The opening of the Ambridge Borough Pool

Pool side of bathhouse
Ambridge Borough Pool
Borough Park
Daily Citizen
May 29, 1942

Such a joyous and long-anticipated event. The newly constructed Ambridge Borough Pool was opening!

Opening day was Memorial Day, Saturday, May 30, 1942.*  The formal dedication of the pool would be later, on July 12, 1942.

The caption under the above photo says:

The new Ambridge Community pool, under construction for several years will be opened to the public tomorrow. Built at a large cost it is the most complete in this section of the state. Facilities are in keeping with the wide expanse of water. In other words the accommodations are ample. Another view of the pool can be seen on page 10.

Here's the other view:

New Ambridge Borough Pool
looking south from diving pool end
Ambridge Borough Park
Daily Citizen
May 29, 1942

The opening was announced in a full page ad in the May 29 Daily Citizen at a time when newspaper pages were huge! The ad featured the graphic at the top of this page, the pool photo immediately above, and the following:

The Daily Citizen of Monday, June 1, 1942, reported that the first person to enter the water had been John D. Davis, a borough painter, who had taken a swim ten minutes after midnight on "Friday" (but it's not clear whether this meant Friday or Saturday morning). He was followed by over 1,300 other people that first weekend--after the pool actually opened--the majority of them children.

The children of Ambridge, as well as some adults, had been waiting for so long for a public pool in Ambridge.

In the early 1920s, the Ambridge Playground Association had sponsored a pool on the 800 block of Duss Ave., near where the Junior High School was soon to be built. But that pool had been short-lived.

Frustrated waiting for another public pool to be built, in the summer of 1938, the children of the First St. neighborhood built the iconic Dead-End Pool in polluted Big Sewickley Creek. That pool was also short-lived, quickly closed and drained by health authorities. But that action led to a protest march by the children, leading to a bond issue for the purpose of building a new public pool being approved by voters in the November 1938 election.

Construction of the new public pool began in early 1939 by the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), the federal program that provided jobs for the unemployed on public works projects across the U.S.  Built on property now known as Walter Panek Park, construction wasn't completed until 1942. (You can see photos of the very early days of the pool's construction by clicking on the link at the beginning of this paragraph.) The photo below shows how far construction had gotten by 1941.

Construction
Ambridge Borough Pool
circa May 1941
credit: Edmund Silla
photo courtesy of Jay Silla
 used with permission

Then finally...finally!...the new pool was finished and opened for swimming, despite the entry of the U.S. into WWII the previous December. Such an exciting day!

The July dedication ceremony featured the presentation of the pool to the Ambridge Borough by a W. P. A. representative, a Navy seaman speaking on the benefits of water sports, and a swim meet.

The Ambridge pool was the source of summer fun and fond memories for swimmers, and non-swimmers, from Ambridge and nearby communities, for several generations. But increasing maintenance costs needed by the aging building, combined with lack of funds to repair and upgrade the pool, eventually led to the pool's not opening in the summer of 1991. That year turned out to be beginning of the neglected pool's long, slow, ugly death, despite several proposals to reopen it.

The pool was demolished in 2009.

You can see more photos and read more memories of the pool by clicking on "Swimming pool" in the "labels" menu on the left.
_____

* Memorial Day was celebrated on May 30 for decades until it was moved to the last Monday in May in 1971.

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool construction, 1939--and Ambridge's earlier playground pool

This year's summer swimming season may have ended, but for Ambridge children, in 1939, the promise of summers filled with laughter, splashes, and the occasional lifeguard's whistle, was starting to take shape, as shown in the photos below.

Construction of the Ambridge Borough Pool in Borough Park (now called Walter Panek Park) began in 1939, the year after Ambridge children from the First St. neighborhood built their own "Dead-End Pool" in polluted Big Sewickley Creek. When health authorities closed and drained the Dead-End Pool, the children marched to the Borough Council, demanding a public pool. I was surprised to learn while I was researching the Dead-End Pool, that the Council agreed that Ambridge needed a public pool, and voted to put a bond proposal to construct a pool on the November 1938 election ballot. The voters approved the bond measure.

But although pool construction began in 1939, completion was long delayed; the pool wasn't opened for swimming until Memorial Day 1942.

Recently, Winifred Graham Boser donated a set of snapshots to Ambridge's Laughlin Memorial Library, showing the early construction of the Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool. Both of her grandfathers, Peter A. Conrad and Walter A. Graham, worked on the pool construction project. And during my last visit to Ambridge, I was lucky enough to be able to scan the photos to share them with you.

Any ideas about what the first photo below is showing? Construction work, of course. But is this work on the old road that once wound through Borough Park? Or the road leading from the Borough Park road into the site of the eventual pool?

"Boro Park, West Rd." ?
May 11, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Early Ambridge Borough Pool construction
"Boro Park"
May 11, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Fill was added during early construction
of the Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool
May 11, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Early construction "Boro Park Pool"
May 11, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

"Pool cut"
Early construction of Ambridge Borough Pool
May 11, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

"First Concrete"
Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool
June 24, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Work on the walls of the main pool
Ambridge Borough Park
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Walls of the main pool being built
Ambridge Borough Pool
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Work on main pool
Ambridge Borough Park
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Uncovering concrete on main pool bottom?
Borough employee Peter A. Conrad on right
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Main pool closer to completion
Walter A. Graham in forefront, head man on project
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Digging out ground for diving pool
Ambridge Borough Park
July 24, 1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

More work on diving pool
Ambridge Borough Park
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Working on diving pool
Ambridge Borough Park
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

Construction of diving pool
Ambridge Borough Park
1939
Laughlin Memorial Library archives

The playground pool--Ambridge's first public pool

While doing research on the construction of Ambridge's first Jr. High School on Duss Ave. (later, after an annex was built, the Jr. - Sr. High School), I was really surprised to find out that a public pool once stood on the school's property in the 1920s.

I'm not talking about the pool in the Jr. High building, but rather an outdoor pool, run by a group called the Ambridge Playground Association, spearheaded by the Ambridge Rotary Club.

The first playground the group built was at the Duss Ave. site in the early 1920s, perhaps 1923. In 1925, the group added playgrounds at First and Fourth Ward Schools. When I was growing up, the playground at the Jr. - Sr. High School was between the northern end of the building and the Bollinger Co. office building. The playground was later moved to the south side of the building when the school's tennis courts/skating rink were built in the 1960s.

The Jr. High playground featured a swimming pool during the summer months. Since it was operated as part of the summer playground program, I think it was probably only open to children, but I haven't yet found confirmation of that.

I don't have a photo or a good description of the pool, but I assume was above ground and fairly large--75 swimmers at a time were allowed in it. And it was deep enough that parents were urged to insist that children who couldn't swim stay in the shallow end of the pool.

Two showers were provided so that swimmers could shower before they entered the pool.

In the summer of 1925, that pool's water pump needed repairs, and its opening was delayed until June 22, when the Citizen announced that the pool would open that afternoon. Two days later, the paper reported that the June 23 crowd was a record, with 300 swimmers enjoying the pool.

But confusingly, the same newspaper reported on July 20 that the swimming pool on the Jr. High School grounds had "not yet been opened." The reason was the "sewer is clogged and repairs not yet made." It further reported that the school board had decided not to open the playground pool that year, because a new sewer was required, and since the new school was under construction, it would be better to wait and connect both the playground pool and school to the sewer system at the same time. Did the Citizen mean re-opened? I'm still looking for the answer.

When the Jr. High athletic field was being planned in 1926, the construction of a fence that would include the playground and its swimming pool was discussed.

As of now, I don't know the last year the playground swimming pool was open.

Later, the Playground Assn. added two more playgrounds, one near Second Ward School, and the other at the then-new Anthony Wayne Elementary School. I don't know yet who was responsible for the construction of the playground near Liberty School.

In 1945, a unicorn came to Ambridge

During the first week of September 1945, a traveling exhibit of rare and odd animals came to Ambridge, and the unicorn surely had to be the rarest of all.

An ad for the show featured a beautiful, classic unicorn as depicted in folklore, with a horse-like head and a large horn on its forehead. Wow! And skeptics say they didn't exist. It looks pretty happy too. Of course "It's real. It's alive!!" Who would want to see a fake or dead unicorn?!

Animal Oddities Exhibit ad
Daily Times
September 3, 1945

Although whoever sketched the unicorn for the announcement below, featuring the rare creature, did an awful job! Why, the unicorn almost looks like an ox or bull with a single horn, nose-ring included.

Animal Oddities announcement
Daily Times
September 4, 1945

Still, rest assured, exhibit-goers would see the unicorn of myth. From the announcement:

Among the unique animals to be shown is the Unicorn, which dates back to the wanderings of the barbaric tribes before civilization. The single-horned animal, shown here, is greatly sought after for its wonderous powers of magic and medicinal values. The miraculous horn is always described as growing on the brow of a "beast so glorious, so virtuous, so beautiful that heaven granted the earth only one specimen at a time."

Now would an ox or bull fit that description? No!

Although there was only one unicorn on earth in September 1945, if you came to the field at 17th and Merchant Sts. in Ambridge, you could see it! Only 25¢ (plus tax) for adults; 10¢ (plus tax) for kids!

If the magical unicorn wasn't enough, there were 100 more "living curiosities" in the exhibit, including Belgian Bob, the world's largest living horse.  And Nebcurhah, "The 3000-year-old man from the Valley of the Kings in Egypt." No mention of he was still living or not.

Animal Oddities Exhibit ad
Daily Times
September 6, 1945

Lest you think that the ads might be making stuff up about the animals in the exhibit, here's  a photo of Lone Star, the world's largest living steer.

Lone Star
World's Largest Living Steer
Daily Times
September 5, 1945

The text under the photos said:

Beaver Countians will have the opportunity of viewing, "Lone Star" (pictured above) world's largest living steer, 9 feet tall and weighing around 3,000 pounds, showing with "Animal Oddities" exhibit, on transcontinental tour with the earth's strangest living oddities, now located on the showgrounds at 17th and Merchant streets, Ambridge.
   This unusual exhibit is on display through Sunday, September 9th in a large tent, and included in the oddities is the world's largest living horse measuring 19 1/2 hands, along with 100 other rare animals.
   Included in the exhibit are strange animals featured in "Believe It or Not", by Robert Ripley.

Surely, if Lone Star was that big, the unicorn was real!

Swimming lessons at Ambridge Borough Pool

While I practically lived at the pool during the summers, I detested swimming lessons which were always given in the morning before the pool opened for public swimming. The air was cool; the water was cold. Not too long after I'd get in the pool, I'd be shivering. And by the end of class, my teeth might be chattering and my lips blue.

Swimming lessons at the Ambridge pool
Daily Citizen
late 1950s ? *
news clipping courtesy of Borough of Ambridge

Citizen caption:

FISH FLOAT -- Joseph Strano, the swimmer, going through the "Jelly Fish Float" at the Ambridge Swimming Pool as the first of two classes completed their "scooling" (sic) Friday morning. The instructors are Richard Lebec, left, and Jerry Hochevar, right.

By the time my mother signed me up for lessons, I was already a fairly good swimmer and a champion floater, thanks to the hours I previously had spent in the pool. But during the lessons, I did learn the breast stroke, and the not-in-the-Olympics -- but with modification, useful for lifesaving and Navy Seal training -- side stroke.

I'd walk to the pool for the the dreaded lessons. Then I'd have to walk home, only to walk back to the pool again after it opened later that day for swimming that was fun.

In 1958, swimming lessons at the pool were free, but registration for lessons was $0.50. By the 1960s, the registration fee had been raised to $1.00.

Ambridge borough swimming pool
early to mid 1960s**
Beaver County Times ?
news clipping courtesy Borough of Ambridge

original caption:

BEATING THE HEAT - Ambridge swimming pool had one of its busiest days Tuesday when 1,000 persons took a dip in order to beat the heat. Steve Solomich, pool manager, announced that new swimming classes will start Monday and conclude next Friday. A class for children aged 9 - 11 will be conducted from 9 to 10 a.m. and children seven and eight years of age will receive instructions from 10 to 11 a.m. Registrations will be accepted at the pool Saturday from 10 to 11 a.m. The registration fee is $1. Parents must register their children. No registrations will be accepted by phone. Similar classes are being held this week.

_____

* The Borough news clipping was dated only "1960." I don't have the date this photo was published in the Daily Citizen, confirmed by the "DC" watermark. But the Citizen stopped publication on June 30, 1959, so this clipping cannot be from 1960 or later.

** This Borough news clipping also was dated only "1960," and its source was unidentified. The Beaver County Times is my best guess, but I've been unable to find the photo to confirm that. Steve Solomich, mentioned in the caption. was pool manager in the early and mid-1960s, which helps narrow the years the photo might have been published.

Ambridge memorabilia: Ambridge swimming pool bathhouse pin

I've seen quite a bit of Ambridge memorabilia over the past few years, but this is the one that brings back the best memories for me. And it's the one piece of Ambridge memorabilia I most wish was mine.

Ambridge pool pin
courtesy Linda Kastriba Kuhni

For those of you who aren't familiar with Ambridge's Borough Swimming Pool asking "what is that?!", it's a bathhouse pin.

Instead of swimmers taking their clothes to the pool area with them, most would "check" their clothes in the bathhouse. Swimmers would grab a wire basket when they entered the bathhouse. After changing into swimsuits, they'd take the basket to a counter where "checkers" would exchange the basket for a pin. The basket would then be put on a shelf area numbered to match the pin. Most swimmers pinned the pin to their swimsuit for safekeeping. When the swimmer would be ready to go home, they'd go back to the counter and exchange the pin for the basket with their clothes.

Although, apparently not everyone gave back the pin. Linda Kastriba Kuhni, who took the photo above, says that the pin belongs to her husband, and #15 was his baseball team number. He wanted the pin so much, he abandoned the t-shirt he'd worn to the pool so he wouldn't have to give up the pin. Her husband has been carrying the pin on his key ring ever since.

You can read more about, and see photos of, the Ambridge Borough Swimming pool in these blog articles. Yeah, I write a lot about the pool.

- Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 1

- Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 2: Getting there--the trek to the pool

- Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 3: The bathhouse--the girls' dressing room

- Pool, Part 3: The Bathhouse -- The Boys' Dressing Room

- Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool expansion: the solons' inspection

- Ambridge today: Pool steps

- Ambridge today: the pool bathhouse once stood here

- Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 4: hot summer fun in the three pools

- The happy beginning and the sad end of the Ambridge Pool with the unfortunate series of events that led to its closing and razing

- The Ambridge Pool slide

Group photo: Girl Scout Day Camp 1964

I remember going to Girl Scout Day Camp at Economy Park in the 1960s:

Getting on a school bus with other Girl Scouts and leaders for the trip to and from the park and singing Girl Scout favorites: "There was a farmer who had a horse and Bingo was his name-o," "We are the pioneers, jolly old pioneers," "Great big gobs of greasy grimy gopher's guts."

And at camp: doing crafts; hiking; cooking Girl Scout recipes (I still have the one for no-bake cookies!) for lunch over a fire with wood we'd collected; sleeping overnight in the barn.

Girl Scout Day Campers
Economy Park
Beaver County Times
June 26, 1964

Times caption:

Soup's on -- Rosemary Matzzie of Ambridge, left, a senior aide at the Cheba District Girl Scout Day Camp at Economy Park, demonstrates the art of outdoor cooking to a group of scouts. In foreground with her are Marcia Darno, center, and Susan Musgrave, both Brownie Scouts from Economy.

Golden Jubilee: Brothers of the Brush, Sisters of the Swish

Brothers of the Brush pin
Ambridge Golden Jubilee
courtesy of Bob Mikush

All men who lived or worked in Ambridge were required to become "Brothers of the Brush" and grow beards for the Golden Jubilee celebration, June 26 through July 4, 1955. "Shaving permits" were available to men who wouldn't, or couldn't, grow a beard. I didn't find (yet) a mention of how much those permits cost. Woe to the men who were caught without a beard or shaving permit. The scofflaws faced an assortment of penalties, including arrest by the Keystone Kops and trial in Kangaroo Kourt. Punishment was usually swift and silly.

Shaving permit pin
Ambridge Golden Jubilee
courtesy of Ron Strauss

Some of the Brothers of the Brush chapters included: Pastafazola, UWA Pyrohy's, and the Knight of the Hot Salami. The Brother with the longest beard won a silver loving cup at the American Slovak Association Picnic at Firemen's Park on June 26, one of the Golden Jubilee's first scheduled events. A beard judging contest also was held during the Jubilee celebration.

Women had their own Jubilee group and became "Sisters of the Swish" by wearing old-fashioned dresses. I don't know if women had anything similar to the men's "shaving permit." The women's costumes also were judged during the celebration.

Hijinks ensued even before the Jubilee celebration officially began on June 26.

Pirate Coach John Fitzpatrick was made an honorary member of the Patafazola Chapter at a Pirate's game.

Pastafazola Chapter with Pirate Coach John Fitzpatrick
Daily Citizen
June 14, 1955

Original text:

HONORARY MEMBER -- Pirate Coach John Fitzpatrick, center, was made honorary member of the Pastafazola Chapter of the Brothers of the Brush in between the Bucs-Braves doubleheader at Forbes Field Sunday afternoon. The other players in the photo are Dick Groat and George Freeze while the Keystone Kops in the front row are: Steve Powell and Al Russo.

Looks like the Kops made a raid at Wyckoff Steel and Kourt was held.

Painted worker at Wyckoff
Daily Citizen
June 22, 1955

Original text:

KANGAROO KOURT was held by the Woolly Whoopers of Wyckoff Chapter late yesterday afternoon following the day shift. Regis Roll, left, was made honorary member after being painted by the president of the chapter.

Man in a barrel
Daily Citizen
June 22, 1955

Original text:

SEVERE PUNISHMENT--Another Wyckoff employe gets his punishment following a Kangaroo Kourt late Tuesday afternoon. 

John J. Kotarski in dress and bonnet
Daily Citizen
June 22, 1955

Original text:

ANOTHER FORM OF PUNISHMENT was meted a worker at Wyckoff Steel plant late Tuesday afternoon. The unidentified worker is being held by two Kops as sentence is pronounced.

There was the cooking of the "Human Pirohy."

Cooking of the human pirohy,
Daily Citizen,
June 24, 1955

Original text:

COOK HUMAN PIROHY--A "human pirohy" was "cooked" last evening at the Ukrainian Workingmen's Association Branch 5 lodge, Melrose Ave., following sentencing at Kangaroo Kourt by the Brothers of the Brush. Held inside a six foot replica of a rolling pin, and a four by six flour sack was used in making the human pirohy. The victim is pictured in the center, shortly before the "cooking" job.

Being a news photographer has its dangers.

Daily Citizen Photographer in stocks
Daily Citizen
June 27?, 1955

Original text:

PHOTOGRAPHER PUNISHED -- Norm Hanevich, a Daily Citizen Photographer, failed to have a "Brother of the Brush" pin Friday evening when he was given an assignment to cover the Kangaroo Kourt at Eighth St. Cafe. As a result, his punishment was a "paint" job.

According to the June 24 Daily Citizen, the Sisters of the Swish Pirohettes and Piroghy Brothers of the Brush made a woman who wasn't wearing a costume wash down a parking meter. The Sisters supervised the job by holding a rolling pin over the offender's head.

And on June 27, the Daily Citizen reported that an unlucky visitor from Ohio ended up with a pie in his face. So apparently, even men who didn't live or work in Ambridge might be penalized for being beardless in Ambridge.

Joseph Bartolo, who was six at the time of the Jubilee, remembers beardless men being thrown in clawfooted bathtubs full of water which had been placed around town.

I love seeing and reading about our parents, grandparents, and other Ambridge adults acting so silly and having such a good time. And being good sports.

More blog posts on the Golden Jubilee celebration coming soon.

The Ambridge Pool slide

Remember those hot summer days when you just couldn't wait to get to the Ambridge Borough Pool and zip down the metal water slide into the wonderfully cool water?

And on crowded days how awful it was to have to wait in a line that stretched along the pool deck where you stood on concrete that burned the soles of your feet?

And then you had to wait on the ladder before you could take your turn?

And how some kids would lose their nerve at the top, and everyone standing on the ladder would have to climb back down to let them off?

Slide at the Ambridge pool
"baby pool" in background
Daily Citizen
July 21, 1955

And then finally, how the speedy slide from the top to your big splash into sometimes really cold water was over in a slippy* second? And then you had to get in line again? And again. And again.

Text under the photo:

BEATING THE HEAT--The Ambridge Municipal swimming pool at Borough Park is doing a landslide business during these hot humid days as the youngsters along with many grownups take dips in order to cool off from the heat wave.

_____

* Pittsburgese for "slippery."

You can read more about the Ambridge pool in these posts:

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 1

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 2: Getting there--the trek to the pool

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 3: The bathhouse--the girls' dressing room

Pool, Part 3: The Bathhouse -- The Boys' Dressing Room

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool expansion: the solons' inspection

Ambridge today: Pool steps

Ambridge today: the pool bathhouse once stood here

Ambridge Borough Swimming Pool, Part 4: hot summer fun in the three pools

The happy beginning and the sad end of the Ambridge Pool with the unfortunate series of events that led to its closing and razing

John Domansky: memories of growing up in Ambridge, 1935 - 1954

John Domansky, Jr., John Domansky, Sr., and Jack Eppley

in front of John Domansky Tailor Shop

293 Fourteenth Street

1941

photo courtesy of John Domansky, Jr.

used with permission

In the photo above, John Domansky, Jr., age 9, his father, and Jack Eppley, who was married to John Jr.'s sister Frances, are shown standing in front of the John Domansky Tailor Shop.

Here are some of John Jr.'s memories of growing up in Ambridge:

I went to Holy Redeemer, as Divine Redeemer was then called, kindergarten to 8th grade. In 1948 I left for Boys Town. I graduated in 1950 from a pottery trade school. 

Before I came out here to Chicago in December 1954 with my sister and brother-in-law, I lived at a number of places in Ambridge. The last place I lived before moving to Chicago was 10th and Melrose; from 1952 to '54 I lived at 1925 Duss Avenue; in 1951 I briefly lived on 17th just up from Lenz; and before that, 1938 though 1951, at 293 Fourteenth Street, most memories come from there. Earlier, from '35 to '37, I lived above D'Ambrosio's Shoe Shop at 12th and Merchant. My first home was next to the Ambridge Hotel which was at 8th and Merchant.

Dad had a tailor shop at 293 Fourteenth Street for a while, with painted windows and all, and a big steam presser. The tailor shop was there for about 15 years maybe. On the right side inside, was the big steam presser, and steam shot out of the right side of the building to a blind alley. On the left was his Singer pedal sewing machine, both of which I ran at age 12.

Dad did alterations and took in cleaning, etc. He worked in downtown Pittsburgh and worked week-ends in his shop. He made me a confirmation suit overnight. He went to suit buyers' homes to measure the men, with a piece of paper, pencil, and a thin chalk marker. He wrote it all down, then made the suits, no returns ever that I know of. He was very good at math, I was better, and my son is five times as good as me.

My dad took me to many taverns and the Sokol club on Duss and 4th St. for hot dogs with sauerkraut and mustard. Once I ran away from home and landed in the Pittsburgh juvenile home; he came and got me and bought me a hot dog off a cart. Never laid a hand on me nor did Mom.

The wine killed my dad in 1948 in the pathway to our house between the two big buildings on the short 14th St. block before Boyleston St.

Mom was gone a lot, working in Glen Osborne and home on weekends. I would visit Mom in Glen Osborne often. She died in 1981.

To make creamed chicken on Sundays we got live chickens from Slavik's Market on 12th Street. Slavik kept livestock behind the store, along the Lias' home. The Lias family were West Virginia people who lived right behind the bar on Wagner St. The Lias boy swam in the river with us. We were called river rats. One thing about the river from 11th to 15th, 16th Sts. was the big rocks on the shore, you could sunbathe on them.

Dorothy Domansky and John Domansky, Jr.
next to D'Ambrosio Shoe Repair Shop
12th and Merchant Sts.
1937

photo courtesy of John Domansky, Jr.

used with permission

Frank Domansky (John Jr.'s uncle), Anne Domansky (John Jr.'s sister), Cousin Dorthy Domansky,

and Tom Varcheka, foreman at H.H. Robertson

14th and Merchant Sts., northwest corner

1942

photo courtesy of John Domansky, Jr.

used with permission

My cousin Dorothy played the accordion when she came to visit, a block party started here. Polkas on 14th Street!

I roamed free on my own for a lot of years. Having no car until out here in Chicago, I walked all over, 14th St. to Divine Redeemer was daily.*

I walked to Fair Oaks to visit the Otrahalics on Ambridge Ave. I'd walk to the Fair Oaks Bowling Alley on Big Sewickley Creek Rd. and the gas station next to it, even down to Zassick's farm to ride a horse or to Firemen's Park for a picnic.* A big 50-foot electric tower was in Big Sewickley Creek, the water was about seven-feet deep and diveable, so I did it, I dove off the concrete pad, about eight-feet high. I fished many times too.

I also remember when the bridge over Big Sewickley Creek going down to Ambridge was walked over by using only boards. This was at Ambridge Ave. at the sharp curve to go through Fair Oaks. The bridge was the only entrance into the valley behind Ambridge Ave. towards the hills behind. They built a new bridge in the late '70s. **

The 291 Fourteenth Street tailor shop, Hacker's, somehow deep in my memory, I see that name. The son was Clayton Marquette, trainer of 1972 Olympian winner Cathy Rigby. I have a May 5, 1972, Life magazine with a four-page layout on Cathy, and it shows Bud, as he was known, a former AAU gymnastic champ himself. Many days we walked on our hands in front of both tailor shops. Oh yes, I see a Hacker, a short German guy there, but not Bud's name, maybe he was adopted. Bud worked at H. H. Robertson also, like me. He cut all the crating lumber to ship the skylights I made. Bud tried to get me into the Maennerchor gym on Sherman St. I was a natural athlete and diver, have eight stitches in my head from top rock diving at the Chicago Coast Guard Station at 95th St. in Chicago. I would go to the Beaver River and dive off bluffs, and dive off the Baden docks which were 10-feet high. I threatened to dive off the Ambridge - Aliquippa Bridge a few times.

I came here to Chicago for work. I was laid off from Robertson in early '54, ended up at Republic Steel, retired in 1995 after 40 years as a welder, furniture refinisher, meat cutter, and still yet, antique dealer and seller and buyer, on eBay since 1998.

_____

John Domansky, Jr. is a frequent commenter on this blog. He's hoping to connect with people who knew him when he lived in Ambridge, or people who grew up in Ambridge when he did. If you fall into either category, please leave a comment below.

* At the time John Jr. was growing up, the Divine Redeemer School was located at 300 Merchant St., currently the location of Karnavas Vending Co.

** Zassick's farm and Firemen's Park were once on Big Sewickley Creek Road. The park was where the Economy Borough sewage plant and Hrinko Trucking are now located.

*** The new bridge was constructed in the late 1970s at the intersection of Ambridge Ave. and Main St. after the Ambridge end of Valley Rd. was cut off from the Harmony Township end because Big Sewickley Creek was causing the road to subside. Before then, both ends of Valley Rd. were connected.

Nationality Days 1983

The Ambridge Area Chamber of Commerce's three-day 50th Annual Nationality Days Festival started today, not on Merchant Street in Ambridge as it did for 49 years, but on Duss Avenue in Harmony Township. So this seems like a good time to take a look back at a past festival. Let's do 1983--since I have photos of that year's event.

A "new and improved" Nationality Days debuted Thursday, May 12 through Saturday May 14, 1983. Among the 18th annual festival's "new" features was a new name, "Nationality Arts Festival." In additional to the traditional ethnic food and entertainment, the event added musical, theatrical, and dance performances, plus artists and craftsmen who offered demonstrations as well as items for sale. The festival site on Merchant St. ran from 4th St. to 8th St.

Here's the entertainment lineup listed in the May 8, 1983, Beaver County Times:

Nationality Arts Festival's list of scheduled events
Beaver County Times, May 8, 1983

Racers in the Nationality Arts Festival Classic 10-K on Saturday ran from Northern Lights to Merchant Street via Route 65. Just enough of a distance to work off a few calories from the highlight of every year's festival--the food.

Despite the new arts and crafts, really, the event was, as usual, about the food.

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

The May 16 Beaver County Times reported on the sales of some of the ethnic food booths:

• Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox: 3,800 pounds of gyro and 1,200 pounds of shish kabob;
• Christ the King: 3,500 Italian meatballs on 1,750 sandwiches, 400 pounds of hot sausage, 400 pounds of shells, and 600 calzones;
• St. Vladimir Ukrainian Church: 44,500 pirogi, 3,744 stuffed cabbages, 100 nutrolls, and enough haluski to use 350 pounds of cabbage;
• Holy Trinity Catholic: 3,600 stuffed cabbages, 350 pounds of kolbassi, 1,400 apple strudel strips, 440 dozen donuts, and used 250 pounds of noodles for cabbage and noodles;
• Scottish White Heather band: 400 pounds of fish and a half ton of potatoes for fish and chips, plus 500 meat pies.

Not listed on the Times' events schedule was the women's body building contest featuring young women who obviously did not partake much at the food booths. Cultural diversity event? Art? Craft?

None of the women are identified in these photos from the Laughlin Memorial Library's Bowan Collection. Are you in the photo? Or do you perhaps recognize your mother? Or your grandmother?

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

Women's body building contest
18th Annual Nationality Arts Festival
Merchant Street
May 1983
Laughlin Memorial Library archives
used with permission

If you'd like to read about 1966's first Nationality Days Festival, I wrote about it on May 14 and May 15, 2014.