Mcadoo

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McAdoo

Immigrant miners wanted place of their own 1946

By SAM GALSKI StaffWriter

They wanted a place of their own to call home.

With help from a coal company, they found it well over a century ago when Polish immigrants who worked in the mines grew tired of living at company houses in Honey Brook and Audenried.

McAdoo borough was born when Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal Co. set aside a tract of land in northern Schuylkill County for employees to build their own homes.

The coal company was more than willing to develop the land for the new settlers after discovering coal deposits beneath the company homes.

Present-day McAdoo began as the small village of Pleasant Hill and evolved over the years into a community named after former U.S. Sen. and Postmaster General William G. McAdoo.

Its earliest inhabitants arrived in 1880 from southern Poland. They settled on land known as Skipper’s Island in the eastern part of the community.

Other locals emigrated to McAdoo from a settlement known as Slabtown, which was a mile north of McAdoo and east of Audenried.

Early settlers also developed lots along Tamaqua Street, known today as Kennedy Drive.

McAdoo was incorporated as a borough on July 10, 1896, after residents banded together to bring law and order to a town that lacked decorum.

A year prior to incorporation, the Hazleton Sentinel published an eye-opening account from an unidentified “gentleman.” In the news article, the man described chaotic times while explaining why he felt incorporation and the installation of local government was imperative.

“We need a borough government and we need it badly,” the man told the Sentinel on Oct. 31, 1895. “Why, it would be the forerunner to the inauguration of a new era. It would convert the place from a degenerating village into an active, progressive town. Here we are with a population of nearly 3,000 people. Every man takes a hand in the management of affairs.”

The man told the newspaper that the town lacked order and decorum.

“Occasionally, the native goes on the rampage,” the man continued. “He is not only endangering himself but the people who happen to come in contact with him.

Had we an appointed officer, or burgess, this kind of thing would find its limit. At present there is no limit, and at times riot runs rampant.”

“Then again, we have no laws, no sanitation, no streets, no paves, no sewers, no lights. Why, the place is in deplorable condition, viewing it from a sanitary standpoint.”

A borough council would solve many of the community’s problems and would lead to the creation of a board of health, he said.

“Our people are progressive and enterprising, they have been so long without any system in town affairs, however, that it may take a little spurring to arouse them from the lethargy into which they have fallen.”

&

Then Now

STANDARD-SPEAKER FILE PHOTO

Tamaqua Street then, Kennedy Drive now

2013

ERIC CONOVER/Staff Photographer

McDonald lived life of McAdoo firsts James J. McDonald lived a life full of firsts.

McDonald, of 46-48 S. Tamaqua St., was among the first people to sign a petition supporting McAdoo’s incorporation as a borough. He went on to serve as its first burgess when the village transitioned to a borough 117 years ago on July 10, 1896.

McDonald was born in Old Honey Brook and was the first businessman to open a grocery store on the South Side when he moved to McAdoo.

He served two terms as chief burgess.

During his tenure Thomas A. Kelly served as chairman of council.

As his first order of business, McDonald worked with council to build a meet-

Kelley, John H. Bernard, Stephen A. Pare, Patrick McNelis, James J. Stapleton, Joseph Gerendt, Stanley Anilosky, Michael McGee and Charles McGee. They secured more than 700 signatures on a petition but that effort lost steam, according to the 1985 news account.

“It is to be regretted that the movement was not kept up. MacAdoo is a thriving town. It is populated with a progressive people and is growing larger every day. To the casual visitor the number of new housing going up over there is astounding.

“McAdoo should become a borough government by all means. It is to be hoped that Moving forward the men who took the initiaEarly attempts to incorpo- tive and carried the matter thus far, will again take it up rate McAdoo as a borough and carry it to a successful stalled, but a group of resiissue.” dents committed to the conOn May 4, 1896, a petition cept pursued it until it was presented to the Pottsbecame reality.

Organizers who supported ville court, with a request to incorporate the village of the movement to have the McAdoo into a borough. town of Pleasant Hill, or Prior to presenting the “MacAdoo,” incorporated into a borough included T.A. petition, Thomas A. Kelly

ing hall on East Washington Street.

AsMcAdoo’spopulationincreasedasfamiliesfromAudenried,HoneyBrookandSilver Brookmovedin,McDonaldworkedwith counciltocreateaboroughpolicedepartment.

McDonald organized the borough’s first fire department, Keystone Fire Co., and served for several years as its treasurer.

He served as a member of the board of directors for First National Bank.

He was succeeded as burgess by James F. Carlin, who served as clerk during McDonald’s tenure in office.

McDonald married Julia Gallagher and they had four children.

appeared before notary public Frank Bruno, of Kline Township. Kelly said that he circulated the petition and collected 160 signatures.

Those signatures represented three-quarters of the townspeople.

John W. Honsberger, who was solicitor for the petitioners, presented the document to the courts.

The application for incorporation was published in the McAdoo Tidings, a semiweekly newspaper that was printed in McAdoo by Ed J. Brennan, its editor.

On July 10, 1896, Judge Cyrus L. Pershing issued a decree that granted a charter for McAdoo borough. The courts also named McAdoo a separate election district and separate school district.

An election board was appointed and a special election for officers was held July 28 at the Grant Street schoolhouse in McAdoo.

“The success of the movement is very gratifying to the people,” The Plain Speaker reported. “Some opposition was made by the politicians

— Sam Galski and saloonists, yet it was unsuccessful.”

Progress continued over the new few weeks, as residents held a hotly contested election on July 28, 1896 that resulted in near fights and one arrest, according to a news report.

Citizens elected their first set of officers for the newly incorporated borough.

Competing political factions, known as the People’s Party and the Citizens’ ticket, ran candidates.

At least 260 votes were cast and fighting nearly broke out during elections.

“Numerous fistic encounters were threatened throughout the day but were prevented by the interference of friends,” The Plain Speaker reported.

James McDonald was elected burgess.

The Plain Speaker also reported that Thomas O’Donnell, People’s candidate for chief burgess, would be arrested on a charge of assault and battery. sgalski@standardspeaker.com

FACTS ABOUT MCADOO A review of Standard-Speaker archives revealed the following facts about the McAdoo/Southside area.

■ Prior to its incorporation as a borough, McAdoo was known as Sailor’s Hill and Pleasant Hill.Tresckow was called Dutchtown, Beaver Brook was Frenchtown, and Slackersville was part of Frenchtown. Kelayres was part of Bunker Hill and also Old Honey Brook.

■ A bill passed by state legislators would’ve created a new county.

Hazleton, Luzerne County, would have been the county seat and McAdoo, Schuylkill County, would’ve been part of the new legislative setup, according to a July 6, 1946, edition of The Plain Speaker.

The initiative never materialized because Gov. Daniel Hastings did not sign a bill that was approved by state legislators.

“McAdoo and Hazleton are closely linked together but these ties could have been even closer today had a bill for the creation of a new county been signed by the late Governor Daniel Hastings,”The Plain Speaker reported.“We believe this would have been of mutual advantage because it would have been a natural combination. Perhaps some day the new county movement will be revived and then we may hope for better luck.”

■ St. Patrick’s Church was moved from Audenried to Cleveland Street, McAdoo.

■ The P&R rail line extended to Coleraine and to the DS&S yards, which is known today as Hazleton Heights.

■ Burgess Jim McDonald had grocery wagons delivering to nearby towns.

■“Curley”Brennan conducted Columbia Hall, a “dance emporium” STANDARD-SPEKAER FILE PHOTO on West Blaine St. Patrick’s Church is shown Street.

■ Ryan’s shirt fac- in 2008. tory came to McAdoo as the town’s first industry outside of mining.

■ Peter A. McCarron served as a“one-man staff”at the old McAdoo borough electric light plant.

■“Lover’s Lane”extended from Honey Brook reservoir to Blaine and Tamaqua streets.

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McAdoo Colliery, small business fueled early economy

By SAM GALSKI StaffWriter

A monument was installed on June 10, 2012, at the vacant lot along East Sherman Street where McAdoo High School was located.

Neighborhood schools were staple of education system

By SAM GALSKI StaffWriter

Neighborhood schools were a staple of McAdoo’s education system, which operated independently with its own board of directors until merging into the Hazleton School District in 1962.

Education in McAdoo was at one time offered in a oneroom school building on West Grant Street. The building had one entrance and was headed by Principal Edward J. Brennan.

A second room was added onto the building, which boasted a two-member teaching staff that included John Jones and Margaret Garahan.

In March 1903, the building was destroyed by fire on the eve of James Carlin’s election as burgess. Carlin was McAdoo’s second burgess.

Seven years later, the West Grant Street school was built and a two-year high school opened in 1913.

The high school operated for five years, but was temporarily discontinued and students were sent to Hazleton’s high school.

In 1927, a “continuation school” opened and its first class was held at the West Grant Street building.

The following year, McAdoo High School opened with 65 students enrolled in the ninth and 10th grades. The school started with three teachers, and the faculty expanded to eight over the next few years. Clair Moser served as the first high school principal Enrollment in McAdoo schools swelled to 1,088 students by July 1946. Between 1936 and 1946, the high school had been “greatly improved” with a new gym and classroom added, according to news archives.

The gym and classrooms were added through a Civil Works Administration program.

ELLEN O’CONNELL/Staff Photographer

Despite construction being done at McAdoo-Kelayres Elementary School, parents drive their children to school on the first day of school in 2011.

The Class of 1931 was the first to graduate from McAdoo High School, said Rich Dvorscak, a member of the alumni association. The association formed a few years later and organized annual reunions for every graduating class from 1931 through 1962, Dvorscak recalled.

The building closed in 1962 when McAdoo’s schools merged into the Hazleton School District. The high school building in McAdoo remained vacant for a number of years, Dvorscak, a 1949 graduate, said.

Dvorscak said he enjoyed McAdoo’s close-knit school system.

“Everyone knew everyone,” he said. “We had races there with the classes, concerts in the gym with the band and intramural basketball. We were always active and there was always something to do.”

Dvorscak, who said he was known as the school artist, said he still has a drawing he made for a high school dance.

In 1979, Hazleton Area School District built McAdooKelayres Elementary School.

The school was renovated in 2000 and again in 2012, when it expanded to include sev-

enth and eighth grades.

The community stopped using the high school building in 1984 when Steven Groff, of Weissport, bought the property for $4,501 from the school district.

Dvorscak said he didn’t know who bought the building or the plans they had for it, but that a leaky roof doomed the high school.

“It would’ve been a nice place to make a community building,” he said. “But it was too far (gone at that point).”

The building was demolished in March 1998 at a cost of more than $40,000.

Although his school is gone, Dvorscak serves among 15 active alumni committee members.

For a number of years, the association upheld a tradition that welcomed a new class into the “Golden Circle,” which recognizes the 50th anniversary for each graduating class.

“That was one of our main draws for the reunion,” he said.

The Class of 1962 was the last graduating class, and the last to enter the Circle in 2012, he said.

The alumni association will continue holding class

reunions, with the next one planned for Oct. 4, 2014.

Over the years, alumni collected memorabilia from the school. Dvorscak built a display case and showcased trophies, a basketball signed by the 1952 Maroons basketball team that defeated Hazleton and basketball uniforms at a South Kennedy Drive bank.

They were moved to McAdoo-Kelayres Elementary/ Middle School and put on display a few weeks ago after Principal Matt Marnell reached out to the group.

A monument was installed on June 10, 2012 at the vacant lot along East Sherman Street where the school was located. The alumni association oversaw the monument project.

The Indian red monument has white lettering and closely resembles McAdoo High’s white-and-maroon school colors.

“The alumni association dedicates this monument to the students and teachers of McAdoo High School,” the inscription reads. “The school is gone, but the memories remain in the hearts of all who walked its halls.” sgalski@standardspeaker.com

South Side Days has become summer fixture A community festival that was originally created to raise funds for volunteer organizations has become a mainstay in McAdoo over the past 12 years.

South Side Days has been an annual summer fixture at McAdoo’s Holy Trinity Church grounds on South Kennedy Drive, offering family entertainment and ethnic foods, said Marion DeBalko, a member of the South Side Community Partnership, which helps organize the event.

The partnership works for the betterment of McAdoo borough and Kline and Banks townships, and came up with the concept after Sen. David Argall helped form a volunteer committee to promote the communities.

This year marks the 12th annual event, which at one time featured church tours.

The tours were dissolved following church consolidations, but the event continues, giving local volunteer organizations the opportunity to raise money by manning ethnic food stands or through other family-oriented activities and events.

ERIC CONOVER/Staff Photographer

David Kondash works the grill at the Penn Rod and Gun Club stand during the seventh annual South Side Days held in McAdoo in 2008.

“It was started to help different volunteer organizations raise funds for their own purposes,” DeBalko recalled.

“Today, it’s more of a family-type event.”

The South Side partnership also runs a food pantry.

— Sam Galski

A colliery in Silver Brook, manufacturing and a number of small businesses fueled McAdoo’s economy in its early days.

The Silver Brook colliery, which operated south of the borough, grew from a small washery in 1920 and expanded into a mining operation through the 1940s.

Though operations at the colliery changed over the years, the site continued as a primary source of employment.

Campion Coal Co. of Mahanoy City built the washery in 1920 off the McAdoo-Tamaqua highway. It employed roughly 70 people.

Three years later, Haddock Coal Mining Co., of Wilkes-Barre, built a breaker at the site and ran a mining operation.

Haddock disbanded its mining operation in 1942 but continued running coal from Silver Brook, Tomhicken and Derringer through the Silver Brook breaker for four more years. About 1,400 were employed at the colliery and they were represented by two unions through the 1940s.

In July 1942, Lehigh Valley Coal Co. leased the colliery for three months to run coal through the breaker until it was able to build a new breaker in Hazleton.

The Tunnel Ridge Coal Co., of Pottsville, took over in September 1942.

Four years later, the operation employed 165 people.

Bank coal was shipped to the property from Shenandoah and Mahanoy City and prepared for the market.

While coal primarily fueled McAdoo’s economy since 1920, a number of industries began cropping up over the following two decades.

Known for its polo shirts and women’s sportswear, Strand Manufacturing Co. at 110 W. Blaine St. was incorporated in July 1943. The firm employed 95 people.

In February 1932, Empire Carton Co., which produced paper boxes, began operations on East Washington Street. Herman Paradise, a joint owner of the firm, began his business in New York in 1891.

Empire expanded its facility three years after it opened. It produced paper boxes for companies such as J.C. Penney, Sears Roebuck, Fruit of the Loom and others. By 1946, the company was producing 100,000 boxes per week and the firm had an annual payroll of $50,000.

McAdoo Sportswear Co. organized in 1934 and operated from 110 W. Blaine St. before Strand Manufacturing opened at that location. McAdoo Sportswear employed about 60 people and produced ladies’ and children’s sportswear, snowsuits and ski pants.

In 1936, McAdoo Sportswear moved to 125 S. Tamaqua St. and its payroll expanded to 110 people. Its employment peaked in 1940 at 217 people.

The borough also boasted a bottling works, state liquor store, McAdoo Manufacturing Co., Frye’s Hardware Store, O’Lear’s Self Service meat market and First National Bank.

McAdoo Bottling Works, also known as Postie’s Soft Drinks, was founded on

April 1, 1925, in the basement of C.M. Postupack’s home.

Machinery at the time consisted of a hand-operated Shields filler, a washer and a small carbonater, according to a report published by The Plain Speaker.

Staff consisted of Postupack and his two sons.

After four years, Postupack decided to expand and operate from a modern plant that was built in 1929 behind his home at 145 W. Sherman St. New equipment was installed and two trucks were added to the company fleet.

“With this new building and equipment, production was able to be increased to meet the growing demand for Postie’s soft drinks,” a 1946 news report reads.

At that point, the firm employed seven people including a bookkeeper.

The volume of business intensified over the years, warranting further expansion. That was delayed, however, with the onset of World War II when Postupack’s five sons enlisted in the armed forces.

When the war ended, the business was taken over by the sons in the form of a partnership.

Expansion plans were revisited and a three-story building was added to the existing facility.

McAdoo’s growing workforce also had a place to get wine and spirits.

On Jan. 8, 1934, the McAdoo state liquor store opened at Tamaqua and Sherman streets. Lamar E. Robertson, one of the original Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board employees, was named manager in October 1936.

Another New Yorker embarked on a manufacturing venture in the borough when David Watinsky opened McAdoo Manufacturing Co. along South Hancock Street. The firm knitted polo shirts and infant wear. More than 250 people operated 100 machines during day and night shifts.

With the economy continuing to bloom, First National Bank was credited as “a motivating force in the growth” of not only the borough but all south side towns.

The bank organized when the Silver Brook, Tresckow, Honey Brook, Green Mountain, Audenried, Yorktown, Jeanesville and Beaver Brook collieries were operating.

The first meeting to organize First National Bank of McAdoo was held Nov. 9, 1906 and a charter was granted about a month later. The bank opened for business on June 3, 1907, along North Tamaqua Street (now Kennedy Drive). In 1913 it moved a few doors south to its own building. Within 10 years, that facility was deemed too small and a new bank building was constructed.

Several other small businesses opened in the borough, including Frye’s Hardware at 42 W. Blaine St. and O’Lear’s Self-Service market at 16 N. Tamaqua St. By 1946, Frye’s sold furniture, hardware, paint and wallpaper and plumbing and heating supplies.

The O’Lear store, meanwhile, reopened after World War I and succeeded the O’Lear-McDevitt Meat Market, one of the oldest meat establishments in McAdoo. sgalski@standardspeaker.com

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McAdoo

STANDARD-SPEAKER FILE PHOTO

The 1944-45 McAdoo High School basketball team captured the first PIAA Class B basketball championship.Team members are, front row, from left: Jack Patton, captain, Michael “Mickey’’ Felock, John Bielen, Albert Reba, Charles Edwards and Frank Nicholas. Second row: Harry “Doc’’ Swank, trainer; Thomas F.“Sammy’’ Boyle, head coach; John O’Donnell, John Bilock, Joseph Albano, William Winslow and Frank Vocolla, assistant coach. Team member Herman Farkus was not present for the photo. He played half the season, then went to serve in the army.

Borough has colorful sports history

By SAM GALSKI StaffWriter

McAdoo’s colorful sports history dates to its incorporation as a borough, when cockfighting was rampant, boxing was big hit and a shooting disrupted a baseball game.

Through the years, borough athletes excelled on both the football field and hardwood floor, with McAdoo claiming a Twin-County Football League pennant in 1930 with the help of a college standout and the McAdoo Maroons becoming the first Class B high school basketball team to win a state championship in 1945.

Boxing, foot races and cockfighting were the main attractions in McAdoo’s early days, with McAdoo standouts Johnny Mahoney and Johnny McCarron headlining fights at Columbia Hall and at West Grant Street’s Union Hall.

The matches were a huge draw, with crowds exchanging thousands of dollars in bets in the early 1900s, according to news reports.

“While the duration was short, the matches that were offered packed the small house and a number of standout cards were staged before the size of the purse became too big for the box office returns,” according to a July 1946 article published in The Plain Speaker.

Cockfighting was also a huge

draw around the time of the borough’s incorporation.

“Cockfighting was rampant when McAdoo became a borough 50 years ago, and a pit was built on the outskirts of the Tresckow mountain,” The Plain Speaker reported in 1946. “Many matches were also fought in Union Hall.”

Fighters and game cocks from the Schuylkill County region took on opponents from Hazleton, with as much as $2,000 changing hands over a weekend of fights.

Hazleton and South Heberton promoters also pooled their birds and cash against teams from Mt. Carmel and Mahanoy City, The Plain Speaker reported.

“There were contests that lasted throughout the night,” news reports reads.

Foot racing was also popular among gamblers, netting purses of between $100 and $500.

In 1896, a baseball game between the Hazleton Pioneers and McAdoo’s team made headlines when catcher Joe Ward, a Silver Brook resident who played for the McAdoo team, was shot in the hip and a spectator was struck by a stray bullet when a fight broke out.

The game was played at Honeybrook field, west of McAdoo.

A McAdoo “youth” was arrested by a constable from Bunker Hill but was released when his “buddies went to his rescue,” The Plain Speaker reported.

“Ward was felled immediately

by the bullet and was taken in a carriage to a doctor’s office in McAdoo and later to the State Hospital,” according to published reports. “The other victim, who some old-timers claim was John Hopf, of Hazleton, was only slightly wounded.”

Monsignor John Burke, of New Jersey, was playing for the Pioneers that day. He “later went on to the big leagues.”

By 1901, McAdoo’s reputation grew as a boxing town.

The Plain Speaker highlighted a “famous” October 1901 match between Jim Sheridan and Johnny McCarron at Union Hall. Thousands of dollars changed hands during the fight, which was considered a failure for McCarron, who was considered the “pride of the South Side.”

McCarron, who had a 30-pound advantage on his opponent, was knocked out in less than two minutes of the first round.

Champs

Twenty-nine years later, the McAdoo Panthers took home their first Twin-County Football League pennant in 1930. It took part in a local circuit that included McAdoo, Freeland, Cranberry and Hazleton.

Thomas F. “Sammy” Boyle, who also coached the McAdoo High basketball team to a title in 1945, led the Panthers.

A “fracas” at Buhler Stadium brought an end to the league.

Prior to 1930, the McAdoo team brought in Marty Brill under an assumed name, The Plain Speaker reported. Brill was an All-American halfback who played for Penn and transferred to Notre Dame. He played on Knute Rockne’s 1930 undefeated team.

The Maroons etched their spot in McAdoo sporting lore when claiming the Class B state basketball championship in 1945.

The team’s path to a state title was documented in the July 6, 1945, edition of The Plain Speaker and a story written July 9 of this year by Ron Marchetti that put the Maroons among the top 25 Hazleton area sporting teams of all time.

A “smothering” and gritty McAdoo team overcame injuries and a 7-3 start in its run for the state title. The team finished 22-3, the best in McAdoo basketball history, and resulted in McAdoo becoming the first team to win a PIAA Class B championship.

Before 1945, all league winners competed in a single tournament, regardless of their size.

The Maroons earned a playoff berth with a 33-31 win over Foster Township. The team advanced through the tournament, notching double-digit victories, including a win against western Pennsylvania champions Conneautville for the state crown.

The path to the title included the following wins: McAdoo 53, Dallas 28; McAdoo 72, Fell Township 37; McAdoo 50, West Wyo-

ming 42; McAdoo 34, Dalton 20; McAdoo 46, Springfield 26; McAdoo 52, Conneautville 28.

The Plain Speaker recognized the state champions in its “Golden Jubilee” edition that commemorated McAdoo’s 50th anniversary of its incorporation as a borough.

The headline recognized the Maroons as state champs.

“This statement blazed forth in large headlines on the sporting pages of every newspaper,” The Plain Speaker reported. “Many graduates of McAdoo High School smiled with pride and satisfaction as they showed these papers to their friends in various parts of the world. Everybody in the coal region knew that McAdoo High School basketeers would have a top-notch cage team. Few realized how good they really were until they entered the PIAA playoffs in the newly organized Class ‘B’ tournament. The Maroons came home with the state championship.”

Harry “Doc” Swank was the trainer while Thomas F. “Sammy” Boyle, who went on to become McAdoo High principal, coached the team.

The state champion Maroons are: John O’Donnell, John Bilock, Joseph Albano, William Winslow, Frank Vocolla, assistant coach; Jack Patton, captain; Michael Felock, John Bielen, Albert Reba, Charles Edwards and Frank Nicholas. sgalski@standardspeaker.com

LOOKING BACK: MCADOO’S GOLDEN JUBILEE The following excerpts are from the July 6, 1946, edition of The Plain Speaker, which commemorates the golden jubilee, or 50th anniversary, of McAdoo’s incorporation as a borough.

‘Inquirer Story Raised Fuss’

Regional people still remember the famous story printed in a Philadelphia paper about 16 years ago, in which McAdoo was labeled“the only Wild West town east of the Mississippi.”

The story was written in a semi-humorous tone by Stan Baumgartner, ace Philadelphia Inquirer sports reporter, after he had come to this region covering several of the TwinCounty Football League games in which McAdoo, Hazleton, Cranberry, and the Freeland St. Mary’s teams played.

Though the story was written with a grain of salt, it rubbed the fur of McAdoo’s residents the wrong way, and they bombarded the Inquirer with complaints. It all blew over in time.

As it is remembered, the story re-hashed the sports history of McAdoo, special mention being made of the old-time baseball and boxing, and then swung into modern times, with mention of Sammy and Vince Boyle’s exploits on the football field. It wound up with the high interest in the town about the McAdoo Twin-County gridders.

‘McAdooStreetsNamedAfter FamousMen’

McAdoo’s streets, named after former presidents of the United States, and other national figures, add to the interest of the town which was named after former U.S. Senator and Postmaster General William G. McAdoo, who was the builder of the New York City subway. He was a son-in-law of the late President Woodrow Wilson.

McAdoo’s streets include Cleveland,Blaine, Grant,Hancock,Harrison,Sheridan,Jackson,Washington,Sherman,Logan,Monroe and others.

‘Boro Had ‘Dust Bowl’ In The Gay Nineties’

McAdoo’s main thoroughfare, the spacious Tamaqua Street, was just another“dust bowl” in the Gay Nineties when the town was incorporated as a borough.

Hazleton residents, with their“fancy Dan” horses and rubber-tired buggies, whirled through the town wearing dusters and wide bonnets to alleviate the dust and dirt.

But, McAdoo, ahead of the times, provides relief just as rapidly as did other municipalities of the Hazleton community.

‘Trolley Cars on Blaine St.’

Maps in the Hazleton offices of the old Lehigh Traction Company show a spur line from Pleasant Hill (McAdoo) to continuation of the trolley line that later ended at Tamaqua and Blaine streets.

The map designates Honey Brook as the south side terminus, with the cars turning

right at Tamaqua Street and running west on Blaine to what is now the borough line.The operation was for a short period only, as traffic did not warrant the expense involved.

Incidentally, the maps must have been drawn just at about the time that McAdoo was planning to be incorporated as a borough and for a change in name.

‘OldRailroadTowerWasMcAdoo Landmark’

When the late Con J. O’Donnell, of McAdoo, was South Side correspondent for the Hazleton Daily Standard, he was engaged as a towerman at the triple crossing midway between McAdoo and Tresckow, which since has been replaced by modern safety signals.

The McAdoo tower was set at a location that encompassed the view of the Jersey Central, the L.V.R.R.-P.R.R. and the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre lokie tracks.

In those days traffic was so continuous that an all-day vigil was necessary.

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Firefighting roots predate borough itself

By SAM GALSKI

1981

StaffWriter

&

Then Now

STANDARD-SPEAKER FILE PHOTO

McAdoo Fire Co.

2013

COURTESY OF MCADOO FIRE COMPANY

The Keystone Fire Company, the oldest of two borough fire units, organized in June 1896, according to StandardSpeaker archives. It formed about a month before McAdoo incorporated as a borough.

COURTESY OF KEYSTONE FIRE COMPANY FACEBOOK PAGE

tion was chartered by the Schuylkill County Court in 1960.

Fifteen years later, work began on a new equipment building along South Kennedy Drive. That same year, the fire company’s first ladies auxiliary was formed and chartered by the county court.

Work was completed in April 1976 and the new building at 34 S. Kennedy Drive was dedicated on July 9, 1977, according to fire company records.

The building went on to house all fire department apparatus, including ambulances.

On Aug. 6, 2000, McAdoo Fire Co. responded to a fire at the South Kennedy Drive station.

On its website, the fire company says the call was one of its “toughest.”

The first six firefighters to arrive were tasked with controlling and attempting to extinguish the blaze while removing vehicles from the building.

While the fire didn’t destroy the building, all of the vehicles sustained heavy smoke damage and the fire department lost a ladder truck, Assistant Chief Robert Leshko recalled.

Turnout gear, kitchen and office equipment was damaged.

The very next day, the company returned to service and operated from a temporary station at Kline Township’s municipal building.

KME Fire Apparatus loaned the borough a pumper, American Patient Transport Systems provided ambulance coverage and Hometown Fire Department loaned the borough a quick response vehicle.

“In all that was lost, we have gotten stronger as a fire company and still provided the service people of McAdoo and Kline Township have come to know,” reads a post on McAdoo Fire Company’s website.

The fire company and ambulance association returned to a renovated station on South Kennedy Drive in December 2000, about five months after the fire.

“We were back in our home and could not be prouder,” the company’s website says.

Both departments remain active in the community today.

McAdoo’s firefighting roots predate the community’s incorporation as a borough.

Its residents had the luxury of being protected by two volunteer fire companies since the early 1920s.

Both remain active and play significant roles in the community today.

The Keystone Fire Company, the oldest of two borough fire units, organized in June 1896, according to StandardSpeaker archives. It formed about a month before McAdoo incorporated as a borough.

Keystone’s charter was granted in 1897, with its crew battling fires with hand carts.

In 1922, Keystone bought its first motor-driven engine.

The vehicle was overhauled eight years later.

A second fire company, McAdoo Fire Company, organized in 1921. Its members at first met at a meeting hall.

In 1922, the fire company bought an old frame building from Sarah and Squire Hugh J. McShea in the same location where its canteen and storage facility stand today at 28-30 W. Blaine St. The fire company bought that building for $24,500.

In 1922, Schuylkill County Court granted a charter and the fire company bought an engine and other new equipment for $13,500, according to published reports.

Ironically, McAdoo Fire Company’s first West Blaine Street station was destroyed by flames in 1931. The fire broke out in a defective chimney.

A new station was built in its place and a replacement engine purchased. John Koletz, a brick contractor who at one time lived on North Cleveland Street, was awarded a contract to build a new West Blaine Street firehouse. It consisted of a stall for the fire engine, a large auditorium for holding meetings, dances, a canteen room and cellar.

By 1949, the fire company entertained providing ambulance service for McAdoo and neighboring communities, according to fire company records. It went on to become the first local ambulance sponsored by a fire company and residents.

The McAdoo Fire Company Inc. Ambulance Associa- sgalski@standardspeaker.com

Storm shook borough in 1992 A powerful windstorm that swept through the region in 1992 blew out windows and shook buildings in McAdoo.

The July 15, 1992, storm knocked out power and left parts of the borough without lights at nightfall. A nursing home was evacuated and

several people were treated for stress-related conditions in McAdoo but the brunt of damage was sustained by residents in neighboring

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Kline Township — where homes and garages were completely flattened.

As many as 25 homes in McAdoo and Kline Township were damaged by the storm and an estimated 2,350 were left without power as it passed through the region at around 5 p.m.

At least four people were treated for stress-related health problems suffered during the storm, which was described by some as a “dark ball” with winds that emitted “loud, high-pitched whistles.”

The streets in McAdoo

A powerful windstorm that swept through the region in 1992 blew out windows and shook buildings in McAdoo. filled with traffic after the storm passed, despite many roadblocks along the main roads. People from Hazleton came to the borough to see what the damage looked like.

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Staff writer Dave Seamon published a first-hand account of the incident in the July 16, 1992, edition of the Standard-Speaker.

Seamon, who was making rounds at the time collecting news items for the Speaker, said he watched as a hazy summer sky turned dark within a matter of seconds.

He described a path of wreckage left in the wake of the storm.

“Trees uprooted; power lines strewn across alley ways; mangled aluminum siding tossed from one yard to the next; frightened people everywhere,” he wrote. “Perhaps what caught my attention most, however, was the reaction of the shaken townspeople in McAdoo and Kelayres.”

— Sam Galski