Santa

My sincere sympathy to Kathryn and Anthony and the rest of her family. She was a bright and loving young woman. I will especially miss her wit and caring spirit and those warm hugs during Santa season. Rest in peace, dear friend!

There were lesser floods in 1946 and 1953. I'd be inclined to guess 1953.

The Packard is a 1949-1950 and is in pretty nice shape. With the best resolution I can get, the flag looks like a 48-star, which would be pre-1959. The parking meters are of a newer design, probably early 1950's. The Federal Building still has 12-light single-pane sash that looks like it needs painted. The recruiting posters appear to be Korean War era. I would be inclined to guess1952 for the year of the photo.

In the South, when the grandmas would gather and talk about grandkids, you'd often hear one of them say, "He needs a dose of suffern molaz." If you're familiar with Old Dixie, you know all about that.

Shaffer side probably was the name for Shaffer Siding, the former railroad siding in that area.

Does anybody remember when the bricks on S. Main St. were paved over with blacktop? I know that when we moved here it was still brick pavement.

Petee, check this website: http://www.gentracer.org/powcampsPA.html

It's quite difficult...hit or miss at best...to trace family from England. My Dad went around to a lot of court houses and county seats when he visited England in the '70s. Most of the records were destroyed in the bombings during WW2. His paternal grandparents were from the Birmingham area but their families were from rural Wales. The lady in the records bureau told him that, even if he had street addresses, they couldn't help because many of the streets changed completely after the bombing.

It looks like the smokestacks from the mill or tannery in the background. I can't tell if that's the mansion on the hill or not. Could it be out First St? If not, maybe out Blinker Pkwy?

It looks like it may have been just off of 5 points. I think that's the Sandy Lick behind it and the tracks may be what crossed the creek on the old trestle over in that area. It possibly sat where the oil company used to be or where the Riverside sign shop was. I don't think New Street was there yet, so it may have been right there.

I thought it would have been neat if some of the doctors in town had bought the old brewery and repurposed it into a hotel/convention center like the Quaker Hilton in Akron, OH. There, they took the old oatmeal factory and did that and it's quite an attraction. The grain silos were converted into round hotel rooms and the rest of the old factory houses restaurants and shops and a huge model railroad layout. We spent a weekend there one time and never left the premises...it was fascinating!

They're at the Simmons St. house and can go any time...the sooner the better.

Can you use some peonies anywhere in your plantings? I have a bed of them about 2 feet in diameter that must be transplanted or rototilled under.