The razing of Ambridge's Anthony Wayne School 2022

Ambridge's Anthony Wayne School was built at the corner of Lenz Ave. and 21st St. in 1928 - 1929 and originally looked like this:

Anthony Wayne School
May 18, 1937
credit: Mary Gause

In 1965 the school was extensively renovated and enlarged. After that, the school looked like this:

Anthony Wayne Elementary School entrance
November 20, 2013
credit: Nancy Knisley

Anthony Wayne Elementary School addition
November 20, 2013
credit: Nancy Knisley

Now, Anthony Wayne School is gone. Vacant for a number of years, it was razed in September 2022. 

To read more about the history of Anthony Wayne School, and see photos of the school over the years click here.

P. J. Shotter shared some photos of the school's razing. Thanks so much, P. J.!

The photos dated September 14, 2022 show the school before the exterior razing began as well as a few peeks into the interior.

Anthony Wayne School
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
entrance
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
entrance's interior steps
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
interior
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
interior
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
playground
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
playground
September 14, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

The exterior's razing:

Anthony Wayne School
September 28, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 28, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 28, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 28, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 28, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 28, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 28, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 28, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
September 28, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

The future of the former Anthony Wayne School property begins:

Anthony Wayne School
September 28, 2022
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
January 19, 2023
credit: P. J. Shotter

Anthony Wayne School
January 19, 2023
credit: P. J. Shotter

Marketing the new town of Ambridge: Part 1: Porter Locomotive is coming! Porter Locomotive is coming! But did it?

Real Estate Trust Co. ad for Economy-Ambridge
"The H. K. Porter Company"
"Locomotive Shops to Employ 2,000 to 3,000 Men"
Pittsburg Press,
April 18, 1906

In 1903, the American Bridge Company started building the world's largest structural steel fabricating plant along the east side of the Ohio River. The building site was on land that had once belonged to the Harmony Society, which by then, had faded away, becoming history.

In the former Harmonist village of Economy, north of the new plant, a small number of non-Harmonist businesses and employees of the Society remained. But beyond the village, there was mostly undeveloped land: fields, orchards, vineyards, and pastures, occasionally punctuated by coke ovens and oil and gas wells.

Now think of what the American Bridge Co. had to do to start a thriving industrial town from basically scratch.

Sure, the company might have no problem attracting the massive labor force needed to build, then work in, their new plant. But think of everything those workers would need. Homes, food, supplies, transportation, banks, postal service, schools, churches. And what about infrastructure? Who would build streets, sidewalks, sewers, a water system? How do you attract professionals needed to care for the sick or bury the dead?

American Bridge did pretty much what's still done today. It hired a real estate company. And that company advertised.

The Real Estate Trust Co. of Pittsburgh, which had a branch office at the corner of Park Rd. and 5th St. in Ambridge, was given the task of selling the new town of Ambridge to potential businesses, investors, and residents. Early on, the company published a multi-page sales brochure, "Ambridge, Reasons for Her Coming Greatness," with descriptions and photos of the very early stages of the building of the American Bridge plant and Ambridge's infrastructure.

In May 1904, the real estate company placed two full-page ads in the Pittsburg* Press, touting the marvels of the new "manufacturing city" of Economy. The "Ambridge" name hadn't caught on yet.

The first ad, full of hyperbole and fantastic predictions, offered a free train excursion to see "the greatest industrial and city building progress in modern times." I highly recommend reading the ad; it's not only entertaining, but offers a jaw-dropping view of the early plans for Ambridge's development. (The ad's easiest to read if you visit the digital Pittsburg Press from May 3, 1904.)

Ad for "The Marvel City"
Pittsburg Press
May 23, 1904

The following day, the Press featured another full-page ad.

Ad for "The Marvel City"
Pittsburg Press
May 24, 1904

This second ad still contained some of the same amazing predictions about the future Ambridge as the previous day's ad did. But I think the seconds ad's most astonishing selling point was that it featured former Harmony Society trustee, "world's famous bandmaster," John Duss, saying his "greatest achievement" was selling "miles of level plateau to capitalists." (Click here to read the ad in the digital Pittsburg Press.)

In the spring of 1906, the same real estate company started placing a series of smaller ads in the Pittsburg Press, Pittsburgh Post, and Pittsburgh Gazette, this time focusing not on what Ambridge was going to become, but rather on what Ambridge already was.

The exception to these ads featuring Ambridge's already-existing amenities, buildings, and infrastructure were the earliest five that I found. Those five ads announced that the famous Porter Locomotive Co., which made small industrial locomotives used in places like mills, lumberyards, and mines, had plans for a huge new plant in Ambridge.

These Porter Locomotive ads were the only ones I've found in the series that were about an industry that was yet to come to Ambridge. And the only ads to feature the same reason Ambridge was wonderful more than once. Later, Porter Locomotive's coming to Ambridge was mentioned in several subsequent ads which I plan to feature in separate posts.

Real Estate Trust Co. ad for Economy-Ambridge
"Porter Locomotives Will Haul Money into Economy-Ambridge"
Pittsburgh Post,
April 20, 1906

Real Estate Trust Co. ad for Economy-Ambridge
"Porter Locomotive Shops"
"Double The Capacity of The Company's Present Shops"
Pittsburg Press,
April 22, 1906

Real Estate Trust Co. ad for Economy-Ambridge
"A Wonderful Engine"
"Economy = Ambridge"
Pittsburgh Post
April 24, 1906

Real Estate Trust Co. ad for Economy-Ambridge
"Realty Values in Economy-Ambridge Forge Ahead"
"one of the largest locomotive works in the world will commence operations"
Pittsburgh Post
April 26, 1906

Did Porter Locomotive ever come to Ambridge?

Over many months I've looked for information about the Porter Locomotive plant in Ambridge, so highly anticipated in 1906 and '07.

To be sure, Porter Locomotive's plans to move its existing Pittsburgh plant to a new plant in Ambridge wasn't just some advertising hoopla dreamed up by the Real Estate Trust Company to sell property. Not only was there information about the planned move in several newspapers, but also, thanks to Sarah Buffington, Old Economy Village's curator, I now have a copy of a 1906 deed showing that the H. K. Porter Co. bought property, not exactly in Ambridge, but rather a bit north, in Harmony Township's Legionville.   

And yes, in 1959, the H. K. Porter Corp. purchased Ambridge's National Electric plant. But by then Porter was no longer making locomotives, and National Electric, which produced electrical products, wasn't located on the property that Porter Locomotive bought in Legionville in 1906.

It looks to me as if Porter Locomotive's Pittsburgh plant remained opened. And that Porter Locomotive may have opened additional plants in locations other than Ambridge. 

I found no information about Porter Locomotive ever building a plant, hiring workers, or producing locomotives in Legionville or Ambridge. Did any of that ever happen?

I've seen Porter Locomotive listed among Ambridge's industries in several places, but none provide more information than the name, and perhaps, mention that it was north of Ambridge. Although I checked with a couple of the writers who had said Porter Locomotive was in Ambridge, they couldn't offer me more information.

So, did Porter Locomotives ever build a plant and manufacture locomotives in or near Ambridge? I don't have the definitive answer to that yet. But right now, I'm inclined to say "no."

I do know that in 1917, Porter sold at least some of the Legionville property to the Firth Sterling Steel Co., and that Firth Sterling later sold the property to several buyers, but that's about it. One of the buyers was Spang Chalfant Co. which according to a March 21, 1939, Daily Citizen article, bought 55 acres on the flat area between the railroad and the Ohio River, previously an "old dairy farm."

There may be people who can tell me about Legionville's history during 1906 - 1917, and I know there are people who know a lot about the history of the Porter Locomotive Co. If anyone can help with additional information about what happened with the plan to move Pittsburgh's Porter Locomotive plant to Legionville, I'd be grateful.

_____

* For a time, the Pittsburgh Press spelled its name "Pittsburg Press," the no "h" spelling dictated by the United States Board on Geographic Names. Other Pittsburgh papers kept the "h". Eventually, the Pittsburgh Press added the "h" back.

Ambridge's Harmony Hotel. And the other Ambridge Harmony Hotel

"Harmony Hotel"
Manuscript Group 354: Old Economy Village Collection
Photo Number 635b
courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Old Economy Village
used with permission

Just a short distance northwest of the well-known and highly regarded Economy Hotel,* once located on the southwest corner of what is now 14th and Merchant Sts., there was a smaller, less impressive hotel. The Harmony Hotel, sometimes belittled as the "Tramp Hotel" or the "Hotel of the Unfortunates," hasn't been in business for many years, although its building still stands at 277 Fourteenth St.

Why those disparaging nicknames? According to Sarah Buffington, Old Economy Village curator:

"The guests at the Economy Hotel were told to arrive promptly at 4:30 for supper, so as not to keep others waiting. The staff was fed after the hotel guests, and then the 'tramps' were fed afterward. These homeless people were allowed to stay for one night, but were then told to move along. The Harmony Society kept track of them so that they wouldn’t overstay their welcome."

The date of the photo above is uncertain, but it probably dates from the late 1800s, before there was an Ambridge, or early 1900s. The building dates from much earlier, back to the establishment of Economy, and wasn't originally used as a hotel. Although it doesn't look like the typical, brick Harmonist house, it was the early home of Frederick Rapp, adopted son of George (Father) Rapp. Frederick Rapp later moved to a brick house that is on the grounds of Old Economy Village.

The three people in the photo are unidentified. but according to Buffington, the woman and girl may be Carrie Staples, a widow, and her daughter Katherine. Staples was a boardinghouse keeper there at the time of the 1910 census. 

The photo below shows a recent Google Street View of the former Harmony Hotel building:

277 Fourteenth St.
Google Street View
October 2013

What is not visible from Fourteenth St. is a large addition--that appears to me to be at least as large, or maybe larger, than the original house--built on the back of the building, probably around the time it became the Harmony Hotel. Buffington said the addition "is very much set up like an old hotel." You can see the addition from Boyleston St. Here's a satellite view of 277 Fourteenth St.:

277 Fourteenth St.
Google Satellite View

The other Harmony Hotel in Ambridge

To confuse Ambridge history more than it often is, there was another Harmony Hotel, across town from the one on 14th St. This Harmony Hotel, at 300 Merchant St., was built and operated later than the hotel on 14th St., but was also viewed as disreputable, especially by the American Bridge Co.

This Harmony Hotel was the bane of the American Bridge Co. for years. The company didn't want its employees drinking, and so devised deed restrictions that said that the area within the original boundaries of Ambridge was supposed to be "dry"--alcohol free--for 50 years. However, the Harmony Hotel, mere blocks from the company's plant and office, sold liquor. Legally. That was possible because the Harmony Hotel wasn't in Ambridge; it was in Harmony Township, at that time, just a walk across Merchant St. from Ambridge. Which I'm guessing made its site a very attractive spot for a bar...er...hotel.

The building shows up on the 1911 Sanborn Insurance map as the location of the planned "Hotel May," named for its builder. Sometime between then and 1915, the name was changed to Harmony Hotel. The battle between its owner and American Bridge Co. over the hotel's liquor license appears to have begun early. Here's part of the remarks made by F. T. Cadmus, the plant superintendent, from the Daily Times, October 22, 1915:

The liquor license battle continued in 1916 when the hotel was owned by George T. Davis. In an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 14, 1916, Davis' attorney claimed that the American Bridge superintendent, Cadmus, had warned employees of the company that they would be fired if they were seen in the barroom of the Harmony Hotel.

So American Bridge must have been pleased by this announcement in the January 2, 1917, Daily Times:

A "temperance hotel" may not have proved to be as popular as the barroom at the Harmony Hotel may have once been, because in 1920, Divine Redeemer Church, across Merchant from the hotel building, bought it and converted it into a parochial grade school. After the church built a new school in 1961, the building was sold to the Karnavas Vending Co.

Karnavas Vending Co.
former Harmony Hotel
former Divine Redeemer School
300 Merchant St.
Google Street View, Oct. 2017

_____

*Later renamed the Old Economy Hotel in the late 1800s.

The curious carved pillars on Wagner Ave.

Pillar with the date "1884" on Wagner Ave.
April 16, 2016
credit: Nancy Knisley

Pillar with letters on Wagner Ave.
April 16, 2016
credit: Nancy Knisley

The 200 block of Ambridge's Wagner Ave. is a narrow, one-way street in the historic district, running between Church St. and Merchant St. The block is lined with a few modest non-Harmonist houses and not heavily traveled. If you did drive through it, you might not have even noticed the two tall stone pillars, one on either side of the steps in front of 269 Wagner.

269 Wagner Ave.
Google street view
October 2013

But if you were one of the street's occasional pedestrians, and particularly observant, you might have been struck by the odd pillars and stopped to take a better look. They are worn and look old and unlike anything else in Ambridge. On them, near the top, are carvings of six pointed stars, near the bottom are what appear to be letters. In addition, below their stars, the right pillar has the date 1884; the left, the letters "H" and "L" separated by a symbol. What do the carvings and letters mean? And why are the pillars in the tiny front yard of 269 Wagner where they seem out of place?

Here's what I know:

John Frederick (Fred) Knoedler, a stonemason by trade, helped carve the pillars. Fred and his wife, Katherine Kroll Knoedler, were long time employees of the Harmony Society, performing a variety of duties, but not Harmonists themselves.

The pillars originally stood in front of Economy School, built by the Harmony Society for the area's children. The letters "H" and "L" on one pillar stood for Jacob Henrici and Jonathan Lenz, the two Harmony Society trustees at the time the school was built in 1884, the year on the second pillar. (Beaver County Times, August 20, 1974)

The Economy School was built at the corner of what is now the northeast corner of Church and Laughlin Sts. You can see it in the left foreground of the photo below. The building to the right is the Blaine House, used as a school before the Economy School was built. The building in the background between the Blaine House and Economy School is Ambridge's Fourth Ward School.

"All Three Economy Schools"
Manuscript Group 354: Old Economy Village Collection
Photo Number 2404
courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Old Economy Village
used with permission

The photo below shows students in front of the Economy School in 1898. You can see the pillars on the sides of the student group.

"Economy School - 1898"
Manuscript Group 354: Old Economy Village Collection
Photo Number 2369
courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Old Economy Village
used with permission

The former Economy School building is now an apartment building:

Former Economy School building, now converted to apartments
1514 Church St.
April 6, 2016
credit: Nancy Knisley

After the Economy School was closed, its pillars were relocated, although I don't know when they ended up in front of 269 Wagner, once the home of Fred and Katherine Knoedler's daughters, Christiana Knoedler and Katherine Brown.

Christiana Knoedler standing with one of the pillars in front of her Wagner Ave. home
Beaver County Times
 August 20, 1974

The first Ambridge High School

Ambridge High School
740 Park Road
Daily Citizen supplement
August 10, 1929
courtesy Laughlin Memorial Library archives

The first Ambridge High School was built on Park Rd. in 1913-14, back-to-back with Second Ward School (later the Ambridge Recreation Center) which faced Maplewood. The High School opened in September 1914.

Before the first high school was built, high school students shared grade school buildings with younger students.*

Both junior and senior high students attended school in the Park Rd. building until a new Jr. High School was built on Duss Ave. in 1925. After the Jr. High opened, only Senior High students continued to attend school in the Park Rd. building until a new Senior High School annex was added to the Duss Ave. Jr. High School building. That addition opened in 1938.

Ambridge High School
740 Park Rd.
postcard

After the Senior High students moved to Duss Ave., the Park Rd. building became an elementary school called Park Road School.  In 1972, the Ambridge School Board closed Park Road School, and the building became the Ambridge Area School District Central Administrative Offices. In 2011, it became the location of the Center for Hope.

First Ambridge High School building,
later Park Road School,740 Park Rd.
November 20, 2013
copyright Nancy Knisley

At one time, Ambridge had eight school buildings crowded with students: First Ward, Second Ward, Fourth Ward, Harmony, Liberty, the first Ambridge High School (later Park Road School), Ambridge Jr. High School (later Ambridge Jr. - Sr. High School), and Anthony Wayne Elementary. Only two of those school buildings are still standing--the first High School/Park Road building and Anthony Wayne (although much altered from the original structure). Neither building is still used as a school by the Ambridge Area School District.
_____

* Information on the different Ambridge school buildings where high school students once attended classes is somewhat conflicting. As I continue to gather more information about the history of the Ambridge schools, I hope to accurately resolve the conflicts.

The 1955 Ambridge Golden Jubilee Program gave these dates:

• 1904 - 1912: Fourth Ward School;
• 1912 - 1913: First Ward School;
• 1913 - 1914: Harmony School.

The 1944 Bridger yearbook provided this information:

• 1904 - 1911: Fourth Ward School;
• 1911 - 1914: First Ward and Harmony buildings.