Saturday, February 14, 2015

Economy's Lover's Lane

Lover's Lane, Economy, PA
State Library of Pennsylvania
Old Economy Village archives

The Harmonites, noted for their celibacy, may have refrained from sex, but that doesn't mean they refrained from romance. And apparently romance was common enough that 14th Street between Duss Avenue and Beaver Road became known as Lover's Lane.

Lover's Lane, Economy, Pa.
postcard
postmarked January 22, 1909

The December 26, 1916, Daily Times, explained how Economy's Lover's Lane got its nickname:
On Sundays in the olden time the young people of the village were not allowed to leave the town, not even to visit the farmers on the outlying districts and so by degrees they began to appropriate this grassy, shaded lane, where they strolled by twos, dreamed dreams, and said pleasant nothings fraught with much meaning as has been the custom of lovers for centuries and so "The Lane" became "Lover's Lane." 

Lover's Lane, Economy, PA
State Library of Pennsylvania
Old Economy Village archives

The 1924 Economy Centennial Souvenir Program, Economy of Old, Ambridge of Today, compiled by Elise Mercur Wagner, described Lover's Lane: "Heavily shaded on both sides with trees, with a wide path of well-trodden grass between, it was the favorite walk of young people at eventide."

That program says that Lover's Lane's real name was "Mulberry Lane." Among their many industries, the Harmonites had a silk mill, and mulberry leaves from the trees they planted were used to feed the silkworms they raised. But the mulberry trees weren't well-suited to the area's climate, and the "cocoonery" was shut down in the 1850s.

Apple trees replaced the mulberries in the Lover's Lane area, and Mulberry Lane became Apple Lane. The handwritten note on the photo below says, "Apple trees planted in the 1870's to replace a row of mulberry trees (Morus Multicaulia) east of the silk factory at 14th St."

Apple Lane, Economy, PA
State Library of Pennsylvania
Old Economy Village archives

Apple Lane, Economy, PA
State Library of Pennsylvania
Old Economy Village archives

The 1916 Daily Times article says that once Economy was sold, and the Liberty Land Company opened the formerly-gated Apple Lane as a street in 1903, "the old apple trees began to decay and become scraggy. Now they are nearly all dead."

The newspaper mourned the end of Lover's Lane which it called "one of the historic old land marks of Economy":
"Lover's Lane" in Economy carries with it more than historic interest to many who resided in the village before the modern spirit of progress had transformed a beauty spot into an ordinary city street.
The paper said Ambridge's street commissioner was in the process of removing the trunks and broken limbs, noting, "The street is nearly all built up now."
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Update December 19, 2018: I'm aware that the people in one of the photos above are not wearing Harmonist clothing. But even before the Harmony Society sold its property in Economy, it had hired workers who lived in the community, but were not Harmony Society members. And Sarah Buffington, curator at Old Economy Village, told me that the Harmony Society did not prohibit visitors from strolling in Economy.

2 comments:

  1. somehow i do not see lovers lane at where it is said to be, i thought in old economy village, not up from duss on 14th to beaver rd., that in 1940s or b4 was the sledding hill, town blocked side streets off from beaver rd to duss & you could sled down 2 or 3 blocks w/out a worry of a car running over you. 14th & duss corner was national elec ending at 14th gas station drug store & a big building on 13th side, going toward baden were some of these, brecks on 15th & duss, cousin millie otrahalics bar & food Romas, sinclair sta. where i 1st heard lion slleps tonite song, bar next same side, then residential, homes etc. down to 19th us at 1925 duss, next to nicks gas sta. across from Chevy dealer, 1st saw 1955 chevy in 1954 & bought one in chicago area in 1955 new my 1st car, then 56 & a black 57 done right red inside & skirts & spinners & a cam busters plaque hanging under ind plate. great pipes, cousin al otrahalic showed me how to drive in hills & curves, 1925 duss . byers was in back & a good place to shoot rats below by byers. spangs where bro in law jack eppley worked, 1925 was owned by wacths walts M&D, met a good buddy at anthony wayne BB court, eugene ondrako 1950 grad & great football player. died young. more later elsewhere. john domansky

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  2. jd aka john domansky
    another memory lapse, it was wykoff behind the 1925 duss ave adrress, always recall the besemer furnace & ladle of steel showering the sky, wonder how long it took to melt a ladle of steel at that time?? republic steel in south chicago had a Q bop the did that in 45 minutes using carbon electrodes & much noise to go with it, then dumped into ingot molds on RR tracks to send loads to shaping mills, starting off at the 44" cooling beds then on to the 44" mills to be squezzed down to 8' 6" & 4" long bars, so much was done in a steel mill, scarfing was the nastiest, flumes of red & dark dust, the effect of a scarfing torch, every mill was as cold as it was outside, & colder if the wind blew, in chicago the wind blows good. after 40 yrs of republic steel & working in & under & around every facet i retired 1995, ended up in a special projects gang that did all pipe work etc, we once split the coke plant in half, 70 big ovens so it could be shut down & be worked on 1/2 at a time, welded so much 8" pipe, i dreamt about it, my favorite was heliarc stainless steel pipe welding, one winter a SS line broke & had to be stick welded & it was a 30 below wind chill out, worked 1/2 hr on & off for 8 hrs. on a ladder & manlift. now it is a faint memory

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