A History of Patton Township (Monroeville and Pitcairn) Pennsylvania

Home , Allegheny County Airport, Boyce Park, Conway Yard, David McCullough Bridge, Forbes Road, Gateway School District

Louis A. Chandler, Ph.D. Monroeville Historical Society

September, 2012 Monroeville, Pa.

CONTENTS

Chapter 1: The Frontier Era…………………………………………………………………………...4 The Widow Myers…………………………………………………………………………...5 Log Cabins…………………………………………………………………………………...5 Paths and Trails……………………………………………………………………………....7 The Johnston Family………………………………………………………………………....9 Travel in Colonial Days……………………………………………………………………..10 Waterways Creeks and Streams……………………………………………………………..12

Chapter 2: The Farming Village (The 1800s) ………………………………………………………..18 Joel Monroe…………………………………………………………………………………21 The Rising Sun Inn………………………………………………………………………….22 Life on the Farm…………………………………………………………………………….26 The Coming of the Railroads……………………………………………………………….29 The Railroad and the Borough of Pitcairn………………………………………………….32 Riding the Rails…………………………………………………………………………….34 The Coming of the Mines…………………………………………………………………..38 Patton Township and the Civil War………………………………………………………...45

Chapter 3: The Township (1900-1945)……………………………………………………………….47 The Beginnings of the “Bedroom Community”…………………………………………….47 Postal Service……………………………………………………………………...49 Community Newspapers…………………………………………………………..51 Getting Around…………………………………………………………………….52 Community Churches……………………………………………………………………….56 The Old Stone Church……………………………………………………………..57 Pitcairn’s Historic Churches……………………………………………………….59 Monroeville’s Churches……………………………………………………………61 The Community’s Schools …………………………………………………………………..63 Pitcairn’s Schools…………………………………………………………………..63 Monroeville’s Schools……………………………………………………………...67

Chapter 4: The Post War Suburbs (1945-1970)……………………………………………………….71 Garden City…………………………………………………………………………………..71 The Age of the Automobile…………………………………………………………………..72 Roadside Inns……………………………………………………………………….88 The Route 22 Corridor……………………………………………………………...90 The Borough of Monroeville (1951-1976)…………………………………………………...96 And by Air…………………………………………………………………………………..103 Building the Infrastructure ………………………………………………………………….109 The Public Library…………………………………………………………………110 Police Department………………………………………………………………….110 Fire Companies…………………………………………………………………….112

Chapter 5: The Municipality (1970-2010)…………………………………………………………….116 Travel and Transportation………………………………………………………….121 Research……………………………………………………………………………125 Retail Sales…………………………………………………………………………127 Medical Services…………………………………………………………………....132 Social and Cultural Life…………………………………………………………….134

Appendices…………………………………………………………………………………………….147

Introduction

The Municipal Planning Commission of Monroeville once characterized the community as “ a phenomena of the automobile.” And there is no doubt that Monroeville’s location just to the east of Pittsburgh along with the modern roads growing up around it, did much to established today’s flourishing suburban community. This book tells the story of how a small farming village with horses and wagons traveling over dirt roads, grew to be a flourishing suburban community and a major commercial hub with highways and roads carrying thousands of cars, buses, and trucks every day. This work draws on a number of sources, including regional histories like those of Solon and Elizabeth Buck, as well as the local histories of Monroeville by Sarah Thompson, and Virginia Etta Myers, and Marilyn Chandler who, although not related to the present author, shared his interest in local history and collected many of the pictures shown here. Thanks are due to the staff the Monroeville Public Library, most especially Mark Hudson and Marlene Dean; to Victoria Vargo of the Braddock’s Field Historical Society, and to Judith Harvey of the Frank B. Fairbanks Archives at the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. A special note of thanks goes to: Lynn Chandler for her support and assistance, to Monroeville’s Director of Community Development, Shelly Kaltenbaugh, and Jamie Storey from the Planning Office, and to Gene Bolch, who so generously lent his expertise in restoring photos from another era. The author is also indebted to the members of the Monroeville Historical Society whose extensive oral history project in 1986 did much to help preserve our past. Finally: a note about place names. In 1788 the western portion of what had been Westmoreland County was designated as Plum Township in the then recently-established county of Allegheny; and in the early 1800s a small farming village first appears on the maps with the name of “Monroeville.” In 1849 Plum Township was divided into two separate (north and south) entities, with the southern portion being named “Patton Township,” -- after Judge Benjamin Patton of Pittsburgh. At that time Patton Township included parts of present day Turtle Creek, Wilmerding, Wall and Pitcairn, as well as the town of Monroeville. Finally, in 1951, after the remaining entities had been established, what remained of Patton Township was then officially re-designated as the Borough of Monroeville, with the first newly-elected Borough officials taking office early the following year.

Louis Chandler Monroeville Historical Society Monroeville, 2012

How illusory are human hopes, and how soon the places which know us so well, shall know us no more forever!

-- Thomas Mellon

Chapter 1: The Frontier Era

Civilization follows the waters. It has always been so. The Tigres and Euphrates, the Nile, and the Ganges, and the Yangtze, have all served as cradles of civilization. And so it was to be with the advance of European civilization in the newly-discovered lands that were to become America. The march westward of colonial America may be tracked by the exploration of rivers, their headwaters, their valleys and their tributaries and courses that flowed from one to another, providing a convenient means of travel through the rugged terrain of thick woods and seemingly impenetrable forests. Robert and Kathleen Millward have described what the forests must have looked like in their work on the journeys of frontier explorer Christopher Gist:

“Another problem Gist and his son had upon venturing into Pennsylvania’s backwoods was its incredibly dense forest, which offered almost no browse for horses….Huge white pine forests reaching heights of 200 feet or more would have stretched for miles, the pines’ trunks averaging 12 feet in circumference. Gist would also have navigated through enormous strands of maples, oaks, and black walnuts, their trunks averaging 18 feet in circumference as well as immense cottonwood trees growing along the banks of the rivers often reaching 45 feet in circumference. The streams flowing through this massive forest would have resembled narrow ribbons of ink during the summer because the forest canopy, which stretched across both sides of the stream, blocked out almost all sunlight.”

Even formidable obstacles like mountains might be overcome, were river passages through them to be discovered. And it was just such a string of mountains, the Alleghenies, which represented a significant barrier to westward expansion in colonial America. By the 1700s, a conflict was shaping up between France and England over control of the destiny of the new world, and it was the land west of the mountains that was becoming the center of that conflict. The strategic value of the rivers was well-recognized: whoever controlled the rivers would control settlement in the west. In time, it became clear that the key to westward expansion was to be the land at the confluence of three rivers; the place where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers met to form the Ohio – the place later to be called Pittsburgh. Two routes to Pittsburgh were to emerge. To the north, the French were to descend on the upper Ohio from Canada, moving along the Allegheny River as it headed south toward its meeting with the Monongahela, there to establish Fort Duquesne. Meanwhile from the southeast, the English were to march westward from Virginia to eventually meet the advancing

French by entering the three rivers confluence up through the Monongahela valley. These military expeditions left in their wakes a string of fortified encampments, trading posts, and the beginnings of settlements.

The Widow Myers

One of the pioneer posts was that of Mrs. Martha Myers, established at the mouth of the Turtle Creek about the time the British first took possession of the territory. Martha Miers (1710-1805) (nee Marte Braun) was the wife of Eli (Eliezer) Miers of Bedford (Pennsylvania). Eli Miers served in the French and Indian War under Col. Bouquet when General Forbes’ British army marched towards Pittsburgh in 1758. He died in Bedford at 55 in 1765, and when, a few years later, the William Penn family opened a land office, and the Widow Miers purchased some 350 acres of land in Western Pennsylvania “situated on both sides of the Turtle Creek, and the great road leading from Ligonier to Pittsburgh.” In 1769, at 54 years of age, this pioneer grandmother moved her family west to start a new life on the frontier. The Miers’ place must have been conveniently located for travelers, because she had only been there a year or so when she had her first important guest. George Washington, in his dairy of November 1770, mentions stopping to dine at the “Widow Miers on Turtle Creek” on one of his journeys through the area. It soon became obvious to Martha Miers that her location, near the Turtle Creek and along the route to Pittsburgh, gave her the opportunity to provide food and shelter to travelers on their way west, and in 1774 she opened “Miers’ Wayside Inn.” The Inn, about 10 miles east of Pittsburgh, was a natural way-station for the growing stagecoach trade, and it was to become a regular stop on the National Road, and later on the Greensburg Pike. The Wayside Inn was to flourish for many years, becoming a landmark in the Turtle Creek Valley. Martha continued to operate the Inn for some 40 years until her death in 1805 at the age of 90. (The Inn would continue to survive under a series of owners, until it was finally torn down in 1912.) Still another chapter in the Miers’ frontier story opened up in 1782 when Martha’s two grandsons, Eli and Sam Lyon were captured by Indians following a raid on the Lyon’s farm just a short distance from Turtle Creek. The young boys were held captive in the Indian village for two years, and only released when a treaty resulted in an exchange of prisoners with the Indians. The Miers family are generally considered to be among the very first settlers in Patton Township, and their descendents continued to farm the area for several generations. One of their descendents, an Eli Meyers owned a mill on Thompson’s Run. His grandson, also Eli (born in 1830) was raised by the Robert Beatty family on their farm in Patton Township. He became a farmer, served for a while as the Township Supervisor, and in 1880, opened a store in Monroeville. The next year he was appointed postmaster, a post in which he served for many years.

Log Cabins

When first arriving on the frontier, settlers would have to rely on temporary housing that could be rapidly built like lean-tos and tents, to provide shelter while they set about building their log

cabins. Suitable trees would be selected, cut to length, and the untrimmed logs were notched and stacked so that each successive log fitted into the groove of the log below. The cracks or chinks between the logs were then filled with mud or straw and clay. At one end of the one story, one-room structure, a space was cut out for a fireplace, filled by a stone wall laid in clay or mortar. The chimney was build with sticks of timber, gradually tapering towards the top; the inside being plastered with clay, or mud and straw. Chimney fires were a constant hazard, and a pail of water was always kept near at hand for emergencies. Dirt floors were common. In a log cabin, one room served as kitchen, dining room, bedroom and parlor, sometimes with a ladder to a partial loft -- a bedroom for the children. Families were large, with six to ten children often crowded with their parents into that single room. With time, an adjoining room might be added on to one side of the structure. Log Houses were larger and more comfortable than the one-room log cabins, often with a second story to serve as a bedroom. By the mid-18th century, round log construction was giving way to square-hewn logs. This reduced the size of the opening between logs that needed chunking, thus helping to keep out rain and cold. In time, some log houses were sheathed with weatherboarding to further insulate them. The McCully Log House, still standing in Today’s Monroeville, is a fine example of a log house. Little is known of the McCully family’s origin except that they were Scots-Irish and immigrated in the later part of the 18th century. Soon thereafter, John and his wife, Elizabeth settled in Patton Township. The couple had three sons: John, James, and Robert. It was John McCully (1769-1831) who built the locally well-known log house – the McCully house, now preserved as an historic landmark. The house was originally built on land that had been granted to Martha Miers, one of the areas’ first settlers and was situated not far from today’s (2006) Monroeville Mall. (His brother James was to build his own log house about a block away from John’s. James’ log house has also been restored, and it stands today as a family home at its location on James Street). In time, John McCully’s old log house became run down, dilapidated, and finally abandoned. By 1992, it had been condemned and slated for demolition. It was then that a joint effort for the preservation of the house was launched by the Monroeville Historical Society, and the Municipality of Monroeville. Funds were raised and a group of volunteers worked to strip away the 20th century façade, dismantle the house, tag all the components, and transport it, piece by piece, from its original location at 106 Queen Drive behind the Monroeville Mall. Today, (in 2006) it sits as an historic landmark in its new location on the McGinley Homestead, near the Forbes Regional Hospital.

001. Now fully restored, Monroeville’s McCully House, provides an excellent example of an early American Log House. The ground floor of this 25-ftoot square structure served as the sitting room and kitchen, while the upstairs served as the family’s bedroom. This particular example is unusual in having a upper front porch cantilevered out from the second floor, and supported by two massive logs.

The McCully House is one of eight surviving log structures in Monroeville today (in 2012) -- an unusually large proportion for any American community.

Paths and Trails

By the latter part of the 1700s, Pittsburgh had become a bustling pioneer village with several business houses scattered among the log cabins, showing, even then, the beginnings of homegrown industries. By 1788 it had been designated as the seat of the new county of Allegheny. Settlements sprang up near Pittsburgh to become small villages in themselves, such as Wilkinsburg to the east, already a few scattered log houses and a tavern by the 1780s. But except for the river valleys, the region around, and to the east of Pittsburgh remained sparsely populated, still heavily wooded, with virgin forests largely intact. Among the first families to settle in that region, in what was to become Monroeville, were the Johnstons. They were part of a wave of Scots-Irish immigrants, in what has been called the Great Migration from the north of Ireland (Ulster) to America which began in 1717. Some families left Ulster in search of religious freedom, but most left because of a severe drought, economic depression and hardships brought on by English laws. Altogether, nearly 250,000 people, mostly Protestant and primarily the descendants of Lowland/Border Scots and Northern English left Ulster and sailed for America between 1717 and 1775. They initially chose the colony of Pennsylvania as their destination, but later moved on to the southern colonies in search of cheaper land. Their contribution to the founding of our republic was incalculable.

Table 1. Historic Log Structures in Monroeville McCully/McGrathHouse (early 1800s) 2381 McGinley Road. Restored to original façade; preserved as a landmark.

Taylor/Warner House (ca 1800) 3835 Northern Pike. Un-restored. Presently (in 2011) a physicians’ office.

Haymaker/Maxwell/Brooks House (ca. 1800) 1256 Northwestern Dr. Restored to original façade. At present (2011) the home of Curtis and Lou Ann Brooks.

Graham/Drakulic/Salnick Log House (1780) 1830 Old Ramsey Road Restored to original façade: Home of the Salnick Family

McCully/Johnston/Johnson House (1790) 1744 James Street Ext. Restored to original façade. At present (2012) the home of the Bill Johnson family

Boyd/Markle House (ca. 1860) 474 Thomas St. (Near Overlook Park). Un-restored. At present home of the Markle family

Lang/Sposito/Gratton House (1790) 249 Wallace Drive. Un-restored. At present home of Gratton family

Fig. 1. Location of log houses still extant in Monroeville (as of 2012).

The Johnston Family

John Johnston was among those immigrants who, on arriving in eastern Pennsylvania, were encouraged by the Pennsylvania authorities to move west over the mountains and settle the frontier. John Johnston was married to Elizabeth Campbell, and they had four children, two of whom were boys (William and Robert), and both of whom settled, prior to the Revolutionary War, in what would become Monroeville William (1745-1825) was raised in Franklin Township, and served in the war under Anthony Wayne at Stony Point, returning to Patton Township after the war. Historical records describe him as a “farmer and a wheelwright.” John Johnston’s other boy, Captain Robert Johnston, also served in the war, as a wagonmaster in the cavalry. In April 1769, Captain Robert applied for a land grant in what would become Monroeville, which he received in February, 1789. The Johnston property was located near the center of Monroeville. It straddled today’s (in 2012) Monroeville Boulevard and included the present site of Beverly Manor/Stone Cliff Apartments on the south; and Walnut Crossings/East Boro Apartments on the north. When their original house was burned in an Indian raid, the family escaped by hiding in the nearby grainery. In the aftermath of the raid, the sturdy grainery was converted to a house, and it served as the family homestead right up till 1970. Such Indians raids often left pioneering families in dire straits. So urgent was the need for food after the Johnston house was burned to the ground that 100 acres of the original land grant were traded to a neighbor, Mr. Snodgrass, for a half of beef, meat from nine hogs and other foods which could be spared to tide the family over until the next season of planting, growing and harvesting. Sometime during the early winter of 1799, a small child was lost in the vicinity. When the snow melted, the child’s body was found and then buried near the site where it was found, on a part of the Johnston farm. In February 1800, Captain Johnston dedicated that portion of the family’s land as a “Common Cemetery.” Later, both the Snodgrass and Monroe families also donated land, and so began the present Cross Roads Cemetery, where many of the Johnstons were to be buried in the family plot. Among the last owners and residents of the Johnston Dairy Farm on Monroeville Boulevard were Floyd Johnston and his two sons, Robert and Edward -- the seventh and eighth generations, respectively. Floyd’s grandchildren, would be the ninth generation of this prominent family. The Johnston farm was one of the last working farms in Monroeville when it went out of business in 1980, and the land was sold to a real estate developer.

002/003. George Johnston, and Robert and Martha Johnston - Mid 1800s. The Johnston family can trace their roots in Monroeville back to the late 1700s.

Travel in Colonial Days

Like the Johnstons, most of the early settlers were farmers, and they were largely self-sufficient. They had to be. They carved their farms out of the hilly, thickly wooded land, and grew what they needed to survive. There was little surplus crop, as transporting food crops for sale would have been a problem, given the limited transportation of the time. For such settlers like the Johnstons, travel was by foot or on horseback. As there were so few roads, frontiersmen were more likely to follow Indian paths laid down by the Amerind natives. Such trails were not marked, but often well worn by foot traffic; narrow, skirting ridges and avoiding gullies where possible, and crossing streams at the most convenient points. Old Haymaker and Logans Ferry Roads in Monroeville are said to have followed the course of such Indian paths. Both were part of a longer road following the Indian trail that came up from Turtle Creek and crossed through what is now Plum Borough before meeting the Allegheny River at New Kensington. A local ferry, operated by Alexander Logan, took passengers across the river to Springdale in the early 1800s. An early survey of the territory in 1755 had recognized the existing Indian paths, three of which defined the main east-west routes. The northern (sometimes called the Frankstown path after the town where it originated, near modern Holidaysburg) followed the northern branch of the Juniata River across the mountains to the Kiskiminetas River and then up to the Allegheny River north of Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania canal would later follow a similar path). The central route went from Raystown (modern Bedford) through Shippensburg as it headed west towards Pittsburgh; Forbes trail would later follow a similar route. The southern route went from Frederick, Virginia through Cumberland to meet the

Monongahela River at Redstone (modern Brownsville). In 1910, George Donehoo set out to follow the old Indian trails wending his ways west through Western Pennsylvania, and his observations give us a hint of what it was like to follow frontier paths that were nothing more than:

“…trails through the tree-covered valleys and over the rugged mountains. Far sweeping valleys, rugged mountains, grand forests, and beautiful meadows are passed by in a constantly changing panorama.”

Donehoo goes on to describe his trek across the Laurel Hills:

“The journey over this great mountain ridge, of about twelve miles, is over rocks, fallen trees, and through heavy laurel underbrush, in a region as wild and as uninhabited as it was in frontier days.”

Riders on horseback, using these Indians paths, would have found the going slow, the hilly terrain difficult to traverse. The narrowness of the paths and steepness of the defiles, and the need to forge creeks and streams made for a journey “….often interrupted by the narrowness and obstructions of our horse paths, as they were called, for we had no roads…and these difficulties were often increased by falling trees and tying grape vines across the way…” . The military campaigns of the French and Indian War were to further delineate the routes for later trade, commerce, and settlement, with the victorious English campaign defining the major east-west routes to Pittsburgh. The first full-scale British expedition, led by General Edward Braddock, set off from Cumberland Maryland in 1755. If armies, their horses and wagons, and their artillery were to be moved across country, roads would have to be cut through the wilderness, and Braddock proceeded to build a route that would be passable for an army. “Braddock’s Road” was to come up from Virginia to Mount Pleasant, then head northwest towards McKeesport before following the Monongahela valley past Turtle Creek, then crossing the river at the modern Borough that bears his name, before moving on towards Fort Duquesne. That summer Braddock’s forces were defeated by a mixed force of French and Indians (near the modern town which bears his name). Although the first expedition failed, the British remained determined to dislodge the French from the Ohio Valley. When a second British expedition was launched a few years later, the road cut by Braddock seemed a logical choice. Nevertheless in 1758, General John Forbes, the new British commander, chose a more northerly, and more direct route to facilitate supplies coming through Pennsylvania. The expedition would start at Fort Bedford (Raystown), proceed over the Laurel Highlands, through Ligonier. From Ligonier, Forbes took a route south from Latrobe, then turned north though the present-day town of Murrysville to pass along what is now Old Frankstown Road, down Wilkinsburg hill, and finally, along present-day Penn Avenue in order to launch his attack on Ft. Duquesne. There was a documented discovery of a road cut which appeared as a trench avoiding a local hill, and said to be part of the original Forbes road still visible in today’s Boyce Park. “Forbes Road” was to lay the trail for what would eventually become part of the Lincoln Highway. For long stretches these ‘roads’ were no more than paths cleared of trees and brush. The few better constructed roads were in the eastern part of the state, where it was possible to use wagons for shipments west. However, once the available roads became too narrow for the

wagons, the goods were transferred to pack animals for transshipment along the paths that wound through the hills. Pack-horse shipment was so expensive that the only goods transported by that means were those which could yield fairly high prices. Goods and supplies from Philadelphia might pass through the hills to Pittsburgh on such pack-horse trains, traveling in trains of 12 or more animals, as they wended their way west. The overland trip from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh took some 20 days.

Waterways, Creeks and Streams

With overland travel so fraught with difficulties, and with the plentiful streams, creeks and rivers of western Pennsylvania, the inland waterways presented an appealing alternative. At this time there were determined efforts to develop a system of canals spreading from east to west, and for a time Pittsburgh benefited from the extension of that canal system. But while the canal system enjoyed a brief popularity, in the end it was to prove uneconomical, and the coming of the railroads (in the 1850s) signaled the end of much of the inland canal system. But although the canal system never lived up to the dreams of its investors, the bustling traffic on the rivers was to continue its steady growth. In 1787 The Congress of the Confederation passed the Northwest Ordinance throwing open to settlement the vast Ohio territory and encouraging a growing number of settlers to move west. Some of these immigrants crossed on the rugged trek directly over the mountains into Pittsburgh on their way west, while others traveled to Brownsville from where they could get river passage to Pittsburgh and beyond, wending their way through the western waterways. To meet this new demand for river travel, inland ports and boatyards sprang up and flourished at Elizabeth, Brownsville, and McKeesport. As early as 1777, a group of boat builders from Philadelphia constructed 100 large Batteaux (the French-style canoe) near Elizabeth for transporting troops, laying the seeds for a shipbuilding business that would be a major factor in the Monongahela valley for more than a hundred years. Flatboats and the ubiquitous keelboats, heavily laden with cargo, plied their way along the valley to Pittsburgh and points west in a river trade that was to flourish until late in the 19th century. The early 1800s saw the first of Mr. Fulton’s steamboats to appear on the western waters on the Monongahela. After the construction of locks and dams in 1840s, regular steamboat service was common between Brownsville and Pittsburgh. One of the river towns to benefit from the new system of locks and dams was nearby Port Perry, then located at the confluence of the Monongahela and Turtle Creek (near Braddock). A small coal-mining town, the creation of the locks made it a navigation point, opening it up to the packet trade for local shipping of freight and passengers. And so, although the community had no direct access to the rivers, residents of Patton Township could travel south to Turtle Creek and the Monongahela ports, like Port Perry, where it would have been possible for a traveler to board one of the many steam packet boats plying its way on the daily run from Brownsville to Pittsburgh. Located equally about 6 miles from the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers, Monroeville is essentially a landlocked community of some 20 square miles. The land is part of an elevated plain that forms a transition between the flatter agricultural plains of the Midwest and the

Appalachian Mountains to the east. Its topography is characterized by ridges and valleys, the result of drainage runs carved by the many streams which run through wood-covered valleys with steep slopes. The waterways form part of the Turtle Creek Water Shed and hold tributaries that carry the run-off from various parts of the municipality. As a result highways and roadways are, in the understated words of the 1984 Comprehensive Plan “…complicated by the rugged topography.” Like river roadways, paths would inevitably grow up following these rural streams, and such footpaths would, in turn, yield to riding trails, and eventually, to roads. Several major roads have an east-west orientation: Penn-Lincoln Parkway, Route 22, Old Route 22, and a more winding alignment consisting of Northern Pike-Monroeville Blvd.-James St. These parallel one another near the center of the community. Another set of roads follow the natural drainage channels in a north-south orientation, e.g., Moss Side Boulevard, Pitcairn Road, Thompson Run Road, Abers Creek, etc. So while through traffic crossed Monroeville by land from east to west, the few local farmers in the area would more likely have journeyed south to neighboring communities -- when they felt the need to travel at all. Streams like Thomson Run, Dirty Camp Run, Sugar Camp Run, and Abers Creek, all flow south into the Turtle Creek. The Turtle Creek, in turn, flows through East McKeesport to the Monongahela River. Even those north-south roads that no longer have active streams running along them, (like James Street, Monroeville-Turtle Creek Road, and Monroeville-Wilmerding Road) are nevertheless marked with deep ravines -- remnants of old streams long diverted as the area was developed. Wending their way along the waterways, early settlers in the area would follow such routes to the neighboring settlements and trading posts to the south such as Turtle Creek, and on to the Monongahela valley, with its booming river traffic.

Fig. 2. Monroeville’s major streams with their accompanying roadways. (Illustration by Rebecca Olsen)

Besides providing travel routes to follow, the area’s creeks would also become locations for local mills that would spring up along their banks. Typical would have been the sawmill along the creek in what was known as Sawmill Valley that ran beside Monroeville Road on the left hand side going south towards Turtle Creek. Still another example is the Davis Sawmill on Thompson Run Road that continued to operate as a sawmill well into the 20th century, before the plant was converted by new owners into a cement mixing facility -- which it still is in 2005. Likewise, along Abers Creek, Bill Malise’s mill was situated adjacent to the hillside, near the present day Anthony House. This impressive stone house was designed by the renowned architect Henry Hornbostel. Hornsbostel was responsible for many architectural treasures in the Pittsburgh area, including the original campus of the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now

Carnegie-Mellon University). He designed this Monroeville house along Abers Creek in 1939, and had it constructed using the original tan and brown stones from the nearby mill.

004. Abers Creek a north-south waterway in eastern Monroeville.

005. Eles Brothers Cement Company. From the earliest days the area’s creeks were prime locations for mills. For example, Sawmill Valley ran beside Monroeville Road on the left hand side going south towards Turtle Creek. Another example is the Davis Sawmill on Thompson Run Road that continued to operate as a sawmill well into the 20th century, before the plant was converted by new owners into a cement mixing facility, which it still is today while retaining the old sign (2010).

006. This impressive stone house nestled in the hill along Abers Creek was built on what had been the farm of John and Tillie Richards. After the old farmhouse was torn down in the late 1930s, Charles Ross Anthony commissioned this house, called “Valley Tower” as his residence. It was designed by the noted architect Henry Hornbostel whose works in the Pittsburgh area included contributions the original campus of Carnegie Mellon University (then Carnegie Technical Schools), in Oakland, in the early 1900s. In the following decades he designed many of the Oakland’s most distinguished buildings.

007. Like several of the houses along Abers Creek the Kerr-Campbell house began life in the 1930s as a hunting and fishing lodge, at a time when rural Patton Township was a country retreat for city dwellers. The cottage was extensively remodeled into a contemporary home by the current owners in 1989.

The area streams also held a few surprises. One local resident remembers:

“There used to be lots of fish, about six to eight inches long; but mostly minnows, just hundreds and practically thousands of them. But they straightened out the streams and built upstream, the velocity of the water would disrupt, and then with all the parking area, the water would run off with the gasoline and fuel oil. Then they put salt on the roads, and slowly but surely, they killed practically all aquatic life.”

And then there is this final footnote to the story of the streams regarding the local creeks in the Prohibition era:

“….they made moonshine on the McGinley property up behind where the Westinghouse Nuclear is. They would try to get a location where there was a ravine and running water for their still…and the last place they made it was down on McGinley Road. There’s a ravine there, and there’s a water supply.”

Any secluded place with a good water supply would do. It was a time when local farmers, particularly those in eastern Monroeville near Saunders Station and, Haymaker Roads, and along Abers Creek – found they could supplement their income with a backyard still or two. For example, the Urick farm was said, at one time, to house half a dozen stills including one under the turkey shed. As a side benefit, the left over mash would provide plenty of food for the farm’s pigs. Running the moonshine from Monroeville’s farms to the thirsty public in Pitcairn or Wilmerding, was the riskiest part of the business with the local police always on the lookout to intercept such entrepreneurs.

Chapter 2: The Farming Village: The 1800s

The pattern of settlement in the region has been nicely summarized by Solon and Elizabeth Buck in their book -- The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania:

“Southwestern Pennsylvania’s settlers came in mainly by the two roads made famous by the Braddock and Forbes expeditions…The men usually went ahead, selected and cleared the land, planted a crop and raised a cabin. The bottom land along the rivers, fertile and conveniently situated for transportation, was taken up first, then the land up the creeks, and lastly the higher ground away from the streams.”

Following this pattern, the opening of the 1800s found Monroeville to be nothing more than a small village nestled amongst the farms and forests. Craftsmen in the area at this time included wheelwrights, weavers, cowbell makers, stone masons and blacksmiths. One of the first blacksmith shops was located on Northern Pike not too far from the present intersection with Route 22. By 1810 the village could boast of two blacksmiths, two stores, and an inn, even as settlements on either side (west and east) were growing rapidly. To the west, Pittsburgh was already becoming a commercial and trade center. By 1803 a visitor described the town as having upward of 400 houses “…several of them large and handsomely made of brick,” and of those, 49 were occupied as stores and shops. There were taverns and inns, churches, printing presses and two “glass houses” for the manufacture of plate glass and bottles. Faced with the difficulties of overland travel, people turned to the thriving transportation system that had already developed on the waterways of Western Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh’s strategic position astride the three rivers also meant that, at a time when much of trade was shipped by water, Pittsburgh was destined to become a commercial power, and a magnet for new settlers. To the east, settlements were springing up in the Ligonier valley. Settlements at Ligonier, Hannahstown and Greensburg soon became small villages, and east-west travel grew as the few dirt roads were widened and developed. Although the roads were gradually improved, travel over them remained a difficult and hazardous experience. In 1784 the state legislature authorized funds for roads from Philadelphia to the western part of the state, and by the 1790s the “Pennsylvania Road” had been extended from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. The Pennsylvania Road “…took the course of the Old Forbes trail across the mountains to Ligonier and then a few miles south of that road through Greensburg to Pittsburgh, approximately the course of the modern Lincoln Highway.” Another road was constructed from Johnstown to Blairsville and then to Pittsburgh. Known as the Huntingdon Road, it later became the William Penn Highway. The extension of that road through Monroeville was known as the Northern Turnpike, and the Wm. Penn Hwy/ Northern Pike laid the route for modern US Route 22. Along with the major east-west roads, a network of local roads began to take shape. Although the new process for hard surfacing roads by macadamization was being used in the early 1800s in the east, most roads in the west remained dirt roads. In general such roads “… were not ‘constructed,’ they were merely ‘opened’ – that is, the trees were cut down and the

stumps were grubbed out. Sometime a little digging was done on side hills and in passes, swampy places were filled…and crude wooden bridges constructed over the smaller streams.” Over the years, Monroeville has seen its share of bridges, tunnels, trestles and overpasses -- all built in an effort to ease travel along its hilly terrain. The MacGregor Road stone bridge, located off Beatty Road near Route 22, is a well-preserved example of the sort of 19th century one-lane structure once built to accommodate horse-and-buggy and foot traffic. This example is a gracefully curved 14-foot segmented arch structure of cut stone that once carried MacGregor road by passing over a stream in the course of connecting Beatty Road to Center Road. Today, it has been designated as a local historic landmark.

008. The MacGregor Road stone bridge, located off Beatty Road near Route 22, is a well-preserved example of the sort of 19th century one-lane structure once built to accommodate horse-and-buggy and foot traffic.

Traveling on foot or on horseback continued to be a common practice, even into the 1900s, but by the 1800s the era of the packhorse was approaching its end. Pennsylvania’s improved roads could accommodate Conestoga wagons that would replace packhorse trains in hauling freight over the mountains. One such pioneering family who traveled west in Conestoga wagon, was that of Andrew Mellon’s (1785-1856). He and his family had come from Baltimore to Western Pennsylvania in the wave of Scots-Irish immigrants. Initially the family settled in Westmoreland County. One of his sons, Thomas, was sent to school a few miles to the west at the Rev. Jonathon Gill’s Tranquil Retreat Academy, which he attended from 1832-1834. About that time, Andrew bought a piece of property near the Rev. Gill’s Academy, and the family moved to Monroeville in the early 1830s. This land, north of Cross Roads Church (near Logan’s Ferry Road), would eventually be sold, along with the original log house, to the Beatty family. Today, a later farmhouse (1901) built by the Beatty family sits on the same site.

009. The log house near today’s Logan Ferry Road which the Mellon Family sold to the Beattys in the 1800s.

010. The second Beatty farmhouse, a more substantial structure, was built by Samuel Beatty on land he bought from Andrew Mellon. The Beattys lived in a simple log house shown above until 1901, when this new house was built. Today (2012), the house still sits comfortably among the shade of the trees on its isolated rural lane, a peaceful oasis; although one currently surrounded by the Maple Crest Golf Course.

Andrew was to become an elder of the Presbyterian Church (1836-1841), and one of the signers of the petition to split off from the Behulah Congregation to form the Cross Roads

Congregation in Monroeville. His son Thomas (1813-1908) was to become Judge Thomas Mellon, who became a noted Pittsburgh banker and financer. He married Sarah Jane Negley and the couple had 8 children including Richard Beatty Mellon, and Andrew W. Mellon, -- the famous financier and Secretary of the Treasury. An account of the family’s trip west in a Conestoga wagon in 1818 has come down to us from Thomas Mellon:

“We had come to Baltimore in preference to New York or Philadelphia, because it was at that time regarded as of easier access from the sea; and as having the advantage of better roads and transportation across the mountains to the western country. Pittsburgh dealt chiefly with Baltimore then. My father chartered a Conestoga wagon and team; such was the name given to the heavy four horse wagon with long bed and white canvas cover, used in those days for transportation of goods and emigrants between seaports and the West. The teamster was to carry our baggage and ourselves for a stipulated price from Baltimore to Greensburg, in Westmoreland County. It was a long tedious trip, mostly over mud roads badly cut up – especially in the mountains, as wagons and teams were very numerous before the introduction of turnpikes and canals. Still, the October weather was fine; the orchards were numerous, with the ripe tempting fruit strewing the grass under the trees; and a generous welcome to help ourselves was easily obtained from the owners.”

Heralding the roads to come was the Northern Turnpike. In his excellent article on that historic road, Bruce Kish has called the Northern Turnpike: “the granddaddy of the modern superhighways spreading through the Municipality.” Originally conceived of by Pennsylvania authorities as the most practical and most economic way of uniting the state, the Northern Pike (or the Philadelphia Turnpike, as it was called at its eastern terminus) would be the nation’s first long distance paved road. Moreover, it would be a toll road so as to offset some of the costs of construction and maintenance. Such privately-owned roads were common in that era. In the 1790s a group of Philadelphia businessmen formed a company to operate the Northern Pike as a toll road. By 1807 the road was completed, running in a northeasterly direction from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. One of the investors, Abraham Taylor, settled 13 miles east of Pittsburgh where, in 1800, he built an inn on the side of the new road near the tollgate.

Joel Monroe

A few years later Joel Monroe, a Virginia farmer moved here with his wife Margaret Bing Monroe and his young family, to buy a farm in what would eventually be the core of modern Monroeville. The Monroe farm extended from the Old Stone Church to the present municipal building, and northward to today’s Garden City. It was Joel Monroe who, by selling off small lots along the Northern Turnpike, encouraged development in the core of the emerging community. By 1850 the farm was pretty well established but its mail still had to be picked up in nearby Turtle Creek That year, Monroe and his neighbors petitioned the federal government for their own post office. Their petition was granted, and on January 23, 1851, Joel Monroe became the first postmaster, with the post office located in his home near the toll gate of the Northern Pike (along today’s Business Route 22).

As was the custom at the time, a name with local meaning was to be selected for the post office - - in this case, the name of the postmaster. Thus the village became “Monroeville.”

By 1855 Joel Monroe had resigned as postmaster and went on to buy another farm in New Castle, Pa. His wife was killed in a house fire in 1864; he died in 1877. The man who gave Monroeville its name is buried, alongside his wife, at the Greenwood Cemetery in New Castle, Pennsylvania.

011/012. Joel (1793-1877) and Margaret Bing Monroe (1789-1864). Joel Monroe was a pioneering farmer, landowner, and the village’s first postmaster -- after whom Monroeville was named.

The Rising Sun Inn

Taylor’s inn attracted travelers going to and from Pittsburgh, but its business picked up considerably once regular stagecoach service was introduced along the Northern Pike in 1804. The trip cost 20 dollars and took six or seven days; a six-seat coach with a team of four horses was mostly used, and every 50 miles or so the passengers changed coaches. Horses were changed every 10 or 12 miles, and Monroeville, because of its location on the Northern Pike some 12 miles east from Pittsburgh, was ideally situated for a Stage House where the coach

could get fresh horses, and the passengers, refreshments. It is said that stage drivers leaving the inn and heading east in the early morning found they were often driving directly into a blazing sun, hence the name -- Rising Sun Inn. And so the Rising Sun Inn became the first coach stop out of Pittsburgh on the new Northern Turnpike, in what was to become Patton Township (and eventually Monroeville). Bruce Kish describes the arrival of the daily stage:

“The arrival of the coach in Joel Monroe’s sleepy hamlet was the highlight of each day. The steady clop- clop of hooves was heard in the distance. Farmers momentarily stopped working and looked up as children ran down to the roadside to watch the spectacle. As the coach drew nearer, the spectators saw the sun glint on a bugle the driver raised to his lips. A blaring melody formally heralding the carriage’s arrival, followed by a number of short blasts at the end… As the passengers dined in Taylor’s dining room, the grooms brought a fresh team of horses from the stable behind the inn. Mail bags were exchanged, and any tolls were paid at the booth, a log cabin next to Monroe’s house. Within a half an hour, the coach started off again, the hoof beats gradually becoming fainter in the west…”

Still another stage coach stop was located to the southeast near the Pitcairn Road. This was the Lang house, built originally by Revolutionary War veteran George Lange; it still stands today (2010), although extensively modernized, on Wallace Drive. In the early 1800s the house served for a time as a coach stop and livery stable for stage coaches headed east from Pittsburgh. (The original name of Wallace Drive was “Old Stagecoach Road”). The top floor served as two bedrooms for overnight guests. The stage line would have connected with the previous stop at the Rising Sun Inn on the Northern Pike; legend has it that arrangements were made with the Inn so that the arrival of guests traveling between the two stops would be greeted by a post horn to announce the safe arrival of the stage. Throughout the next 30 years, passenger and freight traffic increased on the road and it became a financial success, although there was a time when it was threatened by competition in the 1830s when a combination of canals and railroads advertised the trip from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh could be made in three and a half days. James Maguire, a local resident, was said to have been a captain on one of the canal boats. The canal system had a brief heyday, and in the end they were to prove uneconomical. Even as they were being abandoned, the railroads were going on to flourish and become a major force, competing for traffic with roads like the Northern Pike. In November 1852, the Pennsylvania Railroad opened an all-rail route from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and the stage coach was on its way to becoming a thing of the past, and the inn’s days were numbered. In that same year, Abraham Taylor passed away and his widow Jan Collins Taylor turned the inn into a residence for herself and her daughter, Sara Jane. They began truck farming on the surrounding acres. And it was this business that introduced them, to George Washington Warner, a Pittsburgh produce merchant who made frequent trips to the countryside in search of fresh vegetables. He married Sara Jane Taylor in1869 and set up housekeeping in the old inn. The couple were to have three children. The house was to remain in the Warner family for several generations, and it became known locally as the “Warner farmhouse.” When his wife passed away George lived alone in the old farmhouse for many years, before marrying again, this time to Nancy King McElroy.

013. George and Nancy Warner had six children including W. Horace (“Hook”) Warner whose nickname referred to a childhood preference for sledding over schooling. In 1936, “Hook” Warner went into the excavation business and would in time become a prominent developer, promoter and the founder of the Monroeville Chamber of Commerce.

In 1964 “Hook” Warner (1897-1985) was named Monroeville’s “Man of the Year.”

Across the road to the south of the inn was the stable, later a lot for heavy excavating equipment, beside which stood a garage for the family’s auto repair business. To the southwest of the house stood Monroeville School, where today (in 2011) stands One Monroeville Center. It was actually the third school to bear this name and was built on the Warner property.

014. Monroeville School. This two story red-brick school, built around 1911, was the third of three schools to bear that name, and the second at this location where today stands One Monroeville Center.

015. A team of oxen is seen in this 1920s photo taken in front of Warner’s Auto Repair and Garage on Northern Pike.

Directly across the road stood the Warner’s Flower Shop. The Flower Shop was run by Mrs. Leonora (Beatty) Warner Reese. The last of the Warner family to reside in the farmhouse, she lived there until 1976 when the house and property were put up for sale. In time the house would be converted to an office for the use of Dr. D. A. MacDonald, a function it still serves today ( in 2012) in its historic location along Northern Pike. Although extensively remodeled, it remains one of the oldest structures in Monroeville.

016. The Warner farmhouse, originally the Rising Sun Inn as a private residence of the Sam Dixon family before being modernized.

017. This structure, at 3835 Northern Pike, one of the oldest in Monroeville (c.1800), was originally built as the Rising Sun Inn. It was later to become a farmhouse, and today (in 2012) it serves as a physician’s office.

Life on the Farm

For much of the 1800s Monroeville was rural farmland. Farm families and neighbors depended on one another to get things done. They "changed works," routinely exchanged services, labor, and goods, employed hired hands who lived with the family, and sometimes loaned a child to work for a neighbor or relative. Farmers kept records of what they owed each other and every so often they would "settle up" and begin again. But as a rule little cash changed hands, even though work and goods were reckoned in cash value equivalents. In the early 1800s the Pennsylvania legislature helped fund the construction of a network of better roads and canals to bring agricultural products to market, but local markets continued to account for most of Pennsylvania farm sales. Unable to compete with the huge volume of crops and meat that flooded eastern markets, western Pennsylvania’s farmers adjusted their farming patterns to focus on supplying city dwellers and villages with milk, butter, maple sugar, hay, potatoes, truck crops, poultry, eggs, fresh meat, and other products. While log houses continued to be built even after the civil war, in time they were to give way to more substantial farmhouses of wood or stone. The local housing was, like the farmers themselves: simple, straightforward, and pragmatic. Farmhouses might start with a small rectangular box, but with increased prosperity they were made larger and more comfortable. Ornamentation was sparse, if used at all. Farmhouses were accompanied by a cluster of outbuildings, e.g., a springhouse, smokehouse, outdoor bake oven, privy, and barn.

In time, these more substantial farmhouses came to dominate the landscape of Monroeville. Made of stone, or of wood frame and siding, they typically were built on a foundation of local stones roughly fitted together. Inside walls were generally plastered. The kitchen was used to prepare and cook food and to serve as an all-purpose room; an outdoor oven might be used for baking. The fireplace was large and dominated the room. The hearth, being the only source of heat, and possibly of light, became the natural center of home life. Thread could be spun, candles poured, and mending done by women sitting by the fire, while men repaired harnesses and farm tools on long winter nights. The McGinley House, the oldest existing stone house in Monroeville, is a fine example of a typical western Pennsylvania stone farmhouse of the early 1800. It is a split-level house made of fieldstone; an older two-story section and a raised one-story kitchen wing, added later. In 1785 Mathew Simpson purchased 200 acres of land from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania which would later become the McGinley farm. Mathew’s son failed to draw up a will, and so upon his death the land reverted back to the Commonwealth to be subsequently deeded to Benjamin Darlington. In 1827, Benjamin Darlington sold the land to Joseph McClintock. It was probably around 1830 that Joseph McClintock’s son, John, a farmer and a stonemason built the stone farmhouse, sometime referred to as the “mansion house,” from native fieldstone. It was one of John’s daughters, Margaret, who married Isaac McGinley, the family that would give its name to the farmhouse, and live there for the next hundred years. Eventually the house changed hands and during the great depression, it fell into disrepair. It was rescued in the 1930s by the Miller family, who continued to work the farm: boarding horses and selling chickens, eggs and milk. Mrs. Betty Miller was able to indulge her love of Peacocks, and kept several on the farm, while her brother, Harry Solomon kept horses and trained trotters on a track behind the house. The farm continued in operation as a family farm throughout most of the 1960s. Then in 1967, Westinghouse Electric Corporation bought some 198 acres of property in Monroeville, including the McGinley farm, as the site for their proposed Nuclear Research Facility. In 1969, at the urging of Councilman, James Mirro, Westinghouse was persuaded to make a gift of the house to the Municipality of Monroeville who then designated the Monroeville Historical Society to be placed in charge as caretakers. Today, the McGinley House has been restored and furnished as a 19th century farm dwelling.

018. The McGinley House in Monroeville, fully restored, is seen in this 2005 photo at its location near the Forbes Regional Hospital.

019. Robert & Essie McGinley with daughter Hazel.

The Coming of the Railroads

Newly constructed and improved roads, along with a more extensive system of canals, were to be the prime movers in opening up the west. But by the middle of the 1800s, railroads came onto the scene, and they quickly provided a popular alternative for freight and passenger travel. The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) began in the eastern part of the state in 1849 and immediately expanded westward towards Pittsburgh. The following ad appeared in the Philadelphia Gazette, April 27, 1850.

The Pennsylvania Railroad announces the Pioneer and Express Line from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh. Leaving Depot no. 27, Market Street, daily at 8 am and 4 pm – 280 miles by Railroad in 2 ½ days.

When the ad was run, the canals and stage coaches were still used for that portion of the trip not covered by rail. The whole trip from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh was 350 miles, with 230 of that by railroad, the rest by canals or stage coaches. By the close of 1851, The PRR was able to provide through service between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, all of which was by rail except for a gap of 27 miles between Beatty’s (between Greensburg and Latrobe) and Turtle Creek, where stagecoaches were still used. This gap was finally closed on Dec. 10, 1852, when an all-rail route was established. Initially, the trip took 13 to 17 hours, and three trains per day made the run. At about this time, The PRR extended its local service from Pittsburgh to East Liberty and then continued to Wilkinsburg and on to other communities to the east of the city.

020. The Pennsylvania Railroad extended its tracks to East Liberty in 1851 as portions of the major east- west run were put into place crossing the state and connecting Pittsburgh with Philadelphia.

The first local train ran from Pittsburgh to Brinton, just west of East Pittsburgh, in December of 1851, and in the same month, an excursion train made the run to Turtle Creek. Regular passenger service followed, and a year later the first train from Pittsburgh to Wilkinsburg was making a daily run with a roundtrip fare of 34 cents. By the mid-1800s, the PRR’s main line (east west) ran from Pittsburgh thru Swissvale and Wilkinsburg to Brinton and Turtle Creek, described in a railroad publication of 1875 as: “The first station upon entering Allegheny County. Coal mines are in operation here, employing some 600 men. The settlement contains three churches, a public hall, two hotels and a population of about 2000.” Continuing westward, local trains might stop at Wall station, Stewarts Station (in Patton Township) then onto Larimer, Latrobe and Greensburg before heading towards the eastern terminus at Philadelphia. At Stewarts Station, the tracks branched to the northwest to service Blackburn and Saunders Station before heading towards Murrysville, Newton, and Manordale. While the PRR initially laid track to meet the demands of the growing industries, stations were soon added to accommodate workers and passengers traveling to and from the mill towns. Tracks would be laid to serve the steel mills of the Mon Valley, and closer to home, the Westinghouse Air Brake (WABCO) plant in Wilmerding, and the Westinghouse Electric Company plant in East Pittsburgh would become major customers. While freight traffic increased, passenger trains did too, making local stops along the PRR’s main line at stations in: Wilkinsburg, Edgewood, Swissvale, Braddock, East Pittsburgh, Turtle Creek, Wilmerding, Pitcairn, Wall, and Trafford on their way east. The Table below the PRR’s route during the later part of the 19th and the early 20th centuries.

Table 2. Selected Stations of the Turtle Creek Valley Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the 19th Century

Mainline (west to east) North-East Spur

(Pittsburgh)

Wilkinsburg Swissvale Braddock Brinton Located in Wall, Pa. Turtle Creek Located under the Greensburg Pike Bridge with access by stairs from the bridge above Wall Pitcairn Located in Pitcairn Pa. Originally Walurba Station in Patton Twp.; renamed Pitcairn Station in 1897. Moss Side Located on the southern border of Monroeville, near the Mosside Bridge along Rt. 48. Stewarts Stewarts Located south of Monroeville along the eastern Located south of Monroeville along the eastern edge edge of Trafford, Pa. of Trafford, Pa. Larimar Blackburn Irwin Saunder’s Located on the Turtle Creek Branch of the PRR along Monroeville’s eastern border Murrysville Originally the Turtle Creek Valley RR’s station (later the PRR’s) it was located at the south end of Carson Street. Dewalt Newlons Manordale Greensburg

(Philadelphia)

021. Residents of Patton Township could board the train at Pitcairn. The Pennsylvania Railroad’s station at Pitcairn was originally named “Wallurba,” after the name of the village, but in 1897 the railroad changed the name of the station at the request of the Pitcairn Borough Council, even though the depot was actually located outside the borough’s limits. All train schedules had to be changed to reflect the new name.

Along with the stationhouses built by the railroad, there were a number of repair facilities, maintenance, and switching yards, the most prominent in the area being the sprawling yard at Pitcairn.

The Railroad and the Borough of Pitcairn

It was in the 1850s that the fate of the railroad and the Borough of Pitcairn became intertwined. In the southern part of Patton township a few farmers had, over the years, settled along the banks of the Turtle Creek in land that had been originally been staked in 1768 by a certain Aeneas McKay, a resident of Fort Pitt who had served in the British colonial government. While McKay went on to serve as a colonel in the Revolutionary War, he never had the chance to develop his land, and it fell to subsequent settlers to begin farming the area. In 1841, one of those pioneering farmers, John McGinnis, began selling lots at the crossroads of Tilbrook and the Great State Road (today’s Route 130); a place he would call “McGinnisville.” At first a mere handful of famers settled around McGinnis’ property, and the settlement might have remained an insignificant farming village were it not for the railroad. For it was in 1850, that the Pennsylvania Railroad bought a right-of-way 66 feet wide from John McGinnis.

022. John McGinnis. The McGinnis family came from Ireland and originally settled in Baltimore, where John McGinnis was born in 1798. In time the family moved to the Pittsburgh area where John was to become a farmer and eventually a successful tobacco merchant.

In 1835 he bought some 300 acres of farm land east of Pittsburgh in the Turtle Creek Valley, which would form the core of today’s Pitcairn.

In the next few years it became apparent that while Pittsburgh could serve as a hub in the PRR, the city yards at 28th Street were much too small to accommodate the large number of trains expected as operations expanded. In 1874, Robert Pitcairn, divisional superintendent of Pittsburgh operations, began to look for more open space to relocate the Pittsburgh yard. Bruce Kish (1993) continues the story:

“Pitcairn gazed eastward toward the sparsely wooded upper Turtle Creek Valley where lay the farmlands of the McGinnis, Brinton, Wall and Toohill families. In 1874, he purchased 215 acres of this land, about 15 miles from Pittsburgh. The tract would serve as the new home for the Pittsburgh rail yard and its workers. For the next 20 years, the neighboring hillsides resounded with the thud of axes and the pounding of hammers as the forests yielded to a growing company town its residents called Wallurba.”

The new rail yards gradually grew. Finished in 1892, the extensive facilities were to include classification and receiving yards, transfer and assembly tracks, two roundhouses, various repair shops, machine shops, and its own lumber yard and power plant. Cabinet shops, upholstery shops and paint shops were also set up to repair and refurbish passenger cars. For many years all east and west bound freight of the Pittsburgh Division of the PRR was channeled through the Pitcairn Yard as the yard burgeoned into one of the largest and most strategic classification yards on the PRR system. At the same time, the Pennsylvania Railroad itself would grow into a dominating presence in the area, doing the heavy hauling for the industries of Pittsburgh and becoming a source of on-going employment for local residents. Thus began the decades-long love affair between Patton Township and the Pennsylvania Railroad culminating, by the end of the 19th century, in the massive Pitcairn Railroad Yards. For many years all east and west bound freight of the Pittsburgh Division of the PRR was channeled through Pitcairn as the yard grew into one of the largest and most strategic classification yards on the PRR system. By the 1890s dissatisfaction with Patton Township’s administration caused the residents of Wallurba to petition for their own charter. With the support of the PRR, a charter was quickly

granted, and in 1894 the village was incorporated as a borough, adopting the name of the visionary Railroad Superintendent -- “Pitcairn.” The next few decades saw considerable growth as the one-time farming village developed into a flourishing industrial community. Frustrated by a lack of service by local electric companies, the Pitcairn Council floated a bond to finance its own electric light plant and distribution system; electricity for homes became a reality. And then in the early 1900s Broadway, Second and Third Streets were all paved; a bridge was built over Dirty Camp Run, and the Pittsburgh and Wilmerding Street Railway Company began a trolley service along Broadway -- with a fare to Pittsburgh of 15 cents. Authorities of the growing town took steps to improve public health by draining swamps and ponds, laying out roads, providing for police, fire services, water, sewerage. More schools were needed; the Pitcairn High School was dedicated in 1916. The need for more land to support the town’s growing population lead to annexation of northern Pitcairn. Street lights and traffic lights were installed as Broadway became a booming business district.

023. In 1874 Robert Pitcairn, a superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, ordered the purchase of 215 acres of land, about 15 miles from Pittsburgh -- a tract of land that would serve as the new and expanded Pittsburgh rail yards. Thus began the decades-long love affair between Patton Township and the Pennsylvania Railroad culminating in the massive Pitcairn Railroad Yards.

The Pitcairn Yard flourished for almost a hundred years, but in the 1950s a decision by the PRR to greatly expand the Conway Yard north of Pittsburgh spelt a long slow decline for the Pitcairn facilities, till only a few daily trains ran through it by the 1980s. By the late 1990s the railroad (then Conrail) operated only a one through track at the Pitcairn yard. The yard was to experience a re-birth in November 1996, when it was given a new lease of life, being re-opened as an inter-modal facility, currently (in 2012) operated by the Norfolk and Western Railroad.

Riding the Rails

But in the 1850s, residents of Monroeville were soon able to travel by rail, and in time, even had their own station on Saunders Station Road. Each morning workers would walk down through the valley to Saunders Station there to get the train for work at the Westinghouse plant in

East Pittsburgh. Others might walk to Murrysville, where the Turtle Creek Valley Railroad Corporation (later the Turtle Creek branch of the PRR) had a line running north from Trafford’s Stewart Station to Murrysville. From there, one could take the train to Pitcairn, East Pittsburgh, or into downtown Pittsburgh. Patton Township residents could also board daily trains in Pitcairn, Turtle Creek, or the Mosside Station near the Mosside Bridge.

024. In the second half of the 1800’s residents of Patton Township might travel east to board the train at the railroad station in nearby Murrysville.

One resident remembered Saunders Station. It was left unattended, but, as: “…it had a potbellied stove, and if you were the first to get there in the morning, you built the fire to keep warm.” People from the surrounding farms came there to get the train for Trafford, Pitcairn, Turtle Creek, Braddock and East Pittsburgh. These trains became the first “commuter transportation” for the residents of Monroeville. Saunders Station was phased out in the late 1930s as more families began buying automobiles for travel to neighboring communities. Still another local resident who grew up in the area recalled the effects of the steam locomotives chugging through the town. “Nothing grew on the hillsides along the tracks in Pitcairn or Wilmerding when the steam trains ran because the steam created acrid rain.” But the PRR was not the only railroad to play a role in the transportation history of Monroeville. While the PRR spread its network along the Mon Valley and to the East, The Union Railroad took a north-south route that was to cross through Monroeville along the western

edge of the community on its way to Carnegie Steel and the other mills in the Mon Valley. The idea of running a railroad from Lake Erie to Pittsburgh was originally conceived by Andrew Carnegie so that he could ship coal directly to his coke production facilities on the Monongahela, thus avoiding the freight hauling fees of his rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Union Railroad is part of that original Lake Erie to Pittsburgh Mills rail system that had its beginnings in 1896. The railroad resulted from the union of five smaller railroads including the Pittsburgh, Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE), which extended down from North Bessemer to East Pittsburgh. Today, as then, it provides railroad transportation and railroad switching service, primarily to the steel industry. The northernmost point is still located at North Bessemer, from where the railroad spreads southward through Monroeville, Turtle Creek, East Pittsburgh, Monongahela Junction, Clairton Junction and Clairton. In addition to steel mills, the railroad serves the coal industry through the Duquesne Wharf, a coke production facility at Clairton. The Table below shows some of the stations established by the Union Railroad in the later 19th and early 20th centuries.

Table 3. Some of the P&LE/Union Railroad’s Stations

North-South Route

North Bessemer Universal Edel’s Creek Gascola Located in the north-west sector of Monroeville near Thompson Run; serviced the coal mines of Carnegie Steel Co. Leak Run Linhardt Located in the south-west sector of Monroeville and built primarily to service the nearby mines as well as Westinghouse’s copper mill and brass works in Linhardt. Hall Located in the central western sector of Monroeville, near Thompson Run, this station served the mines and later became a maintenance yard and roundhouse for the Pittsburgh, Bessemer and Lake Erie (later, the Union Railroad). Oak Hill Newton Westinghouse Electric Connection Turtle Creek Served the Triboro Supply Company East Pittsburgh Bessemer Served the Edgar Thompson Works in Braddock. Clairton Mifflin Munhall Homestead Duquesne

025. Union Railroad train at the North Bessemer shops of the P&LE. The Union Railroad grew from the original Lake Erie to Pittsburgh Mills rail system that had its beginnings in 1896. The railroad resulted from the union of five smaller railroads including the Pittsburgh, Bessemer and Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE), which extended down from North Bessemer to East Pittsburgh.

026. The Union Railroad’s Hall Locomotive Shops in Monroeville as seen from Route 22. As coal mining was developed in Patton Township coal shipments began to be hauled from the Patton Township mines to the various transfer points and stations along the Union Railroad, like Edels Creek, Gascola, Linhart, and Hall Stations. Hall Station would later become the Hall Locomotive shops.

The Coming of the Mines

While coal was discovered in western Pennsylvania as far back as colonial times, because of limited markets and poor transportation, it took a while to develop as a commercial enterprise. But by the middle of the 19th century the rapidly growing iron and steel industry was creating a vast new market for coal, and mining expanded, particularly to the north and east of Pittsburgh, to exploit the richness of the vast Pittsburgh seam. In 1870 Andrew Carnegie purchased tracts of coal lands in Patton and Plum Townships and began forming the New York and Cleveland Gas and Coal Company, which was to become one of the largest mining operations in Western Pennsylvania. Perhaps the first local mine was begun in 1891 when the Oak Hill Mine Number 4 was opened in Patton Township. And in 1914 The New York and Cleveland Coal Company began mining the area. With the advent of the First World War, the need for coal to support the war effort was becoming critical; trenches were being dug in local cow pastures to get at the thick rich coal of the Pittsburgh seam. By the 1920s, in addition to the New York and Cleveland Company, a number of others were actively engaged in mining operations in Patton Township, e.g., Blanchard Coal, Reynolds Coal, Beatty Gas and Coal, Monroeville Coal Company, John Mathews Coal, and Thomas Harper Coal Co. Local mines like Renton, Gascola and Cunningham’s of the Pittsburgh seam, and later mines of the Freeport seam, continued to be active during the 1920s and 30s. While Denmark, McCullough, and the Pittsburgh-Westmoreland Coal Company were to become prominent coal mine operators in the region, particularly exploiting the coal fields to the east of Patton Township. Since the Pittsburgh seam was easily accessible, running about 50 feet below the surface, shallow underground mines could be dug to exploit it, while surfaced strip mining techniques could also be used in some places. Strip mining used large mechanical shovels to strip away the surface coal and truck it to the nearest railroad sidings. The firm of R. H. Cunningham was reported to have transported such a gigantic shovel, once used to dig the Panama Canal, up the lower Monroeville Road, crumbling the brick surface. (Later, the company repaired and re-surfaced the roadway.). In 1918, R. H. Cunningham began strip mining operations at McMasters Grove. McMasters Grove was situated near the center of the farming village of Monroeville at the southern side of Route 22 near the intersection with modern Route 48. In the latter part of the 1800s, this centrally-located wooded area, part of the McMasters’ farm, had been serving as the community’s picnic park. Family picnics and community events like concerts and festivals were frequently held there.

027. Chadderton Family outing. Pictured in 1909 are Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Chadderton with their son, and later Pitcairn Borough Councilman Kenneth Chadderton. The scene is McMaster’s Grove, a popular spots for family outings, and today (2012) the site of Lowe’s Home Improvement Center.

028. A Community Picnic at McMasters Grove. The land, located along Route 22, was once part of the McMaster’s farm, and today (in 2012) is the site of Lowes’s Improvement Center.

During World War One, the grove was stripped of much its timber to support the war effort, and the area was further devastated by the strip mining of the 1920s. In time the land was to be reclaimed and Patton Township officials laid plans for a new high school to be built on the site. But increased traffic forced them to look for another site for the school, and the land was sold to developers. Eventually, the property was to be used as a drive-in theater (in 2005, the site of Lowe’s Home Improvement Center), while the adjacent land became the site of the Miracle Mile Shopping Center.

One local resident, writing in the 1950s, recalled the effects of mining:

“After the coal was taken out, this naturally left these coal pits in their destructive state, besides great heaps of soil, rock, slate, red dog, slack and other refuse remaining. These great heaps of refuse are still found in our borough destroying its natural beauty…Wherever you may be living the chances are that there are one or more of these slag heaps in sight of your home.”

In underground mining, coal would be dug out by men and machines. Men, and later mules, then hauled the coal on small tram cars that ran on iron rails from the working face to the mine’s entrance, (or adit), often built into a hillside, to a storage or transfer point. Over time, mule haulage was replaced by mechanical haulage over steel tracks using electric motors. The coal was hauled to a storage bin or “coal tipple.” A coal tipple was a structure for temporary storage where wagons of coal from the pits were “tipped” or dumped, eventually to be loaded into railroad cars on sidings running beneath the tipple. At one time such coal tipples were a common feature of the landscape in Patton Township. Mining was made considerably more efficient with the coming of the railroads. To feed the steel industry’s voracious appetite for coal, spur lines were built in Monroeville to service the local mines and haul the coal to the steel mills of the Mon Valley. Coal could then be hauled by tram cars to the nearest railroad sidings. The railroads, particularly Carnegie’s Bessemer and Lake Erie, (later the Union Railroad), ran narrow gage spur lines across the Township to service the mines at various loading and transfer points. Stations grew up along the railroads north-south corridor that ran along Thompsons Run to the steel mills in the valley. Edels Creek, Halls and Linhart stations were built to service the nearby mines, like Gascola which serviced the coal mines of the Carnegie Steel Company. Soon a network of narrow gauge rail lines crisscrossed Patton Township, servicing the coal mines; the name of today’s “Trestle Road” reflects that heritage. Local work trains were a common sight laying, maintaining, and removing tracks as were the narrow-gauge work locomotives or “Dinkys” used to service the mines. As the railroads expanded a minor housing boom grew at places like Hall’s Station, as an influx of workers settled in the area to work in the mines. As time went on, more and more of the local men who didn’t work on the farms would become miners. Mining continued in the area well into the 20th century, but even as the older underground mines were being depleted new methods of strip mining were then being developed and employed. By the 1950s the results of that poorly-regulated mining activity was apparent. Great heaps of surface soil, rocks, debris, mine trailings, slag, and other refuse littered the landscape, left behind as the mines began to close. A massive slag heap marked site of the mule barn for the old New York and Cleveland Coal Mine, later part of Harper’s strip mine. This was the parcel of land, that after reclaimation, would become the future home of the Monroeville Mall. Eventually the strip mines were abandoned and the land reclaimed; today there are few traces of Monroeville’s surface mines. However, underground mining was to continue in the area into more modern times. From the 1960s to the 1980s efforts were made to exploit the Freeport seam which ran about 600 feet below the surface in northern Monroeville. This lode of high grade metallurgical coal could be up to 7-feet thick in places under parts of Garden City,

and the Logan’s Ferry Road area, in northern Monroeville. Unknown to most Monroeville residents in the targeted area, hundreds of coal miners were at work directly below their streets and houses. The reason few were aware of this mining was that the entrance to the mine was located three miles north of Monroeville in Penn Hills. The miners would enter Republic Steel Corporation’s Newfield mine at that point and travel a few miles underground to the excavation site in Monroeville. Coal mining has always been a hazardous business and an accident at the Newfield Mine in 1977 in which one miner was injured and one killed, attested to the on-going underground activity in the area in the latter half of the twentieth century as large areas of Plum, Monroeville and Penn Hills were undermined. The Newfield mine, like the adjacent Renton mine has since been abandoned. And although a state mining act in 1966 required that sufficient coal be left in place to prevent subsidence, subsidence did occur, and continues to occur, in some instances in Monroeville today.

029. In October, 2011, this massive sinkhole appeared at the entrance to the Giant Eagle Mall on Beatty Road just off of Route 22, possibly the result of early coal mining in the area. (Photo courtesy Gene Bolch)

030. A Coal Tipple. Once a familiar sight in Monroeville, a coal tipple was a place for temporary storage where wagons of coal from the pits were “tipped” or dumped, eventually to be loaded into railroad cars on sidings running beneath the tipple. The coal tipple seen in this photo at the McCullough Mines

There was a minor housing boom at places like Hall’s Station, as an influx of workers settled in the area to work in the mines. Mining continued in the area, even as the underground mines became uneconomical, because new methods of strip mining were then being developed and employed.

031. Before mechanization, men, and later mules, were used to haul a small mine car on iron rails loaded with coal from the working face to the mine’s entrance, or adit, which was often built into a hillside. Mule haulage was eventually replaced by mechanical haulage over steel tracks using electric motors.

A network of narrow gauge rail lines crisscrossed Patton Township, servicing the coal mines; local work trains were a common sight laying, maintaining, and removing tracks.

032. Here a proud papa stands before his narrow-gauge work locomotive or “Dinky” -- the kind used to service the coal mines of Patton Township. (Photo courtesy of the Coal and Coke Heritage Center)

033. In the coal mining era Monroeville was crisscrossed with tracks. The name of “Trestle Road” reflects that heritage. This photo shows a work train removing tracks near William Penn Highway.

Coal shipments were hauled from the Patton Township mines to the various transfer points and stations along the Union Railroad, like Edels Creek, Gascola, Linhart, and Hall Stations. (The latter would become the Hall’s Locomotive shops, active for many years as a

major repair facility). In the early days, the railroad provided passenger service and made connections with the PRR. This allowed a schoolteacher who taught at Hall Station School could commute from Wilkinsburg through Turtle Creek on the PRR, there to transfer to the Union Railroad for the last leg of the trip up to Hall Station and the nearby school. In addition, besides its main job of servicing the mills, the railroad ran such local passenger trains, and even at one time, special excursion trains made the run to Kennywood Park. Today, the Union Railroad continues to operate the Hall Locomotive Shops facility to maintain its fleet of 30 some locomotives at its location just under the Route 22 bridge in west Monroeville.

034. The Roundhouse at the Union Railroad’s Hall Shops. Today, the Union Railroad continues to operate the Hall Locomotive Shops and switching yard in maintaining its fleet of 30 some locomotives at its location just under the Route 22 bridge in west Monroeville.

Other railroads served as branch lines to the mines, like the Turtle Creek Valley Railroad. This local railroad was incorporated in 1866 to construct a line from Stewart’s Station (near Trafford) to the main line of the PRR. The Stewart Station to Murrysville section was completed in 1891. The Lyons Run Branch proceeded east from Saunders Station. In 1903 the PRR purchased the TCV RR. At its peak the TCV RR ran 5 passenger trains a day; passenger service was discontinued in 1936. The PRR’s local passenger service (then the Penn-Central) was phased out in the late 1950s-early 60s. The Turtle Creek Valley tracks continue to be used for freight hauling, but the few daily passenger trains no longer make local stops. The railroads were a major factor in the life of Patton Township for close to a hundred years, but by the 1920s the local trains, like the horse and buggy, were losing their appeal to the traveling public.

035. Union RR Steam Locomotive (Baldwin 0102). The Union Railroad laid tracks along a north-south route crossing through Monroeville along the western edge of the community on its way to Carnegie Steel and the other mills in the Mon Valley. The idea of running a railroad from Lake Erie to Pittsburgh was originally conceived by Andrew Carnegie so that he could ship coal directly to his coke production facilities on the Monongahela, thus avoiding the freight hauling fees of his rival, the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Patton Township and the Civil War (1861-1865)

Although sparsely populated (with only 33 households listed in the most recent census), a relatively large number of young men answered the call to serve with the Union Army. The names of those who served were the familiar ones from Monroeville’s pioneering families: Aber, Barr, Carothers, Duff, Treher, Elliott, Glew, Haymaker, Jordan, Maxwell, McClintock, McMunn, Sampson, Tilbrook and Stewart. Many families felt the impact as fathers and uncles, brothers, cousins, and neighbors would become casualties of that dreadful war including: Corporal Matthew Aber of the 1st Pennsylvania Calvary, killed at Petersburg, Va.; John Duff, who died of battle wounds at the age of 18, Private Arthur Elliott, killed in battle at Malvern Hill, Va.; Aaron Treher wounded at Dabney Mills, Va. The Maxwells had two sons die in the Civil War, James and John. James was killed in the battle of Fair Oaks, and John died while a prisoner of war from wounds he received at the battle of Sulphur Springs. The Haymakers were typical of the Patton Township families of the times. William and his brothers, Michael and John, joined Company A of the 63rd Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers. Haymaker was mustered as a private, but was soon promoted to second lieutenant, and later Captain. In March 1862, he was promoted to quartermaster of the entire regiment. His letters home reflect his patriotism, his concern for his farm, his family and his neighbors including the Bradleys, McClellands, Abers, Tilbrooks, and Maxwells. William Haymaker was wounded at the Battle of Fair Oaks, Va., in May 1862 -- a battle that also cost the lives of many

in the regiment including his Monroeville neighbors James Maxwell and Robert John Linton. William McMunn, who served with the 63rd Reg. Pa. Vol., died of wounds he received at the battle of Nelson’s Farm while his brother Daniel McMunn II enlisted in August 1862, serving in Co.1, 123rd Pa Vol. Reg.; and later in Company E, 5th Pa. Heavy Artillery. Family lore has it that…

…during the early days of the war, the draft board sent around agents to draft Daniel McMunn. His mother told them he was already serving, but they didn’t believe her, and a dispute followed. She offered to pay the government men money if they would go away and stop bothering the family. They took $25. and left. When Daniel arrived home after walking from Virginia (his first enlistment being completed), he heard the story of the draft board agents, and promptly went down to re-enlist.

Daniel McMunn was wounded at Fredricksburg, but later returned to his regiment.

***

One final footnote may be added to Patton Township’s history in the Civil War.

With the outbreak of the Civil War, Pittsburgh quickly became an arsenal for the Union. The Iron City was called upon to produce the heavy cannons needed for the war. Cannon barrels cast at the Fort Pitt Foundry had to be tested, and rural Patton Township was selected as a site for test firings. The “Proving Grounds” were established on the banks of the Turtle Creek a short distance east of the present Moss Side Bridge. Here a camp of expert artillery men steadily loaded and fired guns into the steep bank on the South Side of the creek so that over the war years a deep cavern was drilled into the hillside. This place of Civil War artillery testing became so well known throughout the nation that for many years thereafter the place was known as: “The Proving Grounds.”

Chapter 3: The Township (1900-1945)

In the late 19th century the industrial age came to Monroeville (or Patton Township as it was then known) as coal mining in the Pittsburgh region spread eastward. But the deep mining boom soon ran its course, and by the first part of the 1900s life in the little farming community had lapsed back to what it had been for the past hundred years. By that time, those who didn’t work on the farms were beginning to find work at the giant Westinghouse plant in nearby Wilmerding, or in the sprawling railroad yard in Pitcairn. Gradually, a need arose for housing for the families of workers, tradesmen and professional people. In the 1930s Monroeville was still a sparsely-populated, largely rural community, but gradually the horse-and-buggy gave way to the automobile as Monroeville continued its evolution from a farming community to a suburban one, with increased housing, commercial development, and economic growth. In the 1940s modern roads were being built, and many who worked in the mills of the Turtle Creek valley, might now get there by the family car continuing the tradition of the working commuter, as Monroeville became something of a “bedroom” community. The automobile, along with the rising affluence of the middle class, created a demand for affordable housing within reach of the city.

The Beginnings of the “Bedroom Community”

At first small affordable houses were offered by builders, but as people became more affluent the number of rooms a family desired increased. Plans for modern homes replaced the entrance hall and formal parlor of Victorian times with the multi-purpose living room, reflecting a more informal life style. Houses tended to be brick, or more commonly, wooden frame, often with large pillared porches, and dormers in the low-pitched roofs, in the Bungalow style popular in the early 1900s. The Bruce and Rovesti Houses on Patton street, seen below, provide good examples. Patton Street was one of the earlier residential neighborhoods in the community when this picture was taken in the 1930s.

036. The Bruce & Rovesti Houses on Patton Street in the 1930s.

Like the Bruce and Rovesti houses, Patton Township provided housing for the families of workers at the burgeoning plants along the Turtle Creek. During the 1920s, management at the Westinghouse plants in the Turtle Creek Valley took steps to fill the need for housing for their workers by constructing homes in nearby communities. Westinghouse Electric Company built several housing tracts in the town of Turtle Creek, while Westinghouse Air Brake Company (later, WABCO), built housing for their workers in Wilmerding and across the creek in Patton Township. Situated in the Boyd’s Hill area at the southern edge of Monroeville near Mellon Plan – it was perhaps the oldest planned housing in Monroeville, constructed in 1917. The Westinghouse Company constructed these modest 1-story, wood frame structures for the families of African American workers. They are clustered on the hill overlooking the bridge to Wilmerding located just at the bottom of Monroeville-Wilmerding Boulevard. Many of these well-constructed houses are still used as residences today.

037. WABCO housing after construction in 1918.

038. In 1918 the residents of Boyd’s Hill and the adjacent Mellon Plan posed for this community portrait.

Postal Service

By 1850 the cluster of farms in the newly-formed Patton Township east of Pittsburgh had developed into a small village. Villagers had to go south to Turtle Creek to pick up their mail. Recognizing the need for better arrangements for mail, one early settler and land owner, Joel Monroe along with his neighbors, petitioned the federal government for their own post office. Their petition was granted, and on January 23, 1851, Joel Monroe became the first postmaster. A post office had to be centrally located, so Joel Monroe established the post office in his farmhouse at the corner of what is currently William Penn Highway (Route 22) and Northern Pike. The post office site was moved around in its early days and Joel Monroe was replaced by Emanuel Kunkle. In 1853 James Lang received the appointment and carried out his duties from a corner of a store located near the old Cashdollar home on Northern Pike. Later the village’s post office was moved to the Snodgrass farm near the Crossroads Church with T. W. Ferguson as postmaster. In 1880, Eli Meyers, a descendant of the pioneering Meyers family, became Monroeville’s postmaster, with the office in his storeroom. His two daughters (Virginia Etta Myers and Margaret, later Mrs. Margaret McCutcheon) helped out in sorting and handling the mail. At first, the mail was readied only once-a-week, on Saturdays. Gradually the mail was sorted for three weekly deliveries – Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. Eventually, six-day-a- week mail was the norm until 1905 when Rural Free Delivery was established, and the local post office was closed. As it had been from colonial time, residents of rural areas had to travel to some central post office to pick up their mail. Mail delivery to homes might be done by private companies, but there was no home delivery to rural areas by the postal service. Rural Free Delivery, with its RFD numbers to designate the mail routes, was the national initiative to extend postal service delivery directly to the homes. With the coming of RFD service, the central post office duties

were shifted to the Turtle Creek Post Office. Local post offices were closed and mail was then brought from Turtle Creek to be delivered to local residents by horse and buggy and later by automobile. For a time around 1900 there was a post office established in the Brunner Home to serve the citizens of northern Patton Township and the Brunner girls were enlisted to help out in handling the mail. Since the Brunner home was on the land that was originally the Clugston farm, this post office became known as the Clugston Post Office. It too, was closed in 1905 with the coming of Rural Free Delivery. The mailman plying his route in the RFD days was a welcomed sight. It was Homer Johnson who delivered mail around the community for over thirty years, many of those in his old Model A Ford. In the end, Mr. Johnson had clocked some 235,000 miles in that old car faithfully delivering mail to the residents of Patton Township. By 1949 RFD, with its unique numbering system was being phased out in the region, and it ended for Monroeville in 1956, when street and house numbers were used by the postal department to deliver the mail.

039. The community’s post office was once located on the Clugston farm. The Clugstons, one of the pioneering families of the area, owned the tract of land through much of the 19th century, and built this farmhouse around 1850. Later, the Brunners owned the house and their girls helped out in the post office. Today the house is still a residence, located near the campus of the Community College of Allegheny County.

040. Postal workers at the Pitcairn Post Office in the 1940s.

Community Newspapers

Still another sign of the growing population and affluence of the area by the 20th century was the rise of the first community newspapers. At the turn of the century people were reading the Pitcairn Express, started September 18, 1893, the first local weekly in the Turtle Creek Valley. The Pitcairn Express was located at 618 Broadway. The Trafford News was added May 6, 1906, and both were consolidated as the News Express on October 1, 1948, owned and operated by Margaret Russell of Pitcairn. The birth of the Borough of Monroeville gave birth to the Monroeville Times on August 14, 1952. On December 6, 1956 another consolidation resulted in the Times-Express.

038. The Pitcairn Express was established in the early 1890s, and went on to print the news of the community for many years from its location at 618 Broadway. G.W. Irwin was the long-time Editor.

039. Edward L. Dardanell, for many years publisher and CEO of Gateway Press and Dardanell newspapers including Monroeville’s Times-Express.

Getting Around

In our region, public transit by horse-drawn coaches began in Pittsburgh in the 1830s, and gradually extended outward. By 1851, a horse-drawn omnibus service was operating a twice-a- day route between Pittsburgh and Turtle Creek. The omnibus was a departure from the stagecoach in that it had an extended coach with open side panels, seats running lengthwise, and an entrance at the rear. The new cars quickly became a hit with passengers, and a common sight on city streets. Within a few years, a street-railways system was introduced wherein the passenger coaches were pulled along tracks by teams of horses. In 1859, Pittsburgh joined Cincinnati and

Chicago as some of the first cities to adopt street railway service. As time went on horse drawn cars were to give way to electrified trolley service. In 1900 The Southern Traction Company (later the Pittsburgh Railways Company) inaugurated a line connecting Wilkinsburg to East Pittsburgh via Edgewood, Swissvale and North Braddock. And in 1901, the Pittsburgh and Wilmerding Street Railway Company was running trolley service along Broadway in Pitcairn, with a fare to Pittsburgh of 15 cents. Pittsburgh Railways took over the Pitcairn Trolley line in 1902, and it became part of a complex of trolley lines in the Turtle Creek valley. One Pitcairn resident remembers the fascination the streetcar held for the neighborhood youngsters, and fondly recalls a ritual that probably took place just about anywhere there were tracks and little boys. A kid would be selected from the neighborhood gang to place a penny on the tracks before an approaching trolley -- while the gang gleefully stood by, eagerly waiting to retrieve the flattened results once the supremely indifferent trolley had gone rattling along on its way. In the days when the average suburban household might have only one family car, public transportation was relied upon much more heavily. The regions’ dominant transit company, the Pittsburgh Railways Company, had extended its trolley service to: Wilkinsburg, Ardmore, Penn Hills, Braddock, and further east through Wilmerding, Turtle Creek, East Pittsburgh, McKeesport and Trafford. Shoppers could take a local bus south to Turtle Creek or Pitcairn, and then transfer to the Pittsburgh Railways Trolley for the trip on to Pittsburgh.

040. Early trolley approaching Wall Avenue along Broadway. A horse and buggy is parked at the curb by Toohill Brother’s Mens’ Furnishings at the corner of Wall Avenue.

041. Pittsburgh Railways Trolley Car No. 4352 here seen on the Brinton Avenue spur was used along corridor of the Turtle Creek valley in the early part of the 20th century. This car was built by the St. Louis Car company in 1917. The photo shows the car still in use in the 1940s. (Photo Courtesy of National Railway Historical Society).

042. Pittsburgh Railways Co. “PCC” Steetcar built by the St. Louis Car Co., seen here in Pitcairn (1961)

By the 1920s a few streetcar companies began experimenting with buses on some of their routes, and soon independent operators were beginning to form bus lines. One of those, The Trafford Motor Coach Company began operating from Turtle Creek to East Pittsburgh, and later between Trafford and East Pittsburgh. In 1948 it began service to Pittsburgh for 55 cents.

Specialized bus lines also sprang up to serve the need for early commuter lines for workers in the Turtle Creek Valley. The familiar orange bus of the local Colbert Bus Line, was a common sight as it carried workers daily from Monroeville to the WABCO plant in Wilmerding. New bus lines were cropping up all through the 1920s. Austin was another one of the East Pittsburgh lines that existed primarily to serve the needs of Westinghouse workers and their families. It began operation in 1919 as rush-hour only service between East Pittsburgh and Linhart with an extension to Universal where it served a cement plant. Leonardo Burrelli, began Burrelli Transit Services in 1927 with two jitneys operating between the East Pittsburgh plants and North Braddock. And Pasquale Bacco started a jitney type service between Linhart and the Westinghouse plant in Wilmerding in the early 1920s using an open sided truck. In 1946 he formed a partnership with his son and they began regular service between Wilmerding and Restland Memorial Park as well as between Wilmerding and Monroeville, serving Mellon Plan and Patton Street. As the eastern suburbs began to blossom, the route was extended to the Miracle Mile Shopping Center on Route 22. McCoy brothers (eventually the William Penn Motor Coach Company) began service between Renton and Turtle Creek in 1921. Routes were added to serve Renton, Unity, North Bessemer, Oakmont and Verona; Pitcairn-Monroeville and East Pittsburgh-North Versailles. Additional service was provided in the growing Monroeville area in 1955, eventually including the Monroeville Mall. McCoy’s was also the first to provide express bus service between Garden City and downtown Pittsburgh when that housing plan first opened in 1953. Gus Siahos started bus operations on a route between Wilmerding and Wall in 1924. A second route was added in 1929 from East Pittsburgh to Turtle Creek and Monroeville. The Wilmerding - Wall route was operated by Siahos personally and was known as the Wall Bus Line or the Wilmerding & Wall Bus Line. Between the late 1920s and the 1960s, some of the bus lines that rushed to provide service to the region east of Pittsburgh included: Austin Motor Coach Lines, Burrelli Transit Services, Colbert Bus Line, Lincoln Coach Lines, McCoy Brothers, Miller Bus Line, Deere Brothers, Westinghouse Valley Trailways Co., and William Penn Motor Coach Co. Typical routes for Monroeville’s bus riders in the 1940s might have been the Burrelli’s Transit Services run -- from Braddock, Electric Avenue and East Pittsburgh, to Frankstown Road, Beulah Road, and on to the Old William Penn Highway; or the McCoy Brother’s Buses which made a loop through Monroeville that included Beatty and Center Roads and also the Old William Penn Highway, and Boyd’s Hill. In 1964, along with the Pittsburgh Railways Company, some 30 independent bus lines were taken over, to be consolidated by the newly-formed Port Authority of Allegheny County (PAT). PAT re-designated the Austin Coach Lines McKeesport-East Pittsburgh route as 60M; while the East Pittsburgh-Turtle Creek-Monroeville Route became 60N East Pittsburgh- Monroeville, expanding direct service to Pittsburgh. PAT also established five Park-n-Ride services for Monroeville’s commuters. And in the 1960s, while it was PAT that now offered commuter service; inter-city travel was being served by Continental Trailways, and the Greyhound Bus Lines. Today, Fullington- Trailways continues to offer bus service for intercity travel within the region, while Greyhound offers the travel to points across the USA from their terminal at the Monroeville Mall.

043. Manager J.H. Matthews clears the way at the Greyhound Terminal at Conley’s Motel on Route 22 (c. 1990)

A number of regional taxicab companies currently serve Monroeville. But at one time, Monroeville had its own “home-grown” taxicab company. The Diamond Cab Company was founded in the mid-1940s, by James E. Speelman, a local businessman, whose 1946 Plymouth cabs became a familiar site in the area. For over 40 years, Diamond Cab provided service to the residents of Monroeville, Turtle Creek, East Pittsburgh, and Trafford, including charter work for various companies in the Turtle Creek valley (The Pennsy, Westinghouse, WABCO) who needed transportation for workers. The company was sold, and went out of business in the mid- 1980s.

Community Churches

For many of the Scots-Irish Presbyterians in 19th century Monroeville, the church was the center of village life. By 1850 Churchgoers would have had their choice of three local congregations to join. Beulah Church, the oldest and largest Presbyterian church in the area was founded in 1784 just a few miles to the west in today’s Wilkins Township. Although the original log church had been replaced with a more substantial brick structure equipped with oil lamps and coal stoves by 1850, the services had changed little since the first churches were established on the frontier. The Beulah Church history describes a typical Sunday service.

“…a typical Sunday might begin with family worship in the cabin. Father in his best jeans and mother in her linsey-woolsey dress would take their bare-foot children and walk or ride horseback to the log cabin. At ten o’clock in a dim, crowded room, the service might begin. A leader ‘lined out’ the hymns, singing one line at a time while the congregation repeated after him. Those in attendance sat on log seats through the long prayers and equally long sermons, many of which depicted the horrors of eternal punishment. Then followed a recess for the lunch which had been brought in baskets or kerchiefs and in the summer was shared outside on the warm grass. After a

cool drink from a nearby spring, the congregation returned for an afternoon session with more lined-out psalms, long prayers and second sermon.”

By the 1830s it became apparent that most of the active members of the Beulah church congregations lived in Monroeville and were unable to attend Beulah when inclement weather made the roads impassable. Wanting to hold worship services closer to home, a group decided to split off from Beulah to form their own church in 1834. They would become the Cross Roads congregation and they built their first meeting house, a simple box-like structure made of local stone, at Northern Pike and Center Road. Still another early Church, founded in 1810, was the Bethel Church. On a Sunday morning in 1850 the farm family could have hitched the horse to the wagon and driven to Bethel Church, a log structure built in the early 1800s on Haymaker Road. There they would hear the Reverend William Galbraith conduct the service. Many of the pastors who served “full-time” worked on their own farms during the week or supplemented their meager incomes by teaching. In those days a pastor’s duties would have included, in addition to preaching in his own church every Sunday: serving as an itinerant preacher for nearby communities, conducting prayer services, visiting the sick, the bereft and the needy, performing marriages, and teaching the children their catechism in Sunday School. With each new wave of immigrants, new places of worship grew up to serve the area’s flourishing religious communities. Pitcairn was to become home to various protestant churches, including Presbyterian, Evangelical Reformed, Methodist and Lutheran denominations. One of the earliest Catholic churches in the area was St. Michaels in Pitcairn, built in 1895. In 1955 St. Bernadette’s Catholic parish was established in Monroeville’s Garden City; and in 1960 North American Martyrs Church, on Haymaker Road, held its first services. Temple David was organized in 1957 for a congregation committed to Liberal or Reformed Judaism, and in 1962 the Parkway Jewish Center was established.

The Old Stone Church

The distinctive Old Stone Church, gleaming in the sun on its small island of green, looks serenely down on modern urbanized Monroeville all around it; a poignant reminder of simpler times. The church had its beginnings in 1834 when a small group of local people petitioned the Presbyterian Church for a congregation to be established in what is now Monroeville. The trustees purchased land from two early setters. John Johnston and Joel Monroe deeded parcels of land beside the Johnston’s family cemetery on the Northern Turnpike. In the next few years, the members of the Cross Roads congregation built a modest church -- a simple, box-shaped meeting house made of indigenous stone. The first pastor was the Reverend S. M. McClung who led the service; parishioners could park their horse and buggy across the street in the convenient livery stables. The Reverend was paid 5 dollars each Sunday, plus free room and board for him and his horse. Then, as now, parking was a problem. Churchgoers could park their horse and buggy diagonally across the street where a carriage shed was built to accommodate a dozen or so horses and buggies. The building was long and low and enclosed on three sides with a low slant roof and stalls along the long enclosed side offering shelter and hay for the horses.

044. A woodcut of the original Meeting House of the Cross Roads Presbyterian Congregation. (Photo courtesy of Gene Bolch.)

This church was to serve for many years, but by 1894 it was in need of extensive repair, and the congregation decided instead to tear it down and build a newer, bigger church on the same site. Stones from the original church were used in the construction, along with additional stones provided from the nearby Snodgrass quarry. In a few years, the new church was finished, to be dedicated in October, 1897. The second Cross Roads church was to be a much more impressive structure. The box shape had now been expanded by extending two opposite sides to form windowed bays. The result was an octagon-shaped design reminiscent of the Richardsonian Romanesque style then popular in Western Pennsylvania. The front of the eight-sided building was to have twin entrances on either side under hooded roofs, flanking an impressive stained glass window under a concave arched frame. The unique design would be complemented by a steeply-pitched slate roof. For many years this inspiring church on the hill served as a place of worship, but as the automobile came to dominate family life, and parking became a growing problem, it became less practical as a meeting place. The Cross Roads congregation moved on to larger quarters in 1958; in 1963 the building was sold to the Monroeville Church of Christ. In 1969 the church building was again sold, this time to T. M. Sylves and his daughter, Sarah Sylves Thompson who bought it with the intention of giving it to the Municipality and the Monroeville Historical Society so that the building might be preserved as an historical landmark. In 1970, the transfer was made and the Old Stone Church was subsequently awarded Landmark status by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation. In 1976, as part of the nation’s bicentennial celebrations, a church bell, donated by the Drakulic family, was installed in a newly-erected bell tower. The tower was dedicated to two industrial pioneers who had a significant impact on the area: George Westinghouse and Nicola Tesla.

045. Monroeville’s Old Stone Church was built in 1897. Today, the Church is under the care of the Monroeville Historical Society which opens it for tours on special occasions, and provides arrangements for private weddings to be held there. (Note: this picture was taken before the erection of the bell tower in 1976).

Pitcairn’s Historic Churches

For much of the 19th century, Pitcairn’s religious needs were served by nearby churches. Churchgoers, hitching the family’s horse to the buggy on a Sunday morning could be seen making their way over rough dirt roads to join neighboring congregations in prayer. To the north in rural Patton Township, Beulah Church (1784), Bethel Church (1810), and the Cross Roads Church (1834) ministered to the needs of local Presbyterians. Nearby churches in Stewart Station (now Trafford), Turtle Creek, Wilmerding, and Braddock, also served the needs of Pitcairn’s Christians. But by the 1890s Pitcairn’s faithful were feeling the need for their own churches in town. Methodists and Presbyterians took the lead; local congregations being formed as missions or branches of nearby parishes. In 1891 the United Brethren established a mission station on Brinton Avenue; it would be called the “mother of churches” as it generously offered a meeting place for church groups in the process of being organized. In time that church became the United Methodist Church on Highland Avenue at Third Street. Also in 1891, the First United Brethren in Christ Church built its first wooden church on Brinton Avenue. That same year, Presbyterians of Pitcairn (then called Wallurba) petitioned the Blairsville Presbytery to establish a church, which originally would meet in the storerooms of Liggett Brother’s store. A gift of land by Mrs. Agnes Frew (sister of John C. McGinnis, an early trustee) allowed the erection of an attractive stone church, McGinnis Presbyterian, at the corner of Third Street and Wall Avenue.

046. McGinnis Presbyterian Church at Third Street and Wall Avenue. This impressive church, and its adjoining manse, was built in 1917 and encased in Hummelstown brown stone. It was dedicated in April 1917, and named “McGinnis” in memory of Eleanor McGinnis the mother of the donor of the land (Mrs. Agnew Frew, sister of John C. McGinnis).

In 1893, the First United Presbyterian Church approached the nearby church at Stewarts Station for help in arranging a mission in Pitcairn. And also in 1893, construction work began on the first Methodist church founded the previous year with 14 members. The Walurba Methodist Episcopal Church eventually became the First Methodist Church on Agatha Street. Over the next decade Pitcairn was to become home to various Christian denominations, such as Presbyterian, Evangelical Reformed, Baptist, Methodist, Lutheran and Roman Catholic. Some of the churches founded in that era include:

- Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (1893) an offshoot of the Lutheran Church in Braddock. - St. Michael’s Catholic Church (1895) - previously Catholics in Pitcairn had attended St. Colman’s Church in Turtle Creek. - The First Baptist Church (1899) originally established a mission which met in Reed’s Hall. The United Church of Christ (1899), “The Church on the Hill” which would eventually become the Evangelical and Reformed Church. St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (1903) originally formed as part of the Pitcairn- Braddock parish. In time these early churches, with their Sunday Schools, Bible study classes, church socials, and picnics, would grow to become a major part of Pitcairn’s community life.

Monroeville’s Churches

During the first half of the 20th century Monroeville’s Population grew, at first slowly and then more rapidly, and the newcomers brought with them their faiths and established their places of worship.

Churches and places of worship in Monroeville were to include: Bethel African Methodist Episcopal; Monroeville Assembly of God; First Baptist Church of Monroeville; Grace Baptist Church of Western Pennsylvania; Monroeville Baptist Church; Church of the Resurrection; North American Martyrs Church; St. Bernadette’s Church; Monroeville Christian Church; Monroeville Church of the Brethren; St. Nicholas Serbian Orthodox Church; St. Martin’s Episcopal Church; Church of the Risen Savior; Monroeville Congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses; Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. Rosecrest Lutheran Church; Trinity Lutheran Church, Missouri Synod; Bethel United Presbyterian Church; Cross Roads Presbyterian Church; Hillcrest United Presbyterian Church; New Hope Presbyterian Church; Archangel Michael Serbian Orthodox Church; Garden City United Methodist Church; Monroeville United Methodist Church; Temple David Congregation; Muslim Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh; Hindu Jain Temple.

047. The Assembly of God Church off of Old Wm Penn Highway.

048. The Hindu Jain Temple off of Illini Drive

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The Monroeville Interfaith Ministerium was founded to promote fellowship among religious leaders representing the faiths of Monroeville. To foster respect, understanding, and cooperation among people of all faiths, the group organizes special gatherings and religious services. It provides community services including help to strangers in need of food shelter and travel assistance via its transit aid fund.

The Community’s Schools

Early schooling in the country was usually done privately by tutor, with local and itinerant pastors sometimes taking on the role to offer instruction to the children in their congregations. Private tutors would hold classes for those who could afford to pay, and in time private schools sprang up like the Rev. Jonathon Gill’s Tranquil Retreat Academy in Patton Township, and one operated by the minister’s daughter in the United Brethern Church on Brinton Avenue. The 1800s saw the rise of the first public schools, one-room log structures, which were to become a feature of the landscape across Patton Township, just as they were in every community in 19th century America. Schools like Brinton, Breakneck, Clugston, Haymaker, Monroeville, Mt. Pleasant, McCann, Roosevelt and Unity, provided lasting memories for generations of Monroeville’s residents and their children. By 1850 some of the log schoolhouses had been replaced with more modern ones of frame and wood siding, but the one-room structure was retained though many years. In those days a single teacher would typically have students in the first through eighth grades, and she taught them all. The number of students varied from six to 40 or more. The youngest children sat in the front, while the oldest students sat in the back. The teacher usually taught reading, writing, arithmetic, history, and geography. Students memorized and recited their lessons. One long-time resident recalled the Monroeville schoolhouse of her childhood.

“As I remember the old school house had an open grate and a large heating stove, long black board, and a large water bucket with a big dipper in it. The coal house stood nearby and how the boys did enjoy bringing in the coal! And the girls carrying in the water, always during school hours and going to the furthest house away, but there were not very many homes there then. Just the names of a few of our teachers: Miss Fleck from our township, Miss Calderwood, later Mrs., R.B. Robinson, for many years president of the WCTU in Allegheny County, Mr. Turner of Wilkinsburg, cousin of the funeral director T.D. Turner, and Mr. Holmes of near Universal.”

When the Patton Township School District was organized in 1850, there were ten one- room rural school houses in the area.

Fig. 3 Some of Patton Township’s one-room schools in the 1800s.

Pitcairn’s Schools

Prior to 1892 the children of Wallurba (as Pitcairn was then called) were educated in one-room school houses, like Patton Township’s Brinton School located at the bottom of Haymaker Road. In 1892 a two-story wooden school was opened on 8th street, and operated until 1894 when the Pitcairn School Board was formed. The new school board immediately began school construction. In 1896, the six-classroom Pitcairn School #1 was dedicated. While local, one-room schools provided only an eighth grade education, this imposing red brick building on 6th street educated students through tenth grade. Soon students who completed their studies at one-room schools in the surrounding rural areas in Patton Township came to Pitcairn #1 as tuition students for ninth and tenth grades. Furthermore, graduates of Pitcairn#1 often completed their high school education by traveling to Turtle Creek or Wilkinsburg. The original building later became an elementary school, and still later found use as the Pitcairn Borough Building. As the population grew, more schools were constructed. In 1906, Pitcairn #2 was built on Agatha Street. This three-story, red brick building containing 12 rooms was used as an elementary school until its demolition in 1962. The site later became a playground. The first high school, Pitcairn School #3 was built across from Pitcairn #2 on Agatha Street in 1916. This large two-story brick building with 18 classrooms was one of the first fire- resistant schools in the area. Additions to the high school included 9 classrooms, and a gymnasium in 1927. An auditorium in 1929. Pitcairn High School provided education for junior and senior high students. When the high school curriculum was expanded to four years in 1923, all children in Pitcairn and the neighboring areas could complete a full public education through the Pitcairn School District. In 1937, curriculum advances included the addition of home economics and industrial arts departments, and accreditation by the Middle States Association for the Accreditation of Secondary Schools. The Pitcairn High School students, known as “Railroaders” took pride in their school. Sometime after the formation of the jointure with Monroeville schools in 1955, the Pitcairn High School building was re-designated as an elementary school of the newly formed Gateway School District. In 2011, the building was closed as part of a school consolidation effort, and then transferred to the community of Pitcairn. Some plans have called for it to be used to house a charter school.

049. Pitcairn School Number 1. This Gothic-style red-brick building was originally built as Public School No. 1. It was dedicated on Feb, 22, 1896 and opened with six classrooms; Professor Howard Welsh was the first principal. It was last used as a school in 1977, and later became Pitcairn’s Borough Building..

050. Pitcairn High School building was re-designated as an elementary school of the newly formed Gateway School District sometime after the formation of the jointure with Monroeville schools in 1955. In 2011, the building was closed as part of a school consolidation effort, and then transferred to the community of Pitcairn.

Monroeville’s Schools

As was happening in Pitcairn after the turn of the century, Patton Township’s one-room school houses were gradually giving way to larger buildings such as a three-room school (often called Rosecrest School) at Patton Heights. When the population exceeded 2,000 in 1911, Patton Township school directors consolidated the school programs and Monroeville Elementary School was formed – the first of several larger schools. The three-room red brick school replaced the original 1850s one-room building across from the Old Stone Church. By 1926, 5 classrooms, a cafeteria, a dental clinic and rest rooms had been added. Students who attended through eighth grade could continue their education as tuition students in Pitcairn, Turtle Creek, Wilkinsburg, or other neighboring communities. Monroeville Elementary School was closed in 1975, sold in 1978, and then razed for the construction of One Monroeville Center. Bellwood Elementary School was completed in 1912 as a two-story brick school in the James Street area, It served as a school until 1962 when the Monroeville Recreation Department used it until its demolition. After a period of several years, Jordan Elementary School opened in the Tilbrook area in 1926. Additions to the original two rooms followed, and by 1952 the building had six classrooms. The building closed in 1979. In 1927 Mellon Plan School opened containing eight classrooms in a one-floor brick building. The school closed in 1981. The last school built during the period of consolidation was Patton Heights Junior High School, opened as a two-story eleven classroom school at Young’s corner on the Monroeville- Turtle Creek Road. Eventually this building was converted to an elementary school in the mid 1950s and closed in 1984. Monroeville experienced a population explosion during the 1950s from 7,841 in 1950 to 22,141 by the end of the decade. This rapid growth put a strain on the schools, and the Monroeville School Board embarked on a program of school construction including: the Monroeville Junior High School in 1952, Moss Side Elementary School in 1955,Evergreen School in 1958, and Northern Pike Elementary School in 1960. In 1955, the communities of Monroeville and Pitcairn merged their schools in the Monroeville-Pitcairn Jointure. The jointure board planned the construction of Gateway Senior High school which opened for the 1958-59 school year. At that time the student enrollment was 5503 with students attending ten elementary schools, two junior high schools and the new senior high school. The Monroeville-Pitcairn Joint Schools became the Gateway Union School District in 1960, and a final name change to Gateway School District occurred in July 1965 with the at- large elections of all school directors. The building program continued in 1961 with: the addition of: South Junior High School (which also housed the school district’s administration; Garden City Elementary School in 1962; additions to Monroeville Junior High School; the Gateway Senior High School in 1965; and the construction of Ramsey Elementary in 1970. In 1976 a special meeting room was dedicated at the South Junior High School which, under the leadership of school board member Frank Keely was set up as an early American rustic interior with appropriate historic artifacts. Part of the wood came from a log cabin which had been torn down on Ramsey Road.

During the 1970s, Gateway reached the largest enrollment of 9,102 students in the 1972- 73 school year. Then the decline began with student enrollment falling to 6,800 by 1979. In response, the Gateway School District reversed its expansion plans and began closing schools. By 1979 Monroeville Elementary, Pitcairn #1, and Jordan Elementary Schools were closed. The decreasing enrollment trend continued through the 1980s. In 1983 Gateway completed a major re-structuring. All elementary schools were changed from K-6 to K-4, with South Junior High becoming Gateway Upper Elementary school for fifth and sixth grade students. Monroeville Junior High was re-named Gateway Junior High School with ninth grade students moving to the senior high school. As a result, Paton Heights, Mellon Plan, Garden City and Moss Side Elementary were all closed. With continuing enrollment decreases Northern Pike Elementary School was closed in 1987. In the 1990s Gateway experienced a modest increase in students. Existing classroom space was further stretched by reduced class sizes, increases in special education, and commitments to art, music and computer instruction. As a result Moss Side Elementary School was re-opened in 1991. And in 1994, Gateway Upper Elementary became the Moss Side Middle School (5-6), and Gateway Junior High School became Gateway Middle School (7-8). In 2007, the district completed its reconstruction and expansion of the Gateway High School complex. Upgrades to the High School included a state of the art theater, a dance studio, a sports complex, and the Antimarino Stadium. And in 2009, after some expansion work, the Moss Side Elementary School was renamed the Cleveland Steward Elementary School. By 2012, The Gateway School District employed more than 600 staff members to serve more than 3,800 students in Monroeville and Pitcairn. All students in the district attended Gateway High School Gateway for grades nine through twelve, Gateway Middle School for grades seven and eight, and Moss Side Middle School for grades five and six. Students in kindergarten through grade four attended one of four elementary schools: Evergreen, Steward, Ramsey, or University Park.

051. School Children from Mt Pleasant School – 1908-1909 (Jean Young, Teacher)

052. Patton Township’s School Children - Sarah Sylves Thompson, Teacher

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Church schools and private schools have a long history in our country and in Patton Township, perhaps beginning with the Rev. Jonathon Gill’s Tranquil Retreat Academy. Some of the non- public schools in our area have included: North American Martyrs Catholic School (on Haymaker Road), St. Bernadette Catholic School (on Azalea Drive in Garden City), Penn-Hall Academy (off of Old Frankstown Road), Our Lady of Mercy Academy/Greater Works Academy Christian School (on College Park Drive), Singer Learning Center/ Early Childhood Learning Center ( on Northern Pike), Snowdrop Islamic School (on Seaman Lane), The Learning Tree School (on Haymaker Road), and Spectrum Charter School (on Northern Pike).

053. Penn Hall Academy -- a private school in Monroeville

054. St. Bernadette School in Monroeville’s Garden City

Chapter 4: The Post-War Suburb (1945-1970)

In the 1940s, the New William Penn Highway (US Route 22) was being constructed through Monroeville, and the road that was to define the commercial core of today’s Monroeville was completed in 1942. A few years later, the Pennsylvania Turnpike was being extended westward; with Monroeville designated as its Pittsburgh interchange in 1950. Now the possibilities of bringing the motoring public to Monroeville for shopping seemed intriguing to a group of investors who were to build a major shopping center on Route 22 -- The Miracle Mile. Following the lead of Miracle Mile, other shopping centers sprang up along Route 22. It was a classic case of improved roads and greater access leading to commercial development that, in turn, fueled the need for more housing and better roads; a dynamic that was given further impetus when the Parkway East was completed in 1962. These developments brought a dramatic surge in population, and so Monroeville was poised to join in the national housing boom of the post-war era. As the housing boom gained momentum, builders searched for new ways to meet the soaring demand. They quickly found costs could be cut by greater standardization. A New Jersey builder, William Levitt, was one of the first to show how methods of mass production could be applied to housing. In the early 50s Levitt’s Long Island development, “Levittown,” was to become the first fully planned community complete with recreational and shopping facilities, and its own community center. The idea of the planned community quickly spread across the country. One of the first planned communities in this region, Garden City, opened in Monroeville in 1955.

Garden City

In April 1955, Wanda Jennings, Mrs. America of 1954, was on hand to greet visitors at the opening of the latest development in fully–planned community living – Garden City in Monroeville, Pa. This 600-acre development, would be built partly on farmland owned by the Graham family near the center of Monroeville. Designed and constructed by the Sampson- Miller Associated Companies, it would offer 1500 3 and 4-bedroom homes at moderate prices. With its “flower-named” streets (Laurel, Azelea, Blackberry, etc.) laid out on contour- hugging curves, the community would include a civic center, designed by landscape architect and city planner Jennings F. Stright. The center would contain an elementary school, a shopping center, a church, a fire department, a swimming pool, and a building for professional offices. Adjoining the civic center would be a large park area with playgrounds and tennis courts. The modest brick, ranch style houses typically offered more than a 1000 square feet of living space that included a finished basement and an integral garage. Home buyers could choose from one of six basic designs developed by Pittsburgh Architect Richard H. Benn. Floor plans ranged all the way from Model A, a modest 3-bedroom ranch house that promised basic housing at an affordable price, (while boasting of “extra space for an all-purpose room” in the basement) to Model F, the most luxurious model: a large split-level ranch with an integral two- car garage.

Garden City was an immediate success and other developments, such as Turnpike Gardens (in 1955) and Alpine Village (in 1959), quickly followed creating neighborhoods that helped transform Monroeville into a modern, middle-class suburb.

055. Monroeville’s Garden City was among the first post-war planned communities in the country, offering some 1500 homes at moderate prices. It was an early project of Sampson developers who would go on to become a major development company in the region.

The Age of the Automobile

Some say it was the roads that made Monroeville what it is today. In fact, the Municipal Planning Commission once went so far as to declare Monroeville to be: “ a phenomena of the automobile.” It was during the 20th century that Monroeville grew from a farm village, with horses and wagons traveling over dirt roads, to a flourishing suburban community laced with major highways carrying thousands of cars, buses, and trucks every day.

056. A Family Outing on Tilbrook Road (ca. 1900). In the early 1900s, Monroeville was still a sparsely- populated rural community of woods and fields. The horse and buggy was still the mainstay of family travel, or the horse might be hooked up to a buckboard for a shopping trip to Pitcairn or Turtle Creek.

While the few existing roads were improved throughout the 1800s, right up into the 20th century they remained largely dirt roads which might still see the occasional horse and buggy. In the first part of the 1900s, life in the little farming community was pretty much as it had been for the past hundred years. One resident recalled that: “…after the mines had played out, Monroeville became almost a ghost town.” In the 1930s and 40s Monroeville was still a sparsely-populated, largely rural community of woods and fields, farmhouses and barns with fenced pastureland. Cattlemen drove their cattle in herds from Westmoreland County and Patton Township over the Northern Pike to the stockyards in East Liberty. And even well into the 1940s, many local families still ran farms, complete with barns, cows and horses; horse shows in Monroeville, Irwin, and Greensburg, were major events. In those days, it was possible for a little girl growing up on a farm to ride her horse along Route 22, as one resident remembers:

“…there really wasn’t much along Route 22, not very much at all. And I could ride my horse any place I wanted to. You could just about travel anywhere on a horse. Down where the Mall is today, you could ride all back in through those woods. I used to ride from here to Murrysville down Route 22. It was only a two-lane road back then.”

057. The Duff family farm in the 1940s. Duff farm, (originally the Monroe farm) was located near the core of what would become Monroeville. By the 1920s, gas stations, greenhouses and roadhouses had sprouted up along the road on the Duff farm.

In 1940, Annie Duff sold a strip of land along William Penn Hwy. for the sum of $1.00 per acre. In 1963, the Duff farm house and the remaining land was sold to Sampson Developers.

Another long-time resident described how her family traveled when she was growing up.

“My father always had a good riding horse and a buggy. Mother drove the horse and buggy, too. Sometimes if we had to go shopping or take the horse to the blacksmith shop, we would all go with her. And later on we had a T-model Ford; sometimes I think it would have been safer to walk because you never truly knew if you were going to get there or not. And you never got there without a flat tire.”

Still another horse-rider recalls how…

“In the late 40s we rode our horses down Duff Road when it was only a foot path, tied them on the fence at LaBarbe, and got the famous Bar-B-Q. Then we rode all the dirt roads from Logan’s Ferry to Haymaker. When we rode where the mall is now we had to pass through a squatter’s settlement.”

A big draw were the horseshows regularly held in Monroeville where contestants could compete and the pride of local stables could be shown off, like the popular horseshows held at the Speelman farm in southern Monroeville near Turtle Creek, where the Speelman’s raised and trained show horses.

038. Crowds gathered for the regular horseshows held on the “upper ring” near Speelman Street and Miller Avenue in the 1950s.

039. James E. Speelman at a horseshow on the Speelman farm’s show ring (near today’s Hill Crest Church) in the 1950s. James Speelman owned and operated the Diamond Cab Company in the east suburbs.

040. Peg Heasley (competitive rider and trainer) with Jean Colbaugh on “Lucky Lady” at a horse show in Monroeville in the 1950s.

041. Growing up on the farm meant learning to ride at early age, like Billy Speelman on “Parson”

Although the horse and buggy gradually gave way to the automobile as the main means of family transportation, horses and horseback riding continued to be a common sight in Monroeville right into the 1960s. Even with the advent of the automobile, a local flourishing business continued in horse farms and stables. Horses might be bred, raised, stabled, or rented for riding at family farms like

those of the Maxwell’s and Shelechter’s on Haymaker Road; Gimple’s at Saunders Station; the J Bar D on Old Frankstown Road, and the Solomon/Miller Farm on McGinley Road. And riding lessons were offered at the Valley Stream Riding Academy along Aber’s Creek near Northern Pike.

058. For a good part of the 20th century horse farms flourished in the area. Right up into the early 1970s horseback riders could be seen along many of the dirt roads and trails that crossed the area The photo shows Jean (Winkler) Colbaugh and “Lovely Lady” (ca. 1944)

059. Right up into the early 1970s horseback riders could be seen on Northern Pike and Saunders Station roads, and along many of the dirt roads and trails that crossed the area. Here we see riders on horseback at rally in Turnpike Gardens in 1962.

060. Harry Solomon at his Riding Stables on the Solomon/Miller Farm. In 1932 Max Miller bought the old McGinley farm, for his wife Elizabeth (“Betty”) Solomon Miller. Betty called on her family to help work the farm: boarding horses and selling chickens, eggs and milk. For a time Harry Solomon, Betty’s brother kept horses and trained trotters on a track on the hill behind the house. The farm continued in operation right through most of the 1960s.

One long-time horseowner remembers that: “…right up into the 1970s we rode everywhere, even training young horses and riders on Abers Creek Road at the Valley Academy, and all through Turnpike Gardens.” But inevitably, the horse was to give way to the automobile as Monroeville continued its evolution from a farming community to a suburban one, with increased housing and commercial development. And today, except for the occasional Fourth of July parade where equestrians still show their pride, the horse has pretty much disappeared from the local scene.

061. The Johnston farm, founded in the late 1700s, and the oldest continuous family-run farm in Monroeville, was most recently owned and operated by Floyd Johnston and his sons. The Johnston’s raised Clydesdales and Ed and Cathy Johnston, with a team of the farm’s prized horses, were given the honor of hauling the community time capsule to its resting place near the Old Stone Church on July 4, 1976. Floyd, his wife and grandson in a Prairie Schooner replica, led a team of Oxen, recalling the family’s pioneering ancestors.

062. A farmer and his horse.

Frank Urick (1881-1946) with “Babe” on the Urick farm c. 1937.

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Prior to 1910, family automobiles were few and far between. An automobile passing by on the dirt roads might cause quite a stir, as one resident remembers:

“…I think it was about 1908. One of the automobiles in existence then around here made a trip from Pittsburgh to Altoona, and it took a day. All the people for two miles came over around the road up above Pierces corner (at today’s intersection of Pitcairn Road and Monroeville Blvd.) to sit on the fence, and watch them going by.”

063. An elegant Cole Automobile is shown being displayed at Chadderton’s Car Dealership and Auto Repair Shop in Pitcairn, just one stop on its national tour in the early 1900s.

Before cars or school buses, children walked to school in neighboring communities, just as they might routinely make the walk to Turtle Creek or Pitcairn to shop for groceries. As one resident recalls:

“We did very little shopping. Most everything came from the farm itself; we had to, we didn’t have a car. And it was too cumbersome to take a horse and wagon and go for groceries, so we usually walked from here to Pitcairn which was about 4 miles each way. And we carried back whatever we needed, like salt or sugar or something. But about twice a year, we hooked the horse up to the buckboard, and we went to Pitcairn. And we’d get like 200 pounds of flour, and 50 pounds of sugar, and a whole case of Octagon soap.”

And during the Depression years…

“I can’t imagine where my mother got the quarter, but she got me to walk to Pitcairn. That was about 3 or 4 miles each way, and she gave me a quarter, and I bought a pound of hamburger, a pound of butter, and a pound of hot dogs, and brought back three cents.”

The fathers of those children took the train from Saunders Station to Pitcairn on their way to work at WABCO, the Westinghouse plant in Wilmerding, or the railroad yards in Pitcairn. Since most shopping and recreational activities were in Pitcairn and Turtle Creek, life in Monroeville was oriented towards the Turtle Creek Valley. Later, families that didn’t have cars would take a bus to their shopping in Turtle Creek or Pitcairn, a practice that was to continue for many years.

064. Local traffic on Wall Avenue/Pitcairn Road, a major north-south road at the turn of the century.

There was not much commercial activity in the farming village except for a few stores such as Hohmann’s Market at Young’s Corner, and Salamon Brother’s Market on William Penn Highway at Center Road. In the 1940s and early 50s, the center of village life was the Farmers’ Auction Barn, situated at the north-east corner of Routes 22 and 48, where livestock could be bought and sold three nights a week.

063. In 1946, Joe Taylor of East McKeesport began a weekly auction in a barn he bought on Route 22. His idea was to invite farmers to bring in livestock, machinery, antiques and anything else they didn’t want. The auction was an immediate success with as many as 5,000 buyers crowding the floor on a busy Saturday night. Taylor’s Auction Barn became one of Monroeville’s first commercial attractions, drawing buyers from all over the region, as well as from several surrounding states.

064. Lucas Schafer, “Weedy” Purtz and John L. Schaffer worked the auctioneers stand at the Auction Barn.

One of Monroeville’s first commercial attractions, the Auction Barn drew buyers from all over the region, as well as from several surrounding states. It was common to see trucks with license plates from three states. The Auction Barn was so successful that, by 1950, owner and entrepreneur Joseph Taylor found he had parlayed his initial investment of $800 into a million dollar business in less than five years. For those without a family farm on which to rely for food, hucksters would peddle groceries by horse and wagon. And in 1908, Johnston’s farm went into the diary business, delivering milk by horse and wagon to Pitcairn. The family farm in Monroeville was to stay in the dairy business until 1980. One by one local residents began buying automobiles. Often it was the ubiquitous Ford Model-T that became the very first family car. One resident remembers their family paid 345 dollars for a Model-T in 1917. Still, the early automobiles were not all that reliable, and the wise family hung on their horse and buggy. One local resident remembers the time her uncle first drove a car; offering to take his wife to church. They started off fine, but then people noticed they kept driving around in circles. It turned out that the novice driver, while he knew how to start the car, and how to steer it, had never learned how to stop it!

065. Ladies Riding in an early automobile in front of what was to become a Monroeville Landmark – the Old Stone Church (c. 1910).

066. The Holt Sisters (Myrtle, Alice and Edna) with their 1915 Studebaker. As the automobile came of age, more and more of the farm families found themselves the proud owners of a family car.

As automobile ownership became more common, the need for better roads became a pressing concern. Over time, some roads had been widened to accommodate the horse and buggy, but they hadn’t actually been improved very much. Northern Pike was a two-lane road, basically a residential street that was improved in 1908 to better accommodate automobile traffic. Other roads remained no more than rural lanes. In an interview, one long-time resident reflected on one of those roads:

“McGinley Road was a dirt road, and it was very muddy when it rained, but it was beautiful. It was beautiful because the trees all hung over, and it was practically a tunnel all the way down with shade. It was beautiful and relaxing to walk down here. And…here along the road, they planted a row of locust tress, and the locust tress grew rather tall. And when they bloomed, it was just the most wonderful aroma, and the flowers were just beautiful, and they branched all over the road, too.”

In 1951 Patton Township was officially re-designated as the Borough of Monroeville, with the first newly-elected Borough officials taking office early the following year. In 1952 Sam Jenkins was sworn into office as the first Burgess, and the President of Council was William J. Caughey.

066. First Monroeville Borough Council - January 10, 1952 . Front row: E.M. Whitfield, Mrs. Edyth Arnstrong (secretary), Saul Rubin (solicitor), Sam Jenkins (Burgess), William J. Caughey (president of council), Carl W. Taylor. Back Row: William Philpot, William Vastadore, Jake Shaffley, Edgar Giles, Thomas Gorsuch, Harry T. Bishop, and Clifford Bestel (auditors).

Prior to 1951, Patton Township had minimal government: a constable to guard the peace, a Board of School Directors, and Board of Road Supervisors. The latter was empowered to levy taxes for road maintenance, and to hire workers like George M. Artman, a local farmer, who duly submitted his bill for $81.70 for “…doing three-team work, dragging the Fitzsimmons and part of the Frankstown Road.” Then, as now, local government found itself trying to balance the needs of the traveling

public with commercial interests, as when a Mr. R. S. Bush constructed a coal tipple on Township Road at the site of the Cunningham Mine in Saw Mill Valley. Believing the structure hindered traffic on the road, the board ordered Mr. Bush to remove his “coal bin”. But Mr. Bush had a counterproposal: he offered to grade a new road around his tipple connecting the two segments of the paved road. That offer was rejected; again he was ordered to remove the “..obstacle to the public road,” this time, threatened with a lawsuit if he didn’t. On the other hand, the board approved plans of the Union Railroad who asked that one of the township roads be vacated. In exchange, the railroad offered to build a bridge, fill in “Hangman’s Hollow,” and improve the road leading from the Frankstown Road to the Beatty Road. The board gave this proposal its blessing. Thus some of the first efforts at road planning in the community were born. Beginning in the 1920s, the pace of road-building quickened. One of the first hard- surfaced (macadamized) roads was Monroeville Road running from Monroeville to Turtle Creek. Neighboring contractors, like Cunningham’s in Braddock, brought in some 20 teams of horses and wagons to haul stone from local stone quarries for road building. The William Penn Highway was built in the 1920s, following the route of the Northern Pike. Opening in 1924, it was the first paved road to Pittsburgh. Before that, it took nearly a day to get to downtown Pittsburgh by horse and buggy to Turtle Creek, and then by streetcar to Pittsburgh. and though it was the precursor of things to come, it was far from perfect. A long- time resident talked about the impact of that road:

“It was countryside in 1924. We were all farmers. Everyone was a farmer. But the highway was paved. The automobile began coming in. I built a garage and started in the garage and service station business in Monroeville village.”

067. James Street in the 1920s. Beginning in the 1920s, the pace of road-building quickened. The road from Monroeville to Turtle Creek was hard-surfaced (macadamized). The Old William Penn Highway, built in the 1920s, and following the route of the Northern Pike, was the first paved road to Pittsburgh. But local roads like James Street remained a dirt road well into the 1930s.

068. Strochein’s Gas Station in the 1930s. Another well-known area gas station was Strocehein’s Cross Roads Atlantic Gas Station, located for many years across the road from the Old Stone Church. Eventually the Strochien family would lend their name to the southern portion of Center Road, near the location of their gas station

069. The Gravity Fill Gas Station on old William Penn Highway in the 1930s. As automobiles became more common, gas stations were sure to follow. One of the earliest in Monroeville was the Gravity Fill Gas Station. It was situated below the Union Railroad’s siding on a nearby hill, so that gasoline could flow directly from the tank cars into the station’s holding tanks below – thus the name “Gravity Fill.”

Better roads encouraged the traveling public, and for a time, Monroeville became a destination: a place for the weary city dweller to escape to on a pleasant day drive to the country. Recognizing the allure of the pristine scenery and fresh air, a group of entrepreneurs built Burke Glen Amusement Park along old William Penn Highway in 1926. Unlike other amusement parks in the area that were built with ready access to trolley lines, Burke Glen was built with the family car firmly in mind. It was to be billed as the first park to be built for the traveling public, and it included something for the whole family: amusement rides including an impressive roller coaster, a park-like setting, and a swimming pool -- all with plenty of free parking. But while the family car was a big factor in Burke Glen’s success, it also was to lead to the parks’ demise, for during World War II gas rationing severely restricted recreational driving by the public. In addition, the construction of the new Route 22 in the 1940s took land from Burke Glen, reducing the size of the amusement park. As a result, the park was forced to scale back operations and never fully recovered, although the swimming pool remained in use right into the 1970s.

070. Burke Glen Amusement Park (ca 1930). By the 1920s better roads encouraged the traveling public, and for the first time, Monroeville became a tourist destination: a place for the weary city dweller to escape to on a pleasant day drive to the country. Recognizing the allure of the pristine scenery and fresh air, a group of entrepreneurs built Burke Glen Amusement Park along old William Penn Highway in 1926.

Road-building got an additional impetus in the 1930s during the depression years, when men working in the Works Progress Administration (WPA) were used to do work on Saunders Station and Haymaker roads. Roads were often surfaced with a mixture of stones and tar, called “Pinchot” roads (after the then Governor of the State, who advocated using relief workers to “take the farmers out of the mud.”). Haymaker was one of the first “Pinchot” roads in the area. It was also the WPA workers who straightened and improved roads like Tilbrook and Strochein. Mosside Boulevard (Route 48), one of the new improved roads, was opened in the 1930s.

In the late 1950s and early 60s, the dirt roads were all extensively graded, but as they graded away both the crown and the base, what remained often became uselessly muddy in heavy rains. One resident remembers: “...the police car sent to pick up Chief (George) Johnston at his home, found the roads impassible, and the chief had to walk to the nearest paved road to get to work on those rainy days.”

071. The Ball family’s Studebaker stuck in the mud on Haymaker Road in the 1950s. Beginning in the 1920s, the pace of road-building quickened. During the 1930s the government’s Works Progress Administration (WPA) straightened and improved roads like Tilbrook and Strochein. In the late 1950s and early 60s, the dirt roads, all extensively graded, became uselessly muddy in heavy rains.

In the 1940s the New William Penn Highway was built as a two-lane road. Originally designed as a by-pass to Old Route 22, modern Route 22 was constructed during the 1940s. The construction was in fits and starts, plagued by delays because materials like steel were urgently needed for the war effort. Completed in 1942, and widened to four lanes in 1959, it set the stage for today’s business strip that defines the core of modern Monroeville.

Roadside Inns

Just as Burke Glen brought recognition to Monroeville as an entertainment destination, a number of other establishments followed, capitalizing on the greater access offered by more modern roads -- and especially the William Penn Highway. Roadhouses sprang up to cater to the traveling public, a role Rising Sun Inn had fulfilled

in the earliest days. Some of the first night spots were the clubs that grew up to flourish in the 1920s during Prohibition. Clubs like the Hi-Hat Club, the Pok-a-Dot Club, the Locust Post, The Windmill, and Red Crystal’s created a lively entertainment scene at the time. Some of these establishments offered dinner, dancing, and entertainment, but all of them offered their patrons liquid refreshments. Allen Behler’s LaBarbe began as an open-sided barbeque stand in the 1920s, and today it is still a Monroeville fixture on its original site on Old William Penn Highway. In time, the LaBarbe was to grow from a humble roadside stand into a full-scale restaurant where patrons could enjoy the music of the big bands like Lawrence Welk’s while dancing under the stars on the outdoor dance floor. In the mid-1950s, another Monroeville establishment rose to prominence very much in the tradition of the country roadhouse. John Bertera’s Holiday House, established on William Penn Highway, was to become a local landmark. The Holiday House was a supper club that featured fine dining, and a rich array of star-studded entertainment, including headliners like: Benny Goodman, Andy Williams, Tony Martin, Cyd Charisse, Milton Berle, Al Martino, Connie Francis, Tony Bennett, Carmen Cavallaro, Ben Vereen and Phyllis Diller. For many years it was one of the rare suburban venues for live entertainment, since almost all the other local nightclubs were located in downtown Pittsburgh. By the 1980s the era of the supper club was coming to an end as touring performers demanded larger venues like concert halls. The Holiday House was to close its doors in the late 80s; in 1988-89 the building was demolished to make way for the Holiday Plaza strip mall.

072. The Holiday House on Route 22 (c1980).

In 1949, Robert Conley opened the first of his establishments along Route 22. Eventually Conley’s Motor Hotel would feature dining with entertainment in its Kon Tiki room and at the Irish Pub.

073. Conley’s Motel and Restaurant on Route 22.

The Route 22 Corridor

During this time there were still many who worked in the mills of the Turtle Creek valley, but now they might get there by car, continuing a tradition of working commuter as Monroeville became something of a “bedroom” community.

074. Route 22 between Northern Pike and Center Road - 1950s

By the 1950s, a Monroeville family might take the car to the Sears store in East Liberty, or to Braddock for shopping, although a commercial core was already developing along Route 22 along with grocery stores, a pharmacy, a frozen custard stand, a gas station, a restaurant. A little further down the road, a drive-in theater (The Pittsburgh Outdoor Theater) was established where the present-day (2005) Lowe’s Home Improvement Center is now located. Later two more Drive-ins were to be built in Monroeville; the Monroeville Drive-in on Northern Pike, and the Miracle Mile Drive-in at the eastern edge of Monroeville near the Murrysville border.

075. The Monroeville Drive-In on Northern Pike.

076. Route 22 Facing East at Center and Strochein Roads

Soon a series of asphalt roads and concrete highways were crisscrossing Monroeville. And in what was surely a fateful decision, Monroeville was designated as the Pittsburgh interchange for the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1950.

077. Opening in 1954, the Miracle Mile offered shopping that accommodated the driving public with easy access, parking for 4,000 cars, and a long row of 45 stores flanked by supermarkets.

Plans for a limited-access, super-highway spanning Pennsylvania were drawn up in the 1930s during the depression years. The first concrete was poured in 1940 on what would be the first superhighway in the nation. Construction was somewhat delayed by World War II, but after the war plans were well underway to extend the new road to Philadelphia at the eastern end, and to Ohio by way of Pittsburgh at the western end. Once the Pittsburgh interchange was completed at Monroeville in 1950, the possibility of bringing customers from the surrounding communities into Monroeville for shopping became a logical next step. The economic potential of US Route 22 was seen by a group of farsighted businessmen from Columbus, Ohio headed by Don M. Casto, a pioneer in developing shopping malls, and Joseph Skilken, an Ohio-based builder. This group of investors bought some property along Business Route 22. This land was originally part of the McMasters’ farm; it had been extensively strip mined and later restored. Initially, the land passed to the local school board, but plans to build a school there fell through, and the land was sold to the Casto group of developers who proceeded to build a major shopping center -- The Miracle Mile. The new shopping center was the biggest of its kind between New York and Chicago when it opened on November 1, 1954. The Miracle Mile offered shopping that accommodated the driving public with easy access, parking for 4,000 cars, and a long row of 45 stores flanked by supermarkets. Marlo Verrilla told the story of one the first merchants to open a store in the new shopping center. “One day in 1953 Mel Pollock was driving along Route 22 towards the Allegheny County Airport, when he noticed a sign posted in front of an old slag dump near the intersection of Route 48. It announced the arrival of a new shopping center for rural Monroeville. Underneath was a phone number. A few weeks later he met the man who

posted the sign for Pittsburgh’s Town and Country Miracle Mile.

Don M. Casto reminded Pollock of a carnival barker when he spoke of the $10 million shopping center to be built on the land he bought for $165,000. Monroeville boasted no major housing communities at the time and Route 22 was lined with a few hotels and gas stations. Still, impressed by Casto’s vision, Pollock took out a loan and made a deal with Casto that he would have the only children’s clothing store in the center. Pollock had already taken over his father’s general merchandise store in Gallitzin, Pa., but wanted to “get in on the ground floor” of some future operation. He chose to take a gamble on the man with the futuristic vision of Monroeville. Pollock decided on children’s clothing because of the baby boom going on at the time. “Young Fashions” was one of the first stores to open in October 1954. “Skeptical merchants from surrounding communities gave us six months to survive,” Pollock said, because most people in those days were shopping in Pitcairn, Turtle Creek, Homestead, Braddock and Wilkinsburg. But the public was curious about the new shopping center, with its free parking, two supermarkets (Kroger and Loblaws) and a J. C. Penny. In the first few weeks of his opening Pollock almost sold out his entire inventory in the shopping frenzy at the Miracle Mile. From ’54 to the late ‘60s Miracle Mile held its own in the fast growing Monroeville business district. But when Monroeville Mall opened in 1969 things got a little tense for Pollock and the Miracle Mile family. “We became old hat,” he said. But Miracle Mile became a “downtown Monroeville thing not a Pittsburgh thing. The Mall had to rely on all of Pittsburgh. Miracle Mile had to survive on local people.” Pollock believes that’s why the shopping center has survived despite the Mall. In the late 70s and early 80s, when national stores like Kids R Us began to move into the area and offer the same merchandise at a cheaper price, Pollock saw that he could not compete and he retired in 1982.” Mel Pollock would go to a second career as a local artist and art educator, and a leader of the Monroeville Arts Council.

078. The Miracle Mile in the 1970s, with Mel Pollack’s Young Fashions.

079. In time, the Miracle Mile became the place where locals shopped at stores like the Kroger’s and Whitehead’s Hardware.

Following the lead of Miracle Mile, other shopping strips sprang up along Route 22, as did gas stations, car dealerships, fast food stands, and banks. In 1964 Monroeville would even get its very own radio station - WPSL. It was a classic case of improved roads and greater access leading to commercial development that, in turn, fueled the need for more housing and better roads. The eastern extension of the Penn-Lincoln Parkway was envisioned as a bypass to ease the traffic on Route 22 while providing a limited access road for traffic exiting the Turnpike and heading west. It was completed in the Fall of 1962, giving Monroeville commuters a modern highway and a direct route to downtown Pittsburgh. The results are seen in population expansion during the 1950s and 60s -- a dramatic surge that stabilized in the 1980s.

Fig 4. The Population of Monroeville, Pa.( Illustration courtesy of Rebecca Olson)

Many believe that life in Monroeville changed forever with the coming of the Miracle Mile, as a rural village was launched on its way to becoming a suburban community.

080. The Miracle Mile Shopping Center in the 1960s.

The Borough of Monroeville (1951-1976)

In the period from 1945 to 1970, much of what we regard as modern Monroeville was put into place. Political structures, roads, water and sewers, parks and recreation, and police and fire protection were all built or strengthened. The amenities of American suburban life were being demanded by an increasingly affluent and middle class citizenry as the evolution from rural to suburban community was completed. Cultural, social, fraternal, and service groups were organized in the normal course of development to take their place among churches and schools in building a vibrant community. In 1951 Patton Township was officially re-designated as the Borough of Monroeville, with the first newly-elected Borough officials taking office early the following year. And a few years later, in 1958, a new Borough Building was dedicated at its site at 2700 Monroeville Boulevard.

081. Monroeville’s first Borough building continued to serve the Municipality as seen in this photo from the late 1970s.

During this era plans were first laid for a local hospital. The housing boom continued with such additions as Tom Mistrick’s Monroe Heights and Park Forest housing plans. And in 1955 a Recreation Board was formed with thee representatives from the School District and three from Borough Council, under the chairmanship of Mrs. Donald W. Gunther. In the 1960s the borough did a feasibility study on developing a comprehensive park system. Thus began the process of acquiring and developing land for community use which would later

evolve into a Parks and Recreation Department, and Warren Pfost would be appointed as Director.

082. Monroeville’s Maintenance Dept , May 25, 1976. Top Row: John Anderson, Herb Spat, John Fisher, Gene Meticvitch, Nick Zejoilia, Chad Honey, Tom McKay, Rib Felton, Fred Otto, Ralph Pivorttio, Den Spritz, James Madejerick, John Mazak, Ron Korner. Bottom Row: Bob Jahn, J.P.Taylor, Mark Ruffing, Hank Masters, Bill Speelman, Zig Matuski, Ed Solusky, Walt Sobol, Dan Skiles.

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Businesses continued to grow and flourish especially along the Route 22 corridor. In the 1950s Monroeville’s businesses included: the Holiday House, Penn Super Pharmacy, Turn Pike Tollhouse, Jim and Lena’s Grocery, Kubrick’s Florest, Jonette Mercury sales, Wm. Penn Motel, Town House Motel, McCoy Bros. Coach lines, Hohmann’s Red & White Market, Luzader’s 22 Motel, Van Horn’s Funeral home, Corl Florest, Community Hardware, Johnston’s Dairy Farm., Marie’s Restaurant, the Penn-Monroe Bar and Grill, Eat n’Park Restaurant, J.C. Penny Co., S.S. Kresge Co., Park Savings and Loan, Faller’s Furniture, Murphy’s Meats, and Loreski’s Photo and Hobby Mart.

083. Shopping at the Miracle Mile. Following the lead of Miracle Mile, other shopping strips sprang up along Route 22, as did gas stations, car dealerships, fast food stands, and banks. The Miracle Mile has undergone several face lifts, and it remains today one of the anchors of the shopping district it helped to spawn along Business Route 22. (Photo courtesy of Gene Bolch)

084. Murphy’s Meats and Isaly’s in 1991. Some of the shops along Monroeville’s Miracle Mile, such as Murphy’s Meats and Isaly’s were mainstays for many years, especially popular with local residents.

085. Salamon’s Supermarket. The term “super” market was introduced in the 1950s, and the Salamon Brothers took advantage of the trend to name their grocery on Route 22 near Center Road.

086. The William Penn Motel at 4139 William Penn Highway.

087. Penn Super Pharmacy in the early 1950s. Another family owned business to buy into the “Super” trend so popular in the 1950s was Penn Super Pharmacy. Located at the southeast corner of Route 22 and Center Road, the Penn Super Pharmacy was for many years the town pharmacy, a family-owned business of the Giovannitti family.

088. Joann Schwartzmiller at the soda fountain of the Penn Super Pharmacy.

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089. The Penn-Monroe in the 1950s. Benefiting from the increased traffic of the new Route 22, bars and restaurants flourished in the 1950s and 60s. Another popular bar and grill located along the Route 22 strip is the Penn Monroe. Founded in the 1950s, it remains a gathering place for locals and travelers today (in 2011).

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Monroeville even had its very own radio station. On September 27, 1964, radio station WPSL went on the air for the first time from its location just off Strochein Road near the U.S. Steel Research labs. Owned by local businessmen T.M. Sylves and Jack Leib, and located at 1510 on the AM dial, the station presented regular programming during the daylight hours. It offered music and news with an emphasis on local interest. Eventually WPSL was sold and became WXVW which began broadcasting urban contemporary music -- before closing down in the 1980s.

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090. Radio Station WPSL in the 1970s. On September 27, 1964, Monroeville’s radio station, WPSL first began broadcasting. It was an AM station at 1510 on the dial, with 250 watts of power, and limited to broadcasting during the daytime hours only.

091. T. M. “Tipper” Sylves a prominent local businessman who, in 1969, with his daughter, Sarah Sylves Thompson, bought the Old Stone Church, donating it to the Municipality of Monroeville to be preserved as an historic landmark.

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And by Air

After the First World War, the country found itself with plenty of war surplus airplanes and a sizable corps of ex-military pilots eager to continue with their passion for flying. Soon all across America, in cities and small towns, barnstorming flyers were staging air shows and demonstrations of stunt flying, all of which helped promote public awareness and fostered the growth of aviation. The government did its part in promoting aviation with the regulation of airports and the first attempts to deliver the mail by air in the 1920s. Soon farmer’s fields and grass strips were being set aside to serve as airports as communities large and small scrambled to join the aviation age. The end of the Second World War saw yet another surge of interest in general aviation, as visionaries dreamed of the day when every family would have its own private airplane. Such dreams proved to be overly-ambitious, but the interest in general aviation continued to grow, and by the 1950s there were three active airports in Monroeville.

Official Name Unofficial Name Location Dates East Pittsburgh Landing Johnston’s Airport Southwest corner about a mile 1926 to Field from Wilmerding. Off Johnson early 1970s Road in Mellon Plan. In 2005, the site of the Monroeville Landfill.

Pitt-Wilkins Airport Bohinski Field Center of Monroeville. Off Early 1940s to Tilbrook Road. In 2006, the site 1948 of the Community Park.

Pittsburgh-Monroeville Wilkinsburg-Pittsburgh In the Northwest corner just off 1948 to present Airport Air Park Logan’s Ferry Road (2005)

Brown Memorial Field

Table 4. Monroeville’s Airports

Established in 1926, Johnston’s Airport was the oldest of the three local fields. In the 1930s it became the transfer point for airmail for the Wilmerding Post Office, and in the 1940s many of the fledgling pilots who learned to fly there were to go on to serve their country in World War II. Air shows were popular attractions at Johnston’s field, and they were to continue right into the late 1950s. Parachuting was a popular attraction. One spectator remembers an occasion when there was nearly a panic when the crowd, waiting for a parachutist to bail out from a plane overhead, suddenly saw a tumbling body fall out of the sky and plunge to earth. A few seconds later the “real” parachutist jumped and the dummy which had been thrown out first, was recovered. There is no record of that stunt being performed a second time! Johnston’s original airport was closed, but a “second” Johnston’s airport was built next

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door. This second airport was, for a period of time, home to the Fort Pitt Blimp, which flew overhead with flashing running lights advertising a local Pittsburgh beer. The Blimp was destroyed in the great snow storm of 1950. Bohinski Field was founded in the early 1940s by Emil Bohinski on his father’s property off of Tilbrook Road (the current site of Monroeville’s Community Park). It too contributed to the training of pilots for the war effort. It was also used as a mail transfer point for the Pitcairn Post Office. And for a time it was to use the aerial pick-up system devised by Dr. Lytle S. Adams of Irwin, Pa. Dr. Adams realized that the problem with airmail delivery to small towns like Irwin (and Monroeville) was the long delay occasioned by take-offs and landings. He invented a system like that used by trains that picked up mail on the run, wherein the mail bag was suspended from two 40-foot poles so that a low-flying plane could snag the mail bag with a hanging hook. This system was so successful it was widely used in the tri-state area, and became a common practice at hundreds of small town airports.

092. This Air Mail envelope shows the aerial pick-up system devised by Dr. Lytle S. Adams of Irwin, Pa.

The first woman to fly out of the airport was a Wilkinsburg shop owner, Teresa James, whose first flight was on September 20, 1933. She went on to a distinguished flying career in the Woman’s Auxiliary Flying Squadron and later in the US Air Force, from which she retired as a major. The third airport was for many years owned and operated by Harold W. Brown and his wife Helen Bohinski Brown. Harold Brown was a flight instructor at Bohinski Field where he provided flight training for the US Army Cadets, and it was there that he met Emil Bohinski’s sister, Helen, later to become his wife. In 1948 Bohinski Field was closed, and the Browns opened a new airfield in the northern part of Monroeville -- The Pittsburgh-Monroeville Airport. This airport with its 2,287-foot runway would provide hanger space and fueling for local and transient pilots. The airport flourished in the 1950s and 60s. In 1958, there were 112 aircraft hangered there. But over time, airport use declined and fewer aircraft are housed there today.

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093. In 1948 Harold and Helen Brown opened the Pittsburgh-Monroeville Airport near Garden City.

094. Pittsburgh-Monroeville Airport (c.1969) remains the last surviving Monroeville airport and maintains an active runway for light planes (as of 2011).

The airport today is managed by Raymond J.Weible, a veteran pilot, who came to the airport in 1953. It was Ray Weible who (unofficially) named the airport as “Harold W. Brown

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Memorial Field.” In 2005, only 16 airplanes still call the Monroeville Airport their home, and although its operations have been reduced in scale from past years, the airport continues to see some 2,000 takeoffs and landings per year.

095. First Airmail Flight at Johnston Field in 1938 (l to r: 2, Johnston, 5, H. Vogel, instructor, 6, P. Ball, Gulf Aviation, 7, Theresa James). Established in 1926, Johnston’s Airport was the oldest of the three local fields. In the 1930s it became the transfer point for airmail for the Pitcairn Post Office, and regular air mail service was initiated

096. The East Pittsburgh Landing Field (Johnston Field) in the 1940s. Patton Township’s airports served as flight schools during the 1940s and many fledgling pilots went on to serve in World War II.

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097. Since the early days of aviation Monroeville’s airports hosted “barnstormers” and air shows became a popular attraction. After WWII, air shows were resumed at Johnston’s Field where they would continue to be held right into the 1960s

As they have in the past, and still do today, airports hold a special attraction for youngsters. A one-time Garden City resident recalls his boyhood fascination with the Monroeville Airport:

“As a child, the boys and I would sneak up to the Monroeville Airport and peek into the old wooden hangers to check out the planes. Saturday mornings one could hear the planes warming up, and off we would run to the airport. On busy days at the airport, [one or two planes, three if we were lucky] we would lay down at the end of the runway and watch the planes take off and land. The owner of the airport would let his dogs out and we would run away, only to show up next week.”

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098. The Pittsburgh-Monroeville Airport in 2005

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Building the Infrastructure

In the period from 1945 to 1970, much of modern Monroeville was put into place. As it evolved from a township to a borough, political structures, roads, water and sewers, parks and recreation, and police and fire protection services were all built or strengthened. The amenities of American suburban life were being demanded by an increasingly affluent and middle class citizenry as the evolution from rural to suburban community was completed. Along with the churches and schools, cultural, social, fraternal, and service groups, like the Dapper Dan Club (1950), were organized in the normal course of development to take their place in building a vibrant community. In the 1950s several neighborhoods formed their local associations as in Garden City, Turnpike Gardens, and Alpine Village. The local branch of the Lions Club was established (1952); followed by the Monroeville Rotary (1955); the Chamber of Commerce (1956), The Forbes Trail Technical School (1959), the Garden City Women’s Club (1955-2011), and the East Suburban Women’s Club (1957-2004). To enhance the beauty of Monroeville, garden clubs sprang up in Garden City (1955-2011) and in University Park (1959), joining the long- established Forbes Trail Garden Club (1939-1983). The 1960s saw the addition of: The Monroeville Business and Professional Women’s Club (1960), the Friends of the Library (1963), the Women’s International Club (1968), the Eastward in Eden Garden Club of Monroe Heights (1967-1976); the Boyce Campus of the Community College of Allegheny County (1969), and the Monroeville Historical Society (1969). Ladies Auxiliaries formed within the local fire companies – all of which would contribute to Monroeville’s social and cultural life in the years to come.

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099. Officers -Forbes Trail Garden Club. March 1966. Mrs. Frederick Dimit, Mrs. Richard Baechtel, Mrs. R. L. Dunning, and Mrs. Danile All.

The Public Library

In the 1960s, a Library Board was formed with Maude Malick as its president. From 1961 through 1963, the group worked on the planning, development, and fundraising for Monroeville’s first public library, and in early 1962, the Gateway Union School Board donated 3.a 5 acre tract of land opposite the high school. Ground was broken for the new facility in June of 1963, and in March 1964, the library board accepted the completed structure, making it the official property of the Borough. A formal dedication ceremony was held on Saturday, October 31, 1964.

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100. The Monroeville Public Library, near the Gateway Schools complex, opened in November 1964.

The Police Department

The earliest police department in the area was founded in Pitcairn, when in September 1894, the Borough Council passed Ordinance No.2 to regulate undesirable, e.g., “Peddlers and Fakes.” J. E. McGuire was then hired as regular policeman and J. H. Newlin as “extra officer.” Their wages were determined at the end of each month based on the number of arrests made. They also were to collect fines when returning stray cattle to their owners. With the approach of summer, Broadway became such a busy thoroughfare, that it was necessary to have an extra patrolman on duty from 7 to 12, seven days a week. By 1909 the Pitcairn Police Department was staffed by 3 regular uniformed patrolmen armed with billy clubs to keep the peace. By 1994 the force size had increased to 8 officers.

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101. The Pitcairn Police Force in 1910.

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Meanwhile, in more rural Patton Township, a sole constable had been employed to guard the peace, but by 1947 the Township Board of Supervisors saw the growing need for a Police Department, which they established with the hiring of a chief and two part-time patrolmen. Since the township had no police cars, the officers used their own cars, which had to be available at all times. The Township’s first police cruiser was purchased 1n 1949 -- a 1949 Ford with a roof spotlight and a radio telephone, which was connected with Bell Telephone Company. Before this, the police were alerted by a flag raised in front of Tyke’s Gulf Gas Station at Route 22 and Strochein Road. When an officer driving by the gas station on his patrol saw the flag, he knew he had a call. By1951, the Department had grown to three full-time and two part-time patrol officers, supervised by the police chief. In that year, Patton Township was officially re-designated as the Borough of Monroeville, with the first newly-elected borough officials taking office early the following year. Initially, borough officials rented a one-room office that was used as both the Borough Office and Police Headquarters. In November of 1956, Borough Council authorized the purchase of five acres of land at the intersection of Northern Pike and Monroeville Road. When The construction of the Municipal Building began in August 1957 Monroeville Borough’s Police Department was able to assemble all of its of 8 full-time officers and 14 part time officers to participate in the groundbreaking ceremonies. The building was completed in June 1958 and both the borough and Police Department were transferred to the new facility. By the time the borough became a municipality in 1976, Monroeville’s force had grown to 40 officers. The 1970s also saw the establishment of a detective division, which grew to a squad of six by 1980. And by 1981 there were 43 members in the MPD, including its first two

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female officers. It was also during the 1980s that new initiatives were added such as the Neighborhood Watch Program and a Crime Prevention Unit proposed to combat speeding and burglaries in the neighborhoods. In 1996, two German Sheppard dogs were purchased to form a canine unit with the dogs to be trained for narcotics searches and crowd control. In 1998 the Eastern Regional Communications Center for Alleghany County was located in Monroeville’s Municipal Building and began taking over dispatch operations by answering 9- 1-1 calls for 23 communities in Pittsburgh’s eastern suburbs.

102. Monroeville Police Department’s Sgt. Larry Lyons in his patrol car.

Fire Companies

The earliest fire companies in the area were founded in Pitcairn which had seceded from Patton Township to form its own borough in 1894. Hose Co. No.1 (later Pitcairn Fire Company No. 1) was founded in 1894 at the old freight station on Broadway in Pitcairn with equipment that included a hose reel from the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893. They would be joined in 1896 by the Pitcairn Relief Fire Company (later Pitcairn Fire Company No. 2) whose first piece of equipment was a single horse-drawn hose reel. It was not till the 1920s that motorized apparatus began to replace horse drawn equipment.

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103. Pitcairn’s Hose Company No. 1

It took until 1926 for firefighting service to be established in rural Patton Township by a group of volunteers who banded together to form the “Wheatbenders,” or Monroeville Fire Company No.1. This single fire company seemed to meet the needs of the largely farming community until a surge of population in the years after World War II began to dramatically transform the little farming village into a major suburban community. Almost 20 years later, a second fire company was added to serve the greater population in the south of Monroeville – Company No. 2 at Adderly in 1942. (This company was disbanded in 1964.) New commerce, employment and housing construction all expanded rapidly in the late 1940s, so that by 1949 a third company was chartered (Monroeville Fire Company No. 3) for the Mellon Plan/Fort Wilden area of southern Patton Township. In the late 40s and early 1950s the population center in southern Monroeville, shifted further north, towards what was to become the core of the suburban community -- the Route 22 corridor. This population shift was set in motion by the opening of the Monroeville exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike in 1950, the Miracle Mile in 1954, Garden City in 1955, and the eastern extension of the Penn-Lincoln Parkway to Monroeville in 1962. To meet this growing population, three more fire companies were added in 1955: Monroeville Fire Company No. 4, originally on Mosside Blvd and later on Northern Pike; Fire Company No. 5, originally on Route 22 at Stroschein Road, and by 1964 at the Monroeville’s Office Park on Seco Road; and Fire Company No. 6 formed to service the Garden City Area.

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104Monroeville Fire Company #5 began in 1955 in the side garage bay of the Gulf Service Station located at Strochein Road and Business Route 22. The company later (1964) moved to a new location on Seco Road in Monroeville’s Business Park.

105. A demonstration of fire fighting techniques at the original station of Monroeville’s Fire Company #5 located behind a gas station at Strochein Road and Business Route 22. (c.1950s).

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106. Ladies Auxiliary of Fire Co. # 1 (Oct. 21,1955). (standing) Dee Norton, Caroline Peckman, Francis Vesley, Dorothy Cotterman, Ann Giovanitti, Sara Knabe, Rose Marie Zimmerman, Mary Wukich, Doris Darnell (seated) Pauline Caliari, LaVerne McElhaney, Audrey Heil, Sara Shank, Alice Heskin, Mildred Bishop, Thelma Simpson, Elizabeth Piverotto.

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Chapter 5: The Municipality (1970-2010)

In 1976 Monroeville was re-constituted from a borough (under the Pennsylvania Borough Code) to a municipality (under the Home Rule Charter). The new home rule government took effect on January 7, 1976, calling for a mayor and seven council members elected by wards. Ronald E. Droske assumed the duties of mayor, and Marshall Bond was appointed as the first Municipal Manager. Droske was succeeded by Michael Lynch in 1978.

107. Monroeville’s first mayor under the municipality government, Ronald E. Droske, is seen here in the Independence Day Parade in 1976 (Photo courtesy of Gene Bolch).

108. The Municipality of Monroeville’s first, and long-time, manager, Marshall Bond.

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By 1970 the corridor along Business Route 22 from the turnpike interchange to the Monroeville Mall had become recognized as the “commercial core of the community.” Shops, stores and strip malls sprang up as retail grew and restaurant and entertainments venues joined them. The business life of Monroeville flourished during the 1970-2010 era. The scene along the Route 22 corridor now included: Roth Rugs, Photo Hut, Tyke’s Gulf, Computer City, Eckherd’s, Marshalls, Pittsburgh Dry Cleaners, Dunkin’ Donuts, The Wooden Nickel, Victoria Station, Putt- Putt, Kubricks, Esta-Esta, Landmark Savings, Wendy’s, Savon Drugs, S Beauty Supply, Whitehead Hardware, Sun Carpet, Park Classic Diner, Liberty Travel, Chin’s Taki-Outi, and Burger King, to name just a few.

109. The ever changing scene on Route 22 shows Penn Super Pharmacy, Community Hardware, and S- Beauty supply at the corner of Route 22 and Monroeville Trestle Road in the 1980s.

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110. In the ever-popular fast food arena, Chin’s Tiki Outi was a Route 22 favorite in the 1980s.

111. The Burger King on Route 22 in the 1970s.

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112. The Eat’n Park on Route 22 in the 1980s.

113. Park Classic Diner in the 1990s, built on the site of the Eat’n Park on Route 22.

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114. “Victoria’s Station” On Strochein Road was a popular Monroeville restaurant in the 1980s.

In 1968 the Monroe Theater in Zayre’s Plaza joined the drive-ins in offering family entertainment; later the Cinemette East movie complex located at the western edge of the Monroeville Mall, provided multiple screen theaters.

115. The Cinemette East was the first of the new Multi-Screen theaters to arrive in Monroeville. It was located on the western end of the Monroeville Mall.

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116. As Drive-In Theaters began to disappear from the landscape, they were replaced by more conventional venues conveniently placed in the community. This picture shows the Monroe Theater, the first to be located within a strip mall.

The 1980s saw the addition of two organizations that would contribute to Monroeville’s social and cultural life: The Monroeville Arts Council in 1980; and in that same year, the Senior Citizens Center. During that period, travel and transportation, research, retail sales, and medical services all were to become growing sectors of the economic health of the community.

Travel and Transportation

Because of its key location some 12 miles east of Pittsburgh, and because of Monroeville’s ready access to major highways, it had long been a natural stop-over for travelers. Ever since the time of the historic Rising Sun Inn, travelers have paused in Monroeville for food and rest from their journeys, and a considerable travel industry grew up with motels and inns catering to the traveling public during that era. At the southern end of Mosside Boulevard, the Amantea family built the Penn-Mor Hotel and Restaurant in 1947, and by the 1970s Monzo’s Howard Johnsons (1973), -- later the Palace Inn, was providing dining with entertainment at “Daisy’s” its popular lounge.

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117. The Penn Mor Hotel and Restaurant. The Amantea family built and ran the Penn Mor Hotel on Mosside Boulevard in the 1940s and 50s. The building was erected in 1947 as a hotel for workers in the nearby mills who needed convenient rooms and meals. The business was sold in 1957.

118. Local businessman Al Monzo opened his Howard Johnson’s Motor Lodge in 1973. In time it would become the Palace Inn, a well-known landmark near the corner of Routes 22 and 48, that featured entertainment with dining at “Daisy’s” its popular lounge. In 2009 the motel would be torn down and the site used for the UPMC-East hospital.

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119. The first modern motel to be located along Route 48 (Mosside Boulevard), the Holiday Inn was situated so as to be seen from the nearby Turnpike. The picture show the original building, since replaced.

The Holiday Inn (1970/2005) also provided lounge entertainment, and it was also one of the first to locate along the Mosside Boulevard spur as locations along Route 22, favored by earlier motels, gave way to retail uses. The Red Roof Inn, Day’s Inn (1985), and later the Hampton Inns (1997), and the Comfort Suite (2008) were all to choose to locate on Mosside Boulevard. And the Marriott Courtyard (2006), built on Monroeville Blvd., added to the wealth of hotels and motels catering to the traveling public. The Sheraton East Hotel, built in 1972, near the Monroeville Mall, subsequently became the Radisson, and in 2009, as the DoubleTree by Hilton, the facility was offering services to convention goers at the nearby Monroeville Convention Center (2009). The Monroeville Convention Center, located on the site of the bankrupt Wicks Furniture Store, had replaced the Pittsburgh Expo Mart, which had been located at the front of the Mall.

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120. The Expo Mart was built to span the main access road leading to the Monroeville Mall. In the early 2000s, it was replaced by the Monroeville Convention Center located nearby.

By the 1980s the area had grown in importance as a shipping hub with the construction of the Norfolk and Southern Intermodal Terminal at the old Pitcairn Railway Yards to the south of Monroeville. At one time the Pitcairn yards had been one the busiest railyards in the eastern United States but by 1979 most operations there had been phased out, first by the Pennsylvania Railroad), and then by Conrail (the successor to the PRR). But for a time, some tracks continued to be used by Conrail for intermodal transfer until eventually the old abandoned yard took on new life -- as a thriving intermodal facility for container shipping by the Norfolk and Southern Railroad. The facility provides for the trans-shipment of cargo in containers hauled by trucks from the Pennsylvania Turnpike, down Route 48 to the terminal, where they can be loaded onto railroad cars for local, national and international shipping connections.

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121. The Intermodal terminal along Route 48 was originally operated by Conrail, and later turned over to the Norfolk and Western Railroad. It was built partly on the land that once been the Pitcairn Railroad Yards.

Research

During the same period, Monroeville was becoming a magnet to companies and corporations increasingly attracted to the conveniently-located suburban setting, as companies began relocating their offices and research facilities here. In 1956 US Steel’s research operations were consolidated into one dedicated facility, the United States Steel Monroeville Research Center just off Jameson Lane, where some 1,500 people worked in several buildings on the 142-acre suburban campus. The research center was active in Monroeville for several decades before being relocated in 2006 to a new facility on the site of the former U. S. Steel Homestead Works along the Monongahela River in Munhall. The former site of US Steel was re-named Tech One Park. Koppers Company opened a research center in Monroeville in 1961, followed by Bituminous Coal in 1962. In 1971, the nuclear power operations of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation were moved into a new building in Monroeville near the Interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The new facility would serve as the engineering and design center for Westinghouse’s pressurized water reactor systems. Westinghouse went on to become the largest employer in Monroeville with some 1,900 employees. But by the 2000s, even this large facility was proving inadequate to meet the needs of the expanding nuclear power industry. And so in 2007, Westinghouse announced plans to build a new headquarters and research facility in Cranberry Township. Many employees from Monroeville and Churchill would be moved to the new Cranberry Township facilities starting in 2009.

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And others continued the trend Kleinwefers Corp. (1976) opened a design and manufacturing facility on Seco Road in the new Industrial Park. PPG Industries chose Monroeville as home to its Chemical Research Center. And the trend to establish Monroeville as a research center continued with the R.J. Lee Group’s laboratory on Hochberg Road, with Siemens-Westinghouse in 2001, and with Compunetics’s facilities in the Monroeville Business Park.

122. In the 1950s US Steel was one of the first companies to establish laboratories in Monroeville on its 142-acre site just off Jameson Lane, beginning a trend that would see Monroeville emerge as a research center.

123. Bituminous Coal established their research laboratories on Hochberg Road in the 1960s. The facilities were later taken over by R.J. Lee Group as its analysis and testing services facility.

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124. Westinghouse Energy Center in 2011. In 1971, the nuclear power operations of the Westinghouse Electric Corporation were moved into a new building in eastern Monroeville. The 5-story building, sheathed in reflective grey glass, would serve as the engineering and design center for Westinghouse’s pressurized water reactor systems. In time, Westinghouse went on to become the largest employer in Monroeville with some 1,900 employees before phasing back operations in 2009.

Retail Sales

By 1970 Monroeville was well on its way to becoming one of the Pittsburgh region’s major retail hubs, and the corridor along Business Route 22 from the turnpike interchange to the Monroeville Mall had become recognized as the “commercial core of the community.” Small shops, major stores and strip malls, large and small, grew up as retail flourished; restaurant and entertainment venues joined the many stores along the strip. Since the time of its historic and highly successful Auction Barn, Monroeville has been a shopping mecca. Monroeville’s considerable reputation as a retail center was given additional stature with the addition of the Miracle Mile and with the opening Monroeville Mall in 1969. The new mall would be constructed on the reclaimed site of Harper’s Mine, a strip mine located just off Route 22. It was to house over 100 tenants, with parking for 6,500 cars. It was a project of Don-Mark Reality (Principals: Harry Soffer, Eugene Lebowitz, Don Soffer, Edward J. Lewis, and Mark Mason). The company later would become the Oxford Development Company.

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125. The newly-constructed Monroeville Mall in 1970. The Mall was built on the re-claimed site of the Harper Mine.

Two and half miles of Monroeville Road/Northern Pike (from Young’s Corner to Pierce’s Corner) was widened to 4-lanes to accommodate traffic to the new mall, and an overpass constructed spanning Route 22 to provide easier access. Two department stores flanked the mall: Gimbels and Hornes, while J.C. Penny held down a central position. The stores ranged from high fashion to hardware – all accommodated in a self-enclosed, air-conditioned shopping area with paved courtyards, plantings, shrubs, pools and impressive fountains under enormous skylights.

126. When the Mall opened two major department stores, Gimbels and Hornes, anchored the shops at either end.

This 1969 photo shows The Joseph Hornes Co. at its original location at the east end of the Mall.

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127. Monroeville Mall was carefully landscaped to lend the beauty of lush plants to the cool, clean interior.

One end of the mall featured a large yellow clock tower that housed 12 animated puppets, each one representing an ethnic group in the area. One puppet performed every hour, and all performed together at 1 pm and 6 pm. At the opposite end of the mall sat an impressive fountain, surrounded by a seating area. The circular fountain area could be quickly converted into a stage for road shows and exhibits, like the “Alice in Wonderland” show held at the Mall’s Fountain Court in 1977. One of the most popular features was the Ice Palace – an indoor regulation-sized skating rink, located at mid-mall. Patrons enjoyed watching the skaters perform while shopping or dining at the overlooking restaurants. George Lipchick, a professional ice skater, was hired as the first manager of the rink. The Ice Palace accommodated fashion shows and exhibitions, hockey teams from area schools, figure skating, speed skating contests, as well as offering group and individual lessons.

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128. Landscapers were employed in designing the interiors to allow nature to flourish under the soaring skylights. (Photo courtesy of Gene Bolch).

129. For many years the dancing waters of the Mall’s fountain fascinated shoppers. In time the fountains were removed to make way for “Mister Roger’s Neighborhood” – a play space for toddlers.

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130. The interior skating rink, the “Ice Palace” was a very popular draw for shoppers who could watch skaters perform while dining in one of the Mall’s restaurants. In time, the rink was removed to make way for a “food court.” Here Fred Bolch watches one of the last hockey games before the rink was closed in 1983. (Photo Courtesy of Gene Bolch).

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As time went on, both Gimbels and J. C. Penny opened auto service centers in the rear parking area, where an annex strip was built containing an A&P Grocery Store (later a Giant Eagle store), a post office, a garden center and other businesses. In the early 1970s a Cinemette East theater complex was built on the grounds to the west of the mall. In 1974 film producer George Romero took a tour of Monroeville Mall, and as he walked through the Mall he saw it as a possible setting for the movie he wanted to make “Dawn of the Dead.” Romero soon met with mall owners and was fortunate enough to land a deal with them. The owners agreed to partially finance the movie and grant access to Romero and his crew for their production work. Filming at Monroeville Mall took place during the winter of 1977-78. Filming began shortly after the mall closed around 11 pm, and finished at 7 am the next day. Filming was completed in February 1978. In the story, the Mall was used as a fortress to protect four human survivors from a world taken over by the walking dead. Romero used the location to its fullest, beautifully displaying the mall in all its vastness, and giving the place a cavernous feel. The movie went on to become a huge hit worldwide, with legions of dedicated fans. Fans were to travel from far and wide, just to visit the location of what had become a cult classic. In 1981, the Pittsburgh Expo Mart was constructed at the entrance to the Mall, built so that traffic from route 22 flowed under its overarching structure when approaching the Malls’ parking lot. Over the next few years many changes were made to the mall’s layout. In 1984, to the dismay of local citizens, the Ice Palace was replaced by a food court. The clock tower was removed to be replaced by a holiday children’s train and an escalator. The fountain at the opposite end was removed in lieu of a Mister Roger’s Neighborhood play space. Gimbels was replaced by Kaufmann’s, and Hornes by Lazarus (later Macy’s). The Cinemette East was replaced by a Best Buy. In early 2004, the mall was acquired by CBL & Associates. Shortly after the acquisition, construction began in the parking lot which would change the face of the mall forever. Across the front entrance of the mall was added a courtyard with clustering shops and restaurants to be called “The District.” A large wall was constructed at the front edge of the parking lot, concealing the entrance and the new facilities.

Medical Services

By the 1970s it became clear that the health needs of the expanding population required more medical facilities. The beginnings of Forbes Regional Hospital may be found in the work of Dr. Earl Wickerham, a Penn Hills physician, whose Medical and Surgical Clinic of Pittsburgh was formed to provide care to the eastern communities. The clinic later became known as The East Suburban General Hospital. In 1973 Suburban General merged with Forbes Hospital to form the Forbes Health System, and ground was broken in 1975 for the new hospital on Haymaker road. The East Suburban Women’s Club, formed in 1978, gave active and sustained support to the new community hospital though their programs and fundraisers. A major fund raising effort to form a capital building fund was led by Willard F. Rockwell of Rockwell International Corp., and Edward L. Dardanell, Chairman of Dardanell Publishing. In 1976, two helipads were given conditional approval by Monroeville Council: one

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for the then newly-built east Suburban Health Center (and one for Al Monzo’s Howard Johnsons Motel). Subsequently, Forbes Regional Hospital grew to be a 350-bed facility and it would become a part of the West Penn Allegheny Health System. In the summer of 2012, The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) opened a 156-bed hospital to serve the needs of the communities east of Pittsburgh. The structure was built near the corner of Routes 22 and 48, on a site long occupied by Monzo’s “Palace Inn” motel, which was razed in June 2009 to make way for the new general hospital.

131. The Forbes Regional Hospital opened in 1978.

132. UPMC East General Hospital shortly before the official opening in June 2012.

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In addition to the two general hospitals, the area has seen a rapid surge in medical facilities, clinics physicians’ offices and specialized care hospitals like rehabilitation clinics, as well as an extensive growth in adult care facilities. Social and Cultural Life

One measure of a community’s character is the number of religious, civic, social and fraternal organizations it has fielded over the years. And here, Pitcairn’s record has been outstanding! Here are just some of the community groups that have appeared in Pitcairn’s History: RR YMCA, Ladies Auxiliary to the RR YMCA, Woman’s Christian Temperance Union, Ministerium Association, American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary, Order of the Eastern Star, Ancient Order Knights of the Mystic Chain, Daughters of Naomi, The Boosters Club, Fraternal order of Eagles, Gaberle D’Annunzio Italian Mutual Beneficial Association, Ladies Catholic Benevolent Association, Kiwanis Club, Ladies Reading Circle, Penny-Cot Club, Ladies Society of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Foremen and Enginemen, Pitcairn Board of Trade, The Coin Club, Pitcairn Chapter of the Red Cross, Women’s Club, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Fire Companies’ Ladies Auxiliaries, North American Benefit Association, Dames of Malta, the Pitcairn-Monroeville Dolls, Confraternity of Christian Mothers, Fraternal Order of Eagles, Ladies Auxiliary, The F.O.E, Keystone PTA, Camp B, Camp G, Pitcairn Italian Barbell Club, Lion’s Club, Pitcairn Civic Association, Pitcairn Food Pantry, Meals on Wheels, Pitcairn Ambulance Association, Senior Citizens Club; these along with various unions, sports, and church groups too numerous to mention. At the same time, Monroeville’s social and cultural opportunities continued to expand. The Monroeville Arts Council was incorporated in 1981 as a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization with Mary Zentarski as the first president. Mel Pollock succeeded Mary Zentarski as president, and under his leadership the Council launched its popular "Pops in the Park" series set in the natural amphitheatre on the grounds of the Boyce Campus of the Community College of Allegheny County. The summer concert series was to become a regular feature of community life over the years. The Monroeville Senior Citizen Center, built in 1980, has become the hub of activity for Monroeville and Pitcairn seniors. The Center provides daily activities, services, and programs for adults 50 years of age and older. In January 2009, the center opened a well-equipped fitness center. This was an era of social change in the country and the once robust spirit of volunteerism began to fade, nowhere was this decline more obvious than in the women’s clubs. Over the years, the generations of ladies are no longer with us, and we’ve lost their business meetings, and luncheons and teas; the fashion shows and lectures -- they would so enthusiastically sponsor and dutifully attend. Their active community lives have faded back into another era. But for a few decades, beginning mostly in the 1950s and 60s women’s clubs, like Monroeville’s garden clubs, sprang up and flourished -- embodying a spirit of volunteerism among those who wanted to make their community a better place. By 1958 there were five new garden clubs in Monroeville: Monroeville Women’s Garden Club, Monroeville Junior Women’s Garden Club, Eastgate Manor Garden Club, Garden City Garden Club, Wegotta Club. These joined the long-established Forbes Trail Garden club which

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had formed in 1939. The garden clubs had their heyday in the 1960s and 70s, before a slow decline set in. By the 1980s social trends precipitated a decline in club membership as more and more women began working outside the home. The Forbes Trail Garden Club, with over four decades of helping to beautify the community, disbanded in 1983; others gradually followed until by 2012 only the University Park Garden Club (renamed the “Garden Club of Monroeville”) remained. It was a pattern to be played out with the East Suburban Woman’s Club. Originally formed in 1957 and the club played a major role in supporting the new East Suburban Hospital in the 1970s. The club held fashion shows, card parties and smorgasbord dinners all in an effort to raise money for the new hospital. Even once the hospital was completed in 1978, they did not disband but went on to continue serving their community, raising over $60,000 for more than 20 charities over their history. In 1984 the group disbanded citing declining membership.

133. The University Park Garden Club members prepare for the April Garden Market to be held at Kubrick’s Nursery on Rt 22, in 1961. L to r: Bob Kubrick, Kay Oswalt, Aenese Straufenberg, Geraldine Giola, Elinor Chadwick, and Alice Witkovich.

Still going strong (in 2012) is the International Women’s Club, originally formed in 1968 from the Monroeville YWCA which saw a need to provide support to the wives of foreigners who were being recruited for jobs at Westinghouse, US Steel and other corporations in the eastern suburbs. The International Wives’ Club, as it was then called, provided a way for these new arrivals to meet their American neighbors. In 1980 the name of the Monroeville-based club was changed to the “International Women’s Club “ and it eventually became independent of the YWCA. The women of Monroeville continue to serve in such organizations as the Little League Teams, the Scouts, the Arts Council, the Monroeville Historical Society, and the Library.

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In 2000 Monroeville’s second municipal building was dedicated on the site of the old building at 2700 Monroeville Boulevard, as Monroeville continued to develop as a place to both work and play. Parks and Recreation had expanded considerably since the 1950s, and by 2000 there were some 800 acres of parkland with 22 parks containing picnic areas, groves, trails, athletic fields, and basketball courts. The large Community Center and Park located on 125 acres just off Tilbrook Road, was dedicated in 2006. In addition, residents could at one time, have taken advantage of seven private swimming pools, located in the various neighborhoods of the community. Thus, on the verge of the 21st century, Monroeville continues to evolve in ways that would have astonished the early settlers struggling to carve their family farms out of its rugged terrain.

134. Time Capsule being buried at the Old Stone Church in 1976. The capsule was fabricated by the Hamill Manufacturing Company, Eugen Bolch, project supervisor.

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135. Monroeville, Pa.

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Chapter 1: The Frontier Era

“…the mouth of the Monongahela at Turtle Creek.” (Buck & Buck, 1939) “…one of the first references…” (History Of Allegheny County, 1889) “…Martha Meyers and her family…” (History Of Allegheny County, Ibid.) “…the seat of the new county of Allegheny.” (Baldwin, 1937) “…and a tavern by the 1780s.” (Gilchrist, 1940) “…who arrived in Monroeville in the 1750s.” (Johnston, 1987) “…to have followed the course of Indian paths .” (Wallace, 1993) “…across the Allegheny River to Springdale.” (Hedley, 1918) “…the existing Indian paths. (Sweetnam, 1951) “…crossing streams at the most convenient points.” (Buck & Buck, Op. cit.) “…in a constantly changing panorama.” (Donahoo, 1910) “…uninhabited as it was in frontier days.” (Donahoo, Ibid.) “…failing trees and tying grape vines across the way.” (Doddridge in Harpster, 1938) “…passable for an army. (Buck & Buck, Op. cit.) “…for transshipment through the hills.” (Gilchrist, Op. cit.) “…yield fairly high prices. (Gilchrist, Ibid.) “…the overland trip took some 20 days.” (Buck & Buck, Op. cit.) “…for more than a hundred years.” (Pittsburgh Dispatch, 1911) “…regular steamboat service was common…” (Bissell, 1940) “…Port Perry…” (Belser, 2004) “…on a daily run…(Bissell, Op. cit; Heath, 1917) “…is part of an elevated plain…(Monroeville Planning Commission, 1984) “…on the left side going south towards Turtle Creek.” (Thompson, 1986) “…Bill Malise’s mill was situated….” (Aiken, 1986) “…impressive stone house…” (Erickson, 1998) “…killed practically all aquatic life.” (Vercelli, 1986) “…there’s a water supply.” (Vercelli, Ibid.) “…the Urick farm…(Urick, 2012)

Chapter 2:The Farming Village (The 1800s)

“…stone masons and blacksmiths.” (Bicentennial Historical Yearbook, 1976) “…two stores and an inn.” (Myers, 1976) “…a 1803 visitor….” (Harris in Harpster, Op. cit.) “…the modern Lincoln Highway.” (Buck & Buck, Op. cit.) “…wooden bridges over the smaller streams.” (Buck & Buck, Op. cit.) “…the core of the emerging village.” (Damon, 1987) “…reported by Thomas Mellon…” (Mellon, 1994) “…what was to become Monroeville.” (Chandler, 1988) “…driving into the blazing sun.” (Coates, 1984) “ Bruce Kish describes…” (Kish, 1993) “…a post horn to announce…” (Gratton 2007) “…made in three and a half days.” (Coates, Op. cit.) “…a captain on one of the canal boats.” (Bicentennial Historical Yearbook, Op. cit.) “…marked the death knell.” (Coates, Op. cit.) “…an ad that appeared…” (Miller, 2006) “…By the close of 1851…” (Fairbanks Archive, undated) “…three trains per day made the run.” (Jacobs, 1988)

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“…an excursion train made the run to Turtle Creek (Thompson, 1974) “… a roundtrip fare of 34 cents.” (Gilchrist, Op. cit.) “…the PRR’s main line…” (Alexander, 1971) “…Turtle Creek described in…” (Sipes, 1875) “…The PRR, needing room…” (Pitcairn Boro, 1969) “… a decision by the PRR…”(Roberts, 1997) “…near the Moss Side Bridge. (Cridlebaugh, 2000) “…you built the fire to keep warm.” (Aiken, Op. cit.) “ …Nothing grew…” (Droske, 2008) “…Pittsburgh vein…” (Vercelli, Op. cit.) “…the coal boom…” (Foley, 1980) “…a minor housing boom…” (Warner, undated) “…strip mining had begun in the area.” (Scalise, 1985) “…the site of a strip mine.” (Winkler, 1986) “…once served as a mule barn…”( Bicentennial Historical Yearbook, Op. cit.) “…was once Harper’s Mine.” (Times-Express, 4/28/04) “…Edel’s Creek, Gascola, Linhart, and Hall Stations (Aiken, Op. cit; Johnston, 1987) “…and the nearby school.” (Johnston, Op. cit.) “…served as branch lines..” (Mochnick, 1982) “…a large number of young men…”(Chandler, 2010) “…rural Patton Township…” (Pitcairn, 1944)

Chapter 3: The Township (1900-1945)

“…to adopt street railway service.” (Miller, 1960) “…a fare to Pittsburgh of 15 cents (Russell, 1969) “ One Pitcairn resident…” (Fails, 2005) “…Trafford Motor Coach began operating…” (Russell, Ibid.) “…the trip to Pittsburgh.” (Colbaugh, Ibid.; Scalise, Op. cit.) “…the region east of Pittsburgh.” (Watson, 2005) “…New bus lines were cropping up…” (Antique Motor Coach Association of Pennsylvania, 2008) “…McCoy’s was also the first…” (Pittsburgh Press, April. 24, 1953) “…the company was sold…” (Speelman, 2005) “…by 1850 churchgoers…” (Chandler, 2009) “…Beulah Church history…” (Beulah Church,1984) “Monroeville’s Churches” (Times-Express, 1991) “The Community’s Schools” (Fails, 1992) “…as I remember…” (Myers, 1976) “In 1976 a special meeting room…”(Ireland, 1986) “…board member Frank Keeley…(Girman, 1976.) “The decreasing enrollment trend…” (Gateway School District, 2012)

Chapter 4: The Post War Suburbs (1945-1970)

“…a phenomena of the automobile.” (Monroeville Planning Commission, 1984) “…after the mines…”(Warner, Op. cit.) “…cattleman drive…”(Warner, Ibid.) “…with fenced pastureland. (Winkler, Op.cit.) “…a two-lane road back then.” (Colbaugh, 1986) “…got there without a flat tire.” (Thompson, 1986) “…a squatters settlement.” (Droske, 2008)

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“… and through Turnpike Gardens.” (Tucker, 2005) “…and watch them going by.” (Aiken, Op. cit.) “.…in neighboring communities.” (Winkler, Op. cit.) “…brought back three cents.” (Vercelli, Op. cit.) “…that was to continue for many years.” (Colbaugh, Op. cit.;Thomson, Op. cit.) “…could be bought and traded. (Thompson, Op. cit.; Dailey News, 4/17/50) “…for the duration of the service (Johnston, Op. cit.) “…the very first family car.” (Aiken, Op. cit.; Thompson, Op. cit.) “…a Model-T in 1917.” (Aiken, Op. cit.) “…how to stop it!” (Boyok, 2008) “…basically a residential street.” (Scalise, Op. cit.) “…all over that road, too.” (Vercelli, Op. cit.) “…a constable to…(Monroeville Bicentennial Yearbook, Op. cit.) “…and part of Frankstown Road.” (Board of Road Supervisors, 1922) “…and a lawsuit if he didn’t.” (Board of Road Supervisors, 1920) “…gave the proposal its blessing.” (Board of Road Supervisors, Ibid.) “…from Monroeville to Turtle Creek (Johnston, Op. cit.; Thompson, Op. cit.) “…quarries for road building.” (Aiken, Op. cit.) “…was countryside in 1924.” (W. H. “Hook” Warner in Foley, 1980) “…Unlike other amusement parks…” (A Historical Review of Monroeville, Pa., 2001) “…Saunders Station and Haymaker roads (Vercelli, Op. cit) “…roads in the area.” (Mirro, 1986; Vercelli, Op. cit.) “…Tilbrook and Strochein.” (Johnston, Op. cit.) “…on those rainy days.” (Droske, 2008). “…for a new high school…” (Damp, 1998) “…the first night spots…” (Chandler, Op. cit.) “…another Monroeville establishment…” (DiGuglielmo, 2005) “…including headliners like…” (Cloud, 2005) “…Lowes Home Improvement Center is now located.” (Scalise, Op. cit.) “…a group of farsighted businessmen…” (Foley, 1980) “…between New York and Chicago.” (Times Express, 4/14/04) “…Marlo Verilla…(The Progress, 11/18/95) “…the Penn-Lincoln Parkway…” (Monroeville Planning Commission 1962) “…becoming a suburban community.” (Colbaugh, Op. cit.) “…a Library Board was formed…” (Moore,2011) “…police department in Pitcairn…” (Pitcairn, 1944) “…a constable to…(Monroeville, 1976) “…by 1951, the Department…” (Pawlowski, 2010) “…the earliest fire fighting…”(Pitcairn, 1944) “…fire fighting service to be established in rural Patton Township…”(Monroeville Fire Company #6, 2004).

Chapter 5: The Municipality (1970-2010)

“…three airports in Monroeville.” (Wempa, 2003) “…Air shows were popular …” (Monroeville Businessmen’s Association, Letter, 1957) “…dummy which had been thrown out…” (Droske, 2008) “…snow storm of 1950.” (Droske, 2008) “…devised by Dr. Lytle S. Adams (Swetnam, Op. Cit.) “…Theresa James…” (Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Oct. 22, 1997) “…only 16 airplanes…” (Weible, 2005) “…some 2,000 takeoffs and landings…” (Wempa, Op. cit.) “…Garden City Resident…” (Merryman, 2005) “…with the East Suburban Women’s Club (Kerlin, 1984)

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INDEX

Aber, 45, 147, 150 horse, 11, 12, 19, 21, 44, 47, 50, 52, 53, 57, 59, 73, Abers Creek, 13, 14, 15, 16, 78 74, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 82, 84, 85, 112 Airports, 103, 104, 106, 107, 140 Ice Palace, 129, 131, 132 Alpine Village, 108 Indian, 5, 9, 10, 11, 138, 144, 146, 147 Amantea, 121, 122 James Street, 13 Auction Barn, 81, 82, 127 Johnston, 2, 8, 9, 10, 57, 79, 82, 88, 97, 103, 106, Auction Barn,, 81, 127 107, 138, 139, 140, 145, 147, 149, 150 Automobile, 3, 47, 50, 58, 72, 76, 78, 80, 83, 84, 85, Johnston’s field, 103 139 LaBarbe, 74, 89 Barr, 45 Library, 2, 3, 108, 109, 110, 135, 140, 144, 145, 149 Beatty, 5, 19, 20, 21, 25, 29, 38, 41, 55, 85, 147, 150 Log cabins., 6 Behulah Congregation, 20 Logans Ferry Roads, 10 Beulah Church, 56, 59, 139 MacGregor Road, 19 boat builders, 12 McClintock,, 45, 147 Bohinski Field, 103, 104 McCully, 6, 7, 8, 147, 150 Bouquet, 5 McCully house,, 6 Boyd’s Hill, 48, 49, 55 McGinley, 6, 8, 17, 27, 28, 77, 78, 84, 147, 150 Braddock, McGinnis Gen. Edward, 11, 30, 53, 55, 59, 85 John, 32, 33, 59 British, 5, 11, 32, 147 McKay Burke Glen, 87, 88, 148 Aeneas, 32, 97, 150 Bus lines, 54, 55, 139 McMaster’s Grove, 39 Center Road., 19, 57, 81, 99 McMunn, 45, 46, 150 Churches, 2, 56, 59, 61, 139 Mellon Civil War, 2 Andrew, 4, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 48, 49, 55, 67, 68, Civil War,, 45, 46, 147 103, 113, 138, 145 Clugston, 50, 63, 147, 150 Meyers Colbaugh, 76, 77, 139, 140, 143 Eli, 5, 49, 138 Cross Roads Cemetery, 9 Miller Dardanell, Betty, 27, 55, 71, 77, 78, 138, 139, 145 Edward, 52, 132 Miller family,, 27 Diamond Cab Company, 56, 75 Mines, 2, 38, 42 Donehoo Mining George, 11, 144 coal, 12, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 47, 139 Duff, 45, 74, 150 Miracle Mile., 71, 92, 93, 98 Elliott, 45, 150 Monongahela, 4, 11, 12, 13, 36, 45, 125, 138, 143 Fire Companies, 2, 112, 134 Monroe Forbes Joel, 2, 9, 21, 22, 23, 49, 57, 74, 96, 97, 101, 108, Gen. John, 5, 6, 10, 11, 18, 28, 108, 109, 132, 133, 121, 144, 147, 150 134, 135 Monroeville Mall., 6, 40, 55, 120, 124 Forbes Regional Hospital., 6, 28 Monzo Garden City, 2, 21, 40, 55, 57, 61, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, Al, 121, 122, 133 72, 105, 107, 108, 113, 134, 140, 145, 148 Moss Side, 13, 31, 46, 67, 68, 139 Gist, 4 Mosside, 31, 35, 87, 113, 121, 122, 123, 144, 147 Harold W. Brown Memorial Field, 106 Municipality, 13, 111, 116 Haymaker, 8, 10, 45, 57, 63, 65, 69, 74, 77, 87, 88, Myers, 2, 3, 5, 49, 138, 139, 145 132, 140, 147, 149, 150 Newspapers, 2, 51 Henry Hornbostel., 14 Northern Turnpike., 21, 57 Holiday House, 89, 97 Old Stone Church, 2, 21, 57, 58, 59, 67, 79, 83, 86, Hornsbostel 102, 148, 149 Henry, 14 Parkway, 13, 57, 71, 94, 113, 140, 149

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Patton Township, 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 9, 12, 16, 23, 30, 32, Margaret, 51, 139, 146 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, Sampson, 45, 71, 72, 74, 150 49, 50, 59, 63, 64, 65, 67, 69, 73, 84, 96, 106, 111, Sawmill, 14, 15 112, 113, 139, 140, 143, 147, 148, 150 School, 24, 34, 44, 57, 63, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 84, Penn 96, 108, 109, 139, 144, 148 William, 5, 11, 13, 18, 41, 43, 44, 49, 53, 55, 61, Scots-Irish, 6, 7, 19, 56, 147 69, 70, 71, 74, 81, 85, 86, 87, 88, 89, 94, 97, 99, Snodgrass, 9, 49, 58, 150 100, 101, 113, 117, 121, 122, 132, 133, 140, Solomon, 27, 77, 78 145, 147, 148, 149 Speelman, 56, 74, 75, 76, 97, 139, 146, 147, 150 Pennsylvania Railroad, 23, 29, 31, 32, 33, 34, 36, 45, stagecoach, 5, 22, 52 124, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 148 Strochien, 86 Pennsylvania Turnpike, 71, 92, 113, 124, 125, 148 Sylves Pitcairn, 1, 2, 3, 13, 23, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 39, 47, T.M., 58, 69, 101, 102 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 59, 60, 65, 66, 67, 68, 73, Taylor 80, 81, 82, 93, 104, 106, 110, 111, 112, 113, 124, Abraham, 21, 97, 147 125, 134, 139, 140, 143, 145, 146, 147, 148 The Ice Palace, 129 Pitcairn Express, 51 Theater Pittsburgh, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 18, 21, 22, drive-in, 39, 68, 91, 132 23, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 45, 46, 47, Thompson Run Road, 13, 14, 15 49, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 58, 61, 71, 80, 85, 89, 91, Tilbrook, 32, 45, 67, 73, 87, 88, 103, 104, 136, 140, 92, 93, 94, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108, 112, 117, 121, 150 123, 127, 132, 133, 138, 139, 140, 143, 144, 145, Tranquil Retreat Academy, 19 146,ꪔ147, 148, 149 Travel, 2, 10, 117, 121 Plum, 3, 10, 38, 41, 147 Trolley, 53, 54 Police, 2, 110, 111, 112, 145 Trolley service, 34, 53 Port Perry, 12, 138, 143, 144 Turnpike Gardens, 72, 77, 78, 108, 140 Post Office, 21, 22, 49, 50, 132, 147 Turtle Creek, 3, 5, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 21, 29, 30, Postal Service, 2, 49 31, 32, 33, 35, 36, 44, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, Presbyterian Church, 20, 57, 60, 61, 143, 147 53, 54, 55, 56, 59, 60, 65, 67, 74, 80, 85, 90, 93, Proving Grounds, 46 138, 139, 140, 144, 147, 148 Railroad United States Steel, 125 Union, 2, 29, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 40, 43, 44, 45, UPMC East General Hospital, 133 85, 86, 124, 125, 146 Urick, 17, 79 Railroads, 2, 29 Warner farmhouse, 23, 25 Rising Sun Inn, 2, 22, 23, 25, 26, 88, 121, 143, 147 Westinghouse, 17, 27, 30, 34, 36, 47, 48, 55, 56, 58, River travel, 12 80, 125, 126, 127, 135, 148, 149 Route 22, 2, 13, 18, 19, 21, 37, 38, 39, 41, 44, 49, 55, Westinghouse Air Brake (WABCO), 30 56, 71, 73, 81, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 97, Westinghouse Electric Company, 30, 48 98, 99, 100, 101, 111, 113, 114, 117, 118, 119, Wilmerding, 3, 13, 30, 34, 35, 47, 48, 53, 55, 59, 80, 123, 127, 128, 144, 147, 148 103, 147, 148 Russell WPSL, 94, 101, 102

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Appendix A: The Monroeville Area’s Time Line of Historical Events

1758 - Marking a turning point of the French and Indian War, Fort Duquesne falls to the British and is re-named Fort Pitt, assuring British colonial dominance over the western territories.

1769 - The Pennsylvania colonial authorities encourage immigrants to settle the western frontier. The Johnston family are among the wave of Scots-Irish immigrants to make the trek westward; the family settles in the region just east of Pittsburgh.

1780 - A boundary agreement between Virginia and Pennsylvania establishes the area around Pittsburgh as part of Pennsylvania’s Westmoreland County.

1788 - The western portion of Westmoreland County is designated as Plum Township in the newly-established county of Allegheny.

1789 - Captain Robert Johnston, a veteran of the 42nd Regiment of the American Revolutionary Army, receives a land grant in Westmoreland Country that he had applied for some 20 years earlier.

1800 - Abraham Taylor, a Philadelphia businessman, who had invested in a company to operate the new Northern Turnpike toll road from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, settles in the area and builds The Rising Sun Inn at the side of the new road near the tollgate.

1829 - A farmer from Virginia named Joel Monroe purchases a 125-acre farm and moves here with his young family.

1830 - The McGinley House, a stone farmhouse and local historical landmark, is built by a stonemason named John McClintock, for the Matthew Simpson family.

1834 -- John Johnston and Joel Monroe sell a tract of land to the trustees of the first Crossroads Presbyterian Church for one dollar. This land will form the basis of the Crossroads Cemetery, which remains an active cemetery to this day, with the names of many of the pioneering families (e.g., Aber, Beatty, Clugston, Haymaker, Johnston, McCully, McGinley, Speelman and Thompson) found on its gravestones.

1849 Plum Township is divided into two separate (north and south) entities, with the southern portion being named “Patton Township,” -- after Judge Benjamin Patton. At that time Patton Township included parts of present day Turtle Creek, Wilmerding, Wall and Pitcairn, as well as Monroeville.

1850 - Joel Monroe and his neighbors petition the federal government for a Post Office for their growing village.

1851 - The post office petition is approved, and Joel Monroe becomes the first Postmaster, with the Post Office located in his home, along what is currently William Penn Highway (US Route 22).

1863 - During the Civil War, an artillery firing range was set up in southern Monroeville just east of the Mosside Bridge as a proving ground for cannons then being forged at the Fort Pitt Foundry in Pittsburgh.

1880 - The Pennsylvania Railroad moves its yards and shops from Pittsburgh to Patton Township establishing the sprawling Pitcairn Yard that will become a major source of employment for families from Monroeville for many years.

1888 - The PRR begins construction of the Pitcairn Yard on 215 acres of farmland along the Turtle Creek Valley.

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1889 - George Westinghouse moves his air break manufacturing plant to Wilmerding, providing yet another source of employment for the families in Patton Township.

1890 - Portions of Patton Township and the surrounding area begin to incorporate into smaller government units. Wilmerding incorporates to become a Borough.

1891 - Oak Hill Mine Number 4 is opened, one of many coalmines that will be active in Patton Township during the next fifty years.

1892 - Turtle Creek, which traces its roots back to a trading post established in the 1750s, incorporates to form Turtle Creek Borough.

1894 - A portion of southern Patton Township incorporates into Pitcairn Borough, named after a Superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad.

1894 – George Westinghouse opens his electric equipment manufacturing plant in East Pittsburgh.

1896 - The Old Stone Church, a Monroeville Landmark, is rebuilt on the site of the original (1834) church.

1908 - People’s Gas Company extends gas service to Monroeville, ending the era of the oil lamp in homes.

1912 - Telephone service is extended north from Turtle Creek along Monroeville Road into Monroeville.

1926 - The William Penn Highway opens, incorporating much of the old Northern Pike roadway.

1926 - Burke Glen amusement park opens along the William Penn Highway.

1943 - Route 22 (the new William Penn Highway) opens as a paved, two-lane through-road. Later widened to four lanes, it will define the central east-west commercial corridor through Monroeville.

1946 - The Pittsburgh Outdoor Theater, one of the first drive-in theaters in the area, opens at the corner of Routes 22 and 48.

1950 - The Pittsburgh Exit of the Pennsylvania Turnpike is established at Monroeville.

1951 - Patton Township is officially re-designated as the Borough of Monroeville, with the first newly-elected Borough officials taking office early the following year.

1954 - The Miracle Mile opens. One of the pioneering strip malls in the country; at the time it opens the Miracle Mile is the first such shopping mall between New York and Chicago.

1955 - Garden City, one of the first of many plans for affordable suburban housing, opens in Monroeville.

1955 - The schools of Monroeville and Pitcairn form the Monroeville-Pitcairn joint Schools. In 1960 the jointure is re-designated as the Gateway Union School District; in 1965 -- the Gateway School District.

1956 - US Steel moves its laboratories to its new campus-like Monroeville location, setting the way for the many businesses that follow in developing Monroeville as a research center.

1958 - Monroeville’s first municipal building is dedicated.

1962 - Monroeville’s first Comprehensive Plan for Growth is issued by the Planning Commission.

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1962 - The eastern extension of the Penn-Lincoln Parkway is completed linking Monroeville to downtown Pittsburgh by means of a modern limited-access highway.

1964 - The Monroeville Community Library opens.

1969 - The 150-store Monroeville Mall opens, enhancing Monroeville’s reputation as a shopping mecca.

1971 - Continuing the trend of major companies locating their research facilities in Monroeville, Westinghouse opens its Nuclear Energy Center.

1976 - In conjunction with ceremonies marking the American bicentennial, Monroeville’s 100-year Time Capsule is interred at “Flag Plaza,” on the grounds of the Old Stone Church.

1976 - Monroeville is re-constituted from a Borough (under the Pennsylvania Borough Code) to a Municipality (under a Home Rule Charter).

1978 - East Suburban Hospital opens its Monroeville Location off Haymaker Road.

1980 - Johnston’s farm, an active dairy farm and milk delivery business since 1908, goes out of business and the land is sold to become the site for the Stonecliff Apartments.

1995 - Kuehn’s Dairy, the last surviving dairy farm in Monroeville, closes down and the site is sold for the Manor Care Adult Community.

2000 - Monroeville’s second municipal building is dedicated.

2006 - Monroeville’s Community Center and Park is dedicated.

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Appendix B.

Patton Township’s Early Families (Arrived prior to the Civil War.)

Family Name Est. Arrival in Patton Twp. Miers 1769 McKay 1769 Johnston 1769 Clugston 1770 Sampson 1774 Stewart 1780 Hall 1784 Aber 1785 Gill 1787 Linhart 1787 McMunn 1787 Zimmerman 1788 Carothers 1790 McClintock 1790 Duff 1795 Jordan 1801 McCully 1810 Snodgrass 1810 Barr 1810 Beatty 1812 Thompson 1812 Young 1817 Tilbrook 1818 McGinley 1820 Monroe 1828 Graham 1828 Elliott 1830 Maxwell 1830 Naser 1830 McGinnis 1835 Brinton 1835 Glew 1838 Haymaker 1840 Toohill 1840 Speelman 1858

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