Scottdale Historical Society

04/16/2020

Scottdale Historical Society - Jane A Yuhouse Memorial Scholarship

The Scottdale Historical Society is extending the deadline for Southmoreland Seniors to apply for the Jane A. Yuhouse Memorial Scholarship.The new deadline to apply is Monday, May 4, 2020 and students should email their completed applications to the Southmoreland Guidance Office.

Information and application for the $1,000 scholarship can be found on our website.

The Jane A. Yuhouse Memorial Scholarship is offering up to a $1,000 scholarship to a graduating Southmoreland High School Senior(s) who shares similar interests and values as Jane.

03/17/2020

Happy St. Patrick's Day! "May your blessings outnumber the shamrocks that grow. And may trouble avoid you wherever you go." - Irish Blessing

03/12/2020

The Let's Talk Scottdale event on Thursday, March 26 has been postponed. Please continue to follow us here or on our website for updates.

03/08/2020

The next meeting of the Scottdale Historical Society will be held on Tuesday, March 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Historic Loucks Homestead. If you would like to get involved with our organization and with community activities, send us a message and we hope to see you there!

03/06/2020

Tomorrow is the Scottdale Police & FIreman Craft Show at the Fountain Mills Event Center. Show your support and plan to attend! https://www.facebook.com/events/fountain-mills-event-center/scottdale-police-firemen-craftvendor-show-fundraiser/1146649125516973/

The 1949 photo shows the Fire Department and Borough Building that was located on Everson and Graft Street. The flags, bunting, and 75th Anniversary banners were proudly displayed all over Scottdale. The men standing on the far right are in front of the arched top fire station doors that faced Everson Ave. and the 1920's LaFrance fire truck was parked on the Graft Street side of the building.

The mall project of 1969-1970 razed many of the buildings in this area and that intersection no longer remains. To understand that location today, stand between the Gazebo and the Library looking towards Broadway. Graft street was in that area and Everson was located in the spot where the Rite Aid building is now located. The concrete platform to the left of the Rite Aid building is where the Borough Office scales were located, used to weigh the borough's trucks.

03/02/2020

Scottdale Historical Society - Jane A Yuhouse Memorial Scholarship

Attention graduating Southmoreland Seniors! You have 50 days remaining to submit your applications to the Guidance Office for the Jane A. Yuhouse Memorial Scholarship. Applicants who meet the requirements can receive up to a $1,000 scholarship. For more information or to download the application, please visit our website. https://www.scottdalehistoricalsociety.com/about-us-1/scholarships/jane-a-yuhouse-memorial-scholarship/

The Jane A. Yuhouse Memorial Scholarship is offering up to a $1,000 scholarship to a graduating Southmoreland High School Senior(s) who shares similar interests and values as Jane.

02/29/2020

This circa 1965 photo shows the north side of Pittsburgh Street. Looking left to right you see Ray's Barber Shop followed by the Bixler Agency, where you could conduct your insurance needs. Followed by Brown's Record Center, a very popular business known by everyone in town; the place to purchase your record of your favorite recording artist. The three story building was the original Hill House once a hotel and many other businesses/office on the upper floors. The area is now the Gazebo park area and home of the Scottdale Bank and Trust.

The Historical Society is looking for photos and home movies of town. We are in need of video/recordings of the downtown area, from the 1940's through present day. Please share your archives by submitting information
to the Scottdale Historical Society, P.O. Box 400, Scottdale, PA 15683 or emailing us at [email protected]

02/27/2020

This picture is a "BIG DEAL" in many ways. Shown are three unidentified mill workers dressed up in their Sunday best standing inside a massive pipe at the U.S. Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry.

The U.S. Cast Iron Pipe and Foundry was founded by the Loucks and Overholt families in 1885 and grew to be Scottdale's largest industry employing nearly 1500 workers. The Pipe Mill manufactured the world's largest seamless pipe. The pipe from this facility were shipped all over the country used to supply gas and water to major cities.

02/25/2020

A few weeks ago we shared a photo of the 1921 Scottdale Football team. Ms. Holly Stoner Barclay was going through old family albums and came across these three photos. The photo from 1933-34 shows her grandfather John D. Skemp, bottom row fifth from the left. If anyone can identify any of the other athletes or has additional information, please share it with us.

02/23/2020

Barbara Elaine Smith, was born on August 24, 1949, in Everson, Pennsylvania.

Her mother, Florence, was a maid and her father, William, a steelworker.
She was raised in the Scottdale area, and attended Southmoreland High School; graduating in 1967.

Smith, professionally known as B. Smith, was a trailblazer for African Americans. Through her success as a fashion model, restaurateur, author, businesswoman and television host for her show "B Smith with Style". She appeared on five covers of Essence magazine and was the first African American model to grace the cover of Mademoiselle. In 2001 she launched her line of merchandise and in 2009 was honored by Black Entertainment Television.

Barbara also remembered her high school, by forming Southmoreland's first Home Economics Club. Mrs. Leafy Jane Curley was the Home Economics instructor at the time, and would beam with pride when Smith's name was mentioned. Many of the school's students had Vogue patterns
of dresses that Smith had modeled. B also donated many of her cookbooks to the school.

In 2014 Smith revealed an Alzheimer's diagnosis, she opened up about living with the disease in a 2016 book, "Before I Forget: Love, Hope, Help, And Acceptance in Our Fight Against Alzheimer's."

Smith's husband confirmed that she passed away Saturday, February 22, 2020 at home. He stated, Heaven is shining even brighter now that it is graced with B.'s dazzling and unforgettable smile."

The Scottdale Historical Society extends our deepest sympathies to B Smith's family and friends. We are proud to list her life's achievements, and to say she is one of our hometown friends.

(Photo courtesy of the Rosen Group)

02/23/2020

We recently received this photo from Ms. Becky Saunders Johnson showing Mrs. Grimm's fourth grade class from North Grade School in 1954-55. Share your stories with us below and other school photos at [email protected]

02/21/2020

Sam Bair WWII Interview

The Scottdale Historical Society recently received a collection of recordings of World War II Veterans from Mr. Robert Percy. We are currently digitizing these files so we can share them with everyone.

Mr. Percy produced these recordings over the years as a dedication to our Veterans of World War II and also compiled these interviews into the book "Profiles of Service and Sacrifice".

Our first interview of Mr. Sam Bair is now available on our website and we will continue to add more of Mr. Percy's interviews over the course of the year. This interview took place on February 21, 1974.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I_aZYvLjd4

We will also place these interviews on our website https://www.scottdalehistoricalsociety.com/people-places-things/people/wwii-veteran-interviews/

This recording was conducted by Mr. Bob Percy, a history teacher at Southmoreland High School, with Mr. Sam Bair on February 21, 1974. This interview focuses...

02/19/2020

St. John's Church & School Then and Now.

The circa 1955 photo shows the St. John's Church and School located on south Broadway. The Church was razed to build the new school in the early 1960's.

The original school located where the parking area is today was a two story structure. As the school grew the third floor was added to accommodate the High School students.

02/14/2020

Oh the memories of roller skating at Steiner’s! The corner game, the fast skate, the Congo and of course the ALL skate. Owners Bill and Genieve “Gen” Steiner were Scottdale’s biggest baby sitter having over 300 children pass through their doors in a weekend. The Steiner’s would plan special events for Halloween, Christmas, and of course Valentine’s Day.

These photos from 1963 show the Valentine Queen Lyana Bricker and her court Debbie Sarver and Debbie Horvath. The skating rink’s Kings of Hearts: Andy Kozar, _____ Zimmerman, Ron Clark, and Charles Stoner.

A special thanks to Mrs. Gen Steiner for sharing her families photos with us.

02/09/2020

The next meeting of the Scottdale Historical Society is on Tuesday, February 11 at 6:30 p.m. at the historic Loucks Homestead. Join us and learn even more about the home, our town history and ways you can get involved!

This circa 1890's photo shows the Loucks Homestead, now owned by the Scottdale Historical Society. Rev. Martin Loucks acquired a large portion of his family's farm after the death of his parents; Peter and Anna (Overholt) Loucks. Martin built the home in 1835, where he lived with his wife Nancy (Stauffer) and their children. The large brick home was built in the federal style I plan, that has a center hall and two rooms on either side. The home was large and grand for it's day, as was the 160-180 acre farm stretching from Jacobs Creek to Stonersville (now Alverton). Upon the death of Martin, his son Peter S. Loucks (S for Stauffer) became the home's owner. Peter S. married Mary Boyd from Mt. Pleasant and during that timeline he remodeled the home in the Victorian style which was the style of the day in the 1880's. The Louck's Homestead is one of the oldest (if not the oldest) surviving home in Scottdale. The Homestead remained the possession of Loucks family descendants for 150 years, from 1835 until 1985.

02/05/2020

The Pennsylvania and Baltimore and Ohio had both build side lines into Scottdale. Both the passenger and freight stations were located on South Broadway, at the southwest corner of Broadway and Pittsburgh Streets, both structures were built in the 1880’s. The original passenger station was located where the vacant Sheetz is today. The Freight station was located where the current train station is today.

The then photo, circa 1970 photo shows Scottdale’s original freight station, razed in the 1980’s. In the now photo, shows the current train station, built by the Laurel Highlands Railroad in the 1990’s and ceased operation around 2010.

Can anyone identify the people in the photo? Please submit your photos of the original train station to the Scottdale Historical Society so we can continue to preserve our towns history.

02/03/2020

This 1916 photo shows the horse drawn heating oil truck from the Freedom Oil Works. They had a storage warehouse located on the lower side of Fourth Ave. and supplied oil to stores and homes in the area. This image was taken on the Scottdale Dawson Road. The driver is Ed Gordon and the boy is Charles Brown, who lived at 9 Fourth Ave. The storage supply building was razed in the 1930’s.

02/01/2020

This weekend is the big football game and we wanted to share this photo of the Scottdale football team.

The 1921 Scottdale Football team poses on the bleachers at Loucks Park. Nearly 100 years years later, many of the names are still familiar to Scottdale residents.

First row L. to R. J. Reynolds, T. Coleman, L. Jarrett, P. Morrow, J. Zimmerman, A. Osterwise, B. Mock, B. Collins.

Second Row: L. to R. L. Goldenson, H. Smail, B. Barkell, J. Ruth, W. Palmer, D. Maloy, J. W. Brooks, A. Maloy, P. Dickson, S. Boyle.

Third Row L-R. S. Bulick, O. Smail, D. Ruth, C. Pritchard, E. Robbins, J. Kunkle, Bud English, J. Ulrey, W. Soles, S. Reed

Share your sports stories and photos with us at [email protected] so we can continue to preserve Scottdale's history.

01/30/2020

The U.S. Cast and Iron Pipe Foundry was located where Duraloy is today. The massive seamless pipes were used all over the country. As you can see to the left of the steam powered crane, the endless stacks of pipe. This photo was taken in 1918. The crew members are: L-R.: Major Brown, Logan Shupe, unknown, David Randel, George (Judd) Rice, unknown, unknown.

If anyone knows who the unknown workers are, please share their names with us in the comments below or email us at [email protected]

01/28/2020

The area shown in this circa 1900 photo may be difficult to locate today.

The photographer would be standing on the railroad tracks along North Broadway looking South, in the area where the Armory is today. The silos to the left were part of the Scottdale Lumber Company, later the Ruth Lumber Company. The building to the left under the bridge construction would be the Feed Mill, the elevated section was part of the grain elevator that was lost to fire in the late 1950's. That section of the mill was located where Mongell Tire is today.

The triple line of railroad tracks and busy construction depict Scottdale's industrial boom. The trestle construction was part of the West Penn Railways (WPR) trolley trackage. The WPR was charted in 1904, a separate company from it's parent West Penn Power. The electric trolleys operated through our well populated mining region connecting towns with hourly transport from McKeesport, Latrobe to Greensburg, Mt Pleasant, Connellsville, Scottdale, Uniontown, Fairchance and Martin. Some of WPR predecessor trolley companies operated as early as 1889, and remained in service until August 9, 1952, when its last trolley ran on its one time busiest Uniontown to Greensburg line. Not only did the WPR make transportation more accessible to the rural areas along it's route. Many households with enterprising residents tapped onto the electric lines offering their home's first electric light bulb, and other modern marvels of the time.

A special thank you to Tinkey Nist for sharing this image.

01/26/2020

The circa 1954 photo of the Scottdale Independent Observer building was located on Grant Street. The current area behind the Scottdale Library near the community pool building. The I.O is a merger of two Scottdale newspapers; The Scottdale Independent and the Scottdale Observer. Both papers had many locations and owners over it's 141 year history.

History of the Independent;
The borough of Scottdale had been incorporated for only 5 years, when the Scottdale Independent was printed weekly in 1879. The publisher and editor was John R. Byrne of Everson. He later became interested in politics and served Fayette County as a representative for the state Legislature. The Independent was devoted to local news and was a champion to the cause of organized labor with the miners, and coke drawers. As the coal and coke industry flourished the paper followed the policy of the Miner's Record, the name of it's predecessor that was first published under the name of Byrne and Welshons. The first office and plant of the Independent was located on the second floor of the Campbell building located on the corner of Broadway and Market Street. (today known as the Eagles, across from the train station.) The paper shared the second floor of the Campbell Building with the first office of the H. C. Frick Co. until that office outgrew the space and build the offices Broadway and Walnut. The Independent also continued to grow and was known as the leader for the Knights of Labor, who's membership mostly consisted of miners and Coke drawers. W. Newton Porter became a partner with Byrne and the paper and was then owned by the firm Bryne and Porter. Later the firm was bought by Hiram B. Strickler a civil engineer and W.Scott Lane a real-estate and insurance man who then moved the office to the corner of Pittsburgh Street and Broadway (location of Carson's today) then later they moved to the Eicher building on the corner of Pittsburgh Street and Chestnut Street (where the New Hope Ministries is today). In 1888 the Independent moved their offices to the area on Broadway where Graft Auto Repair is today. By 1902 the new owners were Rev. J. W. Moody and Rev.
Aaron Loucks. At that time the Independent became a daily newspaper. The newspaper then moved to Grant Street in 1905, that building is shown in this 1954 photo.

History of the Observer;
The Scottdale Observer began publication on June 7, 1900. They were located in the Strawn Building on Bridge Street. The eight column, four page weekly newspaper was named and founded by C. S. Donaldson. Over the 24 years of eventful life the Observer found a permanent place in many homes due to the high ideals of it's founder. Donaldson sold the business on April 16, 1903 to H. C. Wilson who moved the business to the Rutherford Building. By October 12, 1907 the paper was sold to it's third owner J. Howard Cramer who stayed at the old location until 1910 when the observer moved to Spring Street. Cramer published the Observer until his death, October 21, 1922. The paper was then run by his estate until December 1923. In 1923, a new paper started publication, The Scottdale News. After a few months of publications, the Scottdale News purchased the Scottdale Observer on Dec. 21, 1923. The consolidation of those papers became the Scottdale News-Observer and that paper was managed by Ivan Hernley.

On January 26, 1926 the two newspapers, the Scottdale Independent and the Scottdale News-Observer consolidated and the two merged papers became the Scottdale Independent Observer.

The Scottdale Independent Observer continued to grow with new owners and locations over the years and still serves our community today. A note of the thanks to the Independent Observer for their continued service to our community.