09-AspinwallMemories-BenFreudenreich
Aspinwall, Pa
Memories & Photos
contributed (Aug., 2009) by former resident

Ben Freudenreich, [email protected]


To read some of Ben's
musings about Aspinwall's hill and "the woods", click HERE.

To view Ben's December 12, 1944 "snow" photos and read his vendor "Convenience" article, click HERE.




Here are a few pictures from Aspinwall.  One is of the PRR UY Tower in the fork of the railroad bridge.  My grandfather Ben Garrison worked there.  A second picture shows him inside the tower. The picture probably was taken in the 1940s.


""




What seems like a long time ago, the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks along Freeport Road in Aspinwall turned as they went under the Highland Park Bridge and went through the heart of Sharpsburg past the Fort Pitt brewery.  The attached photo shows the RH switch tower and the tracks going under Rt 28.  The tracks crossed Sharpsburg's Main Street where it turned to pass the F&M Bank and go into the commercial district.  Sometime in the 1950s, those tracks were abandoned and the main line was routed along the river.

 
""




Before the Rte 28 bypass was built, the Aspinwall hillside was beautiful and was the home of the Schade and Swan families.  Attached is a picture of Schade's home in the 1950s.



""



There was an outcropping of large rocks high on "the hill" overlooking the shooting range.  I'm attaching a picture of the view across the Highland Park Bridge from those rocks.


""
(click on photo to enlarge)



There was a small store on Western Avenue at the alley between Freeport Road and First Street.  When I was in grade school, the store was owned by Fred Geyer (sp?).  Early in the 1950s, Minnie Haas bought the store and ran it for several years before selling it to Lee Balsiger.  My mother worked there with Minnie and later with Lee.

""




Unfortunately, I can't identify most of the kids in this next picture, but this is the St. Scholastica's First Communion class of kids that would have graduated in 1957.  The priest was Father Francis Clifford.  Our nun was Sister Ann Selma.  I'm in the front row just to the right of Father.  Ollie Gray is beside me.

""
(click on photo to enlarge)



Room 4, Hoboken School 5th and 6th Grades, 1920-21

"" 

Girls left to right:  Edith Walton, Mildred Lorsh, Margaret Garrison (third girl from left right behind boys), Kitty Gray, Virginia Morton, ?, Alice Whiteman, ?, Gladys Thompson, Ruth Aul, Ann Simons, ?, ?, Sara Eck, Armella Surio (?), Eleanor Watkinson (last girl in second row).
I don’t have names for the boys.




Hoboken School, 7th and 8th Grades

"" 

Boys: (left to right, I think):  Paul Gardner, Charles Glotfelty, Eddie Head, Joseph Lodge, Walter Coyle, Chester Meyers, Stanley Masoskey, Earnest Altman, Robert Wayman, Dennis Ferrone, John Dennick 

Girls: (left to right beginning in the back, I think):  Ruth Aul, Anna Simons, Miss Sarah Boyle, Veronica Byrnes

Mildred Smith, Theresa Ferrara, Armella Sindo (?), Cathryn Gray, Eleanor Watkinson, Dorothy O’Connel, Emma Holt, Virginia Morton, Mildred Lorsh, Florence Cummings, Margaret Garrison, Edith K. Walton, Sarah Eck. 

Margaret Garrison definitely is the 4th girl from the left right behind the boys.  Virginia Morton must be the first girl in that row.




Silver Anniversary Reunion of Aspinwall High School Class of 1926.
Oliver Building Restaurant, Pittsburgh  (1951)


""

Committee:  Ralph Hechel, Alice Klingensmith, Frank Burkhart, Paul Wamhoff, Dorothy Slater Olsen 

Top Row Left to Right:  Ralph Heckel, Walter Schiffhauer, Bob Bunting, Bill “Scotty” Angus, Frank Burkhart, Roy Luin (or Linn), Kenneth Humes, Jim Lockerman, Tel Campbell, Herb Dodd, Dr. Dick O’Tolle, Dave Pryde 

Second Row:  Margaret O’Donovan Polhemus, Eleanor Humes Welch, Ruth Wood Auten, Ruth Leich Shannon, Gert. Kromer Daugherty, Mary Drumheller Opdyke, Clara Berry Logan, Emma Lou Lytel McClements, Bernard Friedman, Paul Wamhoff, Chester Meyers. 

Bottom Row:  Mary Greelee Cousley, Margaret Garrison Freudenreich, Dorothy Slater Olsen, Ruth Goff Nicodemus, Agnes Dunn, Loretta O’Toole Ford, Alice Ganster Klingensmith, Helen Crosby Lockerman, Nathal Swansvick Rodgers, Ruth Napier Flynn, Helen Peterson Forster.




First Grade Aspinwall Public School, Center Avenue

 ""

Teacher:  Janet Brewster

First Row (l to r):  Tommy Hartman, Scott Mason, Ben Freudenreich, Sandy Pitcairn, Emeric Talsic (Rick Kalsey),
Fred Roney, Tom Kanhofer, Jimmy Uleman, John Masters

Second Row:  Bill Jones, Helen Ode, Martha Monroe, Wayne Rawley, Dotty Thompson,  Ann Sauers, Barbara Scholnick, Charles Parker.


 

Aspinwall Second Grade Class 1946 – 1947.

""

Teacher: Miss Viola Hawkins 

Top Row (l to r):  Gary Danvers, Tom Hopkins, Emeric Kalsic (Rick Kalsey),
Sandy Pitcairn, Bobby Brosius, Charles Clouse, Charles Parker, Tommy Flemming 

2nd Row:  Miss Hawkins, Bill Jones, Frank Clokey, David Banks, Ben Freudenreich, Jimmy Uleman, Tommy Hamilton, Edwin Friend 

3rd Row:  Nancy Rawley, Ann Sauers, Jane Flynn, Joan Kovak, Marguerite Beachler, Marjorie Klee, Dotty Thompson, Martha Ann Monroe




Aspinwall Playground

Below are three pictures of the Aspinwall Playground that were taken in the 1930s.  They aren't very good but they show the shelter, the seesaws, and the "duck pond" (pool).  The fourth one was taken around 1942 or 43.  It shows the swings.  (Yeah, I'm the kid in the picture.)  Somewhere, I have one of Nancy Snyder and me playing in the big sandbox in the shelter.  When I find it, I'll send it along.

""    ""

""    ""
(click on above photos to enlarge)



To contribute information to this website, please send Email to the address
listed on my "HOME PAGE" (link) below.
In your "Subject" line please indicate the nature of your contribution. Thank you!

 

Back to HOME PAGE


Disclaimer