Street work, Duss Ave. and Fifth St., 1920s

This photo shows street work near the intersection of Duss Ave. and Fifth St., between 1919 and 1928 as I can best determine right now.

Road work
Duss Ave. near Fifth St.
circa 1919 - 1928
courtesy Borough of Ambridge

The large building on top of the hill on the right side of the photo was Harmony School,* built in 1912 and razed in 1965, now the site of the Ambridge Tower Apartments for seniors.

Harmony School
5th St. and Duss Ave.
Daily Times supplement, August 10, 1929?
Louis Vukovcan collection
courtesy of Jackie Vukovcan

The date the Borough had for this photo was "the 1930s"; however, Maria Notarianni noted that the photo must be earlier than that, since the large St. Stanislaus Church** on the corner of Beaver Rd. and Sixth St., built in 1928, isn't in the photo. However, the 1919 building that was both school and church before the 1928 church was built, is in the photo. (To the left of Harmony School, there are a few homes, and then the St. Stanislaus school/church building. Beaver Rd. intersects with Duss Ave. where those homes are.) After the church had its own building, the building in the photo served as the St. Stanislaus School.

St. Stanislaus School
Beaver Rd.

Daily Times supplement, August 10, 1929?

Louis Vukovcan collection

courtesy of Jackie Vukovcan

I don't know what the Duss Ave. project was, but there are two good candidates: Maria found that the borough planned to grade Fifth Street "from Duss Avenue to Beaver Road" in September 1924. A second possibility is that in 1927, Ambridge and the state were discussing a paving project. The state would take over Duss Ave. as "a part of the route from the Allegheny County line to Rochester," and share in the cost of the paving. (Daily Times, April 28, 1927)

P. J. Shotter took a great photo of what the intersection looked like in July 2016:

Then and Now
Duss Ave. at Fifth St.
courtesy P. J. Shotter
July 2016

* Later used by St. Veronica High School.
** Now New Hope Community Church.

The Prince Theatre

From the mid-1940s through the early 1950s, Ambridge moviegoers could choose from four theaters, all on Merchant St.: Ambridge, State, Prince, and Penn. The Ambridge, 714 Merchant, opened in 1928 and was the last of the four to close, in 1965. The State, at 749 Merchant, was the newest, built in the mid-1940s, and the shortest-lived, closing in 1959.

The Prince, 638 Merchant, was the oldest of the four. I'm not sure when it opened, but in a July 7, 1991, Beaver County Times article, "Ambridge bids the Prince farewell," Princeton Nadler* said that his father, Marcus (Ben) Nadler, bought the theater "around 1920." The 1924 Economy Centennial program, Economy of Old, Ambridge of Today, had an ad for two theaters run by the Ambridge Amusement Company--the Prince and Regent. The Regent was one of the theaters that over the years occupied a building at the southeast corner of Merchant and 5th Sts., later home to the Penn Theatre; another theater once in that building was the Senate.

Ambridge Amusement Co., ad
Economy of Old, Ambridge of Today
1924 Economy Centennial Program

The Prince and Ambridge were the two largest theaters in Ambridge. The 1991 Times article said that the Prince could seat about 1,000 people. Both theaters not only showed movies, but also served as auditoriums for events such as stage shows, meetings, and boxing matches.

This photo of the Prince, from the late Louis Vukovcan's collection, is from an August 10, 1929, newspaper supplement:

Prince Theatre
638 Merchant St.
Daily Citizen supplement
August 10, 1929
Louis Vukovcan collection

The postcard below of the east side of the 600 block of Merchant, also from Vukovcan's collection, shows the location of the Prince. If you look closely, you can see the marquee. The large building on the corner was the Ambridge National Bank building, later Mellon National Bank, now a Citizen's Bank, and the white building to the right of the Prince was Timney's Appliances. I don't know what was in the building which Vukovcan noted: "Was moved. This was the corner bldg."

Postcard
600 block of Merchant St., east side,
from 5th St. looking north
circa 1930 - 1940
Louis Vukovcan collection

The Prince Theatre building also had storefronts facing Merchant St., as well as the Nadler family's apartment. In the 1991 Times article, Princeton Nadler recounts how, when he was young, he could take a walkway from the apartment into the theater's second-floor projection room to watch movies. What wonderful and convenient entertainment for Nadler and his friends.

Princeton Nadler also recounted a lovely story about his father in that article:

One time, Nadler's father gave a number of Ambridge boys handbills advertising the theater. He promised to pay them $1 each if they distributed all of them.

The father spied some of the children dumping the handbills down a sewer, but saw one of them diligently handing them out.

Later, when the children gathered to be paid, Nadler's father gave each of them $1 as he had promised. But then, Marcus Nadler went back to the boy he had seen doing the work properly and gave him a book with 100 free movie passes.

Mike Kubek, who some may remember as the owner of Ambridge's Kubek's Appliances, also once worked as a movie projectionist at a number of Beaver County theaters. In the article "Ambridge man is model worker" in the March 10, 1989, Beaver County Times, Kubek said, "Mr. Nadler brought talking pictures to Ambridge at the Prince Theatre....Very progressive, he treated those who worked with him with kindness." 

In 1930, the Ambridge Amusement Company, owned by "Nadler and LeWinters" sold the Prince and Ambridge theaters to the Warner Bros. chain. The price reported in the April 8, 1930, Daily Times, was $700,000, which, according to websites that calculate the value of money over time, would now be equivalent to over $9,600,000.

Warner Theateres ad
Pittsburgh Press
March 11, 1931

[Update June 16, 2016:

The April 21, 1923, issue of the Pittsburgh Moving Picture Bulletin supplied an answer to some information that had puzzled me. 

In the article about Kubek, he said the Prince closed in 1931, yet obviously, it was open in the 1940s and early '50s. Had the Prince closed, and then reopened? Yes! Although I'm still confused about the years it was closed. 

That 1923 Bulletin issue had a short article titled, "Ben Nadler Will Close One House and Open Another." The article said that Nadler was remodeling and enlarging the Prince which had been "closed for the past two years." The Prince, scheduled to reopen on September 1, would have 700 seats, increased from 450.

So when was the Prince closed, then reopened? Early 1920s? 1931? Did the Prince close in the '20s, reopen, close again in 1931, reopen, and then close for good in the early 1950s? I don't have the answer yet.

The theater that Nadler was closing in 1923 was the Grand. You can find more information about and photos of that theater in the May 6, 2016, article, "The Grand Theater."

End of update.]

The Prince, like the other theaters, often showed double features, and also provided special entertainment for children on Saturday mornings.

Prince Theatre ad
Daily Citizen
September 10, 1948

Prince Theatre ad
Daily Citizen
September 16, 1948

The news clipping below, from the April 30, 1978, Beaver County Times article, "Forgotten theaters mark passing era", shows the Prince in the 1950s:

Prince Theatre

1950s

Beaver County Times

April 30, 1978

The clipping came from Vukovcan's collection; he had cut and pasted part of the Times' caption in the corner of the photo:

The Prince, show at right in the 1950s, was one of Ambridge's later theaters, following a long and rich tradition. Now its building on Merchant Street houses a string of storefronts, shops, small cafes and a Christian coffeehouse. Most of the town's other theaters have disappeared, although one is now the home of a G. C. Murphy department store and a new, small theater, open on a limited basis, began on the main street a few years ago. **

The Prince was still open in late November 1950.

Prince Theatre ad
Daily Citizen
November 25, 1950

After 1950's post-Thanksgiving record-setting snowfall, The Prince Theatre was "closed until further notice" according to the Tuesday, November 28, 1950, Daily Citizen. I don't know if it was open at the time its marquee was being cleaned of snow.

Walter Addison cleaning snow from Prince Theatre marquee
Daily Citizen
November 30, 1950

The Citizen caption for photo above:

WALTER ADDISON, 310 Park Rd., caught in the act of shoveling snow from the marquee of the Prince Theatre Building on Merchant St.

I didn't find any more ads in 1950 for the Prince after the big snow. Nor do I know yet when the Prince closed for good. Does anyone know if the Prince opened again after the big snow, and if it did, when the Prince finally closed? I do know it was not open at the time of Ambridge's Golden Jubilee celebration in 1955.

Former Prince Theatre building
circa mid 1970s?
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Oddly, although the Prince's lobby area became a storefront after it closed, the remainder of the theater, including stage and screen, remained, not maintained and deteriorating, until the summer of 1991 when it was razed.

Prince Theatre interior
Beaver County Times
July 7, 1991

Times caption:

Bill Anderson of Hopewell Township, an employee of the demolition company working on the Prince Theater, remembers his mother taking him to see "Gone With the Wind" at the Prince when he was 8.

The rest of the Prince Theatre building is now gone too, its spot on Merchant is the location of a Dollar General store and parking lot. The photo below is a then-and-now photo of the 600 block of Merchant St. from P. J. Shotter showing the former location of the Prince building. The "then," from the K & N Restaurant's collection of vintage photos, appears to be from the late 1950s to early '60s era, after the Prince had closed. The "now" was taken on Sunday, April 17, around noon.

Then-and-now
600 block Merchant St.
"then" circa late 1950s - early '60s
"now" April 17, 2016
courtesy P. J. Shotter

____

Thanks to Jackie Vukovcan for sharing Louis Vukovcan's photos.

* Dr. Princeton Nadler was a Sewickley ophthalmologist for many years, and was my eye doctor when I was growing up. But before he became an ophthalmologist, he was an obstetrician (or perhaps a GP who delivered babies) and was the doctor who delivered me in 1950. Every time my mom would take me for an eye exam, Dr. Nadler would ask her, "Are you ready to give Nancy back yet?" My mom always answered something like "I guess I'll keep her." And I would react to this annual corny adult banter with an internal groan.

** The theater that later became the location of Ambridge's G. C. Murphy was the Grand, also owned by Marcus Nadler. The "new small theater" mentioned in the article was the 200 seat Ambridge theater at 645 Merchant St. that opened in 1972, now also closed.

Other long-gone Ambridge theaters include: Majestic, Colonial, Family, Idle Hours, Palm Gardens, and Rainbow Garden.

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

Then and now: 400 block Melrose Ave.

The photo below came from the late Louis Vukovcan's collection and is one of the collection's very old photos of Ambridge stamped "Maj. E. A. Weed" on the back. You can read the fascinating story of Maj. E. A. Weed in my February 21, 2015 post "Sixth Street and Melrose Avenue, 1904."

"View to Melrose from Merchant St Ambridge
400 block - 1904"
photographer Major E. A. Weed
Louis Vukovcan collection
photo courtesy of Stacey Brock
used with permission

I couldn't duplicate the view of Maj. Weed's photo because more buildings have been constructed on Merchant and Melrose since 1904. But thanks to the empty lot on Merchant St. where the Economy Furniture store once stood, I could still photo some of the houses from Merchant. The three houses at the far left in the photo below appear to be the three houses at the far right of the 1904 photo.

Part of the East side of the 400 block of Melrose from Merchant St.
 October 30, 2014

Here's a better view of the three houses, taken on Melrose Ave.

Part of the East side of 400 block of Melrose Ave.
May 2, 2015

The photo below shows the houses towards the left center of the 1904 photo, mostly unaltered except for the addition to the one next to the garage.

Mid- 400 block, east side of Melrose Ave.

May 2, 2015

Here's a photo showing all of the houses, taken from the north end of the 400 block looking south.

400 block, east side of Melrose Ave.
May 2, 2015

Then and now: 600 block Park Road

600 block of Park Rd, looking north

Then:

600 block Park Rd.
postcard
circa 1910

The large tree on the right side of the postcard hides most of the apartment building on the corner. On the west side of the street, you can see a bit of the American Bridge park that once ran from 4th to 8th Sts.

I'm not sure how old the above postcard is as it's unmailed, so there's no postmark. But if you enlarge the card*, you'll see that there are horse-drawn carts next to the curb. This pre-linen card has a divided back, so it was printed by "H. C. George, 5 and 10 cent Store, Ambridge, Pa." after 1907, but probably before 1915.

Now:

600 block of Park Rd.
May 2, 2015

Unfortunately, I didn't have a lens with me that would allow me to take a photo wide enough to capture both sides of the street as the postcard does. The homes on this block are remarkably unchanged except for color.

The park has been reduced to a single block from 7th to 8th St. The west side of the 600 block of Park Rd. is now a parking lot for St. Mary's Byzantine Catholic Church.
_____

* To enlarge photos: if you're using a computer, click; if using a mobile device, tap.