanic Garden, we ran into another informing us that Baldwin Road was closed. No problem, we will detour down McMichael to Rennerdale and take Noblestown west to Pinkerton and we’ll be home free. This we did and were rewarded with a sign saying…

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I was saddened to learn of the passing of Bill Norcik. I was a year ahead of him at Bridgeville High School and Penn State and always considered it an honor to be considered his friend. I first became aware of Bill in the spring of 1947. I had recently become exposed to the sport of soccer in gym class and thought it might be fun to try out for the high school team, as a tenth grader. The good news is that a soccer team needs about two dozen players merely to put on a full blown practice. The…

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When my son John and his family invited me to visit them in New York, they asked me if there was anything specific I would like to do. My reply was that I would like to see and hear Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks. I had already confirmed that they played Monday and Tuesday nights at the Iguana Restaurant. I had seen Giordano and some of the men in his band at jazz festivals and have several of the Nighthawks’ records. I was also familiar with their involvement in movies – several Woody Allen films including his most recent one…

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I have just returned from an exciting long weekend in New York City, visiting John, Victoria, and Lai An. They are currently renting an apartment on 59th Street, overlooking the southern edge of Central Park. Just being with them is a treat; the sight-seeing aspect of the trip was something else. In many respects this was the classic case of small town boy in the big city . Everything there is much too big, much too fast, and much too busy for someone with my background. We crammed many more exciting adventures into four days than seem possible. The first…

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