Liberty School

Liberty School
5th St.
postcard
dated Sept. 3, 1931

Liberty School once stood on the north side of the 5th St. hill between Duss Ave. and Pine St., just east of Ambridge's older Harmony School. Harmony School may be remembered by some as St. Veronica High School, which leased the building from the Ambridge School District after Harmony closed as a public school.

The section of map below shows the location of the two schools along 5th St. The street at the bottom is Duss Ave. Pine St. is at the top. Harmony School is the lower of the two larger pink shapes; Liberty is above.

Location of Liberty and Harmony Schools
Sanborn Insurance map
1923

The 12-room Liberty School, designed by architect W. Ward Williams, was built as an elementary school in 1917-1918 for $60,000, the next-to-last public elementary school to be built in Ambridge. Only Anthony Wayne School was built after Liberty.

Like Ambridge's other elementary schools, Liberty had a playground, fondly remembered by those who grew up in the neighborhood.

Liberty School
5th St.
Daily Times supplement?
August 10,1929
Louis Vukovcan Collection

Liberty and Harmony apparently were operated as a single school, at least for a while.

I found two news clippings with photos taken at Liberty School.

Firefighters visit Liberty School
Beaver Valley Times
May 22, 1954

Times caption:

THRILL OF A LIFETIME -- Ambridge fireman Russell McCutcheon and Walter Jovanovich show first grade Liberty School children of Ellen Brown's class the workings of the new ladder fire truck. Several boys remarked they are going to be firemen when they grow up.

Sixth grade weather station
Liberty School
Beaver County Times
May 4, 1960

Times caption:

WEATHER STATION -- Bernard Di Paola, sixth grader at Liberty School, Ambridge, records the weather change on a chart as Sandra Aquino, left, and Carol Spec, both vice presidents of the sixth grade, watch him register the change. The weather station was constructed by the class and Bernard is in charge of recording the weather three times each day.

"Liberty Grade School, Ambridge"
5th St.
Daily Citizen
August 25, 1954

Both Liberty and Harmony Schools were razed in 1968, and the Ambridge Towers property is now located where the two schools once stood.

Ambridge Towers
500 Beaver Rd.
Google Street View

_____

Thanks to Bobby Aloe for the Liberty School postcard.

I know some of you like to see the back of postcards:

Liberty School postcard
reverse