#215 SEPT 2018

Past to Present Machinery Association

Preserving Family Farm History and Tradition

On the cover: Charter members of the Past to Present Machinery Association: Ted Rake, first PPMA president, on his restored 1953 Farmall Super AV; his wife Pam; Boyd Wachob, first PPMA vice president; and Larry Shepler, beside an Oliver, his historic tractor with ties to the old Big Run Milling Company.

(Hometown Staff photo)

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By Gloria Kerr for Hometown magazine

eople living here in rural western Pennsylvania have inherited a legacy of traditions handed down through farm families and represented by their machinery, antique and new, housed in their barns, sheds, cellars, and attics. The mission of the Past and Present Machinery Association (PPMA) is to protect this treasured legacy by preserving, restoring, and sharing it with the public.

The PPMA meets on the second Monday of every month – except August. In farming regions, August is the month when county fairs, since the early nineteenth century, have traditionally celebrated farmers’ harvests, livestock, machinery, and the fruits of their labor in the family kitchen. PPMA members are at the heart of these local fairs, volunteering to park cars and do other necessary odd jobs.

They participate in tractor pulls and show off their machinery, which includes not just tractors but any past and present machinery, including sewing and knitting machines, an old buckwheat mill from Oliveburg, and even antique children’s toys.

Organized in 2001 by about a dozen enthusiastic people with farm family backgrounds, the PPMA is definitely old school. Having about fifty charter members in their first year, every PPMA meeting opens with members facing the American flag as the president leads them in a Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. They meet at the Paradise Community Center on the hill near the “twin churches” on Big Run Prescottville Road. Current officers are President Fred Reed, Vice President Josh Wazelle, Secretary Daniel McDonald, and Treasurer Skip Harriger. Each officer serves a two-year term with the vice president and secretary elected one year, and the president and treasurer elected the next so that at least two experienced officers are always in leadership positions.

To ensure a democratic spirit in the association’s decisions, an executive board of seven members advises the officers. Currently on the board are Andy Steffish, Dave Moore, Larry Shepler, Glenn Anthony, Roger Geist, Josh Wazelle, and Dan McDonald. Gwen Hollenbaugh currently sends out a bi-annual newsletter. Other women, including Carol Reed, Pam Rake, and Linda Blosh, have served as officers or executive board members.

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2 – Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215

PPMA members line up at the Punxsutawney Firemen's Parade on June 30, 2018: Young Kaleb McDonald of Reynoldsville on the flag bedecked Farmall; behind him to left is Dave Moore and to right is Tom Haag on his Farmall Cub, both from Reynoldsville. (submitted photo)

The Past to Present Machinery Association was formed in 2001 because its founding members wanted a more democratic and open organization than the ones to which they already belonged. Some of those were devoted to just one commercial brand, such as John Deere, Ford, Allis Chalmers, or some other particular company’s machines, while others had leaders who imposed their will on group activities rather than respecting the will of the members.

PPMA founders included Ted and Pam Rake, Dave Daugherty (deceased), Bill and

Carol Delarme, Kevin Miller, Bill Postlewaite, Bob Hanley, and Ed Yount. Ted Rake served as the first president, and the group held its first dozen meetings in Ted’s Hilltop Tire shop on Starr Road, Punxsutawney, bringing their own chairs so they had a place to sit.

However, as membership grew, they moved meetings to the Paradise Community Center and standardized the club name to the Past to Present Machinery to be more inclusive of members with old or new machine interests.

With membership dues set at ten dollars, - Continued on page 4

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Riker Yard, Punxsutawney. A number of the honorees at the September 2, 2018, Coal Memorial Tile unveiling worked out of Riker Yard in a variety of positions, including blacksmith, fireman, engineer, clerk, and yardmaster. These were the workers who kept the coal trains rolling from mines in the Punxsutawney area to markets across the country and the world. (photo courtesy of the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc.)

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Electric street cars began operating in Punxsutawney during the summer of 1892 under the auspices of the Punxsutawney Street Railroad Company. In 1903, the company merged with the Jefferson Traction Company and provided interurban transportation enabling residents of communities along the route access to resources and entertainment in Punxsutawney. One of the 2018 honorees added to the Coal Memorial worked for the Jefferson Traction Company. As automobiles became available, the demand for public transportation declined and by the late 1920s the cars were no longer operated in the area. (photo courtesy of the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc.)

Dedication of Coal Memorial Tiles Set for Sept. 2

By the Coal Memorial Committee for Hometown magazine he Coal Memorial Committee of the Punxsutawney Area Historical and Genealogical Society will host the 2018 Memorial Tile Dedication Ceremony at 6 p.m. on Sunday, September 2. The Punxsutawney Community Band will provide music, and the Coal Memorial Committee will supply entertainment and refreshments. The ceremony will take place at 404 West Mahoning Street, where the most recent tiles, honoring twenty-three workers in mining, railroading, and related industries will be added to the Memorial Walls.

The 2018 honorees represent the broad spectrum of Punxsutawney residents, including those who were new immigrants and first-generation Americans, as well as those whose families were among the early settlers in the area. Their coal-related occupations range from blacksmith to owner/operator.

Blacksmiths were necessary workers at the mines and on the railroads. Their skills were required to hone tools, repair equipment, and create solutions to mechanical problems. Blacksmiths H. Clyde Gould and Victor Jesensky are among the workers being honored with Coal Memorial tiles.

Gould, who was born in 1878 in Oliver Township, grew up working on his father’s farm. He, like many young men of his day, worked as a day laborer with a log jobber before becoming engaged in the coal in-

dustry. In 1906, he and his brother Karl were working as blacksmiths at Florence Mines in McCalmont Township. They sharpened tools for miners and maintained the mining equipment. In 1907, Gould moved to Ramsey, Knox Township, where he worked as the blacksmith at the new mine opening there. His next move was in 1909 to Frostburg, Perry Township, where he provided smithy services in support of the Rochester & Pittsburg Coal and Iron Company in connection with their Walston Mines. By 1930, he had relocated to Ringgold Township to work in the mines and where he later operated a private blacksmith shop.

Victor Jesensky, born in Austria-Hungary in 1886, began working as a blacksmith at the age of twelve. In 1910, he immigrated to the United States, where he worked in steel mills in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. He developed a respiratory problem while working at the steel mills and was advised to live somewhere where the air was fresh. His blacksmithing skills enabled him to secure a position as a mechanic with the B&O Railroad at Punxsutawney. Jesensky had attained the position of chief mechanic for the railroad when he retired at age seventy-two in 1975. He took up gardening in retirement but continued his blacksmithing as a hobby. The advice his doctor gave him proved to be beneficial, as Victor Jesensky lived to the age of ninety-seven.

Railroads made it possible for coal min-

ing to be profitable. All the railroads built to the Punxsutawney area were built as “coal roads” to carry coal to markets across the country and to ports for shipment overseas. The seven railroaders among this year’s honorees include those who operated the trains as well as those who managed the operations. These individuals worked when the Baltimore and Ohio was the primary railroad operating in the area. Included in this group of honorees are Robert C. Thompson and Charles Magolis, who

served as firemen on locomotives. Five of the honorees, members of the Curtis family, worked out of Riker Yard in Punxsutawney.

Fred C. Curtis spent his career with the railroad and served as yardmaster for his final twelve years. Jerome Curtis, more familiarly known as “Jake,” served forty-five years with the railroad in a variety of positions, including yardmaster. Thomas J. Curtis, Sr., served as the chief clerk, during his years at Riker. John R. Curtis served as an electrician-mechanic, and Thomas J.

- Continued on page 9

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Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215 – 3

Past to Present

Current Past to Present Machinery Association officers: Dan McDonald, secretary; Josh Wazelle, vice president; Fred Reed, president; Clinton “Skip” Harriger, treasurer. (submitted photo)

Continued from page 2

PPMA now has about 250 members, some from outside Pennsylvania. Anyone can join PPMA whether or not they have farm tractors or machinery. The group welcomes new members and especially families to join them for old-fashioned fun and fellowship at their numerous activities.

Farm machinery isn’t cheap and restoring antique machinery of any kind is expensive.

Most of the group’s machinery is stored at individual members’ homes and farms, where these self-taught, learned-by-experience machinists, welders, and mechanics do most of the work themselves, taking great pride in getting an old Farmall A with a crank start back on the road, or an old knitting machine working for a show.

From 2002 to 2011, as a PPMA fundraiser, Ted and Pam Rake hosted a popular corn maze on their farm from mid-August to the end of October; in mid-October it became a “haunted maze” that drew scores of Scout troops, college students, and families looking for a fun – and sometimes scary – experience in the outdoors. The corn mazes’ patterns of paths always had a theme, some of which in-

cluded a pirate ship, animals, riddles, two tractors pulling against each other, a train, a castle replete with a mechanical dragon, and the history of the local Eleanora coal mines.

Designing a maze with specified paths cut through a five- to seven-acre field of tall corn posed a challenge. Buying a professionally designed maze blueprint would cost thousands of dollars, but Ted Rake’s sister Shirley Sharp, an Air Force veteran with considerable business savvy, thought she could do the job – and she did for the ten years that PPMA hosted their popular corn maze fundraiser. About the design process, Sharp says, “It was more like working out a counted cross-stitch pattern….

I used a computerized cross stitch program to make designs for the following years, including a Coal Train, Tractors and one with a Native American Theme.” The Rakes hosted the last maze in 2011 because visitations fell off as other groups started sponsoring October haunted houses and because fewer young people were available or willing to help make the haunted maze scary and exciting for visitors.

PPMA is a very active group from April through November and particularly so during the summer. A “Tales of the Past Banquet” in March launches their season. Then comes real tractor play with Plow Day in April on the second or third Saturday. (See the photo of April

In a tractor pull at the Sykesville Youth and Ag Fair grounds, Ted Rake is operating the Junk Yard Dog, the sled PPMA members built themselves that can transfer a complex system of weights up to 65,000 pounds. Bill Harvey of DuBois is driving the tractor competing. (submitted photo)

2018 Plow Day poster.) Members ride their tractors, or haul them on truck trailers, to designated members’ fields in Henderson Township or in Hormtown near Reynoldsville, Pennsylvania. Tractors of all makes and models, old or new, American made or not, are welcome. So are people of all ages. The main goal is to perform a rite of spring – break the soil for spring planting – but also to celebrate farm life, encourage fellowship, have fun, and promote and preserve interest in past to present machinery and respect for farm family traditions. All PPMA events aim to bring together a like-minded community of people whether they are farmers or not. A lot of allAmerican pride fuels men, women, and children participating in Plow Day and other PPMA events, driving their Oliver, John Deere, White, Ford, Minneapolis Moline, International Harvester, Case International, Farmall, Allis Chalmers, or foreign brand of big and little tractors, antique, new, or cobbled together.

The group is not political or religious, but it is democratic with everyone being equal. Ted Rake warns though, “You’ve got to have a good sense of humor (to be a PPMA member) because there’s a lot of good natured ribbing and friendly competition.” Treasurer Skip Harriger adds, “If you can’t take the heat,

don’t join the club.” Most members are loyal to one brand of tractor or another. For example, Ted Rake is partial to red tractors – Farmall, International Harvester, Case International, McCormick – while fellow charter member Larry Shepler favors Oliver tractors that are always painted green. For the cover photograph of this story in which the two men are featured, Ted is wearing a shirt that reads, “Friends don’t let friends drive green tractors,” a clever parody of the wellknown admonition that “friends don’t let friends drive drunk.”

The PPMA’s biggest annual event takes place on Memorial Day weekend over a threeday period at the Sykesville Ag and Youth Fairgrounds. The weekend event grew out of an antique toy show with farm-themed toys sponsored by the Big Run Fire Company as a fundraiser at the Big Run War Memorial building. According to an article in a 2003 PPMA newsletter composed by Dave Daugherty, the idea for the club was born on a bus trip to Iowa as the founders were traveling to the national IH tractor show and contemplating forming their own IH tractor club: “A meeting was called to start a chapter and 29 people showed up at Hill Top Tire. … After some discussion, we asked everyone to stand - Continued on page 6

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By S. Thomas Curry of Hometown magazine he Grand Opening of the Mahoning Towers apartment building on a block of land between North Penn Street and North Front Street and East Mahoning Street and Torrence Street was the completion of three phases of urban re-

government agencies – the Punxsutawney Planning Commission, the Jefferson County Redevelopment Authority, and the U.S. Community Development Agency – became active to initiate and direct the projects.

In 1969, a significant event occurred when a meeting was held in the Punxsutawney Area High School auditorium, attended by more than 900 residents who voted to move forward with the plans for development. Projects began to move forward in the 1970s with construction of the Mahoning East Civic Center, the Keystone National Bank, and the Mahoning Towers.

While the first three blocks were under construction a vision for new redevelopment was presented for a block from Torrence Street north to the B&O railroad tracks, beA detail from the 1895 panoramic lithograph drawing of Punx- tween Front Street and North sutawney shows the area west to east between North Penn Penn Street. It was identified Street and Front Street and north from Torrence Street to the as the North Front Street railroad tracks. At that time Front Street was named Water Urban Renewal Project.

Street. This was the area designated for the Front Street redeIn the spring of 1976, the velopment in the 1980s. A copy from the T.M. Fowler drawing is available in the gift shop of the Punxsutawney historical society. Jefferson County Redevelop(image courtesy of the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Ge- ment Authority began acquirnealogical Society, Inc.) ing the residential properties and a service station along newal in downtown Punxsutawney when Front Street.

Early efforts included clearolder buildings blighted by age and poor ing the three acres of ground, relocating maintenance were demolished and new residents, and seeking potential developconstruction was initiated in a larger comers. In July 1977, the Jefferson County Reprehensive plan for the sites. development Authority received five Planning for renewal and future growth in proposals.

Among them were Quaker State the downtown was a dream by some local Gasoline, S&S Tire Service, the Great Atcommunity leaders fifty-five years ago. In the 1960s, borough, county, and federal - Continued on page 16

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Past to Present Continued from page 4

up and tell what equipment they had at home.

Well, out of those 29 people, 26 had something with IH [International Harvester] on it. … We knew that the Big Run Firemen had lost interest in the motorized equipment show [we had been doing with them]. It was agreed that we maybe should keep a show at the Sykesville fair grounds. With this the International Harvester Collectors chapter was put on the back burner and PPMA was organized with 53 charter members.”

The first officers, Ted Rake, Boyd Wachob, and Dave Daugherty, contacted Monsigneur Mingot at Christ the King Manor in DuBois, who started the Sykesville Ag and Youth Fair after disassociating himself from the DuBois Gateway Fair, about permission to use the fair

Pam Rake shows off the frilly gingham seat cover she made for the Rakes’ restored 1953 Farmall Super AV. She aimed to make a statement that tractors are not just a “guy thing.” In fact, among PPMA members, tractors and PPMA activities are always family affairs. (submitted photo)

grounds. The PPMA volunteered to park cars in 2002 during the August Sykesville fair week in exchange for using the grounds during Memorial Day weekend for their own equipment show. Father Mingot agreed and

This image of a silver, a green, a yellow, and a red tractor lined up by a cornfield is a PPMA favorite. Imprinted on a recent one of their annual commemorative mugs, it reflects White, Oliver, Minneapolis Moline, and Cockshutt tractor history. It also symbolizes members' loyalty to various company brands with their signature colors of paint. (submitted photo)

rewarded their efforts with a $1,000 check, asking them to perform the same service the following year. That mutually beneficial relationship continues at the site that easily accommodates tractor pulls, large equipment displays, and tractor games that were not feasible at the former Big Run site.

The Memorial Day weekend event, totally free to the public, features all kinds of old and new tractors on display with seventy registered in 2017; a consignment auction of members’ donated machines, parts, tires, engines, and more; an adult tractor pull competition; a children’s pedal tractor pull for both boys and girls ages three to ten who strain to pedal-pull fifty pounds; lawn tractor pulls; and tractor games. The winner of a toy pedal tractor is drawn from a jar that holds every child puller’s name. Larry Shepler donated the tractor this past May, and, of course, it was a green one.

Tractor pulling is a big draw for PPMA members at the three-day event. It is known as “the world’s heaviest motorsport.” The goal of tractor pulling is to determine the most powerful machine and the best driver. Different from every other motorsport in the world, the event is not about speed but about the distance pulled. Bill Postlewaite, a charter PPMA member, treasures his deceptively humblelooking, fifty-year-old green with yellow John Deere A & B tractor that he and brother-in-law

Bob Hanley, farmer and retired truck driver, rebuilt. With both Bob’s and Bill’s engine and gear savvy, the old-timer is still a monster winner at tractor pulls even though the two, Bob in his eighties and Bill in his seventies, now need younger guys to help them maneuver the hundred-pound suitcase weights for various tractor pull classes. At this year’s Sykesville Ag and Youth Fair, on August 5, when Bob Hanley, driving Bill’s John Deere, won a pull in his weight class by a dozen feet, driving the same tractor a younger driver, his nephew Paul Hanley, just competed driving, track flagman John Reed congratulated him warmly for he “beat the kid!” There is a lot of pride riding on those competitions and much respect and affection for the older guys who are so wise with engine knowledge and experience.

The fun for all on Memorial Day weekend includes tractor games dreamed up by imaginative tractor lovers. In one game, the tractor driver, while blindfolded, must drive his tractor in a straight line between two rows of barrels. Another requires drivers to maneuver between two barrels that are moved closer and closer to each other without hitting them – doing a kind of limbo dance. Then there’s the “how slow can you go” race without stalling the tractor, the egg race requiring driver teams to hold a raw egg on a spoon and try to pass it safely to one another, the blindfold race in

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which a tractor driver is rope “harnessed” while the guy or girl on the seat behind him or her guides the driver like a horse, a mail delivery game, and a balance-the-tractor game.

This past May PPMA even invited a tractor square dance team that, using a manure spreader for the caller’s stand and eight tractors, did maneuvers that are the equivalent of tractor drivers doing synchronized swimming, although the tractor square dance is not likely ever to become an Olympic event.

Summer parades in local towns and counties provide great opportunities for PPMA members to show off their antique, restored, and much-loved tractors to the public. If a parade venue is close by, members can drive their tractors to the event. Bill Postlewaite used to drive his John Deere from his family farm on Snyder Hill Road by Walmart to Punxsutawney parades on Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, or the Home for Holidays parade in November. The back wall of the Paradise Community Center where PPMA meets monthly is covered with plaques its parade entries have garnered, along with certificates recording numerous monetary prizes that have fed its treasury. The group also has some loyal sponsors including farm equipment dealers, banks, and a veterinarian. President Fred Reed is very effective at recruiting them.

- Continued on page 8

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Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215 – 7

Past to Present

Continued from page 6 Transportation to venues any distance from home, including the Clarion Autumn Leaf Festival, Brookville’s Jefferson County Fair, Sykesville Ag and Youth Fair, and parades in Corsica, Dayton, Brockway, Clearfield, and Reynoldsville, require owners to have trucks big enough to haul their tractors on trailers to the site. Treasurer Skip Harriger has been the parade chairman for years.

PPMA’s “Ride-your-tractor-to-church” event also took place on August 5, the day the Sykesville Ag and Youth Fair opened. In 2017, thirty-eight tractors showed up. Members from all over the area drove or trucked their tractors this month to Reynoldsville and parked in the Methodist Church lot on Jackson Street for “the blessing of the tractors” on “Rural Life Sunday.” All were invited to attend the regular church service afterwards, which has also been hosted by the Soldier Community Church. Secretary Dan McDonald posted on PPMA’s Facebook page about the event: “Rural life Sunday. Great sermon followed by blessing of the tractors and a picnic style lunch. Thank you to the church and those who attended!! What a great day for a tractor ride.”

Another very popular, family-oriented event is the Fall Tractor Ride, scheduled this year for Sunday, September 16, with participants meeting at the Hormtown Community Center, 2477 Hormtown Road, Reynoldsville, where they will line up for a leisurely twentymile ride through the countryside that culminates with a picnic dinner back at the community center. Bi-annually, PPMA moves the ride to the Paradise Community Center so members in that area have an easier time getting their tractors to the site. In addition to individual tractor riders, PPMA always has a couple of big hay wagons outfitted for members to jump on and ride along. Melvin Wachob takes videos of the ride that reflect a real piece of fading Americana as red, white, green, yellow, and orange tractors, big and lit-

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tle, move by his lens, some waving American flags, some carrying couples, some pulling wagons full of families, but all smiling with the simple joy of driving in the open air on back country roads.

The PPMA ranks are filled with men, women, and youngsters with great stories they love to tell about the tractors or pieces of equipment each found, restored lovingly, and now treasures. It’s a forward-thinking group that is encouraging younger members to step into leadership roles and keep the organization vital and fun. Incoming officers Vice President Josh Wazelle and Secretary Dan McDonald are young fathers with children who will make up the next generation of PPMA-ers. Wazelle, a skilled welder employed by Dominion Gas Co., is repairing the group’s all-important scale necessary to weigh tractors accurately for fair competition – no small job. But a couple of the charter members deserve special note for the signature way they represent PPMA’s mission and members. One is Larry Shepler.

Larry Shepler lives on Rock Dump Road in Henderson Township on his parents’ farm, but he spends much of his time on his now deceased grandparents’ heritage 500-acre dairy farm on Paradise Road where he’s worked since he graduated from Punxsutawney High School in 1979. A bachelor and loving it, Larry is a veritable stand-up comedian with his ability to imitate the voice and body language of virtually every resident in Henderson Township involved in the community. His daily schedule, 365 days a year, is dictated by his farm’s “chocolate” brown milking cows, once a hundred but only about fifty now, that must be milked twice a day, once at 5:30 a.m. and again at 5:30 p.m. At true tractor collector, he owns at least thirty, most of them green Olivers or Whites, and he’s welcomed many others’ tractors to his Harvestore Hill Farm on the April Plow Days.

Shepler jokes, seriously, that he has enough functional tractors that he doesn’t have to unhook a piece of equipment from one to start a new task with another. His farm equipment attachments include a brush hog, a tedder or

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Where does he keep them all? On the farm and scattered in some of the neighbors’ buildings, he replies. This fall marks the end of the Shepler dairy farm as Larry and his partner, cousin Charlie Shepler, are calling it quits and selling the cows.

“It’s fun but it’s so sad what’s happening to farmers,” he says. New legislation “that lacks common sense,” overly stringent “wellness inspectors,” and the low price of milk, he says, are killing farmers.

Larry’s grandfather, uncle, and father – Homer (deceased), Doyle, and Ray, respectively – took jobs as school bus drivers for Sykesville, then R e y n o l d s v i l l e - This 2018 poster announcing the annual April Plow Days provides a Sykesville, School wealth of information about that Past to Present Machinery Association District to supple- event and reflects its welcoming attitude to all. (submitted photo) ment their farm income. When PPMA organUpon starting, all the weights are over the ized in 2001, prime mover Ted Rake needed sled’s rear axles to give an effective weight of some kind of heavy duty metal frame to build the sled plus zero. As the tractor travels the their “sled” for tractor pulling, a necessary course, the weights are pushed ahead of the piece of very unusual equipment. sled’s axles, pushing the front of the sled into The sled is known as a weight transfer sled. the ground, synthetically creating a gain in This means that as it is pulled down the track, weight until the tractor is no longer able to the weight is transferred (linked with gears to overcome the force of friction. Sounds like a the sled’s wheels) from over the rear axles and piece of equipment that must be ordered from towards the front of the sled. A complex syssome big company that makes heavy-duty tem of weights transfers up to 65,000 pounds.

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- Continued on page 10

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Continued from page 3 “Tom” Curtis, Jr., started his career as an engineer at Riker and continued with the Baltimore and Ohio when it discontinued service in Punxsutawney. His most recent position was Senior Road Foreman of Engines, from which he is now retired.

Coal miners, the largest group of laborers during Punxsutawney’s coal era, are represented by nine honorees whose tiles will be added to the Coal Memorial: Gerard James, William Henry James, John Havrilla, Joseph Feliskey, John Dimeco Mack, John Zemlin, Sr., Ralph W. Hodgson, Paul Burkett, and Walter Burkett. The James family immigrated, from Aberfan, Wales, in 1906 and moved to Canoe Township, Indiana County, about 1912. The sons, William Henry and Gerard, Jr., worked as miners at the Rossiter Mines. John Havrilla, Sr., a first-generation American whose parents came from Austria, was born in 1892 at Adrian, Delancey Post Office, where his father worked as a teamster and later a miner.

As a young man, Havrilla worked for the Rochester and Pittsburg Coal and Iron Company at Adrian Mines. He took advantage of educational opportunities, which lead to his advancement from miner to foreman and later to the position of superintendent. In the 1930s, Havrilla transferred to the company’s Ernest Mine in Indiana County where he continued to work until his retirement.

Joseph Feliskey, also a first-generation American, was born at Anita in 1912, where his father was a motorman in the mines. His parents had come from Slovakia in 1911. When Joseph came of age and finished the required eight grades of schooling, he also went to work at Adrian Mines as a motorman. In 1952, while recovering from a mining accident, Joseph died, leaving a wife and three small daughters. Ralph W. Hodgson came from St. Benedicts in Cambria County and worked as a motorman at Rossiter Mines. John DiMeco Mack, arrived in America from Italy about 1905 and worked at the Rossiter Mines, before becoming a farmer. John Zemlin, Sr., another first-generation American whose parents came from Poland, settled first at Horatio then moved to Rossiter.

Zemlin went to work in the mines as a young man and retired after forty-two years of service. Brothers, and descendants of early settlers, Paul Burkett of Burkett Hollow and Walter Burkett of Timblin, pursued coal mining as their occupation. They worked as coal cleaners at the Doverspike’s Sunnyside Cleaning Plant near Dora, Pennsylvania.

Mining is an expensive industry. Those who undertake the development and operation of a mine make huge investments in the operation. Four mine owners/operators are among those being honored: James R. Doverspike, a descendant of early settlers, was an owner and partner in the Doverspike Brothers Mining Company. James R. Doverspike, after having served in the U.S. Navy, returned home and joined his father, Russell Doverspike, as a miner. On September 9, 1950, James and his father were at work in the Lee mine operated by Allegheny River Mining Company near Widnoon in Armstrong County when the roof caved in killing Russell. James and his brother Carl later formed the Doverspike Brothers Coal Company, which is profiled in the book, The Great American Dream: The life of James Russell Doverspike, by

Janet R. Sady.

The Moore brothers, John Edward, Max L, and Glenn E., whose grandfather, Edward Moore, had worked in coal mines, began their mining careers by operating equipment at the mines their father, Everett Moore, owned and operated. Upon Everett’s retirement, his sons took over the leadership and operation of the business. As owner/operators of an open pit mining operation, these men worked at whatever was needed – maintaining the office, operating and repairing heavy equipment, running the tipple, ensuring the proper testing of water and coal, handling the legal requirements, and ensuring mine safety. These owners/operators created jobs for many others in the Punxsutawney area.

Coal mining stimulated the development of other services in the community. One service was an efficient inter-urban trans-

portation system, the Jefferson Traction Company, which linked communities throughout the area. The electric street cars they operated made it possible for residents of the mining communities and rural areas to shop, attend school, and enjoy other activities in Punxsutawney as well as at other places along the line. C.M. (Cyril Miller) Stoops, one of the men who operated an electric street car, will be honored with a tile on the Coal Memorial.

The Coal Memorial Committee invites the public to join the celebration on September 2 at 6 p.m. or to stop by the Coal Memorial at 404 West Mahoning Street any day from dawn to dusk to view the tiles.

This article was prepared by the Coal Memorial Committee of the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc. Information used in the preparation of this article is available at the Punx-

sutawney Memorial Library, the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, the U.S. Census online, and the Library of Congress. Comments on this article may be directed to PAHGS, P.O. Box 286, Punxsutawney, PA 15767. Individuals who desire to honor a coal or coal-related industry worker in 2019 are encouraged to purchase their tile by June 30, 2019. Forms for purchasing a Coal Memorial tile to honor any person who worked in any aspect of the coal industry, including railroads may be found online at www.punxsyhistory.org or may be picked up at the Lattimer House, 400 West Mahoning Street, Punxsutawney. Forms may also be requested by sending an email to punxsyhistory@outlook.com or by calling (814) 938-2555.

•••

Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215 – 9

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10 – Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215

Past to Present

chine is really a woman’s toy first. The corn mazes the couple sponsored from 2001-2011 wouldn’t have been possible without Pam’s Continued from page 8 physical and emotional strength, energy, and creativity. Working with sister-in-law Shirley construction gear, right? But PPMA made its Sharp, Pam and she created many of the disown, or more accurately, Ted Rake built it. Acplays and surprises that greeted maze-goers – cording to Bill Postlewaite, “Just about every riddles, history lessons, a dragon, pirate and member of the club had his hands on the projtrain paraphernalia, and Native American arect,” taking pictures of other sleds and their tifacts.

Pam and Ted Rake’s most treasured tractor they worked on together is a beautifully restored 1953 Farmall Super AV. Acquiring the tractor in 1994 in rough condition, the Rakes had to address an engine that continuously overheated, a front axle twisted so badly that the right front wheel was held up and back like a wounded animal nursing a hurt paw, and a steering shaft that had been cut in two with a universal joint A Plow Day at the Fred Reed farm: Dean Reed on a yellow Moline, installed to join the halves John Wingert and wife on a White Iseki, John Reed on his blue Ford, poorly. Rusty, dirty, and and Zach Garman on an orange Allis-Chalmers. (submitted photo) not well cared for, the Farmall was a worthy challenge to Ted’s parts, contributing insight, and just talking welding skills and patience. He cut a five-galthings over, for talking about machines, how lon bucket filled with powdered lime to cradle they work, and how to build them is at the the cooling axle he’d heated to straighten it, heart of the PPMA mission. carefully using chains and winches to reverse Using an old, school bus frame Larry’s the ugly front axle twist. A novice mechanic grandfather junked on the Shepler farm and a when she started working on the Farmall with metal box that looks like an old coal mine Ted, Pam says she was laying out the smaller buggy, Ted Rake and the PPMA team figured tractor parts in a row in the order she and Ted out all the complex gear work, timing, and removed them for repair, so they’d be able to mechanics to build “the junk yard dog” sled re-assemble them. When Ted, amused, saw that PPMA has used for the past eleven years what she was doing, he gathered and dumped to conduct its tractor pulls. It’s both a monster the parts randomly into a bucket. Pam then reand a work of art. Storing it at his Hill Top Tire alized she was working with a master meshop, Ted and his buddy and first PPMA vice chanic who was simply born with exceptional president Boyd Wachob make sure the “dog” mechanical aptitude that is a combination of gets where it needs to be for the next pull. experience and innate ability. Working toBut, as everyone knows, behind every sucgether with respect for one another’s talents, cessful man, there is a woman, and Ted Rake’s the Pam and Ted Rake family represent the is his wife, Pam. Both in their second marriage spirit of the Past to Present Machinery Assowith children and stepchildren in the mix, ciation and its members. theirs is a match made in heaven, and they are To join PPPMA, send name/s and address to model parents with the patience of Job. In the PPMA, P.O. Box 123, Sykesville, PA 15865. past eighteen months, as they approach what Membership dues are $10 for those 14 years many consider the retirement years, they’ve and older, $5 for 13 years and younger. Membecome foster parents of two teenaged boys. bers need not be a tractor owner to join Pam Rake has proudly driven school buses PPMA. According to its newsletter, “the purand coached girls’ softball, she’s a master pose of the organization shall be to educate the seamstress, she’s a full-time worker at Fayette members on the collection, restoration, and the Resources and a full-time mom, and she’s history of equipment from the past to the presgame to try almost anything. Ted has taught ent.” Check out Past to Present Machinery on her to be a mechanic and to drive all the farm Facebook. equipment – which she does well. Seeing her ••• run the skid steer makes one think that ma-

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Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215 – 15

Urban renewal and redevelopment projects in Punxsutawney included the demolition of property between North Penn Street and North Front Street. The Front Street Redevelopment led to the construction of the Groundhog Plaza in 1983. (photos by S. Thomas Curry)

Front Street Continued from page 5

lantic & Pacific Tea Company (better known as A&P), Spirit Publishing Company, and the Punxsutawney Hardware.

Quaker State had plans for a new service station to replace the facility operated on the northeast corner of the block by Gene Burkett as Gene’s Quaker State Service. S&S Tire of Punxsutawney wanted to develop a portion of the ground into a tire center.

Punxsutawney Hardware Co. had plans for a Home Improvement Center on part of the three acres. The A&P grocery chain wanted a portion of the land to relocate its store on North Findley Street. The Spirit Publishing Company requested a portion to build a new facility for its newspaper and printing operation. McDonald’s also expressed interest in land for a Front Street development.

But the Front Street project was delayed for nearly seven years. A major setback to moving forward with the project was a civil law suit brought against the county redevelopment authority in late June of 1977 by one of the residents on North Front Street.

The property owners charged that the authority was acting illegally in filing condemnation proceedings for acquiring the property.

A hearing was set before the Jefferson County Court to resolve the claim. The couple claimed, “that Borough Council violated the U.S. Constitution in not conforming to the ‘One Man-One Vote Reapportionment Act.’” Thus, it was claimed, any action by borough council for eminent domain in the redevelopment in the borough was illegal.

A headline in the July 11, 1977, edition of the Punxsutawney Spirit boldly announced, “Suit Puts Front Street ‘On Hold.’”

CASH

Under the prodding of the U.S. government, it was in 1972 that the one-man, onevote form of government for small municipalities began throughout the United States. The Punxsutawney property owners in their law suit claimed that borough council did not reorganize itself after the 1970 census from the twelve-member council body that had been used for decades, with two council members elected from each of the six wards. The lawsuit forced the borough council members to resign en masse in July 1977.

An interim seven-member council was appointed until the general election in November when a seven-member council was elected at-large, rather than by the ward system. In the historic reorganization meeting of Punxsutawney’s Borough Council in January 1978, four members were chosen to serve four-year terms and three to two-year terms to provide continuity in borough government for the future.

Many hearings and meetings and legal hassles to resolve the lawsuit created a delay of months.

Another cause for delay in the Front Street project was the funding difficulties experienced by the selected developer. After many applications for approval from U.S. Urban Development Action Grant funds, the first developer was unable to come up with the capital for the project.

Through the delay, the cleared land began to resemble a small woodland. The barren land became a near jungle of briers and small trees. In the middle of it all, nearly covered by weeds, was a large red, white, and blue sign announcing the federal government’s involvement in Punxsutawney’s redevelopment. Borough, school district, and county budgets lost tax revenue. The early proposals for projects on the vacant land were withdrawn by the interested firms.

Because of the delays caused by the lawsuit and difficulty in funding, the first developer was replaced by Developac from DuBois, the firm responsible for construction of the Mahoning Towers in 1976 after

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numerous delays because of funding issues with the federal Housing and Urban Development Department (HUD).

In August 1982, Developac, with its partner Hallstrom Construction Company of DuBois, took over the land that faced Front Street. Funds for the continuation of the project were provided in a financial package put together by five banks. Those participating were Union National Bank of Pittsburgh, First National Bank of Reynoldsville, The Savings & Trust Co. (S&T) of Indiana, National Bank of the Commonwealth, and Keystone National Bank (KNB) of Punxsutawney.

To add to the project, property on the east side of North Penn Street, mostly residential, was acquired. The expansion created a parcel of land large enough for a proposed $3 million plaza to be called the Groundhog Plaza.

A strip of railroad right of way was purchased in early 1983, to complete the land package for the development that included the construction of a Burger King restaurant in September 1982. Burger King, entered from Front Street near the railroad property, was the first national company to open a fast food restaurant in Punxsutawney. It opened its doors for business on December 1, 1982.

The purchase of the strip of railroad property meant the closure of Kunselman Avenue that ran parallel to the railroad tracks for many years. The short street of a few houses ran west from North Front Street.

City directories for the years of the early 1900s indicate that the residents were families of BR&P Railroad workers. A 1917 directory lists occupations of fireman, flagman, and brakeman among them.

Kunselman Avenue was named for S.R. Kunselman who owned property on Front Street. At one time in Punxsutawney history the street was called Water Street. In the late 1890s, it was renamed Front Street. A news item in the Punxsutawney Spirit in June 1899 noted, “S.R. Kunselman is having another house built on his Front street prop-

- Continued on page 20

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Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215 – 17

Coal Memorial Complemented by Satellite Display in Lattimer House

E

By Marty Armstrong for Hometown magazine arly in September, Sunday the 2nd to be precise, the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc., will recognize additions to the Punxsutawney Area Coal Memorial wall at 404 West Mahoning Street. The pre-Labor Day timing for this event emphasizes the work

A section of a surveyor’s map of the community of Florence shows streets, home lots, and resident names. Paul Gileot donated that map to the historical society. (photo courtesy of the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc.) This detail of the breast auger shows its helical tip. This tool, five and one-half feet long, is somewhat like a very long drill bit with the helical tip at the operative end rotated so that a hole is created deep into the coal face. Into the hole, dynamite was placed and detonated, causing a section of coal to crumble so that it could be removed from the mine. At the other end of the auger, a hand crank allowed the miner to continuously drill forward. The butt end of the auger was braced against a metal strap positioned around the front of the miner’s chest. (photo courtesy of the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc.)

done by those who developed the mines or worked in the mines and in related industries such as the rail industry, without which transporting local coal to market would have been impractical. The event, which is open to all current and past tile purchasers, others connected to the “coal boom” in any way, public officials, and members of the community, begins at 6 p.m. with musical selections from the Punxsutawney Commu-

nity Band.

At the Coal Memorial site, several pieces of mining equipment are displayed, and the Society has long had a complete and informative display of mining equipment and other artifacts in the basement of the Bennis House at 401 West Mahoning. A satellite display in the Reschini Room of the Lattimer House at 400 West Mahoning includes selected artifacts, including three items recently donated or shown for display.

The first is a five-and-a-half-foot auger used to drill holes into the face so that dynamite could be placed to explode and break the coal into manageable pieces for removal from the mine. This is a new item and, although there are several others displayed across the street, this particular one was in the possession of a granddaughter of former mine superintendent, John Haverilla.

It had occupied pride of place over her fire- Continued on page 22

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18 – Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215

WWI Media Messages

By Marty Armstrong for Hometown magazine

This 1918 billboard advertisement for Liberty Bonds was seen in Punxsutawney and throughout the United States, persuading citizens to contribute to the financial needs of the war as a way to achieve victory and make the dearest wish of soldiers for victory come true. (image courtesy of the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc.)

To review facts pertinent to those from Punxsutawney who served during World War I, one finds a wide variety of national publications available to all, often in the years prior to U.S. involvement, local publications reporting on world wide events, local servicepersons’ fate, encouraging messages as to how those at home can help in the war effort, and finally, post-war information about memorials and the like.

Some writings used humor to lighten the subject. One example is the photograph of the goat in the panoramic photograph of the first draft of men from the southern portion of Jefferson County, first represented in Hometown No. 196.

Hometown No. 205 notes that the goat alluded to popular songs of the times asserting that American forces would annoy the German Kaiser by getting under his skin (“We’ll Get the Kaiser’s Goat”).

Then there was an August 1918 headline upon the sending of additional men into service (“District Draftees Leave For South Take Kaiser Trimming Course”).

Getting the home folks involved was highlighted in Hometown No. 208 when high school publications reported on various fundraising activities. The clipping file at the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society contains several newspaper articles in 1918 describing the need to collect many, many tons (500 tons daily) of fruit pits and nut shells to be used by the military in the making of carbon for gas masks. It seems that coconut shells produced the best carbon but that they were in short supply. People were encouraged to collect these materials until, as announced to the public, November 15, 1918, “No More Fruit Pits Wanted by U.S. Army” due to the November 11, 1918, Armistice.

Getting financial support of the population often took the form of heart-wrenching reminders of war’s sacrifices. In March 1918, a Liberty Bond billboard advertisement urged everyone to “Make His (the soldier’s) Dreams Come True.” In April 1919, Punxsutawney’s “Roll of Honor” named seven combatants who had lost their lives “over there,” pictured one (Max M. Caldwell), and urged townspeople: “WE CAN KEEP FAITH. We can finish the job for which they paid their lives.” Those seven were John J. Fisher, Max Caldwell, Peter Cummings, Eugene Brennen, J. Edward Gordon, Wayne Lockwood, and Eugene Davis.

John J. Fisher was profiled in Hometown No. 200; the Punxsutawney Post of the American Legion is named in his honor. Eugene Brennan was profiled in No. 206 along with Stanley Problyss, another war casualty; the first VFW Post in Punxsutawney was named for them.

Max Caldwell (1892-1918) was the son of Mr. Pearl Caldwell, a well-known local stone mason. Always interested in physical training, Caldwell underwent a course of instruction and ultimately was director of the Central Y.M.C.A. in Punxsutawney, leaving with a draft contingent in April 1918 and going overseas in August. His captain, in writing to Caldwell’s grandmother, Mrs. James Neal of Penn Street, reported his instant death in action from German machine gun fire during battle on October 6, 1918. He is buried at Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery, Lorraine, France.

Peter Cummings (1887-1918) was the son of Mrs. Jane Cummings of Perry Street. With a height of six feet, three inches, he was affectionately known to his many friends as “Big Pete.” He had enlisted early in 1918 and went overseas with Company F, 19th Infantry, 80th Division. He was killed by bayonet during the battle in the Argonne Forest on October 4 while carrying the colors. His body was returned October 1921, along with that of Norman Segar (profiled in Hometown No. 203 and one for whom the Segar-Baun Rossiter American Legion Post is named). He was buried at Calvary Cemetery, attended by members of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The 1921 clipping states that Cummings was the only S.S.C.D. WWI casualty.

J. Edward Gordon (1895-1918) was the son of Mrs. Mary Gordon of Punxsutawney’s South Side. A one-time employee of the B.R.&P. RR. and a member

- Continued on page 22

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By the staff of Hometown magazine rom the staff of Hometown magazine and the Community Calendar at Punxsutawney.com, here is a list of events coming up in our area: n The Punxsy Memorial Library is registering children for the free Fall Literacy Programs, running from Sept. 17-Nov. 12.

Call or visit the library for more information. n The Punxsy Kiwanis Club is holding the Annual PA Kiwanis Foundation Rose Sale. Orders for roses will be taken until Sept. 23. For information, email sschrecengost@jccap.org. n Aug. 29: Weeding Wednesday, 6 to 7 p.m., meet at Pantall. Help the Garden Club beautify the downtown area. n Sept. 1: Hunter-Trapper Education Class, 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Oliver Township Fire Hall. To register or for more information, visit the PA Game Commission website at www.pgc.state.pa.us. n Sept. 1 & 2: Hazen Flea Market open, at Warsaw Township Fire Co. grounds. n Sept. 2: Coal Memorial Tile Dedication, at Punxsy Area Historical & Genealogical Society, 404 W. Mahoning St. Music, food, and history of the coal boom’s impact on local medical care. RSVP 9382555. Please bring a lawn chair. n Sept. 4: First Tuesday Community Meal, 5 p.m., at Punxsy Presbyterian Church. Free & open to the public. n Sept. 8, Wojack Events, at Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Bennis House at 401 W. Mahoning open. Native American exhibit, information, and activities. 11 a.m.

Lattimer House presentation on identification and evaluation of potential archaeological sites. 400 W. Mahoning. n Sept. 8 & 9: Wojack Weekend, activities begin at 10 a.m. in Barclay Square. n Sept. 8 & 9: Free Clothing Days at Grange’s Helping Hands, at Grange Church of God. Friday, noon to 4 p.m., & Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon. n Sept. 8: Boy Scout Weather Merit Badge Program, 9 a.m. to noon, at Weather Discovery Center. Pre-register by Sept. 3 at info@weatherdiscovery.org or call 938-1000. $10 per person. n Sept. 8: 120th Annual Groundhog Picnic & Phil Phest, 1 to 9 p.m., at Gobbler’s Knob. Visit www.groundhog.org for ticket & event information. n Sept. 8: Make a Native American rattle at the Weather Discovery Center, free with admission. $6 per person, includes all exhibits and features in the theater. n Sept. 8: The Punxsy Area Historical & Genealogical Society will host a program by Hannah Harvey, an archaeologist with the PA Historic Preservation Office. The Native American exhibits at the Bennis House will be open from 1 to 4 p.m. n Sept. 9: Punxsy Airport Awareness Day, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., at Punxsy Airport.

Visit www.punxsutawneyairport.com for more information. Rain date: Sept. 16. n Sept. 9: Clearfield-Jefferson 9th Annual Walk for Suicide Prevention &

Awareness, 1 to 4 p.m., at City Park, DuBois. n Sept. 10: First Day of School, Punxsy Area School District. Watch for children & buses. n Sept. 10: Deadline to register for the Punxsy Area Historical & Genealogical Society 2018 banquet. Contact the society for reservation form & costs. n Sept. 10: Cookport Fair. n Sept. 11: Patriot Day. n Sept. 11: Prayer Walk, 3:30 to 4:30

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p.m., at Punxsy Area Middle School, sponsored by Child Evangelism Fellowship. n Sept. 14: Community Dinner, 5 p.m., at First United Methodist Church. Free & open to the public. n Sept. 15: “Blingo” event at the Punxsy Eagles. This is a bingo fundraiser for the Weather Discovery Center featuring designer purses, jewelry & cash prizes. For tickets & information, call 938-1000. n Sept. 15, Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society Annual Dinner, 6 p.m. at Mahoning Valley VFW. Announcement of historic commendation award. Program on early settler Charles Gaskill. Stuffed chicken or stuffed pork chop. $25. Reservations 938-2555. n Sept. 15 & 16: Apple Festival, various locations in Smicksburg. n Sept. 16: SFC Scott R. Smith Memo-

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20 – Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215

Pictures above contrast the North Penn Street neighborhood before and after the construction of the Groundhog Plaza. Above is housing on the east side of North Penn Street in November 1982, looking north from Torrence Street toward the railroad tracks. The view in 2018 is the rear of the Groundhog Plaza. (photos by S. Thomas Curry)

Front Street Continued from page 16

erty. This makes the third house Mr. Kunselman has contracted for this summer. The other two are about finished.” His brief obituary in March 1900 announced his death “at his residence on Front street. He had formerly been engaged in the grocery business….”

At the same time of the Burger King, the announcement was made to patient, persevering Punxsutawney residents that “Groundhog Plaza Gets Go-Ahead.” With the signal to move forward with the Groundhog Plaza project, as it began to be called, ten properties on North Penn Street were purchased, the residents relocated, and houses demolished. Site preparation of the expanded lot began.

In the plan for the project, the shopping plaza included a Shop ’n Save grocery store and a Rite Aid Pharmacy to be anchor stores on the south end that began on Torrence Street and would feature several smaller stores.

Construction for the Groundhog Plaza began in early 1983. Progress was made, with seventy percent of the store space leased by April. Pizza Hut was added to the plan as a free-standing restaurant on the north end of the angled building complex.

In addition to the anchor store of Shop ’n Save, spaces for the Rite Aid drugstore, Rachel’s Hallmark store, and Holiday Hair Fashions were leased.

A Gardner’s candy store, Visions of Video store, Verna’s In Place, a women’s clothing store, Dollar General, and Radio Shack were added. One by one, as the smaller stores were completed, such as the Hallmark store and Dollar General, they opened for business.

The official grand opening for the Groundhog Plaza was November 10, 1983, with the unveiling of the new, modern grocery store that was expected to be a Shop ’n Save;

however, the new store was unveiled as a new County Market store. In the ceremony, the reason for the change was explained.

Both Shop ’n Save stores and County Market stores operate under Super Valu Stores, Inc., in Minnesota. With Shop ’n Save stores in the East, Super Valu bought out a chain of food stores in the Midwest and converted them to stores named County Market.

The decision to change the Punxsutawney store to a County Market store was made six weeks before the grand opening. “This is a full-blown supermarket. This is a complete variety store,” read the explanation to anxious shoppers. In the spacious building, merchandise was stacked high upon racks in various aisles instead of in back rooms.

Products were purchased in bulk to offer bargains in prices. A new feature was electronic scanners at the checkouts to automatically record prices. “Customers at the store have to bag their own groceries. Bags are free, and self-bagging allows customers to pack food the way they want it packed,” explained Don Fezell of the DuBois corporation operating the Punxsutawney store.

Other Shop ’n Save stores of Fezell’s corporation were changed to County Markets.

Punxsutawney’s store was the first. With that in history, years later the County Market in Punxsutawney in the Groundhog Plaza became a Shop ’n Save.

The development of the Front Street area with the Groundhog Plaza was a slow process because of delays and hard work by a team of local leaders, government agencies, and financial support.

In anticipation of the new business activity at the Groundhog Plaza and the increased traffic on Front Street, a plan for a new East End Bridge was initiated and completed.

The story about that bridge will be another story to share. So, too, the development of the east side of North Front Street.

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22 – Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215

place mantel but now has graciously been donated to the Society. Haverilla’s grandchildren have taken the occasion to memorialize him with a tile at the wall this year.

The accompanying photograph shows the device’s helical tip.

The next is a large surveyor’s map of the mining town of Florence, an important historical site for mining and the early days of the Pennsylvania State Police. It was donated by Paul Gileot of Anita whose grandparents, Angelo and Mary Dominic, lived on Fourth Street in that community. The map segment shown reveals names of residents.

Finally, there is a tool, handmade by Marland Gould of Frostburg. Gould’s father, Clyde, was a blacksmith by trade. Marland learned from his father but is described in his obituary as a retired mine worker and a member of the United Mine Workers of America. Frontier movies highlight the

WWI Media Messages

This tool, handmade by Mayland Gould of Frostburg, was used in maintenance of mining equipment. Nancy Anthony donated the tool to the historical society. (photo courtesy of the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc.)

blacksmith’s work as it relates to horses, and there is now an enthusiasm for the forging of swords and other blades. One might wonder how such a tool made by a smith could relate to coal mining, but blacksmiths were called upon to work with many pieces of mining equipment. Marland’s family knew him to be an able man who saw no reason to buy something he could make himself. These items and others are on display during the Society’s open hours, Thursdays through Sundays, from 1 to 4 p.m.

•••

continured from page 18

of the West End Fire Company, he enlisted in the regular army while in Youngstown, Ohio, and served for a time on the Mexican border before going overseas with the Company K of the 309th Infantry. He was wounded by shell fragments during the final Allied offensive in France and died the following day (September 17). Sgt. Gordon’s chaplain, who was present when his wounds were dressed, wrote to Mrs. Gordon a very kind and comforting letter regarding his calm demeanor and “coolness” in the face of obvious pain and distressingly serious wounds. Buried in France initially, his body was brought home to Punxsutawney in 1920, when a funeral

A 1918 headline announces the sending of additional servicemen to war, using humor to make the subject less heavy. (image courtesy of the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc.)

service was attended by the American Legion and VFW. He is buried at the American Legion plot.

Wayne L. Lockwood (1896-1918) was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ray F. Lockwood of South Gilpin Street. His parents received a telegram informing them that Lockwood had died of spinal meningitis while serving with the American Expeditionary Force in France. Lockwood had been serving with the 2nd Company, Medical Replacement Unit when he succumbed to disease while in the service of humanity on November 23, 1918. Buried in France, his remains were brought to Punxsutawney along with those of Alcel E. McMullen and James E. McIntyre. He was interred in the American Legion plot at Circle Hill Cemetery, as was McIntyre. American Legion and VFW members participated in the ceremony.

McIntyre was the son of Scots immigrant, John McIntyre of Florence. McMullen was the son of Edward and Margaret McMullen, formerly of North Main Street. The couple, previously from Reynoldsville,

Promotional material from 1919 uses names of the town’s sacrificed soldiers to exhort citizenry to continue efforts needed at war’s end. (image courtesy of the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, Inc.)

were caretakers at the Punxsutawney Country Club at the time of their son’s death. Prior to leaving with a draft contingent from Reynoldsville, young McMullen had worked at Bohan Bakery and Restaurant. Both McIntyre and McMullen are at the American Legion plot.

Eugene Davis (1895-1918), born Eugene Russell, was reared in the family of Mr. and Mrs. John Davis of Punxsutawney. He was a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard and saw duty on the Mexican border before being transferred to France. He died of a shrapnel wound received while serving with the 107th machine gun battalion.

Eugene Brennan, Max Caldwell, John J. Fisher, J. Edward Gordon, and Wayne L. Lockwood are listed in Punxsutawney Centennial 1849-1949: 100 Years of Progres” as decedents from WWI. When that book was compiled in 1949, many servicemen who lived in townships surrounding Punxsutawney were not included. Were the book to be compiled today, it is certain that the lists would be more inclusive because people of the region have a different understanding of what constitutes “Punxsutawney.” Now, many see it as a region, not a borough alone.

•••

R.D. BRO OWN W MEMORIALLS Carved in Ston ne

314 N. Findley St. Punxsutawney, PA A 15 5767 (“From Our Past,” researched by S. Thomas Curry, features items of interest from past editions of Punxsutawney and area newspapers.)

August 14, 1910 – Last spring laborers from the Mauk Tunnel came to Punxsutawney about every week, and often became gloriously intoxicated, usually landing in the borough jail, where many of them served sentences of three or four days.

The men in charge of the work naturally did not favor the idea of being deprived of their men for indefinite periods, so now stimulants are hauled out to the tunnel in huge wagonloads, and the men are thus kept on the job. Two large wagon loads of wet goods started for the tunnel this morning. (Punxsutawney Spirit) [Note: The Mauk Tunnel was dug above Sprankle Mills and near Frostburg for an extension of the Brookville and Mahoning railroad of the Shawmut Railroad.

August 22, 1894 – The streets are extremely dusty. The street sprinkler man is on strike. It appears that he looked upon the work of sprinkling the streets as not purely philanthropic, but took a somewhat mercenary view of it. The citizens, it would seem, took the other view of it, and supposing the man was merely satisfying his altruistic instinct, neglected the financial support necessary to the maintenance of such an enterprise. It is to be hoped that a better understanding will be reached, and that little drops of water will once more be regularly mingled with the dust. (Punxsutawney Spirit)

Hometown Community Continued from page 18

a.m. to 2 p.m., at Punxsy Area Community Center. n Sept. 22: 3rd Annual Fall Fest & Bake Sale, 2 to 5 p.m., at Grace United Methodist Church. Benefits children’s ministry & community outreach events. Food, games, crafts, music & fun for the family. n Sept. 23: First Day of Autumn. n Sept. 24: The Salvation Army begins taking applications for its Bundle Up coat program & Treasures for Children Christmas assistance program, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bring current proof of income & photo ID. Call 938-5530 or visit the Salvation Army Punxsutawney Facebook page for information. n Sept. 26: See You at the Pole Day. n Sept. 29: Fall Mommy Market, 9 a.m., First Church of God. n Sept. 29-Oct. 7: Autumn Leaf Festival in Clarion. n The Salvation Army has a rummage sale every Friday morning from 9 to 11:30 a.m. n Classic Car Cruise Ins, 5 p.m. Sundays, at Punxsy Advance Auto.

August 25, 1886 – The Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal company are building twelve new blocks of houses at Walston. Six of them are now ready for the paint brush.

(Valley News)

September 2, 1869 – MORE IMPROVEMENT. - Our enterprising friend, Mr. Jacob Little, has erected a new paling fence around his residence, on Torrence street, and is now having both house and fence painted a beautiful white, which will give his property a very neat and handsome appearance. (Punxsutawney Plaindealer) [Note: Jacob Little was the father of Punxsutawney’s Captain Edwin T. Little who was killed in the Civil War at Gettysburg, on July 2, 1863]

September 8, 1886 – The actual number of dogs in the little town of Walston, is by a late census, 497. One man, who owned a large number of dogs, recently got mad and disgusted and killed them all but thirteen.

He said he thought it was all foolishness for a man to keep a whole drove of dogs around the house. (Punxsutawney Spirit)

814-938-2100

Monday-Friday Friday 9 a.m.-5 5 p.m.

Saturday 9 a.m.-1 -1 p.m.

Other hours by y appointment pp intm tment

Celebrating 30 Years in Business

We ebsite: www.rdbrrownmemorials.com Email: rdbrownme em@comcast.ne @comcast.net

FEATURING ALL-YOU-CAN -EAT BUFFETS DAILY! All buffets

MAHAFFEY, PA TUESDAY TACO TUESDAY and BUILD A BURGER WEDNESDAY CHINESE BUFFET CHARLIE CHEN’S SIGNATURE SAUCES

ALL BUFFETS INCLUDE SALAD BAR AND ICE CREAM THURSDAY

PIZZA & WINGS FRIDAY STEAK, FISH & FRIED CHICKEN

Monday - Closed start at 4pm Tuesday - 11-7 Sat. breakfast Wednesday - 11-7 buffet 7-11 am Thursday - 11-8 Friday -11-8 Saturday - 7am-8pm CHECK FACEBOOK Sunday - Closed FOR UPDATES

SATURDAY

BREAKFAST BUFFET 7-11 a.m.

SMOKED BABY BACK RIBS STEAK, FRIED CHICKEN

September 11, 1889 – The grand opening of Fish’s new opera house to-morrow night will be an event that no one should miss.

The thrilling drama of “Woman Against Woman” will be rendered by a first class troupe, the leading character being assumed by the charming Miss Sydney Worth.

(Punxsutawney Spirit) [Note: The “opera house” was located on East Mahoning Street where the parking lot of Graystone Place is now located.]

•••

n Hunting licenses for the various seasons in PA are starting to be available. Visit the PA Game Commission website for more information. n The Jefferson County History Center offers free tours of the Scripture Rocks Heritage Park in Brookville on Sundays at 2 p.m. through Sept. 29. For information, call 849-0077. n The First English Lutheran Church is holding worship services at 5:30 p.m. Saturdays. n The First United Methodist Church holds a prayer service at 7 p.m. Thursdays.

The Punxsutawney Memorial Library offers several programs, including computer classes, Teen Club, ’Tween Group, Book Club for adults, and activities for children. n The Punxsutawney Area Community Center offers indoor cycling, batting cage, Fifty & Fit, SilverSneakers, AM men’s basketball, Pilates/yoga, and gymnastics. Call 938-1008 for more information. n During October, Saturday mornings 9.30 a.m., Holiday Heritage Ornament Making Workshops, at the Punxsutawney Area Historical & Genealogical Society, 400 W. Mahoning St., Native American themed. $5 per Saturday. Call 938-2555.

•••

Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215 – 23

New Hours: Mon., Tues., Thurs., Fri. 10-4 Sat. 10-1, Closed Wed. and Sun.

Most evenings by appointment with no purchase necessary.

Rt. 536 North Freedom between Ringgold & Mayport

24 – Punxsutawney Hometown – September 2018 - Issue #215