From Winter 1985
An Abolition Convention was held at New Brighton, last week, which was respectably attended, and which in its proceedings and deliberations, it is said, was quite interesting. The proceedings have not yet been offered for publication. THE CONVENTION, we learn, refused to agitate or take up the question of political action, the majority doubtless believing with the mass of ABOLITIONISTS, that their cause cannot be advanced, but may be seriously injured, by such means. After the adjournment of the convention, however, a few over zealous persons, who discard all considerations of policy based upon sound judgment got up a meeting which after much debate, adopted resolutions in favor of political action, the third of which asserts a very great mistake at least so far as the Whig Party of this county and district and State is concerned; no man being able to show any act of treachery on their part in reference to the great question of Human Rights. There are few, we believe, very few, of the ABOLITIONISTS who will respond to this broad and indiscriminating assertion for the evidences are palpable to their senses of its incorrectness and injustice. It was, However, adopted by a vote of 18 to 13 - but a few of the majority being citizens of this county. The proceedings have a place in this paper. From Fall 1985.
New Brighton citizens plan a civic movement to pave the way for a Chamber of Commerce for their town.
Anyone who lives near a water course can, at the expense of ten dollars, build an ice house capable of containing a cube of the crystal luxury ten feet square, Rough boards for the outer wall, slabs for the inner, with a filling afoot thick of tan bark or saw dust, a layer of the same thickness upon the top; a clapboard roof, a drain to carry off drippings from the ice, and then pack in the ice close and compact, cover it with saw dust, and the work is done. Such a store would furnish a half a dozen families with hard butter, cold water, frozen custards and all the luxuries of a first class ice-cream saloon for the whole season. 1856
Carrie Nation, the anti-saloon woman and hatchet welder, passed through Rochester at 7:30 o'clock last night from Cleveland, 0. The train upon which Mrs. Nation was a passenger stopped at the local station. She was sitting at a window and was recognized by a couple of persons. She acknowledged their recognition by throwing souvenir hatchets out of the window. Oct. 2, 1907
From Beaver Union School - 1875 Essay from No. 2, by Clare Donchoo
Christmas is coming in just a few weeks; it comes on Saturday. I hope you will all have a good time. I will if my father comes home. He is my Kris Kringle. I hope it won't be like last Christmas. It was snowing, and it was wet. I like snow when there is enough for sleds to run. I like sled riding, but I get sick if I get my feet wet. I know one little girl who is so delicate she can't go out sledding very often. I suppose you all know who it is; if you don't know, you ought to, for it is your playmate. I am glad I'm not delicate. I weigh too much to be delicate, and I expect I'll weigh more after I eat my Christmas dinner. I have got a doll baby on Christmas for the last three years. Minnie is a wax one, Edith is a china one, Florence is a rag one. I think my family quite large enough now without any more additions on Christmas, and I want a work box this time, with thimble and needles, so I can make my dolls some clothes. I hope you will all get what you want on Christmas, but you can tell me about it when school begins after the Holidays.
June 1905: The missing thimbles that everybody is talking about are being found. One of the lucky people was Mrs. Thomas, New Brighton. A reporter who called the home was given the following information:
"Hearing of the finding of the thimbles in Mother's Bread did not influence me in the least to buy Ward's Mother's Bread, said Mrs. Thomas, "for I have been constant user for about two years but I found a thimble in the bread I purchased at Mr. Fox's store in New Brighton. It was a very charming surprise, of course, and I shall be careful to treasure this beautiful silver thimble."
Although Ward's Mother's Bread is so well known in New Brighton that an introduction of any sort is hardly necessary to acquaint the people with its superlative merits, the Thimble Hunt has been instrumental in making an unprecedented demand for Ward's Mother's Bread, which the grocers find difficult to supply. FROM THE FILES OF THE RESOURCE AND RESEARCH CENTER
Alleged members of the auto bandit gang, who murdered Vincent Sakraida and robbed the State bank of Beaver Falls October 24. 1919 will be brought to trial in Beaver County.
Beaver Falls American Legion Post No. 261 ws formally opened June 1922 with more than one thousand people attending at 1116 seventh Avenue.
Edward Kroen sang before President and Mrs. Harding in Washington, D.C. while performing with the Jack Wilson vaudeville company. He was invited to the White House and enjoyed a long visit with the President and his wife. 'Eddie said the president was in bad shape physically and had to be carried from the theatre.
Nicholas Best, a former resident of Brady's Run, who was employed on the farm of Jacob Klein in Daugherty Township blamed his suspenders for an accident at the Cider Mill. His suspenders were caught by a set screw on the machine and before he could extricate himself he was drawn up against a shaft on the machine and whirled about the latter several times. His suspenders broke and he was freed with a few bruises and a severely sprained and stiffened neck.
The Brewer School in Daugherty Township was damaged during a storm Saturday, Dec. 17, 1921. A twister hit the building and moved it about 18 inches on its foundation and jammed the doors so that they could not be opened.
The honor of being the first woman juror drawn to serve in Beaver County was Mrs. Ethel Johnson of Potter Township. January 1922.
A grave house shortage exists in Beaver
Falls and realty agents find it practically impossible to secure
housing places for their clients.
Since then the street cars have passed on and the horse and buggy have been supplanted by the auto, the bus and the truck. It reminds us of the little girt who ran from the kitchen to her mother and asked her to come quick the soup was getting bigger than the pot.--News Tribune- Aug. 28, 1931.
Robbers looted the jewelry store of J. Linnenbrink, Rochester, early this morning and carried away over $500 worth of jewelry.
Gasoline price is on the downward slope with 25 cents being quoted today.
Manager Harvey and his team of Marvels, will go to Canton, tomorrow, where they have been widely heralded as the attraction extraordinary.
To avert a collision with another machine, R. B. McDanel, Jr., New Brighton, drove his heavy touring car into the large plate glass window of the Hanauer store, Seventh avenue. McDanel was but slightly injured.
The Duquesne Light company is planning vast improvements at a cost of $4,000,000 which will provide the highest commercial and domestic efficiency to the consumers.
A Ford roadster collided with a horse and buggy at 4th Avenue and 9th Street, New Brighton. The auto, said to be owned by Dunleavy Packing Company, Pittsburgh, driver unknown, hit the horse as it was coming out Fourth Avenue forcing it over to the curb. The driver of the horse, Clark Humes of North Sewickley Township was slightly cut about the face by flying glass. Humes was taken to the Kline home and medical attention rendered.
Motorcar sales records show the typical purchaser described as follows: He is a married man 33 yrs. of age. He has a bank account and carries life insurance. He buys a $1,400 car and pays $700 down. He pays the balance at a rate of $100.00 monthly. His monthly income is $350.00. He owns real-estate in which his equity is $5,000. He has personal property worth about $2,000.
STROUDSBURG, Pa., June 16 - (AP) - In a picturesque mountain setting made doubly attractive by Pennsylvania's newly adopted state flower, the queen and royal court today opened the celebration of laurel blossoms time in the Poconos.
Designated by Governor Pinchot as Queen of the festival, Miss Beryl Temerton, Beaver college student, reigns for ten days over a program of pageantry, dances, dinners, receptions and outings.
Six bathing girls, aspiring to the title of Miss Beaver Falls, appeared behind the footlights of the New Colonial theatre last night in the second night of the elimination in an effort to determine who shall represent Beaver Falls at Con neaut Lake Park and take part in a state-wide contest for the selection of Miss Pennsylvania.
Those who appeared last night are: Bernice Parks, Darlington Road; Marie Shivere, Homewood Junction; Ruth Engle, 940 Third Street, Beaver; Stella Krosky, 223 Tenth Street, Beaver Falls; Ruth Braid, College Hill and Lois Butler, Eliwood City.
Eliminations will continue from the stage tonight and Friday night, and on Saturday night the final winner will be selected. She will be given a week's trip to Conneaut Lake Park, with chaperone, all expenses paid, and there will be given an opportunity of participating in a contest for the selection of Miss Pennsylvania and this winner will have the chance of going to Hollywood, with chaperone, all expenses paid, and of entering the movies. In lieu of this, she may claim $250 in cash.
Merchants of Beaver Falls have contributed beautiful presents for the winning girl, these articles being on display in the lobby of the theatre.
Beaver County, Beaver Boro, the Big Beaver, Little Beaver and all the other Beavers got their appellation from the lowly beaver, but there had not been a beaver in Beaver County until the year 1933 when they were brought in by the Beaver County Bucktails, a local sportsmen organization and turned loose in Brady's Run Valley.
A Beaver County girl, Miss Downie Tepsic, of Conway, was honored by a European nation by being awarded the title of the "World's only Serbian girl pilot and parachute jumper". With the title she got the Serbian Flying Cross. The Serbian government had 9,000 military flyers but a survey showed that in the entire world Miss Tepsic is the only Woman Flyer.
The public is warned against another new swindle that is being worked. The swindler is a well-dressed young man who is selling sparrows dyed yellow for canary birds. The fellow generally rings the front door bell, and with a cage in each hand tells the occupants of the house that he is selling singing canary birds. The price is ten dollars, but he will only accept one dollar down. After the bird has shown his singing powers in a couple of days, he will call for the balance. He tells the buyer that for two or three days the bird must not be given a bath, as it has not become acclimated. Of course the bird does not sing. The dye wears off and the buyer is out a dollar.
Dated 1903
Saint Winifred in his travels in northern Germany happened upon a group gathered around a huge oak tree, intent upon offering a human sacrifice to their pagan gods. The legend continues that he cut down the tree and, as it fell, a fir appeared in its place.
The event was hailed as a miracle and, from that time on, it became customary for German families to gather around tall evergreen trees on Christmas Eve.
It is also said that Hessian mercenary troops introduced this custom to the United States during the Revolutionary War.
Placing candles at the window is an Irish custom done to light the way for the Christchild, alone in the cold and dark of the night.
The poinsettia was known as the Flower of the Holy Night in Mexico.
Ran away from the subscriber, on the 19th instant, at night, two servant men, viz.
-THOMAS SPEARS, a joiner, born in Bristol, about 20 years of age, 5 feet 6 inches and an half high, slender made. He has light grey or blueish coloured eyes, a little pock marked, and freckled, with sandy coloured hair, cut short; his voice is coarse, and somewhat drawling. He took with him a coat, waistcoat, and breeches, of light brown colour, with black horn buttons, a light coloured cloth waistcoat, old leather breeches, check and osnaburg shirts, a pair of new milled yard stockings, a pair of old ribbed ditto, new osnaburg trousers, and a felt hat, not much the worse for wear.
WILLIAM WEBSTER, a brickmaker, born in Scotland, and talks pretty broad. He is about 5 feet 6 inches high, and well made, rather turned of 30, with light brown hair, and roundish face. He had an olive coloured coat, pretty much worn, with black horn buttons, brown waistcoat and breeches, (same as Spear's), osnaburg trousers, and check and osnaburg shirts. They went off in a small yawl, with turpentine sides and bottom, the inside painted with a mixture of tar and red lead. Masters of vessels are cautioned against receiving of them; and the above reward is offered to any person who will deliver them at my dwelling house, in this county, at TWENTY DOLLARS for each, from GEORGE WASHINGTON - Fairfax County, April 23, 1775.
The Americanization school at the Central Tube Building in Ambridge closed the school year on a joyous note and one of triumph over accomplishment of great things, blended with the occasion commerating the closing of the school year for the foreign born mothers of Ambridge. Twenty-five were enrolled in reading, writing, spelling, sewing and mastery of English language. There was also a music class for young girls.
The sponsor was the Americanization department of the Central Tube Company. The main speaker from the company stressed the earnestness and sincerity in desiring to become true American Citizens and mastering the language of their adopted country. Mrs. Samuel Mitchell was their very capable tutor.
When the tuberculosis sanitorium changed the heating system from gas to coal they had to excavate under the building to store the coal. The County Commissioners at that time secured narrow gauge tracks and two small dump cars from the Koppel Industrial Car Company for the excavation process. The tracks and cars were similar to those used in coal mines and the use resembled the mining process. A force of men dug out the earth from the cellar to the bottom of the foundation walls, loaded it in the small cars and would push it by man power out of the cellar down a stretch of track where the earth was dumped over the hillside. The track at that time was a very modern one equipped with steel ties, switches, etc. The cars were of steel and a hopper type.
Stone Crest Golf Course was named for the Ellwood Stone Company that operated in that area for 73 years.
Francis Anderson, a former resident of Fifteenth Street, New Brighton, who for several years has been helping Uncle Sam build the canal across the Isthmus, has arrived here from Ancon, where he was located. He is visiting at the home of his brother, LC. Anderson, Fourth Avenue. He states that the big canal is about ready for use, in fact he says, boats can go through now and if necessary battleships could be safely towed from ocean to ocean. The canal, he says, will be ready in ample time for the formal opening in 1915. Mr. Anderson is through with his work at Panama and has bought a farm in Northern Pennsylvania, where he will make his home.
Bearing an engraving of the "Spirit of St. Louis' the plane which Col. Charles Lindberg made his world famous flight from New York to Paris, an Air Mail Stamp of a 1O denomination was received by postmaster Samuel M. Lambie for Ambridge Service The stamp is a masterpiece in the art of engraving printed in a delicate shade of purple.
The Ambridge New Herald published the words and music of a song dedicated to Charles Lindberg 'Lindy's Landed Home" by Eddie Adair. It was not available in any store and a first for the Ambridge Area. They also gave a free 288 page hard back book entitled The Story of Lindberg", The Lone Eagle, by Richard Beamish for a one year subscription. The daily paper cost 2 cents.
Lindberg passed over Ambridge August 5, 1927 on a trip from Cleveland to Pittsburgh and Ambridge heralded his passing with sirens, whistles, flashing of lights and factory whistles blowing for his attention.
July of 1927 the Air Mail Pilots flying over Beaver County will get daily weather conditions from a local observer appointed by the United States Weather bureau of Washington, D.C. for mail planes flying from Pittsburgh to a Cleveland landing field.
Robert Peasner, of Leetsdale, a driver on one of Ben Park's wagons, received a serious scalp wound Friday last when the team he was driving became frightened at a street car in Woodlawn ran away, upsetting the wagon. Peasner fell out and was struck by the wagon, when it went over, receiving a nasty Y shaped wound in the scalp. He was given first aid and taken to Ambridge where Dr. C. R Bonoz dressed the wound and had him taken to Allegheny General Hospital.
The old Aliquippa school building has been sold by the Board of Education to Mike Pivar, of Woodlawn, and is to be removed at once. Part of the structure is comparatively new, while the old part is the original school house of the town and is quite a landmark. The building was sold for $1,000.
The fall session opens Sept. 11. Latin, French, German and Greek taught by experienced teachers. Faculty in English Department able and tried teachers. Instrumental music and vocal culture by instructors unsurpassed in skill and faithfullness, Art Department under the direction of an artist from the East. Elocution in class and private lessons by a thorough teacher of the science. Music, Art and Elocution Saturdays for those that desire lessons then.
aug24d3w. R T. TAYLOR (Beaver Argus, Sept. 3, 1883)
We were shown by Mr. W. J. Ware, who has charge of the C. & P. It It water station, Rochester, the other day, a revolutionary relic in the shape of an old flint-lock pistol. The weapon was unearthed by Mr. Ware some time since from several feet beneath the earth's surface, near the C. & P. R. R watering tank in the above named place, and, although it is supposed to have been buried since the days of the Revolution, is still in a good state of preservation, nothing but the trigger being gone. Upon the butt of the barrel are stamped the initials "J. D.," which, however, are supposed to be those of the manufacturer rather than those of its former owner. Had the initials been "G. W." instead, the instrument of death would have proven a relic of intense interest.
Mr. S. J. Boyd, late of Beaver, now residing on Bidwell Street, Allegheny, has in his possession a gold coin whose nationality puzzles the most accomplished numismatics. About eight years ago he found it on the site of old Fort McIntosh, at Beaver, and at that time it weighed exactly one ounce. It is virgin gold, and both sides bear hieroglyphics, the meaning of which have not been deciphered. The only signs which have the semblance of a date, are the distinct letters VXXIX, but these are hardly intended to designate the date. Mr. Boyd has submitted it to experts in the Philadelphia Mint, but no one was able to give its origin. He has been offered one hundred dollars for the coin, but refuses to part with it at any price.
Milton Shapp's administration wasn't the first to strike on the idea of conducting lotteries to raise money for public projects.
Many early schoolhouses in Beaver County were built with funds derived from lotteries after permission was granted by the state legislature.
The state legislature in the early 1800's
also authorized lotteries for building and repairing churches,
paying church debts, removing obstructions from rivers and building
turnpikes.