Pitcairn High School - Retrospect Yearbook (Pitcairn, PA)

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J I ' iffy 92 . .fi- igsxqfik I? 'WI' X Hg? 1, N13 l FQ? I 53554 Q? ' .. , aw I MII:'f'EI'If. ' M: I f, . I. I. J , XVALLACE JAMES TRAINOR MR. Sz MRS. J. H. XVARNER tfwenty-:ix F. W. JAH Family J. F. COURSON MRS. LEE NALEY WILLIAM H. HUGUS MR. and MRS. and MR. and MRS. F. G. FRANCIS TOOHILL XVISSINGER J. E. MATSON

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days of the township down through the past fifty years, from our Boroughs of yesterday until today. To many of us, it seems as though the name of Pitcairn has been always with us, but, in fact, the word Pitcairn was unheard of as a name of this community prior to 1894. As proof of this we note that our first rail- road station appeared on the schedules as Vllalurba, our first newspaper was the Walurba Express, all of our earlier churches were giv- en the name Walurba, and, to all intents and purposes, Walurba was our permanent name. However, as the town grew it demanded its own form of government, independent of Pat- ton Township, as well as a name that did not label us as a mere suburb of Wall. lt was in 1893 when the first agitation began. lt was but natural that the older residents, who had been born and reared in the valley, had 'political and sentimental attachments for the township and were content there to re- main. But a large majority of the 11ew citizens thought otherwise. A petition for the incor- poration of the borough was circulated and signed first in the fall of 1893, and took legal form in the spring of 1894. It was in this petition that the name of Pit- cairn first appeared. The name of Pitcairn came about because we were then, as now, a P.R.R. town and Rob- ert Pitcairn was in 1894, and for many years prior thereto, the Superintendent of the Pitts- burgh Division. Robert Pitcairn came llp from poverty the hard way. He attended school principally at night. Ilis first job was that of a clerk in a variety store. Later he obtained a position with the old Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company, learn- ed telegraphy and then obtained work with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. His rise with the railroad was rapid until he be- came Division Superintendent. in locating the railroad center in the Turtle Creek Valley, Superintendent Pitcairn played an important part. It seemed proper to give his name to the town made possible by him. And so it was that the town-after 150 years, had at last a permanent name. The law required that a majority of all the residents should sign the petition for the Borough Charter. The list of names attached to this applica- tion will recall those citizens who fifty years ago demanded a free and independent govern- ment Lfor this community. From the original charter on file in the Court House in Charter Book 21, Page 50, we find these names who represented more than a majority of all who lived here in 189-L: J. G. Stewart, J. F. Tilbrook, C. M. Liggett, J. A. Haverstick, Robert Vllallar, Lewis V. Brickel, W. E. Darrow, A. V. Tomlinson, J. M. Lesher, Norris Cameron, George S. Miller, A. T. Simpson, John H. Mattox, Robert Elliott, Ada G. Sadler, O. M. Tilbrook, Fred Seibert, Edward Gross, D. H. Winebrenner. Mrs. VV. G. Miller, John F. Flack, John Box. J. C. Liggett, J. A. Liggett, Milton M. Flack, H. E. Jones, A. R. Wible. H. Y. Nott, J. H. Murphy, J. P. Trout, Sarah J. Bebout, VV. L. Markell. Mrs. M. L. Keck, Alex Heasley, Charles Koch, E. E. Til- brook, R. D. McElroy, Jolm F. Simpson, F. 'W. Liggett, E. W. Miller, W. H. Brendlinger, Keys S. Miller, George VV. Elliott, Elmer L. Miller, A. W. McClain, Thomas Ogden, James L. Rowe, P. A. Gardner, J. J. Keller, J. W. Graham, John G. O'Neill, Joseph S. Lichten- fels, G. S. Roland, Frank Lesher, Louis C. Shafer. J. VV. McCune, J. J. McCabe, Fred Elwing- er, J. B. Jordan, Lizzie D. Gardner, J. Li11gel- baugh, W. N. Barnhart, VV. B. Tenney, S. E. Jones, J. B. McDowell, H. Fritchman, VV. J. Stiefel, VV. VV. Reed, YV. H. Hugus, Alfred Elliott, John B. Paul, John J. Ogden, John C. McElroy, Joseph Swonger, J. D. Kunkel. Jr.. E. T. Ludwick, John A. Frank, Norman Jor- don, Thomas Jordon, J. M. Graham, O. E. Lig- gett, I. J. Vlfallace, C. M. Howell, Robert Campbell, George VV. Pfeil, Louis VVass, B. S. Rhine, M. Dean, Rebecca T. Young. These names naturally fall i11to three groupsg first, those who have since died or moved from the town, leaving no descendants here to keep alive their names or memories, second, those who have passed on but have left children and grandchildren still in our midst who carry on their names and family traditions, and third, those signers of fifty years ago whose living presence we are still privileged to honor. So far as we know but three persons belong to this third group, our well-known fellow citizens: VV. N. Barnhart, B. S. Rhine and Mrs. VV. G. Miller. The charter being granted on June 9, 1894, the Borough government began to function through an elected Burgess and Council. tContinued on page 27D tfwenty-fifue

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The activities of these early officers are re- corded for all times in the Ordinance Books of the Borough. For a period of seven years after 1894 our streets remained, as in the days of the town- ship, coated with mud in winter and with dust in summer. The luxury of a paved street was unknown until the year 1901. This year brought us street cars and a paved street, for Council, in granting a right-of-way over Broadway, required its being paved with brick by the Railways Company. Following the paving of Broadway, other streets were one by one lifted out of the mud until at the present time practically all of our streets and alleys have been permanently im- proved. To set forth all things that would be of in- terest to our readers would require more than our alloted pages. ln this history we have tried to trace the progress of our Borough from its earliest period to the present time. XVe have seen it grow from a single log cabin in the wilderness, harrassed by the Indians, to a well-governed industrial community, the home town of more than 6,000 men, women and children. We deem it fitting and proper to close our history with a list of tl1e names of those men who, from the beginning to the present day, have guided the government of our Borough, as Councilmen, Burgesses and Borough secre- taries. Each of these men in his own way has contributed, by their time and talents, much of value toward the general welfare and ad- vancement of their home town. Many of these names have faded into obliv- ian with the passing of the years, but their good works still remain though their names be forgotten. Burgesses: N. Cameron, 1894 to 1897, inclu- sive, Robert Elliott, 1898, one year only, J. lt. Mcllowell, 1899, one year only, I. J. 1Val- lace, 1900 to 1902, inclusive, J. B. 1Veight, 1903 to 1905, inclusive, J. S. Vvilson, 1906 to 1907, inclusive, James E. Johnston, 1908, one year only, N. Cameron, 1909 to 1913, inclu- sive, J. A. Fox, 1914 to 1921, inclusive, J. Gillespie, 1922 to 1925, inclusive, J. L. Miller 1926 to 1929, inclusive, M. M. Thompson, 1930 to 1937, inclusive, XV. B. Rhodes, 1938 tog Borough Secretaries: Jolm Scott, 1894 to 1896, inclusive, W. H. Armstrong, 1897 to 1898, inclusive, A1 Gorman, 1899 to 1901, in- clusive, William Lose, 1902, one year only, J. H. Travis, 1903 to 1917, inclusive, M. H. Stout, 1918 to 1925, inclusive, W. M. Hicks, 1926 to- Councilmen, 1894-1944: Joseph S. Lichten- fels, Homer Fritchman, O. M. Tilbrook Charles Koch, F. YV. Liggett, Robert Elliott J. C. McGi11nis Sr., J. W. Graham, J .B. VVeight, J. C. Rohland, S. W. Howell, J. F. Courson, J. VV. Murphy, Charles Mattern, J. H. Smith, George Laeock, VV. N. Barnhart George Black, VV. L. Daugherty, A. C. Evans, S. 0. Cratty, A. VV. Moore, G. H. Davis, W. H. Portzer, 'fE. E. Summers, L. S. Doutt, F. K. Backus, S. G. Fink, J. W. Henry, R. M. Elliott, M. T. Brendlinger, E. E. Mease, VV. R. Bennett, Homer B. Jae, G. G. Hay, J. H. Africa, A. T. Gorman, C. E. Henry, J. F. Til- brook, VV. N. Conrad, C. NV. Pfeil, John Gil- lespic, P. H. Lichtenfels, J. G. O'Neill, W. H. Champion, M. D. Salyards, YV. S. Harkness, J. J. Steinbrunn, J. T. Markel, Jolm Camp- bell, Orlando Weston, C. G. Deviney, J. L. Johsonbaugh, Herman Locke, J. T. Berg- gren, 1. J. WVallace, VV. W. Keeley, J. J. Pat- terson, J. B. Buell, H. C. Givler, T. H. Jones C. E. Barnett, J. A. McLaughlin, M. G. Gable HV. E. Kane, C. C. VVhite, R. I. Crowell, G. C. King, fE. C. Hilliard, 'L. H. Deviney, 'S. H. Snee and WC. S. Miller. ,liPresent Councilmen 1944. 7 7 7 7 7 KTIIE ENDJ A Former Burgess JOHN GILLESPIE lfwefzly-.rf-ven