Ambridge memorabilia: Spot's Tire Shop postcard

This old advertising postcard belongs to John Domansky, Sr., who let me scan it. Thanks, Johnny!

Spot's Tire Shop
advertising postcard
813 Merchant St.
postmarked July 5, 1927
owned by John Domansky, Sr.

813 Merchant was later the site of Braun's Quality Cleaning, which can be seen in the parade photo in the May 5, 2014, blog post "Merchant Street: 800 block, circa 1948 - 1955. Plus the WRYO mystery"

The building is now the location of DeWalt Health Foods.

Mikush Maytag and DeWalt Health Foods
811 and 813 Merchant St.
March 22, 2014

First Ward School

Ambridge's First Ward School was the third public school to be built in Ambridge, following Fourth Ward School and Second Ward School.

First Ward School, which stood on a lot in the 200 block that extended from Merchant St. to Maplewood Ave., was built between 1908 and the year it was first used for classes, 1910. At the time, the population of the southern end of Ambridge was increasing rapidly as workers moved into the area for jobs at the nearby American Bridge Co. plant.

First Ward School
Maplewood Ave. side

postcard

postmarked December 1910

While First Ward was mostly used as a grade school, Ambridge High School used the second floor of the ten-classroom building from 1911 until the new high school on Park Road opened in 1914.

First Ward School and students
Maplewood Ave. side

postcard

postmarked July 16, 1912

First Ward School
Merchant St. side
Daily Citizen supplement
August 10, 1929
Louis Vukovcan collection

First Ward School
Merchant St. side
Golden Jubilee Program
1955

First Ward School was closed in 1964 and razed soon afterwards. The school district allowed Ambridge Borough to use the school's site as a playground until 1985, when the school district "reclaimed" the property so the district could sell it to a car dealer.

These concrete steps and railings on the Merchant St. side, plus a bit of railing on Maplewood, are all that remained in 2014 as evidence that a building once stood on First Ward School's former site.

Steps and railing of razed First Ward School
March 22, 2014

Here's what the rest of the property looked like in 2014:

Site of razed First Ward School
March 22, 2014

Fabricating Mackinac Bridge towers at American Bridge Co.

Michigan's Mackinac Bridge was the longest suspension bridge in the world when it was built in the mid-1950s. The bridge was an engineering marvel and one of the American Bridge Company's greatest bridge construction projects.

American Bridge's Ambridge plant, at that time the largest structural steel fabricating plant in the world, fabricated the bridge's towers.

According to the Mackinac Bridge Authority,

The towers were fitted together horizontally at Ambridge, PA., taken apart and shipped by rail to St. Ignace (MI). The pieces were then placed on a barge and towed to the site and the creeper set them in place. This was like putting together a puzzle.

I'm not sure what phase of fabrication the photos below show. Maybe someone who knows more about this project can provide some helpful descriptions.

Fabrication of Mackinac Bridge towers
American Bridge Co., Ambridge
circa 1955
credit: Mackinac Bridge Authority

Fabrication of Mackinac Bridge towers
American Bridge Co., Ambridge
circa 1955
credit: Mackinac Bridge Authority

Fabrication of Mackinac Bridge towers
American Bridge Co., Ambridge
circa 1955
credit: Mackinac Bridge Authority

Fabrication of Mackinac Bridge towers
American Bridge Co., Ambridge
circa 1955
credit: Mackinac Bridge Authority

Fabrication of Mackinac Bridge towers
American Bridge Co., Ambridge
circa 1955
credit: Mackinac Bridge Authority

Fabrication of Mackinac Bridge towers
American Bridge Co., Ambridge
circa 1955
credit: Mackinac Bridge Authority

The plant was closed for virtually all production in mid-1982, and closed for good in the spring of 1984.

The Essex Apartments/Hotel

The Essex Apartments building was built in 1916 according to Beaver County tax records.

postcard
Essex Apartments at 461 Maplewood
pre-1930

In the postcard above, the Essex Apartments is the three-story building with porches. You can see that the lot to the Essex's right is empty. The building that once was the Beth Samuel Synagogue, but is now used by the Maple Restaurant, wasn't built yet. However, the two-story brick building near the corner that was once the office of the Ambridge Gas Co. is there.

Maplewood Ave. was still a two-way street back then.

By 1950, the Essex Apartments had become the Essex Hotel. Growing up in the 1950s and '60s, I knew the Essex as mostly a residential hotel.

Essex Hotel ad
461 - Maplewood
Holy Trinity R. C. Croatian Church dedication program
December 17, 1950

A business for sale ad in the February 20, 1985, Beaver County Times offered the Essex Hotel with "29 rooms, and 5 room apartment" at $69,900, reduced from $120,000.

The building is now the Maplewood Personal Care Home.

Maplewood Personal Care Home
461 Maplewood Ave.
September 28, 2014

_____

Here's the reverse of the above Essex Apartments postcard for those interested in such things:

postcard, reverse

The razing of historic 451 - 453 Merchant St.

Another historic Ambridge building is now gone, razed in April of this year. The three-story building at 451 - 453 Merchant St., notable for its height as well as its brown brick facade, was not a victim of fire, as some old Ambridge buildings have been over the years, but of neglect.

The photo below shows what the front of the building looked like in 2013. It's the tall building to the right of the white Vocelli Pizza (Pfeifer) building.

400 block of Merchant St., west side
June 23, 2013

According to Beaver County tax records, 451 - 453 Merchant was built in 1908, on two lots then numbered 434 and 436 Merchant (Ambridge's building numbering was changed in 1917) and was often referred to as the "May Building."

Here are two early postcards showing the building. You can pick it out in photos and postcards because it's the tallest building on the block and has distinctive brickwork near the top and between the second and third floors, but I've noted it for easy identification.

400 block of Merchant St. looking south
postcard
postmarked April 2, 1908

400 block of Merchant St. looking north
postcard
postmarked August 25, 1909

The information I've been able to gather about the building's occupants over the years is sketchy at best.

In the early years, the first floor was divided into two storefronts. According to a 1911 Sanborn Insurance map, the storefront on the left side of the building was a hardware and stove store; the right storefront was a bowling alley. The map shows that the second floor was occupied by "F. O. M." I've been unable to find out what that is, but I'm guessing it was a fraternal organization. The I. O. O. F. (Independent Order of Odd Fellows) was on the third floor.

The 1917 Sanborn map shows that the left storefront was then a toy store, but the other occupants were still the same.

Here are some of the other businesses and organizations that have occupied 451 and 453 over the years. Dates just give some general idea of when the business/organization may have been in the building; the years of actual occupancy might have been different.

• 1920s through 1940s: Ambridge News Depot owned by J. C. Feick;
• 1920s - ?; Ambridge Order of Owls, 2nd floor;
• Late 1940s: Penn Roof Ballroom;
• Late 1940s: Today's Charm School;
• Late 1940s to ?: Gray's Auto Store, in 453 Merchant;
• Late 1940s to early 1950s? Baron's Hardware Store, in 453 Merchant;
• Mid-1950s - ? : Manhattan News Dealers;
• 1953 until ? : Fort Pitt Televisions & Appliances, in 453 Merchant;
• 1960s era, closed 1965: Lenrick Sales, in 451 Merchant;
• ? upper floors leased as apartments
• 1969 - 2007 used by Karnavas Co. for storage

If you know of any other uses for the building, or can help with dates, please leave a comment. I will update this article if I find any additional information on the building's occupants.

The 451-453 building was one of five bought by Steve Hallas in 2007. In an an article about Hallas' plans to save the buildings, 451 was described as "an empty, bland brown building, next to Vocelli's Pizza, that once housed a ballroom and stage. The three-story building has been used for storage for 30 years." The article goes on to say that Hallas planned lofts in four buildings, including 451. I cannot find any information indicating what, if any, rehab work Hallas did in the building.

Note: For the rest of this article, I'm going to refer to the building only as 451.

In 2014, the Merchant St. side of 451 was an eyesore. Some window glass on the upper two floors was missing, and the windows on the ground floor were boarded up.

451 Merchant St.
March 30, 2014

Cornice
451 Merchant St.
March 30, 2014

But the rear view of the building showed it was more than an eyesore; it was a danger. The roof was caving into the interior.

451 Merchant St., rear
March 22, 2014

By April 3, 2016,  when I was visiting Ambridge, the roof looked like this:

Collapsing roof
451 Merchant St., rear
April 3, 2016

The following day, April 4, I was going to the Maple Restaurant, 463 Maplewood Ave., when across the empty lot next to the old Ohio River Motor Coach building, I was surprised to see this:

Razing of the rear of 451 Merchant St.
April 4, 2016

Then I went around to the front of the building, which looked like this. Windows all boarded up, and a chain link fence ready to be erected.

451 Merchant St.
April 4, 2016

After that, as long as I was in Ambridge, I'd swing by 451 Merchant, sometimes twice a day, to take photos of the progress of the demolition. Here are some of my photos:

451 Merchant St., rear
April 5, 2016

451 Merchant St.,  rear
April 5, 2016

451 Merchant St., rear
April 6, 2016

451 Merchant St.,  rear
April 8, 2016

451 Merchant St., rear, ground floor with view of Merchant St.
April 8, 2016

By April 12, the entire first floor was gone.

451 Merchant St., rear, with view of Merchant St.
April 12, 2016

451 Merchant St., front, bottom floor gone
April 12, 2016

Look! You can see the hills across the Ohio River in the photo below!

451 Merchant St., front, bottom floor gone
April 12, 2016

Two days later, the view of Merchant St. from the rear of the building was larger. The plywood had been removed from the second floor windows in front of the building.

451 Merchant St., rear,  with view of Merchant St.
April 14, 2016

In the front of the building, the plywood was being removed by the worker in the bucket from the third floor windows, then the worker would smash the glass. I watched as some of the glass came crashing down to the sidewalk below. That was kind of exciting.

Plywood covering upper windows being removed
451 Merchant St.
April 14, 2016

View thorough 451 Merchant St. first floor
April 16, 2016

View through 451 Merchant St., first floor
April 16, 2016

I took my last photos of 451 Merchant on April 16, as I had to end my visit to Ambridge the next day. But other photographers sent me the photos of the continuing progress of the demolition shown below. And for that I am very grateful.

Rusty gas cooktop?

with rubble at 451 Merchant St.

April 16, 2016

credit: P. J. Shotter

Rubble on ground below upper floors
451 Merchant St.
April 16, 2016
credit: P. J. Shotter

Rubble on ground below upper floors
451 Merchant St.
April 16, 2016
credit: P. J. Shotter

451 Merchant St.
April 22, 2016
credit: Jim Ernst

451 Merchant St., first floor
April 22, 2016
credit: Jim Ernst

By April 30, only a small amount of rubble remained in the space formerly occupied by 451 Merchant St.

Remains of 451 Merchant St.
April 30, 2016
credit: Maria Notarianni

Remaining rubble, 451 Merchant St.
April 30, 2016
credit: Maria Notarianni

Steel beam from 451 Merchant St., north side of lot
April 30, 2016
credit: Maria Notarianni

Wall adjoining Vocelli's Pizza building
451 Merchant St., south side of lot
April 30, 2016
credit: Maria Notarianni

And here's what the cleaned-up lot looked like at the end of May:

Empty lot, 451 Merchant St.
May 29, 2016
credit: P. J. Shotter

Ambridge memorabilia: the "meat man" and his bus

I am especially fond of today's Ambridge memorabilia item for several reasons, including the fact that I first saw it during one of my earliest visits with Bob Mikush to talk about Ambridge history.

Bob started showing me some of his Ambridge memorabilia, and when he brought this out, the following conversation ensued:

Bob: Bet you don't know what this is.

Me: It's the meat man's bus!

Bob: How old are you?!

Which made me laugh. Old enough to remember the meat man's bus which had made quite an impression on me when I was pretty young.

Mobile Meat Market ashtray
circa 1940s - early '50s
owned by Bob Mikush

When I was growing up in Ambridge in the 1950s, residents didn't always need to go to the store to buy fresh food items, sometimes they came to you, if not to your door, then at least to the curb on your block, via a variety of trucks. Having sellers regularly come to your block made life easier at a time when most families had only one car which the wage-earner took to work--if the family owned a car at all.

Among the people who regularly brought food to our house or block, I remember the United Dairy milkman, the "egg lady," Gutowski's bakery, plus the huckster who sold fruit and vegetables. And the "meat man."

While milkmen weren't uncommon in that era, a butcher on a bus was. In my house, he was known as "the meat man."

One of the other reasons I was so excited when Bob showed me the "Mobile Meat Market" ashtray was because virtually no one I'd talked to about growing up in Ambridge in the 1950s remembered the meat man's bus, even older neighbors. When I mentioned my memories of the meat man's bus, most people were either skeptical, or they outright scoffed.

Yet my memories of going onto the meat man's bus with my grandmother seemed genuine, especially memories of the interior: the bus smelling of raw meat; a wooden chopping block; cleavers and knives hanging from hooks; meat being brought out from a refrigerator; and sawdust covering the floor to sop up blood. All I really remember about the meat man himself was that he wore a white apron that was stained with blood. I also have a vague memory of the meat man sometimes having a helper on the bus working with him.

I remember going for a Sunday drive with my family--remember those?--up Glenwood Ave. towards Ridge Rd. and driving past a house with the meat man's bus parked on the side. I was so thrilled! Wow, that must be the meat man's house! To me, the meat man was a celebrity.

Weird the things that stick with you 60 years later.

When Bob showed me the Mobile Meat Market ashtray, I felt vindicated. I had proof the meat man and his bus once existed.

More recently, I came across this ad in the Holy Trinity R. C. Croatian Church dedication program from 1950:

Mobile Meat Market ad
Holy Trinity R. C. Croatian Church dedication program
December 17, 1950