Around Ford City
()
About this ebook
Ford City was once known as one of Pennsylvania's fastest-growing communities. Experience its transition from company town to bustling borough through stories and images.
The Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company and the Ford China Company, both established by John B. Ford, made this town the destination of many United States citizens, as well as European immigrants searching for a new life of employment and prosperity.
The vintage postcards in Around Ford City reflect the essence of this hardworking, proud, ethnic community. The people, along with the factories, hotels, churches, and many homes, have grown together over generations to form the spirit of Ford City.
William L. Oleksak
William L. Oleksak, the son of a glassworker, is a retired teacher and a lifelong resident of Ford City. He graduated from Ford City High School and Clarion University of Pennsylvania with a master's degree in elementary education. He has spent the last 25 years collecting memorabilia and postcards from his hometown.
Related to Around Ford City
Related ebooks
Darkness before Daybreak: African Migrants Living on the Margins in Southern Italy Today Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Migrants of the British diaspora since the 1960s: Stories from modern nomads Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRoyal Marines Historical Time Line, Volume One. Third Edition. Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Melting Pot, Hot/Cold? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlack Lung: Anatomy of a Public Health Disaster Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Yacht America in Florida's Civil War Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBattery Park City: The Early Years Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrisis and Comeback: Cork in the Eighties Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLives of Poor Boys Who Became Famous Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Short History of the Ford Plant: Industrial Archaeology and Economic Change in St. Paul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRouge: Pictured in Its Prime Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Friends, Families & Forays: Scenes from the Life and Times of Henry Ford Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Around Bradford: Volume II Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSummary of Greg Grandin's Fordlandia Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOgdensburg Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Journey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDetroit: 1900-1930 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Color Line and the Assembly Line: Managing Race in the Ford Empire Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLost Flint Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBodie: California Ghostown Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Ford-Wyoming Drive-In: Cars, Candy & Canoodling in the Motor City Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Portland Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHot Rods Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTraction Engines: Fred Dibnah Edition Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPanama City Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Garfield Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRadford Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsI Invented the Modern Age: The Rise of Henry Ford Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford's Forgotten Jungle City Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waterford Crystal: The Creation of a Global Brand Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Social History For You
A People's History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Cliterate: Why Orgasm Equality Matters--And How to Get It Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Whore Stories: A Revealing History of the World's Oldest Profession Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Humans: A Brief History of How We F*cked It All Up Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Conflict Is Not Abuse: Overstating Harm, Community Responsibility, and the Duty of Repair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of Magic and Witchcraft: Sabbats, Satan & Superstitions in the West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Flight of the WASP: The Rise, Fall, and Future of America’s Original Ruling Class Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Stories of Rootworkers & Hoodoo in the Mid-South Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Day the World Came to Town: 9/11 in Gander, Newfoundland Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Scapegoat: A History of Blaming Other People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5made in america: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 2]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Barracoon: The Story of the Last "Black Cargo" Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Mother Tongue: English and How it Got that Way Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future---Updated With a New Epilogue Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Defining Moments in Black History: Reading Between the Lies Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Library Book Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Slaves in the Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Continent: Travels in Small Town America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Around Ford City
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Around Ford City - William L. Oleksak
collection.
INTRODUCTION
Ford City came into being from the plans of Capt. John B. Ford, an industrialist interested in establishing a plate-glass industry. In prior endeavors, Ford had owned and operated, among many things, a river shipping line from which he drew his capital. The site upon which Ford City is located consisted of roughly 460 acres broken primarily into three farms owned by the Ross, Spencer, and Graff families.
Ford’s explorations of the area prior to his land acquisitions had discovered the Allegheny River offered a unique asset in its composition. Besides the obvious advantage of low-cost shipping, the Allegheny River is one of only four gravel-bottom rivers in the world. Characteristic of this type of river was massive deposits of glacial sand, an essential element in the manufacture of glass. Also discovered in the area were huge deposits of natural gas, the fuel source required to fire the immense kilns used to melt the glass’s elements. Having secured his resources, all that Ford required to begin his venture was a very large labor force.
As legend tells, Ford sent agents to glassmaking towns all across Europe. From existing European glass enterprises, his agents quietly recruited experienced glassworkers. Offering a fair day’s wage and affordable housing, Ford’s agents were highly successful in getting the workers Ford needed. They were so successful, in fact, that some towns in Europe were left nearly emptied of male adult glassworkers. An excellent example of this took place in Stolberg, Germany, from which Ford recruited a large number of Ford City’s first glass-working immigrants. From Ireland and France, Ford lured away men experienced in supervision of a glassworks. The early recruited foremen were offered an excellent wage and the promise of a house with marble-mantled fireplaces. These early workers also brought with them their various faiths in God, which manifested in the many different Catholic churches of Ford City, including Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church; Christ, Prince of Peace (St. Mary’s); and St. Francis DePaul.
In 1886, Ford City submitted and received its charter from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. One of the men who delivered the original charter to Harrisburg was Robert Naismith, brother of James Naismith, the inventor of basketball. Previously part of Manor Township, Ford City Borough became one of the fastest-growing boroughs in the United States, gaining over 3,000 in population in only 10 years. Drawing workers and their families from over 35 identifiable European ethnic groups, Ford City became the quintessential example of America’s melting pot. Uniquely, Ford City never experienced racial or ethnic strife—Ford’s glass factory made all men equal.
Through the early 20th century, Ford’s company, Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company (PPG), became the leading manufacturer of glass in the entire world. Producing a better type of glass at a lesser price than its European competitors, PPG’s efficiency and product quality virtually ended the importation of European glass to the United States. As demand increased, the need for more laborers in the Ford City Works factory also increased. The town grew daily.
Through the early part of the 20th century, Ford City prospered. It touched every skyscraper of the United States in the glass that formed the exteriors of the magnificent structures. The common bond was found in the changing of the shifts at PPG and at the Friday-night basketball games. Ford City High School basketball has seemingly prospered for the life of the town. Winning the section title was an annual event, and the teams amassed a Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL) record 34 section titles. It used to be said that every garage in every alley in Ford City had a basketball hoop attached to it. Boulder Park became a mecca of summer league basketball, drawing teams from as far away as Pittsburgh and New Castle.
In the early 1970s, manufacturing changes at PPG caused a relocation of many of the town’s workers. This trend continued for 20 years, with the workforce gradually being reduced or transferred to PPG’s other plants. Finally in 1992, PPG permanently closed its gates and began the demolition of portions of the Ford City Works, formerly the largest plate-glass factory in the world. At its peak, PPG employed over 4,000 workers. Its loss to Ford City was profound and deeply felt. To this day, the number of pensioned workers from the PPG Ford City Works is greater than the total workforces of many of PPG’s existing, operating facilities. The loss of PPG was economically devastating to the town, yet its people remained bowed but not broken.
—Pennsylvania state representative and Ford City native Jeff Pyle
One
INDUSTRY
Build it and they will come.
That saying is certainly true about Ford City. The founding of the Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company (PPG) and the Ford China Company, which became the Cook China Company and later the Eljer Corporation, fostered a tremendous influx of workers from both the United States and Europe. When all was said and done, these two facilities provided a good living for the vast majority of the citizens of Ford City and the surrounding communities. PPG remained in operation for 100 years, while Eljer continues to produce its wares today. This