TH E/ STO, Published by the Crafton Historical Society _, II _ r:iN " ~c~: SF ~I he fact that I spent the first five years of my life in Crafton and have worked here for the last six years in my husband's architectural office in the historic Creighton House hardly qualifies me to write the history of Crafton. Actually I was assigned the task by Pam Chapple, the second president of the Crafton Historical Society, and I accepted because I wanted to learn more about the place where my grandfather was born in 1848 and where he brought his own family to live in 1896 in a new house at 85 North Emily Street. Researching the c.1910 Campbell Land Office Building and preparing its nomination to the National Register of Historic Places gave me a taste of what life was like in Crafton's heyday, but did not satisfy my appetite. Reading Harry Meredith's reminiscences helped to fill me in on the period between the Civil War and 1930, but there was no written record of this particular part of the Chartiers Valley before or after that, and I wanted to try to fill in these gaps. The last chapter on the past 70 years is based largely on what present and former residents, many of whom I have yet to meet, have told me, and partially on my own memory. I apologize for any omissions, mistakes or misinterpretations I may have made, and I encourage corrections from readers so that we can set the record straight. Unfortu nately there is no complete collection of any local newspapers that have served the area either in the Crafton Library or any other library, but some of the information was gathered from old clippings, lovingly preserved and loaned to me. Perhaps circulating this book will bring more clippings, diaries, photos and mementos out of the attics and into the possession of the Crafton Historical Society or the Crafton Library. Acknowledgements Betsy Martin 2 ~ The Story of Crafton The resting place of the Second Ward School clock. Club had begun the tradition of planting street trees in 1911. One of the Commission's first efforts was planting 153 flowering pear trees along the Steuben Street corridor and decorating the entrance to the swimming pool with plantings. After the First and Third Ward schools were torn down in the mid-seventies, the land reverted to the Borough. They hired the landscape architectural firm of Griswold, Winters, and Swain to design pocket playgrounds for the neighborhood children, ironically on the site of schools that had never had adequate play space. The Borough also purchased the streetcar right-of-way along upper Crafton Boulevard and the hardworking crew from the Street Department planted beds at each end connected by a walking trail. It gave a pleasant, tree-lined approach to the town. More recently the flagpole circle in front of the municipal building has been planted with spring, summer and fall flowers. There are 13 flower beds throughout the community and neighbors are encouraged to help maintain them. They are indeed a source of pride in a town that shows it cares. On May 12, 1989, the Commission celebrated Arbor Day for the first time and it continues to do so. In fact, Crafton has been recognized by the State Forestry Department as a "Tree City, U.S.A." The Town Clock is Sold The Second Ward School, renamed the Parke Street School by Carlynton, had burned down just days before it, too, was to be demol ished in 1978. There did not seem to be any interest in the community in keeping at least the E. Howard round-top clock from the roof of the landmark school, the clock that had caused such a controversy when it was erected some seventy years "earlier. The School District offered it for sale and a Mr. Richard Brush, who recognized its historic value, bought it for him and his sons to restore. They dismantled and removed the clock before the fire, but they were unable to get the 1000 pound bell. The clock, twice rejected by Crafton, today sits in a somewhat diminished position atop Mr. Brush's garage in the North Hills. The fire in the midst of a residential neighborhood was one of the worst the volunteer firemen have ever encountered. Arson was suspected. 92 ~ The Story of Crafton s a:. *:i IBq Xlu c~F The Changing Political Scene There were some interesting political developments in Crafton during the sixties and seventies. Mary Ogilvie, the first woman to serve on Crafton's Council, was elected president in the early sixties, auguring what would be a groundswell of women running for political office. There have been women of both parties elected to both Council and School Board ever since; in fact, today Susan O'Connell is president of Council and Ann Rago is the immediate past-president of the Carlynton School Board. Perhaps even more remarkable in a town rooted in Republican conservatism was the election of attorney Larry Gaitens, a Democrat, as mayor in 1970. By 1978, the Democrats controlled Council and Jim Voye was elected president for three consecutive terms. This happened during the period when there were Republican administrations in the White House. It may have been advantageous in getting County support for local projects to have Council controlled by the same party that controlled Allegheny County government. Cooperative Efforts in Government It became increasingly evident in the sixties and seventies that there were problems affecting many communities that could be better solved with joint efforts and resources. The periodic flooding in the Chartiers Valley was a case in point. Some localities along the creek were affected more than others, but none could hope to prevent floods on their own. Under the leadership of Congressman Jim Fulton, a Flood Control Authority, with representation from the communities involved, was formed in 1967. The Army Corps of Engineers conducted a study and executed the work. Each abutting municipality was assessed according to a formula, but most of the creek dredging, rechanneling and bank stabilization was paid for by the Federal Government. The Corps continues to monitor the flow of water in the Creek and maintains it as necessary, with the cost prorated among the members of the Authority. The formation of a Council of Governments, or COG, in 1970 built on the success of the cooperative efforts of the Flood Control Authority. The County encouraged neighboring boroughs and townships to send representatives to the Council to discuss mutual The Automobile Age ~ 93 problem and seek joint solutions. Joint purchasing of supplies and equipment netted immediate saving for the COG members. County assistance for local projects of all sorts, storm sewer maintenance, road paving, curb cuts for the handicapped and demolition of abandoned buildings was channeled through the COG. A professional manager was hired to administer the projects and seek grants for funding. Elsie Merriman, representing Crafton's Council, became the first president of the West Hills and Valleys COG, which later merged with the South Hills group to become the Car-West COG. Crafton, Rosslyn Farms, Ingram and Thomburg went one step further and decided to form what would be one of the first joint planning commissions in Pennsylvania in 1982. The State mandated that each community develop a comprehensive plan on which to base new zoning and subdivision ordinances. None of the four felt they had the money or the know-how to prepare such plans on their own. With the help and guidance of Morgan Kronk, an engineer who served on Crafton's Planning Commission, they hired students and faculty from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at Pitt to gather data and recommend a plan. Only three of the four Boroughs adopted the final plan. Ingram withdrew. The seven members of the commission, three from Crafton and two each from Rosslyn Farms and Thornburg, continue to have monthly meetings to review proposals for development and subdivisions and make recommendations to their respective Borough Councils. Redevelopment in Crafton Redevelopment in Crafton's "core." Before the Joint Planning Commission was in place, the condition of the core area of Crafton between Station Street and Noble Avenue was worsening. Even the library, which had moved to Station Street from the Borough Building in 1959, moved out in 1971, to larger quarters in the space it still occupies on Crafton Avenue, the former home of the Canteen. The First Presbyterian Church property was for sale, the Silk Apartments burned down and those businesses remaining were marginal. A survey conducted by the Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority found the assessments in the so-called business district were the lowest in town. The Authority showed the Borough how the dilapidated and uneconomic properties could be acquired and the land cleared for developers who would in turn get tax breaks to put up new 94 * The Story of Crafton structures with higher assessments. With some skepticism, the Council decided it was better than doing nothing. To date three projects have been completed: two office buildings built by companies for their own use, and one developed as an rental complex. The County also financed a facade improvement plan for the older remaining buildings, but owners have been reluctant to carry it out. The Senior Citizen Hi-Rises The 1970 census confirmed the population of Crafton, and Allegheny County as a whole, was declining and aging. There was a crying need for subsidized rental housing for the elderly here and elsewhere. (Low rent public housing had been available in nearby Brodhead since World War II, but it was not designed for the elderly.) Many senior citizens could no longer maintain their own homes, but did not want to leave their hometowns. The first hi-rise apartment with subsidized rents, the Crafton/Ingram Towers, was built next to the shopping center in 1974. It was not restricted to local residents, but many of the tenants are from the two boroughs. One senior citizen apartment house did not begin to meet the need, so a second was built in 1980, Crafton Plaza, on the site of the First Presbyterian Church. Both apartment buildings still have a long waiting list. The senior citizen hi-rises: Crafton Tower and Crafton Plaza. The Automobile Age ~ 95 Crafton did more than just provide housing for the elderly. In 1975, the ministerium, representing all the local churches, got the Meals on Wheels program rolling. Volunteers deliver meals to the door of those who request them, five days a week, including holidays! The meals are prepared on the lower level of the Women's Club Building. There is, of course, a nominal charge for this service which allows many to live independently who could not otherwise do so. Recognizing the problems of the handicapped, as well as the elderly, the Borough has provided curb cuts for wheelchairs at many of the main intersections in Crafton with funding arranged through the COG. The doctors who practiced in Crafton were representative of the aging population. In 1978 there were three local doctors who had been in practice here for over fifty years: Dr. Noss Brandt- 63 Years, Dr. Charles Tuthill - 59 years, and Dr. Walter Foster - 56 years. A group of patients organized a dinner for them at Chartiers County Club to show the town's appreciation. There were 10 Crafton physicians listed in the 1905 Directory to care for a population of under 5,000; there are half that many today to care for c. 7,000 people. There is, however, a hospital emergency room at nearby Ohio Valley Hospital and a satellite clinic at the shopping center to provide medical care. Culture and Recreation There was a lot going on in Crafton outside governmental circles, as well as inside, during this period. Crafton was always known as a sports town, but it was not as well noted for its cultural endeavors. There was a growing recognition in the Pittsburgh area that musical and artistic events could make a community a more desirable place to live. Mr. Jim Wohler, the President of Council was concerned that adults made so little use of Crafton Park, so when Mr. Paul Graham came up with the idea of concerts in the park, he was intrigued. A committee was formed, four programs were selected and the Borough appropriated $1500 from the budget of Parks and Recreation to pay for talent, publicity and production. The summer festival was an overwhelming success and has become a fixture in the park each summer. It is sponsored by The Crafton Performing Arts Association, a chartered non-profit organization. They raised enough money within the community and from outside grants over the years to build a permanent stage in 1982 with matching funds from the State Department of Community Affairs, and they have since added lighting and sound equipment. Crafton may no longer have a movie theater 96 * The Story of Crafton but it does have first class live entertainment with programs ranging from symphonic orchestras, brass bands, chorale groups and ballet to pop singers and rock bands. In the words of the Committee: "We look back with pride, and forward with confidence." Crafton Celebrates is another local success story. Imbued with the spirit of'76, the citizens of Crafton wanted to do something special for their part in the celebration of the nation's 200th birthday. Council established a steering committee to develop a program and they ran with it. The first eight-day festival began on June 27, 1976. It included a parade with historical floats, a street fair with a colonial theme, an ox roast and square dancing, a horse show, a concert and for the grand finale, spectacular fireworks on July 4th. A time capsule dedicated to Jim Wohler was buried in front of the Borough Building and is not to be opened until 2076. The celebration gave such a boost to the town that Crafton continues the tradition in the park each summer. Today there is almost a weeklong program with a parade, games, a petting zoo and pony rides for children, and live entertainment on the stage for all. Volunteers from all of Crafton's non-profit organizations donate much time and effort to their food and other booths to insure its success. The Crafton Celebrates Committee, as it became known, has expanded its activities into other seasons to include an Easter egg hunt, a Halloween parade like those once sponsored by the Crafton Business Men's Association, a haunted house in the field house, A summer concert in the park. Christmas caroling around a bonfire, and a tree burning after the holidays. This enthusiastic committee, whose slogan is "I LUV CRAFTON" has helped to restore Crafton's self esteem and make it someplace special. The Crafton Historical Society It was not until the approach of Crafton's centennial that one of the newest organizations in town was formed. A group representing natives, young and old, new-comers and non-residents, spearheaded by Kathryn Vincent Numer came together to form a historical society to examine the past and prepare for the future. Some focused on promoting Crafton's fine stock of old houses to encourage young people who prefer restoring old houses to buying brand new ones to move to Crafton. This they have done very successfully with their Christmas house tours that draw hundreds from all over the area. Others in the organization are more interested in learning about the history of Crafton so that "their children can tell their children." This book on Crafton's history is the product of the many members and non-members alike who wanted to put it in writing. The Society was instrumental is getting Crafton's first listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The U.S. Department of the Interior recognized what has become known as the Campbell Building at the intersection of Crafton and Noble Avenues as a historic building. The owner, Mr. John Houck, restored it when he built an office complex on the site of the old Silk Apartments purchased from the Redevelopment Authority. The designation of Creighton Avenue, Banker's Row, as a historic street by the Pittsburgh History and Landmarks Foundation is another achievement of the Historical Society. A recent historic event that was not of the Society's making was the filming of the kidnapping scene from the movie The Silence of the Lambs at the Bradford Court Apartments. The celebration of Crafton's 100th anniversary as a borough once again arouses the community spirit displayed throughout the years. The Centennial Committee has hung banners at the portals of the town to let all who see them know that Crafton is proud of its heritage. They have planned special events to celebrate each month of 1992 so that there will be something for everyone. The kickoff was a delightful dinner dance at the Marriott where some appeared in 1892 dress. 98 - The Story ofCrafton The warm feeling residents, past and present, have for their town was expressed in a recent letter from a former resident, Nancy Thompson McManuels, to her father, Frank Thompson of Emily Street: Crafton was such a wonderful place to grow up. I have such wonderful childhood memories... I wondered today if our parents knew what an incredible gift they were giving us - to raise us in such a place... I thank my parents and my friend's parents for giving us Crafton and all that it was. And I thank those of you who stayed or came new to town for keeping Crafton what it is. The Automobile Age ~ 99 Whither Crafton? Towards the 21st century Chapter six Station Street...will it live again? The Story of Crafton. 100 "hether Crafton's best days are in the past or still to come depends not so much on outside circumstances over which it has little control as on what the townspeople make of their opportunities. Crafton's development in the past has been molded by various modes of transportation, and this will also be the case in the future. We have seen how the center of town has shifted from the creek and Pike to the rail and street car lines, and then back again to Steuben Street. The Port Authority's proposal to reinvent the railroad by using the road bed for buses and, possibly, high occupancy vehicles, will inevitably bring Station Street back to life. A mini-market, a news-stand, a laundromat/dry cleaner, a lunch room, and perhaps even a day-care center are the types of services that are likely to spring up around the bus depot. The shopping center, with its ideal location, will not suffer from this competition but from that of the newer, bigger centers in the fast growing areas. However, if amenities such as improved landscaping with trees, benches, water, better signage, screening of service areas, and well-defined parking were to be added, it should be able to hold its own and continue to contribute to the commercial life of Crafton and Ingram. The borough building, recently updated with new windows and central air conditioning, is still not equipped to accommodate the handicapped and may not be large enough to house the future needs of local government. The library has outgrown its rental quarters, and the historical society has no place to store or display its growing collection of records and memorabilia. Does the future hold a combined municipal/community center like Greentree's which could transform Crafton's core into the nerve center of the community? The answer depends on the will of the people and their ability to pay. Because Crafton is landlocked and built to its borders, it cannot look to new development to increase its tax base. l..levelopment has proved that new business can be attracted under the right set of circumstances. The proximity of the new airport will be a Whither Crafton?. 101 I am not going to list the names of the many wonderful people and organizations that have supplied information and photographs lest I forget to mention some. Please know that all of you have my grateful thanks, and that of the Historical Society. However, I must single out certain individuals, particularly members of the Historical Society, to whom I turned again and again for guidance, information, editing, accuracy, spelling, proofreading, punctuation and pictures. Without them this book would never have reached the printers. Mary Craft Hardy, granddaughter of Charles Craft and great granddaughter of James, is a treasure trove of information about Crafton and could have written this book herself. Instead she guided me from start to finish. Dr. Ivan Jirak helped me chart the course for both the book and the canoe trip on the Chartiers Creek. Anne McCormack and Deborah Dambrough, both superb editors and proofreaders, kept me on course by pushing me to meet deadlines. Chuck Gigliotti took, developed and printed most of the current photographs, often on a moment's notice. Many of the old photographs were from the collections of the Craft family, the Duffys, the Marburgers, Claudia and Paul Korol and Norma and Leslie Speer. Nancy Gavrish drew the illustrations of Hand's Hospital and the Tunnel School from written descriptions. Last, but by no means least, thanks are due to Mary Stewart, President of the Crafton Historical Society, for spearheading the fund raising for the project, to Anthony Ciancimino and Linda Wiethorn for collecting the funds to make it possible, to all those who donated, and to Carol Herrle for marketing the book. I also want to commend the competent, creative Cantor Group, our publishers, who made my first effort at writing a book a wonderful learning experience. Board of the Crafton Historical Society Front to back, left to right: Betsy Martin; Anthony Ciancimino; Chuck Gigliotti; Mary Luxbacher; Mary Craft Hardy; Mary Stewart; Carol Herrle; Mary Anne McCormack; Linda Wiethorn; Paul Korol; Claudia Korol; Robert Wiethorn; Ivan Jirak. Missing from photo: Deborah Darnbrough; Jean Hawe Davis. Acknowledgements - 3 contributing factor, and a chamber of commerce or business person's association could play a role in getting more businesses to locate here. Attracting people to live here is another way to keep the town viable. New housing in the Borough is unlikely because there is so little land available for building, but there is a large supply of turn-of-the-century and later houses that are much in demand in areas like Shadyside, Squirrel Hill, Highland Park, Edgewood and Edgeworth. Property values can be increased by appropriate restorations and possibly by the reconversion of some multi-family units to single family use. A publicity campaign, like some of those conducted in the past, might once again bring home buyers in droves to Crafton. It would take the coordinated efforts of Council, the Carlynton School District and all the local organizations to do such a selling job. It seems obvious from recent experience that Crafton and the surrounding communities will need to continue to share services if they are to control costs. Crafton already provides fire protection to both Thornburg and Rosslyn Farms and police protection to Thornburg. Is it not conceivable that the police and maintenance departments of Crafton, Rosslyn Farms and Ingram might someday merge? The shrinking Carlynton School District, already one of the highest taxed in the County, may also want to pursue aligning with a district whose tax base is growing. The Joint Planning Commission of Crafton, Rosslyn Farms and Thornburg has recently revised the comprehensive plan which sets new goals for these communities linked by Chartiers Creek. Their major revisions were the creation of a recreation and conservation district on the flood plain instead of commercial and industrial zoning in this environmentally sensitive area. The goal, shared by many who have studied it, is to restore the valley to the way it was when Harry Meredith was a boy, with walking and biking trails, wildflowers and wildlife, and clear, clean water for fishing, canoeing and rafting. Reclaiming this natural asset could be the catalyst for other communities along the creek to join the effort and change the image of the entire Chartiers Valley. Several canoe loads of area residents recently made their way down the creek from the golf course to the Windgap Bridge to test the waters and experience the quiet beauty and wildness of the long neglected area. Accompanied by mallards, ducking under overhangThe Story of Crafton ~ 102 ing boughs, the group paddled through the shallow, muddy, fast moving waters at the curve known as the Fall Hole, past an old stone house and disconcerting automobile graveyard towards McKees Rocks. They were rediscovering the past, but they were also charting the future. Modern-day canoers rediscovering the past. Whither Crafton?. 103 Winterscape of Division Street, present site of Civic Club. Then... Upper Crafton Avenue above Underhill Street. Original Craft house on right. 104 ~ The Story of Crafton C Noble Avenue from Union Avenue. North Linwood Avenue from Coulter Street. Former site of Linwood Avenue Bridge Crafton Avenue crossing. A- -,i. Depot at Crafton Avenue crossing. View of Maplewood Avenue from Crafton Boulevard. Linwood Avenue from Crafton Avenue; Second Ward (Parke) School on left. Crafton depot 1926 (notice Second Ward School on the right). Railroad crossing from Station Street. Then...and Now * 105 D St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church Rev. Howard Ravenstahl Lincoln Avenue and Steuben Street Church of the Nativity Rev. Scott T. Quinn 33 Alice Street And now... 106 ~ The Story of Crafton First Baptist Church of Crafton First Christian Church at Crafton Rev. Dr. Daniel Williams Will Santmyer, Minister Oregon Avenue and Steuben Street 81 East Crafton Avenue S'' .... ,,' d' il 1: Hawthorne Avenue Presbyterian Church Crafton United Presbyterian Church Charles E. Hamnett, Minister Francis E. Tennies, Pastor Hawthorne Avenue and Manor Street 80 Bradford Avenue Crafton United Methodist Church Rodney J. Croyle, Minister 43 Belvidere Street St. Philip Church Rev. Paul G. Spisak 50 W. Crafton Avenue Then...andNow * 107 Crafton Borough Government Bottom Row, seated, left to right: Barbara Fuchs; Susan O'Connell, Council President; Patricia Kozlowski, Borough Secretary; Ed Stewart, Mayor; Top Row, standing, left to right: Ray Lape; Mike Lisowski; Dennis Stelzner; Ed Witt, Solicitor; Walter Sutcavage; Mark Viola; Lou Bladel; Gordon Smith; Al Handlesman, Borough Engineer. Crafton Volunteer Fire Department Crafton Emergency Medical Team Crafton Volunteer Fire Department Auxiliary Crafton Community Club 108 ~ The Story of Crafton American Legion Frank R. Kirk Post No. 145 Crafton/Ingram Rotary Club Crafton Civic Club Crafton Celebrates Committee Knights of Columbus Crafton Public Library Board of Trustees Crafton Performing Arts Association Then...and Now - 109 THE CRAFTON HISTORICAL SOCIETY gratefully acknowledges the vital support of the patrons whose generosity helped publish this Centennial Book. Charles A. Allison Max & Mildred Applebaum Steven J. Artascos Edward Aul Al Bannon (Professional Library Services) Angeline Bartek Leroy O. Barth Marion Barthelemy Robert J. Becker Glenn Bell Painting Donna L. Berhardy Allen & Diana Biehler Donald W. Blacka Robert X. Blair Sue & Billy Blizard Mr. & Mrs. George A. Boehm Charles & Marlene Boyle Ruth & Ron Bradley Margaret Broglie Mr. & Mrs. Paul Broglie Leonard & Mary Alice Buck William & Virginia Budavich Edward Burgess & Maura M. Sevier Mr. & Mrs. Harold E. Burrows Anna Buzulak Reba Campbell Mr. & Mrs. Samuel G. Campbell Carlen Family Raymond F. Cass Robert & Sara Chamberlin Charles S. Christ Anthony Ciancimino Roberta J. Clayton Ed & Kathleen Coleman Pat & Byron Collins Madelon Conniff Kathleen Connolly James & Gloria Corcoran Bruce & Joyce Cottrell Marjorie J. Couch Patricia Covington Eileen & Craig Cox onors Crafton Personal Home Inez & Louetta Crawe Elaine F. Crist Lucile Cruickshank Helen & Katherine Cubic Mary Jane Culp Mr. & Mrs. Rudolph Dadey Deborah Darnbrough & Daniel Cindric Ms. Jaqueline Dempsey Claire L. Derringer Adele Devark Mrs. W.B. Dickinson Mr. & Mrs. Henry Digiulio Ms. Anne Dlugos Dobies Erbel & Associates S.M. Dolansky M.O. Donovan Alan Dorfield Family Mrs. Mary Dowds Marilyn Dugan W. Dunbar John & Sandra G. D'Onofrio Betty Eckenrode Ruth Eckert Carl A. Erickson Neil C. Fedorka Nicholas A. Feeney Charles H. Feldmiller Raymond & Donna Filipovitz First Baptist Church of Crafton Elizabeth Fisher Virginia Fisher Mr. & Mrs. James M. Henderson James G. Herrick Eileen, Thomas, Mary & Erin Fleming Dr. & Mrs. Matthew R. Foreman Mrs. Anna K. Foster Barbara C. Fuchs Mr. & Mrs. Paul M. Gabig Harry & Emily Gabler Mr. & Mrs. Patrick Gallagher Lawren E. Sr. & Isabelle Gardner Joe & Marilyn Gargiulo Harry W. Giesecke Chuck & Lindy Gigliotti Alice Campbell Glaser Dennis Glass Mr. & Mrs. John H. Graham Paul & Lucille Graham Linda & David Grapes Thomas & Christine Griffith Minnie C. Guay Mrs. Eleanor G. Hadly Margaret D. Hardie Mary C. Hardy Anne & Kenneth Hartland Hawthorne Avenue Presbyterian Church 110 ~ The Story of Crafton Susan Kunzelman Mrs. Gloria C. Lageman Allen & Carol Herrle Laureen Herron Freda Hess Chris Hickey Mr. & Mrs. Randall Hixson John C. Holmes Mr. & Mrs. Gerald L. Houze Anthony Hruza Harry Hutton Painting Company Robert J. & Grace H. Ireland J.G. James Dennis & Valera Jarvis Dr. & Mrs. Ivan Jirak Mrs. Edward A. Johnson Dennis Joyce Mr. & Mrs. Charles E. Judy Kaminski's Norma L. Kelly Mr. & Mrs. William Kennedy Michael Killmeyer Family E.H. Koudela Mr. & Mrs. Anthony Kueshner Sarah Lange Edwin & Nadine Laquay Russell & Carol Laufer Mr. & Mrs. John Lauritzen Jacque & Jack Loftus Gerald & Mary Luxbacher Heidi Lysaght Dick Marshall Dr. & Mrs. William Marshall Jack G. Marshall Ray & Susan Marshall Derek Martin John & Anna Marie Marzina Larry Mayo Philip & Claryne McCaffrey Mark McConnell David & Mary Anne McCormack Jean McCormack Jack D. McDonald Ms. Dorothy J. McDowell Marcella McGrogan Mr. & Mrs. Eric C. McNeal Melia's Market John T. Mendenhall Lucille A. Mensor Mary Margaret Merry Philip & Gwen Messer Mr. & Mrs. J. Michel In memory of Betty & Al Milletary Anthony & Betty Millikin Herman Millstine & Barbara James Don & Theresa Mixon A.J. Mondine Ralph C. & Mary Ann Mozelewski S.T. Mucha Joseph & Betty Murray Mr. & Mrs. Myers Albert J. Nelson Carl Nelson-Winter John E. Nolan Katherine Nolf Mr. & Mrs. Anthony J. Nosal Susan O'Connell John & Delores O'Connor Charles & Jane O'Mahoney Del C. Oakes William N. Ogden M.J. Oles Eric & Bonnie Olson Judith Ososky S. Palmer Joe & Claire Pandl William & Kathryn Papinchak Mr. & Mrs. G.J. Pecora, Jr. Mr. H. Pendleton Ann & Nevin Perkey Mark Persic & Anna Jane Shally Alice Pescuric F. Pfeifer Professional Graphic Service (Christine Manning) Mr. & Mrs. R.K. Pschirer Mrs. Rita Quinlan John & Anna Marie Rago Paul L Rambo Ronald, Sandra, Tracy & Robyn Ravenstahl Michael & Dorothy Ray Dennis Rea Mrs. Vincent Rea May S. Reghard James & Margaret Reilly William J. Reintgen Tina & Albert Reisdorf Joseph & Marie Renvers Mr. & Mrs. E. Ross Reynolds Mr. & Mrs. Frank Reynolds David & Loretta Rink Frank H. Rittenhouse, M.D. D. Roche Pat Rodgers Mr. & Mrs. M.K. Roessler In memory of Regis & Margaret Ann Rogers Mrs. Francis A. Roney Mr. & Mrs. Robert L. Rose Joseph & Rosemary Rynn Betty Lou Schmidt Mildred Seims Mr. & Mrs. Joseph Sharp Edmund & Lynn Shea Norma Shields Mr. & Mrs. James J. Smith Mrs. Robert Sorg Frank & Joanne Spik Mr. & Mrs. William B. Spinelli & Wm. B. III Mrs. Elizabeth Spinnenweber (Jahnke) Mr. & Mrs. Chris Sprowls Vincent F. Staud Mr. & Mrs. Dennis Stelzner C.W. Stewart Dr. & Mrs. Timothy Stewart Mary & Ed Stewart (Mayor) Mr. & Mrs. Charles J. Strosnider St. Philip School Mr. & Mrs. Walter Sutcavage Mr. & Mrs. Richard W. Taylor Ron & Joan Temple Donald & Cynthia Thielet Frank & Pat Thompson William & Lillian Thompson Nancy Thurston C.E. Timothy Charles & Rose Turack E. Tymus Donna Unger William E. Utz Francis Vater Mary Beth Veri Kathryn Vincent Edwin Vogel Mr. & Mrs. Frank A. Wagner Roger V. Wagner Mr. & Mrs. Richard A. Walker, Jr. Mrs. William P. Walker Mrs. H. Donald Walley Jack Walters Sara & Glenn Walters Mr. & Mrs. Richard Weaver, Jr. Mr. & Mrs. Leland M. Weed Harry & Marie Wengryn Miss Mary Westcott Robert & Deanna White Robert & Linda Wiethorn G. Woehr Lee A. & Candy Sue Wolfe Gerald Woods (Final Impressions) G.A. Wozniak Mary G. Wright Robert W. Wright Edna Wroblewski Mr. & Mrs. R.L. Yanda, Jr. John & Laverne Yorkgitis Donors * 111 The Era of Travel by Creek and Footpath 1740's - 1790's The beauty spot of the Chartiers Valley. Chapter one 4 * The Story of Crafton Buck, Solon J. & Elizabeth Hawthorn. The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylva nia. Pittsburgh: The University of Pittsburgh Press, 1939. Centennial Celebration - Crafton United Methodist Church 1883-1983. Chartiers Valley Mirror (newspaper) "Idlewoods New Church" January 25, 1896. "Immensely Popular-Ingram Beach" August 15, 1896. William Creighton's obituary, March, 1912. Christner, Alice Crist. Here's to Thomburg. Pittsburgh: Printed by Davis and Warde, Inc., 1966. The Church of the Nativity - Centennial Celebration 1973. CIT Boro Times (newspaper) - 75th Year Celebration in Crafton October 27, 1976. Cookley, Ruth. Oakwood Park. Pittsburgh: Printed by Vince De Nardis, 1977. Crafton Bicentennial Celebration Newspaper July, 1976. Crafton, A Bicentennial Community. 1976. Crafton/Ingram Directory 1905-06. Crafton, PA L.H.R. Foulk & Co. 1905. Crafton United Presbyterian Church, Centennial Year 1885-1985. England, William A. (Borough Secretary). Crafton Borough History. First Presbyterian Church Celebrating Fifty Years of History 1885-1935. Green Tree Borough Centennial 1885-1985, Greentree Centennial Committee, 1985. Hardy, Mary Craft. "Crafton, the Convenient Suburb." Carnegie Magazine, January 1970. Harris, Helen. "St. Philip Cemetary." Pittsburgh: Published by the Western Pennsylva nia Geneological Society. Bibliography 112 - The Story of Crafton Hawthorne Avenue United Presbyterian Church Celebrating 75 Years of Service to Christ and the Community. Hertrick, Charles K., "The Early History of Crafton." 1923. History of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, 1753-1876. L.H. Evert & Co., 1876. G. M. Hopkins Co. Atlas of the County of Allegheny. Philadelphia, 1876. Atlas of the Cities of Pittsburgh & Allegheny County. Philadelphia, 1886. Lorant, Stefan. Pittsburgh, The Story of a City. Lenox, MA: Author's edition, 1980. Map of Allegheny County 1817. Meredith, Harry A. Reminiscences of 80 Years. Published posthumously, 1952. Miller, J.M. "The Crafts of Crafton," Pittsburgh Gazette Times. Nov. 16, 1913. Morrison, Samuel Eliot & Henry Steel Commager. The Growth of the American Republic Vols. I & II. NY: Oxford Press, 4th edition, 1951. Orrill, Lawrence A. "General Edward Hand." Western Pennsylvania Historical Society Magazine, Sept.-Dec. 1942, Vol. 25, Numbers 3 & 4. Patton, James S. "Memoirs of Bridgeville, PA." A talk, 1989. Pennsylvania History, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Office of the Chief Clerk, Harrisburg. Pittsburgh Dispatch (newspaper). "Cement Block in Vogue for Residents." June 16, 1907. Pittsburgh Leader (newspaper). "Lawn Fete for New Hospital." June 13, 1909. Pittsburgh Press. "New Buildings in Crafton." September 16, 1906. Southwest Journal (newspaper). "St. Matthews Evangelical Lutheran Church." "The First Baptist Church of Crafton." December 26, 1974. Book commemorating St. Philip Church Sesquicentennial, 1839-1989. Stotz, Charles Morse. Early Architecture in Western Pennsylvania. NY: William Hielbum, Inc. for the Buhl Foundation, Pittsburgh, 1936. Suburban Gazette. "Tales of First Crafton Families." January 5, 1977. Van Trump, James D. & Arthur P. Ziegler, Jr. Landmark Architecture of Allegheny County Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation, 1967. Warrantee Atlas of Allegheny County. June 13, 1907. Wright, Robert. "Story of the Crafton Pool." Area Advertiser (newspaper). May, 1982. Bibliography - 113 ..'i ~~r' 40 H; (c O`DED (WE ong before there was a Crafton there was a creek snaking through a valley of unusual beauty and the history of Crafton is inseparable from that of this creek and valley. Harry Meredith, Crafton's Historian Emeritus, describes the vicinity as he remembered it in his boyhood in the 1860's: That once-bea.jp2ul valley was guarded on either side, first on one side then the other, by short ranges of high hills. Along the base of these hills the winding creek found its way, and by continually undermining and carrying away the soil, left huge bare rocks in natural formation, extending high in the air. These rocks and their many ledges and wonderful caves added much to the natural beauty of this part... The numerous large tributaries to Chartiers Creek, their deep ravines and miniature water falls, bea.jp2ul fems and moss and wild flowers, all kinds of native trees and bushes, with their birds, squirrels, coon, rabbits and groundhogs, together with the nearness of all to the big and bea.jp2ul Ohio River, no doubt made this part of the country an ideal neighborhood for the Indians in their day. The author of The History of Allegheny County, 1753-1876 claimed: "No township in the County can boast a more interesting history. Its settlement was among the first, its prehistoric relics are the most wonderful, its Indian adventures among the most thrilling,..." And so they were. The Earliest White Men in the Chartiers Valley In 1749 a Frenchman, Celeron de Blainville, the first white man to record his impressions of the area, wrote "It is the most bea.jp2ul I have seen until now on the The Era of Travel by Creek and Footpath ~ 5 "Along the base of these hills the winding creek found its way." Illustration from facsimile edition of Major George Washington's journals published by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation. Belle Riviere," as the French called the Ohio River. Celeron was sent to plant lead tablets between Canada and the Mississippi Valley to lay claim to the territory for King Louis XV. The creek was already familiar to one of his countrymen, the half breed renegade Pierre Chartiers, who traded at the mouth of the creek and left it his name. The creek appeared in 1750 on a map drawn by Lewis Evans, a Philadelphia cartographer commis sioned by British Governor Hamilton to survey "the land across the moun tains at the headwaters of the western flowing rivers." Evans wrote that "there was a village at the great rock a league below the forks on the left bank of the Ohio at the mouth of a creek called Alaquipa (though of late known as Chartiers)." Young George Washington made his first appearance with his guide, Christopher Gist, in this part of the country in 1752 passing that great rock, later to be known as McKee's Rocks, where the creek flows into the river. By then, the Seneca Queen Alaquipa had moved to the mouth of the Youghiogheny, and the Delawares under Chief Shingas occupied the mouth of the creek. Washington later referred to the creek as Shurtees when in 1770 he again visited land claimed by the Ohio Company farther upstream. Chartiers was early on corrupted to Shurtees or Shirtees by non-French speaking English and Native Americans. Native Americans in the Chartiers Valley According to legend, the name given to the Crafton /Ingram area by the Seneca Chief Complanter was Killemun and there was a village, or more likely a camp, atop a rocky cliff on the east side of the creek (Backbone Road), a site that would have provided a commanding view of wildlife in the valley or enemies approaching by footpath or canoe from the north, south or west. The Seneca tribe was one of the six Iroquois Nations which had been displaced farther east by the white man. The Iroquois who guarded their western hunting grounds were called Mingos. Complanter, from the upper Allegheny River, probably never lived in the area although he could have hunted and even camped here as the natives traveled great distances. Burial mounds containing a.jp2acts from a much earlier preColumbian Adena Culture were discovered farther down the creek toward the "Rocks" in the vicinity of the Fall Hole. The Indians who built the mounds were Algonquins and thought to be more sedentary, growing beans, squash, sunflowers, corn, and tobacco. They built houses, smoked tobacco and made pottery, tools of stone and even copper. The Fall Hole was a deep hole below a five foot drop in the water level, which the Indian called Hinpoba. This placid backwater lake, formed where the creek made a sharp left curve, was destroyed when the Pennsylvania Railroad cut a channel through the hill diverting the course of the stream, but the legend about it survived in Tales of Pioneer Pittsburgh, as told by William England, a former Crafton Borough Secretary: WhenJames Snowden, one of the first white settlers in the district, an nounced his intention of building his home at this site, he was warned against it by Complanter, the celebrated Seneca Chief. Complanter, whose Indian name was GY-ANT-WA-CHIA, told Snowden to beware the spirit of a dead Indian maiden, Incolala, which inhabited the waters of the lake. Incolala, whose name in the white man's tongue meant'Silver Moonlight' had been the fairest maiden in all the tribes along the Ohio, and her bright eyes and smile had captured the heart of the stalwart young brave Cocohuha. But Incolala's happiness had been tinged with sadness over a former lover, Folcano, who kept to his tepee, brooding as her marriage to Cocohuha approached. This was related to Snowden in Complanter's deep sonorous voice. On the eve of the wedding, Folcano came to Silver Moon light, expressing a desire to take her once again in his canoe on the placid waters of the lake. Pleased that Folcano seemingly had swallowed his bitterness, Incolala consented to go. As the evening chant of the tribe died away with the embers of the tribal fire, and forest shadows closed in upon the weakening flames, the two drifted upon the bosom of the waters. Only the low pleading voice of Folcano broke the silence of the night. Then suddenly Folcano leaped from his place and seized his bea.jp2ul companion by the throat; A scream died in her breast and as she struggled like a terrified wild thing, the canoe upset and plunged them into the lake. Folcano swam back to shore, but Silver Moonlight never reappeared on the surface. The Era of Travel by Creek and Footpath ~ 7 IMOKEES ROOKS BOROUGH 4' ~ i. a ALEX0 7.4KECS \ 7 ,~ r '08A' OOA<.d"9 oAv,DS~oTT - IJ W'MLLI'AM BOVJ.SAN **/ r*r,99*Z.767A# 78 -f tAllIow sar'V, e/id'~Wry~ 7 -79r.PWrr7suv1fyed Joa V, /78/, J41*Ab K. Potod ApIA/ 4, 1796 So, * m OG A %ffAf tWA0, A& Soc b 176o9IN> ~ I' Z8.4f *,411ow 33'3A~k.4//-ON 7-, reAlf4wry A# r* A" or,. OW bCor' 337w< -.0 ~ ~ JO.007 LO 37/A! tpqno.o l' W- ~ o97r4 tA//div 1o39 WJW oAe.7 ddA.:...e4 /8/rA RIO.a~r~ - 7n~' rrai.. /I~ Ha/i.9-- ICL~.S 1,TAA 0 SCL L-EMShc On~.5 A#rM zo4pe_ 20 H79 te VI -- o. IM-mm fon o,. H 3/3/. N "Aooro-~ Pam/; /799 Ta/Jk.-p, Z 0, \ 07B descriptios on r r \ original deeds. P4S&nmyed )Way Z~'."'-o V! ToRb~7 Map m de fr m onmr N? 13'r "76! CV Il4- P- 8_ JGOB AOn descriptions onYOA orgialdeds. IYA mo Snowden laughed at the superstition of the Indian, but oddly enough, he too fell into the lake the following spring and drowned. The French and Indian Wars The Indians were friendly with the early traders before the outbreak of hostilities between the French and the British in 1754, but they sided with the French in the ensuing French and Indian War because of the threat to their hunting grounds of the ever encroaching, mainly British, settlers accompanied by soldiers and land speculators. The British ordered the first fort to be erected at the forks of the Ohio in 1755 to protect their land interests, but it was quickly lost to the French who called it Fort Duquesne. They controlled the fort until 1758 when the British, under the Scotsman General John Forbes, reclaimed it for the King and renamed it Fort Pitt for the English Prime Minister, William Pitt. A socalled peace with the Indians did not come until 1764 with 8 * The Story of Crafton Colonel Henry Bouquet's defeat at Bushey Run of Pontiac, the Ottawa chief who had rallied the tribes in a desperate attempt to drive the settlers back over the mountains. It was Bouquet who sent David Steele to survey and establish garrisons on the Chartiers Creek and at Bedford. The site of the garrison on the creek is said to have been where Old St. Luke's Church near Heidelburg now stands and where Steele is buried. Settlement of the lands to the south and west of the forks was illegal by treaty and by the Proclamation Line of 1763, but the squatters ignored both. After the 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix, settlers, mostly of Scotch/Irish or German descent, swarmed here from Virginia, Maryland and eastern Pennsylvania to apply for three or four hundred acres from the Penns or from the representatives of the crown in Virginia. Both claimed the region. According to Leland Baldwin in his History of Pittsburgh, "the years between Pontiac's Wars and the beginning of the Revolution saw the settlement of all the desirable land in southwestern Pennsylvania." Henry Steele Commager, America's eminent historian who was born in Pittsburgh, calls this period "the most rapid and massive western settlement in the history of the American colonies." This is when settlement of the Chartiers Valley and what is now Crafton began in earnest. Hand and his Hospital One of the first to own land along the lower creek was Edward Hand who served in 1767 as a surgeon at Fort Pitt. He purchased 1423 acres (between present-day Idlewood and McKees Rocks) which were surveyed in 1769. Hand's name is familiar to Craftonites because of the misplaced plaque on Steuben Street commemorating the hospital he built elsewhere, but other facts about his life are less familiar. Hand was still at Fort Pitt when the British abandoned it in 1772 before the Revolution, and he, in fact, purchased the materials from the fort that was then being dismantled. He had come to this country as a surgeon's mate with the 18th Royal Irish Regiment, but later joined the revolutionary forces and was made commander of the Western Forces. It was at this time that he established what was said to be the first federal hospital in the new nation. The hospital was erected on land he owned along 4 An artist's rendering of Hand's Hospital. The Era of Travel by Creek and Footpath. 9 General Daniel Brodhead. Portrait by Charles Willson Peale. a Mingo path in the Chartiers Valley in the vicinity of the creek fording. In a letter written at Fort Pitt to Jasper Yeates dated September 16, 1777, Hand wrote: "The smallpox has crept into the place-am fitting my house on the Creek for the Hospital and shall inocculate those who have not already had the disease." On September 27, 1777, he again wrote to Jasper: "I parade two or three times a week between this place and my farm (where I have established a smallpox hospital) with 12 expert riflemen; the exercise is good and wholesome." The year of the three sevens, 1777, was an especially bloody one: Indians were on the warpath, taking advantage of the settlers' preoccupation with the Revolution, and they harassed the settlers unmercifully; but it was not the injured who were patients in his hospital. The following is a somewhat embellished account from a newspaper article written 155 years later in September, 1932 at the time of the dedication of the memorial marker: The misplaced marker on the (Steubenville) Pike should be along the Creek. Using soldiers and farmers, Hand supervised the erection of the first Federal Hospital. It was made of logs, was 100 feet long and 30 feet wide; had two stories, no windows, but two doors on both of the long sides. It was surrounded by a porch and had a great stone furnace. Several small cannon are thought to have been used for protection from the hostile Indians.... All that remains of the historic building is a stone well that is almost filled with debris. Relics have been found, including crude surgical instruments, guns, knives and implements used by Redskins. Several large mounds in the immediate vicinity are believed to be the graves of frontiersmen.... Nathaniel Bedford is known to have been the assistant doctor. Women whose husbands were killed in Indian raids, whose children were scalped and mutilated or kidnapped, worked as nurses. Flax that grew luxuriantly in the green valley was spun and woven into bandages and the only medicine was carried over the mountains in pack trains or by wandering army scouts. Friends in misery yet bitter enemies - savage Indians and stalwart bearded frontiersmen- lay side by side in the hospital, sociable in their helplessness. The wounded enemy, 177Z y Ge. Ldw Story of Crafton Story of Crafton 10 ~ The5 bitterly hated and feared, was treated with the same consideration as an ally. And those humane principals established by General Hand in the first medical institution owned by the youthful government today are a part of the traditions and rules of the Medical Corps of the Army. There was no mention of how the patients were transported to the hospital from Fort Pitt, but it must surely have been by raft, floated down the river and poled up the creek, as Indian trails were not wide enough for wagons and there were no real roads to this area at that time. This path was later called the Brodheadl Fording Road, named for General Daniel Brodhead, Hand's successor at the fort, and the creek fording somewhere near the present Thornburg bridge. The hospital stood until 1827, but it is not known how long it was in use. Hand had actively pursued the Indians into Ohio territory while commanding the Western Forces and afterwards in Albany in an expedition against the Indians of the Six Nations. One western tribe, the Delawares, remained neutral during the revolution, but they were ill rewarded for their neutrality. On one of Hand's forays into Ohio, he and his men got lost and wandered upon an unsuspecting group of Delaware women whom they massacred without cause. Other Delawares who lived peaceably on the now disappeared Smoky Island near the forks of the Ohio were also murdered by the "wild militia from Chartiers Creek," as Leland Baldwin refers to them in his History of Pittsburgh. This unconscionable act was apparently inspired by the infamous killing of a whole tribe of Moravian Christian Delawares in Gnadenhutten, Ohio as they were welcoming their assassins to their settlement. Hand called one of his parcels of land Mt. Pleasant (now Ingram), and the adjoining one, Killemun, the same name that the Indians were said to have given the area. John Elder's adjacent tract, warranted at the same time as Hand's in 1773, was also called Killemun. (There is a place in Ireland with the name Killeman, so they may have brought the name with them.) Hand did not remain in Western Pennsylvania, although he was sent back by President Washington in 1794 to establish order after the Whiskey Insurrection. His land was occupied for a number of years by tenants, some of whom came to this country with him in the 18th Royal Irish Regiment. He lived in Lancaster Edward Hand. Portrait by Charles Willson Peale. The Era of Travel by Creek and Footpath ~ 11 .~~~4 4 > >;>"; 4~ :4 .;~~A ",:K. i 4i~.v. > > N > 4pJ s> 4.~ 4:4. where he settled after the Revolution and practiced medicine. He had a distinguished career and served as a member of the Continental Congress. His home, Rockford, incidentally, has been restored and is open to the public. The Stoops and Other Early Settlers The following story survives of a local settler who lived in the area during the Indian troubles as related in The History of Allegheny County, 1753-1876. The author may have heard it from descendents of the Stoops family who still lived along the creek in his day and long afterwards: A family of Stoops built a cabin near Hand's Hospital, and planted a field of corn in the vicinity. During the Indian troubles of 1780 they were accustomed to leaving their family at Ft. Pitt, going out to the field in the morning and returning at evening. But on one occasion they remained at the cabin at night, having with them one child, William by name. Upon awakening in the morning they found the house surrounded by Indians.There was no opportunity for escape, however, and he thought that if no resistance were offered, his wife and child would be taken prisoners, while he would have time to make a diversion for their rescue. In this way he was forestalled; however, the Indian party was proceeding on its way, the boy bound to the brave, and mounted on a horse, and Mrs. Stoops following on foot with a squaw when Samuel Brady of Brady's Leap, on his return from a journey to Sandusky, observed their movements from a place of concealment, and with the boldness for which he is celebrated, shot the Indian with whom William Stoops was riding and rescued his mother. The boy remained in captivity three years. The same history mentions John and James Bell, Joseph Hall, David Steele, and Jacob Day as among the other earliest settlers in the valley. Captain Alexander McKee, for whom the Rocks are named, owned 1400 acres at the mouth of the creek adjacent to Steele's. McKee and his neighbor, Matthew Elliott, were Tory sympathizers during the Revolution and they fled the area but continued to stir up the Indians here. The Bell brothers settled on both sides of the creek farther south, James on the Rosslyn side and John on the Carnegie side. The Halls settled what is now Greentree. 12 * The Story ofCrafton Whether the Chartiers Valley was to be part of Virginia or part of Pennsylvania was decided in favor of the latter by the Treaty of Baltimore which extended the Mason-Dixon line westward. Washington County was established in 1781 and Allegheny County in 1789 when St. Clair Township, of which the Crafton section was a part, was also founded. Warring with the Indians did not end with the successful conclusion of the Revolution, but moved westward. The Indians were not decisively defeated until "Mad" Anthony Wayne's victory in 1792 at Fallen Timbers, near Toledo. By then Western Pennsylvania was no longer the frontier but the stopping place for those going west by wagon, keelboat or flatboat. The population of Pittsburgh was 376 in 1790 at the time of the first census, about the same as it was in 1761 if soldiers were taken into account; but the census recorded 10,309 in Allegheny County. Life in the Chartiers Valley had become far less hazardous without the threat of raids by unfriendly natives, so that those farmers who settled here could concentrate on raising and selling their crops to those passing through or those living at the river forks. Thus began the age of road development and commercial river traffic in Western Pennsylvania. The Era of Travel by Creek and Footpath ~ 13 The Age of Travel by Roads 1790's - 1860's A carriage ride along the Chartiers Creek. Chapter two 14 ~ The Story of Crafton he development of roads following the establishment of the new nation stimulated the settlement of the entire region. The first roads traveled by settlers coming into western Pennsylvania were the Forbes or Pennsylvania Road over the mountains from the east, now U.S. 30 and 1-376, and the route from Virginia, now U.S. 40 and 1-70. The Forbes Road had been cleared and widened by General Forbes' troops when they came from Philadelphia to reclaim Fort Duquesne for the British in 1758. By 1804, coach service had been established to and from Philadelphia, a six or seven days journey costing 20 dollars. The route from the south to the forks of the Ohio was that followed by George Washington in 1753 and again in 1755 when he accompanied General Braddock up the headwaters of the northern branch of the Potomac to Wills Creek (near Cumberland), westward over the Nemocolin trail to Redstone (Brownsville) and on up the Monongahela to the forks of the Ohio. This trail became the National Road in 1802 when Ohio was admitted to the Union, although, to the dismay of Pittsburghers, it was continued westward to Wheeling instead of northwest to Pittsburgh. Chartiers Creek...Forever Navigable The Chartiers Valley attracted settlers because of its fertile farmland made richer by flooding, and because the creek was a good supply of fresh water, not because it provided an easy means of transportation. However, in 1808, or 1793 according to another source, the State legislature declared Chartiers Creek "navigable and a public thoroughfare forever," perhaps to give anyone so inclined the right to try to make it so. James Patton, in his memoirs of Bridgeville, expressed skepticism about their declaration: "Notwithstanding the high authority invoked, those at the time doubted it, and the same opinions were entertained for many years thereafter." In the days before boats were powered by steam, it was difficult to pole a raft upstream from the mouth of the creek to the forks of the Ohio, and the usually The Age of Travel by Roads * 15 Illustration of a flatboat by Walter Basowski from Stephan Lorant's book Pittsburgh. The stone portion of the Frew/Sterret House on Poplar Street was built before 1800. shallow creek, with its rapids and falls, was not easily travelled in either direction, even by canoe. The first settlers in the valley soon found alternative means of getting themselves and their farm products from place to place. Early Roads Leading West from Pittsburgh The first road leading southwest out of Pittsburgh was the Catfish Trail, later called the Blackhorse Pike for Colonel Henry Bouquet's Black Horse Brigade which rode this path in pursuit of Indians in the 1760's. It included what is now Greentree Road, first proposed in 1781 to Canon's mill (Canonsburg). Thadeus Hall, a traveler on this road 40 years later wrote: "The country is very mountainous and broken, and the road extremely rough and difficult. Ours was the first private carriage that had ever passed it having been but lately opened and used only by strong wagons and carts." The post rider to Wheeling had been traveling this way since 1793 when mail service was extended westward. Postal service between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh had begun in 1788, and regular, twice weekly stage service, subsidized by the U.S. mail, followed in 1804. The Noblestown Road must have developed about the same time as the one to Canonsburg because the stone portion of the Frew-Sterret house (still standing on Poplar Street off Noblestown Road) was built prior to 1800, and the Chess and Kearns families who also lived in this vicinity had established their claims around 1774. The old tavern at McGann's Corners in the West End has been servicing travelers since 1794, according to Charles M. Stotz in his history of The Early Architecture of Western Pennsylvania, offering such drinks as "slings, todys and bounces with a base of either whiskey, cherry or gin." The road leading west from Windgap and Brodhead-Fording was the Steubenville Turnpike, named for Washington's comrade-in-arms, Baron Von Steuben. The Union and Montour Presbyterian congregations were located along it farther west c.1788, so it was presumably in use by then. But all these early mud roads were deeply rutted and nearly impassable in bad weather. Life of the Local Pioneers Before roads and communication were improved, the life of the colonists in the Chartiers Valley was much as Stefan Lorant described it in his Pittsburgh, The Story of a City: 16 ~ The Story of Crafton Life was simple and uneventful. In the countryside-and everything outside the few blocks around the Point belonged to the countryside-social activities were limited. People met at church services, they met at weddings and funerals, at house raisings or house warmings; otherwise they saw little of each other. The pioneer family was a self supporting unit-a complete world in itself. Father was a man of a thousand trades: he built his house, he made his plowshares, buckets, tubs and tankards. Mother spun flax, wove linen, cut and sewed the clothes for the family. And the children split brooms, helped make candles, and made themselves useful in many other ways. Every member of the family worked; no one was idle. The room of their cabin offered little comfort. It was drafty and smoky. The bearskins and blankets on the beds bred fleas. At night, rats and snakes crawled on the floor. They dressed simply; the men wore a tan or red hunting shirt. Breeches and leggings were made of deerskin or linsey. Though better materials were brought over the mountains for the women, only a few were able to afford them. The little money the pioneer family possessed was used for salt, nails, gunpowder, and bullets rather than for clothing. They ate what the Lord provided-game and birds of the forest: wild turkeys, woodcock, grouse, quail, wild pigeon, deer, elk, squirrel; fish from the streams: catfish, sturgeon, bass, eel, and turtle; bushes, plants and berries from the woods: forest berries, nuts, crabapples. Bread was not a daily fare; at times the family went for long periods without it, but there was always dried pumpkin ground into meal or commeal johnnycake made from the Indian corn. Milk was ple.jp2ul, as was mush, usually mixed with sweetened water, molasses, or maple syrup. Hominy, made from whole corn soaked ovemight in lye water, was a popular dish, particularly with the children. Coffee was introduced after the Revolution, but beer remained a luxury. Behind each house there was a truck patch with corn, pumpkin, squash, beans, potatoes, cabbage, turnips, watermelon and muskmelon. The chief crops were maize, wheat, rye, flax, Irish potatoes in that order, and also buckwheat, millet, oats, barley, hay, peas, tobacco and melons. All farming was carried on by hand, with the ax, the hoe, the scythe, and plows made of wood. "The Old Stone Tavern" (or Coates Tavern) at the foot of Greentree Road in the West End. The Age of Travel by Roads * 17 The Whiskey Rebelion Lorant failed to mention whiskey as the local farmers' only cash crop. Rye could not easily be transported down river or over the mountains on a pack horse, but whiskey made from rye could be, and it was the sale of whiskey that provided the cash for farmers to buy the things they couldn't make for themselves. Thus most of the citizenry of the Chartiers Valley and much of the rest of Western Pennsylvania, except for the nonviolent Quakers and the teetotalers, opposed Hamilton's federal tax imposed on whiskey to help pay off the young nation's war debts. Many were involved in the Whiskey Rebellion which culminated in 1794. There is a tale of local participation as told by Crafton's Dorothy Dinsmore Justice Anderson in a 1976 newspaper story. The incident was supposed to have taken place along what is now Noble Avenue in the log house that later belonged to her great grandfather, Henry Dinsmore: During the Whiskey Rebellion, the cabin was the scene of a dangerous gun battle. Legend has it that Joseph's (Hall) bea.jp2ul daughter Sally saved her sweetheart's life by saddling a horse for him while he held a band of rebels at bay, firing from behind the cabin walls. Sally's flancd, a deputy revenue inspector from the east, had been attacked by the operators of several illegal whiskey stills located in the area when they discovered that he was gathering evidence to prosecute them. It was just after Sally freed him that the encounter at the cabin occurred. The two escaped together safely on horseback and were later married. The Growth of the Region Pittsburgh began to prosper after the rebellion was quelled. Many new industries were springing up: textiles and leather for clothing and shoes, boat building for increasing river traffic, glass for bottles and window panes, iron for tools and utensils, and steam engines after the first steam gristmill west of the mountains was established to power all manner of things. Coal dug from under Mount Washington (Coal Hill) was used extensively, giving Pittsburgh its smoky reputation early on. A visitor even in the 1790's quoted in Stefan Lorant's book described the town as "the muddiest place I ever was in; and by reason of using so much coal, being a great manufacturing place and kept in so much smoke and dust, as to effect the skin of the inhabitants." The atmosphere deterio18 - The Story of Crafton rated during the War of 1812 while Pittsburgh industry boomed, supplying Commodore Perry's fleet and Andrew Jackson's army with war materials. The British blockade and a tariff on imports during the war were a boon to domestic industries. By 1816 the newly chartered City of Pittsburgh, including the surrounding area, had 960 houses, eight churches, three banks, three market houses, a public academy, a courthouse and jail. In 1818 wooden bridges were built connecting Allegheny on the north side and Birmingham on the south side, thus providing the missing road links between Pittsburgh and the outlying districts across the rivers. The Golden Era of the Turnpike In 1817, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania passed legislation that was also to affect materially the development of the outlying areas of the city. The Act provided for the incorporation of turnpikes with tolls using state and private funds to pave roads with macadam (stone chips). Stotz, writing in 1936 before the Eisenhower interstates, calls the period between 1815 and 1830 "the golden era of the turnpike." The Forbes Road was paved east to Harrisburg, as were the roads leading north to Butler, Mercer and Meadville, and south and west to Washington, Beaver and Steubenville. There were toll gates at the old stone tavern and at the intersection with Carnahan Road on the the Washington and Pittsburgh Turnpike (Greentree Road), one near the bank corner in the West End, one near the Obey house (built 1826), and one at the crossing at Chartiers Creek for the road to Steubenville. This road was travelled by the farmers who took their crops and livestock on the hoof to sell in the city, and the hostelries along the way had to accommodate not only the drovers but the driven. The gulch on the western end of the crossing where the Rosslyn Inn was located was known as the "shades of death" because armed robbers would lie in wait for the drovers and farmers whom they knew had money in their pockets after selling their wares in town. Henry Dinsmore, Crafton's First Citizen Improving opportunities brought new immigrants on better roads to Western Pennsylvania. German and Irish Catholics came to Pittsburgh in great numbers between 1811 and 1831 seeking work in the mills, but those who settled beyond the hills ringing the newly chartered city were farmers. One such immigrant was Henry Dinsmore, an 18 year old The Age of Travel by Roads * 19 Irishman, who set sail from Murran, Scotland in 1821, according to Jane McMunn Davis, his great grand-daughter, and her niece, the above mentioned Dorothy Dinsmore Justice Anderson, writing in 1976. Henry's destination was Washington County where he had relatives, but he settled in what is now Crafton, and thereby hangs a tale. The ship young The Dinsmore's log house and their 1 840's brick house from Noble Avenue near Bell Avenue. Henry sailed on sprang a leak and the passengers had to take turns pumping the bilge for four-hour stints. Henry not only pumped his shift but also that of a fellow passenger, a young clergyman named Allen, racked with consumption and too ill to pump himself. When they arrived safely in the United States, the grateful Allen gave his new found friend a sum of money with which he bought a farm. In 1822, he purchased 109 acres from Joseph and Harriet Hall including a log house said to have been built in 1799, but perhaps earlier during the Whiskey Rebellion, if we are to believe the above legend of the revenue inspector. The land was bounded by what is now Crafton Boulevard to just beyond Noble Avenue, down Noble to East Crafton Avenue and back up to the Boulevard on a road now bearing Dinsmore's name. Dinsmore married and had three daughters and four sons, all of whom were born in the log house. He obviously prospered, because in either 1835 or more probably 1848, again depending on the source, he built a large brick house at the crest of what is now Bell Avenue facing Noble. According to Dorothy Anderson, a large vein of red clay was discovered on the property and Henry and his sons made the brick for his two story Greek revival farm house, a type common in Western Pennsylvania in the mid 19th century. However, the old log house survived beside the brick house until Bell Avenue was cut through the Dinsmore orchard in the 1920's and both were torn down. The Area as Dinsmore Found It When Dinsmore arrived in this area, there were already farms along both the Noblestown Road and the creek. What would eventually be Crafton was a part of Lower St. Clair Township, which had been separated from Upper St. Clair in 1806. Hand's Hospital was still standing, but Philip Smith of Philadelphia had purchased a large parcel of Hand's land and leased it to tenant farmers. (A big barn owned by the Smiths 20 ~ The Story of Crafton can be seen on an 1851 map where Noble Avenue meets Steuben Street, and this is, no doubt, the barn Harry Meredith tells us was part of the farm his father leased in 1863.) There was also a grist mill owned by the Baldwins which serviced the farm community. It was located somewhere between the pike and "five points" in McKees Rocks, or, more likely between Brodhead Road and the (now) Thornburg golf course. The mill burned in 1825 and was replaced by one owned by the Davises which, we know from an oil painting, stood on the western bank of the creek to the south of the pike. The Davises built a two story log house on the western slope above the creek c. 1820. Early 19th Century Settlers along the Creek and Pike Others who came to this rural section of Lower St. Clair Township earlier, c.1804, were William McMacken (also spelled Macken or Mackin) for whom the waterfall by the Fall Hole on the creek was named; Andrew Robinson who purchased a section of General Hand's Mt. Pleasant tract and who left his name to Robinson Township; and John Scully who purchased still another 350 acres of Hand's land. The railroad yard and a former school in Ingram were named for Scully. (One of his descendants, Cornelius, served as mayor of Pittsburgh just before World War II.) Thomas Thornburg purchased land including the place we know as Thornburg in 1806, and James McDonald (or McDonnel), who came in 1811, lived where today Backbone Road meets Steuben Street. Thomas Ingram, who arrived from County Tyrone in 1823, purchased another section of Hand's Mt. Pleasant tract and the Borough of Ingram is his namesake. Andrew and John Murphy had a woolen mill after 1821 on the creek near their home Painting of the Davis Mill before it was destroyed by fire in 1872. The Age of Travel by Roads * 21 THE STORY OF CRAFTON 1740 - 1992 , TORIC tWDED Written by Betsy Martin Photographs by Chuck Gigliotti Published by the Crafton Historical Society for Crafton, Pennsylvania's 100th Anniversary as a borough 1892 - 1992. 0P H C St. Philip Church, the first in the area. Dedicated in 1839. "Fleecedale" on the Brodhead Road, and his mill reportedly furnished the cloth for President Andrew Jackson's inaugural clothes in 1829 or 1834. Only land owners' names are found on early maps so that many of the early residents are memorialized only on their tombstones. The First Church in the Vicinity James Flannigan, his wife Margaret Campbell, and son, Bernard, came to Pittsburgh from County Down, Ireland c. 1824, soon after Dinsmore and Ingram, and bought a farm on the Pike with a substantial log house near where St. Philip would be built. Flannigan was a farmer and a drover, a lucrative occupation in those days with the growing demand for meat in Pittsburgh. Because it was too difficult for the family to travel to the city to attend mass, James arranged for a priest from the Pittsburgh parish of St. Paul to celebrate mass once a month in his home. (The mantel from his log house, charred by the candles from the mass, is said to be preserved in a house on the corner of Norma and Hewlet streets; but if so, it has been covered by a modern one so that its existence could not be verified.) This practice continued for about ten years before Philip Smith, the landowner and merchant from Philadelphia, donated "one acre and 95 perches for the use and benefit of the Roman Catholic congregation of St. Clair Township and of the neighborhood, to be used, occupied and enjoyed by them as a cemetery or burying ground, and for the erection thereon of a church for the use and benefit of said congregation and of the Roman Catholic religion forever." A small brick church was built in 1838 just four years after the dedication of St. Paul's in Pittsburgh and five years before the diocese of Pittsburgh was erected. Bishop Kenrick of Philadelphia whose diocese included all of Pennsylvania came for the dedication in July of 1839 naming the church "St. Philip" for its benefactor. It stood in the center of the cemetery at Crafton Avenue and Steuben Street until 1960 when it was torn down. The earliest graves which are legible in the old cemetery yield the names of Byrne, Cavenaugh, Doyle, Keenan, Murray, Murphy, and Mulherin. Other members of the early congregation, which extended as far west as Noblestown, were the McDermitts, Campbells, Colemans, Dunleveys, Dunns, McCabes, Rogers, Bourkes, Bonnetts, and Walshes. 22 ~ The Story of Crafton First Post Office and School A post office known as Brodhead was established in 1857 in the home of the above mentioned James McDonald where the post-riders, who had been going west on the Pike since 1815, dropped off the local mail. McDonald was the first postmaster, according to one source, although another claims it was Owen Flannigan, a son of James, who more probably succeeded McDonald. There was also a store located near this site on the 1851 map, called Bonnets for the family who owned or operated it, and it may have been the predecessor of the Central House which later stood at the foot of Steuben Street. When the first covered bridge across the creek was built is not recorded, but the first school, according to Harry Meredith, was on the site of the blacksmith's shop known in the 1870's as Adam Bett's shop. The shop was previously owned and operated by John Graham who lived across the creek when his son, Albert Graham, the grandfather of the author, was born in 1848. This spot must have been known as Will's Hollow because others claimed that is where the earliest school was located. The blacksmith's shop was torn down in the 1980's to create a parking lot for the restaurant in the early-20th century yellow brick house, now "Maggie Mae's Creek House." Making way for the automobile has caused the destruction of more than one of Crafton's landmarks. Taking the Waters Sometime between 1820 and 1850, well-to-do city dwellers found this part of the Chartiers Valley an attractive place for an outing. There were springs on the Scully farm known as Scully Springs, Sober Springs, or Hungry Springs with waters believed to have a medicinal value, and they attracted the elite of Pittsburgh. Some even built cabins here and James S. Craft, the grandfather of Crafton Borough, and his young wife Emily Miltenberger Craft, then of Oakland, may have been among them. The visitors to the springs, it has been said, came for the same reason as did the Indians who had frequented them; "to sober up after too much fire water!" Eventually oil wells in the vicinity or sulfur from the mines contaminated these springs. The "Central House," without the upper floor, may still be standing at the foot of Backbone Road. The blacksmith's shop by the bridge. The Age of Travel by Roads * 23 Scully's Stone Quarry "The Old Stone House", still barely standing below Ewing Road, built in the late 1840's. The Scully's farm also had a stone quarry, which must have been the source of the material for the few stone houses and many stone foundations in the area. The old stone house, still barely standing below Ewing Road, was built for his daughter in the late 1840's by William McClelland who had settled in the Sheridan section in 1812 (or 1826?) and it was accessed by a road, now Ewing, that first shows on an 1851 map. SAccording to Harry M eredith, James S. Craft had a stone house between St. Philip's and Pier Dannal's house on Steuben (site of the swimming pool) which his family used as a summer residence in the 1860's. A 1913 newspaper article asserts that Craft built this stone house in the center of his holdings shortly after the Civil War. In c.1874, a private school for St. Philip parish was opened in a stone house near Afton Avenue and Richmond Street, shortly after Charles Craft moved from what had been his father's house to his new house up the Pike at the comer of Noble Avenue, then called the Noblestown Road. When the old Eibeck house in this Afton Street location was torn down in 1990 to make way for as yet unbuilt town houses, it was found to have stone walls under the stucco, almost sure proof that this had been the Craft's stone house. James S. Craft, Grandfather of Crafton James S. Craft was a prominent attorney from a New Jersey Quaker family who, after the War of 1812, settled in the Oakland area at the corner of Forbes and what is now Craft Avenue in a house called the Bluffs. He later moved his family to Hand Street (now Ninth Street) downtown, a move that presaged his later move to Hand's original tract of land on the Chartiers Creek. James, purported to have loved hunting and fishing and country life, represented Philip Smith of Philadelphia, the largest landowners in the valley. Thus he was familiar and enamored with the place to which his name would forever after be attached. According to the above mentioned newspaper article on Crafton written by J.M. Miller in the November 16, 1913 edition of the Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Craft purchased 250 acres between 1863 and 1870 from the Smiths, Mary Hamor, Hugh Campbell, Thomas Campbell, James Flannigan, Nancy Dinsmore Bradford, Jeans, and Scattergood, including much of the land that is now Crafton. 24 ~ The Story of Crafton Craft's intention was to establish a town along the railroad he served as president, but he died in 1870 before his dream could be realized. The Plank Road Craze Between 1845 and 1855, there was a plank road craze, a desperate attempt to improve the mud roads by paving them with wooden planks and charging tolls to pay for them. The Noblestown Road was one such road with a toll gate in Temperanceville (West End). The rates for man and beast were listed on a sheet published in 1855, a copy of which is here illustrated. No tolls were to be collected from any person traveling from one part of his farm to another, to or from a place of worship or a funeral, militia training, general election, or from any student. However, the wood paving was predictably extremely bumpy and rotted after only a few years, so the craze died out about the same time as railroads were coming in. The Noblestown Mud Road The township branch of the county Rait OF TrE 4iLD PLANK ROAD. .AR IJfe a We Doeument of Nearly Uialf i nCe"itry Ago. U qar w o iikl 4p.s te o f thece of t ae 1In-1tieid land t'mpS Sa! bit ~4ttllrday au intiterevtain r!ic f the old Te nwprancevile a& MIoblkwtun' Tmri4ke anwd Plank Road tas unearnhe 1. A p1rtion ot to t rilts ui owb a eain Street ouf Carneie. The paper i* a iar_,, sheet pf 4W, 14 pret"ied, and will be real by the pr-ent gen:Lerad:i, ithl h iktLtkwo: The litClCA Mawnsfi.d B. Brown was the tirst m tn t1o dri\ ovr th1i I,shltit tred fter it wa,tfitished. We reprint it in cotilnden,,vld on: A RT7`E4 Of TOLL. /5'itT,,h11 rjreP1ThaAXcIL.e,t YOI I>1)W N,, TURNPIKE & PLAVIK ROAD. UIIttsWx. That the m,aitwkh NIder of the Tempe-a-wc-vil,. anwl Noblps 4owi Tninpike siu Plank Rofw Cimpany. do, at this imirnieg, called f,r the *iAcial pirv-ee, hereby authorise the Preid,nt anlld Mallaert-., to inw:ease the noft,l (if %4 on Lthe wl roslt r tadl, t,,tt fTi!l amlinlt alolwed by Sect.ion 4 ot thohiarlik P"d.Al Of 184), aL well as Iy "t lhe slweial Art of Avril, 1854. J. P. mN4~S toiarwy,. R..L. Brsn, Chairman. For OCal, %\Wcti d St.lt, Teant. al 1r Act o.f Asse,il. April. 1S49. For t-voty warnlll. %it di ont lr ,ra in. r lant. i2 cts per mnile. " " Ith "".,,ree " ifour " 12 live " 20.. six "4 ", No Wagon allowedI to ulse a (Chain Lock RATES PER MILE ON \\VID)LE l[R(.l). For every Score of Hogs. - - - t per mile "4, " Sheep., - I " "+'' ":te,; Ho?. t.nd Rider, or led Horse, - - (Carter Wagon, with one Horse, - -. Wagon,other than for haulinS Coal,Wo(gl or Stone with two Horses, - -.' " four lorses, - - - SilkV Cise or Gig, with one horse and 2 wheels. 2 Chariot,Coach, Ik,arborn or Pltietott, 1 horse, -4 w heels 1 Stage or Omnibus with two Horses, - .,, i four -' leigh th one t orse, Sled Mitt lne lovRe 9 i ~ ( ". two " - - - i. S"" r f,, -,2,, Noblestown Road connected to the Pike via now Baldwick Road and Noble Avenue, and it was known as the Noblestown mud road to distinguish it from the Noblestown plank road. Township roads were under the jurisdiction of an elected Road Supervisor who hired and paid the men to maintain and build roads. He also collected taxes by going door to door at the homes of those assessed. Anyone who could not pay the tax had the right to work out his tax on the road. The Age of Travel by Roads * 25 More Immigrants Arrive A tenant farm house on the Biggert property on Ewing Road. Before mid century, the Grahams from County Down, Ireland via Germantown, joined the settlement along the Noblestown Plank Road where the Sterrets, Frews, and Chesses were already well established. The road over the hill from the bend on Noblestown, now Crafton Boulevard but originally Ridge Avenue, is not found on a map until 1861. It was along this road that the McMunns, Quinns, and Limbaughs, who had a rough stone house, established residence. Others who lived above the creek in mid century were John Toe in (now) Oakwood; Captain John Biggert whose name is preserved in Biggert Manor on what was part of his land; and William Perkins in the vicinity of Grandview Avenue and Crafton Boulevard for whom a school, a ball field, and a swimming hole, all long gone, were named. Chartiers Township Created In 1851, Lower St. Clair Township was divided into three townships, Chartiers, Robinson, and Fayette, and one of the three commissioners appointed to this task was the above mentioned William Perkins. Chartiers Township included what is now Crafton, Ingram, Carnegie, parts of Pittsburgh, Sheradan, Elliott, Esplen, Windgap and McKees Rocks. There were two public schools in the Crafton/Ingram section of the township in 1851, S.H.1, on the Brodhead Road near Windgap, for those children who lived by the creek, and S.H.2, on Noble Avenue across from the Dinsmore farm, for those who lived along the Noblestown Road. The first public schools had been established by the Pennsylvania Common School Act in 1834, but we don't know if the earlier school at Will's Hollow was a public school. The First Railroad in the Valley In 1851, the same year that Chartiers Township was created, something else occurred which would change forever the character of the area: the building of a railroad by the Chartiers Coal Company. The company found it expensive to haul coal by horse and wagon, so they built the railroad to carry coal from the mines under the present golf course at Chartiers Country Club to the Ohio River where it could be loaded on barges for 26 * The Story of Crafton shipping. Alice Crist Christner in her Here's to Thomburg tells us that a large group of Irishmen were brought in to build the track and viaduct over the Pike and that there were many riots and fights before its completion, just possibly because a barrel of whiskey and dipper were kept on the job to quench the workmen's thirst. She quotes a Pittsburgh newspaper of the day at the time it was completed: This enterprise has been brought to this consummation principally by the energies and business abilities of its president, Thos. McElrath, Esq. of the New York Tribune, and we have no doubt that under his admirable superintendence the company will reap a rich harvest. A trade in'black diamonds' is of that solid, practical character, which always pays. Mr. McElrath was the president of the New York Tribune and the partner of the illustrious Horace Greeley, but their enterprise was abandoned after only three years for unknown reasons. A Chartiers Railroad to move people rather than coal had been proposed as early as 1831 by John Ewing and others to follow the Chartiers Valley from Pittsburgh to Washington, PA. However, it was opposed by a strong coalition of stagecoach drivers, freighters, blacksmiths, tavern keepers, and the National Road, so nothing came of it until much later in the century. In the 1850's, another railroad was in the works to link Pittsburgh to Steubenville by way of Brodhead, but railroad service for people and freight would be delayed again by the outbreak of the the Civil War. And that begins a new chapter in the history of the place that would later be called Crafton. The Age of Travel by Roads * 27 The Railroad Era 1865-1895 and beyond The depot at Crafton Avenue circa 1890. Chapter three 28 ~ The Story of Crafton he railroads were going to change the face of the entire country, not just that of the local countryside around the Brodhead Post Office. Both during and after the Civil War, there was a tremendous need for faster, cheaper and more direct transportation for passengers and freight than turnpikes and waterways could provide. Railroads were the answer and independent short line railroads were being organized everywhere. The Baltimore and Ohio was the first railroad in the United States built to move both people and goods. Begun in 1828, it had reached only as far as Wheeling by 1853. Several independent lines had connected the Ohio River to Lake Erie by 1845, stretching on to Chicago in 1853. That same year the Pennsylvania Railroad ran its first through train from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh via the rail portage near Johnstown. There would be a railroad through Brodhead before the east and west coasts were joined by rail in 1869. The Pittsburgh and Steubenville Railway Mr. James Craft, familiar with the pitfalls and potholes of the Steubenville Turnpike, seized the moment to propose a railroad through the Chartiers Valley to better connect the coal and clay of Steubenville with the mills of Pittsburgh. Stock was issued as early as 1854, because we know that John Graham, the blacksmith, purchased two shares that year at 50 dollars each. But it would be another 11 years before the first passenger would ride through Brodhead. The Civil War intervened with its own priorities, and the road bed was to prove difficult to build. It required two tunnels in the first seven miles out of Pittsburgh just to reach Idlewood: tunnel #1, the Big Tunnel, under Middletown Road, and tunnel #2, the Little Tunnel, now under Black's Bridge. The Railroad Era ~ 29 Artist Nancy Gavrish's conception of the Tunnel School from Harry Meredith's description. Harry Meredith, who arrived in the area with his parents just shortly before the railroad, said it took three years to build the Little Tunnel. During the excavation work, a vein of red clay was uncovered on the Dinsmore property. Taking advantage of this discovery, Henry Dinsmore's son, John, and his son-in-law, William Creighton, recently married to Lizzie Dinsmore, started a brick works which lasted until John's death in 1883. The day the first passenger train chugged through Brodhead on a single, one-way track, October 9, 1865, was a much bigger event in young Harry Meredith's life than the Union victory at Appomattox, six months to the day earlier. For those local boys who had served three years in the Chartiers Guard of the Fifth Army of the Republic, it might not have seemed quite such a momentous occasion; but change things it did. A New School Within a year there were enough people living in this part of Chartiers Township that the school board, represented by local director, Postmaster Owen Flannigan, built a new school. The school was known by many different names: the Tunnel School, The School at the Cut, The Railroad School, The Dinsmore School, and the Perkin's School. Harry Meredith, who attended this school after beginning his education at the old Bell School in Idlewood, could recall and list the nat all the children who ever attended it. described in detail what was consider *- Ah4-the time a modern, well-equipped put school building: That School house had decided improvements in architecture and workmanship. It was a large, well finished one-room frame building with a high ceiling, and well lighted by ten large double-sash windows with outside shutters. It had two entrance doors, two main aisles, and three rows of newly painted double-desks with separate seats, graded to suit the smaller children. There was an open fireplace between the doors, and at the other end of the room there was an immense cannon heating stove with stove pipe straight up 30 - The Story of Crafton nes of He ed at lic to the ceiling. The rostrum containing the teacher's newly designed desk and a long wooden blackboard was also at the end of the room. There was a new globe, a tap-bell and a new set of ABC cards. On the wall were numerous brand new geographical maps. The PC & SL Railway The death of James Craft in 1870 caused further changes in the fledgling community including alterations to its topography. Craft's Pittsburgh and Steubenville Railroad was absorbed by the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and St. Louis Railroad, and the first improvement the new owners made was to widen the roadbed for a second track. This necessitated changing the narrow Little Tunnel into a cut and building a covered bridge over the gap. The above mentioned school stood almost on top of the tunnel, but, nevertheless, it remained in session during the blasting! Mr. William Creighton put to good use the blackened stones removed from the tunnel to build his new house on the Noblestown (mud) Road, now 51 Noble Avenue. He was fortunate to find in the area a young stonemason newly arrived from England, Mr. Eli Crum, who it seems probable designed the unique house, laid the stone, and built four unique chimneys and trimmed the doors and windows with bricks from the Dinsmore/ Creighton brick works. There was a W. Crum living since before 1860 in an old log house at the foot of Woodlawn Avenue and he may have been the reason Eli settled here. (That house, which is probably the oldest in Crafton, is at number ten Woodlawn, but the logs have been covered with white siding.) The crossing at the depot. The new owners of the railroad also moved the station from what had been a workmen's shack during construction to a new station at the Crafton Avenue crossing on land donated by Craft's children. They renamed the station Crafton in their father's memory. The telegraph office was moved to Ingram to be closer to the remaining Big Tunnel. The new station master was not a master at all, but a mistress, Mrs. Clara Spees, whose husband was the railroad agent at Temperanceville. When that station was closed, the building was moved to Idlewood to serve as its station, and no doubt Mr. Spees moved with it. The Railroad Era * 31 E rj, ~ 1992 Crafton Historical Society All rights reserved To order additional copies of this book, send your request with your name, address, and phone number to: The Crafton Historical Society c/o Crafton Borough Building 100 Stotz Avenue Crafton, PA 15205 Charles Cathral Craft Arrives to Build a Town Captain Grace's summer house. The original Nativity Church, now the Knights of Columbus Hall. James Craft's only son, Charles, had been groomed to assume the reins and develop his father's real estate in the Chartiers Valley. He had graduated in civil engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, in 1866. However, he eloped with a young woman from Troy, to his father's great displeasure, and as a result was disinher ited. But his two sisters, Mrs. Cornelia Sproul and Mrs. Caroline Bloomer, sympathized with him and shared their legacy, including the real estate. He and his young wife, Mary, then moved from Pittsburgh to the stone summer house his father had built near the Pike, and began putting his surveying and engineering training to work. It would take more than iron rails to build a town. By 1872, Charles had laid out a plan of lots and streets called the McFarland Plan, and he formed, in the words of his grand-daughter Mary Hardy, "a one-man building and loan association" to help the buyers of his lots finance their new houses. At the time there were only two houses already in this plan, the farmhouse where Harry Meredith lived, and Captain R. J. Grace's summer home on what is now Grace Street. The two Walsh houses built before 1870 on the Ingram side of the Pike were not in his plan, nor was the McCandless property farther down the Pike towards the Creek. Charles immediately began to build a house for himself and his expanding family at the corner of the Pike and the Noblestown (mud) Road. It was a tall, grand Second Empire style house which, Harry Meredith tells us, "exerted a silent influence on prospective purchasers of his property...and had much to do in determining the nature of the homes that were to be established here." He described the grounds as "artistically landscaped with choice trees bearing delicious fruits...stately pines...wonderful shade trees...bea.jp2ul walks through gorgeous shrubbery and flowers of every description." In addition there was "a lovely fountain in the center of a large lily pond, filled with rare lilies and selected gold-fish," which was quite extraordinary considering it was in a town without water pressure. 32 - The Story of Crafton i V I o i:N 10 &NOW i The parlor in the Craft house at the corner of Noble and Steuben. Late 19th century. The Creighton House, built of stones from the "Little Tunnel." Craft recorded a second plan of lots in 1873, opening up many new streets including Afton, Belvidere, Central (changed to Cathral and later Linwood), Emily (named for his mother), Coulter, Park and Warren. His two plans would later comprise most of the first ward of Crafton. In that same year Charles and his sisters, to carry out their father's wishes, donated land near the station and five hundred dollars toward construction of the first Protestant church in the area, the Episcopal Church of the Nativity (now owned by the Knights of Columbus). Charles' and Mary's daughter, Alice, was the first child baptized in this church. This was not the most auspicious time to embark on establishing a new town because of the Panic of'73 which was followed by bank closings, mass unemployment in industries and the railroad, and years of depression. In 1877, Pittsburgh railroad workers struck in protest against wage reductions, leading to bloodshed when the militia was called in to prevent further burnings and lootings. Only 20 houses were built in Craft's plans in the seventies. Among them were: Eli Crum's and George White's (now on the corner of White Avenue) on East Crafton Avenue; S. Streebech's on West Crafton; Philip Wentz's on Station Street; John McGrew's, John Heinley's, George Perkins' and his sister, Harriet Moore's near the Dinsmore line; and, on the west side of the railroad, Lou Sarver's on Coulter Street, the DeZouche family's on Belvidere St. and Dr. D. Gilmore Foster's on Afton. Dr. Gilmore was Crafton's first physician; Wentz and Streebech were merchants. Wentz sold Pittsburgh's daily papers and magazines of the day from his home, and Streebech sold meat from his butcher's wagon and later from a shop in his home. The butcher shop was memo rable for its hanging carcasses, wooden chopping block, sawdust covered floor and the piece of bologna that Mr. Streebech always gave to the children of his customers. Most of these early houses were frame with gabled roofs, stone foundations from the Scully quarries and chimneys made from brick supplied by either the Dinsmore/Creighton works or Mrs. Brown's brick yard near the Perkins' farm. The houses were "neatly fenced in strong paling fences and artistic gates at the end of walks leading to front doors." The streets were mud and the sidewalks, if there were any, were boardwalks. 34 * The Story of Crafton The center of the community was shifting from the creek crossing to the little village around the railroad station. Henry Grein opened the first general grocery store in his new home at the comer of Station and Crafton Avenue, "the only one between Marlattsville (now 20th Ward of Pittsburgh), where S.H. Lawson's store was then, and Mansfield (now Carnegie)." The post office moved up the Pike near the railroad overpass when Postmaster Owen Flannigan moved to his new house at that location. The name of the post office was changed from Brodhead to Crafton in 1881. The Davis Mill Fire Signals the End of an Era An event in the early 70's symbolized the end of the farming era along the Chartiers Creek. The Davis Mill burned in a spectacular fire witnessed from the Backbone Road by the pupils of the Tunnel School, but this time it was not rebuilt as the Baldwin Mill had been, because the need for it was fast disappearing. Harry Meredith tells us that the land his father came here to farm was "useless and almost worthless," probably because of a century of poor farming practices. Marginal farms all over the country were failing and people were moving to the cities and towns to work in the new industries. Alice Christner, in her Here's to Thornburg, speculated that the fire was related to the day the creek caught fire upstream. "When oil was discovered near Noblestown, before they could cap the well, the oil gushed into the Creek, and somehow caught fire. The fire raged all the way from Noblestown to the Ohio River, burning down many buildings along the shore, including a one-room school which stood below the present (1966) concrete bridge." She thought that both the mill and the wooden bridge over the creek on the Pike were destroyed by the floating fire, because a new iron bridge was erected there three years later. But three years was a long time to be without a roadway to cross the creek, so it seems more likely that the wooden bridge was carried away at the time of the severe Butcher's Run Flood of 1874 which killed 150 people. In any event, when the Davis Mill was destroyed, the dam beside it crumbled, destroying the large pool of fresh water where residents had enjoyed rowing in summer and skating in winter. Gone, too, was the Perkins swimming hole where men and boys had long enjoyed bathing and swimming. The 1875 bridge on the Steubenville Pike. (Rody Patterson's farmhouse is pictured in the center.) The Railroad Era * 35 Social Life in the Seventies The social center of the village during this period was the Tunnel School, the only building large enough for people to congregate. Young and old would gather in the evenings to participate in spelling matches. Captains were elected, teams were then chosen, and the school teacher selected the words. The matches sometimes lasted until late in the evening. I Idlewood Railroad Station, April, 1906. In the summer it was baseball that drew neighbors together every Saturday and almost every evening. Their playing field was the Black Diamond Ball Grounds on the level, treeless plain near the school, bounded by the then Noblestown Road, Ewing Road and the Backbone Road. (Ridge Avenue, later Crafton Boulevard, did not yet exist.) The well on the Perkins farm supplied water for both the players and the school children. Organized teams became very competitive and games were exciting. Baseball had first gained popularity in the United States in the 1860's, but Pittsburgh did not have a team until 1877. Fishing in the creek was another popular pastime and the fishing was excellent. In 1879, a Jacob Wheeler caught 23 fish, the largest at four and a half pounds. It was said to be "the biggest since King Shingas and his duskey followers angled there." Anglers' associations and sportsmens' clubs were flourishing. To promote outdoor games and activities for men and boys, the Chartiers Valley had a chartered athletic association. In 1897, it became the Crafton Literary and Athletic Association. The Chubby Fishing Club, pictured in Stefan Lorant's Pittsburgh, held its annual outing at McKees Rocks in 1876. Charles Craft took his family farther afield for fishing. They went by train and steamer to the wilds of Canada where, in 1890, he built a lodge on Lake Muskoka in Ontario with the help of three ministers from the Episcopal diocese and a Canadian carpenter. His descendents still spend their summers there. The Idlewood Resort Hotel It is difficult for later generations to imagine the Chartiers Valley as a resort area, but we have seen that Scully Springs attracted visitors in an earlier period. In 1874, a new resort 36 ~ The Story of Crafton was opened near the Idlewood Railroad Station; in fact, the resort may have given Idlewood its name. W. S. Jackson converted a house his wife had inherited into a summer hotel, and it was so successful that the following year he added individual cottages, three of which are still on the hillside above Noblestown Road. The hotel stood on 24 wooded acres opposite the Chartiers Cemetery, which had been founded in 1861. Summer vacations were a relatively new phenomenon, even for well-to-do Americans who worked a twelve-hour, six day week, and went out only to church on Sundays. George Westinghouse would be the first to give his salaried employees a half day on Saturday with pay! But, before the advent of the railroad, it was difficult to go far from home even if one had the time and the money. Fourteen trains stopped daily at the Idlewood station and Jackson provided an omnibus to convey guests to and from the hotel. Clergymen, lawyers, judges, railway executives, iron manufacturers, merchants and their families, according to a Pittsburgh Dispatch writer, "could enjoy, at moderate cost, all the pleasures of rustic surroundings while keeping their business hours with the same facility as if living in the city." Activities included picnics, riding, concerts, dances, musicals, amateur theatricals, art studies, tenpins and baseball games, not to mention eating the hearty meals the hotel was famous for. The resort was described in an 1875 brochure as "spacious, high, interspersed with bea.jp2ul forest shade trees and otherwise pretty nearly in a state of natural grandeur: air fresh and invigorating, water (piped from springs) excellent, gas illumination throughout the house, and the scenery of the surrounding countryside comprehensive and notably picturesque." W. S. Jackson's son, Stanford, took over the hotel after his father's death and operated it until late in the 1890's. Another son, Chevelier, a specialist in lung diseases and the inventor of the bronchoscope, built a fine house on Morange Avenue which was only recently tom down. A grove of evergreens marks the site. Clean air and water were becoming increasingly important factors in attracting people from the smoky city. Stefan Lorant quoted a visitor to Pittsburgh in 1868: "I saw villages springing up as far away as twenty miles to which business men repaired, when in consequence of having inhaled the smoke all day, they feel able to bear the common country atmosphere through the night." The southern and western suburbs were someIdlewood Cottage Hotel in the 1870's. The Railroad Era * 37 what protected from the city smoke by the hills to the west of the Ohio and Monongahela, that is, until industry moved to the suburbs, and coal smoke from residential furnaces polluted the air in the valley. Homestead Park Scene of Lageman Farm by Marie Lageman. In the early 1870's, another enterprise of quite a different nature was taking place on the opposite side of the railroad in Idlewood. While Charles Craft was busily engaged in developing his plan of lots, Andrew Patterson was promoting the Homestead Park Plan which today forms much of Crafton's Third Ward. The Homestead Bank and Life Insurance Company had secured 240 acres from J. H. Bell, John Biggert, Neil Kirkpatrick, James Allen and John McClelland. The company sold a large tract to a long established Variety Works which planned to move its plant from the Sligo district along Carson Street. The developers hoped to sell lots to their employees and they employed modem advertising techniques to do so. Harry Meredith tells us there were brass bands, free lemonade, sandwiches, luncheons and coffee. Andrew Patterson demonstrated his faith in the project by building a fine residence on Sthe hill overlooking the railroad station. Captain John Biggert built his elegant mansion on the opposite knoll across Woodlawn Avenue, where Biggert Manor is located today. Lots were sold at fabulous prices before the bubble burst in the panic of '73. The company failed with enormous liabilities and the unsold land reverted to the former owners. Philip and Katherine Schuler, parents of Barbara Schuler Lageman, had purchased 50 acres in the plan in 1869, land that would later become the Lageman farm. 38 * The Story of Crafton The Jacobus and Nimick Manufacturing Company. The Jacobus and Nimick Manufacturing Company The Variety Works went ahead with its plans and moved into its new plant in 1877, renaming itself The Jacobus and Nimick Manufacturing Company. In Harry Meredith's words: It was, in every way, a credit to this part of Chartiers Township. Its many buildings were strictly up to date and substantially constructed of brick and stone. They consisted of an immense three story main building with finished basement and separate boiler and engine rooms. There was an exceedingly large Moulding Room floor, well lighted and equipped with convenient blast-furnaces for melting pig iron and brass or copper. This factory was the largest ever built in this part of the valley, occupying seven acres and employing 300 people. It even had its own railroad station beyond Idlewood, known first as Jacobus and later Lockton for the locks that were the company's specialty, although their products included the entire range of builders' hardware. The plant was in operation until the late 90's when it was replaced by the Pittsburgh Water Heater Company. There must be many local houses built during that 20 year period that were furnished with hardware from this local industry. By 1880, despite the failure of the Homestead Park investors, 100 houses had been built in the plan and, by 1882, Idlewood had its own post office. The Railroad Era * 39 Changes in the Eighties The First Methodist Chapel in 1884. Crafton Avenue from Noble showing the First Presbyterian Church. The pace of growth in the communities springing up around each stop on the railroad quickened with better economic times in the 1880's, although there was the predictable downturn in the business cycle in this decade, too. That the village of Crafton was growing was evident in the formation and building of several new churches, a new fourroom school in 1885 and the establishment of new businesses. In 1883, a group of 13 Methodists organized in a society and approached Charles Craft to ask him to donate land for a chapel. He complied by offering them property on Belvidere Street, which at the time was "almost a wilderness with no sign of a roadway." They built their simple frame chapel on the site of the present church and, while it was under construction, the Episcopalians allowed them to meet in their church. To quote from the church's centennial booklet: "A boardwalk and wooden bridge served to keep members out of deep mud, and when they came to evening service, they carried oil lamps as there were no street lights. A wire fence around the church indicated there may have been stray cows in the area." The earliest Presbyterian services were held in the Tunnel School, an outgrowth of a flourishing non-denominational Sunday School. They were held in the afternoons and conducted by preachers who had morning parishes elsewhere. Judge Thomas Ewing of the County Court, who had a summer home on Ewing Road, was active in securing suitable preachers. Harry Meredith said: "The atten dance was remarkably good considering the scattered population and the inconve nience of adults sitting in school children's seats during a long service in a crowded schoolroom." No wonder the Presbyterians, too, decided to 40 ~ The Story of Crafton build their own church. They chose a centrally located site on Crafton Avenue, but they bought and paid for the land from Mr. Craft. Their church, slightly more elaborate than the Methodist's, was dedicated in 1884. The congregation at St. Philip Church numbered only 40 families at this time as a result of the new parishes being carved from their original territory, and they had no resident pastor until Father Keeney arrived in 1878. He got from C.C. Craft property adjoining the original piece and built an addition to the church. He also opened a parish school in 1887 with the Sisters of Charity in change, but it did not survive the depression of 1892. In 1883, the Little Tunnel School became the first two-room school in the district when a second room was added for a primary department, but even so, it was bursting at the seams. In 1885 the Chartiers Township School Board, whose president was fortuitously Charles Craft, decided to build in Crafton a four-room school! The site selected was in the very heart of the town where the present Borough Building is located. It was a two story brick building with stone trimmings and slate roof, a credit to Mr. Craft's town. The Tunnel School was closed and the property was sold back to the Dinsmores from whom the land had been purchased. In that same year, Mr. S. H. Lawson erected his house on Division Street and a large building next door at the corner of Crafton Avenue. The street floor housed his general store and a drug store operated by Mr. George Hardy, Charles Craft's future son-in-law. The upper floors contained a public hall, lodge rooms and apartments. John and Henry Wentz had two years earlier opened their own general store at the corner of Crafton Avenue and the then Noblestown Road. Roller skating rinks were very popular in the 80's and, in the winter of'84-'85, Henry Wentz, Harry McMunn, and several others leased from Charles Craft a piece of land opposite the Wentz's general store and built a large rink; they even engaged an instructor. The rink attracted young and old not only from Crafton but also Greentree, Ingram, Carnegie and Idlewood. One of the main attractions was the unusual performance of a one legged man on a -. - roller skate! The building, alas, was wrecked when the immense flat The 1885 Chartiers Township School at Station and White Avenues. Station Street in the late 19th Century. House pictured at left is still standing but considerably altered. For the Graham girls of Crafton roof collapsed under the weight of a heavy wet snow just a year later. Mr. Benjamin Shafer bought the property to build his home and a large livery stable for his horse trading business. After his death, it was torn down in 1900 and a smaller stable was built for Mr. Barney Gaefney's race horses. Ice skating was popular too, both on the Creek and on a pond at the foot of Cathral Street (now Linwood Avenue) fed by a stream in the ravine behind Coulter Street. The ravine made access difficult to the homes on the west side of the railroad until 1890 when a narrow wooden footbridge was built over it by popular subscription. It was so high people were afraid to walk across it until Dr. Gil Foster galloped his horse over it to prove it was safe. Entering the Nineties The Linwood Avenue Bridge built in 1890. The pond at the bottom of the gully, which was a favorite spot for ice skating, was filled in the 1920's. Most houses pictured are on Coulters Street and still exist (circa 1900). By the end of the 80's, there were 150 houses in Charles Craft's Plan with a population estimated at between four and five hundred. The population of Allegheny County had more than doubled between the census of 1870 and 1890, from 262,204 to 551,957, swelled by immigrants seeking work in the mines and mills. Andrew Carnegie, George Westinghouse, Henry Clay Frick, Henry J. Heinz, the Hunts, and many others were creating jobs almost faster than they could be filled. Neither these captains of industry, many of whom lived near the railroad station in Homewood, nor those who labored in their mills and had to walk to work, gravitated to the western suburbs. Rather it attracted the solid, law-abiding, God-fearing, "home-loving" (Harry Meredith's word) middle class, mostly of Anglo-Saxon heritage. What precipitated Crafton's citizens' breaking away from Chartiers Township and organizing themselves into an independent borough is subject to conjecture. Perhaps it was fear of being swallowed up by Pittsburgh as neighboring Temperanceville had been in 1872. Perhaps there were just too many people for the Township to govern effectively. There was only one road supervisor to oversee all the roads and streets in the large township. Crafton had only one school director out of six to represent the public school in Crafton, and only one member on the State Board of Health, an important position in the days of typhoid and many contagious diseases. Property was assessed by the Township and taxes were levied, collected and dispensed at large by the Township, and probably 42 - The Story of Crafton not always equitably. Declaring independence from a larger governing unit in Allegheny County was certainly in vogue at the time. Green Tree had left Union Township in 1886, and in the year that Crafton was incorporated as a borough, so were Ben Avon, Aspinwall, Mt. Oliver, Port Vue, Rankin, Turtle Creek, and McKees Rocks. Whatever the reason, in the summer of 1891, 150 residents petitioned the County Court "to be invested with authority to govern themselves in accordance with the borough laws of the State of Pennsylvania." Mr. John Rebman, Jr., a young attorney who had taken an active interest in local affairs since moving to Crafton, did the necessary legal work. There were many residents who did not sign the petition, either because they were satisfied with the Township government, or because they owned property that was assessed as farmland at a lower rate than it would be in a borough. Because they filed suit, the judge ordered new boundaries drawn eliminating certain farm land. After some delay, Judge W.D. Porter issued the decree incorporating Crafton as a borough on January 8, 1892. The decree required a special election in February when the qualified voters (read, adult men) were to elect the officers and fill various borough positions. The election was held in Wentz's store. The state law provided for a burgess and six councilmen to manage borough affairs and levy borough taxes, and six school directors to manage the public school(s) and levy school taxes. It also had provisions for a board of health, a justice of Burgess Charles Craft flanked by Crafton's first council members. the peace, a constable, an assessor, a tax collector and an auditor. Mr. Charles Craft, not unexpectedly, was elected the first Burgess, and Mr. George Hardy was elected Treasurer. The first council meeting was held in March, but the School Board did not assume its duties until June. The Board of Health was combined with the Police Department, temporarily, until 1896! The school directors, one of whom was Harry Meredith, were faced with the immediate problem of providing for 200 school children in a four-room school house. Somehow, by the fall term, bonds had been issued, school taxes levied, books purchased and more teachers hired, while two classrooms and a central staircase were added to the seven year old school and individual heating stoves were replaced with central heating! A celebration was in order, and not only were all the local and other dignitaries invited, but an eight piece orchestra was engaged and electric lights were provided-just for the party, not for the classrooms! One room in the school, set aside for council and school board meetings, was equipped with electric lights since the meetings were in the evening. In 1892, the streets that were lighted in Crafton had Welsbach gas burners. Natural gas was first piped to Crafton in 1887, but shortly after the formation of the Borough, the Crafton Light and Power Company was organized to bring electricity to the town. Permission was granted by Council to erect poles and string wires, an eyesore that still defaces the landscape in older communities. That company, after several changes in ownership, was sold to Duquesne Light, which built the substation on Noble Avenue in 1919. According to Harry Meredith, the first electric light from incandescent lamps had been introduced in Crafton in 1882, two years before the advent of Westinghouse lamps: It was a surprise feature at a social gathering in an assembly room on the lawn of Mr. Charles C. Craft, and Messrs. Fisher and R. Herman were responsible for the idea. Mr. Fisher had secured from the Fisher Bros., Boston, Mass., some imported incandescent lamps known as the Swan Lamp, made in England; and Mr. Herman had secured a small generator which he coupled to a one h.p. steam engine in Mr. Craft's workshop nearby. Ten of these lamps wired to the generator were placed on the walls of the room; and at the proper time, with Herman the engineer and Fisher the 44 * The Story of Crafton I piped water. The Railroad Era * 45 electrician, the current was turned on and the room became flooded with light greatly to the surprise and amazement of those present. In that eventful year when the Borough was erected and electricity introduced, the Monongahela Water Company laid a branch line from Sheridan into Crafton providing water under pressure for the first time. Mr. Joseph Thomas, a well digger, had dug most of the wells for the new houses in Crafton since 1885, but wells could not keep pace with the water demands of the growing population. In 1895, the St. Clair Water Company built the Oak Park reservoir at the highest point on the Toe Estate, now Craftmont. This large reservoir supplied Crafton and all the surrounding boroughs until it was abandoned and filled in for a city playground, but the stone walls remain. The stone was quarried at Walker's Mill and delivered on the railroad switch in Crafton, then hauled to the site by four-horse teams over mud roads and through soft fields. Derricks were required at each end for loading and unloading. Harry Meredith tells us that: "Mr. A.R. Foster, who had charge of the teams,...told of one trip through the woods, when a large stone on one of the wagons was jolted off. As there was no derrick there to reload it, that stone, no doubt, is still resting where it fell off the wagon." A.R. Foster, who was a doctor, founded the Foster Transfer and Storage Company, which has been a fixture on Station Street ever since. The two water companies were absorbed in 1904 by the South Pittsburgh Water Company, now called the Pennsylvania-American Water Company. In 1895, Council called a citizen's meeting, chaired by Charles Craft, to see if the taxpayers favored a bond issue to sewer the town and grade and pave the most important streets. When it was turned down in a straw vote, Council decided that property owners would have to petition Council to get the work done on their street, with the Borough paying one third and the property owners paying two thirds. The streets could not be paved until the water and sewer lines were laid. How the town, or any town, existed without sewers up until then, one can only imagine, but it is certain that Crafton's development would have stopped then and there without piped water, sewers and paved streets. Fifteen fire hydrants were installed after water became available so the volunteer firemen, who up to that time had fought fires with bucket brigades, could better extinguish fires. 46 * The Story of Crafton Another important event in this formative period of Crafton's history was the opening of Messrs. Hoskinson and Chambers' printing establishment in 1894. They published and printed the Chartiers Valley Mirror, a weekly paper devoted to local news and society life in the Chartiers Valley. It was the official paper for Crafton, Sheridan, Elliott, Greentree, and Chartiers Township, including what is now Ingram. It would not only serve as a molder of public opinion, but also prove to be a good source of information about the communities for future history buffs. The Mirror was the leading advocate for a public library in this locale, and it mustered the support of all the preachers and many of the citizens. Considerable financial assistance was pledged, but there was no angel as there would be in nearby Carnegie. The new Borough of Carnegie, recently formed by merging Mansfield and Chartiers, asked Andrew Carnegie to donate a library to the town named in his honor, and their flattery paid off in 1901. Crafton would have to wait another 40 years for its library. A proposal was made by the County Superintendent of Schools to school directors from all the communities served by the Mirror to build a central high school with a four year course equal to that taught in Pittsburgh. There were then about 15 or 20 students believed eligible for this advanced schooling; but the idea was rejected because of the cost, even though the state would have paid half. Again, Crafton would wait 20 years for its own high school. The event that caused the most excitement in Crafton in 1895 was the arrival of the electrically operated street car. The cars of the Pittsburgh, Crafton and Mansfield Railway first clanged through Crafton on Decoration Day, 1895, bringing about still more changes in the burgeoning community. The Railroad Era * 47 The Street Car Years 1895 - 1918 and beyond The Crafton/Ingram summer car circa 1896. Chapter our 48 - The Story of Crafton n 1895, the three year old borough was poised for the fastest growth it would ever experience. Crafton already had good rail transportation to jobs in the City via the PCC and SL Railroad (Chicago had been added to the system) nicknamed the Panhandle. It was separated by hills from the dirty, smoky place Lincoln Steffans described as "Hell with the lid off." It had good progressive government, in contrast to Pittsburgh's, which Steffans called "Hell with the lid on." Crafton's streets were clean and well-lit and the police department was "wide awake and active." The school directors were committed to providing the best education for Crafton's children. The residents had their choice of four churches and more were being organized. There was even a local newspaper anxious to tell all those fleeing the City about the wonders of the Chartiers Valley. But the spark that ignited the real estate boom was the street car. Electric street cars first appeared in Pittsburgh in 1888, connecting Mt. Oliver to the City, although there had been horse drawn cars in use since the Civil War and cog railways up Mt. Washington since the 1870's. The trolleys were an instant success and independent street railway companies were organized to provide access to areas that could not be reached by the railroads. They opened up land for development north, south, east and west of the city. The Pittsburgh, Crafton and Mansfield Railway bought its own right of way between McGann's comer (near the Old Stone Tavern) in the West End and Ridge Avenue (Crafton Boulevard) at the top of now McMunn, paralleling Noblestown Road and the Boulevard. The company had to replace the covered wooden bridge over the railroad with a new iron bridge to carry the heavy cars. (Actually the bridge was a used railroad bridge from somewhere in Ohio.) The cars turned left as soon as they crossed the bridge continuing on their own right of way to the underpass at Idlewood, then on to Carnegie. The novelty and excitement of the street car was much like that created by George Washington Ferris's newly invented Ferris Wheel. The ride provided a good time and for only a nickel. The school children went on their annual trip to the Pittsburgh Exposition on the new open summer trolley cars instead of The Street Car Years * 49 g SLISTOFE F11rO0 o A. M. 13:30 A..-GRAD.NO TUBLIC.VEDDIf II A. i,-f1ECEPTI il Afternoon and Evening- G "oo00 U. S. OLDIE FREE DAICIIG ALL D ROYAL, GREAT [IAGNt IC,ENT F1RRE Y' 2 "2 wdsr Poster of coming events at Oakwood Park from the spring of 1900. the utilitarian train, and they rode the trolley to visit a coal mine in Carnegie. Those who enjoyed ice skating could skate to McKees Rocks or Carnegie on the creek and ride the trolley back home. Street car parties were popular with adults, too. Harry Meredith was part of a group of 30 who rode from Crafton to Mansfield to Pittsburgh to Coraopolis and back to Crafton at 10:30 P.M., in time for a late supper at the home of one of the riders. The 1940's film Meet Me in St. Louis, set in 1904 at the time of the 100th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, captured the AT.. fun and gaiety of riding a street car before it became just another means of getting around. l. However, street cars were not without their hazards on the steep grades around Pittsburgh. The Crafton LJ I' W trolley had not been in use six months when the EVEINT TS brakes failed on a car descending the hill into the , 0thI n gt. West End. Professor Alexander Philips, a member of "To o l. l. " the Borough Council and a passenger on the car, was G.-10:3.0 A. M. killed and William S. Guy, his friend riding with him, BY' iHAPY COUPLEt- I). M, F.was seriously injured. Young Mr. Guy had worked in rah: Reproduction of.the office of Mr. Henry Clay Frick during the Home j i S stead steel strike of 1892 when an anarchist burst in, S Ii ACTION... shoved past Guy, and shot and stabbed Mr. Frick, so AY. lSTEN--00. this was a second close encounter for him. Mr. Guy WORKS DISPLAY subsequently took Professor Philips' seat on council, ND CAnRS " where he served until the 1930's. Oakwood Park To encourage ridership on summer weekends and holidays, the various railway companies built five amusement parks around the city with Kennywood Park the sole survivor. The Pittsburgh, Crafton and Mansfield Company built Oakwood Park on eleven acres of the John Toe estate across the ravine behind Glaser's old ice cream parlor on Crafton Boulevard. The earlier resorts in the area at Scully Springs and Idlewood were watering holes for the well-to-do, but the traction parks were for everyman. A stream in the ravine 50 ~ The Story of Crafton was dammed to form a lake for canopy-topped row boats and electric launches. Visitors to the park were dropped off the trolleys at a turn around on the east side of the new street car bridge over the railroad (Black's Bridge). From there, they walked across a footbridge over the lake to the amusements on the opposite hillside. There was a large dance pavilion, restaurant, carousel, bowling alley, rifle range and photographic gallery, in addition to boating. After the Pittsburgh Railways system took over the independent rail lines, they hired a manager who rotated entertainers of all sorts from one park to another. The Fourth of July program, here illustrated, shows his programming ingenuity. In 1906, Pittsburgh Railways decided to dispose of their parks, an action precipitated by the dam's giving way at the Oakwood Park lake and flooding the valley at Idlewood. It happened out of season, fortunately, and there were no casualties, but the company decided not to rebuild the lake, concerned, no doubt, about causing another Johnstown type flood. The parks were put up for sale, but the grounds were maintained for picnics and social gatherings. Atlantic City by the Creek Meanwhile, down by the creek, in the summer of'96 some enterprising young gentlemen were creating another form of amusement. They erected a merry-go-round and two bathhouses, stocked with rentable bathing suits, and christened the banks of the Chartiers Ingram Beach. It attracted the interest of the press in Pittsburgh who proclaimed it the "new Atlantic City by the creek." Visitors arrived by the hundreds, somewhat to the dismay of the promoters who were not prepared for such a crowd. Presumably the bathers either walked or came from Pittsburgh via McKees Rocks to Scully Springs Station on the tracks of the old Chartiers Coal Company, since purchased Oakwood Park before the deluge. The Street Car Years * 51 P reface................................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements......................................................... 2 The Era of Travel by Creek and Footpath..............................4 The Earliest White Men * Native Americans in the Chartiers Valley * French and Indian Wars * Hand and his Hospital * The Stoops and the Other Early Settlers * The Age of Travel By Roads......................................... 14 Chartiers Creek * Early Roads Leading West Life of the Local Pioneers * The Whiskey Rebellion * The Growth of the Region * The Golden Era of the Turnpike * Henry Dinsmore * The Area as Dinsmore Found It * Early 19th Century Settlers * The First Church in the Vicinity * First Post Office and School * Taking the Waters * Scully's Stone Quarry * James S. Craft * The Plank Road Craze * The Noblestown Mud Road * More Immigrants Arrive * Chartiers Township Created * The First Railroad in the Valley ~ The Railroad Era....................................................... 28 The Pittsburgh and Steubenville Railway * A New School * The PC & SL Railway * Charles Cathral Craft * The Davis Mill Fire * Social Life in the Seventies * The Idlewood Resort Hotel * Homestead Park * The Jacobus and Nimick Manufacturing Company * Changes in the Eighties * Entering the Nineties * Table of Contents by the Pittsburgh, Chartiers and Youghiogheny Railroad. The CraftonlThornburg street car line would not be extended down the Pike until 1906, and without that form of transportation the enterprise was doomed to failure. Ingram Beach and Oakwood Park, in particular, attracted visitors to the Crafton-Ingram area who liked what they saw and decided to move here. Between 1890 and 1910, the population of Crafton increased ten-fold, from 400 or 500 to 4,583. In the spring of 1897, the Mirror, ever the hometown booster, printed an interview with Mr. Andrew Johnson, a popular local real estate agent: Nancy Dinsmore Bradford (left), Margaret McMunn Limbaugh and son Charles, photo graphed at McMunn's house below Ridge Avenue (Crafton Blvd.) circa 1897. sr. For sometime I have been compelled to turn away on an average of not less than two house-hunters, or prospective purchasers per day, because there are no homes to be had in our pretty town-good responsible people who had visited all other suburbs of Pittsburgh, and finally decided that Crafton is the most bea.jp2ul in every way for a home. I am confident that if some capitalist would erect here 50 or 100 five-, six- or seven-room houses with modem improvements, they would all be occupied by next spring. Annexations The phenomenal growth was not entirely caused by new people moving to the area. The population explosion was also the result of a series of annexations which doubled the land area of the original borough. The first was in 1897 after the Crafton-Ingram branch of the street railway began operation on Noble Avenue, opening up many new desirable building lots. John A. Bell of Carnegie had a plan of lots in the old Dinsmore orchard, which he had purchased following the death in'96 of William Dinsmore, the last of the bachelor Dinsmore brothers. The surviving Dinsmore sisters, Lizzie Creighton, Nancy Bradford and Jane McMunn, divided their shares of the land into lots, too, and petitioned the courts to be annexed to Crafton. It would extend Noble, Dinsmore and McMunn Avenues through to Ridge Avenue, now Crafton Boulevard. (Creighton Avenue, a new street created in this 52 * The Story of Craflon section, would later be dubbed "Banker's Row" because of the stately houses built on the street.) Their petition was granted, but that of Ingram, also seeking to become part of Crafton was denied, because the judge determined it did not represent the majority of the freehold landowners. Thus rebuffed, Ingram became an independent borough the following year, and the opportunity was lost for these two similar municipalities with a common boundary and a common heritage to merge and share their resources. The second annexation in 1901 recognized that there was something to be gained by merging the Biggert Manor Plan and the Homestead Park Plan, both still in Chartiers township,. iwith Crafton. They were already inseparably linked by the railroad and the street railway. This annexation ORAFTON ANNEXATIONS brought with it a four-year-old, fourroom school and the Hawthorne Avenue United Presbyterian Church. After the first annexation, Crafton had been divided into two wards: the First Ward on the east side of the railroad tracks and the Second Ward on the west side. The new annexation became the Third Ward, with Ewing Road the dividing line. Mr. William Lageman and George Moss were the first councilmen from this ward. The third annexation in 1903 brought the remainder of the original Dinsmore farm into Crafton. It was a small piece south of Ridge Avenue (Crafton Boulevard) and east of the Baldwin Road, now Baldwick. It included two new streets, Hill and Middle. The last annexation did not take place until 1910. It included land in Chartiers Town-MONO~ "Banker's Row" circa 1915. The Street Car Years * 53 The First Ward School, built in 1907 on Noble Avenue at the corner of Sidney Street. The Second Ward School, a Crafton landmark from 1902-1970's. The Third Ward School. ship formerly owned by the Chesses and Sterrets known as the Terrace. Again the street railway was the tie that bound the heights on the western slope to the valley below. The disintegration of Chartiers Township was then almost complete. Elliott, Esplen and Sheriden had been annexed to Pittsburgh in 1905 and 1907 respectively. Oakwood, the rest of Crafton Heights, the East Carnegie section of Idlewood, and Windgap would not become part of the city until 1920. More Schools The school directors were kept busy trying to meet the demand for more classrooms. In 1896, there were 14 more pupils applying for admission than there were desks. By'98, they were forced to rent rooms in the Lawson Building and the new Foster Building on Station Street. When these leases ran out in 1902, the school went into double sessions, even though they had acquired an additional school with the Idlewood annexation. However, construction had begun on the new Second Ward school on the high point of Park Street. When completed in 1903, it was the most conspicuous public building in Crafton: brick, two stories high with hipped roofs topped by a clock tower. It had thirteen rooms and an auditorium to accommodate an eight year course of study. The White Avenue School was sold to the Borough and served as the municipal building until 1930. There were then 425 students, including 19 in the high school classes, in the Second and Third Ward Schools, but less than two years later it became evident that still more classrooms were needed. Land was purchased on Noble Avenue (corner of Sidney Street) in the Grace plan of lots, another bond issue was floated, and by 1907 the eight-room First Ward School was ready for occupancy. During this period, there were also several private schools operating in Crafton, no doubt because of parents' concerns with the overcrowding in the public schools. The first, organized by Miss Ada Petrie of Ingram, held classes in the Lawson Building. It was followed by a preparatory school in .. the Foster Building and later in private residences over a 10 year period. It 54 - The Story of Crafton drew students from Ingram, Thornburg and even Bridgeville in grades kindergarten through eight. Most of its graduates went on to high school and college. There were no parochial schools in Crafton until 1915. St. Paul's Orphanage in Idlewood near Chartiers Cemetery was built by the diocese in 1900 and enlarged in 1905 to house c. 1500 children, who presumably were schooled on the premises. By 1912, all three school buildings were once again overcrowded, particularly with more students in the high school classes. The school board unanimously agreed to build a high school, but they called for a special election for the citizenry to r.jp2y yet another bond issue. Students held candlelight parades and rallies to drum up support. The electorate supported it by a vote of 371 to 250, so a site on the car line in the old Dinsmore orchard was purchased and the cornerstone, containing "certain articles," was laid in 1913. This was cause for another parade from the site on Ridge Avenue to the Crafton Athletic Club's carnival at the race track grounds. It was led by the Oakdale band, all the school children and members of the Woman's Club of Crafton, which had been in existence since 1906. The Nature Club of Crafton planted two oriental trees on the campus for the occasion. At the formal dedication ceremonies in April of 1914, the new high school auditorium was filled to capacity with dignitaries, citizens and guests. Professor Samuel Hamilton, the same superintendent of schools who had proposed a high school back in 1895, was on hand to declare the new building "the last word in high school construction." Mr. Press C. Dowler of Crafton was the architect, and his fellow citizens thought it superior to any other high school in the County. Architect's drawing of Crafton's 1914 high school building T I The new Foster Building, 1897. A Flag and Clock for the Town Two events at the turn of the century are worth noting because of their opposing effects on the citizens: the first municipal flag in'98, and the clock tower that crowned the new Second Ward School in 1903. The former united the town as never before, and the The Street Car Years * 55 Was this Lawson's Brass Band, organized in 1897? latter split it into two camps. Those who wanted to show their support for the Spanish American War, and every one did at the time, called a mass public meeting where a resolution was passed to put up a flag pole 120 feet high for a flag 15 x 28 feet in length! It was erected on the high point of ground behind the Nativity Church and the railroad station, so that it could be seen from the Pike or the railroad. On June 14th, Flag Day, all the school children, each carrying a small flag, the teachers, school directors, councilmen, and members of the community formed a procession and marched behind Lawson's Military Band to the flag raising. Crafton's newly organized brass band was typical of those all over the country which were commemorated in Meredith Wilson's musical period piece, "The Music Man." This event drew 2000 people, the largest crowd ever assembled in Crafton up to that time. The flag pole, incidentally, broke some time later during a storm, but another would be erected on the grounds of the Second Ward School. Four years later a group of public-spirited citizens proposed placing a town clock 56 * The Story of Crafton atop the soon-to-be-built Second Ward School, without spending public funds. It was designed to be seen from all directions with dials seven feet in diameter on each face of the tower. A large bell cast in Baltimore and weighing 1000 pounds would strike the hour. Those who could afford to loaned money to the school district before construction began, and they were to be repaid with monies raised at public entertainments in the new auditorium when the school was completed. Apparently not all of the school directors were in favor of this idea, because, according to Harry Meredith, who was not on the board at the time, they hadn't thought of it themselves. They put every possible obstacle in the way of the fund raising committee. They forbad them use of the new auditorium for a series of scheduled concerts and even threatened to remove the clock from the roof of the school. Those who had funded the project had to settle with sharing whatever monies were raised elsewhere. This was a blot on the school board's previous fine reputation and the unpleasant affair was not soon forgotten in the community. The clock tower, however, was the hallmark of Crafton for many years to come until it was sold before the vacant school burned down in the 1970's. More Churches During this period of intense growth, the churches were as hard pressed as the schools to provide worship space for their flocks. In 1905, there were seven congregations in Crafton, not including the Baptists who were meeting in Ingram but preparing to build in Crafton. Those churches already located here would build anew, and three other denominations would join them. A mission of the Presbyterians met in the Lawson Building before building their own church on Hawthorne Avenue in 1896, apparently without the full blessing of the Presbytery who felt there were already enough Presbyterian churches in the area. The church joined Crafton when the Biggert Manor Plan was annexed in 1901. Another group of United Presbyterians was then meeting either in the home of J.T. Montgomery or sometimes in the Municipal Building or Lawson's Hall. They would build the First United Presbyterian Church of Crafton in 1908 on Bradford Avenue to the rear of the present church. In 1903, a small congregation of 16 Lutherans was also holding services in Lawson's Hall. After just one year, they doubled their membership and, after two years, they purchased land from Charles Craft on the Pike for their first red brick sanctuary, completed in 1906. The Street Car Years * 57 O a) The Hawthorne Presbyterian Church, built in 1896 in what was then Idlewood. b) The second Methodist Episcopal Church, built in 1884. The Methodists had outgrown their small frame chapel on Belvidere Street by 1897, so they tore it down and built a new church on the same spot in 1898, meanwhile meeting at the Episcopal church. The new brick building employed what is known as the Akron Methodist Church Plan, a type widely copied throughout the country. It allowed the Sunday school classrooms to be opened to the sanctuary by large doors for overflow crowds. The Methodists changed their name at this time to the Methodist Episcopal Church and gave all their members over 21, including women, the right to vote at all meetings. Women were not entitled to be trustees, however, until 1957. The First Presbyterians did not build a new church until 1906, and it too was on the site of their original church. Instead of tearing down the old one, they moved it to the rear of the new building and used it for classrooms and offices. Their new church did not in any way resemble the old one or any others in town. It was a classical Greek temple-like brick building with a portico supported by Ionic columns. The First Christian Church was an outgrowth of a Bible school and revival meetings held in Crafton in 1897. The choir from the Allegheny Christian Church sang Sunday afternoons at Lawson's Hall, the nursery for so many of Crafton's churches, but the revival meetings were conducted in a tent by an evangelist named Abberly. The success of these programs allowed them to lay the cornerstone for their church in 1906 on the site of the tent on East Crafton Avenue. None of these new churches could compare with what the young priest, Father William Charles Kelty, had in mind for St. Philip's new sanctuary. In his 55 year career in 58 * The Story of Crafton O M Crafton, he undertook a complete renewal and rebuilding program commencing with the erection of the 800-seat, stone Victorian Gothic church on the hill above the original chapel. It was cathedral-like in proportion with an elaborate bell tower and spire and a rose window over the portals. It was dedicated by Bishop Canevin, a former priest at St. Philip Church, in 1906, the same year St. Paul's Cathedral in Oakland was dedicated. The Episcopal Church of the Nativity had become too small for its congregation by 1904, and the members were anxious to get away from the noise and dirt of passing trains. There were said to be 150 trains going through Crafton daily in 1905, or one every ten minutes! Charles Craft sold land on Division Street to the congregation, and he made the initial contribution to the building fund. Other contributions lagged, however, and it was not until 1910 that the new stone English country-style church was completed. The old one was sold, through the intervention of Father Kelty, to the Knights of Columbus. Charles Craft's Legacy Charles Craft did not live to see the new Church of the Nativity. He died in 1905 in Michigan where he had gone for his health. Craft had prospered with the real estate boom in the town he had created, and in 1900, keeping abreast of the times, he built a large sixteen-room orange brick house on the site of his original one, a not unusual practice in those days, judging by the churches. His frame house was moved across the Pike and updated and embellished with ornamental iron work. (It was torn down in the 1970's when the Baptist Church bought the property for a parking lot.) The new one was in the au courant Classic revival style, once again setting the style c) First Presbyterian Church, built in 1906-7 on East Crafton Avenue (site of "Crafton Plaza" highrise for the elderly). d) St. Philip Church, West Crafton Avenue and Brodhead Road. Charles and Mary Craft's new house at 211 Noble Avenue-the prototype for houses built pre-World War I. The Street Car Years * 59 7 0 1, 1895 house plans for 85 N. Emily Street. Still standing but later enlarged. Dinsmore Avenue c. 1910. Campbell Building, circa 1910. for houses that would follow in Crafton. It had a steeply pitched hipped slate roof with a balustrade on top, dormer windows, a dentiled cornice and a wrap around porch with another balustrade over the entrance. The house even had a darkroom for Mr. Craft's photography hobby. Mrs. Mary Craft died in 1901, just one year after moving into the new house. Thei Craft's recently widowed daughter, Alice, and her young son, Harry Bailey, were living with her parents. After her father died, she married widower George Hardy in 1906 and they stayed in the house where they raised six children; Harry, Mary, Sarah, Robert, Jessie and John, George's son by a previous marriage. Mary Craft Hardy and Sarah Hardy Walters (Mrs. Glenn) are still living in Crafton. Houses built in Crafton in the 1890's were usually of frame in the Victorian Queen Anne style with asymmetrical facades, steeply pitched roofs with decorated gables or towers, and porches trimmed with spindlework. But most of these new houses of the twentieth century were made of brick, yellow, white or red, in a shape aptly described as "classic box." They had two and a half stories and raised front porches supported with classic wooden columns. There are more houses in Crafton in this style than any other, although most were not nearly as big or as grand as the Craft house. The Campbell Land Company One man who was selling land and building houses in pre-World War I Crafton was Thomas Campbell, father of Reba Campbell (a former principal of the First Ward School) and Alice Campbell Glaser, both of whom have spent their lives in Crafton. Most of his 87 lots were in the Grandview Avenue-Home Street section, and the houses he built were the typical brick boxes described above. Mr. Campbell promoted Crafton with gusto in his advertising. He believed another way to attract buyers was to set up shop in an eye catching building with a prominent and prestigious location. His real estate office was in the little temple-like building, (probably inspired by the new First Presbyterian Church down the street), at the intersection of Crafton and Noble Avenues opposite the bank, on the street car line. It stood out with its light plastered walls, red tiled roof and classic entrance portico. This survivor in the old business district is the first, and so far only, building in Crafton to be placed on the National 60 ~ The Story ofCrafton if, Register of Historic Places by the Department of the Interior. Businesses in Crafton in its Heyday To learn about other businesses in the area, one has only to peruse the Crafton-Ingram Directory of 1905-06. The First National Bank of Crafton, pictured on the cover, had been established in 1901. The location of the town's first bank, a three-story triangular shaped brick office building, at the intersection of Noble and Crafton Avenues, shifted the center of town from the railroad to the street car line. The shops which appeared at that time on Ridge Avenue near the bridge resulted from the presence of the street car line there, too. Two telephone companies operated CRAFTON Crafton. oh Crafton, Thou fair City of homes Why art thou so bea.jp2ul? Yea, thou alone. Surely thou art blest with the hand all divine To rest in rapture so sweet and sublime. C. L. C. Thousands of good people of Allegheny County have never realized the true import of the above. Kindly verify the following reasons while here: Bea.jp2ul Location and Grand Views, Free Mail Delivery, Pure Water and Fresh Air, Not a Smoke Stack in the Town, Churches of All Denominations, 61 Mill Tax, Good Schools, and High Schools, Population 5,000, Complete Sewerage System-"None No Saloons, Better," Every City Convenience, Convenience to Pittsburg-by train Property Valuation, $6,000,000, 12 Minutes; 54 Trains Daily; by Ten Miles of Well Paved Streets Trolley, 25 Minutes, High Class Residence District and It's an Ideal Location for Homes. The Campbell Land Co. owns 87 Lots in central parts of Crafton; also have Lumber Yards and,Planing Mills, and will build you a "good home" on your own terms at an honest price. Practical business forbids us to do more.--FIRST GET YOUR LOT. Our plan is 3 minutes walk from Second Ward School, 4 minutes from Station and 5 from Street Car Line, and surrounded on all sides by fine homes. Come and see the grand panorama; the entire Chartiers Valley, the most bea.jp2ul view in Western Pennsylvania. Go out Ridge Ave. to Grandview Ave., turn to the right and then you are on our property: Note the nice brick homes. For further information address CAMPBELL LAND CO. Houses for (For a home) Phone 421-R Rent or Sale. Crafton. CRAFTON, PA. Office on the Plan. - OFFICERS--- from the bank building, and about a Harry ident I. N. Du Shane, quarter of those listed in the directory Vice President. Lawrence J. Higgins, had telephones. The first telephone Secy. and Treas. T. F. Campbell, exchange had been at 103 Noble GenX. Mgr. Avenue in the house where Library cRN PRUmn byUmao Co. crafton Board President Mary Jane Volk lives OFFICE W ITH CRI today. Those who didn't have a phone PHONE 184 could use one of the pay stations in the four pharmacies and several grocery stores. There were five societies or lodges for men meeting either in Lawson's or in the new Crafton Club rooms at the bank. The Knights of Columbus and the one labor union listed, The Order of United American Mechanics, met in Ingram. There were Republican Clubs in Directors: John Seger, A. F. Beerman, Samuel Seger, James E. Smith. .FTON TiRUST ut. CRAFTON Advertisement appearing on the program for the hospital f6te in 1909. The Street Car Years * 61 The Street Car Years............................................................48 Oakwood Park * Atlantic City by the Creek * Annexations * More Schools ~ A Flag and Clock for the Town * More Churches * Charles Craft's Legacy ~ The Campbell Land Company * Businesses in Crafton in its Heyday ~ Chartiers Valley Hospital * The Nickelodeon * The Race Track * The Crafton Athletic Association * The Role of the Horse * The Thornburg Golf Course * A New Pleasure Vehicle * World War I e The Automobile Age.................................................. 70 Chartiers Country Club * Traffic and Smog * Building in the 20's * Crafton Politicians * Police and Fire Departments * The Walsh Elm and the Hand's Hospital Marker * The Thirties * The Great Depression * Radio's Buzz Aston * The Crafton Library and the Civic Club * The New Municipal Building ~ Biggert Manor * The New St. Matthews * The Ice Capades * How Travel by Air has Affected Crafton * World War II * The Post War Period * A War Memorial * The Crafton/Ingram Shopping Center * The Parkway West * Crafton Park * The Canteen * A New Clubhouse for the Women's and Civic Clubs * The Churches in the Post War Era * A New School District * New Bridges * The Park and Shade Tree Commission * The Town Clock is Sold' The Changing Political Scene * Cooperative Efforts in Government * Redevelopment in Crafton * The Senior Citizen Hi-Rises * Culture and Recreation * The Crafton Historical Society e W hither Crafton?............................................................... 100 Then & Now.................................................................... 104 D on ors................................................................................. 110 Bibliography................................. 112 Spohn's grocery store.. ) O in the Masonic Hall. both communities, but no Democratic ones. The post office, still located on station street where the trains dropped off the mail, listed their hours as 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM every day but Sunday, and on Saturday hours were extended until 10:00 PM! Many professional men were listed: six accountants, two architects, 16 attorneys, four dentists, 29 engineers, 10 physicians and two surveyors. In Crafton proper, there were seven grocery stores, three meat markets, three restaurants, several creamery/ice cream/bakeries combined, including Glaser's on the Pittsburgh side of Crafton Boulevard. There was one undertaker, T.P. Hershberger and Sons, four in the moving and hauling business and four in real estate and insurance. There were two dry goods stores, one milliner, two selling men's furnishings and shoes, and two First National Bank of others repairing shoes. In those days there were no beauty parlors, but Morey and Dauer, Crafton, built 1901. owners of one of three barber shops, operated a public bath in the basement of the Foster Building. There were two laundry agencies and one Chinese laundry near Thomas Street. There were a number of establishments which would become obsolete: ice houses, blacksmiths, carriage and wagon makers, mine, coal, feed and grain suppliers, tobacco and cigar stores, livery and boarding stables, well diggers and boarding houses. Women were listed only as dressmakers, stenographers or piano teachers. The most striking aspect of the Directory is that those listed as employed in or supplying the building trades far outnumbered everyone else with businesses in Crafton: carpenters, contractors, draughtsmen, electricians, grainers, painters, paper hangers, plasterers, plumbers, roofers, tinners and wire workers, and suppliers of gas and electric fixtures, grill work, hardware, heating and ventilating, iron grating and fencing, lime and cement, lumber, planing, and sash and doors. 62 ~ The Story of Crafton D ~ - P i One thing Crafton did not have was a saloon, although wines and liquors sold elsewhere were advertised in the Directory "for family and medicinal purposes." Charles Craft, not a teetotaler himself, had vowed never to sell property to anyone who might want to build a tavern. Public drunkenness was a serious problem in those days and the very first ordinance passed by the original Crafton Council was directed against disorderly conduct. Jess Cramer wrote in the Pittsburgh Dispatch: "You can't get a drink of liquor in Crafton. But you never miss that, for after living in this bea.jp2ul town for awhile, the pure air and the invigorating sunshine are all the intoxication one cares for." One of the stated purposes of the original Civic Club of Crafton, established in 1898 and presided over by Professor F.A. Ogden, aside from "elevating its members socially and morally" was: "To oppose the sale in, or the establishment of any place within the Borough limits, for the public or private selling of intoxicating liquors, or licensing of any house in the Borough for such purposes; and also to oppose gambling of any description." There was no Board of Trade in Crafton when the Directory was published although there was one in Ingram. Crafton organized theirs in 1913 under the presidency of Pier Dannals. Its purpose was to protect, foster and develop Crafton. They also championed the elimination of the two dangerous grade crossings at Emily Street and Crafton Avenue, a new railroad station and the planting of shade trees. The Chartiers Valley Hospital Another facility, besides a saloon, that Crafton lacked was a hospital. In fact there was no hospital west of the city then, despite the fact that there were 100,000 people living there, including, it was noted, 10,500 coal miners who must have suffered more accidents than the general population. A group of local business men thought that the abandoned Oakwood Park would be an ideal location for a hospital, particularly since there already was a turn-around for the street car. They formed the Chartiers Valley Hospital Association, with Albert Graham serving as president, purchased the park from the Pittsburgh Railways Company in 1909, and began a fund raising campaign. The surrounding communities from the West End to Bridgeville were enthusiastic Morey & Dauer's Barber Shop on E. Crafton Avenue behind the Campbell Building. The latest 1903 bathroom. The Street Car Years * 63 The street car turn around at Oakwood Park (Crafton Blvd. at top of Noble Avenue) John P. Harris' concrete block house at 401 Clearview Avenue. about the plans and five thousand people turned out for the kick-off fund-raiser, a lawn fete on the grounds of the old traction park. The attractions included a vaude ville, a motion picture Nickelodeon, band concerts, dancing, a Japanese tea room, and a band of real gypsies! Spurred by their initial success, the hospital board had the site cleared. When coal was discovered during the excavations, a strip mining company was hired to remove and sell it, but it proved worthless. By then the money ran out and, for whatever other reason, the hospital never happened. The scarred hilltop remained just that until 1933 when the city leveled it for a playground. The Oakwood section of Chartiers Township across the ravine, which had been laid out as the Crafton Park Plan of lots in 1900, would be linked to Crafton by a new concrete bridge in 1912 but would never be part of it. The Nickelodeon The moving pictures at the above fete were doubtless supplied by John P. Harris who lived on Crafton Terrace. Motion pictures had been shown in Pittsburgh theaters since 1897, but only in brief segments along with live shows. John P. Harris and Harry Davis got the idea of showing movies only and opened the first moving picture theater on Smithfield Street in 1905. They rented space, bought 96 chairs and a projector and opened with "Poor but Honest" and "The Baffled Burglar." They called their enterprise the Nickelodeon, because it cost a nickel (like a streetcar ride), and the name and idea caught on everywhere. They were open for business from 8:00 A.M. until midnight, although the films only lasted about fifteen minutes. There must have been a tremendous turnover, because, it is said, they Itook in $7,000 per day! By the mid 20's, the Harris Amusement Company operated 60 theaters. The first Nickelodeon in Crafton, Mary Hardy remembers, was in Lawson's Hall (where else?), but a new movie house would be built up the street on Crafton Avenue before 1918. In 1907, Harris built a house of the "modern order of architec ture" on now Clearview Avenue. It was basically a large 64 * The Story of Crafton version of the typical square box of the period with a big porch, but the material used was the new concrete block, like that on his father's house next door. The house had a playroom for children in the basement and a gymnasium "fitted up with all the modem apparatus and facilities for making the muscles strong and supple and driving dull business cares away." He would later have the only swimming pool in town, located between the two houses. The Race Track There was another new form of entertainment in Crafton down on Steuben Street: a race track for sulky racing next to the houses owned by the Doctors Walsh. The matinee race track that started on the Schenley Park oval in 1907 must have been a model for the Crafton Matinee Club. Homewood, too, had a race track and perhaps they were all in the same league. The track was also the setting for the Board of Trade's first annual Fourth of July celebration for the Borough in 1914, which became an annual affair. The Crafton Athletic Association The level land along the Pike was also used for field and track events by the Crafton Athletic League and the various church baseball teams which played on what was known as the Methodist Field. The Memorial Day track and field meets attracted contestants from all over Western Pennsylvania, and even the Middle Atlantic Association met here. The winter headquarters of the Athletic League in 1912 was in the 1906 Auditorium Building at the corner of Noble and Bradford Avenues. It had a membership of about 225 seniors and 40 juniors, and the building was equipped with bowling alleys, billiard and pool tables, basketball court and lounging and rest rooms. The Crafton basketball team won the indoor championship of the Middle Atlantic Association games played at Duquesne Gardens in 1914. The Crafton Matinee Club's sulky races on Steuben and nowFoster Avenue. The Street Car Years * 65 The Crafton Hose Company #1 poses in front of the municipal building circa 1906. The Role of the Horse Little has been said in this history about the role of the horse, race or otherwise, as a means of transportation, but one has only to look at the stables (now garages) still standing in the alleys to know that Crafton had a sizable horse population. There had been horse breeders and traders in the valley at least since the 1850's when Rody Patterson raised horses at his farm by the bridge over the creek to supply his livery business in the city. There was still a blacksmith's shop in that location, too, operated in 1905 by James O'Donnell. The last blacksmith shop to survive in Crafton was on Vulcan Way near the municipal building. There had been a livery stable on the site of the illfated roller skating rink before Barney Gaffney built his stable for race horses there in the early 1900's. The Hoppers, Hersbergers and Dr. I.B. Reed also had race horses. Jane McMunn tells us, on a tape made before she died, that Dr. Reed was seriously injured when one of his horses fell on him. Barney had an active carriage and harness business at 109 Noble Avenue where he sold "everything for the horse, and everything for the horseman." Those who didn't own a horse or carriage could hire them at the local livery stable to taxi them to the station, to church, to the doctor's or to visit friends. Many of the tradesmen kept horses for deliveries. Father Kelty drove horses and a sleigh full of young people for rides to the Bridgeville Hotel. The fire department purchased a team of horses in 1906 when Hose Company #1 in the municipal building took over the responsibility for putting out fires in the entire borough. 66 * The Story of Crafton After one of the horses died, they shared a team with the street department. But this caused a problem if there was a fire during the day when the team was in use. When this happened, the firemen either pulled the wagon themselves, borrowed a team from Crafton Lumber, or hitched the wagon to a passing streetcar. Incidentally, it must have been the street department's job to collected rubbish and garbage. In Ingram, at that time, it was collected twice weekly, but there is no mention of its means of disposal. We do know that the sewer lines in Crafton had proved inadequate and had to be replaced in 1906 with much larger pipes, eventually spewing raw sewage into Chartiers Creek. The Thornburg Golf Course Perhaps the ultimate new form of recreation in the valley was golf. Frank Thomburg built a six-hole golf course in 1901 to attract buyers to his new community across the creek. It was one of the first west of the Alleghenies, although there had been one at the Homewood race track since 1893. Thomburg persuaded the Pittsburgh Railways in 1906 to extend the car line down the Pike by giving them a free rightof-way through his property. Some golfing members from Crafton had earlier devised a shortcut for getting to the links. They built a footbridge over the creek at the end of Duncan Avenue, below the Backbone Road, with wooden steps leading to it. Women played golf, too, but only during the week. The men played on weekends, after they finished cutting the grass. In 1909, the Thornburg Country Club purchased 16 additional acres for a nine-hole course, and remodeled and refurbished their little clubhouse with furniture and costly rugs purchased from the Union Club of Pittsburgh when it moved from the Frick Building to Wood Street. Even though it was accessible by the street car, the golf club devoted about half an acre for the " storage" of automobiles, a harbinger of things to come. A New Pleasure Vehicle The motor vehicle was at first regarded as an oddity and a rich man's toy, and a machine that required a specialist to operate. Cars were raced on the Schenley Oval, Lady golfers on the Thornburg golf links - but never on weekends! The Street Car Years * 67 The Graham's automobile-the first in Crafton-and the horse "Major Domo" it replaced. but it was a spectator sport. Albert Graham, according to Jane McMunn in her recorded remarks, drove the first automobile in town, but it wasn't long before the Hardy family and Wayne Lauder's father had one, too. Reinholt Herron, listed in the 1905 Directory as an electrical engineer, fixed bicycles and also repaired and charged (electric) automobiles. The Graham family made a pioneer trip to visit relatives in their car in 1910 to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the days before there were road maps or route numbers. They were guided by the Triple A's Blue Book which described road conditions and gave written directions on how to get where you were going. (The first road maps would not be available until 1914 when the Gulf Oil Company began to give them free to their customers). Despite tire punctures, getting lost or stuck in the mud, constant breakdowns and uncertain accommodations, they somehow got to Iron Mountain and back. 68 ~ The Story of Crafton By 1914 Jess Cramer could boast that one could drive as far as 100 miles from Crafton on improved roads! World War I slowed down the buying of automobiles and their impact on Crafton would not be felt until the post-war period. World War I When Congress declared war in 1917, some 400 young men and a handful of women answered the call and registered for service. Edward Clyde Thompson of Promenade Street enlisted the day after war was declared. He would be one of five or so honored to receive the French Croix de Guerre for bravery under fire. When the first 11 boys left for camp by train, 4000 people marched to the station to see them off. Various local organizations came forward to offer their services, too. One hundred women, 30 at a time, worked for the Red Cross five days a week in the municipal building, making surgical dressings, hospital supplies and knitted garments. Mrs. Carl Coslowski, also President of the Woman's Club, chaired the Crafton branch of the Red Cross. The doctors, Orr and Armor, taught first aid. The Woman's Club organized and managed the sale of war bonds, and did such a good job that they were recognized at a war bond rally and dinner at the William Penn Hotel. Two local men and a boy scout were among hundreds who lost their lives in a terrible explosion at the Aetna Chemical plant in Rennerdale on the Panhandle branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The company manufactured powerful explosives used in the war. The series of explosions that day in May of 1918 could be heard in Crafton. An honor roll tablet was inscribed after the war to honor all those who had served. Miss Edna Rothrock, sister of the first Crafton boy killed in action, unveiled the tablet during the reading by newspaperman Jess Cramer of his original poem entitled Our Soldiers. "Four hundred names are here enrolled, all true as steel, all good as gold...By such as these the war was won and victory wrested from the hun." Father Kelty gave the eulogy. Among the names of the 11 young Crafton women who served was that of the author's mother, Alberta May Graham, who spent two years as a volunteer nurse at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. The tablet was placed on the front wall of the high school where it would stay until it disappeared during the remodeling of the school in the 1970's. The Street Car Years - 69 The Automobile Age 1918-1992 Emily Street crossing circa 1925. Chapter ive 70 ~ The Story of Crafton ittsburgh prospered during World War I just as it had during the War of 1812, the Civil and the Spanish-American Wars. Automobile production, held down during the war, was in full swing afterwards. By 1920, the Ford Motor Company was making 6000 cars per day, and many in Crafton had the money to buy. There were 32 home decorated automobiles in the end-of-the-war Crafton/Ingram Fourth of July celebration of 1920. They lined up on Station Street and moved through both towns in a procession that ended at the race track grounds on the Pike. The newly formed Frank R. Kirk Post #145 of the American Legion organized ball games, races, dancing and fireworks; but the highlight of the entertainment was Matt Sennet's five reel comedy sensation, Down on the Farm. There were so many in attendance that day that it was obvious more spacious grounds would be needed were it to be an annual occasion. The Schools Although the rate of population growth slowed down after 1910, there were 6000 people living in Crafton in 1920. The three elementary schools and the high school were deemed adequate to handle the public school population, but Father Kelty's school at St. Philip's was growing rapidly and, by 1929, more classrooms, a gymnasium and a bowling alley were added to the 1915 school building. The First Presbyterian Church added Sunday school classrooms in 1925, and the Methodists built an education wing in 1929 when they also added a gymnasium and fellowship hall. There were no kindergartens in the public schools until the Woman's Club organized one and got permission to use space in the First Ward School. Mrs. Ralph Davis, president of the Woman's Club from 1922 to 1924, persuaded the school board to assume the responsibility for operating kindergartens in all the schools. The Automobile Age ~ 71 Preface Mary Craft Hardy The schools also lacked play space and playing fields. The high school had the only gym, and they used the Methodist Field for football and baseball. Crafton qualified at that time to become a third class school district which entitled them to a seven man board. (Women got the right to vote in 1919, but it took awhile before they would be elected or selected for public office.) Two additional board members, acting as a Physical Development Committee, recom mended that the board purchase the Homer and Moore property on Steuben (i.e. the Methodist Field). They had first considered buying Oakwood Park across Ridge Avenue from the high school, but since it was not in the borough, that was not feasible. The football team in 1924 was the first to receive a championship cup, and Mary Hardy remembers a snake dance through the streets of Crafton after the final winning game The Methodist Field (later the high school athletic field). Alice Craft Hardy as a young girl. with Wilkinsburg. There were track and tennis at the new field, too. (In 1940 there were six courts.) Tennis had been played in Crafton since Alice Craft Hardy's youth, but only on privately-owned courts. Her daughter, Mary, says there was one on Alice Street, and Jane McMunn Davis, a high school tennis champ, learned to play on a court in a bea.jp2ul orchard near her home on Johnson Street and on another near the race track. Jane was also a star on the girl's basketball team. The boy's basketball team had record games in both 1917 and 1925, playing such tough opponents as McKees Rocks, Knoxville and Monaca. Chartiers Country Club The nine-hole Thornburg golf course was no longer challenging enough for the avid golfer, and there were rumors that the Scully railroad yard was going to expand next to the course. Nine members of the Thomburg Club took an option on 316 acres at the top of the steep Baldwin Mine Road. They hired Willie Park, twice British Open champion to lay out the course and Crafton architect Press Dowler to design a clubhouse. By 1925 an 18-hole course was ready to play, until the eighteenth hole dropped out of sight due to mine subsidence and the entire course had to be revamped. Locating in such an inaccessible spot would have been unthinkable before the advent of the automobile, and it wasn't easy to get there even with an automobile. The single 72 ~ The Story of Crafton lane road had to be widened and surfaced with stone chips and some of the worst curves had to be removed before the golfers could get to the links. The name of the new club was changed from The Thornburg Golf Club to Chartiers Country Club, because it was drawing members from the entire valley. The old club became a public course which is owned and operated today by the Lagemans. The original clubhouse burned down during the 1936 flood when firemen could not get their equipment through the high waters to the marooned building. Traffic and Smog A new Thomburg bridge over the creek and railroad was erected in 1927, making it even easier to get to Baldwin Road. This was the same year the new Point Bridge in Pittsburgh opened and both bridges increased the traffic on US routes 22 and 30 through Crafton. There was more train traffic to and from Scully Yard under the bridge, too, and coal-fired locomotives brought more smog into the Chartiers Valley, trapped by the surrounding hills. Charles K. Hertrick, a boy scout at the time, wrote a prizewinning essay in 1924 on the history of Crafton in a contest sponsored by the new weekly newspaper Crafton and West End Life. (Jess Cramer of the Mirror had died and D.T. Jonas started the new one with his son, Paul.) His essay ended with: "The smoke and the dirt of the railroad and mills (sic?) hangs in the air." Photographs taken in Crafton in the twenties bear witness to the pall that enshrouded the town. It was enough to drive some residents to the higher ground of the South Hills, Greentree and Rosslyn Farms. The dirty air must have slowed the growth of Crafton and other communities in the Valley, but there was another factor at work, too. Building in the 20's Crafton no longer had unlimited land for development. The Borough Council was one of the first after Pittsburgh to adopt a zoning ordinance in 1926 to control future growth. Views of Crafton in the smoky 20's, on the streets and at the Scully Railroad Yard. The Automobile Age - 73 The Wertz House on Crafton Blvd.; Harry Bailey's House at the corner of Noble and Steuben; small apartment houses of the 20's. The peak number of building permits issued after that was in 1928 before the stock market crash of 1929. Most of the houses built in the twenties tended to be smaller than those of the prewar period, and they displayed a greater variety of style. The houses on Bell Avenue and upper McMunn are typical of these times. Some were large like John and Mary Harris Wertz's stone house on Crafton Boulevard, and Harry Bailey's brick Tudor built on the corner of his mother Alice Craft Hardy's property on Noble and Steuben. There were a number of two, four and six units built then as well. The population grew from 5954 in 1920 to 7004 in 1930. Crafton Politicians Several citizens of Crafton were making names for themselves beyond the confines of the Borough boundaries. One was the already prominent John P. Harris of Nickelodeon fame who went on to a career in politics. He was elected to the state legislature in 1922 and again in 1924. He died on the floor of the Senate in Harrisburg while making a speech on his favorite subject, election reform. His brother Frank, then an Allegheny County Commissioner, was either elected or appointed to take his place in the Senate. It was Frank Harris who was instrumental in the appointment of Jane McMunn (Davis) as Crafton's tax collector, the position her father held when he died. She was the first female tax collector in Pennsylvania. A national politician of the day from Crafton was Guy E. Campbell. He was elected to Congress for three terms as a Democrat and served from 1917 until 1923 when he was elected as a Republican and kept the office until the Roosevelt landslide in 1931. Campbell secured appointments to both West Point and the Naval Academy for several graduates of Crafton High School. One of them was William (Pete) Ferrall who, after a distinguished career in the Navy, was retired with the rank of Admiral. Pete's sister, 74 ~ The Story ofCrafton Madeleine, succeeded her father, George Ferrall, as Justice of the Peace in Crafton wh he died in 1940, just as Jane McMunn had done before her. Police and Fire Departments The Police Department in the early 1920's was confronted with a daring daylight bank robbery at the Crafton National Bank. One of the two hold-up men shot and killed a teller, Harold Moss. Harold was the father of three young children, and the nephew of George Moss, one of the first councilmen from the Third Ward. (His aunt, known later as "Grandma Moss" was an active Republican Third Ward chairperson until she reached 90.) The bank robbers were never apprehended and it is not known how much money they took. (There would not be another bank holdup in Crafton until the late 1980's when the Pittsburgh National Bank in the shopping center was robbed during banking hours.) Several years before this incident, a member of the police force, Louis Hufnagel, was shot and killed with his own gun while investigating a peeping Tom on his beat. Council just recently purchased a plaque to honor the P A only Crafton police officer to be killed in the line of duty. ia Hose Company #1 became a chartered organization in 1925 and changed its name to the Crafton Volunteer Fire Department with 38 active members. A bond issue in 1924 had paid for their first legitimate piece of motorized fire equipment, a Seagrave pumper and tank. A Cadillac touring car which the firemen had converted to a hose wagon was then retired and used as an emergency car. The firemen themselves purchased another Seagrave in 1928 to better protect parts of Robinson Township, Greentree and Thornburg, as well as Crafton. The street fairs held by the firemen on Station Street were one of the highlights of the summer season in Crafton. The Walsh Elm and the Hand's Hospital Marker Two historic, if not earth-shaking, events occurred in Crafton in the 20's and early 30's. A giant elm tree that stood in front of the houses belonging to the two Walsh families was recognized by the American Forestry Association in 1923 as the oldest elm tree in sid, 1. 2. "I can nat loy mil exi spr issu the our A defi thee and I all Am Be hav and Democratic and Republican congressman Guy Campbell. RINCIPLES and PLATFORM ,fter careful deliberation, I have concluded to k both the Democratic and Republican nominans for Congress in my campaign for re-election. n impelled to this course by two principal conerations. These are: rhe obliteration of party lines in Congress and throughout he Nation as we enter the war. The fact that since entering upon my duties as representative If the Thirty-second Congressional district, have consistently endeavored to represent and o to serve all the people without regard to politcal, partisan or personal considerations. 'here is only one major issue in the congressional npaign. This is the issue of Americanism; of ional unity against national disintegration; of alty against disloyalty. With the most vicious itarist group of all history threatening our very stence as a nation, and traitors in our midst eading the poison and plots of treason, all other ies and considerations must be subordinated to necessity of consolidating all our forces and all strength for the winning of this war. s the war progresses, the war issue will become more clearly ned.'Ihose who nowsplace lesser issues firstwilltabandon a later. Nothing matters now but the war. Our national life national liberty are at stake. They must be preserved. would intern all enemy s3 mpathizers and hang traitors. We are either Americans or not ericans. There is no middle ground. lieving these things, and governing myself accordingly, I e unswervin:ly supporterd the President on all warmeasures, in this I shall steadfastly continue. If I am re-elected. I shall Guy Campbell's principles and platform. The Walsh Elm Tree - the oldest elm in the U.S in 1923. The Automobile Age ~ 75 The dangerous railroad the United States. It was said to measure 28 feet in girth. The tree, or rather the skeleton crossings at Emily Street. of the tree, was still standing in 1960 when the shopping center was rising on the same property, foreshadowing what was about to happen to some of Crafton's older businesses. A few hundred yards down the Pike from the Walsh elm, a plaque commemorating Hand's Hospital was erected in 1932. The occasion was the George Washington Bicen tennial celebration, arranged by E.M. Golden, a prominent local businessman acting for the State Society of the Shriners of the American Revolution. Hand's great-granddaugh ter unveiled the plaque, unaware that the actual site of the hospital had been along Chartiers Creek. Perhaps some of those present knew, but realized that the memorial tablet would have better visibility if located on the athletic field. The Thirties Crafton entered the thirties with a major unresolved problem: the dangerous grade crossings at Crafton Avenue and Emily Streets. Fatal accidents here were increasing in direct proportion to the automobile traffic crossing the tracks. 76 ~ The Story of Crafton Rudolph Yanda's grandfather, who was deaf, was killed walking across the tracks because he hadn't heard the train. The Pennsylvania Public Service (now Utility) Commission ordered the Pennsylvania Railroad to eliminate the grade crossings and work out an acceptable plan with the Borough to do so. The cost was to be shared by the Railroad, the Commission, the County, the State and Crafton. The agreed upon plan created a new street and underpass from the municipal building to South Linwood Avenue and Brodhead Road. There were also two pedestrian subways at the station and at the foot of Emily Street which was curved into Rebecca Street and extended to Linwood. The new street, Crennel, required filling in the old Snyder's Hollow from Linwood to Belvidere in the gulch where the townspeople used to ice skate. The fill was from Shea's dump near the lumberyard where it had been piled when the "little tunnel" was removed c. 1870. Harry Meredith considered the removal of the grade crossings as "the greatest achievement to be recorded in (his) summary of events." The pedestrian subways were not so viewed, however. They were considered public nuisances, indeed, menaces when all the lights were broken as frequently happened. A committee of the Woman's Club first met with railroad officials in 1934 in an attempt to improve the situation, but the problems persisted until the tunnels were finally sealed after passenger service was discontinued in the 1960's. The Great Depression Development and population growth in Crafton stagnated during the Depression as it did elsewhere. Building permits reached an all-time-low in 1935. Going to the movies, listening to the radio and reading became the favorite pastimes. Watching movies cost only a dime and listening and reading were free. The new "air cooled" Chartiers Theater (now #2 Crafton Square) was built in the depths of the Depression across E. Crafton Avenue from the older Crafton Theater. Children used their weekly allowances to attend the Saturday matinees and buy an ice cream cone or a walk-away sundae at Yanda's Drug Store or Bards Dairy Store afterwards. Sunday movies were rejected by Crafton voters in 1935. The sale of hard liquor was also voted down after the repeal of prohibition in 1933, but beer was permitted. The Automobile Age ~ 77 Radio's Buzz Aston Relocated library. Buzz & Bill, local radio and television personalities. Radio Broadcasting became much more widespread in the twenties and people were buying radios with the same abandon as they were buying cars. One of Crafton's sons, Phillips Brook "Buzz" Aston, was an early star of Pitts burgh radio. He began his career singing with local dance bands and as a member of the staff band at WWSW. He later moved to KDKA where he had the first all-night radio show with Joe Tucker, the sports an nouncer. He was master of ceremonies for Iron City Beer's variety show Memory Time where the singing Kinder Sisters also performed (Elaine Kinder married newscaster, Paul Long, and they lived briefly in Crafton while building a house in Thornburg). It was as half of the team of "Buzz and Bill" (Hinds), first on radio and later television, that Buzz is best remembered. The Crafton Library and the Civic Club The Crafton Library had its beginning in the midst of the Depression, too. It was the grandchild of the Woman's Club started by a group who had been members of their junior group. The Buds, as they were called, later formed their own group, the Civic Club. (The Civic Club would later have a junior group, too). Their members, with the help of the Girl Scouts, went door to door, collecting about 700 books, the nucleus of today's 20,000 volume collection. The library, like the first kindergarten, was housed in the First Ward School and was manned solely by volunteers. It moved into the new Borough Building after its completion c. 1939. The Civic Club also raised money for welfare work, and there were unemployed in Crafton and elsewhere who benefited from the proceeds of their mid-winter Valentine Balls. The New Municipal Building By the late 30's, the economy was beginning to improve as war approached. Crafton's Borough Council decided it was time to replace its aging 1885 ex-school building with a modem municipal facility. Monies were available from the Federal The 1938 "modernistic" municipal building. Emergency Administration of Public Works. The building, designed by Crafton architects Schoenaman and Carter, was in the "modernistic" style, known today as art deco, and was the one of the last of its breed since the style went out with the war. It was on the site of the original building, but faced the traffic circle rather than the railroad. On hand for the cornerstone laying in 1938 were Alice Craft Hardy, Burgess Tim F. Dunn, council president William S. Guy (survivor of the 1895 street car accident), councilman Florence Biggert, Jr., and Frank J. Harris, then Republican County Chairman, who was the principal speaker. He called the town where he had lived for 33 years "the garden spot of Allegheny County." The Reverend E.A. Teichart, pastor of St. Matthews from 1927 to 1960, pronounced the invocation, and the Reverend William Kelty of St. Phillip parish delivered the benediction. Also participating were the Crafton High School band, the Crafton Male Chorus (a group of 30 male vocalists) and the Junior Drum and Bugle Corps of the Frank Kirk Post of the American Legion. The two latter local musical groups performed throughout the tri-state area during the thirties. Biggert Manor The above mentioned Florence Biggert, Jr., a prominent insurance man, was making plans to develop his property bounded by Hawthorne, Woodlawn and South Linwood Avenues with rental townhouses. The arrangements of the units in small clusters would be directed inward onto a green instead of outward to the street. The recently completed planned,community of Chatham Village on Mt. Washington was the model on which it was based. Both attempted to minimize the intrusion of the automobile on outdoor living space. They provided common drives, gang or integral garages, and off street parking for visitors. Biggert Manor, with its well maintained homes in a garden setting, remains as desirable a Biggert Manor, 1940's-housing in a garden setting. TheAutomobile Age ~ 79 place to live today as it was when it opened in 1940. The older houses in Crafton had no garages, although some had converted stables for cars. The newer ones usually had detached garages occupying the rear yards and accessed from an alley. When a family acquired a second car, street parking was the inevitable result so that the narrower streets had to be made one-way. John H. Harris, founder of the Ice Capades. The 36-member cast of the original 1940 Ice Capades production that opened in New Orleans. The New St. Matthews The Lutherans, shepherded by A. E. Teichart, had enough faith in the economy in the early 40's to proceed with building a new 300-seat sanctuary. Little did they know that just one week after the church was dedicated, the pastor would be called to active service as a chaplain in the United States Army. He served three and a half years before returning to his flock in Crafton. The Ice Capades Before the United States entered the war, a new spectator sport/art form was sweeping the country. John H. Harris, the showman son of John P., created this new form of entertainment with the Ice Capades, a Broadway revue on ice. Harris was the owner of Dusquesne Gardens, the Oakland car barns transformed into an ice rink where a minor league hockey team, the Pittsburgh Hornets, played their games. The ice was available for public use, too, on Saturday mornings, and children from Crafton and all over the city rode the streetcar to skate at the Gardens. Harris earlier managed the Stanley Theater (now the r Benedum) when it had live entertainment, i.I and he had introduced one of his stars, Dick Powell, to Hollywood. To keep the hockey spectators amused between periods, he hired Sonja Henie, the Olympic skater and later screen star. This led to a full-length variety show on ice with an orchestra and elaborate costumes and routines. Harris married Donna Atwood, a star skater in the Ice Capades. They lived in California when they weren't traveling with the show; and when they performed in Pittsburgh, they always visited the family in Crafton. How Travel by Air has, Affected Crafton It should be mentioned somewhere in this text that even the airplane has played a minor role in the history of Crafton. Back in 1913, a resident of Crafton, Mr. William E. Crawford, attempted to fly the first hydroplane in Pittsburgh. Crawford had built it in his shop in Charles Craft's old barn on Noble Avenue where he also had one of the first gasoline filling stations. When he tried to take off in his plane on the Monongahela River, it filled with water and the flight was aborted. Alice Christner tells us that planes were assembled on the Thornburg golf course during World War I. The golf course was also the scene of a fatal accident in the thirties. Two pilots made a successful forced landing there, but after making repairs both were killed when they tried to take off again. The impact of the Greater Pittsburgh Airport has already been felt with increasesd surface traffic through Crafton, but it is bound to to have an even greater effect when the new Midfield Terminal is completed. Many who work for the airlines have found Crafton a convenient place to live. World War II The bombing of Pearl Harbor occurred just a month before Crafton was to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary on January 9, 1942. The program, "From the Gay Nineties to the Frenzied Forties" went on as scheduled at the high school. Listed in the program were the names of 148 residents who had lived in Crafton fifty years or more. There were no clues that evening as to what was in store for many of Crafton's young men and women. The graduating class in June of'42 was the largest class, 174, in Crafton High School's history, and many went directly into the service. There were some 800 boys registered in Crafton for the draft, according to William England, borough secretary at the time. Unfortunately, there does not seem be a list of those who served except for members of the local churches. The Automobile Age ~ 81 he cherry tree went down today. Rather, it was felled! It was on the property line between my house and my next-door neighbors, very close to both houses. It was a very old tree full of carpenter ants, and they had been having a feast on the upper limbs. We were afraid it might fall down one of these days, and who wants carpenter ants running around in his house? Why do I put a story of a cherry tree in a preface of a history of Crafton? This is why: it was the next to the last of the fruit trees in my grandfather's orchard. My mother used to tell of climbing them when she was a girl. There were no houses built in the orchard until 1915 when the house I am now living in and its neighbor came into being. The orchard had apple and pear trees as well as cherry. There is a pear tree still standing, but it probably is a descendent of an original tree. The orchard was a shortcut for many people from the Oregon and Lincoln Avenue area to our driveway and on to Alice Street. Another shortcut started at the corner of Steuben and Noble Avenue, and a path had been formed diagonally across the orchard emerging at the end of Alice Street opposite the Church of the Nativity. It was used by people going to the railroad station. One by one the entire block was filled with houses and that put an end to both shortcuts. As children we loved to pick violets and myrtle in the orchard. Another place where that pastime was popular was the hillside between McMunn and Crafton Boulevard. McMunn had very few houses in those days. As I watched the men take down the tree right outside the window where I am typing, memories from the orchard came into my head. There may not be very many residents who were born here and have lived here all their lives, as I have. All sort of memories will come back to those readers who have spent time in Crafton, and I hope they will cherish them as I have. Preface 1 War memorial. Those on the home front did their part for the war effort, too. A Civil Defense Corps trained in first aid and rescue work in the event of an air raid was set up with their control room in the basement of the Borough Building. Air raid wardens conducted a practice blackout for the whole town in the early days of the war when it looked as though the enemy might launch an attack on this country from the air or from submarines. The Junior Civic Club, calling themselves "Juniors at War" were engaged on many fronts. They conducted a door-to-door tin can salvage drive; they helped man the Civil Defense control room; they acted as hostesses for the USO and the Salvation Army; and they, like their mothers before them in the first World War, sold war bonds and knit articles for the troops. Among Crafton's war heroes was Joseph A. Vater of Steuben Street who was in the forced march of Bataan after being taken prisoner by the Japanese in the Philippines. Commander Pete Ferrall was a national celebrity after a story appeared in the Reader's Digest about his assisting the submarine's pharmacist mate perform a successful emergency appendectomy while the craft was submerged. The story, incidentally, won a Pulitzer Prize for the writer. Captain Robert Hardy, an Annapolis graduate, won the Navy Cross in the Battle of the Philippines. Lieutenant Colonel John A. Speer, brother of Leslie Speer and also a graduate of the Naval Academy, was wounded at Midway in the Pacific and later killed by a bomb at the landing in Salerno, Italy. There were many others from the Crafton/Ingram area who died for their country, and the American Legion does maintain a roster with their names. The Post War Period There was no grand celebration in Crafton when the war ended, probably because the service men and women did not all return at the same time, although the Ministerium did have a joint service of thanksgiving. The Knights of Columbus held their first Labor Day Jamboree in 1946 when they raffled a car, offered at cost by Lee Brice, a member and local Studebaker dealer. During that summer, and annually thereafter, the K of C held a Labor Day Jamboree, the American Legion sponsored a carnival and the Volunteer Firemen had 82 * The Story of Crafton their traditional street fair. Activity in these groups, which had been severely curtailed by lack of manpower during the war, was being revitalized with young veterans who were anxious to participate. The firemen and their auxiliary volunteered in the the late fifties to organize the inoculation of all the children in Crafton with the new Salk vaccine to protect them from the dreaded polio disease. Today the three organizations sponsor local drives for the Central Blood Bank. A War Memorial There would be no war memorial until the late sixties, after somewhat of a controversy as to what form it should take. Some wanted to build a youth center; others wanted a traditional monument, and the latter prevailed. The Cowan Monument Company carved the stone globe of the world that sits atop a granite pedestal in front of the Borough Building. It is dedicated'"To the memory of the men and women of Crafton Borough who served in the armed forces of the United States of America." Because there is no date, it is applicable to those who had served in World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf, and, heaven forbid, any future wars. Crafton, like the rest of the world in the post-war period, was undergoing major changes. The full impact of the automobile hit Crafton head on. Not all veterans who were forming their own family units were content to return to the way of life they had left behind. Many went to college on the GI Bill. Some moved to new houses in farther out suburban tracts away from the smog. (Enforcement of smoke control ordinances had been postponed in Allegheny County during the war, but took effect in 1950.) Those who had a car, and everyone was buying new cars again, did not have to live on the rail or street car lines to commute to jobs in the city. The large 50-year and older houses in Crafton were out of date and out of style, expensive to maintain, and often without garages. (The preservation movement would not get underway for another twenty years.) There was little land left for new housing and what was available was used for row houses and low rise apartment buildings. Some residents sold off their side yards for new smaller houses, and some subdivided their too large houses into apartments since there was nothing in the zoning ordinance to prevent it. The resulting higher density meant more cars parked on streets that could not handle them. It became increasingly difficult to find a place to park at the bank, church, the grocery store, the doctor's office, or almost anywhere. Post war infill housing. The Automobile Age - 83 The Crafton/Ingram Shopping Center Crafton/Ingram Shopping Center as it looks today. The Crafton Post Office. Dedication of Crafton Park in 1955. The time and place were ripe for the kind of strip shopping center that was going up all over the country. The first in the area was a small one was on Noblestown Road in the city, but it did not pose much of a threat to the merchants in Crafton. A developer, Mr. Harry Kamin, recognized that the large plot of available, flat, vacant (because it was marshy) land between Crafton and Ingram would be an ideal location for a shopping center. Both communities, anxious to reap the tax benfits, accepted his proposal, but the new center with acres of parking space would be devastating for some of the older local businesses. Not long after the shopping center opened in 1958, the Crafton Businessmen's Association faded away. The bank which had been taken over by the Peoples Bank, later Pittsburgh National Bank, moved immediately and others followed, but the Crafton Post Office did not move back to Steuben Street, its ,a,original home, until 1965. It t Traffic going through Crafton on routes 22/30 was heavier than ever with more and more tractor trailers carrying freight that had formerly been shipped by rail. Chief of Police Bill Utz, who was on the police force for 30 years, said at his retirement: "Biggest troubles Crafton ever had were due to traffic until the Parkway came along and just about made the Borough a ghost town." The paving of the old Steubenville Pike (henceforth Steuben Street) c.1947 from Union Avenue to Middletown Road diverted some traffic from Crafton Boulevard, Dinsmore, Bradford, and Noble Avenues. The new Parkway West would remove almost all thru traffic from the Borough leaving Crafton, for the first time in its history, out of the mainstream of travel westward from Pittsburgh. Passenger service on the railroad stopped about the same time the Parkway was completed in 1960 when the Fort Pitt Tunnels were opened. Street cars had already been replaced by buses because the 84 * The Story of Craflon Fort Pitt Bridge had no provision for rails. This switch to buses did not please everyone. At a hearing before the Public Utility Commission, Crafton Burgess Robert Wright stated that bus service was inferior to trolley service and created safety problems on residential streets. Borough Secretary William England reported residents were complaining about the noise and fumes from buses. "I ride the bus myself" he said, "and I don't think its as good as trolleys. It's overcrowded." They lost that round, of course, but continued to argue about who would pay to remove the rails from the streets. The Port Authority of Allegheny took over the Pittsburgh + Railways and privately operated bus companies in 1964. Crafton Park Perhaps Crafton's most fitting memorial was the creation of its first public park. Borough Council decided to purchase property for a park in the McCandless Plan on lower Steuben Street across from the school district's athletic field. The park was dedicated with much fanfare on Memorial Day in 1955 with a parade led by the high school band, a flag raising by the American Legion and a family basket picnic. The recently chartered Rotary Club, which had championed a park, donated a shelter named in memory of Early Hoffman. Hoffman died unexpectedly after spending countless hours with his Boy Scouts and fellow Scout leaders clearing the overgrown wooded site. Others with an interest in baseball cleared, dragged and seeded a ball field for the recently organized Little League. Baseball had played a leading role in Crafton since 1915 when the Church League was organized. Each church had a men's team and there was great rivalry among them. Clair L. Hopper, who played for the Presbyterians before and after the war, says it was a great unifying force in the community. Not only did Catholic teams play Protestant teams, but the all-star team, picked every year to play in semi-pro and traveling games, played Black teams m and Jewish teams. One of the League's most ardent fans was - The 1922 Presbyterian team in the Church League. 1991 CIT All-Stars Game. The Automobile Age ~ 85 ? I ,~II Crafton's Little Cougar Termites won the 1975 Western PA Midget Football Championship, outscoring their opponents 278 to 0. The Crafton Pool. Father Kelty who rarely missed a game. The love of baseball has been passed on to younger generations through the Little League and Pony League. The first Little League teams were sponsored by Crafton's and Ingram's Volunteer Fire Departments, the Crafton/ Ingram Rotary and the Chartiers Valley Kiwanis Clubs. More teams and a Pony League were subsequently added with more sponsors. The two groups merged in the sixties to form the CIT (Crafton/Ingram/Thornburg) Baseball Association. Today there are 41 teams for boys and girls ranging in age from seven to 18. They play on six fields and have an annual budget of c. $25,000! Football teams for kids followed with the organization of the Little Cougars in 1962. By 1980, there were 325 youngsters participating on nine teams, although that number has dropped to three today. A sign at the athletic field proclaims Crafton as the "Home of the Little Cougars." One of their most famous alumni is Bill Cowher, the new head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He got his early training with the Cougars and Midgets before starring on the Carlynton High School team and, later, college and professional teams. Crafton Park was only open a short time when a group of citizens petitioned Council to build a swimming pool. The petition was signed by homeowners who agreed to a one mil tax increase to pay for it. Council decided to take the plunge and purchased more land on Afton and Steuben Streets adjacent to the park. The pool opened on the Fourth of July in 1957 and has been a great asset to the community ever since. A summer team was formed with swimmers aged seven to 17 and they hold meets with the Ohio Valley Swim Conference. The Canteen In c. 1950, the Kiwanis Club sponsored an indoor recreation center in the Auditorium Building where teenagers could gather on weekends. The Tri-Boro Canteen, as it was called, was open to high school students from Ingram and Thornburg as well as Crafton. The kids themselves spruced up the basketball court and stage on the second floor for 86 * The Story of Craflton socializing, dancing, ping pong and pool, all under adult supervision. There was an adult board and an elected teenage board to run the operation. A membership fee and a snack bar raised enough money to cover expenses and rent. The canteen was so popular that it moved to larger quarters on Crafton Avenue where the Ben Franklin Five and Dime store +7 was located prior to the competi tion of the shopping center. There was a roller skating rink in the old A&P building next door so there was lots of activity for young people on that comer. On the nights that a well known disk jockey like Art Pallan came to spin records, there might be several hundred teenagers in attendance. The - canteen closed some time in the sixties, because the chaperones complained the teenagers became too unruly. After it closed, The Church of the Nativity briefly sponsored a coffee house called the Bottom End for young people in the basement of their parish house. Today the only evening gathering places for young people in Crafton appear to be the Dairy Queen on Steuben Street or one of the ubiquitous pizza parlors. A New Clubhouse for the Woman's and Civic Clubs Another social center for adults, the Crafton Women's Civic Association Clubhouse, took shape in the fifties on Division Street. The original Woman's Club, which had long before grown too big for home meetings, met in church social halls, the Masonic Hall (Wood's Hall) or the Knights of Columbus club rooms. But all the while they were accumulating a fund for a home of their own. With the cooperation of the Crafton Civic Club, they built an attractive colonial style clubhouse, completed in 1956. It had two floors for their own functions and the space could be rented for dancing classes, parties, The Crafton Women's Civic Association Clubhouse, 1956. The Automobile Age ~ 87 wedding receptions, etc. The participating organizations formed a separate group called the Crafton Women's Civic Association to operate the building. The Churches in the Post War Era Church attendance was growing after the war and not just because the population was on the rise again (it grew from 7163 in 1940 to 8060 in 1950 and peaked at 8418 in 1960). The churches in Crafton were quick to recognize that their futures depended on providing parking as well as pew space for their parishioners. The automobile compelled them to acquire additional property and tear down whatever might be on it to build parking lots that would be used only on Sundays. The Methodists had one of the worst problems because their church was on a narrow dead end street and they were the first to deal with it. In the mid fifties, they acquired four and a half acres from the McKenna family (of Kennametal, Inc.) next to their large family home at the end of the street. It provided parking space for 92 cars as well as a new parsonage and an outdoor chapel. They would later enlarge their sanctuary just as their membership peaked at 800 in 1961. When the Methodist and the Evangelical United Brethren Churches merged in 1975, the name of the church changed to the Crafton United Methodist Church. The merger of the Presbyterians of the U.S.A. and the United Presbyterians of North America in 1958 lead to the local merger in 1966 of the First Presbyterian Church of Crafton with the Bradford Avenue United Presbyterian Church into what would be called the Crafton United Presbyterian Church. The Hawthorne Presbyterians were invited, too, but chose not to join. The 60-year-old church on East Crafton Avenue was abandoned in favor of the 38-year-old Bradford church which had ample ground for a parking lot. The older building was for awhile used as a youth center called Westminster House for classes and crafts. The Baptists built a new sanctuary on the site of their original one on the corner of Steuben Street and Oregon Avenue in 1964. At the same time they purchased the adjacent property to which the original Charles Craft house had been moved and had it torn down for a parking lot. 88 ~ The Story of Crafton The Lutherans at St. Matthews built a parking area on the site they had intended for an education unit. They were aware that their church school attendance was on the wane and they didn't need a new building, but they did remodel the space to better accommodate their church school. Their four national bodies, incidentally, had also merged in 1963 at a time when the ecumenical movement was in full swing. St. Philip Church had remodeled and redecorated in 1956 after the death of their beloved Father Kelty in 1955. At about the same time they tore down their original 1839 brick chapel, which was decaying from disuse and built a parking area in the corner of the church yard. Additional parking space for their large congregation was also provided at the Knights of Columbus and later at a lot which doubled as a playground between Crennel and Crafton Avenues. The Christian Church, located on a narrow (almost) dead-end street, had a similar parking problem to that of the Methodist Church. However, they would have to wait until the old Masonic Building burned down in the mid-eighties before they could acquire land for parking. Their offer to the Borough to permit badly needed public parking on their lot during the week was rejected due to insurance problems. The Episcopal Church of the Nativity had added a parish house wing in 1956 on their only vacant land. They solved their parking problem in a very practical manner, by sharing the lots of the two nearby funeral homes, Lambs (now Schepners) and Hershbergers (now Hershberger-Stovers). Lambs had opened their business after the war and Hershbergers had moved to a new building from their small quarters on Station Street in 1957. Alice Craft Hardy died in 1960 and was buried from the Church of the Nativity where she was the first to be christened in 1872. Her heirs sold the large brick house her father had built and the property was subdivided. 1960 also marked the year that the population of Crafton peaked and began to recede. It ushered in more changes that Charles Craft and his daughter, Alice, might not have welcomed. The Automobile Age ~ 89 A New School District I - -'The 1960's were a time of national turmoil with the country divided over the war in Vietnam, race relations, the environment, the role of women and sexual mores. A local upheaval shook the school system. When the Soviets beat the United States into space with the launching of Sputnik in 1957, a warning went up that scie.jp2ic education in this country was not equal to that in the Soviet Union. The message then, as now, was Crafton Elementary that we must gear up our entire education system if we are to compete globally. A start was School. made at the high school level. The State of Pennsylvania mandated the consolidation of small local education units to provide a comprehensive high school that could offer a broader curriculum and operate more effectively and efficiently under a central administration. This would never have been Demolition of the possible in the days before busing when most urban children, at least, walked to school. 1895 Blacks Bridge. The Catholic Diocese responded to the challenge by building Canevin High School in Idlewood in 1961 for students in the western part of the county. Crafton had the option in the county reorganization plan of forming a new jointure with the then-unallied Ingram, Thornburg, Rosslyn Farms and Carnegie, or joining the existing Montour district comprising Robinson and Kennedy Townships. They chose the former, although their close neighbors in Ingram and Thornburg opted out and went with the fast growing communities in the Montour District. The new school district conducted a contest to name the school and officially adopted the name Car lyn-ton in 1966 for Carnegie, Rosslyn Farms and Crafton. It made partners of the The 1969 traditional rivals of Crafton and Carnegie, and for former graduates of the two high Blacks Bridge. schools, this was a bitter pill to swallow. The new Carlynton High School, opened in 1970, was located in Robinson Township because there was not enough accessible, buildable, vacant land in any of the three member communities. After that, the old elementary schools eventually closed and the elementary students were moved into the remodeled and expanded high school buildings in Crafton and Carnegie. The architec tural firm for both schools was Curry, Martin, and Highberger. (Derek Martin, 90 * The Story of Crafton of the firm, moved the office to the historic Creighton House on Noble Avenue in 1985.) When the Crafton Elementary School was dedicated in 1979, the principal speaker at the ceremony was Attorney William Eckert, a graduate of the Crafton schools who, Harry Meredith tells us, was the recipient of a scholarship to Pitt where he graduated "with the highest averages that had ever been obtained at that institution." New Bridges The 1980 Thornburg Bridge. Because students were being bused to and from the elementary schools and the high school, it became imperative to replace the rickety 1895 secondhand Black's Bridge. A new concrete bridge was completed in 1969 with the help of the county. The 1927 Thornburg bridge, under constant repair in the 1970's, was finally replaced in 1980. Governor Dick Thornburgh, not a member of the original Thornburg family but a native of Rosslyn Farms, dedicated the bridge during a torrential downpour. The merchants of Crafton and Ingram had suffered greatly during the two years the bridge was closed to traffic. John Grimes, who published the newspaper The Area Advertiser in the old theater building, said it put him out of business. The Park and Shade Tree Commission A worldwide environmental movement inspired the creation by Council of a Park and Shade Commission charged with improving the community's environment. The Woman's Parklet that replaced the Third Ward School. The Automobile Age ~ 91