Glassport, Pennsylvania

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Major News Events From The Past

This page reports on major news events, which occurred in the past history of Glassport as reported by the media. Readers of this page, who were witness to any of the events described here, are invited to submit their own recollections of the event. E-Mail recollections to: glassportpa@comcast.net

Posted September 16, 2007

Merger of Glassport Plant Seen

Hint Of $100,000,000 Steel Company Combine Stirs Valley Industry

OFFICIALS ARE SILENT

Report Pittsburgh, Sharon, Ohio Concerns In New Consolidation

Possibility of a $100,000,000 steel merger which would join the idle Glassport plant of the Pittsburgh Steel Corporation with plants in Youngstown and Pittsburgh districts was hinted today.

Talk in steel circles indicated such a consolidation would involve Sharon Steel Corporation, Pittsburgh Steel Corporation, Empire Steel and Tin Plate

Company of Mansfield, O. and the Follansbee Brothers Company of Follansbee, W. Va., and Toronto, O.

The Glassport plant, closed since 1930, is a subsidiary of the Pittsburgh Steel Corporation and would be a part of the rumored merger. It began operations in Glassport in 1900 and employed approximately 200 men before it closed.

The plant, which served as the hoop and band department of Pittsburgh Steel, covers approximately 300,000 square feet of floor space with a large yard and railroad spur. New electrical equipment valued at several hundred thousand dollars was added shortley before the shut down.

Henry A. Roemer, chairman and president of Sharon Steel and president of Pittsburgh Steel, would not be quoted on reports of the merger. A spokesman for his office said the report was not based on fact but rumor.

Pittsburgh Steel assets are about $70,0000,000; Sharon, $16,000,000; Empire, $4,000,000; Follansbee $11,000,000.

Widely scattered plants would be joined by the rumored deal.

Pittsburgh Steel also has plants at Monessen and Allenport, Pa. Sharon has its Lowellville, O. firm and two other subsidiaries, the Youngstown Pressed Steel Company of Warren, O. and the Niles Rolling Mill Company at Niles, O.

Empire is what is left of the merger of three Niles sheet plants and a Mansfield, Ashtabula and Cleveland plant before the depression.

Posted February 12, 2006

McKeesport Daily News April 29, 1929

AMERICAN LEGION

At a meeting of the Glassport American Legion on Friday evening in the council chambers, the post was officially named American Legion, post No. 443. Various committees were elected as follows: Finance, Messrs. Fabry, Vallencik and Payne; program advertising: M. Kobak, chairman; service officer, Arthur Mayou; poppy committee, F. Harbaugh, chairman, and Messrs. Wawzreniak, Price and Babyak. It was decided that the annual sale of poppies will be held on Saturday, May 25. Proceeds of this sale will go to help defray expenses of the Memorial Day program. M. J. Naser was elected publicity manager.

Thus far 22 members have been taken into the post and a membership drive is to be put on during the coming two weeks. The post has been divided into two groups, the "Go-Getters," headed by Mr. Mawhinney and the "High Test" team headed by Mr. Lapsley. It is hoped that all ex-soldiers in Glassport will have their applications filled out, and that they be on hand Friday evening, May 10, for the initiation. At this time the charter will be presented and all members to the post at that time will sign the charter.

In connection with the Memorial Day program, Chairman, M. J. Naser announced that invitations had been sent to the following organizations to participate in the community Memorial Day program: American Legion posts and drum corps. of Clairton, McKeesport, Elizabeth, Duquesne, Dravosburg, Monongahela, Wilmerding and Wilkensburg, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 147; Rotary club, Business Men's Association, Citizens' hose companies Nos. 1 and 2, Sons of Italy, Polish Falcons, Slovak Union lodge, borough council, borough police department, Flint Glassworkers' union, Slovak Women Ziveni association. Slovak Roman Catholic Men's club, Slovak Roman Catholic Women's club, Greek Catholic association, Glassport Civic club and Boy Scouts, troops 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. The children of the schools were also invited.

(Note from R. A. Uher: Apparently, the American Legion was founded on Friday, April 19, 1929, just 10 days prior. It is still in existence and active today.)

Posted January 15, 2006

McKeesport Daily News October 24, 1953

Stallings Co. To Suspend Trade Today

Receiver Appointed For Baking Firm; Stores Closing

The Stallings Bakery and its 16 present retail outlets will be shut down at the close of business today.

Announcement of the suspension of operations was made by Theodore H. Schmidt, Pittsburgh attorney, who has been appointed receiver for the 25 year old Glassport baking concern.

Action followed filing of creditor petitions in Federal Court more than a week ago. Mr. Schmidt was named receiver by Federal Judge Rabe Marsh on Tuesday.

A survey of the financial condition of the firm shows that further operation of the plant and retail outlets would not be advisable at this time, Mr. Schmidt said today.

The next step in liquidating the firm will be taken when Referee in Bankruptcy, Stephen P. Laffey calls a meeting of creditors.

They in turn will select a trustee in bankruptcy.

Meanwhile, Mr. Schmidt who is a state representative from the Fifth District, Pittsburgh, has asked that creditors other than the petitioners get in touch with him at his Grant Building office.

Mr. Schmidt has estimated that creditor claims may reach a total of $200,000.

Since the death of John Stallings in 1951, the company has been directed by his son, J. Alan Stallings.

At the time of the closing order, approximately 30 persons were employed at the main plant, 28 - 52 Monongahela Ave., Glassport. Another 30 were employed at the retail stores.

Mrs. Janet Stallings, widow of the founder of the company, attributes most of the firm's financial trouble to the strike that tied up the bakery for several weeks last year.

"We have tried our best to work things out," she said today, "but increasing costs could not be overcome."

Affected by the closing order are retail stores located at these points:

414 Ringgold Ave., 232 Fifth Ave., 3105 Versailles Ave., 2918 Walnut St. in McKeesport.

114 S. Pennsylvania Ave, Greensburg; 539 State St., Wilson District, Clairton; 116 Main St., West Newton; in Lincoln Way, White Oak; 535 Monongahela Ave., Glassport; Second and Plum Sts., Elizabeth; 315 Main St., Irwin; 608 Penn Ave., Turtle Creek; 338 E. Eighth St., Homestead; 515 Fallowfield Ave., Charleroi

Already closed had been places at Brownsville Rd., Baldwin Twp.; 555 Miller St., Clairton; 420 West Grant Ave., Duquesne; 2918 Walnut St., McKeesport; 820 Linden Ave., East Pittsburgh; 724 Braddock Ave., Braddock; 314 Wood St., Wilkensburg; 724 Washington Rd., Mt. Lebanon, 2262 Brownsville Rd., Pittsburgh; and 611 McKean Ave., Donora.

The Stallings company began business in McKeesport in 1906 as a wholesale candy concern. From a spot in the 700 block of Fifth Ave, it moved to quarters in the Masonic Temple, now occupied by Western Union.

Later, it occupied a Walnut St. building which made way for Lysle Boulevard.

The bakery business was added to the candy line in 1928. In 1936, the present modern plant was built in Glassport.

Some of the present employees of the company have been with the firm for 25 years -- or since the bakery business was founded.

Posted December 25, 2005

McKeesport Daily News of September 4, 1975

Copperweld Vows Fight In Imetal Takeover Bid

By JAMES B. JOHNSON Daily News Business Editor

Battle lines are forming in the Copperweld-Imetal control fight.

Societe Imetal, a Paris based holding company, is making more than just noise in its bid to gain control of Copperweld.

And Copperweld directors are bracing for an all-out fight to keep it from happening.

Yesterday, Copperweld's president and chairman, Phillip H. Smith, branded Imetal's offer to purchase all shares of the Pittsburgh-based firm for $42.50 as "clearly inadequate."

In a letter to shareholders, Smith said: "Not a single officer or member of Copperweld's board of directors will tender his shares, and we strongly recommend that you keep your securities..." Imetal's interest in Copperweld surfaced late last week after the latter's stock had surged to a 1975 high of $34 50 amid heavy trading.

The New York Stock Exchange suspended transactions of Copperweld stock on Friday, and when trading resumed yesterday, it closed at $42 per share, up $7.50.

Copperweld has about 2.6 million shares of stock outstanding among some 8,000 shareholders.

Meanwhile, Imetal firmed up its control bid today with an advertisement in The Wall Street Journal offering to "purchase for cash" any and all outstanding shares of Copperweld's common stock and five per cent debentures due Dec. 1, 1979.

Imetal, billed as the world's largest producer of ferronickel, made official its offer to buy common stock for $42.50 per share and to pay $1,517 net per $1,000 principal amount of debentures.

The advertisement lists the offer as expiring at 5 p.m. next Thursday "unless extended by Imetal."

In his letter to shareholders, Copperweld's president and chairman gave these reasons in urging them to reject the Imetal offer:

-- the offer is substantially below the true value of your shares.

--the tender offer is a taxable transaction. Therefore you may incur a substantial tax liability.

-- your company has never been stronger financially and its product lines are healthy and growing.

--Copperweld had record sales and earnings for the first six months of 1975.

--your dividends have increased five times in the last four vears.

-dividends have been paid every year for the past 40 years.

Finally, Smith made clear the path Copperweld intends to take to thwart any takeover by Imetal : "Court action is planned by Copperweld to protect its security holders." he wrote.

The letter goes on to note that Copperweld "observed an unusual volume of trading activity in our stock" on Thursday. Aug. 28.

Continuing, the firm's top official said efforts were made to determine the reason for the heavy trading, "but were unsuccessful."

"It now appears that a yet unexplained leak of inside information was responsible for this unusual activity." Smith's letter continued.

It was on Friday that Imetal's tender offer surfaced officially. A meeting was held Tuesday in Pittsburgh between Copperweld and Imetal representatives and, said Smith. it was then that Copperweld learned that Imetal was preparing to make a tender offer "on a take-it-or leave-it basis."

"We were further advised the offer would be open for a limited time, only eight days," the letter said.

"If Societe Imetal is suddenly willing to offer $42.50 per share for your Copperweld stock, it must see evidence of a value substantially higher than its recent stock market price,"Smith continued.

Financial analysts appear in agreement that Copperweld is on a sound financial basis and, in fact, represents a "good buy", whether it be by Imetal or any other major firm.

The company had record sales last year, boosted its dividend and for the first half of this year recorded a 29 per cent earnings gain over the comparable period of 1974.

It was doing all this while the economy was spiralling downward in a recession.

And, while Copperweld leaders are viewing the Imetal offer with a negative viewpoint, it appears a similar attitude has been adopted by the people of Glasspurt where the firm's Bimeallics Division is based.

Today, Mayor Charles Gorun issued this statement on the heels of the Imetal offer:

"I'm pleading with the people of our community to contact the directors and stockholders of Copperweld and urge them not to sell to this 'outside' firm (Imetal) . We have too much at stake and too many jobs involved to risk losing any of it. I am contacting our senator, legislators and commissioners and will ask them to exert all pressures at their command to assist Copperweld and the Borough of Glassport."

Thus, battle lines have been drawn and a fight to the end appear to be in the offing. Imetal has hinted it will attempt to take control of the firm with or without management's cooperation. Copperweld says it will "vigorously oppose" the move "with all the resources at our command."

The outcome should be interesting.

Posted August 14, 2005

McKeesport Daily News of February 1, 1952

Headlines: WALKOUTS CRIPPLE TWO AREA MILLS

U. S. Steel, Copperweld Plants Hit

Nearly 3000 Workers Idled at Clairton And Glassport

Strikes in two district steel mills idled approximately 3000 workers today and bit deeply into defense production.

More than 2000 emloyees of U. S. Steel's Clairton plant were thrown out of work by a walkout of 40 members of tug boat and coal hoist crews, members of Local 1557 CIO United Steelworkers.

The entire Glassport Copperweld plant was shut down in a labor dispute which idled 900 workers. It is the second work stoppage in two months there. This dispute also involved a CIO Steelworkers Union.

By-product coke production dropped by more than 50 percent at the Clairton plant. Four finishing mills, the open hearth and blooming mills in the steel works division were completely idled by lack of coal. Resulting loss in steel production is estimated at 2500 tons daily.

The strike threatened to shut down six rolling mills in neighboring U. S. Steel plants, fueled by Clairton by-products gas, but the return of warmer weather today made enough gas available from other sources to continue operations.

Production at the Clairton plant began to fall off yesterday when the walkout of the tug boat and landing crews prevented unloading of barges which supply coal for the coke ovens.

The issues were not clear in either strike today. The tug boat and landing crews at the Clairton plant were demanding higher wages in a dispute with the corporation over wage classifications.

The shutdown at the Copperweld plant came after the union's contract with the company expired last night. Pickets were at the lant last night and a complete work stoppage occurred this morning as the men apparantely refused to work without a contract.

Plant officials declined to comment on the shutdown pending a descision on the contract which is now before a fact finding board in Washington. Union Representative Bruce Alexander said this morning that his office was "completely unaware" of the work stoppage.

A Copperweld official was reported to have said this morning that the plant gates were open to any workers who might wish to return to their jobs....

The Copperweld plant has been in full production only two-months since the last walkout by the union.

The plant was shut down for one day late in November as members of Local Union 1407, United Steel Workers of America, became involved in a dispute with the company over working hours.

At that time, the workers charged that "some misunderstanding in time schedules and the allocation of copper by the government had given some employees only three days of work a week while others were working full time.

Posted July 3, 2005

McKeesport Daily News June 30, 1984

Glassport Plant Restart Study Results Awaited; Center 'Not Optimistic'

BY MARTHA MORITZ Daily News Staff Writer

Carnegie-Mellon University's Center for Labor Studies is not optimistic that the former Monongahela Rolling Steel Plant in Glassport can reopen and survive by producing steel reinforcement bars again. The center expects to know by mid-August - when a study on the feasibility of operating the idle mill is scheduled for completion - whether the plant could turn out another product, however.

The study, commissioned by the County Commissioners for $50,000 in May, is examining the market for steel reinforcement bars, labor costs, equipment and property value, according to Ben Fischer of the labor studies center. "The county will look very closely at this study before it makes a recommendation," Robert Harvey, county public information officer, said at a press conference in Pittsburgh yesterday.

Some 150 former plant workers, who are trying to buy the plant from current owner Charles J. Lang, have asked for county aid to open the facility, which closed in 1980 after the National Labor Relations Board ordered the non-union shop to switch to union labor. Mr. Fischer said.

The case currently is under a 90day extension in U.S. Bankruptcy Court. The extension, which lasts until Sept. 12, was granted after a preliminary report by the CMU department indicated there is a possibility of reopening the plant successfully. Mr. Lang's firm, Lang Machiner Corp., has bid $140,000 for the plant equipment on the seven-and-a-half acre site.

Mr. Fischer said he is "not optimistic" the facility can resume its original production of steel reinforcement bars used in highway construction. "We are not impressed with the prospects of opening what is there and resuming the original purpose," he said. "There are other idle factories around there. Part of what we are looking at is the possibility of combining some of these (into a productive operation.)"

His advice to unemployed workers in the area, however, is a "don't hold your breath" approach. "I think they ought to be actively seeking employment," he said. "The manufacturing sector of America is and will continue to dwindle."

Mr. Fischer said the CMU department is working with a number of organizations on the feasibility study, including the United Steelworkers, county officials, banks and utilities. CMU's two-year-old labor studies center also has begun a similar feasibility study of the former Armour plant in Crafton. That scrutiny, commissioned by the county under the same $50,000 contract, also is in response to an ex-worker takeover proposal.

Posted January 25, 2004

McKeesport Daily News July 20, 1983

Copperweld Closing Glassport Operation; 194 Jobs to Be Lost

BY RON DAPARMA Daily News Business Editor and KATHY SAMUDOVSKY Daily News Staff Writer

Yesterday was a "sad" day for officials of Copperweld Corp., who announced they were closing their Alumoweld Products plant in Glassport, a facility from which they said the company began its real growth.

The decision, made by the company Board of directors, will not only mean the loss of jobs for some 194 employees at the area facility, but will also cost the community of Glassport, thousands of dollars in tax revenues.

Spokesman Billie Sabo at the Pennsylvania Municipal Service Co., wage tax collector for Glassport, said today that Glassport and South Allegheny School District each will lose approximately $7,000 in wage taxes, $14,000 total, based on 1982 wage tax figures.

Reportedly, Copperweld was the borough's major taxpayer and employer.

Glassport Mayor Samuel DeMarco speculated, however, that although the figure is not that high this year, the chain-reaction of businesses vacating the town could possibly leave Glassport with a wage tax loss near to $50,000 for 1984. He said the cutbacks in other area business would more than probably cause a decline in population and borough employment.

"It's a real hardship on the employees, their families and the residents in general. We're shocked and saddened that the mill did close. It's a hardship that's hard to accept.. Our main concern is the jobs lost, " he said.

He added that Glassport sees the company's publicized plans to purchase Alumoweld from a foreign market, rather than help the local business economy and keep the plant open, as taking jobs away from the people.

Glassport Council President Albert Halucha said the plant closing is painting a "bleak" picture for the future of the borough.

"I'm sick about it. .. because there's gonna be less revenue. I don't know what we're gonna do next year (regarding wage tax income.)"

He added, "What What I've been seeing in Glassport the past six months (the local economy, people moving out of the borough), I don't like. I'm in a clud. ... I don't know what to say. (Now that the plant's closed,) I see the future of Glassport not any better than the surrounding towns. It's a bleak future ... unless we get some industry here.

Mr. Halucha added that at a meeting yesterday, local plant officials commented: Glassport "could not do anything" to help the situation.

Final days for operations should come in late September or early October.

In announcing the decision to close the plant yesterday, company officials blamed mounting losses due to intensified foreign competition and rising raw material costs.

They said union labor costs at the plant were not the problem and that concessions from the workforce -- no matter how great -- could not have saved the facility.

Copperweld Chairman and chief Executive Officer Anthony J. A. Bryan said in a prepared statement that the plant's incoming order rate for the first six months of 1983 has been off by more than 36 percent.

"Long term, we forcast orders for aluminum-clad rod, wire and strand, or Alumoweld, the plant's single product line, to be well below the plant's break-even volume," he said. "As a result, the board concluded that the APD plant could not maintain profitable levels of production in the future.

"Declining orders have been compounded by rising raw material costs for the two principal raw materials required in the manufacture of Alumoweld., " Mr. Bryan said. "over the past four years, the cost of U. S. produced steel wire has risen 52% and aluminum powder cost have jumped 56%.

"The company's attempts to combat escalating costs by obtaining cheaper sources of steel yielded some reductions. But, neither U. S. nor foreign producers were able to offer the price levels needed to make Glassport's finished product competitive with foreign producers. "

Bethlehem Steel is currently Copperweld's primary supplier of lead patented steel wire. Mr. Bryan said that the Company's cost for that material escalated the former Jones and Laughlin Steel Co. plant in Aliquippa, closed in 1981, leaving the company only one reliable source all the wire.

Company officials said they studied the Glassport situation thoroughly and made efforts to save the plant before arriving at their decision. In a letter to Glassport's Mayor Samuel DeMarco, Mr. Bryan said the company tried hard to get reductions in raw material costs, are most serious problem.

"The company also conducted a thorough examination of the domestic and worldwide markets for Alumoweld. Unable to obtain sufficient raw material costs concessions, and faced with intensifying foreign competition, the Company had to conclude that the Glassport plant would no longer operate economically," Mr. Bryan wrote.

The Copperweld chairman said that the Pittsburgh-based corporation would take steps to minimize the effects of the closing on employees.

"The Glassport facility has been manned by a very loyal group of employees, " Mr. Bryan said. "To ease their situation, space we hope to meet with union representatives as soon as possible to share all data relevant to the closing and to discuss the effects of the planned shutdown on the workforce."

A majority of the plants 194 employees are covered by the Company's pension plan and will be eligible for retirement benefits, company officials said.

The workforce is comprised of 160 hourly and 10 salaried employees represented by separate units of the United Steelworkers, five plant guards represented by the Plant Guards Protective Association, and 19 management employees.

Officials said the average length of service is 27 years and the average age is 53 years.

Mr. Bryan said that Copperweld will immediately establish an employee assistance office to provide displaced employees with information on job opportunities, pensions, insurance and unemployment benefits.

As was previously announced, the plant will shut down for vacation following the second shift on Friday. Officials said the vacation will be followed by a layoff., with the permanent closing scheduled to take place in late September or early October.

The shutdown comes five years after the Company initiated a partial phaseout of the facility. In 1978 the manufacture of Copperweld was relocated in an effort to keep the Glassport plant competitive. Officials said that at that time, the Company was unable to guarantee how long Alumoweld could be produced at competitive prices.

"The Glassport operation regrettably fell victim to a set of economic and competitive circumstances beyond our control," Mr. Bryan said.

The Glassport plant was acquired by Copperweld in 1927, according to company officials. It was the company's second plan, the first being established in Rankin.

Closing the plant will have a $12.5 million before tax and a $6.8 million after-tax impact on the Corporation's second quarter earnings, according to company officials.

The company also yesterday reported a second-quarter operating loss of $5,615,000.

For the three-month period that ended June 30, 1983, Copperweld reported sales of $79,984,000, compared to $101,252,000 for the same period last year. The net loss for the period was $12,365,000, which includes the $6,750,000 after-tax provision for the closing expense of the Glassport plant Period this net loss compares to a net income of $900,000 reported in the second quarter of 1982. The net loss was $1.44 per share in the second quarter of 1983, including the $.78 per share provision for the Glassport plant closing expense, compared to net income of $.11 per share for the second quarter of 1982.

The net loss for the first half of 1983, including the $6.8 million provision for the plant closing, or $.78 per share was $17,560,000 or $2.04 per share, as compared to net income of $4,184,000, or $.49 per share, earned for the same period in 1982. Sales for the first six months were $152,749,000. For the same period last year they were $236,967,000.

Mr. Bryan, chairman and chief executive officer, noted that the rate of recovery in key markets served by Copperweld continues to be modest.

Although the Glassport plant is to be closed, Mr. Bryant emphasized that Copperweld is not withdrawing the Alumoweld product from the marketplace."We intend to stay in the Alumoweld business through various joint venture and licensee arrangements with foreign producers who enjoy specific local marketing and cost advantages. The supply of Alumoweld to our customers continue uninterrupted," he said.

For the short term, Mr. Bryant said the company would supply its order requirements from inventory. Over the longer term, Copperweld will negotiate the purchase of Alumoweld from Japan Alumoweld Co., a joint venture of Copperweld since 1965. JAC has the capacity to meet expected US demand, as well as its own requirements for Japanese and world markets.to

Posted December 21, 2003

McKeesport Daily News February 20, 1962

F. E. Leib Gets Honor At Brotherhood Event

"Most of the problems of America are problems of success, not failure," F. E. Leib, executive of Copperweld Steel Co., told guests at the Brotherhood dinner last night in the American Legion Home.

The event, sponsored by Glassport American Legion Post 443, honored Mr. Leib as "a strong believer in progress through team work who works for a better understanding between labor and management.

Mr Leib or "Spike" as he is known throughout Copperweld, joined the company's engineering department in 1936 and was appointed vice president in charge of Wire and Cable Division in August, 1959.

He has authored numerous technical articles, is a member of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers and the Engineers' Club, is past president and director of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the Armed Forces Communication Association and holds many U. S. and foreign patents.

Mr. Leib was introduced by Chairman Norman Papernick, who served as toastmaster for the affair. In his talk, Mr. Leib suggested brotherhood as a means of meeting today's challenge and accelerating competition.

"We are a determined people and equal to the task. America is a collection of a lot of Glassports and a lot of Copperwelds," he said.

He cited "more brainwork on the part of management and more output on the part of labor" as the brotherhood way of working to a better end.

Highlighting the program was the presentation of the Distinguished Service Certificate to Mr. Leib from the American Legion. The presentation was made by Edwin Stetz, commander of the Glassport post, and Mr. Papernick.

Speaking briefly were clergymen of three faiths who contributed to the brotherhood theme. Dr. Robert Raab of Temple B'nai srael in McKeesport said Brotherhood Week "adds an extra plus to our own lives" and that "each group, Jew, Catholic and Protestant, has its own place in life, but all unite as part of the American dream."

The Rev. Ralph Stack, assistant pastor at St. Cecilia's Roman Catholic Church in Glassport, said there are two things people want -- happiness and peace -- and to have peace, the virtue of brotherhood must be carried out. "Brotherhood must take its place in the hearts and minds of men," he said.

Representing Protestant denominations was the Rev. Charles Weslager, pastor of Kephart Memorial Evangelical United Brethren Church and president of the McKeesport Ministerial Association.

Mr. Weslager said that in living a life of brotherhood, "we should not consider what am I entitled to, but what is my brother entitled to."

The clergymen represented the four chaplains, two Protestants, a Jew and a Catholic, who served aboard the troopship Dorchester during World War II and gave their lifejackets to four soldiers when the ship was sunk by an enemy torpedo.

The chaplains, awarded the Purple Heart and Distinguished Service Cross posthumously, were the Rev. John Washington, Rabbi Alexander D. Goode, the Rev. Clark V. Poling and the Rev. George L. Fox.

Introduced by Mr. Papernick as the principal speakers, were Common Pleas Judges Ruggero Aldisert and Samuel A. Weiss.

Judge Aldisert said the motto, "E Pluribus Unum," or "From the Many, One," reveals the history of our country because many nationality groups came from Europe to become united under one flag. He said the spirit of brotherhood is to respect another's right to be a little different, and that "we must have knowledge to have understanding, and understanding to have brotherhood."

Judge Weiss spoke of brotherhood as togetherness, in the home, in the church, on the football field. in schools, at work and in all fields of endeavor.

He paid tribute to Mr. Leib and to Copperweld Steel for their contributions to Glassport, stating that "Copperweld is the life blood of the community."

"The company has never shunned any cause for the community," he said, "and many of the things gained by Glassport were obtained through Mr. Leib's efforts."

Judge Weiss cited the community library and donation of the ground for the new Reliance Hose Co. fire hall as just two of the contributions of Copperweld to the community. "Copperweld helped to build this town and we want to continue our good relationship with them."

Mr. Papernick then introduced Peter Latin, president. o£ the Copperweld United Steelworkers local, who paid tribute to Mr. Leib and pledged "cooperation of labor in the upcoming labor-management talks."

Other guests at the speakers table who were introduced included Mayor Robert Shaw, James Darbaker, president of Copperweld Steel, Irving Kapkan, vice president, Mrs. F. E. Leib, Mr. and Mrs. Allen Pankopf, Mr. Leib's daughter and son-in-law, and Robert Ridley, assistant to the vice president of Copperweld.

During the program, Mr. Papernick presented Norman Doyle, representative of the Veterans Administration, with a remote control television set from the Glassport: Legion to a veterans hospital.

Mr. Papernick introduced his co-workers on the banquet committee, Walter Cross and John P. Smith Jr., along with representatives of local veterans and civic organizations and borough officials.

Posted December 7, 2003

McKeesport Daily News of December 23, 1954

PLANE DROPS INTO MON, 10 DIE

(These were the headlines in the Daily News. Below appear all of the articles written concerning the crash, in the Daily News of December 23, 1954.)

An airliner chartered to wing Army veterans home for Christmas discharge carried 10 of the 28 aboard on a flight to eternity last night when it "pancaked" in distress into the Monongahela River here.

Some of the 18 survivors swam through icy waters to safety as the twin-engined craft sank about 15 minutes after it was ditched in the murky water shortly before midnight.

Others owed their lives to heroic rescues by first arrivals on the scene. The life-saving was done at the risk of death for the rescuers.

None of the passengers was from this district.

Fourteen of those saved were soldiers on the last lap home from service in Germany. Four others were personnel of the Johnson Flying Service, of Missoula, Mont., operating the plane under charter by the U. S. Army.

Nine of those missing-and now counted as dead were servicemen. The tenth was Captain Harold A. Poe, pilot of the ill-fated craft.

Two bodies were recovered in dragging operations shortly after noon. But identity was withheld by the Army pending notification of next of kin.

The plane, still virtually intact, yielded no bodies when it was hoisted above the river surface about 8 a.m. today after two earlier salvage efforts failed.

That reduced the process of recovering bodies to slow and painstaking grappling from boats.

Survivors barely had been counted before a manypronged investigation to determine the cause of the trag edy was underway.

First indications were that lack of fuel was to blame but investigators were mystified why such a peril could exist.

The investigation here centered around the plane and cursory probing supported the no fuel report.

Two of the rescued flying service personnel were pilots "dead-heading" back to the charter line's base of operations. Other survivors included Clarence Chapman, 35, of Tacoma, Wash., serving as co-pilot for Captain Poe, and Charles Carter, 35, also of Tacoma, the plane's radio engineer.

Cause of the crash was shrouded-at least temporarily-in mystery as deep as the river waters.

Chapman suffered shock and exposure. He was in no condition to talk. The other pilots who survived blamed the disaster on engine failure.

That disagreed with reports from air control towers at both County Airport and Moon Township Airport which said they had received a radio message saying the plane was running short of fuel.

The plane pancaked into the river a bare two miles from County Airport which was its objective when tragedy struck.

It was the second worst air disaster in area history.

Biggest toll hereabouts was claimed when 13 died on March 26, 1937, as a TWA airliner crashed into a cornfield at nearby Clifton, now part of Bethel Borough.

That crash came less than a year after the district's first mass air tragedy occurred when a sight-seeing plane trailed off the end of a runway at County Airport and crashed in flames on Sept. 6, 1936. Nine persons died.

On April 7, 1936, the "Sun Racer," another TWA plane en route from Washington to Pittsburgh carried 12 to death as it ploughed into Chestnut Ridge near Uniontown. Only the hostess, Nellie Granger, who won fame for ignoring her own injuries to make her way to help, and a passenger survived.

Pilot Poe chose the only possible avenue of survival for his passengers as he ditched the plane in the river. And he did the job of pancaking the big craft so well that the plane didn't break apart immediately on impact.

The brief respite given while the plane stayed afloat enabled all aboard to clamber to temporary safety aboard a wing.

They were only a relatively few feet from shore then but the plane's remaining buoyancy caused it to drift back into midstream.

There it began to settle to the bottom.

Survivors took their plight calmly until the plane began to sink.

Then the desperate struggle for life began.

Cries for help carried through the frosty air to the shore only dimly visible to those clinging to the plane. Some slipped into the water and struck out for the river bank.

Cries of "Help me, help me, 1- can't swim" arose from others who clung to the plane to the last. The nonswimmers were believed among those lost.

But rescue had started from shore, too. Some of the first to stop at the scene formed human chains to aid those who splashed to shore up a steep bank which would have taxed the remaining stamina left to a man swimming through freezing water.

Other rescuers dove into the water and swam to the aid of those unable to make their own way-or stricken by cramps and cold as they tried it.

The fact that the plane alighted with a feather touch was the principal reason that the survivors were given at least a chance for life.

Captain Poe was a veteran pilot who served in the China-Burma-India theater during World War II.

He was well aware that a water landing gave his passengers and crew a chance.

The alternative he obviously didn't even consider.

Had he elected to do otherwise, a crash with results fatal to all aboard was almost a foregone conclusion.

There was nothing but hilly terrain rising from the river. And in dwellings on that land people were peacefully asleep.

The pancake landing perhaps saved even worse toll since the plane could hardly have missed some house if it had crashed on the adjacent land.

The ill-fated flight originated at Camp Kilmer, N. J., where a public information officer said the plane was bound for Fort Carson, Col.; Fort Ord, in California, and Fort Lewis in Washington.

Tragedy came on the first leg of the flight. An operations officer at Camp Kilmer said the flight was a Civil Air Movement, a service chartered by the Army to move troops.

Pat Horan, airport tower controller at Allegheny County Airport received the final fateful radio message from the pilot as-he sought vainly for a safe landing.

"I'm out of gas . . . both engines feathered," Mr. Horan quoted the message as saying. Ten seconds later the control tower heard

"I'm at 750 feet."

Then came the final call:

"Can't make it . . going to ditch it."

The radio carried no more messages.

District aviation sources were mystified by the pilot's report that he was out of gas. Safety regulations provide that airliners carry sufficient fuel to reach an alternate destination in case the listed port of call is weathered in.

Some theorized that perhaps a fuel line broke on the plane, or that the engine trouble the surviving airmen reported had snuffed off the supply.

A spokesman at LaGuardia Field in New York where the plane was parked for "three or four days" before the tragic flight said the pilot took on no fuel there.

R. C. Woodward, New York area chief of the air carrier safety division of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, said the plane had taken on 170 gallons of gas enough for about two hours flying-at Newark Airport where the plane took off at 8:40 p.m.

Mr. Woodward added that he had not yet received records which would indicate how much fuel the plane already had aboard. He said the plane had scheduled a stop at Allegheny County Airport only to encounter disaster a short distance away.

A source at LaGuardia Airport said a twin-engined DC-3 such as the doomed plane normally can travel about 1,000 miles on a full load of gas.

That's more than treble the distance covered before the fatal crash.

The crash occurred in a stretch of the river about midway between the Clairton-Glassport Bridge and the Camden Hollow Road leading to U.S. Steel's Irvin Works, located on a high bluff overlooking the stream. The course of the plane's approach toward County Airport was not determined immediately.

A U. S. Steel river towboat, and derrick barge were sent to the scene and played an important role both in the rescue and the plane salvage operations which went on through the night.

Powerful searchlights from the boats stabbed through the darkness and illuminated the path to safety for survivors and the rescuers who aided them. The derrick barge was nosed into the spot where the plane sank. Divers used the boats as platforms from which to descend to the river bottom and secure derrick cables to the wreckage.

First efforts to hoist the plane were balked when the tail section snapped just as the silvery hull appeared above the river surface.

Shortly after dawn a diver finally hooked a cable to the plane's cockpit and a crane lifted the ship to the surface. The towboat nudged the wreckage carefully to U. S. Steel's boat salvage yard upstream.

All rescue facilities available in the district converged swiftly on the scene but a simultaneous rush of morbidly curious caused a monumental traffic jam and seriously hampered organized efforts and rescue attempts by passersby who were first to reach the scene.

Area police, reinforced by County and State Police, were forced to use harsh measures to clear the way for ambulances, police cars and private autos carrying survivors to McKeesport Hospital.

The crowd remained thick along the river bank during the daylight hours. Despite the cold, spectators kept the vigil as bodies were sought in the stream.

McKeesport Hospital was deluged with long distance calls from the West Coast, put in by anxious relatives seeking to learn the fate of passengers aboard the plane.

The worse scars they suffered were mental.

They were recovering quickly from exposure.

That landing in the water was so gentle that not a scratch was inflicted on anybody.

The Civil Aeronautics Board opened an immediate investigation along with local, county, and state officials.

William Burton, Civil Aeronautics Authority safety agent at Moon Township Airport, said the converted C-47 (military designation for the Civilian DC-3) could accommodate 26 passengers.

Joseph O. Fluet, regional director of the Civil Aeronautics Board's Bureau of Safety Investigation, said a two team investigation into the crash was already underway. Fluet said he had already checked the plane's flight plan and departure and forwarded the information to Washington.

Fluet said his own office was unable to assign investigators to the scene because all were occupied on inves- tigation of the Italian air liner crash at Idlewild Airport last Saturday and several smaller crashes. He said two investigtors from the CAB's Atlanta headquarters, Herb Shebat and Leon Allen, were dispatched to handle the Dravosburg investigation.

Rivermen of U. S. Steel's Clairton Works River Transportation Division and an area diver labored all night in sub-freezing temperatures and icy water to determine the DC-3 airliner was not the tomb for 10 missing passengers and crew members.

Initial attempt to raise the sunken plane shortly after midnight failed when a block and tackle broke under the weight of the water-filled fuselage.

The U. S. Steel towboat "Clairton" from which the -operation was directed, then summoned Diver Paul Vadnal, of Ridge Road, Circleville who crept over the river bottom, a surface radio-telephone operator serving as his "eyes."

More than an hour's work went into securing a steel cable through the plane's tail assembly before a derrick barge, sent to reinforce the "Clairton," could hoist the tail surfaces above the water.

As the plane lifted higher, however, its 18,000-pound weight augmented by tons of water crumpled its elevator.

After the river crewmen hurriedly threaded another cable through the craft's rudder, a second lift, tore loose the control surface.

Renewed attempts by Vadnal resulted in successful raising of the plane via heavy cables secured to its left engine. Total time elapsed before the operation was concluded was 61/2 hours.

Pilot Gave Life to Save Us, Survivors Say

There were survivors of a Christmas furlough plane crash here today because a pilot's skill gave them time to escape and river bank rescuers made certain it wasn't wasted.

The pilot probably sacrificed his life to save theirs -- and others took the same dreadful risk in the bone-chilling waters of the Monongahela River.

Few of those who lived to tell about the tragedy in which 18 were spared were aware until the last frantic second that their lives were the stake for which the pilot made his desperate gamble.

But all survivors agreed that Captain Harold A. Poe, of Seattle, Wash., pilot of the big plane, gave them their first reprieve by the superb job he did of ditching the craft in the murky river.

Captain Poe is among the 10 missing today and presumed dead.

There were unconfirmed reports that Captain Poe gave his all, not only once but twice. Some survivors said he was among those who made their way safely to shore but that he swam back to aid others and vanished, apparently drowned.

Weighted by the heavy twin engines, the nose was the first part of the plane to sink beneath the muddied surface.

The tail section pointed briefly to the sky like a grisly monument to the dead before it, too, settled and sank.

Ironically, Poe's sacrifice might have reaped richer dividends in human life. if some of the homebound soldiers had not insisted on returning to the cabin of the plane while it still floated precariously to collect their gear.

That desire for souvenirs of their duty in Germany and their clothing perhaps cost the lives of many of those missing.

There was no panic aboard the plane when it first struck the water-largely because the warning of impending doom came so swiftly the passengers didn't have time to think. Some of the survivors were dozing fitfully when the warning "Brace yourselves-fasten your safety belts!" shocked them awake.

Pilot Poe brought the plane down so smoothly on the river that Cpl. Ronald Johnson, 22, of Hawthorne, Cal., "thought we were about to come in on a wet landing strip." "Then I suddenly heard someone cry out that we are going to crash, so I braced myself," he added.

No one perished, or was even injured in the river landing.

"It really happened so quickly, no one got a chance to lose his head," said Corp. Roy G. Phelps, 24, of Mae, Washington, another of the survivors who was taken to McKeesport Hospital for treatment of shock and exposure.

Corp. Johnson described how the passengers and some of the crew were able to scramble to the escape door in the rear of the craft as the plane bobbed in the water. "The boys were calm-I'll say that," he related. "No one got panicky until the plane started to sink. Then fright spread quickly."

Emotional strain showed plainly on his face as he told how he sought futilely to rescue another soldier after he leaped into the frigid water and began to strike out for shore. "I got hold of him by the hair, but someone bumped into me and he slipped from my grasp -- I know he went down," Cpl. Johnson said.

Captain Robert Walker, 35, of Seattle, Wash., a Johnson Flying Service pilot riding as a passenger on the trip, described Pilot Poe's magnificent landing.

Walker was the last man off the plane. He swam ashore. "We were making our final approach to the airport. We heard some `birds' in the engine. . . . The pilot made a beautiful landing. There was no panic, no excitement. She (the plane) settled down just like on an air field. We all got on a wing. We were wet and cold."

He said at the initial impact the plane "was not far from shore-about 12 feet, I would guess."

"Some of the guys insisted on going back for their gear," he added. "Then the plane drifted back into midstream as it started to sink. It was a long cold swim. I helped pull a couple guys ashore."

Captain Walker's opinion of the crash agreed with that of Joseph Greknowicz, 26, of Seattle, Wash., a co-pilot riding as a passenger. But their opinions didn't jibe with the versions of control towers at County and Moon Township Airports.

"We were making an approach to the field (County Airport) when both engines conked out -- our only chance was the river." Captain Greknowicz said. "It was an engine failure."

He denied that the plane was out of gas, although he was not riding in the pilot's compartment when the emergency arose.

Both airport control towers reported receiving radio distress messages from the plane, saying that it was short of fuel.

Clarence Chapman, of Tacoma, Wash., the co-pilot who was riding with Captain Poe, suffered severe shock and was placed in a private room in no condition to be interviewed.

Charles Carter, 35, of Tacoma, still another pilot "deadheading" homeward, was not available for comment.

The four crewmen and 14 soldiers were bundled swiftly in warm blankets and dispatched to rooms after treatment for shock and exposure.

Some of the servicemen were borne into the hospital on litters. Others stood in groups, talking freely about the accident, but still incredulous that they had really escaped.

Their conversation was staccato -- reflecting their nervous reaction. Some beseeched others for information concerning missing buddies. Tears welled into their eyes and they choked off sobs when they learned friends were among the missing.

Cpl. Olev Adamson, 22, of Portland, Ore., describing the grim huddle on the plane wing, related:

"All of us were yelling for help when we spotted two men on the shore. They dove in and began swimming out. As they neared the plane, it began to sink. So all of us jumped into the water and started for shore."

"Some of the boys couldn't swim," put in another soldier, clutching a cup of coffee tightly as if he expected its warmth to blot out the cold horror his eyes still mirrored.

"I had one of the boys by the hair, but that water seemed to freeze me. I got a cramp and just couldn't hold on to him," mourned another soldier.

The survivors will be detained in the hospital at least until tomorrow, hospital attendants indicated. Their final discharge from the hospital is a matter the Army must decide.

Cpl. Robert D. Schaefer, of Tacoma, told in the hospital, of remembering Capt. Walker "coming back and telling us to get ready for an emergency landing."

"The fellows were kidding around while they tried to open the emergency door," he added. "We didn't even realize we had landed in a river. When the door flew open, all laughing and Joking stopped. We crawled out on the wing and had a dickens of a time holding on because of the ice that quickly formed there.

"I got out on the wing with one of my closest buddies, Cpl. Joseph Selvaggio (who was enroute to Fort Ord., Cal., to be discharged). He is now one of the missing men.

"Selvaggio had just been telling me about how glad he was to be going home for Christmas to his wife, who was expecting a baby.

"When we all got out on the wing I didn't know what to do.

"My buddies were all looking at me pleadingly. They were saying, 'please help me. I can't swim at all.'

"Selvaggio jumped into the water, then he climbed back on the wing again. I didn't think he could swim.

"I knew I could just barely swim myself. I had to choose between staying with my buddies or getting myself ashore. "I just managed to get close enough to the shore to reach the men who had formed a chain to pull out guys. They were as soaked as I was.

"We had had hard luck, or so we thought, all the way home. And we were kidding about a 'conspiracy' to keep us from being discharged."

Another survivor told of delays during the journey by ship and plane from Europe. Cpl. Johnson said there was one delay when a member of the draft contracted polio, another when a second man had gall stone trouble, and a third when six hours were used up in going through a normal three-hour "processing" at Camp Kilmer.

"As we were flying along after leaving Camp Kilmer, some of the guys were kidding about being 'up the creek,' or 'up the river.' We didn't know how true that was going to be," Cpl. Schaefer said.

"But even when the emergency light went on, we didn't think we were in such serious trouble. When we landed, it was smooth, and we thought we were on a watery runway. We didn't know until we got outside that we were in a river."

Coroner William D. McClelland was among the first to search through the sodden plane after it was raised from the river. He held no doubt that lack of fuel brought disaster but he was not prepared to say what caused the gasoline shortage.

Nor were state police investigators who joined him.

Blinking Light Brings Rescuers to Plane Crash Scene

Danny Pastore's curiosity proved a life-saver last night.

His eye caught a blinking light midstream in the Monongahela as he drove along Route 837. Because his curiosity wouldn't be satisfied with a passing glance, a magnificent rescue job was touched off.

The area's hands of mercy were tried in that effort and proved strong enough to help save 18 from death in a plane crash in the Monongahela River.

Mr. Pastore, of 40-E Woodland Terrace, Clairton, was believed to be the first --and certainly among the foremost -- in extending a rescuing hand.

But he was by no means the last to come to the aid of those forced to seek escape after their precarious perch on the wing of the disabled plane began to sink beneath them.

Other passing motorists soon joined Mr. Pastore and his son-in-law. Anthony Picciafoco. on the river bank in sub-freezing weather.

They literally formed a human chain to give survivors a link with life. The river bank was so steep that no other method was possible until a path was hacked to the Clairton-Dravosburg Road.

A West Mifflin youth and another Clairton man actually braved death themselves to pull soldiers foundering in the bone-chilling waters to safety.

Robert Wilson, 19, of McGowan Avenue, West Mifflin, and a man identified as Kenneth Lastetter, of Coal Valley, lost no time in reacting when a motorist burst into a hot dog stand at Route 837 and New England Hollow Road and cried:

"A big plane just crashed into the river about a mile away."

They drove at breakneck pace to the riverbank where Mr. Pastore and his son-in-law already were at work.

Wilson and Lostetter plumed fully-clothed into the stream and struck out to the rescue of survivors crying despairingly for help as the plane started to sink.

Wilson estimated he made "three or four trips out there-bringing back somebody each time." "I don't know how many my buddy got."

Both Lostetter and Wilson were taken to McKeesport Hospital for treatment for exposure, despite their protests that they wanted to remain at the scene.

At first they were believed to be among the survivors, caus ing a miscalculation in the number of passengers saved. The total was revised downward when hospital attendants learned that the area twosome were rescuers rather than rescued.

Mr. Pastore was driving his son-in-law to the latter's home in Wilkinsburg when the blinking light caught his eye. He stopped his car for a second look.

That scrutiny revealed the dim outlines of a twin-engined plane awash in the river.

Then Mr. Pastore and his companion were stunned to discover that the light was a distress signal from a barely discernible knot of survivors huddled on a plane wing.

The on-shore witnesses leaped from their car, blinked back an answering signal with a pair of flashlights. Then they scrambled down the steep face of the riverbank to offer aid.

"We kept- telling them to jump," Mr. Pastore said. "But they must have thought: the plane was going to stay up for awhile."

When six of the survivors finally took the plunge into the frigid river, Mr. Pastore and Mr. Picciafoco waded hip-deep into the stream to meet them.

They half-led and half-carried the exhausted swimmers to the bank and safety.

"After we got the boys to shore, I climbed up to the road and tried to flag down some cars," Mr. Pastore related. "People must have thought I had a flat tire-or wouldn't risk stopping for a stranger late at night. You couldn't blame them. A half dozen cars passed before I managed to stop one."

Once one car stopped, others did likewise -- to the point where a monumental traffic jam existed. The crash occurred just as work turns were changing at U. S. Steel's nearby Irvin Works.

Mr. Pastore used the first cars to dispatch the first six off the plane to McKeesport Hospital.

Young Wilson took up the thread of the story from there. His companion vanished from the scene shortly after the movement of survivors to the hospital began. "I'm all right now, I'm dry," young Wilson protested vainly in an effort to stay admission to the hospital for observation. "I never saw anything like it in my life," he observed. "When we pulled up to the side of the road, I saw the plane floating in the middle of the river. The passengers were screaming for help.

"The plane started to sink, so both Lostetter and I started swimming," Wilson continued. "Many of the passengers jumped into the water. I grabbed one fellow and we started struggling for shore. Many in the water made it, but some got cramps. I don't know how they made it, or whether they all did."

Wilson credited powerful searchlights played on the scene from river towboats with aiding the rescue.

"If it hadn't been for those lights a lot more of those guys would have been goners," he said. "I don't know how many Lostetter saved, but I know he saved some. He must have gone home. He was wet and freezing."

He said there were other unsung heroes of the rescue who essayed the plunge into icy water to save other lives at the risk of their own. "It was a pitiful sight after all the survivors were on the shore and the plane had sunk," he added. "We didn't know how many still were on the plane. We felt helpless."

Cpl. Ronald Johnson, one of the survivors, heaped praise on young Wilson.

"He saved a lot of lives -- and he risked his own life to save ours," the soldier said.

Another survivor, Cpl. Paul Middleton praised the efforts of the rescuers. "They deserve a lot of credit -- that water was like ice -- it's s wonder they didn't go down themselves," he said.

Mark Brannigan, a Clairton construction worker who was among the scores to rush to he aid of the stricken, declared:

"About six other fellows and myself formed a human chain. We waded out into the river and we grabbed those guys when they came to us. Some swam. Others floated on logs. Some didn't have many clothes on. I guess they were sleeping. And they were so cold from that icy water. It was terrible."

Cpl. Tony L. Toftemark, 22, of Eugene, Ore., said he was sleeping just before the crash landing, adding:

"When the plane hit someone yelled `bust out the windows and crawl out on the wing.' Then we were swimming.

Sgt. Paul Middleton, 21, of Granger, Wash., was the first to swim to shore and summon help for his buddies.

"I started flagging cars and the first four passed me up." Middleton said. "The fifth one stopped and rode me into a town to get help. Then I went back to the scene. I had records of all the soldiers but I wasn't going back to get them because the plane was sinking. I only felt sorry for those that couldn't make it because I know some of them couldn't swim."

William D. Hansen, 27, of R. D. 1, Foster Road, proved a Santa Claus bearing the gift of life for some of the survivors.

Still clad in the Santa robes he had worn for an appearance at a district auction, Mr. Hansen spotted the plane in trouble as he drove home.

"I peeled off the Santa clothes and half-ran and half-fell down the bank to the river shore," he related today.

The partial tumble plunged him against a piece of driftwood. That old log helped him in his rescue of three men.

"I waded into the river, pushing the log ahead of me for a makeshift life preserver," Mr. Hansen said. "It helped me get those men back to shore."

He said that two soldiers he rescued later identified themselves as Tony L. Toftemark, of Eugene, Ore., and Cpl. Robert D. Schaefer, of Salem, Ore.

He could identify the third man he aided only as "the copilot." There were two pilots riding as passengers in addition to the three-man crew.

Plane Tragedy Survivors Recovering in Hospital

Four crewmen and 14 soldiers who were spared death in the ditching of a chartered air liner in the Monongahela River were recovering from exposure and shock in McKeesport Hospital today.

The survivors 'were identified as: Joseph Greknowicz, 26, of Seattle, Wash.; Clarence Chapman, 35, of Tacoma, Wash.; Charles Carter, 35, of Tacoma, and Robert Walker, 35, of Seattle, all personnel of the Johnson Flying Service, Miissoula, Mont., firm which operated the ill.-fated flight under charter for the U. S. Army.

Army personnel saved were identified as: Pfc. Robert Gill, 23, of Grangeville, Idaho; Cpl. Charles Lutoe, 22, of Eugene, Oregon; Cpl. John Freehling, 22, of Denver, Colo.; Cpl. Roy Phelps, 24, of Mae, Washington. Cpl, Olev Adamson. 22. of Portland, Oregon; Sgt. Paul Middleton, 21, of Granger, Washington; Cpl. James Everly, 24, Lakewood, Calif.; Cpl. Ronald Johnson, 22, of Hawthorne, Calif.; Cpl. Robert Schaefer, 22, of Salem, Oregon.

Cpl. Tony Toftemark, 22, of Eugene, Oregon; Cpl. Frank Kusumi, 22, of Los Angeles; Cpl, Robert Norgren. 24. of Pueblo, Colo.; Pfc. Phillip Wheeler, 22, of Ririe, Idaho; and Pfc. Duwain Crow, 22, of Kellog, Idaho.

Those reported missing from a passenger list released by Army authorities at Camp Kilmer, N. J., were: Pfc. Harry D. Moss, Pfc. Lester W. Donahue, Cpl. Elmer A. Diercks, Cpl. Carl O. Thim, Pfc. Joseph R. Harkema, Cpl. Joseph Selvaggio, Cpl. Donald T. Seitzinger. Cpl. Bob D. Whipple and Cpl. Robert F. Wilder.

Also missing is the pilot, Harold A. Poe of Seattle, Wash.

District Musters Full Aid for Plane Victims

All Rescue Facilities Put Swiftly to Work In Task of Ending Survivors' Ordeal Minutes After It Began

Succor for survivors of the Monongahela River plane crash was swift in coming as the district put all its resources to work on the rescue task.

That speedy and efficient reaction to the call of distress ended an ordeal in sub-freezing weather almost before survivors were aware it had begun.

Only minutes had passed before police, firemen, private ambulances and passing motorists had whisked the rescued to care and comfort in McKeesport Hospital.

U. S. Steel ordered its towboat , Clairton to the scene and the craft's powerful searchlight beamed light over the scene. The boat served as a platform on which a diver descended into the murky depths on the grim assignment of finding bodies.

The wailing of police and ambulance sirens had barely begun when the Salvation Army pulled up with its canteen to offer hot coffee, soup, doughnuts and sandwiches to rescued and rescuers alike.

McKeesport Hospital had a full staff of doctors and nurses ready and waiting in the emergency room as the first survivors were wheeled in for treatment of exposure and shock.

Clothes sodden and nearly frozen by the plunge into the icy waters of the stream were stripped from the survivors who were bundled in warm blankets and sped to beds already prepared.

A note of grim humor was interjected into the hospital scene, when an unidentified man walked into the jammed quarters and declared: "I have an awful stomach ache." "That's too bad, but sympathy is about all we can give you right now," a nurse smiled.

The man forgot his own troubles-or at least found the pain more bearable-when he learned of the plight of others. He sat quietly, an interested observer, while the plane survivors were treated.

McKeesport police rated a Capital A for their effort and so did their colleagues from White Oak, Glassport, Clairton, Dravosburg, West Mifflin, Jefferson and County and State Police. Equal praise was merited by firemen from McKeesport, most of the other communities already named and additional reinforcements from Blaine Hill, Elizabeth, Liberty and Port Vue.

A Diesel tow-boat, the "Joseph Smith" nosed a derrick barge to the spot where the plane sank but first efforts to raise the wreckage failed when a tail section snapped as the air craft was hoisted from the water

Chief James A. McDermott of McKeesport firemen directed the plane salvage operations until Alvin Gumbert, assistant superintendent, river transportation, U. S. Steel, Clairton Works, took over manipulation of the barge derrick his firm supplied.

The McKeesport police radio communication network, manned cooly and efficiently by Desk Sergeant Walter Meyers, served to sound the alarm to other departments and also as a message center.

The only hitch in the generally smooth functioning was caused by a tremendous traffic jam at the scene where hundreds of morbidly curious converged, hampering efforts of volunteers and police.

City GI'Buddy' Of Plane Victims

A McKeesport buddy of the 23 GIs in last night's plane crash near here is home and safe today -- He came by taxi.

Pfc. Jay Walsh, 22, of 2522 Walnut St., with permission had jumped the gun on his Christmas Eve flight home after discharge from the Army. But, unable to hitch a plane ride, he pooled resources with four other GIs living in the area. Walsh arrived here about 7 p. m. after an early start from Camp Kilmer, N. J.

He was shocked at news of the crash, his mother, Mrs. Thomas Walsh, said, and declared: "Those fellows were all my buddies." Walsh served with the 599th FABM Artillery Headquarters Battalion in Germany.

Posted September 14, 2003

McKeesport Daily News of May 22, 1906

NEW POLISH CHURCH WAS DEDICATED

Parade and Brass Bands; Over 2,000 in Line of March

EDIFICE COSTS $25,000; MEMBERSHIP OVER 500

The handsome $25,000 Polish Catholic church at Glassport was dedicated yesterday with pomp and pride. The exercises were most elaborate ever seen here. Prior to the dedication, there was a parade of Polish secret socities of Homestead, Duquesne, Braddock, Pittsburg and other places. There were over 2,000 men and seven bands in line.

After a march to Otto and a coaster-march to Seventh street to the church, Seventh and Indiana avenue, the visitors filed into the church. There was not half enough room, and as a result several hundred had to remain outsideduring the progress of the services of dedication. The services commenced at 11 o'clock and continued for three hours.

The edifice was dedicated by the Rev. John Gorzynski of the Polish church, McKeesport.. The dedicatory sermon was preached by the Rev. C. Tomacewski of Pittsburg. Father Rea then made a most excellent address and afterwards acted as master of ceremonies.

Rev. A. J. Garstka, the faithful pastor of the church, then proceeded to raise some money. He told of the debt of the church and in less than half an hour had collected over $1,000. In his address toward the close he stated that there had been much money raised before the day of dedication and that the total amount had been secured.

The church is built of brick and stone. It is 3oo feet long and 40 feet wide. It was erected by Lapsley Bros., local contractors, and is a very substantial building. The architects were Clapper & Moffitt of McKeesport.. The church has a membership of over 500 and is reported to be in a very healthy condition.

Posted March 23, 2003

McKeesport Daily News of August 30, 1975 ---

Copperweld Stack Buy Explored

Copperweld Corp., which has a major specialty metals factory in Glassport, disclosed that a "foreign firm" is considering purchasing all of its stock.

Copperweld announced the possible sale yesterday in Pittsburgh after the New York Stock Exchange, citing the impending release of important news, suspended transactions pf Copperweld stock.

The firm said no meetings have been scheduled with the potential buyers. Copperweld stock closed on the Thursday market at a 1975 high of $34.50, after fairly heavy trading which prompted a $2.25 rise per share.

Copperweld annual sales exceed $300 million, and the firm experienced a record profits year in 1974 of $16.8 million.

A complete sale of the company's assets reportedly would require the assent of holders of 80 per cent of the stock. That stipulation reportedly was the result of the firm's April stockholders' meeting. The firm announced only that the unidentified foreign company "desires to discuss an offer for all of the Copperweld stock."

Copperweld stock had been as low as $19.25 earlier this year.

The firm, which was founded nearly 50 years ago, produces copper and aluminum covered wire and other products.

McKeesport Daily News of September 2, 1975

European Firm Admits Interest In Stock Purchase

By JAMES B. JOHNSON Daily News Business Editor

Copperweld Corp. confirmed today it is "talking" to the world's largest producer of ferro-nickel about a proposed takeover offer.

The bid to buy all of Copperweld's stock was made by Societe Imetal, a Paris headquartered firm that also is Europe's largest producer of nickel.

Pittsburgh - Copperweld operates a Bimetallics Division in Glassport where it produces products such as copper-clad steel. aluminum-clad steel and Awac-Alumoweld and aluminum wires stranded together for use as power conductors, overhead ground wire and the like.

The company enjoyed record earnings in 1974 and was looking ahead to its best year ever in 1975. In July, it reported record sales and earnings for the first six months of this year and record earnings for the second quarter.

In addition to the Glassport facility, the Copperweld "family" includes the Ohio Steel Tube Co. in Shelby; Regal Tube Co., Chicago; Flexo Wire Division. Oswego. N. Y.; Copperweld Steel Co. Warren, Ohio; Copperweld Southern. Inc.. Fayetteville. Tenn. and Japan Alumoweld Co. Ltd.. Tokyo.

All told, the firm employs approximately 4.000 persons.

Word that a takeover bid had been made was revealed on Friday. The day before, the company's stock had closed at $34.50 a share, up $2.25 on volume of 36,700 shares. The stock didn't trade on Friday.

In its report of 1975 six-month activity, Copperweld listed net sales of $162.5 million and net income of $7.9 million, an increase of 25 per cent over last year's first half figure. At the time, Chairman Phillip H. Smith said the firm expected "an improving business situation in the fourth quarter which will have a positive effect on Copperweld."

A Wall Street Journal article today quoted a steel industry analyst as describing Copperweld as "a neat little company." "It's an undervalued situation," the analyst said. "Somebody is buying a bargain."

Further spotlighting the company's attractiveness for a takeover bid is a compilation by Iron Age magazine which said Copperweld's return on invested capital was 14.7 per rent in 1973 and 16.5 per cent in 1974, whereas the average for 29 major companies surveyed was 6.3 per cent in 1973 and 11.6 per cent in 1974.

Acquisition of all or a majority of Copperweld's common stock could be a difficult move, however. At its annual meeting in Glassport last April, shareholders voted to require the approval of 80 per cent of the firm's shareholders on certain proposals if at least four directors vote against those proposals.

Covered by the action were merger or sale of the company, any proposal to amend the company's provision for a classified board and any move to institute cumulative voting.

As of last Dec. 31. Copperweld had about 2.5 million common shares outstanding.

Posted July 14, 2002

McKeesport Daily News of November 9, 1956

Post Officially Donates Property

Glassport American Legion Post 443 last night officially turned over the old property and building to the borough and two civic organizations, as a site of a new library next to the honor roll in Memorial Park.

Shown above, left to right, are: Steve Orlando, past president of the Lions Club, which will erect the library; Nicholas G. Siudela, president of Borough Council, who accepted the property in behalf of the borough, which in turn will present the site to the Lions Club; Eli Cubra, president of Citizen's Hose Co.. No. I, who accepted the old building for dismantling; Norman Papernick, commander of Post 443, who presented the property to the various organizations and Atty. John P. Hester, who handled the legal transaction.

Posted January 13, 2002

McKeesport Daily News of January 21, 1963

Library Addition Planned

Ground was broken Saturday for the addition to the Samuel A. Weiss Community Library at Fifth St. and Monongahela Ave.

Shown above wielding shovels are Miss Gwen Hough, president of the Corporate Board of Directors, and Judge Samuel A.Weiss, for whom the library was named.

With them, left to right, are Joseph K. Mawritz, president of Borough Council, Councilman Dominic Borelli, and Steve Orlando, chairman of the citizen's committee.

Program Set for Addition

Increase in membership and the greater demand for books brought about a need for expanding the present facilities of the Samuel A. Weiss Community Library located in the Municipal Building, Fifth St. and Monongahela Ave.

Members of the Glassport Women's Club were responsible for organizing the library in 1941.

Through the combined efforts of the Glassport Lions Club, the Women's Club and Judge Samuel A. Weiss, the library was incorporated and now is operated under a board of directors and trustees.

The library is staffed by volunteer workers from the Women's Club.

Since its organization, the library membership has increased from 152 to 1,471. The need for a reading and study room has been evident for some time, and plans to raise funds for an expansion program have been under way.

Financial aid has been given by local organizations, local industries and friends of Judge Weiss to help realize the building project.

Plans for the new addition were drawn up by Liff and Justh, architect and engineer, and have been approved by the state.

A commitee of citizens, including Steve Orlando, chairman, Stanley Sedney, Joseph Captain, Frank Dichiera and Allen Dyer met with the board of directors to plan the addition.

Citizens who wish to volunteer their services may contact members of the committee or directors, Miss Gwen Hough, president; Mrs. Phyllis Kasmarik, vice president; Mrs. Lois Eierhart, secretary or :Miss Joan Carpenter, treasurer.

Letter from Samuel A. Weiss to Steve Orlando dated January 21, 1964

Posted October 28, 2001

McKeesport Daily News of May 21, 1927 ---

McKeesport Daily News Headlines: MCKEESPORT DISTRICT GETS BIG NEW WORKS --- COPPER FIRM CHOOSES SITE FOR BIG MILL AT GLASSPORT-- Officers of Concern Having Million Dollar Pay Roll Each Year Buys Old Ax and Tool -- EXPECT OPERATION TO BEGIN ABOUT JAN. 1 -- The McKeesport industrial district, already looked upon as one of the main cogs of the industrial wheel of "the workshop of the world," was given another boost today with the official announcement of location at Glassport of the Copperweld Steel company, which has been in operation in Rankin for eleven years. The works will have an annual payroll of $1,000,000 at the beginning, will employ several hundred men, mostly skilled workers, and is expected to rapidly grow into a much larger works, though of good size at the beginning.. Official Announcement.. Negotiations for the factory had been underway for several months between Charles J. Koughan, well known real estate dealer, and Mayor George H. Lysle and city council, at first, and later, when it was decided that local available sites were not exactly what was wanted, between Mayor Lyle, Mr. Koughan, Burges C. F. Redman and councilmen of Glassport, and officials of the Copperweld company. It was finally decided that the best proposition was the American Ax and Tool works, including 19 buildings and 20 acres of ground, which will permit of additions as the growing business of the company may demand. It was the lack of such space that caused the company to move, and in looking fo a new site, the officers, one of which is P. S. Kaplan, well known attorney, naturally looked in the direction of McKeesport.. Ratified at Meeting.. The board of directors of the Copperweld company met yesterday at the Pittsburgh office of Attorney Kaplan and decided to purchase the old Glassport plant, which had been idle for some years. While Messiers Koughan and Lyle today declined to state the purchase price, it is well-known that it goes into six figures. The property is located along the main line of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie railroad company tracks and is ideal manufacturing purposes from any angle, with railroad and water shipping facilities at the ...way.. Glassport's new works is the only one of its kind in the world, and the company plans to install new machinery and furnaces and expects to be in operation no later than January 1, 1928 It has been manufacturing copperweld steel and wire products, but proposes to branch out into other fields of copper manufacture. The officers of Copperwel Steel company are S. E. Bramer, president and Frank R. S. Kaplan, secretary and counsel.. The McKeesport Chamber of Commerce co-operated with Mayor Lyle and Koughan in their efforts to have the plant located in the district, as did Burgess Redman and concilmen of Glassport and McKeesport. Work involved in moving the factory from Rankin and getting the buildings and grounds at Glassport is to begin at once, it was officially announced today. Mr. Bramer, president of the company, is well known here. He was for several years associated with the M. S. Neiman Jewelry company.

McKeesport Daily News of May 27, 1927 ---

COPPERWELD EMPLOYEES TO VISIT CITY --- Fifty Autos To Convey 200 Workers To Scene Of New Operations -- BANQUET TOMORROW AT PENN McKEE -- In order that the 200 employes of the Copperweld Steel company, Rankin, might become familiar with the scenes of their new operations at Glassport, which is expected to be operated before the year closes, they are to be conveyed in automobiles to the new site tomorrow. The trip is being arranged by Glassport borough officials in cooperation with the McKeesport Chamber of Commerce.. Fifty automobiles, supplied by the citizens of Glassport and McKeesport, are to assemble at Fifth avenue and Market street tomorrow at 10:30 o'clock. Each machine will be supplied with a banner with the wording: Glassport-McKeesport, Workship of the World." With an escort of motorcycle policemen from McKeesport and Glassport, the cars will go to Rankin, pick up the Copperweld company employees and take them to Glassport, where a buffet luncheon will be provided at the First Prebyterian church. The luncheon is being provided through the courtesy of the citizens of Glassport.. After inspection of the company's property at Glassport, the parade will proceed back to McKeesport for a short tour of the business and residential districts.. The employees of the Copperweld Steel company will be the guests of the management of the company at a dinner at the Penn McKee hotel tomorrow evening at 6 o'clock. A number of Glassport borough officials, members of McKeesport city council and a small group of McKeesport Chamber of Commerce officials have also been invited to this dinner as guests of S. E. Bramer, president.. The tour has been arranged at the suggestion of officials of the Copperweld Steel company in order that their workers might become better acquainted with the the manifold advantages of the two communities.

McKeesport Daily News of June 1, 1927 ---

MILL OFFICIALS ARE SPEAKERS IN ROTARY MEETING --- Greetings between new Glassport mill officials, club officers and a city official, with an enthusiastic program arranged by J. A. Lapsley, featured the weekly dinner meeting of the Glassport Rotary club last evening in the first Presbyterian church, with covers for 36 members and guests. President Edward Hodgson presided.. Guests and speakers were S. E. Bramer, the president, and Frank R. S. Kaplan, of this city, secretary-treasurer, of the Copperweld Steel company, which has purchased the old Ax and Tool plant here and has taken up the work of changes to establish the company here, with work in prospect in the early fall. Guests from the McKeesport Rotary clubs including Clarence Jack, John J. Caskey, J. P. Black, John M Helmstadter and Gust Blair. For the McKeesport club Mr. Blair extended an invitation to the local Rotarians to join in the gathering and dinner for the "Goodwill air flyers" and to witness the pictures of the flight at the Penn McKee hotel on Saturday evening, June 4.. Music for the evening included a vocal solo by Mrs. Warren McShane, accompanied by Miss alice Jessup, and a vocal duet, by request, "Way Down Upon The Swanee River," by Mrs. McShane and P. S. McMullen.. The cordial addresses during the evening raised the enthusiasm to a high pitch and bespoke much for the future of Glassport and those who are about to enter upon an important part of its industrial and social life.. Attorney F. R. S. Kaplan spoke on the history of the Copperweld Steel company, its personnel and its financial plan, forecasting what the company hoped to accomplish with future operations at Glassport and some of the plans to bring about such conditions. President S. E. Bramer, of the same company, related what the company has accomplished in establishing a body of employes and its aims in keeping the employes together, the welding of the employes into a family organization. He also bespoke the cooperation that the company expected in the community and as well told of the cooperation it would assure and extend to the community and officials, looking to the prosperity of the district and its environs.. Burgess Charles E. Redman, a Rotarian, replied ably to the speakers, extending to them a hearty welcome to Glassport and adding assurance that everything it was possible for the people to do in the way of cooperation was assured as well as that hearty support and cooperation which the officials of the borough would give.

McKeesport Daily News of May 26, 1954

Council to Aid Project

Nicholas G. Siudela, president of Glassport Borough Council, seated above, tells Steve Orlando, left, and Ben Miller, president of the Lions Club, of Council's plans to donate a section of land for the construction of a library in Glassport through funds raised by the Lions.

Mr. Orlando and James P. Ashton are co-chairmen of the library project. Council also granted the club the concession at the new swimming pool to raise money for the project. Construction plans will be drawn up soon, Mr. Miller said.

Lions Further Plans For Library Building

Another project for community betterment may soon become a reality for the Glassport Lions Club with the proposed construction of a library in the borough.

Council President Nicholas G. Siudela and Ben Miller, president of the Lions Club, announced today that plans are under way to designate a portion of Memorial Park, next to the Borough Bldg. for its erection.

Borough Councilmen also have granted the Lions the operation of the refreshment stand when ''the new swimming pool is completed, from which the proceeds will be used to some useful benefit for the people of the community," Mr. Siudela. said.

"All legal questions must be overcome and Council will meet with Lions Club representatives to discuss more fully the project and the possibility of selecting the most logical location for its erection," the Council president added.

The Lions Club library project committee, which includes James Ashton, chairman, assisted by Steve Orlando and Mr. Miller, announced today that plans are under way for a kick-off dinner to raise additional funds June 17 at the Sons of Italy Hall.

All Judges of Allegheny County are expected to attend the affair. District industrialists will also be invited to attend, Mr. Miller said.

In Charge of Lions

The dinner will be in complete charge of the members of the Lions Club.

Other members of the library committee are Robert Shaw, John Tarle, Stanley Sedney, Joseph Milligan, Frank Grudovish, James Gasser, Ben Sachs and Joseph T. Witkowski.

It is the club's intention to dedicate the library to "the preservation of the memory and ideals of brotherhood so earnestly advocated and practiced by Judge Samuel A. Weiss," Mr. Miller said.

"We hope to make a living and lasting memorial to the judge that will inspire youngsters and will perpetuate the principals of brotherhood," he added.

Woman's Club

Mr. Miller stated that all funds from the library will be turned over to the borough, which will in turn transfer the money to the Glassport Woman's Club for operation of the library. The Woman's Club has been in charge of a community library for many years without a permanent building headquarters...

McKeesport Daily News of May 15, 1958

Lions Break Ground for Community Project

Glassport Lions Club officials broke ground yesterday for the construction of the Samuel A. Weiss Community Library, which will cost an estimated $65,000.

Steve Orlando, chairman of the building committee of the service club, is shown in the above photo lifting the first shovelful of ground for the new building, which will be located next to the Honor Roll in Memorial Park.

Shown left to right, are: Mrs. William Weiss, president of the Glassport Women's Club, which will staff the library upon its completion; Felix Zyra president of the School Board; Mr. Orlando; Joseph Ludwig, Lions International Councilor from the Oakland Club; Ed Wojciechowski, Lions Club president, and Councilman Joseph Mawritz, chairman of the Borough's Property and Park Committee.

The club will turn the building over to the Borough for maintenance upon its completion, Mr. Orlando said. Construction will begin Saturday and is expected to be a year long project.

Library Construction to Begin Saturday

After years of planning and fund-raising, the Glassport Lions Club will begin construction this week of the community library.

The building committee and Borough officials broke ground for the new structure at a ceremony yesterday afternoon at the site in Memorial Park.

The building will be erected on the old American Legion Post property next to the Honor Roll and will be known as the Samuel A. Weiss Community Library.

Dedicated to Jurist

The service club will dedicate the library to Judge Weiss, a native son of the Borough, acccording to Steve Orlando, chairman of the building committee.

Upon the completion of the library, the Lions Club will turn the building over to the Borough as a community project and the Glassport Woman's Club will provide the librarians to operate it.

The construction is expected to cost between $60,000 and $65,000, Mr. Orlando said.

All labor will be donated by members of the club, Mr. Orlando stated, which will cut down construction costs considerably. All the club will be responsible for will be the cost of materials.

Blends With Fountain

Plans and specifications, designed by John Kelmar, show the building will be L-shaped to blend in with the park fountain, which was also a Lions Club project several years ago.

The library will be a one-story block and brick structure, housing two large rooms. The largest room, facing Monongahela Ave., will be 29 feet wide and 67 feet long, while the other wing will be 27 feet wide and 40 feet long.

The building will have a finished basement which will be suitable for community affairs, such as social events and meetings, Lions officials said.

The current library, which is sponsored by the Glassport Woman's Club, is located at 721 Monongahela Ave. When they take over the new library, thousands of new books will be added, Mr. Orlando said, many of which will he donated by Judge Weiss.

Actual construction is expected to begin Saturday. The chairman anticipates the building will be a one-year project.

Details of planning the construction were worked out between the building committee, Mr. Orlando and Harvey Kill, co-chairman and the Property and Park Committee of Borough Council, which is headed by Joseph Mawritz. Other members of the borough committee are Council President Nicholas G. Siudela and Joseph Pensenstadler.

Mr. Orlando pointed out that the borough has agreed to maintain the library upon completion.

McKeesport Daily News of May 26, 1954

Lions Further Plans For Library Building

Another project for community betterment may soon become a reality for the Glassport Lions Club with the proposed construction of a library in the borough.

Council President Nicholas G. Siudela and Ben Miller, president of the Lions Club, announced today that plans are under way to designate a portion of Memorial Park, next to the Borough Bldg. for its erection.

Borough Councilmen also have granted the Lions the operation of the refreshment stand when ''the new swimming pool is completed, from which the proceeds will be used to some useful benefit for the people of the community," Mr. Siudela. said.

"All legal questions must be overcome and Council will meet with Lions Club representatives to discuss more fully the project and the possibility of selecting the most logical location for its erection," the Council president added.

The Lions Club library project committee, which includes James Ashton, chairman, assisted by Steve Orlando and Mr. Miller, announced today that plans are under way for a kick-off dinner to raise additional funds June 17 at the Sons of Italy Hall.

All Judges of Allegheny County are expected to attend the affair. District industrialists will also be invited to attend, Mr. Miller said.

In Charge of Lions

The dinner will be in complete charge of the members of the Lions Club.

Other members of the library committee are Robert Shaw, John Tarle, Stanley Sedney, Joseph Milligan, Frank Grudovish, James Gasser, Ben Sachs and Joseph T. Witkowski.

It is the club's intention to dedicate the library to "the preservation of the memory and ideals of brotherhood so earnestly advocated and practiced by Judge Samuel A. Weiss," Mr. Miller said.

"We hope to make a living and lasting memorial to the judge that will inspire youngsters and will perpetuate the principals of brotherhood," he added.

Woman's Club

Mr. Miller stated that all funds from the library will be turned over to the borough, which will in turn transfer the money to the Glassport Woman's Club for operation of the library. The Woman's Club has been in charge of a community library for many years without a permanent building headquarters...

McKeesport Daily News of October 16, 1965

Open House Set Tomorrow

The borough's million dollar sewage treatment plant will be open to the public for inspection tomorrow and residents will get an opportunity to see what the $54 annual sewage charge is used for.

Councilman William Dugan, chairman of the sewage committee, said open house is scheduled from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. tomorrow at the plant, located between First and Harrison Sts., near the Monongahela River.

Employes will conduct tours and explain the system's operation to those who attend. Light refreshments will be served.

Mr. Dugan requested that visitors park on Monongahela Ave. because of the limited parking area at the plant. Auxiliary police will be on hand to assist with parking.

The plant went into operation Jan. 1, 1965, but the formal dedication was delayed until the work around the grounds could be completed.

Borough Council President Dominic Borelli, Councilmen Nicholas G. Siudela, Ralph Johnson, John B. Piekut, Joseph Zebak. Mr. Dugan, Angus Hanley, Joseph K. Mawritz and Steve Mordecki will be on hand to welcome the visitors.

Also present will be Engineer Alex B. Hutchinson, Solicitor James Lomeo, former Councilmen William Earl West, chief operator at the plant, and former Councilmen Howard Kennedy and Edward Novak, who served on council when plans for the plant were completed

Mayor Robert B. Shaw, Tax Collector Joseph T. Witkowski, former borough secretary Regina Deliman and present secretary Ethel Potemra also will be present for the dedication.

Glassport Lions Club Charter Night Program, Bill Green's Casino, Thursday April 4, 1940 at 6:30 p.m.

Charter Members

Thure G. Anderson, Joseph Faix, Sr., Thomas G. Arthur, Michael Govola, Walter E. Banner, Paul B. Hart, Nate H. Bray, Harry C. Kass, James R. Campbell, Harvey O. Kill, Dr. Francis W. Conlon, Thomas C. Lapsley, Anthony Demis, Steve Orlando, Frank E. Duncan, James P. Murphy Jr., Julius J. Dunst, Alva G. Nowels, Allen Dyer, William Fay Shaw, Maynard Russell Edmundson, Stanley Wawrzeniak, Oliver C. Evans, George F. Whitehead

McKeesport Daily News of January 4, 1904

Mrs. J. F. Cummins is dead in her home in Monongahela avenue, Glassport, and beside her when found lay the prostrate form of her husband, J. F. Cummins. In another room W. E. Weaver, a well-known young man, who roamed at the Cummins house, was also found in bed, both of the men being utterly unconscious and at this writing have not recovered. Whether they will or not is a question. Just whether these persons were poisoned by eating something, or asphyxiation is not known as yet, but it is more fully believed that fumes of gas caused the trouble.. Friend Makes the Discovery.. C. M. Ridenour, a carpenter by trade, and occasion to visit the hardware store of Cummins and Weaver early this morning and found the door locked. Thinking the inmates were not yet up he went away and came back later. It was getting late, as Mr. Ridenour thought, the hour then being 8:30 o'clock. He tried all the doors of the home and found them locked. He went to a side door, forced it open, having suspected something might be wrong.. He visited the lower rooms and found no one about. He then went upstairs and wrapped at a bedroom door. No answer came to repeated raps, and when Mr. Ridenour opened it the workshop to find Mrs. Cummins dead and her husband beside her writhing in extreme agony and frothing at the mouth. He went to another room, where he found W. E. Weaver in bed, with the covers over him, also unconscious and suffering excruciating pain He also frothed at the mouth.. The Alarm Given.. Mr. Ridenour ran downstairs and summoned Dr. R. D. Nichols, and later A. D. Williams summoned Drs. R. L. and Thomas Steele. Before the physicians reached the scene, Dr. Nichols, being the first to arrive, Mr. Ridenour secured the aid of Harry Campbell,W. L. Jackson, Daniel Kaler and William Wadding. All the windows of the upstairs rooms were hoisted. Mr. Cummins was very downstairs and Mr. Weaver was placed on a couch beside the window The men did all they could until the physicians arrived, when the usual restoratives were applied.. Men Still Unconscious.. One thing after another was used, but apparently to no effect.. At 11 AM a phone message stated that there was still no change in the condition of either man They were breathing heavy and moaning loudly It is now thought that asphyxiation is the cause. Stomach pumps are being used.. Had Not Retired.. A peculiar feature of the case of Mr. and Mrs. Cummins is that neither had retired and were clad in the same clothes as when seen at the services at the first Presbyterian Church yesterday morning. The bed had been carefully made and nothing had been disturbed. When Mr. Ridenour entered the room he said a gasoline land was burning, there being no gas jet in the room and as far as he could ascertain their did not seem to be such a strong odor of gas.. Mr. Weaver's room is some distance from that occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Cummins and their did not seem to be any odor there, whatsoever. There is a register in the bedroom occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Cummins and it is supposed both had been standing over it getting warm, when they were overcome. This, of course, is only a suppostion.. Somewhat of a Mystery.. There is a difference of opinion as to the cause of the whole thing. As has been stated above, it is now strongly believed that the three persons had partaken of something at noon and also at the supper hour which was not wholesome and might have contained a poisonous substance. The physicians have not been fully able to determine just what the real cause is. The Dog Found Unconcious.. When Mr. Ridenour went to the basement he found the furnace gas burning, and beside it, lay the big dog of the family in an unconscious state He was carried out and seemed to be suffering as his inmates of the house were Not a jet was found open yet there was some odor of escaping gas. A thorough investigation of the premises was made to see if foul play had been committed, but no trace of anything could be found.. The Coroner Notified.. This morning word was sent to the coroner's office at Pittsburg and that official is expected on the scene sometime today to ascertain if possible, the real cause of the death of Mrs. Cummins.. Mrs. Cummins was a highly respected lady and a devout member of the First Presbyterian Church of Glassport. She was in the 47th year of her age and came to Glassport with her husband about five years ago, locating above the store occupied by her husband, with Mr. Weaver has a partner in the hardware business. The news of her death and the serious condition of her husband and Mr. Weaver also has caused profound sorrow to enter nearly every home in the borough, where all were so well-known and highly respected.. No arrangements have has yet been made for the funeral. The body of the dead woman has been taken in charge by an undertaker, to be prepared for burial.. Large crowds have congregated about the premises all day Words of deepest regret are heard from all sides. Friends are offering their services to physicians in aiding to restore the men. At this writing a phone message states that a decided change has appeared in both men. They are breathing more easily, but our still unconscious. The heart action is also better, being more regular.. Yesterday afternoon A. E. and Robert Lapsley went to the Cummins' home for the purpose of notifying Mr. Cummins to attend an official meeting of the Presbyterian Church. They tried all doors and concluded that the family had gone away. Mr. Lapsley says he kind of suspected something must be wrong.. Mr. Cummins is one of Glassport's most enthusiastic citizens and businessmen, and is also a member of the borough council.. Mr. Weaver is a young man, single, and well-known among the young people He is about 28 years old and is a shrewd young businessman.. At noon the attending physician's state that they are still unable to determine the exact cause of the trouble, but believe both men will eventually recover. Source: McKeesport Daily News.

McKeesport Daily News of January 5, 1904

In the undertaking roomsof W. L. Dowler at Glassport today, lie the remains of Mr. and Mrs. J. Frank Cummins, victims of asphyxiation at their home, in Monongahela Avenue, Glassport, full mention of which was made in yesterday's issue of The News.. Mrs. Cummins, as will be remembered, was founded when the house was broken into by C. M. Ridenour and Mr. Cummins and W. E. Weaver were in an unconscious condition After having worked with them for fully seven hours, the attending physician's decided to have Mr. Cummins and Mr. Weaver removed to the McKeesport hospital, where they would be better cared for.. The hospital authorities did all in their power for both men, special attention being paid to Mr. Cummins, who was the worst affected.. Died at 7 PM.. It was not expected by medical fraternity that Mr. Cummins would recover. Every available remedy known to medical science was brought into action, but this did not seem to avail anything. It was noticed that is breathing was getting more heavy and that the patient was rapidly passing away. At 7 o'clock last night Mr. Cummins succumbed. The body was taking charge by Undertaker Dowler of Glassport, and prepared for burial.. The scene is a very sad one at the undertaking rooms where both the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Cummins by side by side. Both arose in perfect health Sunday morning and were among the most enthusiastic at the services in the Presbyterian church. They sang heartily, shook hands with nearly everyone in the audience, went home, ate a hearty dinner, and while preparing in their room to go out in the afternoon were overcome by the fumes of gas.. A Double Funeral.. Arrangements have been made to have a double funeral. Miss Bertha Lewis, of Indiana, a sister of Mrs. Cummins, arrived last night and arrange to have both body ship to Indiana, Pa., tomorrow morning. This is the former home of the dead woman. Services will be conducted at the home of Mrs. Cummins' mother. Mrs. Julia A. Lewis, tomorrow evening, after which the interment will be made. Both Mr. and Mrs. Cummins will be laid side by side.Mrs. Cummins was 40 years old, being two years older than her husband. The former leaves an aged mother, Mrs. Julia Lewis, three sisters and two brothers, as follows: Mrs. Alexander St. Clair, New Castle; Mrs. J. D. Cochran, Armstrong County, and Miss Bertha Lewis, who lives at home with her mother. Sutton P. Lewis, White Township, Pa., and Thomas S. Lewis, of Washington Township, Pa The latter has but two relatives living, both being in the west.. Services will be held this evening at 7 o'clock in the Presbyterian church, Glassport, and will be conducted by Rev. Garroway, assisted by Rev. F. W. Bartlett, the pastor of the United Evangelical church. The Independence Order of Odd Fellows, No. 147, of Glassport, which was organized by Mr. Cummins and the Royal Arcanum, No. 374, also of Glassport, of which he was also a member, will make this evening at 6 o'clock in Bank hall in joint session and attend services in a body.. Mr. Weaver Still Unconscious.. W.E. Weaver, the young business partner of Mr. Cummins, may survive. While his condition is not alarming there is a little room at present for great hopes of recovery. This morning a News representative talked with Dr. Woodward, superintendent of McKeesport hospital, who stated that Weaver had not as yet regain consciousness. He rather thought that in as much as he had pulled through thus farhis chances for recovery were fairly good. The official, however, was reluctant to say very much about Mr. Weaver's case at the present time. It was reported this morning at Glassport that Mr. Weaver had regained consciousness and could talk, but such a rumor, the hospital authorities say, is untrue.. Dog Did Not Die.. Last evening it was decided to put a dog into the room occupied by Mr. Cummins and his wife, turn on the gas and leave the register open, under exactly the same conditions as when Mr. and Mrs. Cummins were overcome. An animal from the street was secured, put into the room and the door closed. This morning the door was opened and Mr. Dog was as lively as a dog could be. The fumes did not kill the dog as was reported by another paper.. The Commons and Weaver house ( Continued on Sixth Page). Source: McKeesport Daily News.

McKeesport Daily News of January 6, 1904

The First Presbyterian church at Glassport last evening was thronged with a multitude of saddened hearts, nearly all residents of the little borough, who went there to pay their last respects to their departed friends Mr. and Mrs. J. F. Cummins, who met death by asphyxiation at their home on Sunday last.. The service was begun promptly at 7 o'clock but almost an hour before that time, the church was filled. Shortly before 7 PM the hearses bearing the bodies drove up in front of the church. The pall bearers conveyed their burden to the altar, with solemn tread The wire sang softly and appropriate selection after which Rev. F. M. Bartlett, the pastor of the evangelical church, conducted very impressive opening exercises. Rev. Garraway, he acting pastor of the church, took as his text: "The teacher is here, and he speaketh to you.". The speaker concluded his very impressive talk by giving some of the facts of the lives of both of the deceased, and said he never thought he would be called so soon to preach the funeral sermon over two of the members of the church at one time.. Immediately after another selection by the choir had been sung, the larger audience moved to look upon the dead The flowers were profuse and were tokens, from the Royal arcanum and Independent Order of Odd Fellows of Glassport, also from the Ladies' Aid society of the church and other sympathizing friends.. Bodies Sent to Indiana.. This morning a delegation of the members of the fraternal organization of which Mr. Cummins was a member and also several representative members of the Presbyterian church with immediate relatives of the deceased, accompanied the remains to Indiana, where the interment is to be made The pall bearers were: J. T. Hart, P. S. McMullen, John Redman, J. B. Edmundson, J. W. Jones, John, A. E., and George Lapsley, Robert Alexander, W. C. Nevin and L. J. Helman. A large crowd watched the work of putting the caskets into the hearses from the undertaking rooms of W. L. Dowler of Glassport, at 6:30 o'clock this morning. Mr. Weavers Condition.. Superintendent Woodward of the McKeesport hospital was seen today and was asked about the condition of Edward Weaver, the last of three who was overcome by the fumes of gas at the Cummins home He said that the gentleman and not yet regained consciousness, but still thought he had a good chance for recovery. He further stated that oxygen was now being administered which might have good effect. Superintendent Woodward said that the patient was doing as well as he possibly could under the circumstances and is getting the very best treatment that could be given.. Drs. Nichols and Erhard are in constant attendance upon Mr. Weaver and think he has a fair chance of recovery. Mr. Weaver's mother at Blairsville has been notified of her son's illness, and it is it is almost distracted. She has not been able to leave her home since the sad news was first conveyed to her. Source: McKeesport Daily News.

McKeesport Daily News of July 21, 1969

Firemen from three area communities assisted Glassport Volunteer Firemen last night in battling a stubborn blaze at a supermarket complex which caused an estimated $70,000 damage.

Glassport Fire Chief Frank Dichiera said the blaze broke out about 6:15 p.m. in the rear of the building which houses a Foodline market, Crown Cleaners, Booky's Bar and Lounge and a laundromat. A fifth storeroom was vacant in the property owned by Soffer Realty of Clairton .

Chief Dichiera said the fire is believed to have started in a refrigeration compressor and spread to some rubbish in a 70-by-30-foot area which runs along the rear of the complex and serves as a warehouse area for the market. He said a walkway and fire wall separated the area from the stores and prevented actual flames from spreading to the businesses. However, all sustained severe smoke and water damage.

Firemen from Liberty, Port Vue and Dravosburg aided Glassport volunteers in fighting the blaze which sent clouds of acrid smoke over a wide area. A .false ceiling hampered the fire-fighters and several firemen were felled by the smoke. Crews battled the blaze until 9:30 p.m. and a fire-police crew remained on duty throughout the night to guard against another breakout.

McKeesport Daily News June 9, 1938

The McKeesport district was experiencing a bread shortage today with three major bakeries closed as a result of picketing by the American Federation of Labor truck drivers' union.

The shortage was intensified as pickets moved today to the plant of the Stallings Co., Monongahela Avenue and First Street, Glassport, and refused to permit the movement of delivery trucks.

The pickets' action resulted in the closing of the Stallings plant. The McKeesport Baking Company, Atlantic Avenue in Erie Street, and the Vienna Baking Company, 2726 Bowman Avenue, McKeesport, were closed Tuesday when pickets massed around both bakeries.

Other developments in the labor dispute here:

RELIEF from the break shortage was to be discussed in a conference called by Mayor George H. Lysle among leaders of the CIO and AFL, bakery owners and grocery operators.

INJUNCTION proceedings, started by Isadore Klein, manager of the Vienna Baking Company, were temporarily halted as the result of deliveries made yesterday under police guard and CIO support, and the conference called by Mayor Lysle.

CLOSING of a fourth bakery as a possibility with the report that baking plans of the Zotter Bakery for tonight are incomplete.

PRICES of bread have reportedly climbed to 25 cents per loaf in some sections as a result of the scarcity.

More than 50 pickets stationed at the Vienna Baking Company plans were moved suddenly to the plant of the Stallings Company, early today.

They formed a cordon around the plant to prevent the removal of any trucks loaded with baked goods for stores operated by the company throughout the district.

A stock of new bread and baked goods, scheduled for distribution in the firm's stores, which had been alleviating the shortage caused by the closing of the Vienna and McKeesport Baking Company plants, was held in the plant. The stock was estimated at $1500 by John Stallings, president of the company.

"The action by the pickets of the AFL truck drivers local is entirely unfair," Mr. Stallings said. "If they had planned the action, I believe the proper thing would have been to inform me that they would prevent deliveries."

"If the labor leaders had approached us yesterday and given us this information we would have shut down the bakery and would not be in the situation we are in today with a full supply of bread."

Mr. Stallings was offered protection for trucks by Police Chief Clarence Urbanski, of Glassport, but refused to permit the trucks to leave the plant.

"It would be pure folly to let our trucks out of the plant," he said. "The police protection would be only in the Borough of Glassport with no guarantee of what might happen in other sections."

He ordered the baking employees to go home. Truck drivers of the company remain in the vicinity of the plant and leaders of the AFL local urged them to join local 485.

"Our employees are being paid as well for better than the scale demanded by the AFL locals," Mr. Stallings said. "If they do not join the union I cannot sign the agreement sought by the AFL leaders."

W. B. Stallings, an official of the bakery chain which operates stores in Glassport, McKeesport, Elizabeth and Irwin, said none of the employees are members of the American Federation of Labor Drivers Local, which is seeking a closed shop contract from 37 major bakeries in the Pittsburgh area. He said his employees voted to remain out of the union.

The closing of the Stallings plant created a brief bread shortage at McKeesport Hospital, W. A. Hacker, superintendent of the institution, said.

"Stallings bakery has been our source of bread since the closing of the Vienna and McKeesport baking plants," Mr. Hacker said. "With this plan closed we have canvassed other bakeries here to fill the supply and have promises that our orders will be filled today."

He explained that the hospital bread order had been divided among Stallings, Vienna, McKeesport and Penn Baking Companies. The latter has signed an agreement with the AFL local.

Mayor Lysle announced that he called the meeting of leaders of the labor organizations, owners of bakeries and groceries after he was visited by Mr. Klein, Sandor Fenics, owner of the McKeesport bakery, and grocers.

"The men who came to my office this morning, have informed me that they are suffering huge losses as the result of the action by the pickets here," Mayor Lysle said. "We will attempt to come to some understanding and in the damage to local business."

"These men have stated that some stores in the city have been receiving bread from New York and Ohio and this is placing our own bakers out of work," the mayor said.

Mayor Lysle said that the bakery owners have expressed a willingness to begin baking as soon as the possibility for violence has been eliminated.

"I told them that these protection will be given to anyone who asks for it," the Mayor said.

Although the Zotter Bakery has not been depicted by the AFL in its attempt to sign up members, employees of the company said that plans for baking tonight were not decided.

The move for the injunction against the use of pickets around the Vienna and McKeesport Baking plants was temporarily halted after the Vienna plant was cleared of its stock of bread. McKeesport and Duquesne police convoyed the trucks of the firm in the respective cities and the CIO officials announced that "car loads of our men convoyed deliveries in routes outside of McKeesport, normally served by the company."

"This is in line with the CIO policy of enforcing existing agreements and protecting our organization against interference from an attempt by outsiders to chisel in," Anthony J. Federoff, regional CIO director, said. "The deliveries yesterday should be answer enough to such meddling."

Employees of the Vienna and McKeesport Baking Companies' plants are members of local 798 of the CIO, officials announced.

Officials of the AFL locals, which have placed the pickets at the district plants in the drive for members, claimed that the truck drivers are not organized under the charter granted by the CIO.

In Pittsburgh, mediators again expressed hopes of an early settlement of the strike of 1400 bakery truck drivers of AFL local 485 which has 37 major bakeries within the radius of 60 miles of Pittsburgh closed more than a week.

"We are making good progress and hope to have everything settled tomorrow," John A. Moffitt, of the Federal Department of Labor, said.

Posted June 4, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of May 3, 1900

The American Ax and Tool company yesterday closed the purchase of 38 acres of the riverfrontage at Glassport, and it will erect thereon a $500,000 plant, the largest of its kind ever built. The works will be in operation before the end of this year, and that means employment for 1000 skilled men.

Plans have been drawn for the buildings and equipment, and surveyors began yesterday to lay out the ground. Struthers & Hanna, of Pittsburg, will receive bids this week on the structural work, and James Bryan, of Pittsburg, as the plans for machinery etc. The buildings will be constructed of brick and steel, with slate roofs and cement floors. The main structure will cover 130,000 square feet; the power building, 20,000 square feet; the warehouse and machine shops, 25,000 square feet. The water works with a capacity of 3 million gallons a day is included in the plans. There will be also a two-story brick office building. The machinery will be driven entirely by electricity, and for this three- 600 horsepower, cross compound engines will be required.

In making this purchase at Glassport the company contemplates the centralization of all its plants, which are located in the following towns: Beaver Falls, Pa.; Millhall, Pa.; Lewistown, Pa.; Ballston Spa, N. Y.; East Douglass, Mass., and Oakland, Me. It was the destruction by fire of its largest plant at Jamestown N.Y., that brought about the removal of the company's plants to the Monongahela Valley. All of the 38 acres purchased will be utilized, and additional land is held at option.

The ground belong to the Glassport Land company.

The American Ax and Tool company's main offices are at 253 Broadway, New York. The concern is incorporated under the laws of Pennsylvania, and its capitalization is $5 million. Its officers are as follows: C. W. Hubbard Jr., president; F. T. Powell, first vice president; C. H. Wier, second vice president; S. W. Baker, secretary; and F. E. Moritz, assistant secretary.

Glassport already has five industrial concerns in operation. They are the United States Glass Company, the Pittsburgh Steel Foundry company, the Pittsburgh Steel Hoop company, the Samuel Severence spike and rivet works and the United Coke and Gas company. With the ax and tool works in operation there will be employment in the town for 3000 men. The site of the new plant fronts 2000 feet on the river, and extends from low-water mark to the Pittsburg and Lake Erie railroad A portion of the ground will be used for switches and sidings.

One thousand men are at work on the Pittsburg and Lake Erie tracks between Glassport and Monessen, laying sidings and double-tracking the road. The double track system will be extended to Fayette City, the present terminus of the Monongahela division. The work is to be finished by July 1.

In addition to the double tracking, the yards at Glassport are being put into shape. Immense roundhouses and repair shops are being built at Glassport, and it is estimated that over $1,500,000 is to be spent in that town and its vicinity within the next couple of months.

Posted May 21, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of August 5, 1963

CLEANUP JOB PUSHED

County Declared Disaster Area After Storm

Lines of death and destruction still were etched deeply into the face of the district today as residents continued an all-out cleanup of debris and rubble left in the wake of Saturday night's violent storm.

Mayor Robert H. Shaw of Glassport and Mayor Robert F. Stokes of Clairton have declared a state of emergency exists in their respective communities and will continue until all wreckage and debris have been cleared.

A representative of the Small Business Administration today toured the scene of the storm and Congressman Elmer J. Holland announced this afternoon that Allegheny County has been declared a "disaster area" by the SBA.

This means that property owners may apply for 20-year federal rehabilitation loans at 3 per cent interest in order to restore the damage to their homes.

The violent storm has not been declared a tornado officially although The Daily News' special weather forecasting service said today that "it had all the characteristics of funnel cloud with the way buildings collapsed from the inside out and in the way the storm skipped about." There were no reports of funnel-shaped clouds being sighted.

Property damages will run into millions of dollars as Glassport, Clairton, Elizabeth Twp., Jefferson and other communities cleanse ugly wounds left by the 90-mile-per-hour wind that cut a jagged swath through the district.

Overshadowing the financial loss is the human catastrophe. Two men were killed and one critically injured when the walls of a hotel collapsed about them. Approximately 70 others were injured by flying glass and wreckage that was spewed over the area.

The dead were identified as William Petrosky, 41, of 1015 Delaware Ave., owner of the Petrosky Hotel, 810 Monongahela Ave., and Robert Martin, 34, of 730 Vermont Ave. Both were pronounced dead on arrival at 11 p.m. in McKeesport Hospital.

In critical condition with multiple internal injuries is Joseph Fritz, who lived in the hotel.

Borough officials, though shaken, were amazed the loss of life was not greater.

The Broadway Roller Rink on Ohio Ave. had a crowd of approximately 25 teenagers inside when the wind virtually disintegrated the building. The roof was torn loose and the walls collapsed, trapping the youngsters inside.

No Serious Hurts

Despite the potential tragedy, none of the youngsters were seriously injured. Most were released from the hospital after treatment.

Numerous homes in the district were flattened or partially destroyed by the mighty blast. Their occupants, fearful in buildings that literally trembled in the wrath of the storm, fled to the cellars for safety.

Plate glass windows in homes and business places were shattered in the gale. Shards of glass and splinters of steel and wood whizzed through the turbulent air. Some pieces found human targets. Most only added to the property loss by smashing into other structures.

In the pale dawn of Sunday, officials scanned the hillsides, tracing the path of the fury that hit the area with the speed and impact of a freight train.

The trail was easy to see. In populated areas, it could be traced by buildings stripped naked by the force of the blow. Their interior timbers, starkly outlined against a clear sky, were garish guideposts.

In wooded sections, the wind snapped tree tops and in one case uprooted a steel high tension tower that was blamed for causing a widespread blackout over the region. Power still was not restored today in Clairton and some sections of the borough.

The storm swept down from the Clairton-Coal Valley section, crossed the Monongahela River at Glassport, ripped through the borough like a buzz saw, climbed the hill into Lincoln and Liberty, roared through Elizabeth Twp. and on toward Sutersville.

It left behind a terrible toll of destruction. Heavy damage was reported in the Blair section of Clairton. At least 20 buildings were said to have been wrecked by the wind. Also hit were, U. S. Steel's Clairton and Irvin Works. The Pennsylvania Industrial Chemical Co. also was said to have suffered heavy damage.

When the wind crossed the Mon. River, it slammed with full force into the U. S. Glass Co. at Glassport then whipped through the borough. It leveled numerous buildings and hammered hard at Copperweld Steel Co., the Glassport Stadium and Steel City Lumber Co.

Awesome Display

An awesome display of lightning and rolling crashes of thunder added to the terror of the night. Sheets of rain lashed the district, washing out roads and adding to the storm's destructive rampage.

Once the storm passed, immediate rescue operations began in Glassport at the Petrosky Hotel and the roller rink. Workers quickly found the bodies of Mr. Petrosky and Mr. Martin and a short time later came across the form of Mr. Fritz, buried underneath the mounds of debris.

Spectators and workers stare aghast at the scene of destruction which unfolded rapidly before their eyes. Numbed with shock they went from one section of the borough to another.

The storm had collapsed several buildings and garages, flung trees in wild abandon throughout the neighborhood. Roofs were ripped clear from homes and hurled yards away to crash into other homes. Power lines dangled menacingly from utility poles.

Sheets of corrugated steel were ripped from Copperweld Steel buildings in lower Glassport and tossed far up the hill. The roof of Reliance Hose Co. was dumped in the entrance way to the steel company's office building at the end of Monongahela Ave.

The office building itself, a gleaming modern structure, received considerable damage from the winds and hurtling debris. Cars parked nearby were flattened by wreckage from other buildings in the sector.

The wind played havoc with Glassport Stadium, smashing down a large section of thick concrete wall and splintering wooden bleachers.

It bent and twisted the stadium's light standards until the lamps touched the main street.

Cars Buried

Automobiles parked along the street were buried under brick and timber. A concrete block repair shop on Ohio Ave. was leveled and the streets were covered by broken glass and power lines torn down by the gale.

In Clairton, the Blair district bore the brunt of the storm's attack. Plate glass windows were shattered, downed trees and power lines blocked city streets. Traffic was detoured on State St. between Maple Ave. and Boundary Ave. where five utility poles, wrenched by the wind, leaned precariously over the main roadway into the city.

The roof of an automobile dealers' showroom was blown off and on Clairton hill, the press box at the football stadium was sent crashing into the bleachers below.

Both Mayor Shaw and Mayor Stokes said that, as long as needed, their local police forces will be supplemented by other organizations in patrolling the communities to keep order, direct traffic and prevent pillaging of local business places. A 10 p.m. curfew has been imposed in Clairton until electric-power is restored to the city.

Assisting local police in Glassport and Clairton were state and county police, auxiliary organizations and troops from the Third Missile battalion in Irwin.

Coal Valley residents in Jefferson reported high property loss with houses buckling under heavy buffeting and considerable damage caused to furnishings by drenching downpour.

Several airplane hangers at the Allegheny County Airport in West Mifflin were twisted and ripped by the wind. Planes stored in the hangers were damaged and one craft was lifted up and over the guard fence onto a hillside next to the airport.

In Elizabeth Twp., the new and old were targets for the blast. A 65-year-old landmark, the old IOOF hall in Frank, gave way', under the beating and its timbers' were scattered throughout the community.

Nearby, the shell of the new First Baptist Church, still under construction, also fell victim to the blow. Walls collapsed and the skeleton frame was demolished.

Another familiar structure, the old barn on the Greenewald Farm along Rock Run Rd. had its roof ripped loose while 30 engineers from U. S.. Steel's Irvin Works sought safety from the storm inside the building.

Butler's Golf Course lost its large clubhouse and its ticket booth was destroyed. The roof of the clubhouse was scattered along the 600-yard Number One fairway.

In McKeesport, damage was far below that of other communities since the city appeared to be on the fringe of the storm's path.

Major damage here was confined to St. Peter's Church where a steeple toppled and crashed onto the porch of the convent.

Throughout the town, however, some storm damage was evident. Shop windows were shattered, tree limbs were strewn over the streets, some power lines were reported down and scattered homes received severe damage.

In Lincoln, the Mendlowitz Trucking Co. was smashed to the ground by the wind, burying at least 15 heavy vehicles. Several of the trucks were said to be heavily damaged but no estimate of the total destruction could be determined immediately.

The Pilgrim Holiness Church on Bellbridge Road, a small but old landmark, also was flattened by the tempest. The church has a small congregation under the supervision of the Rev. W. E. Burgess.

Residents in that section had another problem to contend with. Fumes blown across the river from Clairton, were held close to the ground by atmospheric condition. As a result several residents became nauseated and volunteer firemen set up emergency oxygen stations at various points in the borough.

After it ripped through Frank, the storm cut a wide swath of damage as it leapfrogged in a southeasterly direction before apparently blowing itself out in the vicinity of Scottdale, 34 miles from McKeesport.

Mill Bell, the district's only remaining covered bridge, escaped damage by the storm but trees in the immediate area bore the brunt of heavy winds.

Westinghouse's Atomic Enegry Division plant in Waltz's Mill escaped the storm's fury but damage was inflicted to the roof and windows of the International Paper Co. building.

Power Failure Poses Problems in District

Effects of the tornadic storm that belted the area Saturday night still were being felt today in Clairton where electrical power was not restored to many parts of the city by noon.

Food merchants gazed with dismay upon refrigerating units containing meats, vegetables and other frozen foodstuffs. Under high temperatures outside, the contents gradually were warming--and spoiling!

Even more concerned were the local housewives. Not only were their frozen food supplies becoming tainted because of the loss of. electricity in the homes but they were being faced with a mountain of dirty clothes for washday -- when it comes!

Residents, however, are not grumbling. They are well aware of the widespread damage wreaked throughout the area by the storm. And they have seen utility firm work crews swarm throughout the city, tearing out useless lines and replacing them with new cables.

Taking Steps

Meanwhile, they are taking certain steps to delay the food, thawing process. Merchants, where possible, have shipped perishables to other stores for safekeeping. But in some cases, they have crammed dry ice, ice cubes or blocks of ice into their meat counters, in an attempt to stop spoilage.

One grocer said he has his meat packed with dry ice but is forced to sell lunchmeat by the chunk. "I can't operate the cutter without electricity," he groaned.

A woman said her lunch meat was packed in ice cubes but that such a method was only a temporary stopgap and could be used only once.

"I'm thinking about closing the shop," she added. "Customers want meat and I can't sell them anything but lunch meat."

Swamped by Orders

On Constitution Circle, the owner of a station wagon offered to use the car to haul dry ice from an Oakland dairy store. He was swamped with orders from neighbors.

Other housewives, who already had a supply of the dry ice, were packing it in the freezing compartment of their refrigerator, or in the family cooler.

Despite their plight, most of the people recognized the massive repair job to be done and were respectful of the task faced by work crews.

"They are doing a tremendous job considering the scope of this thing," one merchant said.

Duquesne Light Co., for example, had 41,000 customers in Western Pennsylvania without service at the peak of the storm but most of these were receiving power again by yesterday afternoon.

The spokesman said in the area around McKeesport the high winds knocked out four 4,000 - volt lines in McKeesport, one in Clairton, one in Duquesne and one in Lincoln Place.

350 Men Working

To c o r r e c t the widespread blackout, the firm had 350 men on the poles, working around the clock to restore service. Back in Order

The spokesman noted the 4,000 volt line in Clairton is back in working order but that many customers are not receiving power because their sections are not yet connected.

Most of Clairton, he added, is still out but will be back in service by this evening. He added there are six crews totaling 30 men working there today.

The company said the high voltage circuits were knocked out in Clairton for 9 hours and 51 minutes; in Duquesne, 11 hours and 12 minutes; in Lincoln Place, 9 hours and 7 minutes in Glassport, 9 hours and 51 minutes and in McKeesport, 5 hours and 10 minutes.

Telephone service also was cut off by the heavy storm and at one time 1,200 customers were affected. But the company said today about 450 still are out in the McKeesport sub-district and approximately 400 of these are in the Glassport area where storm damage was heaviest.

New Cable

"In Glassport," a firm representative said, "things are a mess. We are going to have to install about 20,000 feet of new cable. It already has been shipped from Pittsburgh and additional crews are coming in from other districts to help restore telephone service as soon as possible."

The phone company said the communication system was back in operation in most areas yesterday afternoon.

Neither Duquesne Light Co. nor Bell Telephone Co. could estimate the amount of damage caused to their equipment during the storm. Spokesmen for the firms said it "will be weeks" before the damage is totalled.

West Penn Power Co., which serves Elizabeth Twp. and a few other communities in the valley, also was hard hit by the storm, particularly in the Boston-Mt. Vernon area of Elizabeth Twp.

However, a spokesman for the firm declined to release details stating they must come from the superintendent of line construction who could not be contacted immediately. Power was off in the area almost six hours.

During the peak of the storm, the blackout over the valley was practically 100 per cent. Traffic lights were stopped, street lights were out, and power units failed.

Mon Yough Fire Defense Council's radio communication network with the main base at McKeesport police station was knocked out of operation.

Emergency Unit

The council, caught up in emergency rescue work throughout the area, quickly set up an auxiliary station in North Versailles Twp. and monitored distress calls to that unit.

Al Ward, secretary of the MonYough, said the regular station was back in operation early Sunday morning.

Ward also revealed that more than 30 companies of the Mon Yough supplied lighting facilities in Glassport during the peak of the disaster and last night in Clairton.

The lamps he said here placed at key positions in Clairton to provide illumination at busy traffic intersections and discourage looting.

Physicians and druggists lost several hundred dollars worth of vaccines which must be kept refrigerated. Several of these professional men, however, live outside Clairton and were able to take their stocks home for safe keeping.

Stricken Householders Recover, Turn Concern Toward Neighbor

The hands of the clock at Glassport Police Station clung together on the figure 10, stopped when the power failed moments before the disaster at 9:50 p.m. Saturday.

In less than two minutes, winds estimated at up to 90 miles an hour had leveled buildings, collapsed garages, hurled porch furniture hundreds of feet into the air and whipped strips of metal awning into grotesque forms.

In five minutes, the worst was over, and dazed and bewildered residents of the community of 9,500 persons crawled or were helped from corners and cellars of their homes where they had taken refuge during Nature's fury.

Those first moments were of mass confusion, hysteria and near-hysteria, while individual crises occurred anywhere and everywhere.

Talk of Experience

But after seeing to the safety of themselves and their families, the stricken householders turned to their fellow victims to offer comfort and solace, and to talk -- some excitedly and others in hushed, tones -- of their experience.

Merle Easton of 404 Broadway, said he was just starting up his front steps when porch furniture "started flying around and when I tried to get up to the third floor where our baby was sleeping in her crib, the wind blew me back down."

When he finally reached the baby's room, windows w e r e crashing in all around the crib, he said. "My wife and four children and myself huddled in the second floor bathroom until it was over. It was a miracle we were not seriously hurt." the grateful father said over and over.

Next door neighbor Donald Carrick told of hearing high winds and feeling pressure "sucking" at the house. He said he ran upstairs to shut windows and one blew in on him. His wife, Phyllis and daughter Donna Jean, 7, were cut by flying glass from a picture window in the living room.

Near Tragedy at Rink

At the same time, a near-tragedy was unfolding at Broadway Roller Rink, just across the street from the Glassport Memorial Stadium.

Owner John Fasiska of 1026 Vermont Ave. said he was standing about 10 feet inside the entrance of the rink when the power went off.

"Fortunately, there were only about 20 young people skating that night or it would have been disastrous ," he said. "When the lights went off, I herded the kids to the front entrance and only three stayed near the center."

These three were buried in debris when the walls caved in, but were uncovered within minutes, Mr. Fasiska said. "Everything happened so fast . . . I remember seeing the blades of the window fans spinning so furiously sparks were flying," he added.

Shielded by Debris

Elaine Slater, 17, of 25 North Third St., Clairton, one of the trio, said she and her companions were struck by falling plaster, but actually shielded by a large piece of roof that caved in around them.

"It was terrible. There was a roar like when a plane cracks the sound barrier. . . It hurt your eardrums . . . the wind was blowing so hard and then the lights went out. When the walls and roof blew off, there was so much confusion. I was standing with a girl and her boy friend . . . that's the last thing I remember . . . I think I closed my eyes," the girl said, apparently still frightened by the ordeal.

Bernard Nero, owner of a service station next door to the roller rink, had closed because of the rain just minutes before the winds hit.

"I was about a block away and finding it hard to drive because of the wind. At one point, I saw a telephone pole flying through the air, and for a while, I thought my car was going too," Mr. Nero said.

Across the street, damages to Glassport Memorial Stadium could possibly amount to $100,000 according to School Director Peter Gallo. Heavy steel flood light poles were bent and twisted as though by a gargantuan strongman and one set of the lights was flung over a car parked in front of the rink. Steel bleachers were crumpled like paper and huge holes were punched in the concrete wall.

One of several damaged cars, parked nearby in front of the Copperweld Steel office building belonged to Capt. Paul Porter of Reliance Hose Co. As he surveyed his crushed foreign car, he commented he had parked it in the lot because he thought it was safer than parking it in the alley back of the fire hall. "I wanted a compact car, but this is ridiculous," he quipped.

The walls of the home of Nick Martinelli, 826 Monongahela Ave., collapsed outward leaving the floors of furniture exposed as in a giant doll house.

Narrow Escape

His family was in the kitchen at the time and escaped injury.

Next door, Joseph Ferri, his wife and child rushed from their car to the comparative safety of a breezeway shelter, a split second before one of the walls landed on top of the vehicle.

"We hid in a corner, and I tried to shield my wife and child with my own body because the air was filled with flying furniture and pieces of steel. Then, we rushed for our cellar and stayed there until it was over," Mr. Ferri said.

One of the casualties of the storm will be missed not only by Glassport residents but by people from other areas. This is the religious display, that Mr. Ferri has maintained in his yard for over eight years, one that has become a landmark in the borough.

Now, the large statue is crumpled and broken, the water fountain disintegrated and the colorful flowers destroyed.

To Start Over

Mr. Ferii, with the kind of courage evidenced by most of the residents, said it won't be long until he starts his project over again.

A mobile canteen from the Salvation Army was on hand throughout the night after the storm, offering food and refreshment to weary workers.

The Red Cross set up disaster headquarters in the Westinghouse Electric Corp. offices on Ohio Ave. in Glassport.

Workers distributed canvases and tar paper to families whose windows were blown out and four full-time workers served hot meals to needy persons. Cots and blankets also were distributed.

Even disasters have their humorous incidents, and this was no exception. Yesterday, while armed soldiers patrolled the streets of Glassport, two small boys marched up and down barking, "Souvenirs for sale... get your disaster souvenirs... Only five cents."

Industrial Firms Throughout District Suffer

Area Plants Still Reeling From Storm

Production Slowed; Damage to Amount to Millions

Industry throughout the district today still reeled under the impact of Saturday's storm and the scars that remained will be evident for weeks.

Damage climbed into the millions.

Sections of some plants will be down, probably through the remainder of August.

So far as could be determined, only four persons who were inside the district's factories and mills suffered physical injury. All were described as minor.

Officials at scores of business places and plants said loss of life obviously was averted .because the, storm struck at a weekend hour when little activity was in process.

Hardest Hit

Probably the hardest hit single major employer was Copperweld Steel Co., whose Glassport Wire & Cable Division was rendered inoperative.

"Damage is upwards of $3 million and may ran to $6 million," a management spokesman said this morning as insurance adjusters and officials toured the ruins.

Heaviest losses are in the casting department, rolling mill building, ground rod department, laboratory and plant engineering department.

The Copperweld plant had been idle all last week for annual vacations. It was scheduled to start up again Aug. 19, but a spokesman said this cannot be accomplished now.

"We doubt whether those departments (casting, rolling, ground rod and laboratory) will get to work in two weeks," another plant source said.

May Call Some

Because of the extensive cleanup operation which must come first, it was expected some personnel in addition to regular maintenance crews will be summoned back to expedite the task.

For the moment , however, Copperweld management was busy appraising damage and at the same time getting on with the job of mapping strategy on how best to cope with it.

"Right now, we have to figure out where to start," a harried Copperweld, executive said.

"It is only possible to say Alumoweld operations will resume in two weeks;" he added.

Copperweld's new office building which faces Monongahela Ave. was described as "practically a shambles." The structure cost in excess of $500,000 when it was built two years ago. One company source said damage to that building alone will exceed $300,000.

Office personnel were not able to enter the building today.

Temporary Offices

In the emergency, arrangemeats were made to permit Copperweld to set up temporary offices in Glassport High School.

At a late hour this morning, electric power still had not been restored to the plant proper.

U.S. Steel's Clairton Works and Irvin Works were dealt blows that are expected to require sums in seven figures to erase.

Maintenance crews have been working continuously since the storm subsided and U.S. Steel said production and deliveries from both plants were at a near normal pace today.

At the Clairton mill, perhaps the most dramatic violence occurred when a conveyor belt 300 feet long was dropped from its super-structure to the ground. The system linked barge unloading equipment and a coke battery.

The plant's coal handling facilities were a victim.

A wooden water cooling tower adjacent to the benzol plant "fell like a house of match sticks."

The wind toppled all 12 stacks of the boiler house which serves the Clairton Works rolling mill. The plant's rolling mill is idle for vacations this week.

Coke oven production was resumed at 8 a. m. yesterday at Clairton, following a ten-hour shutdown.

Without Power

Clairton Works still was without 60-cycle electrical power at a late hour this morning. The plant was limping along on 25-cycle power exclusively. As a result, office machinery was out of service. The plant's tabulating and record-keeping work was being "farmed out" to other U. S. Steel offices in the district.

The Clairton plant buildings, likewise, lacked power to light them. And there was no air conditioning, in case that mattered, under such trying conditions.

Portions of six large buildings' at the south end of Irvin Works received extensive damage. Roofing and siding were torn off the structures.

Other areas of the West Mifflin plant sustained less extensive damage but plant maintenance forces were hoping for continued sunny weather to permit quick replacement of roofs which protected valuable machinery and electrical equipment. More rain now would cause much additional loss, a spokesman said.

PICCO Victim

Pennsylvania Industrial Chemical Corp. (PICCO) at Clairton and Steel City Lumber Co. at Glassport were other victims

Robert W. Ostermayer Sr., PICCO president, said the company expected to be back in production this afternoon.

Biggest job under way this morning took welders literally into the air in an effort to get PICCO'S boiler plant in service again.

The main smoke stack was damaged. As Mr. Ostermayer described it, wind hit with force enough to push askew a portion of the 110-foot steel stack approximately 20 feet from the top.

Crane operators, riggers and welders were attempting this morning to right the leaning part of the stack. When the winds died down, the four-foot-diameter pipe was reclining at as angle of about 30 degrees.

In addition, PICCO suffered some roof damage.

Alarm expressed concerning the possible effects of fumes from the industrial plants was viewed as ill-founded today.

With power out and wreckage evident at many spots, there was no alternative but to "bleed" coke oven gases, it was learned.

Scattered cases of personal discomfort were reported.

Foundry Idle.

Pittsburgh Steel Foundry & Machine Co. at Glassport lacked electrical power and said it does not expect to resume production until tomorrow evening at the earliest.

John V. Scherer, vice president, said the plant suffered only minor physical damage compared with other industries in the borough. Roofing was torn from one building for a distance of some 200 feet and some doors and windows were ripped off.

The company assigned operators and mobile equipment to the borough's general cleanup team.

Mr. Scherer said production and maintenance personnel will be notified of call-backs through regular channels.

The company's Fort Pitt Steel Casting Division in McKeesport was operating full today although it suffered slight roof and window damage.

Terror of Latest Savage Storm Recalls Damage of 1944 Tornado

The grim sight of district residents struggling to retrieve the pitiful remnants of what had been snug homes, built with years of toil and loving care, prodded memories of another black night of fury in the area's history.

Those who weathered that wartime tornado watched, or helped or comforted these new victims with a compassion born of intimate knowledge of the bleak task of starting anew.

The sinister cone of twisting winds, roaring with demoniac power, smashed its way across the district June 23, 1944, leaving 17 dead, more than 150 injured, and a swath of destruction cut as though with a gargantuan scythe.

While Saturday's thrust cloaked itself in a flashing, thundering electrical storm, the 1944 tornado struck almost without warning.

Expected Only Squall

On that summer evening 19 years ago, householders were engrossed in victory gardens and the restricted activities that marked the wartime years.

Dark clouds piled up overhead, but the edges of the mass showed the tinge of sunshine -- though the puttering gardeners and the youngsters at play could sense rain in the air, they expected no more than another of the thunder and lightning squalls which were prevalent at the time.

Those in Dravosburg fell under the fury of the twister first, then the awful funnel plunged over the Monongahela, slammed up through Port Vue and plowed on into Liberty, Versailles and Elizabeth Twp.

In the blink of an eye, houses literally were torn to kindling or picked up bodily and flung about like a child's blocks, and the roar of the winds was pierced by the terrified cries of the injured and the dying. Others were mute, their lives smashed in that first horrible instant.

Grim Shuttle

Even as the tornado raged into new communities, residents in the sections first devastated recovered sufficiently to transport the victims to McKeesport Hospital in what, for the next agonizing hours, became a grim shuttle operation.

In the initial moments of stricken calm which followed this first tornado in local history, the district took a deep breath, counted its dead and hurt and began the long task of recovery.

In addition to the human toll, the property damage was estimated at at least $1,300,000. And initial checks showed 136 homes and buildings completely demolished.

At least another 203 were severely damaged, and many which at first were thought to have escaped the tornado's explosive touch were found to have been weakened.

Recovery Efforts

Welfare organizations and civilian defense volunteers sprang into action, directing efforts trained for wartime tasks into a disaster no less severe.

The homeless sought shelter in tents, in church basements, in trailers dispatched to the area by the Federal Housing Authority.

And McKeesport Hospital responded ably to its greatest task.

Time and the enterprise of man erased all but a few of the physical scars of the 1944 destruction, as they inevtiably will in the current disaster.

But those who felt that terrifying touch in its passing, both in 1944 and in 1963, will carry the mark -- perhaps to lie dormant, after a while, then prodded into new stirrings on a summer evening when the black storm clouds pile up and the wind freshens.

Lives Also Smashed as Wind Storm Turned Glassport Hotel to Rubble

12 Killed, 10 Escape In Nighfmare of Falling Debris

The physical ravages of storm-ridden Glassport are beginning to disappear today as heavy machinery removes debris from the streets. Already plans are under way for rebuilding.

But human damage is something else.

William Petrosky, 41, of 1015 Delaware Ave., was one of two men who died when the Petrosky hotel was leveled in Saturday night's tornado-like storm.

Now, with her husband and business gone, Mrs. Mildred Petrosky and her five children must pick up the threads and go on living.

Mrs. Petrosky still can't believe the .nightmare of the storm.

Hurried to Cellar

"The children and I were home when the wind and rain started and when part of our roof was blown off, I hurried the children to the cellar," she said.

"The wind was so strong it just swept through the chimney and blew the furnace out. I tried to call my husband at the hotel but there was no answer. A neighbor came over and turned the gas off so there wouldn't be any fire or explosion," she said.

"I didn't know what had happened at the hotel or to my husband until I heard someone outside say, 'Isn't it too bad Petrosky's was demolished,'" she added.

Mrs. Petrosky said she hurried downtown and was horrified at what she saw.

Told by Priest

"It was several hours before I knew what had happened to my husband. A priest told me at the hospital that he was dead," the distraught widow said.

Her eyes were dry but redrimmed from many tears. As she talked, her three-year-old son, David, stood at her knee, not understanding what had happened. The other children, Joan, 17, William, 15, Margaret 11, and Christine, 9, were in the kitchen.

Mrs. Petrosky said she is thankful the persons living in the hotel were safe.

Eight of the roomers are electrical construction workers employed at the Copperweld Steel Co., who go home each Friday and return to the hotel Sunday nights. These men fortunately all went home this weekend, she said.

Family Escapes

Andrew Semian, his wife and five children who lived in an apartment on the third floor of the hotel, miraculously escaped death.

"I don't know how we got out, but we did," Mr. Semian said, shaking his head. His wife, who had been getting the baby ready for bed, raced down the two flights of steps with the naked infant and out into the pelting rain.

Mrs. Petrosky said one of the customers in the hotel bar told her two of the children tried to run from the hall into the bar, but Mr. Petrosky pushed them outside to safety. He never made it himself.

Alexander Ross, 45, who had a room on the second floor, had just taken groceries to his room and was cooking his dinner on a hot-plate when, as he said, "all hell broke loose."

Out in Yard

"One minute I was in the second floor hall and the next thing I knew I was out in the yard with the roof on top of me," Mr. Ross said.

"Someone yelled -- 'Is anyone under there.' and I answered, 'yes, me.' When they said to come out, I asked 'which way is out?' because it was so dark I couldn't see," Mr. Ross added.

He said the impact of the wind was so strong it tore his shirt from his back "and I thought my pants were going to explode."

"I even lost my lower teeth and I sure wish I could find them," Mr. Ross said.

He was especially concerned about Charles McNellis, 50, a resident of 500 Fifth Ave., who had started to leave a telephone booth in the Petrosky bar when the building fell in around him.

The telephone booth probably saved his life, but as MeNellis later told friends, he "had a few anxious moments when he realized his over 200 pound frame might be stuck in a little phone booth."

Volunteer firemen used axes to free the man and Mr. McNellis said he was glad to get out but wasn't too happy to see the axes splintering the top of the phone booth so close to his head.

Another patron, John Perisich, 39, of 723 Hemlock Alley, has a cigarette vending machine to thank for saving his life.

It, somehow held up a portion of the wall and provided a small space for Mr. Perisich to stand. He had to get down on his hands and knees to get out when the rescuers located him.

One other person lost his life in the collapse of the hotel. Robert Martin, 34, was sitting at the bar when the disaster occurred and was still at the bar when he was found by rescue workers. He was pronounced dead at McKeesport Hospital.

Firemen to Meet

Norman Papernick, president of Citizen's Hose Co. No. 1, has announced an emergency meeting for 8 p. -m. today in the fire hall.

Council to Convene

Council President Dominic Borelli has called a special meeting for tomorrow at 8 p. m. in the municipal building to discuss what the borough can do to overcome the devastation caused by Saturday's violent storm.

Posted May 14, 2000 McKeesport Daily News of July 14, 1963

Post Office Dedicated at Ceremony

The new Glassport Post Office at 730 Monongahela Ave. was formally dedicated Saturday afternoon at a ceremony attended by borough and postal officials and a large group of borough residents.

Judge John P. Hester was master of ceremonies for the occasion. Mayor Robert H. Shaw gave the welcoming address and presenfed a flag which had been flown over the Capitol at Washington, D. C., to Postmaster William J. Halavats.

Also participating in the ceremony were Postal Inspector Joseph Wink and Senior Postal Officer Robert McArthur.

Posted May 7, 2000 McKeesport Daily News of May 15, 1951

Glass Co. Shaken By Gas Blast

BULLETIN!

A terrific gas explosion rocked the plant of the United States Glass Co. at the foot of Seventh St. in Glassport at 1:10 p. m. today, injuring an undetermined number of persons and shaking other buildings in the neighborhood.

At least three persons were taken to the McKeesport Hospital and it was estimated that at least 12 more were being treated by doctors at the scene of the blast.

Those taken to the hospital are Charles Suss, Joyce Sreba and Bernadette Olesik. All were badly burned, particularly about the arms and face. The two women were employed in the finishing department of the plant, beneath which the explosion occurred.

A. W. Alter, superintendent of the plant, said the blast was caused by a leaking gas line. The leak was discovered about 10 o'clock this morning and a repair crew, headed by Mr. Suss, was attempting to locate the trouble. While they were at work on the line, the explosion occurred.

The entire wall at the western end of the plant was blown out. Fire followed the blast but was soon brought under control by firemen.

Windows were shattered throughout the building. Finished products and materials were scattered about in all directions. Debris was scattered about the company's offices, located near the finishing department.

It is believed that about 45 employees were in the finishing department when the blast occurred.

Mr. Alter said damage to cartons stored in the basement under the finishing department would amount to $10,000 alone. It was not possible to estimate total damage to the building.

As soon as the explosion was heard, calls were sent to Glassport and McKeesport fire companies and police for ambulances. In McKeesport, requests were relayed through the Fire Department to the National Tube Co. and other industrial plants having ambulances, as well as to undertakers who have such vehicles. Ambulances sped to the scene from several directions.

At the hospital early this afternoon it was said that none of the persons taken there was in critical condition.

McKeesport Daily News of May 16, 1951

Blast Repair Work Starts At Glassport

Woman Still in Critical Condition; Loss Set At $50,000

Reconstruction of blast-wrecked departments of the United States Glass Co. in Glassport was started today.

Company officials called in all members of the finishing department where the explosion occurred, to aid in the cleanup and help skilled craftsmen in the reconstruction work.

Damage caused by yesterday's violent explosion which injured 20 workers, was unofficially estimated at more than $50,000.

Woman Critical

Meanwhile Mrs. Julia Sreda, 23, of 743 Monongahela Ave., one of the victims, today was fighting for her life in McKeesport Hospital. Attendants said her condition was critical and that she was suffering from burns of the hands and face and cuts and bruises.

Charles Suss, 61, of 336 Ohio Ave., plant foreman, and Bernadette Olelsik, 33, 714 Ohio Ave., also remain hospitalized today. Both were described as in "only fair" condition.

Suss was burned and bruised, while the woman worker was cut by flying glass. Fifteen stitches were required to close her wounds.

The other victims of the explosion were treated by physicians at the scene.

Company officials said production lines in the battery department were back on regular schedule today. They were unable to say when production will resume in the finishing department, where the blast took place. The plant will work on a curtailed production schedule for an indefinite time, they said.

A. W. Alten, superintendent, said the explosion was caused by a leak from a three-inch break in a natural gas line in the sub-basement of the brick building.

The leak was discovered at 10 a. m. yesterday, nearly three hours before the explosion by a crew headed by Foreman Suss.

Hole in Building

While they were seeking the source, the blast occurred, ripping a large gaping hole in the west end of the building.

Firemen believe that the explosion was touched off when the gas came in contact with a heated lehr in the finishing department.

The concussion bowled over workers like tenpins and was felt in homes throughout Glassport. Most of the windows in the plant were blown out.

A fire broke out in the sub-basement immediately following the blast and was brought under control by plant and Glassport firemen.

B. H: Petty, of 715 Walnut St., McKeesport, who was operating a cleaning machine near where the blast occurred, said:

"For a moment I didn't know what was wrong, I guess I was stunned. When I came to all I thought of was to get out of the building."

Gladys Cochenour, 38, of 541 Ringgold Ave., McKeesport, a relief worker on the lehr nearest to the blast scene, explained: "I was thrown to the floor and struck by heavy objects. I later found they were tops or hurricane lamps."

Mrs. Florence Laychak, who had left her baby with a neighbor at home at 639 Allegheny Ave., raced their when she heard the explosion. She thought her home, situated just across the railroad tracks from the plant, at exploded.

Blaze Extinguished

Members of Citizens Hose Co. No. 1 and Reliance Hose Co. No. 2 extinguished the blaze started by the explosion and remained at the scene until danger was over.

Captain William Carlson, of the Salvation Army, was helping victims at the scene.

Two doctors treated those less severely injured in an emergency first aid room set up in the gateman's booth The physicians, Frank J. Cibrik and Thomas Richards, treated many of the workers, mostly women, for shock. A number received superficial loans and scratches from flying debris.

Hundreds of persons were drawn to the scene and lined the railroad tracks outside the gates. Ambulances summoned to the plant screamed through McKeesport and Glassport.

McKeesport police were alerted and kept Lysle Blvd. clear for the ambulances to make the hospital in the shortest possible time.

Under the direction of police chief Frank McKee, the boulevard was cleared by patrols notified by Desk Sgt. Ovington Brown, who also dispatched the police ambulance to Glassport.

Alarm Used

Using the Mon-Yough Fire Defense Council alarm, set up for emergencies, Glassport firemen contacted the central station here.. Switchboard operator Elnora Crossen and Fire Inspector William Jackson called all available ambulances in the city and sent them to Glassport They also alerted the National Tube Co. an the West Mifflin Annex Fire Dept. ambulance.. Fire Chief James A. McDermott praised the ambulance operators for their for operation which he termed "100 percent."

Posted April 30, 2000 McKeesport Daily News of November 30, 1965

Posted April 23, 2000 McKeesport Daily News of September 2, 1975

Posted April 16, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of December 17, 1951

Posted April 9, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of July 14, 1963

Posted March 26, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of May 11, 1951

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Posted March 19, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of January 2, 1904

Posted March 19, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of June 26, 1976

Posted March 12, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of February 8, 1961

Posted March 5, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of January 17, 1947

Posted February 27, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of February 16, 1957

Threw Rocks
They were forced to break upper floor windows with rocks in order to get water into the structure. Water pressure was so weak that streams from the hoses failed to reach the top story of the building.
Six firemen were taken to McKeesport Hospital after being injured in the four-hour battle. At least 10 other firemen were overcome by smoke, but returned to the fight after receiving emergency treatment at the scene.
Smoke was already pouring from second and third floor windows when Glassport firemen arrived on the scene and they immediately called for help from McKeesport.
Companies from eight other neighboring communities were called as the flames swept through the roof and roared out of control.
Climb Fire Escape
Despite dense clouds of acrid smoke, the firefighters climbed a fire escape on the east side of the burning building to pour water into the interior.
Later, a 75-foot ladder truck from McKeesport arrived and was pressed into service to help get water on the upper portions of the building which could not be reached from the ground because of low water pressure.
Firemen also climbed to the roof of a building accross the street from the hotel in an attempt to get water to the top of the burning building.
The delay in getting the fire hydrant into operation was blamed on failure of the valve mechanism.
Finally Operated
Makeshift repairs were made and hoses were finally placed in operation on the plugs near the hotel.
But Glassport Assistant Fire Chief John P. smith said his men might have been able to smother the blaze before it got out of control if it hadn't been for the faulty hydrant.
"We had to use a plug further down the street instead of the one almost direcly in front of the hotel when we first reached the blaze," Chief Smith said.
Monongahela Ave. and other streets surrounding the hotel became choked with fire apparatus during the four-hour battle and police were forced to detour traffic around the downtown business section.
Trolleys Stalled
Trolley service through Glassport was disrupted for more than eight hours and Duquesne Light and Equitable Gas Co. crews arrived on the scene to cut of gas and electricity from the area.
The Salvation Army mobile canteen was on hand to distribute hot coffee to firemen and volunteer firefighters during brief respites while the four-hour battle continued.
Hundreds of spectators braved the chilly weather to watch firemen in their vain attempt to save the building.
Those made homeless by the balze include:
Homeless Listed
Mr. and Mrs. Franklin Milligan, Mr. and Mrs. William Maize, al Ferrara and his mother, Mrs. Sadie Ferrara, Mr. and Mrs. H. Clark, Donald Rush, Harvey Ruddell, Mr. and Mrs. Mazur and their sons John, 16, and Joseph, 21, and daughter Frances, 18, and Mrs. Margaret Tragesser.
Joseph Mazur, owner of the building, was in the first floor dining room when he learned that fire had broken out in the second floor bedroom of his own apartment.
"I ran out the door and saw smoke pouring from a bedroom window and immediately reentered the building and ordered everybody to leave," Mr. Mazur said.
Firemen taken to McKeesport Hospital for treatment were:
Sebastian Gibilisco, 43, of 429 Monongahela Ave., Glassport, overcome by smoke, admitted and listed in "fair" condition today.
First Degree Burns
Peter Latin, 33, of 835 Hemlock Way, Glassport, overcome by smoke and admitted for treatment of first degree burns of both hands and first and second degree burns of the left knee.
Walter Kanter, 43, of 655 Riverview Drive, Dravosburg, unconcious on arrival and in "fair" condition after being overcome by smoke.
Clifford Harris, 58, of 702 Clearfield Ave., Dravosburg, overcome by smoke; Joseph Nestor, 44, of 722 Monongahela Ave., Glassport, lacerations of the left wrist, and Russell Godfrey, of 701 Peach Way, Glassport, first and second degree burns and puncture of the left hand.
District communities which dispatched men and equipment to the aid of Glassport firemen were: McKeesport, Duquesne, Clairton, Port Vue, Liberty Borough, Dravosburg, Elizabeth, Boston and Versailles.

Posted February 20, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of October 13, 1950

Posted February 20, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of October 17, 1950

Posted February 20, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of October 17, 1950

Posted February 20, 2000 - McKeesport Daily News of May 31, 1951

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