Group photo: Women's Christian Circle 1913

Women's Christian Circle
Ambridge Methodist Episcopal Church
at Heinz plant
Sept. 16, 1913
courtesy of Beaver County Genealogy and History Center

Caption on the photo:

Womens (sic) Christian Circle. Ambridge M. E. Church Visit at Home of Heinz 57 Varieties, Pgh, Pa. Sept. 16, 1913.

And, yes, Heinz was giving out pickle pins back in 1913.  H. J. Heinz created them to draw attention to his display booth at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair. I wonder if any pins that may have been given to the women and children in the photo are still around. Alas, the once very popular Heinz factory tours were discontinued in 1972.

The Methodist Episcopal Church was the forerunner of the First United Methodist Church of Ambridge, 7th St. and Maplewood Ave. The M. E. Church once was located at 6th St. and Melrose Ave., but was sold in 1906 to Ss. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church and later razed to build the Ss. Peter and Paul Church that is still standing. That M. E. church was the first church to be built in the new borough of Ambridge. You can see a photo of that early church in my February 21, 2015, blog post, "Sixth Street and Melrose Avenue, 1904."

Ambridge once had a Heinz vinegar plant, located between Sherman and 11th Sts., behind what is now the Trinity School for Ministry, and before the school, an A & P. Later, the Heinz building became a company warehouse that the April 28, 1931, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported was "destroyed" in a fire. Some of the warehouse must have survived because you can see at least a part of it in post-1931 photos, like the photo in my May 25, 2014, blog post, "A Memorial Day past." Whatever part of the Heinz building remained was destroyed in the March 14, 1985, Larstone Corrugated Carton Co. fire.

I don't know who any of the women and children in the photo are. If you recognize someone, please let me know. As always, you can enlarge the photo by clicking on it if you're on a computer, or tapping on it if you are using a mobile device.