French Point Hotel, 1891 - 1902

French Point Hotel
Economy PA
Manuscript Group 354: Old Economy Village Collection
Photo Number 390
courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Old Economy Village
used with permission

The French Point Hotel was built in 1891, during the waning days of the Harmony Society's existence, at the northern edge of what is now Ambridge--but was then Economy--approximately where Merchant St. currently intersects with Ohio River Blvd. (Rt. 65).

The hotel was one of the important buildings in the historical bridge linking Economy with Ambridge

"Economy Hotel (New)"
French Point Hotel
Economy PA
Manuscript Group 354: Old Economy Village Collection
Photo Number 624
courtesy of Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Old Economy Village
used with permission

The vintage panorama below shows the French Point Hotel on the far left. The Harmony Society's lumberyard is on the right, below the hotel. The hotel's being located near the lumberyard led to the hotel's destruction on April 23, 1902.

"Lumber Works. Economy PA."
French Point Hotel (left) above Harmony Society's lumberyard
courtesy Laughlin Memorial Library Archives

Local historian Bill Bowan wrote information about the photo in the bottom margin:

W. K. Shafer Family purch. Hotel from Harmony Socy. 1895. Lumberyard & Hotel burned down in the same fire 1900-1901.

The fire began at the lumberyard, eventually spreading one to two acres, destroying the hotel, lumberyard, and several outbuildings. The source of the fire was thought to be a spark from a passing train engine. So Bowan was right about the fire, but not the year the fire happened.

Although described as the setting for "many brilliant functions...by society people of Pittsburg and Sewickley," the hotel, fortunately, had been vacant for at least five weeks at the time of the fire. (Pittsburg Commercial Journal, April 24, 1902). The reason the building was unoccupied was that it was in the process of being converted into a sanitarium of some kind. A train car of goods for the new sanitarium was also destroyed in the fire.

Previously, the hotel had been a popular stopping point for cycling groups traveling along "the Beaver road." (The Pittsburgh Press, Aug. 22, 1898; May 13, 1899).

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Update:
The following information was written as a Facebook post on the Old Economy Village's page on September 18, 2020, by the curator Sarah Kirschensteiner Buffington. Sarah has given me permission to add it to this blog post. It contains information I didn't know until I read Sarah's post: 

Did you know there was another hotel at Economy?  The French Point Hotel was built in 1891 just north of Economy at what was known as French Point.  That was where the Harmonists landed when they arrived in 1824 to their new land.  The location of the hotel is thought to be where Merchant Street enters Ohio River Boulevard.
  

The story of the hotel is not well known at all, and was in fact part of the testimony for the Schwartz vs. Duss court case of 1900.  The "Feucht Faction" (descendants of the infamous Hildegard Mutschler Feucht always feuding with John Duss for control of the Society) claimed that Duss built the "big house" for Cyrus Reed Teed, who claimed that he was God.  Teed supposedly had "spies" at Economy to learn all about the Harmony Society so that he could come in and claim all of their money.  Teed did indeed come to visit in 1892.  Duss on the other hand said that Jacob Henrici had the building built as a boarding house for saw mill workers.

The structure cost $10,000-12,000, had 23-26 rooms, electric lighting, hot air heating, hardwood floors, and was completely furnished.  All of this was very significant at the time and very lavish for boarders of a sawmill.  Who would you believe?

The building was not operated as a hotel until 1896, when Lorenzo D. Schafer leased it from the Harmony Society.  It was a favorite spot for people from Sewickley to Rochester to stay during bike outings and such during the summer.  The hotel was famous for its chicken and waffle dinners.  It closed about 1899.

The French Point Hotel burned on April 23, 1902 reportedly as a result of a spark flying from a passing train that caught a lumber shed on fire.  The flames spread quickly up the hill to the hotel.  No one was there at the time, and the building was empty.  There had been plans to turn it into a sanitarium.  Supplies for its new purpose were sitting in a train car on a siding and also burned.

It is interesting to note that the building burned on the last day of testimony at the appeal of the court case in the United States Supreme Court. 
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Since the French Point Hotel was destroyed in 1902, it could not have been one of two hotels where travelers might have stayed in 1906 as stated in the book Ambridge by Larry R. Slater.
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Ambridge trivia: Jim Holman, the current owner of the K & N Restaurant, 755 Merchant St., is a descendant of the Shafer family who owned the French Point Hotel. I know this because while I was in K & N one lunchtime, Mr. Holman came out from the kitchen to show me a framed copy of the panorama above and told me that his family had owned the hotel. He added that he had a much larger version of that photo at home.
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Thank you to Jeffrey Snedden, the writer of the "Histories & Mysteries" column for the Beaver County Times, for his invaluable help in finding information about the fire that destroyed the French Point Hotel.

The Ambridge Savings and Trust Co. buildings

Ambridge Savings and Trust buildings
5th and Merchant Sts.
circa 1920s
Louis Vukovcan collection
courtesy Jackie Vukovcan

The three-story, red brick Ambridge Savings and Trust Co. (AS&TC) building on the northeast corner of 5th and Merchant Sts. is reputed to have been the first building constructed on Merchant St. in Ambridge. While there were older buildings further north on Merchant, in the area of 14th St., those buildings were in built in what was still Economy, not Ambridge.

The AS&TC, advertised as "The Oldest Bank in Ambridge," was chartered in 1902, and opened for business in 1903--two years before Ambridge was incorporated.

The upper floors of the AS&TC building were the location of some historically notable Ambridge events: The organizational meeting of Ambridge's Methodist Church was held there in 1903. In January 1904, the first Roman Catholic mass in Ambridge was celebrated there. Also in 1904, the young Ambridge Citizen newspaper opened an office there.

In 1911, AS&TC built and moved into an elegant two-story limestone building next door to its first one. You can see it immediately to the left of the original building in the photo above and the postcard below.

Ambridge's first Post Office building had been on 5th St., adjacent to the back of the first AS&TC building. Sometime after AS&TC moved into its new building next door, the post office took over the older one on the corner. It didn't stay there long; by 1923, the post office had moved into a building on the southeast corner of 7th and Merchant Sts.

Ambridge's post office (right) and 1911 Ambridge Savings and Trust Co. building to the left
5th and Merchant Sts., northeast corner
circa 1920s

You can see both the original AS&TC building and the 1911 building on the right side of the photo of the intersection of 5th and Merchant Sts. in the photo below.

"COR. 5th & MERCHANT BEFORE BEING REPAVED.
NOTE THE DOUBLE TRACK AND ROUGH STREET."
5th and Merchant Sts. looking north
circa 1920s
Louis Vukovcan collection
courtesy Jackie Vukovcan

Here's what that same intersection looked like not long ago:

5th and Merchant Sts. looking north
credit: P. J. Fletcher Shotter, used with permission

According to notes left by the late local historian William (Bill) Bowan, Ambridge Savings & Trust later remodeled both the brick and limestone buildings to create a single, large Ambridge Savings & Trust headquarters building.

At one time, Ambridge Savings & Trust reportedly had the largest deposits of any bank in Beaver County (Economy Centennial Souvenir Program, 1924). Like many banks, it ran into financial trouble during the depression and reorganized in 1933. According to Bowan, it became The Economy Bank of Ambridge.

Economy Bank of Ambridge
5th and Merchant Sts., northeast corner
1967 Ambridge Bridger yearbook

That beautiful Economy Bank of Ambridge building was razed in 1984; its location is now the drive-through of WesBanco bank. The only part of the AS&TC/Economy Bank building that remains are its gates, incorporated into the Merchant St. side of the drive-through.
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Update February 2, 2018: I thought I should add that I've been puzzled about the dates of the postcard and the undated photo at the top of the blog article.

From the cars, I would have said that the postcard was older. But the postcard also shows the corner building is the post office, which as the article says, moved into the building for a few years after the Savings and Trust Co. moved out.

On the other hand, the photo shows that the Savings and Trust Co. is in the corner building. Maybe it shows a period after the Savings and Trust Co. moved back into the building before remodeling the facade and converting it and the smaller building next to it into one large building. 

Joseph Spagnolo Fruits and Vegetables circa 1920

Joe Spagnolo & Co.
501 Merchant St.
circa 1920s
courtesy Beaver County Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation

The only information identifying the photo above that I found in the Beaver County Historical Research and Landmarks Foundation's archives was "Joe Spagnolo, 501 Merchant." I'd love to know who the three people in the photo are.

Joe Spagolo & Co. ad
Economy of Old and Ambridge of Today
1924

Joe Spagnolo was in business for many years, but he didn't start his fruit and vegetable business at 501 Merchant St., and he didn't end up there either. Like many early Ambridge merchants, he moved his business several times.

I don't know where Spagnolo's business was located in 1903, or over a decade after that. The earliest address I could connect to a date was 514 Merchant, published in the Telephone Directory of the Central District Telephone Co., Jan. 10, 1914.

However, in 1914, 514 Merchant was an address on the west side of Merchant. In 1917, building numbers on Merchant were changed, with the odd and even numbers switching sides of the street. After that, buildings on the west side of Merchant had odd numbers. The building that had been numbered 514 Merchant became 523 Merchant.

By the 1920s, Spagnolo had moved his business to 501 Merchant. The 1922 Beaver County Mercantile Appraiser's List shows his business there.

Joe Spagnolo & Co. ad
St. Stanislaus Church dedication book
1928
Good Samaritan Church archives

In the 1930s, Spagnolo had moved again, to 659 Merchant St.

Joe Spagnolo Company ad
United Polish Societies commemorative book
1930
Good Samaritan Church Archives

By 1949, Spagnolo was again at a different location, 4th and Maplewood. Does anyone know which corner?

J. Spagnolo & Co. Fruit Market ad
"Minstrel Varieties" program
Ushers Club of St. Veronica's Church
1949
Good Samaritan Church archives

The 4th and Maplewood address for Spagnolo's fruit market is the last I have found. I don't know if the market moved again, or closed. If anyone can provide that information, please let me know.

People who grew up in Ambridge in the 1940s - 70s, may remember 501 Merchant as the location of the Penn Sweet Shop.

American Bridge emergency ice deflector 1936

"Emergency Ice Deflector"
south end of barge yard
American Bridge Co., Ambridge Plant
February 29, 1936
courtesy Laughlin Memorial Library archives

In February 1936, bitterly cold temperatures caused the Ohio River to freeze over, and a gigantic, frozen-in-place "ice gorge" 15 miles long formed in the river, from the Dashields Lock at Edgeworth north to Vanport.

After several days of subzero temperatures, slowly rising temperatures at the end of the month caused the gorge to break free and the mass of ice started moving north. The ice swept away docked barges and scoured the shoreline. There were fears that if the gorge stopped moving along its journey, any ice following behind it would have no place to go but ashore, damaging or destroying anything in its path. Which may explain American Bridge's "emergency ice deflector."

Following the progress of the the huge chunk of ice floating downstream turned into quite a spectator event, viewed by approximately half a million people (The Daily Times, February 27, 1936). The large crowds caused traffic tie-ups in Rochester and Vanport. The ice gorge finally broke up at the still under construction Montgomey Dam, helped along by the Army Corps of Engineers who had "blasted" the north end of the gorge with dynamite over several days.

Charles Kristufek's two stores, 1903 and 1908

In 1889, Karoly Kristufek, then 13 years old, was sent, alone, by his Slovak family to live with an acquaintance in America. The boy, a trained harness maker, learned English while aboard ship, according to his grandson, the late Karl Urda, who provided the information for this blog post. Upon arriving at Ellis Island, the boy's first name was Americanized to Charles.

Charles Kristufek first lived in McKees Rocks, where he worked in a dairy, as a handyman, and eventually started building homes. In 1902, the American Bridge Co. needed builders to construct homes for the workers then building the new American Bridge plant on land along the Ohio River formerly owned by the Harmony Society. So Kristufek started building homes in the area that would become Ambridge.

Kristufek not only ended up building many of the homes and business buildings between Ambridge's First and Fourth Sts., but he also built Divine Redeemer's church and convent, and his own general store. Although the store is now gone, many of the homes and other buildings are still standing and in use.

During his life, Kristufek opened, and later sold, his own bank; built the first water works in Ambridge; became a borough councilman; opened a real estate and insurance company; and started the Economy Lumber and Building Company.

I'm going to focus only on Kristufek's stores in this post.

The first store, a wooden frame building, shown below, was built in 1903 at the intersection of First and Merchant Sts.

Chas. Kristufek General Store
300 First St.
circa 1903
courtesy Karl Urda

The man at the far left in the photo is Charles Kristufek. To his right are his wife, the former Mary Skapik; their daughters, Carrie and Bertha; Mary Skapik; Steve Skapik; George Roman; and an unidentified store clerk.

The first floor, facing First St., was a general store, selling among other items groceries, meat, hardware, and stoves. Kristufek had a small office in the store where he provided Slovak translation services, would send money back to Europe for people, plus he helped arrange for railroad and steamship tickets. The second floor was used for Slovak Catholic Church services before Divine Redeemer bought property for a church.

The large addition to the rear of the building was a three-story rooming house, with its first level on Bank St., to the south of First St. The rooming house had 20 - 25 rooms, and offered bed and meals for the new American Bridge workers. Well, it provided a bed for 12 hours. The rooming house was a "hot bed" place, with one bed being shared by two men in alternating 12-hour shifts. The sheets were changed "at least every 10 days."

That building was destroyed by a fire, replaced by a three-story brick building in 1908.

Charles Kristufek's second store
300 First St.
circa 1908
courtesy Karl Urda

The above photo shows Charles Kristufek on the right, and on the left his daughters Carrie, Mathilda, and Bertha.

As you can see from the window advertising, the new store carried dry goods, notions, hats, caps, and shoes. And by that time, more of Kristufek's business was focused on foreign exchange services and selling steamship tickets. Kristufek no longer provided hot bed rooming.

The second store was razed in the late 1950s.

Sometime circa 1910, Kristufek opened a bank in the 100 block of Merchant St., pictured below. If I can find more information, I'll write about the bank in a later post.

Charles Kristufek's bank
100 block Merchant St.
circa 1910
courtesy Karl Urda

Charles Kristufek died of a stroke in 1943. His daughter, Bertha, and son-in-law, John Urda, took over Charles Kristufek's insurance and real estate business at 405 Merchant St. as "The Kristufek Agency." Their son, Karl, was still offering commercial property appraisals from that location when I was fortunate enough to meet and spend some time with him in August 2016.  Karl Urda died on March 9, 2017.
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Charles Kristufek's brother, Stephen, also operated a store in Ambridge, a large department store at the triangular intersection of Beaver and Merchant Sts. I wrote what I then knew about Stephen's store in the August 14, 2015, blog post, "Ambridge's triangle buildings--there was more than one." I now have more photos and more information about Stephen's store, and I'm planning on writing more about it, I hope soon.