ABEL FUNERAL HOME - Abel's Funeral Home was on
the corner of Jefferson and Henderson Avenue (now Funeral Home).
This huge white house has numerous windows on the first and second floors.
Each window had a candle-light in it, and some years they huge huge red bows
hung out the window to sit against the side of the house. A pole at the
end of their driveway facing Jefferson Avenue was wrapped in a wide red
ribbon, and close to the top was another huge red bow. Being a funeral
home, it seemed quite a juxtaposition to see it decked out so festively.
But, it was also the home of the Abel Family and the decorations often made
one forget the home's other purpose.
Located at 1290 Jefferson
Avenue, Abel Funeral Home is Deangelo Funeral Home (Mario L. and James N.
Deangelo, owners.)
MAXWELL HOUSE (Bar or Tavern) - The bar was another
place that was nicely decorated through the 1960s and 1970s. Mr. Walter
Maxwell was the proprietor. The business was frequented by men from
Washington Steel, just down the street, and others (unless they went to the
Slovak Club on the other corner. The bar opened from the side street.
They had a couple old bowling puck machines in there and a pool table.
My dad did private construction jobs for some individuals who went to
Maxwell's, and my dad knew Mr. Maxwell quite well. The few times dad
stopped there after picking us up after school, we'd go in with him but
instead of being in the bar, we'd go up a few steps and enter the kitchen of
Mr. Maxwell's elderly mother. She always had something "just out of
the oven," whether it was meatloaf or a roast or chocolate chip cookies.
Her white hair was always up in a bun, with loose wisps around her face.
I think she was Jewish and had an accent. We always went home with some
cookies or our half-eaten sandwich. Mr. Maxwell retired and sold the
business in 1985.
CLARK SCHOOL - On the next corner was the front
building of Clark School, at Jefferson and Maple Avenue. The huge front
windows extended across each classroom on the front, and both sides. The
school had huge, huge classrooms, with extensively high ceilings. The
building was heated by a very large old boiler, but it only kept the chill
off. I had my very first job at Clark School, through the Manpower
office which hired teenage workers. I was living on Maple Avenue by then
(1973) so I only had to go across the street to home at Grandma's house.
My job was as a "janitorial assistant." With the head janitor,
Joe, we swept the wide, long hallways and huge classrooms with very long
dust-mops. Usually he handled the wet-mopping, while kids did the
dry-mopping. It was quite a different experience than driving by the
building in the 1960s. Then, the building looked quite happy and festive
during holidays. Teachers placed very large Christmas cut-outs in each
upper window at Christmas-time, or ones appropriate at other holidays
Kid's art projects were displayed in the lower windows. As a young teen,
I could still imagine the kids' pride at having their creations showed off for
everyone to see. When I worked there a decade later, the windows still
bore the work of that years' classes. It was quite easy to see from the
outside that the lower grades were on the first floor, with the older grades
on the second floor. Every hallway inside was lined with more artwork
and poster projects. For parent-teacher conferences, it seemed every
available wall was used up and down every hall, going from the door of one
classroom to the next, and so on.
VELTRI'S CLEANERS - Halfway down the
block from Clark School on the opposite side of the street, the small building
occupied by Veltri's Cleaners joined in holiday decorating. At
Christmas, twinkling lights framed the door and window of the business.
Some Veltri children were classmates of my sisters.
VIEHMANN'S PHARMACY - Viehmann's occupied the
first floor corner area of the building at West Wylie Avenue and Jefferson
Avenue, and was always . Up about three steps from the sidewalk,
double-glass doors opened on a medium-sized store. To the left were a
couple rows of greeting card racks. To the left were a couple aisles of
medical and medicinal supplies. The pharmacy counter was straight ahead.
This was the only pharmacy for many blocks, so it carried just about anything.
It was my family's drug store until the early 1970s. On the 2nd and
third floors in the 1960s was a (my) dentist's office, other businesses and
some apartments; by the early 1970s, it was mostly apartments. Next door
on Wylie was Mr. Kulla's shoe and boot repair shop. He could re-sole
just about any footwear brought in, using the old equipment and tools he'd
brought over with him from the old country. By the time Mr. Kulla had
died all the rooms above Viehmann's were almost all apartments. The
building was showing its quite worn age and the inside was showing the wear.
Mr. Viehmann sold the pharmacy in 1989 and about a dozen years ago, the
Viehmann's building was torn down. A McDonald's fast food restaurant
went in on that corner and State Farm enlarged their office. A Rite Aid
store went in across Wylie Ave from the old Viehmann's building.
Washington Pharmacy - After a few telephone
calls, I learned Viehman's had moved just up the street from and catty-corner
to the original location, up under the I-70 underpass. For about
10 years, Mr. Viehmann worked for the Washington Pharmacy. Walter
Viehmann, the original pharmacist, works elsewhere now. The Washington
Pharmacy continues to provide for the need of today's area residents.
KRENCY'S BAKERY - Almost across the
street from Viehmann's is a short, long building that contains many small
businesses. One is Krency's Bakery. It was obviously popular
during holidays and all special occasions. They made all sorts of
Christmas (and everyday) cookies, birthday cakes, and other pastries. It
is a shop where one can still put on 20 pounds by just smelling the baked
goods from the parking lot in front. At Christmas, they used the canned
snow to decorate their shop windows, writing "Merry Christmas"
in the "snow."
Krency's now has an adjoining restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch
until 2 p.m. They have a second location also in the East Washington
area, I believe.
THOROUGH-FARE / FOODLAND - Or, was it A&P?
People disagree but I think it was Foodland in the 1960s, on the right side
going away from West Wylie Avenue, and just past Tylerdale Garage. Here
my sister had a can fall from the top of their automatic opening doors (one
going "in" and one for going "out"). The parking lot
was shared - on the right was for the store; on the left was for Dr.
Badailli's office (Dr. Adler joined him later) and the middle parking area was
shared by both the store and patients of the doctor. When Kroger's
opened across the street on the hill, the Foodland suffered. It is now a
video movie rental now
KROGER'S - Kroger's grocery went in
later, a new building of concrete blocks and a huge parking lot on the upper
slope of Jefferson Avenue, almost right next to the I-70/79 Entrance &
Exit ramps, and near the long side street that goes up to the hospital.
Some locals did not like this new, very large store when it first was built,
preferring the smaller grocery store. I am told it is now a
storage-locker building and parking lot.
ALPINE DANCE HALL - The old Alpine Dance
Hall on Jefferson Avenue was torn down (1960s?). My father was able to
buy part of the pine dance hall flooring and some pin ball machines. He
sanded all the pieces, and I remember watching him as a young child putting in
the new flooring in our living room. He rented or borrowed a large
sander and a large buffing machine. He stained the floor, by hand, with
several coats (let dry in between). Then applied several coats of
varnish, by hand (let dry in between). Each coat was sanded slightly
before the next coat was applied. Our steps were the sanded inside
section of pinball machines from Alpine; the painted outsides could be seen in
a storage area underneath our stairs. I remember when daddy sanded,
stained, and varnished them (three times I believe). Dad explained to us
kids that he'd do one side, then the other side of the stairs - and he
carefully overlapped where it met in the middle. He'd just applied
the last coat when I, unthinkingly, trotted down the middle of the stairs, my
bare feet leaving noticeable footprints on many stairs before I realized what
I had done! He had to lightly re-sand my footprints and re-varnish,
trying to blend that section again! Needless to say, I was in big
trouble.
A new
Alpine Club and bowling alley was built and many generations remember going to
the Alpine.
WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOL - What does one
say about one of the oldest schools for Washington City Schools, besides
Trinity High School? The off-white building is on Jefferson Avenue
but occupies between Allison Avenue on the upper side, Jefferson Ave on the
lower side, Hall Avenue to the right and.... ___ on the left side. I
believe the original old school faced Allison Avenue. Numerous postcards
show both buildings in different views. This is one building I never
entered. So I hope website readers will send me details about the
school.
CHRISTMAS
TREE LOTS
CORNER OF WYLIE AND ALLISON AVENUES - UNDER THE I-70 HIGHWAY UNDERPASS OFF
JEFFERSON AVENUE - In the 1960s before the Interstate went in crossing
above Jefferson and Allison Avenues, there used to be a Christmas tree sale
lot at the corner of Wylie and Allison Avenues. As in most lots, trees
were leaned against the man's pick-up truck and along the side of a building.
Often folks would browse in advance but wait until Christmas week to go back,
hoping the prices closer to the big day.
In the 1970s there was a tree
lot set up under the interstate underpass off Jefferson Avenue, but there was
no lighting fixed there which made it difficult, at best.
VARIOUS LOTS AND SERVICE STATIONS - Along Jefferson were a couple gas
stations that supplemented income at Christmas by selling trees. One was
Tylerdale Garage; another was past the Alpine Club.
JEFFERSON, CHESTNUT AND MAIN STREETS AT CHRISTMAS - Shortly after
Thanksgiving in the 1960s, City workers brought out bucket trucks or were
helped by the fire department to attach Christmas decorations to light poles
going up Jefferson Avenue, to Chestnut Street, to Main Street..... Some
were only wreaths or garlands...others had lights. During one period of
years, the decorations had a single type large, lit, candle type centerpiece.
After
the small scraggly trees were planted on Main Street in the 1970s, they placed
strings of clear lights on the trees which made a very pretty display.
The
decorations were left up for months until weather and chimneys used in homes
for coal furnaces, nearby steel plants and glass plants made them look dirty
and - quite sad actually.
For pictures of some places, go to
Washington
PA Nostalgia
A few current street scenes are at the City
Hall website.
Street
Map of 1 South Main Street
and surrounding streets uptown (Mapquest)
City Development
pages and current development
projects map.
Main
Street Newsletters
If you are looking for documents,
newspaper items, obituaries, etc. for
families of Washington Co., PA and surrounding areas, see my primary website
at:
"Little
Washington," Washington Co., PA: Genealogy and Family History
McDonald
Area Newspapers are also on the Little Washington website.
The City Hall website states:
"His original plot bears the name "Bassett, alias Dandridge
Town," but before the plot was recorded, lines were drawn through
"Bassett, alias Dandridge Town" with ink, and the word
"Washington" was written above."
and
"The town was incorporated as a borough on February 13, 1810, and
became a city of the third class in 1924."
Long Ago Locations: (please send me your additions
to this list)
The old-old post office on Maiden Street.has been City Hall
for decades.
The "new" (many decades-old) Post Office was the
site of __________.
Millcraft Center built in the mid 1970s was the site of a
small diner owned by Pete Paradise (a Greek Confectioner who homemade
candies and strong coffee) and other business store-fronts including a
furniture store.
The Cort Theater was down near Pete's in the 1950s.
The Basil changed to Uptown Theater -- now a live
band-entertainment site.
The State Theater was on the same side as Murphy's
The present site of Hummell Funeral Home used to be
Minnimyer's (spelling?), then the B. F. Goodrich tire sales and repair
garage -- the building sat empty until the Funeral Home built there.
Information on the LANE
FAMILY in MD and PA,
(but will include info on many
collateral families also) and unrelated families.
This LANE family is documented in the book
Lane
Family History: Descendants of
John
Lane, Sr.
by
Ruth Lane McGary and Judith Ann Florian,
1990
(Includes
1794-1990.)
View the All-Name
Index of this book.
Contact webmaster
about this book.
The ancestry of the LANE family were German Baptists,
who adopted the official name of The
Church of the Brethren in the early 1900s.
Families of Ten Mile
Church of the Brethren
My branch of the LANE family:
Daniel
and Anna England Lane, and family (photo)
Elderly
Anna England Lane (photo)
(Use browser's "back" button to return here
after viewing the photos.)
Site also includes select info from Bedford Co., PA; Ripley Co., IN; and
Carroll Co., OH,
with information also from Frederick Co., MD
Our John Lane Sr. (ca.1780-1844) was mistakenly (we think)
included in a DAR Application,
linking him to the wrong Revolutionary Soldier (although his father was
supposedly in the Revolutionary War). Read the files disproving this
DAR Application and see the actual documents. (DAR Application of Emma
McKinley Nease for Record of John Lane, Bedford Co., PA) I welcome comments
and any researcher's proof either way concerning this issue.
LINKS TO DAR APPLICATION - BEDFORD CO., PA JOHN LANE SR
& JR (different from our Sr. & Jr.)
GO TO SECTION ONE -
(web page 1)
GO TO SECTION TWO -
(See web page 1) - on web page # 1
GO TO SECTION THREE (web
page 2)
GO TO SECTION FOUR (web
page 3)
GO TO SECTION FIVE (web
page 4)
GO TO SECTION SIX (web
page 5)
GO TO SECTION SEVEN (web
page 6)
GO TO
HOW TO CORRECT DAR INFO (web page 7)
Documents supporting my research - coming by 2006
I want to say a special "Thank you" to a friend,
Janet.
Without her help, I would not have completed these web pages.
Special acknowledgement to my genealogy teacher,
co-researcher,
my grandmother Ruth Lane McGary
(deceased).
Special acknowledgement to my co-researcher, co-author,
and co-trouble-maker, my sister Cathy
Caldwell (deceased).
Site History and Updates: Dec '05; Jan '05; Mar
'06
Email
Washington.Co.PA.Webmaster
(c) Judith Ann Florian
159 E. Main St.
Girard, Ohio 44420
Copyright Notice - Data / info. for individuals and surnames may be
reproduced for personal family histories only, but not for any commercial use or
sale. Please give credit to Judith Florian and Catherine L. Caldwell for
locating newspaper items and original documents. You may use J. Florian's
research conclusions if credit is given. No other data or images may be
reproduced without permission. © 2005-present, Judith Florian, Copyright All
rights reserved.
This page was last updated on Friday, January 16, 2009 00:15
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The background was chosen specifically to
emphasize the matriarchal role of women in "the life" of
children and families, and the resilience of all the women of
southwestern Pennsylvania. |
