The Dark Tragedy in Johnstown Pa.in 1923 No One wants to talk about

 I don't know what it is about South Western Pa. that brings out Racism  but it is very prevalent in this part of Pa. unlike every other area I travel. 

Pittsburgh even has the Nick Name Pittsburgh Mississippi for the way African Americans  and other of color are treated .

I know all about racism here in South Western Pa. because of my last name many think I am Jewish because way my last name is spelt  I am not .That's way immigration spelt my grandfathers name when he came from Austria when it was part of the Austro Hungarian Empire in 1912

So it really disturbed me when I read a horrifying racial incident that happened in Johnstown knowing the tragedy that town went thru. 

 It  was in a little part of town known as Rosedale 

When the Mayor of Johnstown Joesph Caufiel on September 6, 1923  ordered all Negroes  and Mexicans to leave town who had lived there less than seven (7) years .

Yes you read that right he forced hundreds of colored to pack up and  leave town .

and he got away with it.

 

Seems there was a major disturbance in the town  in late August and 2 white Police officers were killed 2 other officers would also die from their wounds later on  during a shootout with a  a black man named Robert Young. who had been drinking all day and suddenly opened fire. 

 

When the commotion was finally over that day September 6  upwards of 2000 walked out of town some by gunpoint as the KKK burned numerous Crosses on local hill sides that evening a period in the 20s when Klan membership was at an all time high.

The whole thing was widely denounced by papers local and far away and the mayor would eventuality end up in jail but not for this issues but to to graft and corruption.

for more information on this horrible day follow the following links. 

https://www.dailyamerican.com/ourtownjohnstown/news/local/part-1-rosedale-and-the-struggle-for-civil-rights/article_b035beec-3cb5-5bbe-ba1f-bcdbf21d39e4.html

https://pittsburghquarterly.com/articles/the-great-banishment-of-1923/

https://cambriamemory.org/1923-rosedale-incident/

https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/banished-from-johnstown-racist-backlash-in-pennsylvania-sheds-light-on-a-historic-johnstown-scandal-that-has-been-largely-swept-under-the-rug/Content?oid=16691604

https://www.pittsburghcurrent.com/book-explores-a-shameful-piece-of-johnstowns-past/

 But it did not just happen in Johnstown it happened other places as well

 Racial cleansing took place throughout the region, including in Stowe Township, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and in nearby Beaver County

it also happened in Altoona and Harrisburg up into the 30s.

 

 

 

The Forgotten Village of Power WV now a Ghost Town

 When I was a kid in 1960s on my dads day off from the mill usually a Sunday after church our family would pile in the family van and we would go for long rides all around Pa. Ohio and WV. 

How I wish I could have afforded a movie camera and recorded those trips because so much has changed and disappeared. 

One of my favorite routes is WV 2 which I still travel quite often from Chester to Wheeling 

But as I wind down thru all the little towns I pass a big area of open ground all fenced in  I could remember as a kid some kind of big plant was once there along with homes but now everything is gone just a small cemetery sits along the road. That was till this summer of 2020 they have now raised a state marker and little park with veterans monument to the Village of Power .

An appropriate name for an Windsor Power  Electrical Generation  Plant built in 1917 and powered by coal from Nearby Windsor coal Mine  which provided power via high tension overhead wires which went over the Ohio river  from Power WV to Canton Ohio 

Hard to believe almost a 100 homes and structures once sat along the road here now totally gone since mid 70s

https://wtov9.com/news/local/have-you-heard-of-this-long-lost-west-virginia-village

 Which sat in Brooke county just below beech Bottom WV 

Its good to see Beech Bottom  locals remember all those who once lived in the town .

 

 

The Old National Casket Manufacturing Building on Pittsburgh's North Side plenty of Rumors and Story's but are any of them true ?

Now known as the Cardello Building  the Old National Casket Manufacturing Building has been a Prominent North Side Land Mark  since the Civil War .

 The building is the original 1864 site of the Excelsior Coffin and Casket Works, in what was then the City of Allegheny. The firm became the National Casket Company by the turn of the century, and the building served as its headquarters, factory, and warehouse. National Casket was one of the first manufacturers of mass-produced caskets. At the height of its business in the early 1900s, National Casket shipped more than 52,000 caskets worldwide each year, making it the largest coffin manufacturer in the country.

National Casket moved its operations to Kentucky in the mid-sixties, and the building was used principally as a warehouse. Cardello Electric first leased space in the building in 1968, and by 1983, they purchased this neighborhood landmark and architectural treasure.

Sitting to the left as you cross the West End Bridge  heading to the North Side you cant miss the big brown brick building  which was lovingly restored by the owners of Cardello Electric Supply.

 

 

While once a dirty dingy industrial building the dirt was removed and the modern Office building makes a welcome approach  But this building has plenty of story's which go with it. Not the least of which is it is haunted. 

A couple of people I know who once worked there after it was converted talk about shadows and doors opening by them selves but is any of it true or are people just letting their imagination run wild. 

The couple times I was in the building when it was still being used by the Cardellos  for Electrical Distributor  on first floor  I never picked up any thing. 

But then you hear the story's because after all they made caskets there.

2 story's which have circulated for years involves Burns International Detective Agency which I worked for in 1978-79

 

https://adiligentobserver.wordpress.com/2016/12/16/the-william-j-burns-detective-agency/

 The first story is burns provided guard service to the building and in the huge  basement they had sand bags  piled up in one section and guards where taken there and allowed to practice with shot guns. 

While I have not been able to confirm this story  as I worked as an unarmed guard I know some agency's had them when doing riot duty.   and I heard this story from several older men who worked for Burns. So it is possible since there was so much open space after they stopped making caskets there.and where using building as a warehouse.

The 2nd story involves a new guard and his supervisor in an effort to scare the new guard who was armed with a 38 caliber pistol  the supervisor hid in one of the coffins and as the guard was making his rounds  the supervisor moaned and made noises which scared the guard so bad he shot at the coffin hitting the supervisor in the legs. Again any truth who knows  might just be a funny story  and it would have had to happen back before Act 235 went into effect in 1970's .  as

 guards had to be trained and certified to carry a gun unlike the old days when most guards carried guns which is not the case today in Pa. 

I can imagine just such an incident happned but have not been able to find proof. 

which would be neat if I could find an old article or guard report .

Either way its good to know a piece of north side history was saved and still exists.