Then and now: 400 - 500 block Park Road

The 400 through 700 blocks of Park Rd. have some of the loveliest homes in Ambridge. Once, they stood across from a park, owned by the American Bridge Company, that stretched from 4th to 8th Sts. Now, all that's left of the park is the 700 block, the location of a small playground and the American Bridge Co. historical marker.

The postcard below shows the northern end of the 400 block as well as part of the 500 block of Park Rd.

Postcard
400 and 500 blocks of Park Rd.
published by Ambridge-Economy News Co.
circa 1911 - 1912

Here's what those same blocks look like now:

Northern end of 400 block and 500 block of Park Rd.
April 16, 2016

As far as I can tell, the homes shown on the postcard are still there, although they've been painted colors different than shown on the postcard.

The row of saplings shown lining the park on the postcard may be the mature trees that now stand on the west side of Park Rd. They block the view of Park Rd. from the Ambridge Do It Best Home Center, which currently occupies the 400 and 500 blocks of the former park.

I'm not sure how old the card is. There is no postmark, but it has a divided back and was published by "Ambridge-Economy News Co." I have other postcards from the same publisher that are postmarked 1911 or 1912, so that helps to date the postcard to that general time-period.

 While the postcard wasn't mailed, it does have notes about Ambridge on the reverse:

reverse of postcard above

On the left hand side of the card, as best I can tell, the card says:

Between Park Road and the R. R. tracks along the river, is a big stretch of ground graded off into a sort of playground and park. This shows a little of it. Park road has area big bigs" or nearly all them. ARsv (not sure about that name? initials?)

The section of Ohio River Blvd. that now borders the west side of the former park, and separates it from the railroad tracks, wasn't built until 1945.

The right side, where the address usually would go says:

Athletics - Basketball
H. S.
Presby, Meth} Church Teams

Baseball
High School
Company team.
Our Boys - Ind.
M. E. Church

You can see other views of Park Rd. and the park in these blog posts:

American Bridge tennis courts, 4th Street and Park Road

Then and now: 600 block Park Road