I have just returned from an interesting experience, a trip to “a different world”. My son John and his family are spending a few weeks in northern California while he conducts business at his company’s office in San Mateo. I hadn’t seen them since Christmas and was glad to have the opportunity to fly out there to visit them. Their home base is in Beijing, China, and I lack the stamina for making that long trip to see them; the five-hour flight across the country is enough of a challenge for me. I managed to watch two forgettable movies on…

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For history buffs in this area, July is Whiskey Rebellion month. Two hundred and twenty-four years ago this month farmers in western Pennsylvania decided that the new excise tax on the production of whiskey was unfair and onerous and decided to protest. Eventually their confrontation with federal officials led to several fatalities and the complete destruction of General John Neville’s Bower Hill plantation. In response President Washington dispatched an army of thirteen thousand soldiers here to quell the rebellion. This year there were major celebrations of these events in Washington, Pa., at the Oliver Miller Homestead in South Park, and…

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The Bridgeville Area Historical Society’s June “Second Tuesday” workshop focused on George Washington’s adventures in western Pennsylvania in 1754. It was the second of a series of seven workshops dedicated to Washington’s seven visits to this area, in support of the Society’s proposed permanent exhibit on that subject. As we get deeper into this project its potential as a resource opportunity becomes even more obvious. The history of this area in the latter half of the eighteenth century is as exciting as the Harry Potter or Stars Wars epics and in addition is based on things that actually occurred. One…

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A recent message from Don Colton reminiscing about the “old days” resurrected the subject of nicknames and the perception we all have that this practice was especially prevalent in Bridgeville seventy years ago. To quote Don, “Of all the different places I have lived, Bridgeville stands out for seemingly having a huge penchant for nicknames. Why do you think this is?” The first question of course is whether or not this was unique to Bridgeville or to that specific time period. Like many other octogenarians I scan the obituary notices (also known as “the Irish sports pages” by my Hibernian…

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The May program meeting of the Bridgeville Area Historical Society focused on the early history of Upper St. Clair Township with a presentation by Marjorie Stein entitled “Memory Lane”. She prefaced her talk with the statement that her information was based on family lore and was not necessarily historically correct. She began by recounting the history of what is now Upper St. Clair Township. The original St. Clair Township, one of six in Allegheny County, was bounded by Chartiers Creek, the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers, Streets Run, and the Washington County border. The first division was into Lower and Upper…

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The Bridgeville area recently lost one its most distinguished citizens with the passing of centenarian Amy Perkins. Aimee Purnell was born on May 20, 1915, the daughter of Leroy and Viola Purnell. Before she was old enough to know her father, World War I took him to France, where he died. We believe he was the first African-American from the Bridgeville area to lose his life in the service of his country. Years later the government arranged for mothers and widows of servicemen buried in France to visit the cemeteries in which their loved ones were buried. Over six thousand…

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Gully Washer was my father’s term for the abrupt, heavy rainstorm that immediately forces small streams to overflow and for temporary streams to suddenly appear in every crevice running downhill. We had one late in the evening recently; severe enough that I was eager to inspect its aftereffects on my morning walk in the woods the next day. It was also severe enough to make the morning news – the Bridgeville Fire Department had to a rescue a motorist stuck in two feet of water on Baldwin Street. Sure enough there was evidence of a massive over-wash where the path…

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This month the Bridgeville Area Historical Society “Second Tuesday” workshop series returned to its review of the history of Bridgeville High School, this time focusing on the classes of 1950 and 1951. The summer of 1949 found local high school football fans full of optimism. Although there were only four players returning who had been starters on the previous year’s championship team, the supporting cast appeared to be ready for another competitive season. The backfield featured quarterback Elmer Villani, halfbacks Ken Beadling and Roger Bradford, and fullback Lou Cimarolli. The line included end Aldo Mosso, tackle Bob Verdinek, guards Don…

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I have been privileged for the past twenty-five years to be associated with the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of Pittsburgh, as an adjunct professor. Legally my assignment has been half-time, teaching two courses each semester. Despite being an outsider I have managed to insert myself into the department structure sufficiently to be invited to Faculty meetings. Commencement at a large University tends to be highly impersonal because so many students are involved. Traditionally the School of Engineering has had a separate, additional ceremony in which each student is recognized individually. Even that process has become unwieldy,…

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The April program meeting for the Bridgeville Area Historical Society was an interesting presentation on a progressive (at least at that time) planned development in Donora early in the twentieth center. The speaker was Brian Charlton, a self-described “conceptual historian” whose talk was focused on connecting concepts: social, economic, industrial and demographics. Mr. Charlton’s credentials include teaching history in the Belle Vernon School District, serving as curator of the Donora Smog Museum, and being a co-author of the Arcadia publication, “Donora”. His specific subject was “Cement City”, a Donora neighborhood that includes about eighty residences constructed from concrete. The speaker…

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