St Thomas More High School - Utopian Yearbook (Philadelphia, PA)

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THE UTOPIA ST. THOMAS MORE CATHOLIC BOYS' HIGH SCHOOL Phila., 31, Perma. JUNE, 1951 THE STAFF EDITOR Ronald Centrone, '51 CONTENTS ASSOCIATE EDITORS 'Th0'm 'as M'e'mZe'r, .51 OLD LANCASTER PIKE, by Walter Meagher, '52 . .. 57 Dominic Roberti, '51 William McGinnis, '51 Walter Meagher, '52 PHOTOGRAPHIC EDITOR THE DOUBLE DEAL, by Thomas Mentzer, '51 ..... JUST A PLEASURE CRUISE, by William McGinnis, '51 . 67 61 Nor EVERY POOCI-I,S PAPA, by Julius Olita, '54 ..... . . . 76 ART EDITORS A F UTILE GEsTURE, by Walter M clntyre, '51 . . . . . . 74 Louis Cellucci, '51 David Damiano, '51 PEOPLE ARE POPULAR, by john McNamee, '51 . . . . . . 59 Em5 PANECEA OR HUMBUG, by Dominic Roberti, '51 . . . . . . 79 james Dougherty, '51 Richard Burgess, '51 NICOTINE NIGHTMARE, by Rudoph Megaro, '51 . .. .. . 70 22512. V DON'T CARRY ME BACK To TI-IE LoNE PRAIRIE, Fred Donegan' 51 by Ronald Centrone, '51 .................... . . . 65 James Hagan, '51 Charles O'Neill, '51 MODERATORS Reverend John F. Cullen Reverend Frederick J. Frazer IMPRESSIONS or A SCOREKEEPER, by Dominic Roberti, '51 . . . . . . . 82 ol,6U'lC6l6i2l we VERY MORNING between 8:15 and 8:30 Lancaster Avenue's Route Number 10 street- cars disgorge several hundred S.T.M. students at Forty-seventh Street. A great many other students trudge along the Pike to reach the same institution. If we were to travel Westward along Lancaster Avenue we would discover that we were passing through a number of parishes which supply the student personnel of our school -St. Agatha, Our Mother of Sorrows, St. Greg- ory, St. Rose of Lima, Our Lady of Lourdes. THE U TOPIAN . BY WALTER MEAGHER, '52 Lancaster Avenue-at least that part of it within the city limits-is a not-altogether beau- tiful street. It is lined with shops of every kind. There are innumerable taprooms and a fair num- ber of money-to-loan shops. The street itself is Hlled with ruts and patches of hurried paving. Cobblestones are ripped from their settings, and the trolley tracks are conducive to St. Vitus Dance. The street is frequently littered with debris. The student who comes to school via Lancaster Avenue is assuredly not taking the .. .57

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JOHN JAMES WALLIN, , Commercial, ST. FRANCIS DE SALES, Leqion of Mary Prelect. 3, Treasurer: Traffic Squad, 2: Baskelball, 47 Track, I. JOHN JOSEPH WALSH, . ST. ROSE OF LIMA, Science. JAMES JOSEPH WALTERS, , ST. ROSE OF LIMA, Commercial. PATRICK FRANCIS WALSH, ST. GREGORY, Commercial, Cross-Counfry, lg Track, I. GEORGE JOSEPH WANNOP, ST. BARBARA, Science, Foofball, Ig Baseball, 2. RICHARD JOHN WHITE, Drexel Hill, Pa., ST. DOROTHY, Science PATRICK FRANCIS WHORISKEY, ST. ROSE OF LIMA, Science. JAMES HENRY WIMBISH, ST. IGNA- TIUS, Science, Dramalics, Ig Track I. ROBERT JOSEPH WOOD, . OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY, Commercial, Dramafics, I: Chan- cellor, Ig Football, 4: Track, Ig Bowling, 2: Radio Broadcesl- ing I. sz. -11mm ,um JM, sczmz

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N I , Af u 1 .1 I- ,K . my I A , ,Z Ari.. yfllllr. 'N-ez-LA. f- H x f Z: 1-L ' X f-QT ' fjf- I - J X X' H H- Q --ff: ,JA f -' 0 3 V. X. X-1 .. t' gil ,. uh K ...-, xl . 1 A ':..-....- - Q A if' L- 0 ' -. w 1 '-.F 't5:. V. l .1 1' y 'fa f 0 0 l 'I P M2151-:-. .Ju v . ,jk fff., J e .f-.... wt. 'Q' -at Us '- -' 'ff? 7 0 n x X r w . ..-,Que f 1-L K 'ia' 5, 1 .--no na. ,' ,I lf X J ' rv T5 ' N 'Q .,t,- tg. Q4:ta?.o :-2--- 'I'Q..!f Q., 3 scenic route. Yet, for all its nondescript character and gen- eral unkemptness, it is a wonderful old avenue after all. I doubt if many of the students who travel over it so constantly really know how old it is or how saturated with history is its past. I doubt if they know that at one time it was the main artery for stagecoach travel to the West or that it was the oldest tumpike in the United States. At a veryl early date roads began to be laid out from Philadelphia westward, and it is certain that in 1714 there was a road which was said to be the directest and best. This road led from the city to the Dutch settlements at Conestoga and Susquehanna. At that time the town of Lan- caster was not yet in existence, and the road led considerably to the south of where that town was afterward located. Lancaster Avenue had a va- riety of appellations before it received its last andl most famous name. It was called in colonial times the King's Highway, but was popularly known as the Old Philadelphia Road. But some- times it was called Providence Road, and after the Revolution it became the Continental Road. In 1767 an attempt was made to straighten this road and eliminate excessive detours. As the country developed and travel, increased, it became evident that a better road was needed. In 1791, therefore, the Legislature authorized a company to construct a turnpike from Phila- delphia to Lancaster, the first road of the kind in the country. Popular enthusiasm ran high, so 58. high that the stock offered was heavily oversub- scribed, and it became necessary to choose the stockholders by a lot from the army of applicants. The cost of the road has not been traced with certainty, but in the journal of the State Senate, of February 2, 1797, it appears that a letter from Elliston Perot was presented in which an abstract account of the money so far expended on the turnpike was included. It is therein stated that the amount was 3444,573.72. The construction of the tumpike was so ar- ranged that there would be five different sec- tions. A superintendent was appointed for each section or district. The tumpike seems to have been practically completed by about 1794, even though towards the year 1796 some work was still in progress. On November 3, 1806, Roger Brooke made a survey of the tumpike. The survey began at the face of the east abutment of the Schuykill per- manent bridge and evidently ended at the Court House in Lancaster. The difference between the two points was sixty-two miles and 135.95 perches, strict measure. For the accomodation of the many travellers over the road, sixty-one tavems were constructed along the sixty-six miles. Many of these were maintained by prominent men and frequently by members of Congress or the State Legislature. The last inn to go in the immediate area of St. Thomas More High School was located at For- tieth and Lancaster Avenue, on the spot on which the Acme Supermarket Qformerly the West Philadelphia Title and Trust Companyj now stands. One of the oldest of the few surviving inns is the General Anthony Wayne Inn in Merion. Let's leave the story of the origins of the Pike to have a brief look into some of the places of interest which adom it. The modem traveler who goes over the route of the Old Columbia Railroad-or its successor, the Pennsylvania Railroad-is at once struck by the Welsh names which meet him on every side. Names like Merion, Narberth, Wynnewood, Bryn Mawr are all of Welsh derivation. The early settlers in the villages were Welsh Quakers who came in re- sponse to William Penn's invitation. It was they who, carving out homes in what was then a wil- derness, began the distinguished history of these commun1t1es. . THE UTOPIAN