Twenty-five years ago, when she was in high school, my daughter Sara wrote an eloquent paper on John Steinbeck, terminating with the conclusion that he was America’s greatest writer. Knowing full well that that honor belonged to William Faulkner, I corrected her, initiating a heated disagreement. Since then, every time I read something by Steinbeck,… [Read More]

I have just returned from a delightful family vacation in California. My 90th birthday occurred in the middle of the month; that was sufficient excuse for us to justify an extravagant experience. It was the first time we have all been together in several years, and the opportunity was greatly appreciated by all. The venue… [Read More]

July 4, 2021, turned out to be a red-letter day for me. I had not visited the Oliver Miller Homestead since the pandemic, so I decided to take advantage of one of their special events, the re-enactment of Independence Day. For once the weather cooperated, giving us a bright sunny day with the temperature being… [Read More]

Every so often the subject of Bridgeville’s absence from the network of streetcars in this area pops up, usually as part of a story of a young man stranded in Carnegie late at night and being required to walk home. Somehow the trolley-building boom at the beginning of the twentieth century got no closer to… [Read More]

I visited the Bridgeville Area History Center this week to borrow a copy of the 1907 R. L. Polk Business Directory for Bridgeville in support of one of my projects – a series of maps of Washington Avenue down through the years. I am starting with the Sanborn 1906 Insurance map as a source and… [Read More]

One of the best things about the gradual relaxation of the pandemic restrictions is the fact that our high school brunch group is now able to get together in person again. We normally meet twice a month; our most recent get-together was the third time since things began to improve. Following the forty-fifth reunion of… [Read More]

The Bridgeville Area Historical Society provides the community with many valuable services, the most popular of which may well be its monthly series of historical programs. Most of these are “one-shot” deals, a speaker with specific knowledge on a particular event or subject; others are return visits by versatile presenters whom we know will excel… [Read More]

Ed Chabala has been a major supporter of the Bridgeville Area Historical Society since its inception. I visited the History Center last week to pick up his recent donations – high school yearbooks from 1945 and 1947, a photograph of the 1941 football team, and an aerial photograph of Mayer Field in 1940. I also… [Read More]

One of the Senior Design projects our students in the Civil Engineering Department at Pitt implemented this term was an extensive study of the feasibility of reversing the tendency of Canonsburg Lake to slowly transition from a healthy body of water into a permanent wetland. I distinctly remember when “the aluminum dam” was constructed, forming… [Read More]

A recent article in the Post-Gazette reported on the dedication of the Gladden Abandoned Mine Drainage (AMD) remediation facility and its effect on Millers Run. For as long as I can remember, this stream, running through the heart of South Fayette, has been a bright orange color, and perhaps the most glaring example of the… [Read More]