The opening of the Ambridge Borough Pool

Pool side of bathhouse
Ambridge Borough Pool
Borough Park
Daily Citizen
May 29, 1942

Such a joyous and long-anticipated event. The newly constructed Ambridge Borough Pool was opening!

Opening day was Memorial Day, Saturday, May 30, 1942.*  The formal dedication of the pool would be later, on July 12, 1942.

The caption under the above photo says:

The new Ambridge Community pool, under construction for several years will be opened to the public tomorrow. Built at a large cost it is the most complete in this section of the state. Facilities are in keeping with the wide expanse of water. In other words the accommodations are ample. Another view of the pool can be seen on page 10.

Here's the other view:

New Ambridge Borough Pool
looking south from diving pool end
Ambridge Borough Park
Daily Citizen
May 29, 1942

The opening was announced in a full page ad in the May 29 Daily Citizen at a time when newspaper pages were huge! The ad featured the graphic at the top of this page, the pool photo immediately above, and the following:

The Daily Citizen of Monday, June 1, 1942, reported that the first person to enter the water had been John D. Davis, a borough painter, who had taken a swim ten minutes after midnight on "Friday" (but it's not clear whether this meant Friday or Saturday morning). He was followed by over 1,300 other people that first weekend--after the pool actually opened--the majority of them children.

The children of Ambridge, as well as some adults, had been waiting for so long for a public pool in Ambridge.

In the early 1920s, the Ambridge Playground Association had sponsored a pool on the 800 block of Duss Ave., near where the Junior High School was soon to be built. But that pool had been short-lived.

Frustrated waiting for another public pool to be built, in the summer of 1938, the children of the First St. neighborhood built the iconic Dead-End Pool in polluted Big Sewickley Creek. That pool was also short-lived, quickly closed and drained by health authorities. But that action led to a protest march by the children, leading to a bond issue for the purpose of building a new public pool being approved by voters in the November 1938 election.

Construction of the new public pool began in early 1939 by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), the federal program that provided jobs for the unemployed on public works projects across the U.S.  Built on property now known as Walter Panek Park, construction wasn't completed until 1942. (You can see photos of the very early days of the pool's construction by clicking on the link at the beginning of this paragraph.) The photo below shows how far construction had gotten by 1941.

Construction
Ambridge Borough Pool
circa May 1941
credit: Edmund Silla
photo courtesy of Jay Silla
 used with permission

Then finally...finally!...the new pool was finished and opened for swimming, despite the entry of the U.S. into WWII the previous December. Such an exciting day!

The July dedication ceremony featured the presentation of the pool to the Ambridge Borough by a W. P. A. representative, a Navy seaman speaking on the benefits of water sports, and a swim meet.

The Ambridge pool was the source of summer fun and fond memories for swimmers, and non-swimmers, from Ambridge and nearby communities, for several generations. But increasing maintenance costs needed by the aging building, combined with lack of funds to repair and upgrade the pool, eventually led to the pool's not opening in the summer of 1991. That year turned out to be beginning of the neglected pool's long, slow, ugly death, despite several proposals to reopen it.

The pool was demolished in 2009.

You can see more photos and read more memories of the pool by clicking on "Swimming pool" in the "labels" menu on the left.
_____

* Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30 for decades until it was moved to the last Monday in May in 1971.

Lions Boy Scout Troop circa 1938 - 1941

When I began visiting Laughlin Memorial Library's archives to look through the late Bill Bowan's photo albums, I never expected to find a photo with a relative in it. But in two old newspaper clippings of photos of a boy scout troop, I did. Maybe.

I don't know when the photos were taken or when and where these clippings were published. Bowan's hand-written notes about them say "1938" for both photos, but the one without "1938" in the publisher's caption has "1941" handwritten on the front of it. If you know anything about the origin of these photos, please let me know.

Bowan's notes identified some of the scouts in the photos. I was surprised when I saw "Leon Gaus" listed among the names. Leon Gaus was the name of my maternal grandfather's younger half-brother. Although my grandfather spelled his last name "Gause," his siblings spelled it "Gaus."

I am assuming the "Leon Gaus" in these photos is my Great-uncle Leon, but I don't have anything to confirm that. However, if there might have been another Leon Gaus in the area, my Great-uncle Leon was born in 1924, which puts him at the right age to be a boy scout in the late 1930s or early 1940s.

Lion's Club Boy Scout Troop
1938
newspaper clipping
courtesy Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Original caption:  THE LION'S CLUB Boy Scout Troop as they were in 1938. Members and leaders were attending an outdoor meeting.

Bowan's notes about this photo title it "1938 - Lake Lynn W. Virginia"

The list of identities as provided by Bowan:

1. Gaus Leon
2. Levy Rob
3. W. Chiappala
4. Frank Paulakovich
5. Eddie Hrico
6. Pete Sudar
7. James Pappas
8. Mike Lazorishak
9.
10.
11. Geo Salata

2 - Kneeling
1. Vince Sniady
2. Casmir Drugoz
3. Harry Kuntz
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. Bill Poutas

3. Standing
1. Benny Barsyz
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7. Walter Joyce
8.
9. Doc Hall
10. Frank Kloiber?
11.

At the bottom right of the note "Mike Rusko" is printed.

Here's the second news clipping photo. Note "1941" written in the bottom right corner.

Leonard Rothermel and Boy Scout Troop
circa 1938 - 1941
newspaper clipping
courtesy Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Original caption:  LEONARD ROTHERMEL, Ambridge High School teacher, and Boy Scout Troop of long ago.

At the top of Bowan's notes about the photo above, he wrote something I can't decipher. It looks like"Economy Golden Rose" followed by what appear to be page numbers. Anyone know what that might mean?

He identified the scouts in the photo, which he titled "Rothermel Scout Troop 1938," as follows:

1st row:
1. Frank Kloeber
2.
3. Steve Lubic
4.
5. Chas. Grosdeck
6. Andy Shulick

2nd row:
1. Bill Tartar
2. Rich Powell
3. Jim Pappas
4. Ed Matzie
5. Leon Gaus
6. Paul Pawlack
7. Bernard Hrico

3rd row:
1. Mike Orend
2. Ed Hrico
3. Mike Rusko
4. Hugh Thom
5. Paul Mikesner
6. Eddie Beaman
7. Vincent Sniady
8. Herbert Hopkins
9. Leonard Rothermel

If you recognize any of the unidentified scouts in these photos, or know more about the Lion's Boy Scout troop, please let me know.
_____

Leon Gaus died in November 2014.

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool construction, 1939--and Ambridge's earlier playground pool

This year's summer swimming season may have ended, but for Ambridge children, in 1939, the promise of summers filled with laughter, splashes, and the occasional lifeguard's whistle, was starting to take shape, as shown in the photos below.

Construction of the Ambridge Borough Pool in Borough Park (now called Walter Panek Park) began in 1939, the year after Ambridge children from the First St. neighborhood built their own "Dead-End Pool" in polluted Big Sewickley Creek. When health authorities closed and drained the Dead-End Pool, the children marched to the Borough Council, demanding a public pool. I was surprised to learn while I was researching the Dead-End Pool, that the Council agreed that Ambridge needed a public pool, and voted to put a bond proposal to construct a pool on the November 1938 election ballot. The voters approved the bond measure.

But although pool construction began in 1939, completion was long delayed; the pool wasn't opened for swimming until Memorial Day 1942.

Recently, Winifred Graham Boser donated a set of snapshots to Ambridge's Laughlin Memorial Library, showing the early construction of the Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool. Both of her grandfathers, Peter A. Conrad and Walter A. Graham, worked on the pool construction project. And during my last visit to Ambridge, I was lucky enough to be able to scan the photos to share them with you.

Any ideas about what the first photo below is showing? Construction work, of course. But is this work on the old road that once wound through Borough Park? Or the road leading from the Borough Park road into the site of the eventual pool?

"Boro Park, West Rd." ?
May 11, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Early Ambridge Borough Pool construction
"Boro Park"
May 11, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Fill was added during early construction
of the Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool
May 11, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Early construction "Boro Park Pool"
May 11, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

"Pool cut"
Early construction of Ambridge Borough Pool
May 11, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

"First Concrete"
Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool
June 24, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Work on the walls of the main pool
Ambridge Borough Park
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Walls of the main pool being built
Ambridge Borough Pool
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Work on main pool
Ambridge Borough Park
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Uncovering concrete on main pool bottom?
Borough employee Peter A. Conrad on right
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Main pool closer to completion
Walter A. Graham in forefront, head man on project
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Digging out ground for diving pool
Ambridge Borough Park
July 24, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

More work on diving pool
Ambridge Borough Park
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Working on diving pool
Ambridge Borough Park
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Construction of diving pool
Ambridge Borough Park
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

The playground pool--Ambridge's first public pool

While doing research on the construction of Ambridge's first Jr. High School on Duss Ave. (later, after an annex was built, the Jr. - Sr. High School), I was really surprised to find out that a public pool once stood on the school's property in the 1920s.

I'm not talking about the pool in the Jr. High building, but rather an outdoor pool, run by a group called the Ambridge Playground Association, spearheaded by the Ambridge Rotary Club.

The first playground the group built was at the Duss Ave. site in the early 1920s, perhaps 1923. In 1925, the group added playgrounds at First and Fourth Ward Schools. When I was growing up, the playground at the Jr. - Sr. High School was between the northern end of the building and the Bollinger Co. office building. The playground was later moved to the south side of the building when the school's tennis courts/skating rink were built in the 1960s.

The Jr. High playground featured a swimming pool during the summer months. Since it was operated as part of the summer playground program, I think it was probably only open to children, but I haven't yet found confirmation of that.

I don't have a photo or a good description of the pool, but I assume was above ground and fairly large--75 swimmers at a time were allowed in it. And it was deep enough that parents were urged to insist that children who couldn't swim stay in the shallow end of the pool.

Two showers were provided so that swimmers could shower before they entered the pool.

In the summer of 1925, that pool's water pump needed repairs, and its opening was delayed until June 22, when the Citizen announced that the pool would open that afternoon. Two days later, the paper reported that the June 23 crowd was a record, with 300 swimmers enjoying the pool.

But confusingly, the same newspaper reported on July 20 that the swimming pool on the Jr. High School grounds had "not yet been opened." The reason was the "sewer is clogged and repairs not yet made." It further reported that the school board had decided not to open the playground pool that year, because a new sewer was required, and since the new school was under construction, it would be better to wait and connect both the playground pool and school to the sewer system at the same time. Did the Citizen mean re-opened? I'm still looking for the answer.

When the Jr. High athletic field was being planned in 1926, the construction of a fence that would include the playground and its swimming pool was discussed.

As of now, I don't know the last year the playground swimming pool was open.

Later, the Playground Assn. added two more playgrounds, one near Second Ward School, and the other at the then-new Anthony Wayne Elementary School. I don't know yet who was responsible for the construction of the playground near Liberty School.

Maplewood Ave. at 7th St., 1904

Children
"Corner 7th and  Maplewood Ave. 1904
Looking North on Maplewood"
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

The furthest building on the left hand side, flying a flag or pennant, is Second Ward School, built in 1904. Second Ward School later became the Ambridge Recreation Center.
_____

Update October 3, 2016:

Sharp-eyed Maria Notarianni noticed that the building in the background on the right side of the photo resembled a church.

Indeed it does, which raises a question about the accuracy of the 1904 date on the photo above.

The only church that could possibly be is the Presbyterian Church on 9th and Maplewood. But according to the church's history, the contract for the construction of the oldest part of the church, "The Chapel," wasn't even let until September 1905. The Chapel was dedicated on June 12, 1906.

Here's a postcard showing that first section of the church, and the top of it sure does look like the small part of the building in question that can been seen in the photo above:

"The Chapel"
First Presbyterian Church of Ambridge
9th St. and Maplewood Ave.
postcard postmarked February 1907

I checked the 1905 Sanborn Insurance map of Ambridge, and it supports the church history's 1905 date. The lot on 9th and Maplewood is marked "site for church"; no building is shown on the lot. So, right now, I would have to say that the Maplewood Ave. photo may have been taken, at the earliest, in 1905 - '06.

Good job, Maria!

Swimming lessons at Ambridge Borough Pool

While I practically lived at the pool during the summers, I detested swimming lessons which were always given in the morning before the pool opened for public swimming. The air was cool; the water was cold. Not too long after I'd get in the pool, I'd be shivering. And by the end of class, my teeth might be chattering and my lips blue.

Swimming lessons at the Ambridge pool
Daily Citizen
late 1950s ? *
news clipping courtesy of Borough of Ambridge

Citizen caption:

FISH FLOAT -- Joseph Strano, the swimmer, going through the "Jelly Fish Float" at the Ambridge Swimming Pool as the first of two classes completed their "scooling" (sic) Friday morning. The instructors are Richard Lebec, left, and Jerry Hochevar, right.

By the time my mother signed me up for lessons, I was already a fairly good swimmer and a champion floater, thanks to the hours I previously had spent in the pool. But during the lessons, I did learn the breast stroke, and the not-in-the-Olympics -- but with modification, useful for lifesaving and Navy Seal training -- side stroke.

I'd walk to the pool for the the dreaded lessons. Then I'd have to walk home, only to walk back to the pool again after it opened later that day for swimming that was fun.

In 1958, swimming lessons at the pool were free, but registration for lessons was $0.50. By the 1960s, the registration fee had been raised to $1.00.

Ambridge borough swimming pool
early to mid 1960s**
Beaver County Times ?
news clipping courtesy Borough of Ambridge

original caption:

BEATING THE HEAT - Ambridge swimming pool had one of its busiest days Tuesday when 1,000 persons took a dip in order to beat the heat. Steve Solomich, pool manager, announced that new swimming classes will start Monday and conclude next Friday. A class for children aged 9 - 11 will be conducted from 9 to 10 a.m. and children seven and eight years of age will receive instructions from 10 to 11 a.m. Registrations will be accepted at the pool Saturday from 10 to 11 a.m. The registration fee is $1. Parents must register their children. No registrations will be accepted by phone. Similar classes are being held this week.

_____

* The Borough news clipping was dated only "1960." I don't have the date this photo was published in the Daily Citizen, confirmed by the "DC" watermark. But the Citizen stopped publication on June 30, 1959, so this clipping cannot be from 1960 or later.

** This Borough news clipping also was dated only "1960," and its source was unidentified. The Beaver County Times is my best guess, but I've been unable to find the photo to confirm that. Steve Solomich, mentioned in the caption. was pool manager in the early and mid-1960s, which helps narrow the years the photo might have been published.

Group photo: P. J. Cauls baseball team, 1925

P.J. Cauls baseball team
1925
courtesy Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Sorry, I have no information yet on the team or the identities of the players in this photo. If you know anything, please leave a comment.

The photo appears to me to have been taken at the field at American Bridge Company's Park Road park.

Ambridge memorabilia: Ambridge swimming pool bathhouse pin

I've seen quite a bit of Ambridge memorabilia over the past few years, but this is the one that brings back the best memories for me. And it's the one piece of Ambridge memorabilia I most wish was mine.

Ambridge pool pin
courtesy Linda Kastriba Kuhni

For those of you who aren't familiar with Ambridge's Borough Swimming Pool asking "what is that?!", it's a bathhouse pin.

Instead of swimmers taking their clothes to the pool area with them, most would "check" their clothes in the bathhouse. Swimmers would grab a wire basket when they entered the bathhouse. After changing into swimsuits, they'd take the basket to a counter where "checkers" would exchange the basket for a pin. The basket would then be put on a shelf area numbered to match the pin. Most swimmers pinned the pin to their swimsuit for safekeeping. When the swimmer would be ready to go home, they'd go back to the counter and exchange the pin for the basket with their clothes.

Although, apparently not everyone gave back the pin. Linda Kastriba Kuhni, who took the photo above, says that the pin belongs to her husband, and #15 was his baseball team number. He wanted the pin so much, he abandoned the t-shirt he'd worn to the pool so he wouldn't have to give up the pin. Her husband has been carrying the pin on his key ring ever since.

You can read more about, and see photos of, the Ambridge Borough Swimming pool in these blog articles. Yeah, I write a lot about the pool.

- Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 1

- Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 2: Getting there--the trek to the pool

- Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 3: The bathhouse--the girls' dressing room

- Pool, Part 3: The Bathhouse -- The Boys' Dressing Room

- Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool expansion: the solons' inspection

- Ambridge today: Pool steps

- Ambridge today: the pool bathhouse once stood here

- Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 4: hot summer fun in the three pools

- The happy beginning and the sad end of the Ambridge Pool with the unfortunate series of events that led to its closing and razing

- The Ambridge Pool slide

Group photo: Girl Scout Day Camp 1964

I remember going to Girl Scout Day Camp at Economy Park in the 1960s:

Getting on a school bus with other Girl Scouts and leaders for the trip to and from the park and singing Girl Scout favorites: "There was a farmer who had a horse and Bingo was his name-o," "We are the pioneers, jolly old pioneers," "Great big gobs of greasy grimy gopher's guts."

And at camp: doing crafts; hiking; cooking Girl Scout recipes (I still have the one for no-bake cookies!) for lunch over a fire with wood we'd collected; sleeping overnight in the barn.

Girl Scout Day Campers
Economy Park
Beaver County Times
June 26, 1964

Times caption:

Soup's on -- Rosemary Matzzie of Ambridge, left, a senior aide at the Cheba District Girl Scout Day Camp at Economy Park, demonstrates the art of outdoor cooking to a group of scouts. In foreground with her are Marcia Darno, center, and Susan Musgrave, both Brownie Scouts from Economy.

Group photo: Ambridge Our Boys baseball team 1919

Yesterday's post about the 400 and 500 blocks of Park Rd., mentioned the Ambridge Our Boys baseball team. Here's a photo of the 1919 team, the amateur champions of the Greater Pittsburgh Federation.

Ambridge Our Boys Baseball Team
Amateur Champions
Greater Pittsburgh Federation, 1919
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Right now, I don't have the names of any of the players, but the September 11, 1920, Daily Times says that the manager was S. G. Horlick, and the team was "better known as Horlick's Ambridge club." That same article described the team as "one of the strongest and fastest independent baseball units in Beaver County."

Steve Horlick owned a sporting goods shop in Ambridge and organized and managed teams in several sports. 

The August 24, 1919, Pittsburgh Press says that the previous year, the team had played under the name "Ambridge Regents" and were The Press Liberty League champs.

Group photo: Carpatho-Russian Band 1920

Many Ambridge organizations once had bands. The photo below is of the Carpatho-Russian Band of Ambridge PA, from the collection of the late local historian William (Bill) Bowan in Laughlin Memorial Library's archives.

St. Michael's Band
1920? 1925?
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Based on the brickwork around the doors and windows, I would say that the photo was taken on the steps of St. Michael's Hall, which once stood at 308 Maplewood Ave. You can read more about that St. Michael's Hall, as well as the other St. Michael's Hall on Pine St., in my June 29, 2014, article, "Two St. Michael's and the Masons."

*****

Addendum: After I posted the above information and photo, Carol Demchak Flanigan provided a newspaper clipping with the same photo that she says was published in the late '70s by the Beaver County Times as a "Looking Back" feature. Carol's grandfather, Roman Demchak, is in the photo.

The Times article provided some information about the band and identified all the members but one.

According to the article, Peter Pawlack organized the band around 1920 for Holy Ghost Orthodox Church--which still exists at the corner of 2nd St. and Maplewood Ave.--and said the above photo was taken "about 1925."

The band was active for 12 years and escorted the funeral processions of members of Holy Ghost to 4th St. and Glenwood Ave. The band then traveled with the procession to Economy Cemetery, playing "solemn" music on the way to the cemetery, but "lively" music on the return to St. Michael's Hall.

From left to right, the band members are identified as:

First row: Mike Pristash, Mike Dzabiak, John Bowan

Second row: Mike Painka, Peter Pawlack, Peter Belchyk, Roman Demchak

Third row: Makar Slapak, Sava Dunda, Angelo Borgia, Tony Marzlo, John Minnick, Andrew Felk, unidentified, George Pawelchack, Mike Dudenich, Emil Bentley, John Fedoryk

Back row: (flag-bearers) Paul Fedoryk, Stanley Laban

If anyone knows the identify of the remaining unidentified band member, let me know, and I'll add it.

Thank you, Carol!

Ambridge memorabilia: Grand opening Leo's Pharmacy--and Pat Boone

What's the connection between Ambridge's Leo's Pharmacy and singer and actor Pat Boone?

Sue Ann James says she got the flier below with Pat Boone's "autographed" photo when, as a kid, she went to the Ambridge Theatre to see a Pat Boone movie, probably April Love. That movie came out in 1957, the year Boone's movie career began. Sue Ann says that she probably thought the autograph was real back then.

The Leo's Pharmacy ad was on the reverse of the Boone photo. In 1957, that pharmacy, owned by Leo Karolewski, was at 700 Merchant St., which was part of the Ambridge Theatre building. The pharmacy remained in that location until 1965, when the theatre building was sold to Pittsburgh National Bank and razed. Leo's then moved to a larger store at 663 Merchant.

However, the "Grand Opening of the All New!" pharmacy must have been the opening of a remodeled store, since Leo's had been at 700 Merchant since the early 1950's, before Boone's career began. I don't have the exact date Leo's opened at 700 Merchant, but the July 27, 1965, Beaver County Times article about the pharmacy's relocating to 663 Merchant says that Leo's had been at 700 Merchant for 12 years, so circa 1953. And I have found several Leo's ads with that address from 1955 and '56, including one from Ambridge's Golden Jubilee celebration in 1955.

"Autographed" Pat Boone photo
1957?
courtesy Sue Ann James

Leo's Pharmacy "Grand Opening" ad
reverse of Pat Boone photo above
700 Merchant St.
1957?
courtesy Sue Ann James

A check of the 1957 calendar shows that September 5, 6, and 7, were indeed a Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. So it seems likely that Sue Ann was right, and this flyer was handed out when April Love played at the Ambridge Theatre.

The Huntington Bank building in Ambridge is currently located at 700 Merchant.

The Ambridge Pool slide

Remember those hot summer days when you just couldn't wait to get to the Ambridge Borough Pool and zip down the metal water slide into the wonderfully cool water?

And on crowded days how awful it was to have to wait in a line that stretched along the pool deck where you stood on concrete that burned the soles of your feet?

And then you had to wait on the ladder before you could take your turn?

And how some kids would lose their nerve at the top, and everyone standing on the ladder would have to climb back down to let them off?

Slide at the Ambridge pool
"baby pool" in background
Daily Citizen
July 21, 1955

And then finally, how the speedy slide from the top to your big splash into sometimes really cold water was over in a slippy* second? And then you had to get in line again? And again. And again.

Text under the photo:

BEATING THE HEAT--The Ambridge Municipal swimming pool at Borough Park is doing a landslide business during these hot humid days as the youngsters along with many grownups take dips in order to cool off from the heat wave.

_____

* Pittsburgese for "slippery."

You can read more about the Ambridge pool in these posts:

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 1

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 2: Getting there--the trek to the pool

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 3: The bathhouse--the girls' dressing room

Pool, Part 3: The Bathhouse -- The Boys' Dressing Room

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool expansion: the solons' inspection

Ambridge today: Pool steps

Ambridge today: the pool bathhouse once stood here

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 4: hot summer fun in the three pools

The happy beginning and the sad end of the Ambridge Pool with the unfortunate series of events that led to its closing and razing

American Bridge Duckpins Bowling Team 1952

If American Bridge once had a tennis team, you just know they would have had duckpin bowling teams.

In honor of Father's Day, I'm posting this photo of one of the American Bridge duckpin teams since my dad, Paul (Rusty) Bohinsky, is in it. It's from the May 7, 1952, Beaver Valley Times.

American Bridge Duckpin Bowling Team
Beaver Valley Times
May 7, 1952

Text below photo:

CHECKING DUX TOURNEY SCORES--Five Ambridge bowlers examine the score sheets after rolling in the TIMES-sponsored Beaver Valley Singles Elimination Tournament at the Beaver Valley Bowl Tuesday evening. They are: kneeling, Paul Bohinsky, standing (left to right), Bob Heaton, Roger Canonge, George Meehan, and Rudy Svegel. They were members of the first of two American Bridge Company squads to bowl last night.

We were a bowling family, duckpins and tenpins. My maternal grandparents, with whom I lived, bowled. My mom still bowls almost weekly at age 88 with one of my cousins! I joke that she bowls on a two person team in a one team league, as the rest of her former bowling buddies are no longer bowling...for one reason or another.

Most of my family were good bowlers. I remember the many trophies lined up on a variety of flat surfaces in our house.

I bowled tenpins at Economy Lanes in the Divine Redeemer CYO league. I was not good.

You can read about bowling dux at the Ambridge Alleys by clicking here.

American Bridge tennis courts, 4th Street and Park Road

American Bridge tennis courts
4th St. and Park Rd., looking north
1925
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

American Bridge Company once owned tennis courts at the southern end of the park that once ran from 4th St. to 8th St. Although Ambridge residents came to see the park as public space, it was owned by American Bridge. In the photo, 4th St. is at the bottom and Park Rd. on the right.

Basketball nets are shown north of the tennis courts.

American Bridge had a tennis club, and its players competed in the Beaver County League and the Beaver Valley Tennis Association against players from other local communities from at least 1912 to to 1938, maybe longer.

The Ambridge High School tennis team also played on the courts at one time.

I haven't found out yet when the courts were removed. Anyone know? An aerial of the area taken during the time Ohio River Blvd. was being built along the left side of the park in the mid-'40s appears to show the courts still there.

Park Rd. was once the westernmost street in that part of Ambridge until Ohio River Blvd. was extended into Ambridge as far as 8th St. in the mid-'40s. However, it looks as though there may be a paved area between the park and the railroad tracks to its left. Further left are American Bridge plant buildings and beyond them, the Ohio River.

The Ambridge Do It Best Home Center is now where the tennis courts once were located.

John Domansky: memories of growing up in Ambridge, 1935 - 1954

John Domansky, Jr., John Domansky, Sr., and Jack Eppley

in front of John Domansky Tailor Shop

293 Fourteenth Street

1941

photo courtesy of John Domansky, Jr.

used with permission

In the photo above, John Domansky, Jr., age 9, his father, and Jack Eppley, who was married to John Jr.'s sister Frances, are shown standing in front of the John Domansky Tailor Shop.

Here are some of John Jr.'s memories of growing up in Ambridge:

I went to Holy Redeemer, as Divine Redeemer was then called, kindergarten to 8th grade. In 1948 I left for Boys Town. I graduated in 1950 from a pottery trade school. 

Before I came out here to Chicago in December 1954 with my sister and brother-in-law, I lived at a number of places in Ambridge. The last place I lived before moving to Chicago was 10th and Melrose; from 1952 to '54 I lived at 1925 Duss Avenue; in 1951 I briefly lived on 17th just up from Lenz; and before that, 1938 though 1951, at 293 Fourteenth Street, most memories come from there. Earlier, from '35 to '37, I lived above D'Ambrosio's Shoe Shop at 12th and Merchant. My first home was next to the Ambridge Hotel which was at 8th and Merchant.

Dad had a tailor shop at 293 Fourteenth Street for a while, with painted windows and all, and a big steam presser. The tailor shop was there for about 15 years maybe. On the right side inside, was the big steam presser, and steam shot out of the right side of the building to a blind alley. On the left was his Singer pedal sewing machine, both of which I ran at age 12.

Dad did alterations and took in cleaning, etc. He worked in downtown Pittsburgh and worked week-ends in his shop. He made me a confirmation suit overnight. He went to suit buyers' homes to measure the men, with a piece of paper, pencil, and a thin chalk marker. He wrote it all down, then made the suits, no returns ever that I know of. He was very good at math, I was better, and my son is five times as good as me.

My dad took me to many taverns and the Sokol club on Duss and 4th St. for hot dogs with sauerkraut and mustard. Once I ran away from home and landed in the Pittsburgh juvenile home; he came and got me and bought me a hot dog off a cart. Never laid a hand on me nor did Mom.

The wine killed my dad in 1948 in the pathway to our house between the two big buildings on the short 14th St. block before Boyleston St.

Mom was gone a lot, working in Glen Osborne and home on weekends. I would visit Mom in Glen Osborne often. She died in 1981.

To make creamed chicken on Sundays we got live chickens from Slavik's Market on 12th Street. Slavik kept livestock behind the store, along the Lias' home. The Lias family were West Virginia people who lived right behind the bar on Wagner St. The Lias boy swam in the river with us. We were called river rats. One thing about the river from 11th to 15th, 16th Sts. was the big rocks on the shore, you could sunbathe on them.

Dorothy Domansky and John Domansky, Jr.
next to D'Ambrosio Shoe Repair Shop
12th and Merchant Sts.
1937

photo courtesy of John Domansky, Jr.

used with permission

Frank Domansky (John Jr.'s uncle), Anne Domansky (John Jr.'s sister), Cousin Dorthy Domansky,

and Tom Varcheka, foreman at H.H. Robertson

14th and Merchant Sts., northwest corner

1942

photo courtesy of John Domansky, Jr.

used with permission

My cousin Dorothy played the accordion when she came to visit, a block party started here. Polkas on 14th Street!

I roamed free on my own for a lot of years. Having no car until out here in Chicago, I walked all over, 14th St. to Divine Redeemer was daily.*

I walked to Fair Oaks to visit the Otrahalics on Ambridge Ave. I'd walk to the Fair Oaks Bowling Alley on Big Sewickley Creek Rd. and the gas station next to it, even down to Zassick's farm to ride a horse or to Firemen's Park for a picnic.* A big 50-foot electric tower was in Big Sewickley Creek, the water was about seven-feet deep and diveable, so I did it, I dove off the concrete pad, about eight-feet high. I fished many times too.

I also remember when the bridge over Big Sewickley Creek going down to Ambridge was walked over by using only boards. This was at Ambridge Ave. at the sharp curve to go through Fair Oaks. The bridge was the only entrance into the valley behind Ambridge Ave. towards the hills behind. They built a new bridge in the late '70s. **

The 291 Fourteenth Street tailor shop, Hacker's, somehow deep in my memory, I see that name. The son was Clayton Marquette, trainer of 1972 Olympian winner Cathy Rigby. I have a May 5, 1972, Life magazine with a four-page layout on Cathy, and it shows Bud, as he was known, a former AAU gymnastic champ himself. Many days we walked on our hands in front of both tailor shops. Oh yes, I see a Hacker, a short German guy there, but not Bud's name, maybe he was adopted. Bud worked at H. H. Robertson also, like me. He cut all the crating lumber to ship the skylights I made. Bud tried to get me into the Maennerchor gym on Sherman St. I was a natural athlete and diver, have eight stitches in my head from top rock diving at the Chicago Coast Guard Station at 95th St. in Chicago. I would go to the Beaver River and dive off bluffs, and dive off the Baden docks which were 10-feet high. I threatened to dive off the Ambridge - Aliquippa Bridge a few times.

I came here to Chicago for work. I was laid off from Robertson in early '54, ended up at Republic Steel, retired in 1995 after 40 years as a welder, furniture refinisher, meat cutter, and still yet, antique dealer and seller and buyer, on eBay since 1998.

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John Domansky, Jr. is a frequent commenter on this blog. He's hoping to connect with people who knew him when he lived in Ambridge, or people who grew up in Ambridge when he did. If you fall into either category, please leave a comment below.

* At the time John Jr. was growing up, the Divine Redeemer School was located at 300 Merchant St., currently the location of Karnavas Vending Co.

** Zassick's farm and Firemen's Park were once on Big Sewickley Creek Road. The park was where the Economy Borough sewage plant and Hrinko Trucking are now located.

*** The new bridge was constructed in the late 1970s at the intersection of Ambridge Ave. and Main St. after the Ambridge end of Valley Rd. was cut off from the Harmony Township end because Big Sewickley Creek was causing the road to subside. Before then, both ends of Valley Rd. were connected.

Second Ward School, Ambridge's second public school

Second Ward School
Maplewood Avenue near Eighth Street
Daily Citizen supplement
August 10, 1929

The Second Ward School on the west side of Maplewood Avenue near the intersection with Eighth Street was the second Ambridge public school to be built. It was built in 1904, the year before Ambridge was incorporated, following the construction of the Economy Public School, which later was called Fourth Ward School. The two schools used the same building plans designed by architect Elsie Mercur Wagner*.

While the postcard below was postmarked in 1908, it looks as though perhaps the photo was taken before work on the school grounds was completed.

Second Ward Public School
postcard
postmarked January 1908

I think the next photo is amazing. The photo was taken on the 700 block of Maplewood Avenue looking north towards Eighth Street (then called Bryden Road) and shows three children crossing what appears to be a very muddy, rutted Maplewood Avenue towards Second Ward School. This photo was published as a "Looking Back" feature in the October 18, 1985, Beaver County Times, and the brief article with that photo mentions the "unfinished boardwalk" on the far right. No date was given for the photo, but I'm guessing it was soon after the school opened. The photographer isn't mentioned, only that the photo was submitted by William J. Bowan, an avid Ambridge history buff who died in 1992. If anyone can provide more information about the photo, please leave a comment.

Children crossing Maplewood Avenue to Second Ward School
William J. Bowan collection?
circa 1904

According to the Beaver County Times, November 23, 1972, no regular classes were held at the Second Ward School after 1938.**

I don't know for sure why the Second Ward School was closed as a public school in 1938 when its slightly older twin, Fourth Ward School, remained open until 1964. But 1938 was the year the new senior high annex to the junior high school on Duss Avenue was opened. That made the 1914 high school building*** at 740 Park Road, directly behind Second Ward, available for elementary students, so the Second Ward building may no longer have been needed.

The school housed a sub-office for the County War Housing Center in 1943. The center helped new war-workers moving into the area to find housing in the County.

In 1944, the American Red Cross set up an office there so people could send messages about refugee visas or "Palestine Certificates for stateless persons in enemy or enemy-occupied countries." 

In 1956, the Second Ward building became the Ambridge Recreation Center. A June 8, 1956 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about the opening of the Rec Center mentioned that the building "had long been an eyesore."

The Ambridge Recreation Center,
Maplewood Avenue near 8th Street,
late 1960s?
photo courtesy of Betty Lazorisak, used with permission

Even when the building was being used as a rec center, it wasn't properly maintained and by 1967 the School Board was making plans to raze the building; however, another six years passed before the final decision to raze the building was made:

Ambridge Recreation Center
former Second Ward School
Beaver County Times
November 23, 1972

The photo's caption says:

SCHOOL COMING DOWN--The Second Ward School, constructed in 1904 on Maplewood Avenue at Eighth Street in Ambridge, is slated for demolition this month. Besides Ambridge Elementary school children, the building was at one time or another occupied by Ambridge Recreation, Community College of Beaver County practical nursing school, and Ambridge High School shop and industrial arts classes. The building was built at a cost of about $37,000 and was designed by Mrs. Elise Mercur Wagner, a turn of the century architect in the area. The building is expected to be completely razed by mid-December. No elementary school children have entered its doors for regular classroom sessions since 1938 according to a school district spokesman.

The site of the Second Ward School is now a parking lot for The Center for Hope which occupies the former Ambridge High School/Park Road School building.

The parking area that once was the site of Second Ward School,
Maplewood Avenue near 8th Street,
March 22, 2014

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*Elise Mercur Wagner also compiled the 1924 Economy Centennial Souvenir Program: Economy of Old and Ambridge of Today.

**However, Divine Redeemer School students went to the Second Ward School building for the 1959-60 school year when their parochial school in the former Davis Hotel was condemned, but that was after the building had been converted to the Ambridge Recreation Center. 

***The first high school was later renamed Park Road School.