“Water Under the Bridge” is a column written by historian John F. Oyler. It appears weekly in the Bridgeville Area News, a TribTotal Media publication, as well as in a more expanded form on his blog.
About the Author: Aside from being Bridgeville’s foremost historian, Dr. John F. Oyler is also an associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh, where he teaches classes in civil engineering.
Water Under the Bridge, Copyright © 2016-2020
Nearly twenty-five years ago, my dear friend and neighbor Larry Kennedy invited me to join a book review club that he was organizing with his friends. Little did I realize that this, in reality, was an Irish-Catholic Mafia cell populated by folks with names like Gallagher, O’Hanlon, McDermott, and Kernan, and that I was the proverbial “lonely little petunia in an onion patch”. In those days I was the sole Conservative in an enclave of progressive liberals. In the intervening years the ethnic/religious makeup of the club has changed dramatically, but not its social/political outlook. They have influenced me enough…
I had the privilege of attending the reception and grand opening of the Public Art Bridgeville art exhibit at the Bridgeville Public Library last Friday. Entitled “Bridgeville Artists: Then and Now”, it celebrates the work of thirteen (current and deceased) artists from the Bridgeville area, working in a broad variety of media. The combination of excellent works of art, the magnificent Library venue, and the attendance of artists and organizers of the event made for a memorable evening. I was particularly pleased at the recognition of Ben Rupnik’s talent as a graphic artist. The lounge area at the middle of…
For its October program meeting the Bridgeville Area Historical Society entertained a substitute presenter (Yours Truly), when the scheduled speaker had to cancel because of health issues. The replacement talk was a brief run-through of Bridgeville’s history, related as a series of anecdotes based on people who typified life in this area down through the years. The first three subjects were Native Americans, beginning with an anonymous primitive hunter whose recent ancestors had reached North America from Siberia when the last Ice Age lowered sea level enough to create a land bridge between Asia and America. A nomadic hunter who…
For a number of years I have gone to the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall, in Carnegie, for their “Second Saturday Civil War Series” programs, especially when a specific program had a local connection or dealt with some aspect of Gettysburg. Last weekend the subject was “To Conquer on the Soil of Our Native State or Perish!”, the slogan of a volunteer Pennsylvania Division (the Pennsylvania Reserves) in the Civil War. The speaker was Eric Mohney, an impressive young man from St. Mary’s, Pa., with a significant passion for that subject. Mr. Mohney is well known to Civil…
My daughter Sara recently sent me a copy of Proposition 131, which is on the ballot for Colorado voters this Fall. Entitled “Establishing All-Candidate Primary and Ranked Choice General Elections”, it would dramatically change the way Colorado voters elect their officials. My initial reaction was positive. Since then, additional study has reinforced this opinion. Personally, I would be happy to see this process implemented broadly across our country. Currently it is used for statewide voting in Alaska and Maine; Nevada has tried it experimentally and has a proposal on the ballot this Fall for permanent adoption of it. Ranked Choice…
Last week I attended a meeting of local historical organizations at the Neville House, representing the Bridgeville Area Historical Society. Improving cooperation between neighboring organizations is a significant agenda item for me, so I was happy to have the opportunity. The other organizations represented at the meeting were the Collier Historical Society, Neville House Associates, the Carnegie Historical Society, the Historical Society of Mt. Lebanon, and the McKees Rocks Historical Society. The meeting was called by and moderated by Anita Kulik, State Legislator for the 45th Legislative District, which includes most of these organizations. The formal meeting began with each representative…
I have just returned from a long weekend in California, and continue to be astounded at our capability to travel long distances these days. John and I have been negotiating for an appropriate weekend for me to visit him and his family, and last weekend worked out well for us. His business obligations take them all over the world; they spent the summer in Europe and China, but are currently in northern California. And they are not the only globe-trotting members of our extended family – Beth is in Japan this month and Sara has just returned from a conference…
The Bridgeville Area Historical Society kicked off its 2024/2025 program series with an interesting talk by Robert Stakeley, Coordinator of the Heinz History Center Affiliates Program. His subject was A Woman’s Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh, which, by coincidence, is the subject of the current special exhibit at the Heinz History Center. Mr. Stakeley is an excellent extemporaneous speaker, well versed in his subject. Unfortunately, his slides left a lot to be desired. I continue to be surprised how much more competent our students in the Civil Engineering Department are in putting together a Power Point presentation than many of the…
It is easyto accuse us nonagenarians of “living in the past”. Whenever a group of us get together, we invariably end up rehashing memories from years gone by, and agreeing that we grew up in the best of times and that we feel sorry for young people today. A number of unrelated things have combined recently to force me to focus on this subject — the closing of the Bob Evans Restaurant in Kirwan Heights and the potential demise of our High School Brunch Club, the Book Club selection of Doris Kearns Goodwin’s An Unfinished Romance with its focus on the…
My former Pitt colleague and dear friend Mark Magalotti recently gave me an old magazine full of things he knew would interest me. It was the September 1956 edition of Greater Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh’s Business Magazine, published monthly by the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, a “focal point for action in government, transportation, and education”. I remember the magazine as an excellent source of business information and was sorry to see the Chamber cease its publication in 1991. Mark knew I would be interested in a special feature article by Sun-Telegraph Editor William Lampe discussing the newly announced Interstate Highway System, authorized by…