The Story of the Turtle Creek Valley: a Pictorial History

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The Story of the Turtle Creek Valley: A Pictorial History

Louis Chandler

"Turtle Creek" - Acrylic Painting by Local Artist and Historian Kathleen Ferri

December 2015 2

Preface

Professor Gordon Wood, a distinguished historian, once pointed out that unlike so many cultures of the old world, Americans do not have a single unifying religion, nor do we have centuries of a cultural tradition. There are only two things that unite us: our language and our history. And we must constantly fight to preserve both. This is an attempt to preserve the local history of a time and place worth remembering.

In these pages the reader will find pictures of local history. The aim is to provide a brief history, lavishly illustrated. It is hope the pictures will carry the story, as only historic photographs can. The story of the Turtle Creek Valley is a story that needs to be set down, and this may well be a first step.

Louis Chandler, Ph.D. Monroeville, 2015

Acknowledgments

The author wishes to thank the following for their contribution to this work: Jim Sutherland, a Westinghouse engineer who understands the value of history; Kathleen Ferri whose unique art reflects her love for her community; Roy Jobe whose enthusiastic support for local history prompted this initiative; Henry Bowden, local historian, Turtle Creek, for reading the manuscript and providing suggestions.

As a pictorial history relies so heavily on the selected photographs to tell the story, the author is especially grateful to: Andrew Capets, local historian, Trafford, Pa.; the Roy Jobe photo collection; collection of the George Westinghouse Museum; the Westinghouse Company photographers; collection of Cyrus Hosmer, III; Robert S. Dorsett, a talented amateur photographer; the photo archives of the Monroeville Historical Society; and the photo archives of the Pitcairn Historical Society.

Louis A. Chandler, Ph.D. Monroeville, 2015

The Story of the Turtle Creek Valley: A Pictorial History

Louis Chandler

By the 1800s Pittsburgh was well on its way to becoming the industrial powerhouse of the nation. The abundant coal seams in the hills of western Pennsylvania, along with extensive waterways set the stage for industrial development. The forges and foundries of a vibrant iron industry were growing rapidly; by 1850 the city was poised on the Age of Steel. With the coming of the railroads, the final piece was put into place to create an industrial giant. It was in that time and place that the towns along the valley east of Pittsburgh, such as Turtle Creek, would be called upon to play their part in the industrial revolution.

Into this Valley

“Turtle Creek” is said to have been derived from a name used by the Native American Delaware tribes to describe the slow moving river. And that name was picked up by the first white fur traders who came to the area in the 1600s. One of the first of those white traders was John Fraser.

Fraser was a fur trader licensed by the Province of Pennsylvania for its western frontier, an interpreter with Native Americans, a guide and lieutenant in the British army, and a land speculator. In 1753 he moved to the mouth of Turtle Creek were he built a log cabin, to serve as a trading post with the Indians. There he aided George Washington and his guide Christopher Gist, during Washington's early diplomacy with the French. Fraser's Turtle Creek cabin was burned down in 1755. The Edgar Thompson Works of US Steel in North Braddock is located at the site of Fraser’s trading post; it’s said that remnants of the old cabin were unearthed when the steel mill was being built.

Another of the early settler of the Turtle Creek area was Mrs. Martha Miers (Myers) who moved to the area about the time the British first took possession of the territory. Martha Miers 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 age 55 in 1765, and when, a few years later, the William Penn family opened a land office, 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.

For travelers, the Miers’ place must have been conveniently located, since 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 that Martha Miers’ 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.

Lifelong resident Frank Muir remembered growing up in Turtle Creek in the early days.

“I can see the town of my boyhood days...I can now see Hutch Huffman, Bo Wiley or John Johnston as they flourished their long whips and urged J. C. Hexlep’s horses as they hauled the grocery wagon to and fro in the old town. And Al Glunt – who with his merry cry of ‘fine day to all’ regardless of what the weather was as he performed the same service for Morgan Semmens. And Billy Cashdollar who served his employer and community well by driving Finley McIntosh’s team; and Bill Barclay as he drove the Coal Company’s team of four or six mules hauling material for the mines. And I see Pete Rubash passing with a load of coal with his fine team of horses and sons Joe and Ernie riding with him. How I did envy these men who earned a livelihood by performing a service which seemed to me a continual round of pleasure.

And now as I stroll along the old coal road…the journey brings back many people. At Hunter’s Crossing I think of those who used to congregate there on long summer evenings and discuss current events. The Aments, McKeags, Clines, Billy Wiley, Jack Mower, the Zischkaus’. And in those days there was no greater pleasure to many of these boys than to go with John Shaner and his excellent dogs on one of his many ‘coon hunts.

As I walk further up the track, I think of Captain Jobe and his boys and I well remember what a stir was created when he first built his planning mill, and how it raised the industrial importance of our town in my mind when it began to blow its starting and stopping whistle at morning, noon, and night.”

"...J.C. Hexlep's horses hauled the grocery wagon to and fro in the old town."

Even as they were replaced by automobiles, horses and buggies continued to be seen on the streets.

Dr. Edward A Hoffman and his family shown here on a Sunday outing in their surrey.

Jobe's Funeral Home began as a livery and boarding stable business in Turtle Creek.

Railroad Days

In the 1850s the modern industrial age came to the Turtle Creek Valley with the coming of the Railroad. The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) had begun in the eastern part of the state in 1849 and immediately expanded westward towards Pittsburgh.

The coming of the railroads ushered the industrial age into the Turtle Creek Valley.

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 Greensburg and Latrobe) and Turtle Creek, where stagecoaches were still being used. That final gap 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. 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.

In 1865 coal was mined for the first time in the Turtle Creek Valley. The burgeoning railroads immediately saw the potential for shipping coal to the growing iron and steel plants around Pittsburgh, and new tracks were laid servicing the mines at Rose Hill, Lenhart, Hall’s Station, and West Wilmerding.

In the 1860s coal was being mined in the Turtle Creek Valley.

The railroads quickly saw the potential for shipping coal to feed the hungry iron and steel plants.

But the PRR was not the only railroad to play a role in the transportation history of the valley. 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.

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.”

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. . Soon towns would grow up around the train stations.

Early railroad depots were simple structures like this one in Murrysville, Pa.

Soon more elaborate railroad stations were built to accommodate passengers like the Pennsylvania Railroad Depot in Wilmerding. c.1915.

Tracks would be laid to serve the steel mills of the Mon Valley and, along the way, the Westinghouse Air Brake plant in Wilmerding, and the Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing plants in Turtle Creek and East Pittsburgh would become major customers.

Tracks were laid to support the mills and manufacturing plants of growing industries.

The railroads would become part of the fabric of life in the valley for the next one hundred years. Local historian, Kathleen Ferri had fond memories of the railroad days in the valley:

“Once they closed Turtle Creek Station residents had to walk over a mile to get to the East Pittsburgh Station. From there autos, taxis or trolleys brought them as far as the long uphill ramp to the station house. This roofed over viaduct was constructed between several large Westinghouse office buildings. The entrance to the viaduct was from Braddock Avenue at the front of Cable Avenue in East Pittsburgh.

Many employees of Westinghouse arrived by local trains from the outlying towns like Greensburg, Janette, Irwin, Export, Murrysville or Trafford. They arrived from the west from Swissvale, Wilkinsburg, Homewood, East Liberty or Pittsburgh. Workers spent many hours each week just waiting for scheduled trains that often arrived late, and then stopped every mile or two for more passengers.

As one enters that station house, it was dark and dreary, with occasional old-fashioned lanterns along the walls. There was a ticket office with a uniformed stationmaster …who’d pull out his pocket watch to assure folks when they can expect the next train to arrive.

On cold winter days he pokers up the pot belly stove to help keep passengers and employees warm. The waiting room had long hard uncomfortable wooden benches. Fancy decorative iron supported the armrests. Old newspaper lay about in disarray. Spittoons lined the wall of the station, with its old and creaking lumber floor. The building was a shelter from the wind and cold that blew along the creek from the nearby Monongahela River.

There was always activity going on in that train station. Western Union Telegrams were coming through. At first they were interpreted by the Morse code system but in later years the actual message come thorough on a teletype machine. Then the message was delivered by a young boy on a bike, or running on foot up our steep hills and ravines. Or messages were relayed by telephone to the few families that had phones before the 1940s, The timetable on the black board showed the expected arrival or departure times, with the name of the train, the city or origin, and the destination. Our stationmaster, chalk in hand, would change the posed time if he got a massage that a train was running late.

…The train station was a noisy place: Train whistles blowing, steam hissing, people yelling, bells clanging.... And then the conductor yells; “ALL ABOARD” and motions to the train engineer. With creaks and groans and noisy metal wheels clicking over the rails and – off she goes! Before taking off, the conductor brings in the stepping stool that helped passengers with that first high step. Then he locked the door, and passed through, punching passes or collecting tickets.

During the war ….the trains carried army supplies: troops, aircraft guns, tanks, jeeps and fuel -- many traveled under camouflage covering. Servicemen used trains when they could get a weekend pass or furlough. Sometimes wives and children might accompany them. The trains were crowded, noisy, dirty, drafty; the ride was rough; the trains were either too hot or too cold; but they were thankful to have those trains.

Traveling through the towns of the Turtle Creek valley you can still see the ghosts of 13

those railroad days in the street names: Broadway Boulevard, Station Street, Penn Avenue, Union Avenue, Bessemer Avenue, Central Avenue and Railroad Street.”

***

Turtle Creek, Pennsylvania

In 1817 The Wayside Inn was purchased by Henry Chalfont who renamed it the “Broadway Hotel”; it continued to serve travelers over the years. (The Broadway Hotel was torn down in 1912). A blacksmiths shop, dry goods stores, groceries, taverns and rooming houses all sprung up around the Broadway Hotel to form Turtle Creek’s town center. Social life centered around the Inn where locals and travelers would gather to discuss the day’s events, politics, and travel conditions along the stage route.

When it would rain or snow or when the creek would flood, the roads turned into muddy bogs. Eventually wooden sidewalks were installed and plank roads followed. In the 1880s streets were paved and in 1885 the first trolley lines are laid, linking Turtle Creek with Pittsburgh and with other towns in the valley.

Rooming houses sprang up around the town's center.

1n 1885 trolley lines linked Turtle Creek with Pittsburgh, and other towns in the valley.

The Bank Cafe in Turtle Creek in the early 1900s. 15

The Murphy Company’s 5 & 10 Cent Store was a longtime fixture in Turtle Creek.

Penn Avenue Turtle Creek c. 1915. Faller’s Furniture is in the distance on the left.

***

Westinghouse Comes to the Valley

George Westinghouse inventor, entrepreneur, and pioneer of the electrical industry, was born and raised in New York. As a young man, he was awarded several patents for railway devices, which he planned to manufacture in nearby New Jersey. But increasingly his thoughts turned to Pittsburgh, a manufacturing center and growing powerhouse of the industrial revolution. There he saw the potential of the flourishing iron and steel furnaces to forge the parts 16

he needed for his railroad air brakes and automated signaling systems. And in 1868 Westinghouse traveled to Pittsburgh, there to establish his first manufacturing company.

George Westinghouse, inventor and electrical pioneer.

By 1889 Westinghouse’s air brakes were being so widely adopted by the nation’s railroads that a need for expansion was obvious. Recognizing that the Turtle Creek valley was close to Pittsburgh, provided room for expansion, had plenty of fresh water, was near abundant supplies of coal, and had a developing railroad infrastructure, George Westinghouse decided to move the operations of his Westinghouse Electrical and Manufacturing Company from Pittsburgh to the valley east of the city in 1891.

And a year later, in 1892, “Turtle Creek” was incorporated as a borough. Elections for borough council were promptly held. And the first meeting of the new borough council was held on October 12; W.H. Semmens presiding became the newly-elected president of council. The first policemen, Frank T. Trax, was appointed; two years later the first Turtle Creek Fire Department was organized. H.F. Carrol was elected chief, and the department was authorized to purchase 24 buckets and 2 ladders. And in 1895 another milestone was reached when a central office of the Bell Telephone Company was established; by 1896 there were 10 subscribers to the new service throughout the borough.

The Borough's Fire Department dates back to 1894.

***

Even as the Turtle Creek plant was being constructed, Westinghouse began building a new manufacturing facility a few miles to the east up the valley. In 1889 Groundbreaking began for the new plant of Westinghouse Airbrake Company, and Westinghouse moved his airbrake manufacturing operations from the Allegheny Works on Pittsburgh’s north side to the valley site. Over the years, the expanding plant of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company (later WABCO) would become the mainstay of the town of Wilmerding.

Wilmerding, Pa., in the early 1900s

The Westinghouse air brake plant.

Throughout the years, Westinghouse’s air brake plant has been the mainstay of Wilmerding.

Westinghouse Float in Parade for the Borough’s Golden Anniversary in 1940

This steam engine was used as a test bed for air brake systems at the Wilmerding plant.

Westinghouse Air Brake Plant in Wilmerding with Railroad Turnabout

The centerpiece of the new facility would be the impressive stone office building designed by architect Frederick J. Osterling in the Romanesque style, and constructed on Marguerite Avenue as a retreat and corporate headquarters. The building known by locals as “The Castle” contained a swimming pool, two bowling alleys, and a library. Executive and Administrative offices were on the third floor.

The Westinghouse "Castle” in Wilmerding is a national landmark. (Photo Courtesy of Robert S. Dorsett)

Recognizing the need for good housing for his workers, Westinghouse built extensive company housing in the area surrounding the plant. This would become one of the nation’s first planned communities; a town that would be called “Wilmerding,” after Joanna Wilmerding Negley, wife of William B. Negley, a local landowner and nephew of Thomas Mellon.

Wilmerding, Pa.

Westinghouse company housing in Wilmerding.

Westinghouse took care of all his workers, and in an era of racial segregation he had separate facilities built for Black African American workers on the nearby hills across the creek within walking distance of the plant. Situated in the Boyd’s Hill area at the southern edge of Monroeville, these modest 1-story, wood frame structures were built for the families in the 1920s and they still provide affordable family housing today (in 2015).

Westinghouse housing on Boyd's Hill in Patton Township

Westinghouse Electric Company would end up building several housing tracts in and 23

around Turtle Creek during the 1920s, such as the Valley Workman’s Electric Homes: 5-room cottages outfitted with all electric appliances and priced to appeal to the average worker. The Company’s housing plans culminated in the 1940s with a huge housing development on a hill overlooking the town -- the Electric Heights housing project. This housing project was planned to meet the need of an influx of defense workers as government contracts began flowing on the eve of World War II. It was well-planned community with paved streets and connecting roads that provided easy bus access for workers commuting to the plants.

Garden Drive in the Electric Heights Housing Plan in 1944.

***

The early 1890s marked an ambitious time for Westinghouse; he began expanding his plans for the Turtle Creek valley when he helped to charter the Turtle Creek Valley Railroad to supply equipment for the gas fields using the tracks through Stewart’s Station. By 1902, Westinghouse began buying property in the Stewarts Station area for an iron foundry and a surrounding town he envisioned. He would name the town “Trafford” after the town in England where Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing already had a plant. The Trafford foundry was to manufacture all the grey iron castings transporting them by rail to the East Pittsburgh works, The Westinghouse Inter-Works Railway would do the hauling taking castings from the manufacturing facilities at Trafford to the mother plant at Turtle Creek/East Pittsburgh; from there the company railway was to extend north to the Copper Mill and Brass works in Linhart.

Stewart Station c. 1900.

The Westinghouse Foundry at Trafford, Pa.

***

It was in 1894 that the Westinghouse Electric Company began building their proposed plant in Turtle Creek spanning 250 acres including expansion into the adjacent village, then named “East Pittsburgh”. The massive East Pittsburgh Works would eventually extend two miles along the Turtle Creek. Over the years the East Pittsburgh Division were to become one of the Company’s largest operations.

Soon sounds of heavy industry shattered the calm of the Turtle Creek Valley: the rhythmic thud of punch presses, the roar of crane motors, the high-pitched wail of grinders from the metal shops, and the piercing shriek of shrill train whistles from the massive steam locomotives that chugged between the plants.

The East Pittsburgh Works in 1894 shortly after the move from Garrison Alley, Pittsburgh

Westinghouse became a world industrial force from its plants in the Turtle Creek valley.

Westinghouse Celebration at East Pittsburgh: “Big Canoe with Girls” – 1920.

Maryann Lawrence, who remembered her years growing up in Turtle Creek, recalled a time when the entire family worked in the Westinghouse plants:

“In 1916, when my mother was 15 years old, she started working at the Westinghouse Electric plant, She was so proud of the fact that she and her sister Jean were winding coils on the production floor. She made fourteen cents an hour. At the same time my grandfather, who also worked at the plant, made eleven cents an hour. In those days, there were strict rules to follow, including a dress code, even on the production floor. There were no labor laws but Mr. Westinghouse took good care of his employees. He expected a hard day’s work in return. Some of the work was called piece work as you got paid according to how many pieces you did.”

“Some of the work was called piece work as you got paid according to how many pieces you did.”

Westinghouse Telephone Exchange in East Pittsburgh in 1903.

Workers came from surrounding hills and valleys; many walked to walk, while others took trolleys or the local railroads. In the days when the average household might not have a 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.

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 through service to Pittsburgh for 55 cents.

In the 1900s trolleys were to service Pittsburgh and the towns along the valley.

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 to the Airbrake plant in Wilmerding. In time, a number of small family-owned bus companies sprang up to offer transportation to workers in the valley. Austin, Burrelli, Bacco, and the McCoy Brothers became familiar names to Westinghouse employees.

Unlike some of his fellow-capitalists in that age of industry, George Westinghouse took special care to look after his workers. A huge cafeteria building was constructed on Braddock Avenue in Turtle Creek where employees could get lunch at reduced prices. The building also housed a gym dance floor and bowling alleys. Excursions were planned by train, and later by trolley, to company picnics held at nearby Kennywood Park. A night school was established for workers who wanted to gain or improve their technical skills. 30

Decoration Day parade honoring veterans of World War I

The war years of World War I brought a boom in production, followed by the inevitable decline as industries retrenched after the war. Even as production shifted from wartime concerns, Westinghouse again took up its role as a leader in the industry. In 1918, experiments in radio transmission were begun from the rooftop of Westinghouse’s “K” Building in East Pittsburgh. And two years later, in 1920, that remarkable new technology, “radio” was revealed to the American public when KDKA in Pittsburgh, the nation’s first radio station, began regular broadcasts with the Harding/Cox Election in November of that year.

The world's first radio broadcasts were from Westinghouse’s K building in East Pittsburgh.

A glimpse of life in Turtle Creek in the 1920s was provided by the authors of the Borough’s Anniversary Souvenir Booklet in 1992:

“Going ‘downtown’ on Friday and Saturday nights was the highlight of the week. Everyone congregated on the sidewalks to talk. Dress shops, shoe stores, dry good stores, bakeries, drug stores, butcher shops, hardware, and men’s clothing stores we all crowded with shoppers. The theater, pool room, soda shops, dairy stores, hot dog stands, record shops and taverns were busy place. The sounds of the Salvation Army band could be heard above the news boys shouting, people conversing on the street, horns tooting, and auto engines going by. The smell of coffee and peanuts being roasted in the grocery store. Over it all, was the obnoxious automobile fumes filing the air.” 32

In the 1920s there were plenty of stores and shops “downtown” to explore on a Saturday night.

Miller’s barber shop was a favorite hangout; fully equipped with a barber shop dog.

Bachmann’s Meat Market on Penn Avenue. c. 1919.

Henry’s Drug Store on Maple Avenue

Ted Kindler’s Market on Larimer Avenue, c. 1926.

The Company and the folks of the valley shared in the boom times and in the worst of times. Maryann Lawrence takes up the story:

“At the beginning of the Depression things were really getting to be very bad…There was no such thing as public assistance, food stamps, welfare, or unemployment compensation. What we had, we had; what we didn’t, we didn’t. Families helped other family members and neighbors helped neighbors. The work at the Westinghouse plant slowed down. My father and others who worked there were lucky if they worked two or three days a week. This meant a drastic reduction in income.

Right before the start of the holiday season, my sister Irene and I walked with our father to the main gate of the Westinghouse plant, pulling our wagon. Food items were being distributed to the employees that were laid off or that were working with their hours cut back. You received a large sack of flour, a sack of sugar, a large sack of potatoes, a box of powdered milk, and a three pound tub of margarine. We loaded the items into our wagon and walked with my father as he pulled it up the Electric Plan hill. These staples were gratefully appreciated.”

In 1929 work was begun on the majestic Westinghouse Bridge which would soar across the valley on five arches of reinforced concrete. The central arch was, at that time, the longest concrete arch span in the world. And the bridge was hailed as one of the most impressive combinations of structure and setting when it was completed in 1932. It was in the worst days of the Great Depression that this triumph of the spirit as to take shape in the skies over the valley. 35

The George Westinghouse Memorial Bridge spans the Turtle Creek Valley.

Even as the worst of the Depression was receding, the residents of the valley faced another disaster. On St. Patrick’s Day 1936, a large area of downtown Pittsburgh was flooded; rising waters continued up the river valleys into all the towns along the rivers and creeks. The town of Turtle Creek was flooded. Homes and furnishings were damaged or destroyed. Stores along Penn Avenue were covered with mud and debris. The manufacturing plants suffered water damage, equipment was inundated. Memories of the flood include seeing water soaked blueprints, plans, manuals and instruction booklets, being hung up to dry on makeshift clotheslines in front of the plants.

Everyone pitched in to save homes from the ravaging flood waters. 36

A train is shown moving down the tacks behind the East Pittsburgh plant during the 1936 flood.

Squire Semmons poling a raft on Grant Street during the flood of 1907.

Even as life began to return to normal, new trouble loomed on the horizon. It was early in the 1940s that the threat of war again brought changes to life in the Valley. Maryann Lawrence remembers:

“Once the war started so did rationing. Books of ration stamps were picked up at the borough building in Turtle Creek. Stamps were used to purchase meat, butter, sugar, gasoline and tires. There were civil defense patrols in all of the neighborhoods. Air raid wardens wearing white helmets with the civil defense symbol walked the beat carrying large flashlights and night sticks. They made sure no light was visible from the windows, as everyone had blackout drapes. The reason for this concern were the manufacturing of war supplies at the Westinghouse plants and the railroad, which transported troops as well as the manufactured 37

goods. Three full shifts were working the steel mill in Braddock. From the top of the Electric Plan hill, the sky at night was lighted up orange from the reflection of the blast furnaces.”

Kathleen Ferri is another resident who recalled how life went on in the Valley in the 1940s:

“Trolleys ran every 10-15 minutes. They were well patronized as few people owned cars. We took trolleys Pittsburgh to shop or to Braddock for a movie. Or maybe take the trolley to Kennywood Park for a day of family fun; or we might go to Bettis Field in nearby West Mifflin to take in an airshow. Most walked, others took trolleys to get to Ardmore Gardens Skating rink. We could walk to most other places: bowling at the Westinghouse cafeteria, dancing the high school gym, or the YMC on the 3rd floor of the Bank Building, or to the Boosters Hall in East Pittsburgh. A car was needed to get us to the La Barbe in Patton Township, or the Circle, or the Lighthouse for sandwiches...or to Burke Glen or the Blue Dell to swim. We could walk to the Olympic Theater, or to the Rivoli or Frederick Theater in East Pittsburgh, or the Wilmer Theater, or the YMCA in Wilmerding. We walked to East Pittsburgh Terrace to watch the progress of the huge Westinghouse Bridge being built over the valley.”

Scrap drives like this one in the valley were held all during World War II.

Throughout World War II the Borough flourished, supporting war efforts through the vital part played by the Westinghouse and by the active support of the Turtle Creek community for our troops overseas.

The story is told of just how important our enemies thought Westinghouse was to the industrial might of the U.S. It was just after WW II, in April of 1945, when a soldier named Stan Kaspic of the 75th Infantry Division was sent to scout out a small school building somewhere in Germany. Apparently, the building had been used as a planning center; its walls still covered with maps and pictures of potential targets in the USA. Featured was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 38

and one aerial photo clearly showed the Westinghouse plant in East Pittsburgh. Kaspic instantly recognized the place as in the background he could see the home of his parents where he grew up. And so he promptly “appropriated” the photo and brought it back home with him. (Today that photo, like the one below, hangs in the lobby of the Lanigan Funeral Home, in East Pittsburgh).

An aerial view of the East Pittsburgh plant.

WW II veterans are honored at VFW Post 207 in Turtle Creek.

Soon it became apparent that space was limited in the valley for expansion mandated by the war effort. As the company flourished and the need for expansion continued Westinghouse moved several operations out of state. In the decade following the end of World War II, a gradual decline set in as Westinghouse began continued moving their operations out of the 39

valley, one after the other.

Although the downsizing of the Westinghouse operations had a devastating economic effect on the towns in the Turtle Creek valley, town centers remained alive as the residents, with their strong sense of community, supported local businesses centers, even as their parents and grandparents had for the past one hundred years.

In the 1960s Pittsburgh Railways Trolleys still plied the streets of Turtle Creek.

As time went on, small appliances and motors would no longer be produced in the valley. Over the next few decades various operations were eliminated until only the huge turbines -- the last remaining type of manufacturing were still being built in the valley. Operations at the valley plants continued to be downsized and would eventually phased out completely; the East Pittsburgh plant was closed on December 31, 1988.

Like many post-industrial towns, government help was extended in the form of a federal urban renewal program, the “Model Cities Program” of the1960s and ‘70s. A Tri-Boro 41

Expressway was constructed in order to relieve the traffic on the town’s streets. But the resulting bypass did more than that. Its construction meant the destruction of much of the downtown core, taken by eminent domain by the county redevelopment authority. In reaction, a handful of the remaining merchants banded together to form “Penn Plaza” a new shopping center in the business district of Turtle Creek in 1977.

The 1980s saw major changes as the abandoned Westinghouse facilities were taken over by the Regional Industrial Development Corporation (RIDC) for the proposed development of a light industrial complex and in 1989 Keystone Commons RIDC Park was opened in the old Westinghouse Building.

Abandoned Westinghouse buildings in East Pittsburgh. (Photos Courtesy of Robert S. Dorsett)

Keystone Commons RIDC Park - East Pittsburgh (Photo courtesy of Robert S. Dorsett)

Also in 1989 a new (“Woodland Hills”) school district was formed as a result of a court- ordered merger. Several Turtle Creek schools were closed, and the High School became the Woodland Hills East Junior High School. Eventually the remaining students were transferred to the Junior High School in Churchill, and the High School building was slated for demolition, but community protests halted those efforts. In 2007, The Turtle Creek Union High School building was awarded status as a national landmark.

Turtle Creek Union High School building. (Photo courtesy of Robert S. Dorsett)

The Community retains its pride in its history. (Photo courtesy of Robert S. Dorsett)

The End

Sources:

Bowden, Henry R. John Fraser and the Turtle Creek Valley. Turtle Creek Historical Society (2006).

Busler, Mark. Westinghouse: A Documentary, DVD, Inecom Entertainment Company, (2008).

Chandler, Louis. A History of Patton Township (Monroeville and Pitcairn), Pa. Monroeville Historical Society (2013).

Ferri, Kathleen. The History of the Turtle Creek Valley, (2008).

Jonnes, Jill, Empires of Light, (2003).

Lawrence, Mayann. A Mother’s Story: Memories from the Turtle Creek Valley. iUniverse, Inc., Bloomington, In., (2010).

Muir, Frank S. Reminiscences of the Old Town. The 30th Anniversary Program Book. Turtle Creek, Pa., (1922).

Souvenir Booklet: Borough of Turtle Creek 75th Anniversary 1892-1967, Turtle Creek, Pa., (1967).

Souvenir Booklet: Borough of Turtle Creek Centennial 1892-1992, Turtle Creek, Pa., (1992).

Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company. The Valley Workman’s Electric Home. (1925).

Wilmerding and the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, Arcadia Publications, Charleston, SC. (2002).