Lafayette Street, 1954. November 28, 2019

Copyright © 2019                               John F. Oyler 

November 28, 2019

Lafayette Street, 1954 

My previous column dealing with Lafayette Street in 1939 described a “frontier” neighborhood full of newly constructed houses and numerous vacant lots. As I promised, this week I have imported my brother Joe and our mutual friend, Dale DeBlander, to help describe a much more mature neighborhood, fifteen years later in 1954. 

By this time I was off in Japan, defending the free world against the Communist menace, so I am happy to have their help.

One of several errors in the 1939 column was my reporting that the DeBlanders were already living at 1073 Lafayette Street; Dale refuted this and reported that they didn’t move into our neighborhood till 1940 or early 1941. Since he remembers the paving of Lafayette Street, my dating that event to 1939 is another error.

My original column also had the Chamberlain family living in the corner house on Elizabeth Street – the address is actually 619 Elizabeth Street. I recently found a copy of information from the 1940 census that lists a family named Weir at that address.

By 1954 Josephine Licata, her aunt, and two extremely belligerent cocker spaniels lived in that house. Small children would detour across the street to avoid being accosted by the dogs. Joe had difficulty delivering their newspaper. Recently Alfred Barzan gave me a copy of a Johns-Manville brochure featuring this house and extolling the virtues of the J-M insulation in it. Alfred’s father, Sam Barzan, built the house in 1932 for Arthur Silhol, as a model home.

Gordon Baker and his wife now lived at 1041 Lafayette; the Antions had moved away a few years earlier. Mr. Baker was a metallurgist at the Universal Cyclops plant; thirty years later I had a reunion with him when he worked for Dravo Corporation as a steelmaking consultant.

Vic and Dorothy Mauti had moved into 1049 by then. Their children, Dale and Sandra, were part of the first wave of “Baby Boomers”. My parents considered themselves their adopted grandparents. Vic was an accomplished engineering draftsman, and in addition an excellent accordion player. 

Butch and Helen Goldbach moved into 1057 in the mid-1940s and forged a close link with the Oylers. Their son George was Joe’s age; I remember my father affectionately calling him something that sounded like “lunchman”. Years later I learned that it was a Pennsylvania Dutch term “landsmann”, that means fellow countryman or neighbor. It is very close to the Yiddish term “lantsman”.

When the weather permitted the Oylers and Goldbachs had Sunday supper together in the backyard, cooking hot dogs and hamburgers on a makeshift fireplace my father built in a wheelbarrow. My mother and Mrs. Goldbach were ardent fans of the Sunday crossword puzzle, spent most of the afternoon comparing notes on their progress.

In 1954 the Abrams family had built a new house at 1061, next to Goldbachs. The lot at 1065 had disappeared in 1949 when the Polichnowskis built their new home there. They had two sons, Ron and Eddie. The construction of Abrams’ house was the death knell for our vacant lot “pitch and putt” golf course. 

Hoppers were still at 1069. Billy had left by 1954, but Don was still in high school. The DeBlanders were firmly ensconced next door. Wayne was still at home; Dale was a Freshman at Marietta College. Joe has a wonderful story about ex-coach Al Como’s efforts to help Bridgeville kids get scholarships at his alma mater, Marietta, even after he had moved to Ellwood City. In addition to Dale, Marvin McCormick and Frank Calabro benefitted from his efforts.

Coxes, Hellers, and the Sims family still occupied the next three houses. A new house was being built on the corner lot (1099); Joe thinks a Miller family moved into it. The lot between 1099 and the Sims house was still vacant. According to the Allegheny County website it was the last lot to be developed, in 1966, by the Jack Wight family.

On the west side of the street, the Tom Smart family, including one son, Tom, was now living in the other Elizabeth Street corner house, at 1050 Lafayette. The Hayes family, with son Fred, were now living at 1062; Bealls had moved when the Vanadium Corporation relocated to Cambridge, Ohio. 

The vacant lot at 1066 was filled by a new home occupied by the Daniels family in 1940. The Guido Paroline family moved into a new home at 1070 in 1945. Mr. Paroline was the Golf Professional at St. Clair Country Club; I think that one of his competitors for that very desirable job was his neighbor, Tom Smart. The Parolines had two children, Tom and Fay. 

The Jones family was still living at 1074. The entire neighborhood was still mourning the death of their son, Amos, in the crash of a navy plane in Iceland the previous year. Their son, Gary, was a senior in high school, as was Tom Paroline and my brother Joe.

There is some confusion about the next address – 1078. The Allegheny County website reports that a house was built on it in 1936. We are unanimously convinced that the Joe Ferris family built their home there late in the 1940s. Ken and Richie were their sons.

My earlier column had the Panizzas and Capozzolis living in the next two houses in 1939. According to the County website their houses weren’t built until 1941. At any rate both families were solid members of the neighborhood in 1954.

The three of us are unable to come to a consensus on the occupants of the corner house, 1096, by 1954. I know that Dick Hobson, the Scoutmaster of Troop 245, lived there in the mid 1940s. Joe thinks the Veydt family occupied that house at some point, possibly later.

I had the impression that there were very few dogs in our neighborhood in those days. Once again Joe and Dale proved me wrong. In addition to the Licatas’ nasty pair, Bealls had two terriers, Smitty and Imp. The Jones family had two beagles, Jiggs and Mike. DeBlanders had Tippy; Panizzas had Tippy’s mother, Chloe.

Dale contributed a cute story about the time Tippy was hit by a car and presumed dead. Mr. Jones had a stethoscope that he used in his refrigerator repair business; thanks to it they were able to confirm that Tippy was still alive, a condition they reinforced with an eye dropper filled with whiskey.

Dale also questioned my statement that Mr. Hopper worked for B. K. Elliot and suggested his employed was their competitor, the Eugene Dietzgen Company. I suspect he was right. He also noted that Mr. Cox was a medical/dental supplies salesman and that his named was Albert. Also, Mrs. Sims first name was Mildred.

Dale also remembered the time his father and Mr. Heller paved their driveways. They built the forms, had Silhol deliver a load of concrete, poured it, and even did the finishing themselves, down on their hands and knees with a trowel. Incidentally Dale also reported that Mr. Heller’s name was Kelvin, not Kellen as I thought.

By 1954 our neighborhood had matured. Bridgeville was at the peak of its commercial prosperity. We were sure we lived in the nicest neighborhood in a wonderful little town close enough to Pittsburgh to take advantage of the good things it had to offer, yet far enough away to avoid the bad things.

My thanks to Joe and Dale for their contributions to this column. We hope it presents an accurate picture of a close-knit neighborhood in the middle of the twentieth century.