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| "Ambridge Aliquippa Bridge Across Ohio River, Aliquippa, PA" postcard circa 1930-1945 |
I don't have much information about the postcard. It appears to be a bordered linen-era postcard, a type of postcard published roughly between 1930-45.
The picture on the postcard appears to be a drawing, not a photo, so may not be entirely accurate. Despite the "Aliquippa" location in the card's printed caption, it shows the bridge from the Ambridge side of the Ohio. If nothing else, the postcard shows the bridge's walkway on the right, meaning the bridge is depicted from the east (Ambridge) side.
Here's a 1928 photo from Ambridge's Laughlin Memorial Library's archives of the bridge showing the same small building:
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| Ambridge-Aliquippa Bridge approaching from 11th Street, Ambridge 1928 credit: William J. Bowan photo courtesy of Laughlin Memorial Library archives |
This photograph presents a view of the Aliquippa-Ambridge Bridge in 1928 from 11th Street in Ambridge. The new building on the right was being constructed at the time. In 1964-68, the building and confectionery store next door were both demolished to make way for Route 65 .I remember the building to the right with the North Pole Ice Cream sign, but I don't remember the building on the left. Does anyone know what it is and when it was demolished?
Update November 26, 2016:
I finally have a more positive identification of the small building to the left of the bridge.
After I shared the original post on Facebook, several people offered opinions on what the building may have been. One person suggested a toll house, but the Ambridge-Aliquippa bridge was never a toll bridge. I believe my cousin Frank Mish said it was a water pump house. Most of the commenters said they thought the building was a railroad switch tower.
I thought the building was in an odd location for a switch tower given the rather limited view the building gave of the train tracks that ran under the bridge, but what did I know about switch towers? Nothing.
The postcard in this post does give the impression that the building might have been just the top of a tower that was separated from 11th St. But then I took a closer look at the photo below of the bridge taken from South Heights looking east across the Ohio River towards Ambridge. The small building in question is near the far right in this photo. And although it's hard to see in the photo, the small building is not part of a tower. It sits level with 11th St. on the hill above the train tracks. Were switch towers ever not towers I wondered.
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| Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge October 21, 1927 courtesy: Dale Donna Zehnder |
Here's an enlargement of that part of the photo:
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| Enlargement of area south of the bridge |
And then, during a visit to Laughlin Memorial Library, I found the photo below showing the Ambridge end of the bridge nearing completion:
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| Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge nearing completion on Ambridge side 1927 courtesy: Bowan archives, Laughlin Memorial Library |
On the reverse of that photo, the late Bill Bowan, a local history expert, had written a description of the scene:
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| Reverse of photo of bridge immediately above |
Bowan wrote:
Completing work on New Ambridge Aliquippa Pa Bridge - at 11th St. & Ohio View. Ambridge Water Pump House on Left. Later razed in 1964-65 to make right of way for New Route #65.
Based on that, I have to conclude that the building to the left of the bridge entrance was a water pump house, not a railroad switch tower. At the time the bridge was built, Ambridge pumped its water from the Ohio River; the Service Creek Reservoir wasn't constructed until the 1950s.
_____
* Originally known as the Ambridge-Woodlawn Bridge; the town of Woodlawn eventually became part of Aliquippa.
The building may have been a railroad switch tower, there was one in
ReplyDeleteRochester, around the big curve, but was hit by a train derailment and got
knocked off its foundation and had to betaken down.
rr something building, gas station on left towards ambridge then library. down below on river was a great sand area for swimming, among barges 1930s 40s etc. just down river was BA swim 12th st/ w/dive boards, learned to swim across the river & get behind paddle boats to surf the waves. raw sewerage came down a large pipe into river, used to walk down to baden conway area to dive off barge docks 1940s late. im my 80s now. hello again to ambridge, good site,
Deleteanyone know what happened to walt wahct the other ambridge site guy 1949 AHS grad korean jet pilot, anyone remember bernard janiki 50 grad that still holds Duke U rebound record, major in uaaf?? save this site fer sure, any comment will be answered.
So "BA swim" was in Ambridge at 12th Street and the riverfront? Who owned/ran it? Or was it built by kids? Did "BA" stand for anything?
Deletejd aka john domansky
Deleteexcuse me while i blush, ba in the day meant bare a_ _ no swim suits, they did this at the ymca in sewickley when ambridge high guys were let in the pool downstairs, all guys were ba. 12th st river front not owned, just used by anyone & everyone, diving boards were put in w/used thick long boards, piled on rocks & about 3 ft above water level, with lots of spring.
welcome back nancy, just left a comment on your tuskogee airman comment, if dr harris was bob harris' dad, bobs nickname was ham, recall a facualty & football players benefit basket ball game, bob was a lumbering thick guy, great smile & friendly even to the runts in school, look at 1948 yearbook ahs & see me in the track team pic as manager & wannta be runner, tried cross country & the 1st hill killed me so out of shape, i quit. rich rytel champ runner called me sampson in my yearbook, later on we ran by ohio river tracks to baden & beyond, none stop, that got me in shape, but b4 in 1948 i wrestled on the boys town team & got in good shape, at 82 i still can outwalk most, 40 yrs of steel mill work also helped.
nancy if you can please post the 293 14th st photos i sent you. cool to look at fer sure
jd aka john domansky
Deletedoes anyone know if eddie dzubek is still around, he was a good friend in 40s 50s & up . he ran 2 gas stations 8th & duss & 8th & merchant , in the 8th & merchant station a dear friend was killed by a run away car that was parked running. it got loose & ran my friend down, his 2 girls may still live in ambridge & remember me from living on 19th & duss.?? one was doris & younger was ??? worked at hh w/me in the 50s.
jd aka john domansky
Deletei slowly recalled the names of the family that lived at 273 14th st where the hacker tailor shop was pictured at, the kostas family, mom & dad, oldest was a boy a marine in ww11, next was a boy gus, then i think lorraine then gregory, my age, i hear gregs mom calling him for supper, in greek, yo do gee gregory in greek, do not recall seeing anyone using the store entrance that was papered over , the door & windows.
i see a guy asking about a blind alley, i wrote about, its on facebook area i can get, but not signed on to. a blind alley in ambridge talk is a space between 2 buildings,that is stopped by a connection in the buildings about 10 ft or more inset, therefore, its goes nowhere its blind. guys name was devon?? (almost like a chicago gangway, space btween 2 buildings), not called blind out here tho. its funny its so easy to spot anyone from pa, the accents stands out.
jd aka john domansky
Deleteat my age total recall comes in spurts,
here are a few more, i have not seen gunsmiths & gun shops in the business section addresses, i bought my 1st 22 a winchester 72 or 74 bolt action rifle mounted w/a scope from the gun & gunsmith/ gun shop shop 1952, the shop sat south of st stanislas church on that little hill, whole bill was about $40 or so, today its worth 20xs that, the owners name was steve ???, he set scope dead on for 25yrds & it was on, hunted squirells w/it
next gun shop & smithy was at 293 14th st after dad lost tailor shop in 1947 or so, they had the front room & we still lived in the back 2 rooms, & also lived upstairs for a few years in btween too. only heat was from a magic chef oven in winter, downstairs we had a coal burner, (got coal from the tracks near HH)small size. upstairs living room area had a gas space heater, that kind that kills people from lack of oxygen, a cold water building 2 floors
another address not seen is the one in back of the bank on up 5th st east of bank & east of the alley, they had about 3 barbers working, do you have the rainbow room at 412 merchant st , cool place i knew the inside of every tavern & bar in ambridge from shining shoes at age about 12 or 13 & up a few years, shine was a nickel, most guys gave a 25 cent piece, got run out of a few of them, no shirt or shoes . the timchak shoe repair shop on 9th & merchant was were i worked a while too.
more when another memory spurt hits me
jd aka john domansky
Deletespurt with help from ambridge 1954 phone directory
i knew i was right on the john w doldressen business address being on 12th st & merchant the book shows john at 1240 merchant st, don't know how they got the 1240 because it sat on almost or end of 12th st east side block, i passed by there many times Ks friend vince gennaro lived right behind johns RB in a red brick bldg. recall the gold lettering for the business always liked good artwork, i wonder who the sign painter was??
SOLDRESSEN, SORRY JOHN
Deletejd aka john domansky
Deletenever saw written, that the building was based next to the pennsy tracks about 10 ft or so away from the north east side of all the tracks, as i recall there may have been 4 sets, been a long time & my total recall is getting less total every year. so it was about a 3 story building, i recall a door below too, never saw much activity there tho. do not recall if i saw it there last visit in ambridge about 7 yrs ago. used to fish under the bridge there too, catch was small. the area under the bridge was a hangout for hoboes & transients. not a good place after dark. cardboard shelters too.scary for sure
the machine or object on right side of bridge is overlooked?? they used to hav a dredger barge, that would take sand from the bottom, could be that?? the fishing was good if you caught catfish & some carp if right bait was used. whatever you did, never eat the fish. when a big carp was caught in the little sewickley creek by the tower just in FO on ambridge ave, it made news in the citizen, about mid 40s a 7 lber was caught, carp photo & story followed. the greek ( said ) crik was wide & fast, car washes at stone bridge near the cemetary, where mom & sis are buried, up that rd to highland ave?? to cemetery where dad is, near country club, where the gable family played , one son won only point arnold palmer ever lost in high school golf, younger bro was bill , my buddy. hung out at the 18th st pool hall owned by a greek guy, pappas name?? george.?
ReplyDeletejohn domansky
jd aka john domansky
ReplyDeleteI see in comments from a paul giving an address 1401 merchant st as florences restaurant, what year are you refering to, 70s 80 or when, the only business i can remember there was the farrah bar & tavern on corner of 14th & merchant nw side, across from the big bar & reataurant someone said was the old a&p, google shows the bar & 293 as gone, a parking lot there now. the big white building in backgraound was the tailor shop next to john domansky tailorshop at 293 14th st.
jd aka john domansky
ReplyDeletei see you have an address for cerones italian restaurant, could you mean 17th st at the end of the block w/a 1798 or so address, it sat up a little walkup to enter, in the early 1940s my dad gave me a $1 to go get something to eat there, i went in the summer, no shirt or shoes & sat in a booth for half an hour, no one waited on me so i left, dad came back w/me & asked why no food for a hungry kid, i got spaghetti & a meatball & left.
in looking at business addresses i see a loschavios service station on 14th & merchant, do not ever recall seeing this station even into 2000s what year do you mean??
also see a 14th st meat market & it looks like hackers tailor shop front 273 14th st
also a hi-lo grocery store 1336 merchant, only store i recall was next to economy drugs, going there to buy a 7cent losf of wonder bread,
i see an ed zubek as a source nancy talks about, he went to divine redeemer, & grad AHS 1949 about, i recall him owning or running two gas stations , one on 8th & merchant & one on 8th & duss. a good friend, once coming out of HR church hw/mom he saw my 57 chevy & said wow you did good in chicago. stopped to see on stops from chicago & home & east more later on to lanc county buying trips
there was a perricelli s bar 300 blk of 14th, 2 brothers ran it, the older bro took me fishing a few times, fast water streams.
also about friends i have to say something about the sweitzer family 300 blk 14th, used furnture, ok, but that also meant everything else like the original flea market, one winter old man S hung a buck deer inside front entrance & dressed him down while us kids watched, i think they were from WV, dad mom , jack virginia & peter were the kids, hung w/them & the dahmas next door, building was like an old quanset house rounded roof, family lived on one side west & other stuff filled the rest. jack played football 1950 grad AHS
jd aka john domansky
ReplyDeletejust saw google map 2015 showing 300 odd # block of 14th st the big red a&p place going east had a vacant lot next to it then the very old building, w/2 old people & younger woman w, leopard skin coat & a small building in between & an electronic place, the small building housed a shoe repair shop for many years, the building w/2 old people had a fake brick siding b4 now i see its gone back to the old siding, wood slats type. the building must be over 100 yrs old easy., back behind the perricellis bar & tap on boyleston was a friend in a brick home, italian family w/ a few kids, but john dodaro was a good friend, that block had the best play area w/m t lots galore, play release the peddler at night, i can recall ambridge had lots of sand under it, a large hole on 13th & merchant once had a hole dug deep w/no retainer wall & it caved in on a kid that had to be rescued, not me, tho, we loved playing in new dug sand, reminds me of the train tressel on 19th & merchant area up to the east, big sand embankments , don't get caught on tressel when train was coming tho. that place on east up towards duss had the biggest collection of tin cans, a garbage dump that had hundreds of rats to shoot at. also got to see the small creek w/tons of pollution dumped from wykoff go down to the ohio river, the trains had a siding there that ran up to 8th st 400 block or so & sided at nat elect & the fertilizer plant on 10th st back of AHS , use to play on box cars at 17 & 18 st there. recall loading air ventilators in boxcars at HH robertsons when i worked in shipping dept, after i worked at the assembly department, was there 4 yrs got laid off, left for chicago dec 54
oh yes, national electric stored their empty wooden large wire spools & we would play on them roll them around & bump into each other. on 10st side east of tracks.
jd aka john domansky
ReplyDeletejust read nancys new comment about tuskogee airmen & who he was married to, dr harris' sister, was dr harris the dad of bob harris 1950 ahs grad? she also says that she was in k&n restaurant, is that a new place for k&n? there was a great fruit & vegetable store righr across from ambridge theater, & a mickeys place shop? they made popcorn & had food stuffs outside at night & parades etc, a peter pan seems to be in that area too, a family named prince lived on that block 7th st & had a store? also a son my age that shaved his head in the summer. now that is the norm, even old guys do that. dr harris put a great smile on mom many yrs ago & was well know as a great dr & guy.
jd aka john domansky
ReplyDeletejust looking at sevices addresses pre 1971
an address for d'ambrsio shoe repair gives a 1305 merchant st, wrong ?? d'ambrosios was where mad anthonys was at in the 80s or 90s, i was in there & told them it was shoe repair shop. 1990s, (we lived upstairs for a few years) if you look at the stangls 12th pic showing north , d'ambrosios is the red brick on far left corner where 12th ends & 13th starts, 2 story red brick, 1303 address is wrong for soldressen, it was right across from shoe repair d'ambrosios on east side of 12th end & 13th start, across from the old ambridge hotel & moose hall in same location. there is a haig ---- tailor shop at 1199 merchant st , there was a barbershop there, where dad took me for haircuts, had to use the booster seat so i was about 5 or 6 yrs old, about 1938 or 39, beautiful barber chairs, w/names on footrests. name??? watched in awe as men got hot shaves w/straight razors. ouch, nancy, thanks for adding john domansky tailor shop 293 14th st
jd aka john domansky i just thought of the name of the barbershops owner, it was a 2 or 3 chair shop w/these great old barberchairs, name of owner was nussbaum. 1st haircut 1 needed a booster seat a flat seat that went across the arms, after that they needed to drag me in to get a haircut cut, still hate haitcuts!!!
Deleteoops forgot to put in address west side of 11 th & merchant st end of block, across from the tv place in red brick building, would be called 12th & merchant i guess??
Deletejd aka john domansky
Deletehaircuts OMG
jd test!!!
ReplyDeletejd aka john domansky
ReplyDeletei see an address for the slovak sokol club 424 duss ave, that would be on the east side of duss ave, no way!! i spent many hours in that club & tavern w/a nice dance hall for weddings & other occasions also. a 1953 news years eve party there i was with 2 girls, one i liked a lot & she was stolen by a leonard copus or kopus, they got married soon after & i waited about 6or 8 yrs to 1961, & going on 54 yrs married, same gal. 2 kids, & many good memories. my uncle on moms side was a class gymnist in the sokol club, have a postcard w/him on it. had many hot dogs w/mustard & sauer kraut, & lots of sodas at dances & weddings at the sokol club, one pic of the sokol & the hornak tavern on 12th & merchant are shown in the ambridge reprise website by walt wacht he was a 1949 AHS grad
You are right. 424 Duss makes no sense as the address of the Sokol. I should have caught that.
DeleteAfter you pointed it out, I thought that would have been a fairly odd typo, so I wondered where I might have gotten that address. I since have found 424 Duss listed as the Sokol's address in at least two places: the Daily Citizen 1956 Trade Area Directory and a newspaper article about the "new" Sokol Hall's dedication in 1951.
Still, the address doesn't make sense. Since the back entrance to the building is on Melrose, 424 Melrose would make more sense. I'm going to change the address to 4th Street and Duss Avenue until I understand the reason for the 424.
The mystery of the 424 Duss address continues. I just looked up the address of the current occupant of the old Sokol's Hall, the Allison Park Church, on their website: the church says 424 Duss Avenue.
DeleteSo, although I have no explanation yet for the 424 Duss address, I'm going to leave it on the List of Lists.
jd aka john domansky
Deleteright nancy, google maps show sokol as 424 duss, but all other addresses on opposite side (east) are even #s & all west side are odd #s, figure that out, back door (melrose) ? of the church shows 424 duss too. google maps have a lot of errors in them tho. sometimes they will take you the wrong way, on the roads around here if you don;t know them, use garmin in car a lot. read about people getting lost in desolate places. as far as i see it tho,it should be 405 or so.
jd aka john domansky
ReplyDeletethere was a pet shop on the east side of 3rd st block, about 2 or 3 doors south of 4th st. every easter they had an incubator setup with eggs inside & the little yellow chicks would break thru & flop around a while & then get steady & walk around, pecking, maybe thats what they called pecking order huh?? they had dogs & cats & i think birds too, this had to be early 1940s into the 1950s or more, not sure., just up , north was a restaurant near penn movie house that, kids from divine redeemer would go & eat sometimes, once in a great while mom gave me 15 cents & that would buy a bowl of soup. at taylors you could but a scoop of mashed potatoes & gravy, 15 cents too. right across from DR was a family named pucci, close to the tire shop on corner odd numbers, i think the nuns home was 235 merchant, i spent a few hours in there trying out for the choir, boy altos were hard to find & i snag in many masses, could read latin very well santus was my favorite song in mass. agnus dei close 2nd.
oops there was a vegetable market near south end of 4th st east where we got indian apples & peeled & ate em there. 5 cents each
jd aka john domansky
ReplyDeletea note to nancy!
i went back into where this site started out, the 1st year, you decided not to have a registered site & let anyone comment, some said that is so wrong & all that would be in here would be spam, bad remarks & more .
i have read almost every word written here from start till today 6-12- 15, i have not found one word that was not kosher, in fact it has been a pleasure reading what others have written & thought about.
i just wish the face bookers would come back here for down to earth talk about ambridge,
i will answer anything asked of me if i can. anything!!!
I have gotten a few spam comments, but I've removed those.
DeleteI thought more people might comment when I eliminated the registration requirement, but it doesn't seem to have helped much.
jd aka john domansky
Deleteyou got me, i did not register in the other ambridge hertnicky site, but read most of it. i knew a few hertnickys, for some reason we never signed on to facebook. too many issues when we were thinking about it, all our family is on it tho, i can read only whats on FB from ur site. wish i could answer some of them, like the zassicks family, to tell them how great that family was to me. jim was a little older & frank was a little younger, mom & dad were like my family, spent much time in the big barn & they had some great pig roasts there too. softball was later on?? is that one lane bridge still there? back in the day, at night drivers would shut lites off for a sec on stone bridge curve to see if a car was coming at them, to take curve at higher speed, that road in from butler is where i learned how to curve drive, taught by cousin bert otrahalik in my 56 chevy. good ole days
jd aka john domansky
ReplyDeletein the 1930s & 40 & some 50s there has not been a lot of words about the politics & police of ambridge. as much as i can recall politics were not to big of an issue like today, not sure who was democratic & who was republican, to the kids of that time, like it is today who cared? the town ran well who ever was in power?? public officials.
as for the police department that was a well know fact, they got respect & earned it well. recall cops walking a beat & had call boxes I think those were on the poles on many corners, also a fire alarm box too, break the window & do something inside & soon the firemen were there. before the parking meters, cops walked the beat & marked the tire with white chalk, signs said 1/2 parking, as parking back then was a big deal too, us guys sat around on 14th st & watched parkers try to beat the system, rub chalk off, move cr a litttle bit, somehow the cop knew who was the bad guy. i am seeing a meter maid?? am i wrong??? for a short time only. the cops were rare intruders, unless the actions were bad enough for him to step in, that was rare. a fight btween 2 big guys, like a guy that worked for the fish soda fountain shop, b4 it was the steak house, recall fish as a big guy w/dark rimmed glasses. the fight tho was a premptive call from earlier in the day one big mihovich guy had words w/a blonde manager in the soda shop & said, see you after work, 10pm had a crowd waiting, a good fight for 2 minutes until cops broke in. fight was next to domansky tailor shop & tavern on corner of merchant 14th st. i think the mihovich was the same guy that had a military funeral at divine redeemer in a few years. holly & i were same age.
i saw a cop fire his gun at least 3 times, to deal w/a mean or rabid dog. never draw on anyone, a big night stick was on belt too. once i recall a cop chasing a guy down a hill at fast speed, the guy had much loose change in his pants, when he left we picked up the change.
oh yes, the police station was an every day stop for me coming home from DR school, they had a great cold water fountain.
the desk sgt had no problem showing the kids the desk room, where it all happened they had radio calls & a great display in cases of the guns thar had been taken away from the bad people. cops were always friendly & courteous. well dressed w/big black boots.
jd aka john domansky
ReplyDeletealmost forgot go chicago hawks saw bobby hull & miketa early 1960s, been a hawk fan ever since, so is son & his son, favorite player marion hossa a czech.
another stanley cup, wow!!!
jd aka john domansky
ReplyDeletei keep looking at the ambridge & aliquippa bridge PC & think i have missed making a remark about it, yes there is one thing, the hills directly behind the bridge west side, was a great spot to camp out w/the guys, over nite, small tents & all, fires & cooking too., also some shooting, there was a road just north of the bridge, going up in those hills, it stopped on top & there was kind of a small dump there too, some cars could make it up there & some bigger trucks w/low low gears also. spent quite a few times up there, good guy fun, mostly teenagers & one adult to keep them honest. you could hunt up there too, squirrels rabbits etc. one time we went 1/2 way up to shoot & someone shot back, wow!! oh yes other hangout was the new pittsburgh airport, no one was there, place was empty early 1950s, old airport was close to where the jet came dowm upside down a few years ago. never saw new airport tho. used to go to carnot roller skating & nearby towns to teen hangouts to dance & meet girls too. once to neville island to skate 1951, great skaters in those days too. i like ice skating more.
I do believe i told you this was a pump house when you first asked the question and you Belittled me, no apology needed, Randy Burgess ambridge pa
ReplyDeleteSorry, but I can't seem to find Nancy's direct email address via her profile page. I would like to find any information about "Red" Wall (sp?)'s B-51(?) plane that flew under the Aliquippa Bridge. Does anyone remember that? It happened many, many years ago.
ReplyDeleteIf you click on "email" on "about me", an email window will pop up.
DeleteThat said, now your comment is here, it's more likely to get an answer to your question than emailing me, as I don't remember coming across anything about a plane flying over the Aliquippa-Ambridge Bridge. Sorry.
If you are on Facebook, you might ask about the incident in the Ambridge PA History Group.