The American Bridge office building: going...gone!

The American Bridge office building that once looked like this:

"Main Office Building of American Bridge Works, Ambridge, Pa."
postcard
Fisher-M'Conegly  Post Card Co., Homestead, PA.
1903 or 1904?

and this:

American Bridge office building,
 uncredited photo,
1924 Centennial Souvenir Program

Now looks like this:

The rubble formerly known as the American Bridge office 4th St. wing,
February 26, 2014,
Credit: P.J. Shotter, used with permission

Thanks to Mike and P.J. Shotter for these photos of some of the last moments of the American Bridge office and the rubble that it became:

American Bridge office building,
4th Street wing,
last phase of demolition,
February 24, 2014,
credit: Mike Shotter, used with permission

American Bridge office building,
4th Street wing,
turned into dust and rubble,
last phase of demolition,
February 24, 2014
credit: Mike Shotter, used with permission

American Bridge office building,
4th Street wing,
last phase of demolition,
February 24, 2014,
credit: Mike Shotter, used with permission

American Bridge office building,
4th Street wing
last phase of demolition,
February 24, 2014,
credit: Mike Shotter, used with permission

The rubble formerly known as the American Bridge office 4th St. wing,
February 26, 2014,
Credit: P.J. Shotter, used with permission

The rubble formerly known as the American Bridge office,
February 26, 2014,
Credit: P.J. Shotter, used with permission

The rubble formerly known as the American Bridge office,
February 26, 2014,
Credit: P.J. Shotter, used with permission

The rubble formerly known as the American Bridge office,
February 26, 2014,
Credit: P.J. Shotter, used with permission

The State Theatre

"NEW PARKING LOT WILL BE ESTABLISHED AT THIS LOCATION"
State Theatre and State Luncheonette,
Merchant Street, Ambridge
Daily Citizen, January 27, 1959

The State Theatre was one of two movie theaters remaining on Merchant Street in the mid-1950s. The other was the Ambridge Theatre. The State was at 749 Merchant Street and the Ambridge at 714 Merchant Street.

[Update February 22, 2016: The October 6, 1944, Daily Times mentions in an article, "Ambridge Theatre Dispute In Court," about the lawsuit filed by the Penn Theatre's owner at that time, against the "former occupants of the Penn, now operating the recently-built State Theatre." The court's decision includes the information that the former operators of the Penn converted a garage building into the State Theatre.]

Ambridge had once had other movie theaters, including the Penn and the Prince, but those two closed in the early '50s.

According to the January 16, 1959, Daily Citizen, the Ambridge School Board planned to levy a five percent tax on the theaters. The theater owners warned that both the State and Ambridge theaters would close if that tax was imposed, and suggested a 10 percent tax on any shows costing more than 70 cents instead. I'm going to surmise that the theaters had many fewer shows costing more than 70 cents than they did shows costing 70 cents or less. The theater owners told the school board that if the theaters closed, 29 employees would lose their jobs.

The school board must have levied the five percent tax, because on January 26, the Daily Citizen announced that the Ambridge Parking Development Corporation planned to purchase the State Theatre, as well as the old Penn Theatre building on 5th and Merchant Street, to create parking lots.

[Update 6/17/14: photo below added

Closed State Theatre,
749 Merchant St. 
 plus State Luncheonette and Color Craft Paints
photo developed July 1959
photo courtesy Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Note written in bottom border of photo above says "State Theatre 700 Block West S. Ambridge Pa. Built in 1940s."]

In a May 1, 1959 article, the Daily Citizen reported, "Last night marked the passing of another Ambridge theater into time and memory as the State Theatre finished its final show."

I don't remember much about the State. I believe I may have gone there only a few times. I think I remember going to see Snow White there. I do remember going there with my father to see The Long, Long Trailer with Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The scene that stuck in my mind, because I thought it was absolutely hilarious, had Lucy trying to fry eggs while the trailer was at a steep slant, and the eggs kept sliding out of the pan and off the stove. The movie was released in 1953 when I would have been three years old. Do I really remember a movie I saw at age three? I'm doubtful. Perhaps the movie was part of a double feature I saw sometime later. I'm still looking for old State Theatre movie ads to try to find out.

The former location of the State Theatre is still a parking lot.

In 1965, the Ambridge Theatre also would close and a new building housing Pittsburgh National Bank was built on the site. The current driveway on the north side of Huntington Bank is approximately where the Ambridge Theatre once stood.

Ambridge History: The Grand Hotel and the Moose

I confess that unlike my co-blogger Robert Giles, I was not born a historian. I liked history. In fact, history was my favorite school subject. And I liked to read books about history and was fascinated by Old Economy and the story of the Harmonists who once lived there. But I never felt any real interest into digging into Ambridge's past.

When I grew up in Ambridge in the '50s and '60s, most of the buildings along the Merchant Street corridor looked old to me, so I simply assumed they were built on what had previously been Harmonist farmland. However, if I had thought about how young the town of Ambridge was, having been built after the American Bridge Company came to the area in 1903, my assumptions about what had existed before the buildings were built probably would have been only reinforced, but not because they were old, but because they weren't old. "These buildings are all so young, only about 50 years old. Of course, nothing was there before they were built except Harmonist fields and orchards."

Bottom line: in the '50s and '60s, I wasn't curious about the history of any of the buildings in Ambridge, except when I wondered why the old Divine Redeemer School building at 300 Merchant Street where I went to school, looked more like an old boarding house than a school.* A lack of curiosity I now seriously regret.

Now, I'm often surprised by what I discover as I learn more about Ambridge history.

Take this undated clipping** posted on Facebook by P.J. Shotter:

"THE OLD GRAND HOTEL,
formerly located at 13th St. and Merchant St., Ambridge."
newspaper clipping, source and date unknown

P.J. asked if anyone knew where the Grand Hotel had been: was it perhaps where Franzee's-Javy's currently is?

I thought, "Wow, that's an impressive building. What happened to it?"

Had the Grand Hotel been near the former Grand Restaurant which once had been located at 1231 Merchant Street? Or had it been on the other side of the street? There were no real clues until I found an article in The Daily Times, September 20, 1937. The headline reads: "Ambridge Blaze Razes Building."

According to the article, "One fireman was injured and damage estimated at $10,000 resulted when fire swept through the upper three floors of the four-story Moose temple, Merchant and Thirteenth streets, Ambridge, Sunday afternoon, routing 13 occupants of an adjoining house."

The article noted that "the Moose temple, built in 1903 was almost a complete loss."

According to the article, the adjoining house belonged to Michael Kensler who lived there with his wife, son, and 10 roomers.

The article goes on to say that the four-story brick building not only housed the Moose lodge, but also a restaurant on the first floor operated by Gus Kellas. And importantly, the article mentioned, "The building formerly was occupied by the Grand hotel."

Update 2/28/14: Wonderful postcard of the Grand Hotel:

Grand Hotel
Postcard
Date unknown

Even after reading the article about the fire, I didn't realize until recently that months before I started looking for information about the Grand Hotel, I'd already come across a photo of the building in Elise Mercur Wagner's Economy centennial book. 

"Moose Club,"
Economy Centennial Souvenir Program, Economy of Old and Ambridge of Today,
1924

I suspect that after the fire, the Moose built a new lodge where the old one had once stood, but I haven't found anything to confirm that yet. 

I remember the Moose Lodge at 1300 Merchant Street that has been home to Franzee's-Javy's since 1984. As a kid, I went to at least one wedding there, and my grandparents would sometimes take me with them when they played bingo there. 

But, back then, I didn't wonder if another building had preceeded the Moose building. I did, however, wonder why anyone would think hanging the head of a dead moose above the entryway was attractive "welcome" decor.

I don't know when or why the Ambridge Moose left the building. I couldn't find information on whether they closed, moved, or merged with another lodge. But I do know that apparently the Moose head found a new home with another Moose lodge.
_____

* I now know that before 1920, the old Divine Redeemer School was once the Davis Hotel, which explains a lot about that building.

** The clipping came from the collection of Lillian Turney, Ambridge High School Class of 1937, one of the first two women inducted into the Ambridge Sports Hall of Fame. The other woman was Marcella Spahr, a familiar name to about 40 years of Ambridge High School students.

The American Bridge office building: almost gone

American Bridge office building demolition,
4th Street wing,
February 21, 2014
credit: P. J. Shotter, used with permission

On February 21, P.J. Shotter shot more photos of the American Bridge office building's demolition. All that was left standing was the 4th Street wing. That will no doubt soon be gone. Then all we'll have left is photos and memories. (Oh, and I'll have a brick from the building that someone rescued from the rubble and is going to give me the next time I'm in Ambridge.)

American Bridge office building demolition,
4th Street wing,
February 21, 2014
credit: P. J. Shotter, used with permission

American Bridge office building demolition,
4th Street wing,
February 21, 2014
credit: P. J. Shotter, used with permission

American Bridge office building demolition rubble,
February 21, 2014
credit: P. J. Shotter, used with permission

   

American Bridge office building demolition,
4th Street wing,
February 21, 2014
credit: P. J. Shotter, used with permission

  

American Bridge office building demolition,
4th Street wing,
February 21, 2014
credit: P. J. Shotter, used with permission

The American Bridge office: Going up and coming down

The American Bridge office building under construction,
Beaver County Times, August 20, 1974

This is the way the American Bridge office building looked when it was going up in 1903.

The photo is from what appears to be a supplement to the Beaver County Times on August 20, 1974, celebrating Old Economy's 150th Anniversary. The photo isn't the best quality, but it's the only photo of the office's construction I've found so far.

The text under the photo says:

A 1903 construction photo of the Ambridge plant shows the main office building on Park Road. The plant had its beginning in 1900, when officials from the Berlin Iron Co. purchased 40 acres from the Harmony Society to build a steel fabrication facility.

Now, 110 years later, the building, empty for 30 years or so, neglected, vandalized, and deteriorating, is coming down. On November 30 and December 16, 2013, I posted photos documenting the condition of the office's exterior walls when their demolition hadn't yet started. These new photos from P.J. Shotter and Denise Kosis, taken last week, show the early stages of the demolition of the exterior. Soon, the great Ambridge building will be gone.

Thank you P.J. Shotter and Denise Kosis. More photos should be posted soon.

Demolition of American Bridge office building,
February, 2014,
credit: Denise Kosis, used with permission

Demolition of American Bridge office building,
February, 2014,
credit: P. J. Shotter, used with permission

Demolition of American Bridge office building,
February, 2014,
credit: P. J. Shotter, used with permission

Demolition of American Bridge office building,
February, 2014,
credit: Denise Kosis, used with permission

Demolition of American Bridge office building,
February, 2014,
credit: Denise Kosis, used with permission

Demolition of American Bridge office building,
February, 2014,
credit: P. J. Shotter, used with permission

Demolition of American office building,
February, 2014,
credit: Demise Kosis, used with permission

Demolition of American Bridge office building,
February, 2014,
credit: P. J. Shotter, used with permission