Showing 21–36 of 36 results
Plum Township, which later reorganized as Plum Borough, was founded on December 18, 1788, and westward pioneers soon chose to settle in the region. William McJunkin, an Irish emigrant and one of the earliest settlers, came to Plum Borough and in 1790 was granted a tract of land he came to call “Greenfield”. In the…
Squirrel Hill is one of Pittsburgh’s premier residential neighborhoods. It has a vibrant commercial center and two exceptional parks. The area was first settled in the eighteenth century as a pioneer farming community. As the city of Pittsburgh prospered, so did the status of Squirrel Hill. In 1867, Squirrel Hill was incorporated into Pittsburgh, but…
When George Westinghouse Jr. founded the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, his air brakes, railroad equipment, and industrial pneumatic devices revolutionized rail travel, opening a new chapter in American industrial history. Not only were the products of his first company revolutionary, but the small borough he founded in 1890 in southwestern Pennsylvania became a model for…
Thomas White spins a beguiling yarn with tales that reach from the misty hollows of the Alleghenies to the lost islands of Pittsburgh. Oppaymolleah’s Curse. General Braddock’s buried gold. The original man of steel, Joe Magarac. Such legends have found a home among the rich folklore of Western Pennsylvania. White invites readers to learn the…
I grew up with these trolleys. They were a part of my life. For many years I lived along Pittsburgh Railways' route 56 and I walked the tracks to school, to work, to McKeesport to shop or swim at the YMCA or to visit my grandmothers (both of whom lived along abandoned West Penn routes)….
In 1937, as labor turmoil sweeps across western Pennsylvania, traveling beer salesman Pete Bonner picks up hitchhiker Joe Miravich, a blacklisted coal miner running from the law. The two overhear a plot to kill a national union leader in Pittsburgh and warn the intended victim, only to become targets of the man who ordered the…
As this book goes to press, the war in Kosovo, Yugoslavia rages. Although the uniforms are different, the suffering, horror, homelessness, and deaths of innocent victims are the same as they were six decades ago in Hungary. My Life in Spinach Green is about a family that manages to see “the beautiful” amid the…
Homestead and Mifflin Township shows an era of days gone by through the medium of postcards. Mifflin Township was one of the seven original townships when Allegheny County was formed, and it covered the Monongahela River as well as the present-day communities of Clairton, Duquesne, Dravosburg, Hays, Homestead, Jefferson Hills, Lincoln Place, Munhall, Pleasant Hills,…
McKeesport’s location at the junction of the Youghiogheny and Monongahela Rivers facilitated shipping and transportation for the early coal and steel industries. Multiple large manufacturers were located here, including the National Tube Works, the American Tin Plate Company, Firth Sterling, and the D.L. Clark Candy Company. McKeesport’s downtown supported numerous theaters, banks, stores, schools, churches,…
As the twentieth century dawned on western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, the region’s steel industry faced a struggle for unionism. Strong managers like Judge Elbert Gary and Tom Girdler opposed every move forward. Regardless, unionists like Philip Murray, John L. Lewis, Samuel Gompers and Gus Hall battled for fair wages, hours and working conditions. Tensions…
Since the late 1800s, sports have played a key role in shaping the very character of western Pennsylvania. The area’s largest city, Pittsburgh, boasts well-known professional sports teams in baseball, football, and hockey. In fact, no other city of comparable size has had such success in sports at the professional level, earning bragging rights and…
Pennsylvania fulfilled its role as the Keystone State when the Civil War erupted in 1861. Its large size and varied economy contributed 315,000 men and more munitions than any other state, while on the home front, women and children tended to vast farms and filled factory jobs. The Civil War in Pennsylvania: A Photographic…
The letters written by John Strathern during his U.S. Civil War service have been a cherished family collection for over one hundred years. The bulk of this correspondence was given from the “Father” of the letters, Thomas Newton Strathern, to a son, William Newton Strathern (Newt), who in turn passed them on to his youngest…
SIGNED COPY The airfield is quiet now. A warm breeze bends the grass that was once moved by the engine of the flying fortresses. Seventy-four years earlier, Glenn H. Rojohn would take off from Thorpe Abbotts and be involved in an event that raises questions to this day.
In the ancient hills and misty hollows of Fayette County, Pennsylvania, generations of locals have passed down stories of a woman with mysterious magical powers. People came from near and far to seek healing and protection through her strange rituals. Some even believed she could fly. Named Moll Derry and nicknamed the Witch of the…
