Monaca History

I copied the following Photos Posted by Ray Labon on Facebook... for my non Facebook Friends... but mostly because at 72, I grew up in the 50's and recall much of what is seen here.

Exiting Monaca from Brodhead Road looked quite different in the 1960s, before the Route 18 Highway was constructed. On the right is the former home of Adam Huff (1823-1906), a carpenter and the first undertaker in town. The house remained in his family until 1958, when it was sold for the construction of the water pollution control plant. 

Lamartine LeGoullon's coal tipple can be seen in this photograph under the railroad bridge near the German Lutheran Cemetery. After the freight train dumped coal into the tipple, LeCoullon would load his horse-drawn wagons, later trucks, with the coal. It was then delivered to his customers.

The new municipal building was ready for occupancy in 1995 and contained the police and fire department on the first floor and the borough offices and council chambers on the second floor.

This photograph shows both buildings side by side before the demolition of the first municipal building in 1994.

This photograph provides a late-1920s look at Pennsylvania Avenue around Twelfth Street. The stores were, from left to right, Edward Harper's tin shop, Margulis Department Store, and P.H.

Butler Grocers (with the awning). In more recent times, the stores became, from left to right, Electric Garage Door Sales, Monaca Five & Ten, and the Monaca Men and Boy's Store.

In 1932, the Monaca Five & Ten was opened by John Sabo at 1116 Pennsylvania Avenue. He came to America from Czechoslovakia with only 15¢ in his pocket. In 1942, Sabo and his sons John Jr. and Thomas started the Monaca Men and Boy's Store. Both buildings can be seen in the photograph. Jack Hayes was operating the Five & Ten when it closed in 1979.

This is the grand opening of Pat's American service station, which was opened by Patrick McDonald in March 1960. The business was located at the corner of Ninth Street and Washington Avenue.

This photograph taken on September 1, 1930, contrasts the suspension bridge with the cantilever bridge that replaced it. The dedication attracted a large crowd of people, including Monaca business leaders Frank Batchelor, David C. Locke, Alonzo Batchelor, M.K. Fronko, L.H. Klingseisen, and J.A. Johnson.

The second bridge between Monaca and Rochester was a steel truss cantilever bridge, dedicated in 1930. When the suspension bridge had outgrown its use, the county commissioners decided a new bridge was needed to carry the increasing traffic load. At that time, the bridge was carrying 10,000 cars per day

In 1940, the Water Works building was expanded around the original structure as part of a WPA project. This 1942 photograph was taken shortly after the grounds were graded and terraced.

In the background, the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad Bridge spans the Ohio River between Monaca and Beaver. The Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad helped open the south side of the Ohio River to growth. The first bridge was a single-track bridge and opened in 1879. The new bridge, which is still in use today, is a double-track cantilever bridge that took two years to build, cost $200,000, and opened in 1910.

Pennsylvania Avenue in Monaca had major traffic congestion when the afternoon shift ended at the Jones and Laughlin Steel Works in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. To ease the congestion, the East Rochester-Monaca Toll Bridge was opened in 1959. The toll was originally 15¢ for a one-way trip, and the tollbooth stood on the Monaca side of the bridge. The toll was removed in 1973

The first passenger bridge between Monaca and Rochester was opened to the public on january 16, 1897. An estimated 3,000 people and carriages crossed it on the first day. The suspension bridge was one of the longest bridges in the country, with a center span of 800 feet. The brise opening created considerable excitement, because it connected the northern and southern sides of the Ohio River.

A book for Monaca, that has pictures of days past, many will remember some of those days looks of the past

My Grandmother (Ida Mae Pike) was the first president of the Ladies Auxiliary to Monaca Fire Dept. which included Mrs Dalzell. I point out Mrs Dalzell, because at one time I lived directly across from Dalzell's mom & pop grocery store on Bechtel St. I vividly recall Mr Dalzell and his store which included the hanging fire extinguishers from the ceiling. (the kind that looked like light bulbs filled with a red liquid which were supposed to burst when they got too hot). Possibly...  the above photo contains my grandma, possibly the 2nd from the right...but I could not be sure.