History

Steel City Sports as a Catalyst for Change

Though Pittsburgh athletics had many of the same barriers to equality and racial discrimination as the rest of the nation for far too long, the city has celebrated some of the most important moments in the integration of sports in the country.  

Pittsburgh was the only city with two Negro League teams, fielding such future Hall of Famers as Josh Gibson, Cool Papa Bell, Oscar Charleston and Satchel Paige.

Local high school basketball stars Chuck Cooper, Bill Nunn, Jr., Dick Ricketts, Maurice Stokes, and Jack Twyman held integrated pick-up games at local parks such as Mellon Park in Shadyside in the 1950s.

In college football, Connellsville native Jimmy Joe Robinson became the first African American player on Pitt’s football team in 1945 as the school continued to integrate its squad ahead of federal desegregation.

The Association of Gentleman Pittsburgh Journalists present the compelling, heartbreaking and courageous history of how Pittsburgh's integration of sport helped lead the nation.

Utica fulfilled a vital function in New York State's overall role as the gateway to the American West.

Vintage and contemporary photographs come together in this uniquie volume, portraying Utica's evolution from a wilderness crossroads to eventual stopover and tradelocation on the world-famous Erie Canal.

Discover Maryland's legacy of daring women who made their mark on history as spies, would-be queens and fiery suffragettes.

Maryland's history is punctuated by women who refused to be forgotten.  Sarah Wilson escaped indentured servitude in Frederick by impersonating the queen's sister. In Cumberland, Sallie Pollock smuggled letters for top Confederate officials. Baltimore journalist Marguerite Harrison snuck into Russia to report conditions there after World War I. From famous figures like Harriet Tubman to unsung heroines like Lady Law Violet Hill Whyte, author Lauren R. Silberman introduces Maryland's most tenacious and adventurous women.

In the northwest corner of the Adirondack Park lie Cranberry Lake and the village of Wanakena.

This remote area was the last-settled part of New York State; from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s, its name evoked the very essence of wilderness. Initially, sportsmen, naturalists, and artists flocked to the area. By 1900, summer tourism was booming. The logging industry followed, to harvest the virgin timber; after that, the state purchased the mostly cleared lands. Today, seventy-five percent of the lake's shoreline is state owned, and the Five Ponds Wilderness, south of Wanakena, is one of the largest and wildest areas in the Adirondacks.

Washington Township, Morris County showcases the rich agricultural, industrial, and recreational history of this New Jersey Skylands community.

Washington Township, Morris County is situated on the south branch of the Raritan River. This area was originally home to the Lenni-Lenape tribe. In early 1700s, immigrants came from Germany, Holland, and England to settle the area now known as Schooley's Mountain and Fox Hill. The rich, fertile soil of the south branch of the Raritan River gave them opportunity for successful agricultural endeavors, the main source of livelihood for many generations. Small villages grew to have their own stores, churches, schools, gristmills, and post offices. The introduction of the Jersey Central Railroad in 1876 helped the quarry and iron ore mine industries flourish. Schooley's Mountain was a major resort due to the mineral springs, with visitors such as Ulysses S. Grant and Thomas Edison. In 1974, Schooley's Mountain County Park was opened to provide recreational opportunities to the community.

The Wildwoods are located on an island at the southern end of New Jersey's expansive coastline.

The communities of Wildwood Crest, Holly Beach, Wildwood, and North Wildwood (formerly Anglesea) have been luring visitors and vacationers to their shores for nearly one hundred twenty years with magnificent beaches and the ever popular boardwalks. With more than two hundred vintage postcards, The Wildwoods looks back at the coastal towns in the early 1900s. Glimpse the long-lost natural beauty of Magnolia Lake and the primeval forests that gave Wildwood its name. See commercial fishermen leaving from the beaches of Holly Beach or the docks of Anglesea to practice their livelihood as recreational fishermen head out to sea on crowded party boats for a day of angling. Witness Fourth of July celebrations, baby parades, and automobile and yacht races. Visit the architectural styling of the early homes, churches, and schools, as well as the hotels that once provided accommodations to ever increasing numbers of vacationers.

Discover the history of the Genessee River in this interesting pictorial journey.

One of the few rivers in the United States running south to north, the Genesee River was the result of the last great ice sheet that covered New York roughly 10,000 years ago. The Seneca Nation fished and hunted along the river, important to New York since the beginnings of time. In the early 1800s, it served as a source of waterpower for numerous industries. It provided water for early canals, and when the canals gave way to railroads, special sites along the river became popular destinations for entertainment. From the early 1800s, Ontario Beach Park was dubbed the ""Coney Island of the West,"" and in the late 1800s, trains brought scores of tourists to Letchworth for spectacular views of the canyon, falls, and wildlife. Today, a series of parks and hiking trails can be found up and down the river.

A vivid narrative of the heroic struggle of Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party as they worked to earn the vote, framed by the demonstration known as The Great Suffrage Parade.

The Great Suffrage Parade was the first civil rights march to use the nation's capital as a backdrop. Despite sixty years of relentless campaigning by suffrage organizations, by 1913 only six states allowed women to vote. Then Alice Paul came to Washington, D.C. She planned a grand spectacle on Pennsylvania Avenue on the day before Woodrow Wilson's inauguration - marking the beginning of a more aggressive strategy on the part of the women's suffrage movement. Groups of women protested and picketed outside the White House, and some were thrown into jail. Newspapers across the nation covered their activities. These tactics finally led to the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920. Author Rebecca Boggs Roberts narrates the heroic struggle of Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party as they worked to earn the vote.

At the turn of the 20th century, Long Island's North Shore, the so-called Gold Coast, was becoming the most desirable residential area in the United States.

Estates belonging to American captains of finance and industry lined the bluffs and bays from the city line to Eaton's Neck. Some of the nation's most renowned families—including the Astors, Bakers, Huttons, Morgans, Pratts, Sloans, Roosevelts, Whitneys, and Vanderbilts—used their yachts for racing, cruising, commuting, or epic voyages. These vessels regularly plied the waters of the North Shore and bolstered the development of yacht clubs like the New York and Seawanhaka Corinthian—city institutions that established stations at Glen Cove and Centre Island, respectively. These clubs served to provide many outlets for the social gatherings that accompanied this pastime. Although the Great Depression and then World War II would bring the era of the great yachts to an end, a wealth of images remain that can be marveled at a century later.

Explore the fasciniating history of Prohibition in one of the places where it was most defied-- Baltimore, Maryland.

There was perhaps no region more opposed to Prohibition than Baltimore and Maryland. The Free State was defiant in its protest from thoroughly wet Governor Albert Ritchie to esteemed Catholic Cardinal James Gibbons. Maryland was the only state to not pass a baby Volstead enforcement act. Speakeasies emerged at Frostburg's Gunter Hotel and at Baltimore's famed Belvedere Hotel, whose famous owls' blinking eyes would notify its patrons if it was safe to indulge in bootleg liquor. Rumrunners were frequent on the Chesapeake Bay as bootleggers populated the city streets. Journalist H.L. Mencken, known as the Sage of Baltimore, drew national attention criticizing the new law. Author Michael T. Walsh presents this colorful history.

Patterson Park is an urban oasis, a sacred green space surrounded by red brick row homes and generations of diverse cultures and neighborhoods. This refuge is also an urban emerald with many facets.

For almost 180 years, Baltimoreans have picnicked under tall tulip poplars, strolled the deeply curved paths, and enjoyed the rich architectural design of this 137-acre East Baltimore park. Patterson Park is not simply beautiful landscapes, scenic vistas, and tree-lined pathways. Patterson Park has served as the defenses of Baltimore during the War of 1812, a Civil War surgical hospital, and a picturesque home to herons, wood ducks, and painted turtles. Patterson Park has a free outdoor gym with tennis courts, volleyball nets, and an ice rink, as well as paths for relaxing walks around the boat lake. Since its beginnings in 1827, Patterson Park has been a prime example of how urban open spaces can complete and unify diverse communities.

The towns of Northeast Philadelphia boast a rich and vibrant history, but many of their engrossing stories have been pushed into the background over time.

In this collection of historical columns, first published in the Northeast Times, Dr. Harry C. Silcox brings their narratives back into the spotlight. From the beginning, all major roads in the region went to Frankford, the site of the nation's first psychiatric hospital and the popular Unity Street open-air market. The town of Holmesburg offered shelter to the veterans of the stage in Edwin Forrest's Home for Aged Actors. Years before the civil rights movement, Greenbelt Knoll became Philadelphia's first planned racially integrated housing development. Even the nation's first solar energy-powered machine was developed in Northeast Philly. From tales of alligator wrestling to groundbreaking feats of aviation, Silcox weaves a fascinating tapestry of everyday American life.

Images of America: Point Pleasant Volume II is an educational and entertaining volume that will delight residents, visitors, and lovers of history everywhere.

In Point Pleasant Volume II, historian Jerry Woolley continues the detailed look at Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach, and Bay Head that he began in his wildly successful Volume I.

While still maintaining a historical perspective, Woolley has also included more recent photographs to give us a more contemporary view of the area. Bounded by the Manasquan River on the north, the Atlantic Ocean on the east, and Barnegat Bay and Beaver Dam Creek to the south, Point Pleasant's uniquely aquatic environment has long been one of the area's major attractions.

Drawn extensively from Jerry Woolley's archive of over a thousand historic photographs of the Point Pleasant area, many images in Volume II have never before been published. These pictures, together with the accompanying text, provide the reader with a fascinating and insightful look into the past that will appeal to both the lifelong resident and the first-time visitor. Woolley provides the reader with an intriguing look at the many waterfront faces of Point Pleasant.

In 1865, industrialist/inventor Hezekiah Bradley Smith purchased Shreveville, later renamed Smithville, an abandoned textile mill and town located along the Rancocas Creek in Burlington County, for $20,000.

He moved many workers from his Lowell, Massachusetts, plant to the new location, rebuilt the factory, and prepared it for the manufacture of his patented iron woodworking machinery. Smith began to improve the aging housing in the surrounding village. He opened a school and, later, constructed a new school building. Smith erected a boardinghouse for factory workers that contained shops and a concert hall. Through farming on land adjacent to his mansion, he made fresh produce and milk available to his workers. Smith’s company also expanded into new industries by working with outside inventors, like George Washington Pressey, who needed a manufacturer for his American Star Bicycle. Later, Arthur Hotchkiss contacted the company to build the world’s first bicycle railroad to transport workers from Mount Holly to the Smithville factory. This book captures life in the village and factory, memorializing the intertwining lives of the Smithville workers and H.B. Smith through photographs.

Through a series of fascinating vignettes from local storyteller Susannah Brody, discover how the people of Chester County affected and were affected by American history.

When Elizabeth Chad opened her door one foggy September day in 1777 to see the Continental army surrounding her property, little did she know that her home would soon be the scene of the Battle of the Brandywine, which led to a series of skirmishes from Paoli to Valley Forge. One hundred years later, the Great Tornado of 1877 destroyed towns and crops, and the famous Buffalo Bill caused a ruckus when he strolled into West Chester.  Discover how the people of Chester County secreted slaves along the Underground Railroad, hosted witch trials and fought for women's suffrage.

In Perinton, Fairport, and the Erie Canal, you will meet Daniel DeLand, founder of the DeLand Chemical Works which, beginning in 1852, shipped by canal hundreds of barrels of the leavening agent saleratus and baking soda to markets in New York City and the West. You will find out the secret ingredient of Taylor's Oil of Life and will read its endorsement by Buffalo Bill Cody. You will see the Main Street lift-bridge, which was cited several times in Ripley's Believe It or Not, and Cobb's Preserving Company, which experimented and promoted the solderless can that revolutionized food storage in America.

For most of their histories, Marple and Newtown Townships were farming communities on the western outskirts of Philadelphia.

The thriving farms supplied local grocers, while the fresh air and clean water in Marple and Newtown attracted city dwellers seeking recreational opportunities. With the West Chester Pike linking the townships to other areas, they quickly became quintessential suburban communities. Marple and Newtown Townships captures the growth of the two communities from the early 20th century through the 1990s. A trolley line established early in the century provided transportation for commuters, but it was not until the 1950s that Marple and Newtown were transformed from sleepy outposts to sprawling suburbs. Housing developments such as Lawrence Park attracted thousands of new families to the area. Included in this collection are local landmarks which have long since vanished, including Bonsall's General Store, the old Marple-Newtown High School, Bessie Parker's, and the Bergdoll Mansion.

Over 200 fascinating postcard images showcase Carmel's history from Model Ts to Drew Seminary.

Carmel lies on the shores of Lake Gleneida, some 50 miles north-northeast of New York City, not far from the Connecticut border. It has served as the county seat for Putnam County since 1812 and has emerged over the years as the region's governmental and legal center. The vintage postcards presented in Carmel portray the elegant Putnam County Courthouse, a national historic landmark; the picturesque lake and agricultural pursuits; the corner dam and watershed development; Drew Seminary and other local institutions; the days of steam trains and Model Ts; and the community's eventual suburbanization.

Champlain has a rich history shaped by war, the Canadian border, and the French ancestry of many of its residents.

Founded in 1788, it was originally surveyed by renowned French colonist and explorer, Samuel de Champlain, for whom the town is named. The Great Chazy River runs through the heart of Champlain, making it an inviting location for early settlers on the Northern frontier. Once known for a graceful main street lined with stately elms, it was primarily an agricultural community with other supporting industries, including one of the country's first ski manufacturers, a boatyard, and iron and metalworking factories; such a peaceful image belies the bloody past of Champlain, as it was on the front lines for the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and even the Civil War.Champlainchronicles the town and village through images of its homes, businesses, churches, and people of the past century and a half.

Levittown, the prototype for suburban housing development in America, emerged from the hands of legendary builders Abraham, William, and Alfred Levitt in 1947, in response to the housing dilemmasfaced by veterans returning home after World War II.

Skeptics predicted that the community would deteriorate, but Levittown soon became the model for housing developments throughout the nation. Its strategically planned neighborhoods were reproduced overseas as well, including cities in Germany, France, Spain, and Israel. Through more than 200 vintage photographs combined with a thoroughly researched text, Levittown Volume II illuminates the evolution of this close-knit community and invites readers to meet the families that contributed to itsgrowth. This second volume of Levittown images takes us a step beyond the pre-Levitt history presented in Levittown: The First 50 Years and further explores the town's progress to date.

Only 18 miles south of behemoth New York City, Cranford is an adorable small city, nicknamed the Venice of New Jersey.

Residents of Cranford greeted the publication of a photographic history of their community with tremendous enthusiasm in 1995--for the first time, significant people and events in the township's past were celebrated in a vivid record available to all. The authors of that volume--Robert Fridlington and Lawrence Fuhro--have worked together again to produce an all-new second volume on Cranford that includes many recently discovered images. Cranford Volume II covers the history of the town from 1871 to 1960, and highlights its role as a riverside resort and suburb. Images of well-known Cranford residents, such as pure-food crusader Alice Lakey and beloved high school coach J. Seth Weekly are also featured, documenting the unique contributions of these citizens to their hometown.

Suffolk's peanut star was already on the rise when an Italian immigrant named Amedeo Obici moved his chocolate and nut operation, Planters Peanuts, to town in 1913 to be in the heart of peanut country. Three years later, Mr. Peanut was born in Suffolk. The success of the goober gave the community cause to celebrate, and it did so on the first large-scale basis in 1941 with the National Peanut Festival and Exposition, complete with a parade and queen. Today the Suffolk Peanut Fest carries on the legume's legacy. More than 200,000 people attend the fete each fall to enjoy family entertainment and pay homage to the humble peanut.

Vassar College was founded in 1861, two miles from the banks of the Hudson River in Poughkeepsie by Matthew Vassar, a self-made businessman.

The college grew to confirm its founder's precedent-breaking vision that women would profit from intellectual opportunities in the liberal arts similar to those that Ivy League institutions had long offered the other gender. The college has grown and changed with the times, first countering Victorian prejudices that women were not suited for serious study, always leading the way as opportunities to broaden the spectrum of women's education developed. In the tumultuous decade of the 1960s, Vassar College again broke precedent, turning itself from a single-sex institution into one in which true coeducation exists. After 139 years, Vassar is poised for the changes under way and yet to come in the twenty-first century.

Battles, shipwrecks and abundant adventures await in this volume of maritime tales by local author Susan Gately.

Easternmost of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario is bordered by both New York and Ontario. Upon its pristine surface, countless vessels have sailed, but its bottom depths are littered with the skeletons of shipwrecks, including HMS Ontario, caught and destroyed in one of the sudden storms that often turn this sea-like lake deadly. Daring mariners, male and female, have seen their share of peril, and battles during wars between Britain and the United States and Canada have also been waged here. From Huron canoes to today's Sunday sailors who venture from shore only during warmer months, local author Susan Gateley tells some of the lake's most exciting stories.

When Henry Debosnys arrived in Essex, New York, the sleepy town was unprepared for the string of dark events that trailed the exotic European stranger. Within weeks of his appearance, he had romanced wealthy widow Betsey Wells, charming her friends and children and presenting the picture of an ideal new family at their spur-of-the-moment wedding. Yet when authorities discovered Betsey's mangled body in a nearby forest, Debosnys's image as a caring family man began to unravel. During his incarceration, Debosnys slowly revealed himself to be a genius fluent in six languages, a master cryptographer and the murderer of at least two previous wives. As the scrutiny on Debosnys intensified, he began producing coded messages, allegedly confessions to a lifetime of villainy. Author Cheri Farnsworth reveals never-before-seen evidence of this Upstate tragedy, including reproductions of the legendary, unsolved Debosnys cryptograms, in an effort to finally uncover the truth about this depraved con man. The only question that remains is who will be the first to crack the Debosnys Code?

Discover some of Southwest Pennsylvania's most harrowing ghost tales.

The ghostly woman of Summit Cut Bridge, a black hound that guards the Gates of Hell and the whispering dead entombed beneath the Black Crossthese are the spirits of southwestern Pennsylvania. Join local author Thomas White as he recounts such chilling stories as that of Revolutionary War witch Moll Derry and the phantom bride of White Rocks and the hair-raising tale of the angry specter of a steel millworker burned alive in a ladle of molten iron. Ascend the secret stairs of the Cathedral of Learning in Pittsburgh and wander the dim stretch of Shades of Death Road in Washington County to encounter the otherworldly denizens of the Keystone State.

Adjoining the southern border of Pittsburgh, Dormont is a small, independent borough whose name means mountain of gold in French.

The borough developed rapidly even before its incorporation in 1909. In the early 1900s, the extension of Pittsburgh's railway system, the opening of the Liberty Tunnels, and the building of the Liberty Bridge, along with the recreational opportunities the borough has to offer, encouraged many families to settle and escape the pollution of Pittsburgh's steel mills. Through the years, the direct access to the city's business and cultural areas has drawn residents to the historic borough.

Through vintage photographs and informative captions, this volume illustrates the growth and development of New Jersey's Manasquan.

A quaint oceanfront community nestled on the New Jersey shoreline, Manasquan was settled in 1685 and incorporated in 1887. Construction of the railroad turned the quiet village of Manasquan into a popular vacation destination for city folk lured by the healthy sea air and fishing. Within the last 25 years, Manasquan has seen a dramatic increase in its number of year-round residents and the growth of its business district. This remarkable collection of historic photographs and illustrations guides the reader from Manasquan's early years through the 1950s. Through vintage photographs and informative captions, this volume illustrates the growth and development of Main Street, the construction of tree-lined neighborhoods of Victorian homes and beachfront bungalows, and the important opening of the Manasquan Inlet--the entrance to the Intracoastal Waterway.

South Amboy is a fascinating history of this community's past and beginnings, with vintage images that document what life was really like.

South Amboy, a celebration of the people and places of this key Central New Jersey community, is a fascinating look back in time at the city's early days. Through a variety of vintage images combined with insightful text, travel to the waterfront, railroad, and bustling business district of South Amboy's past. As 1998 marks the 200th anniversary of the city's organization, weeping revitalization and development are under way, and it is an ideal time to reflect upon South Amboy's beginnings. Included in South Amboy are photographs of the old city hall, prominent local businesses, long forgotten schools, and an earlier and very different Broadway. South Amboy has always been a transportation hub, from a stop in revolutionary days on the route from New York to Philadelphia, to its current role of shuttling commuters throughout the area. Life in South Amboy is shown in all aspects, from social to civic activities, from the taverns to the firehouses, and from houses of worship to the city's hospital. The historic images featured, most of which have never been published, are largely from the private collections of South Amboy residents.

Discover the history of Englewood, ""the Queen City of the Palisades,"" and Englewood Cliffs in this enlightening tribute to these communities.

With images from pre-Revolutionary days to the opening of the George Washington Bridge, the Friends of the Englewood Library trace all aspects of life, including the expansion of political and social institutions. Drawing from public as well as private collections, the story of Englewood and Englewood Cliffs unfolds in this volume--from scenes of fishing villages to farms to grand mansions--tracing the progress of a once rural area that developed into residential communities with tree-lined streets, many parks, hiking trails, and nature preserves within a few miles of New York City. In this visual compilation of Englewood history, meet the founding families of the area as well as some of its notable residents. View the work of prominent architects and tour a variety of landmarks and eclectic buildings, from Dutch Colonial homes to a 600-foot-long wooden hotel.

For Italian immigrants and their descendants, moving from the city to Long Island was more than a change of address.

Even though the move wasn't far geographically, the societal move was large—it signaled that the family had achieved the American Dream, and in turn, elements of Italian values and culture are visible all over the island. Italians helped to build Long Island, whether as laborers or as contractors, such as the Castagnas. They brought their culinary traditions and opened markets, such as the still family-owned Iavarone Brothers Foods and restaurants, including New Hyde Park's Umberto's. Italians' industrialism helped them thrive in fields as diverse as medicine, politics, theater, and winemaking (including the nationally recognized Banfi label). Join author Salvatore J. LaGumina to discover the remarkable contributions and vibrant culture of Italians and Italian-Americans on Long Island.