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MEETINGS
Meetings are usually on the second Thursday of each month. The August and September meetings (August 10 and September 14) will be at the Mill at 7 p.m. In October we’ll resume meeting at King’s Community Room.
OPEN HOUSE AT THE MILL
There will be three more Open Houses – the 4th Saturday of August and September. The dates are August 26 and September 23. The Mill is open from 11 to 4. The Mill will also be open in conjunction with “September by the River” on Saturday, September 16. We will have a table at the river on September 16 and Sunday, September 17.
A QUILTING WE WILL GO
Two generous members have purchased an Amish quilt and have donated it to FAHS to be raffled off as a fundraiser. The quilt was made by Emma Yoder and is queen size, 90 x 100. The design is Dresden Plate and it is gorgeous. A black and white picture printed here would simply not do it justice. We’ll try to get a photo on the web page, so you may check it out there. Trust us, it’s beautiful! Members will receive a book of 10 tickets ($1 each) to sell. Please help us with this easy fundraiser. Sell the tickets to friends or relatives or purchase them yourself. Ticket stubs must be turned in by November 1. The winning ticket will be drawn at the November meeting, tentatively scheduled for November 11. Second prize will be handmade decorative pillows. These are made with the old fashioned method of latch hook and are made of hand-spun wool. They are black with a floral pattern. Third prize will be a Freeport throw.
NOVEMBER MEETING
This will be a different sort of meeting – a walking tour of Freeport, led by Rod Chapman, followed by a soup and sandwich dinner to be held in the Social Room of Freeport United Methodist Church, 4th Street. Meet there at 3 and we’ll depart promptly at 3:15. If the weather does not cooperate, this will be a virtual tour with photos while Rod gives us historical background on many buildings and locations in town. Once the tour is done, we will end the meeting with homemade soup and deli sandwiches. Watch for a reminder and more information in the October/November newsletter.
MEMORIES
This is another in the series on memories of long-time local residents.
Fern Ruppersberger
Fern had two great guys in her life and she’d rather talk about them than herself. If you know Fern, you know she’s an accomplished seamstress and she comes by this talent through both genetics and training. Her granddad was a tailor in Cabot, although she has no memory of him. Her mother continued to work cleaning houses after she married “Doc” (Dr. Benjamin Richter) and young Fern spent the days with her step grandparents and learned to handle a needle. Her step dad’s parents were tailors for Ralston’s Shop in Freeport and if stitching didn’t suit Granddad Richter, it would be removed and begun again. Among the many treasures Fern has are a wooden trunk that belonged to her Cabot grandfather and a quilt with embroidered blocks that she stitched herself as a young child. She continues to sew on a beautiful older model Singer.
Fern’s Mom met Doc through Attorney Fair’s family for whom she cleaned. Doc was a wonderful dad to Fern and she can show you a scrapbook and many mementos from his life. Doc served as a POW camp guard in both France and Germany during WWI. He was always annoyed that the big celebration at the end of WWI was held so quickly because a lot of the soldiers weren’t home yet, including him. Doc didn’t believe in shots or medicine but did have to get shots before going overseas. He poured vinegar over the injection sites. Fern has some photos of the POW camps, old postcards and discharge papers. One of the best artifacts is his doughboy hat.
A few days after our visit with Fern the Valley News Dispatch mentioned the origins of “doughboy” in a sidebar story connected with the Verona Doughboy statue. Doughboy was a slang term for an Army soldier in WWI. The word was first recorded in 1867 as a derogatory term that cavalrymen used for infantrymen. In the Civil War, the Union infantry uniform had large, globular brass buttons resembling a doughboy, which was a flour dumpling cooked in soup.
Doc graduated from Universal Chiropractic College in Davenport, Iowa. His career was impressive; word of his talent spread and eventually he was licensed in 20 some states. He treated many professional teams such as the Red Wings, Cardinals, Cleveland Baseball Co., St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates (now known as our beloved Steelers) as well as Pittsburgh Arena Boxers and local school athletic teams such as Freeport, Duquesne University, Kiski Prep, and others.
His most famous patient was probably Edward VIII of England. After Edward abdicated to marry Wally Simpson, Doc treated her as well and also members of Parliament, the English polo team, and other European royalty. Another artifact that Fern has is a huge picture of Edward VIII given to Doc many decades ago. Doc’s career in Europe got a boost from Mrs. Winston Guest – an American married to a Brit. When Mr. Guest was ill and doctors kept treating him in Britain with no results, she asked Doc to go over. Doc was honest – he told her, after examining Mr. Guest, that there was nothing he could do. (The British doctors had been treating him and collecting fees, but wouldn’t say what was wrong.) This honesty was what won her over and Mrs. Guest remained a great friend to Doc and took his family under her wing. Fern has a copy of a check for $1,000 signed by Mrs. Guest and dated 1940 – this was for one trip over to England. He made several trips and at least one was on the Queen Mary. He saved the menus, which Fern has kept.
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“A chiropractor is a guy who gets paid for what an ordinary guy would be slapped for.” -- from Doc’s scrapbook.
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When Fern was old enough to drive, she would often act as chauffeur for Doc on house calls he made in the local area. When her daughter was less than a year old, the family was making a road trip to Palm Beach to see Mrs. Guest. Carol became very ill and a visit to an MD in the D.C. area resulted in Fern being told not to go on in the car with the baby. Doc purchased a train ticket for Fern and she stayed in a rooming house while the others continued on their journey. The next day Fern went to the station and the conductor said, “You can’t get on this train with the baby, there aren’t any more seats.” Fern said, “Hey, mister, I have to get on this train, I have no other way to get to Florida and I have a sick baby.” Fern and Carol spent the trip in a restroom suite with diapers rinsed and drying draped over chairs. Mrs. Guest met her at the station. Wouldn’t you know, as soon as they got off the train, Carol upchucked all over Fern! Mrs. Guest took them to one of her apartments in Palm Beach and found clothes to fit Fern. She was very good to the whole family. Carol was a particular favorite of Mrs. Guest who called Carol her “Ba ba”. Fern wryly explains that Ba ba did not get a mention in the Guest will! As Mrs. Guest was a Phipps (Phipps Conservatory), this could have been substantial had it happened!
Fern’s other special guy was her husband, “Rog.” Roger was very community minded, served on council, served as Burgess (which became Mayor during his tenure), was active with the firemen, scouts, and one of the founders of the Freeport Sportsmen’s Club. Fern has a great scrapbook with many pictures of Roger that appeared in local newspapers. They were both active with the Freeport Sportsmen’s Club. One of the fun things they did was to produce several fundraising shows. Fern did the costumes; once they did a “wedding” with males playing all the female roles! Rog was an accomplished fisherman; Fern didn’t fish, but she cooked the fish he caught (lots) and even cooked groundhog.
This is one news clipping from Roger’s scrapbook: “Freeport Mayor Roger Ruppersberger, using Police Chief Rodger’s gun, shot a 125 lb. button buck when it was cornered in the yard of the Junior High School where it attempted to jump a fence. The deer was first seen near the rear of the Mayfair Hotel and Dr. Wilson’s office, then at Freeport Methodist Church and the Freeport Elementary School. Chief Rodgers said the deer had 3 arrow marks on its head. The deer will be given to the needy.”
We appreciate Fern spending time and sharing the memories and scrapbooks with us. You can learn more about Fern by reading the Freeport Oral History Interviews, a publication of FAHS, available at the Freeport Library.
EMAIL INFO REQUEST
Amanda Yasczak has emailed requesting any information on Lucesco as part of a project she is doing for River Forest Country Club. Please contact Amanda if you can help.
ANOTHER EMAIL
Another email was received from Susan Matthews. She writes: “I grew up in Freeport and on August 12, 2006, I will be having our 20 year class reunion at the Hilton Gardens in Freeport. I’m trying to make a picture collage of classmates and the town of Freeport.” She went on to say she was trying to locate some pictures of Freeport, especially as it appeared when she and her classmates were growing up. She wanted pictures of Desrosiers, LL Bean, and the Middle and High Schools pre 1986. While Alan is trying to figure out what the heck she is talking about, she emails back – she was talking about Freeport, MAINE!!! Okay, okay, this isn’t historically significant, but can’t we all use a chuckle?
PENNSYLVANIA MAINLINE CANAL
We continue with excerpts from Rod Chapman’s remarks at the December dinner meeting of FAHS, with information on the western section.
Westward Ho
At Johnstown there was a sizeable basin on the Conemaugh River to load and unload canal boats and barges, especially the ones coming down off the mountain, to get back on the canal. The canal continued along the Conemaugh River from Johnstown, then followed along the Kiski River. At about Leechburg they had to build a damn to hold the river water; it was 27 ft high and 570 ft. long! They would collect water, backing it up as far as Apollo. When the canal trench was ready, this dammed up water would supply the canal all the way to Pittsburgh. The canal came out on the upper side of the Kiski River.
The concern in the west was where the canal would be placed – which side of the river; east, or Pittsburgh side, or west, then known as Allegheny City, now known as the North Side of Pittsburgh. The chief engineer of the Erie Canal was called in to make the decision. He got in a boat at Pittsburgh, went up the Allegheny as far as the Kiski River on the east side, then turned around and went down the west side, looking at the land, the hillsides. The decision was made – it would be on the same side of the river as Freeport.
So an aqueduct was built from the Kiski across the Allegheny; it was built on 6 stone piers in the river. The canal was pared down to about 12 feet wide, with a towpath on the down river side. The barges were all moved by mules, a pretty slow process; but they were calm and would just plug right along. Three mules would pull from the front, two in tandem and a single one in front of them. The single mule was ridden by a man who would know where the ground was raised up and when the pull was harder.
From the point where the Kiski enters the Allegheny down to the point in Pittsburgh is about 30 miles and the river drops 40 feet in that stretch. Locks had to be built on the canal so they could raise the river coming upstream. Each lock had a basin with it so that the canal barges could come out of the canal, be serviced, load and unload products. Each town had its own basin.
At Pittsburgh they finally decided to have it cross the river at about where the 40th Street Bridge is and go at an angle to about where 11th Street is. When the canal was opened all the way there was quite a celebration in Pittsburgh. There was also talk of connecting it with other possible canals and it was thought there would be a B & O canal, but that didn’t happen. Railroads began coming into their own and instead of a B & O canal, we had the B & O railroad. However, a canal was dug across to connect with the Monongahela just in case a canal did come in on the other side.
In the next issue of Grist we will finish up the canal story with the canal in Freeport.
FIFTY YEARS
This summer our nation celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Interstate Highway System. President Eisenhower is often given credit for conceiving it, but it was actually first described in a Bureau of Public Roads report to Congress in 1939. Ike’s support led to enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which established the program for funding and building. His support was largely based on civilian needs but he did understand the military value as well as its potential use for evacuations. One myth connected with the system is that one in five miles is straight so airplanes can land in emergencies. This myth has no basis in law, regulation, design or fact. However, airplanes occasionally do land on them with no alternative is available in an emergency. Another myth is that the only “built” object astronauts can see from space is the Interstate System. From an altitude of about 155 miles, the unaided astronaut eyes can see many built objects on Earth if he or she knows where to look. The system is not visible as a network, but astronauts using binoculars can see roads, cities, dams, airports, and other objects. Drive on!
FREEPORT STORE CLOSES
From the August 28, 1990 edition of the Valley News Dispatch: “Freeport Hardware will close…Jim Montgomery, owner of Freeport Hardware at Fifth and High Streets, announced that the store is going out of business. Freeport Hardware will close in October. The building is up for sale.”
FUNERAL HOME RECORDS
Member John McDermott is wondering, what happened to old funeral home records,
from the Turner Funeral Home for example. Anyone know the answer? Contact him at elmo@connecttime.net Our resident historian, Rod Chapman, doesn’t know where the records are, if they still exist, but he does know some of the history. Fred Turner had a furniture store and in the early days furniture stores would frequently have an embalmer work for them. Funeral homes weren’t used to the extent they are today; many or most funerals were from the home or the church. A Mr. Meredith Lloyd went to work for Fred and it eventually became the Turner-Lloyd Funeral Home. It was located diagonally across the street from Redmond’s; current location, at the corner of 6th and High. Fred Turner passed away and later Ambrose Smith worked there as an embalmer. John Cherry came along and sometime later bought the business from Mr. Lloyd. Cherry had the opportunity to move it to the present location of Redmond’s. John later sold out to Richard Redmond and moved to Florida. Son Ryan is now the proprietor. We have another funeral home in town – Dougherty. Here is the history on that: Tarentum had a Walters Funeral Home – predecessor to Dusters; and one of the sons of Walters started the business in Freeport. Eventually Charlie Fullerton came along, worked there and eventually bought it. He was in business for some years before selling to Dougherty, the current owner. As usual Rod knows a lot about the history – but those records are still among the missing!
CORRECTION
In the last Grist, we mentioned SSDI and guessed that it might mean Social Security Disability Insurance. Well…close, but this isn’t horseshoes! Gay Revi, who comes to our rescue all the time, tells us this stands for Social Security Death Index. Thanks, Gay!! And speaking of Gay, she has some new (but really OLD) postcards posted at http://freeportpa.org. One is of the Freeport Train Station, 1910, and the other is of the Butler Junction Station, 1912. There are very few of the old stations still around so it is curious there were two then, just a block or two apart. But, there were lines going in two directions at this time. The postcard on the next page shows a training traveling through Laneville. Date is unknown Thanks, Gay. |
