Friday, July 31, 2015

McCauley's Market

While I work on the next Golden Jubilee post, here's a vintage photo of McCauley's Market, 1693 Merchant St. The market was owned by Clarence and Caroline McCauley and was taken by Mrs. McCauley's son, Edmund Silla. Edmund's son, Jay Silla, provided the photo. The young girl in the photo is Carolyn Samangy, Jay's aunt. Edmund Silla died in 2012.

Carolyn Samangy
McCauley's Market
1693 Merchant St.
1941
credit: Edmund Silla
photo courtesy Jay Silla
used with permission

The store's building survived the realignment of the north end of Merchant St. when the Old Economy Shopping Center was built in 1978, and the re-realignment after the center was later razed, and is still there. But you probably wouldn't recognize it, as it's been extensively renovated. Here's a photo from earlier this year:

1693 Merchant St.
credit: Nancy Knisley
May 2, 2015

1 comment:

  1. jd aka john domansky

    great pic & great story too, wish we had the stuff shown in store, coke sign big bucks temp sign too. & more, have a comment about the mc cauly boy & friend but will wait until time is OK. been to the store many times, when i had money i would buy a quart of chocolate milk & a 5cent cake & sit down & eat it right there where little girl is sitting, the mc caulys were fine people patient w/ a slow speaking kid. just north lived cousins chudasiks spelled wrong i am sure, lived right on the corner & son had to back up a 50s pontiac down a long driveway with inches on both sides. just west of them lived the black window washer & his family, palmers I think their name was. watched him wash many store front windows in downtown ambridge, a long squeege , bucket of water & a towel, to wipe excess off , i think he did one side one day & other side other day, i think the stewarts from hardware lived nearby. right east was a BB field, w/ lined baselines & pitchers mound & real bases too, for serious games, watched a kokoski kid curveball the side down more than once. i learned my own curveball later a one knukle side arm round house curve, there was so much talented sports people that came out of ambridge, i wear a duke basketball tee shirt to honor my buddy Bernard (Tajoe) Janicki multi sport letterman, me i was too small but played all anyway, intermural football the small kid w/the booming throw, somehow i got picked QB.
    oh yes just down hill from mc caulys was a way to get down to riverside & all the victory gardens planted there, which somehow got raided when certain people were hungry. in 1952 i lived at 1925 duss, just straight up from merchant , by old central steel. there was a railroad that ran from byersdale area down to hh & another spur just east of the BB field mentioned w/a lot of boxcars sitting sided for periods of time, lots of fun to play on, near falls a lot but no bad falls.

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