Question:
In 1957, shortly before its Centennial celebration, what West Pittston home was chosen to be listed as the oldest in the borough?
1947 – 72 YEARS AGO
Before video games became the favorite pastime, comic books were the widely popular form of entertainment for youngsters. In the Sunday Dispatch, it was noted “Perhaps we are wrong, or maybe we just haven’t been exposed to the alleged repugnant literature contained within their covers, but the great hullaballoo made about comic books fails to move us into any deep-worded thesis listing their damaging effects on the young. It seems there are so many more important and vital things that have been causing delinquency for years and are still not remedied, that the lowly ‘Funny Book’ seems almost inconsequential. The average boy will grow out of his childish habits eventually if he is provided with the proper environment at home.” The comic book first surfaced in late 1930s and grew in popularity after World War II. The ever- increasing depiction of blood and gore and horror caused a furor among some and caused a backlash in communities whose leaders promoted buying every comic book in their localities and burning them. In 1948, an Association of Comics Magazine Publishers was formed to oversee the content of comic books but ultimately failed due to uniform code standards. In 1954, the Comics Code Authority was formed to regulate content but, by 2011, the code was rendered defunct, after one by one publishers discontinued submitting their content to the authority.
1952 – 67 YEARS AGO
The Sunday Dispatch stood up for the unemployed Anthracite miners who owed the Pittston School District their delinquent per-capita taxes. The district planned to hire a tax collector to collect taxes that had not been paid for several years. It was the feeling of William A. Watson Sr., editor of the Dispatch, that the district should take the economic condition of the miners into consideration and delay their strong stance against the unemployed and focus on collecting from those who were working and able to pay their back taxes but were ignoring attempts to collect.
Pittston City police officers Anthony Levenoskie and George Ochall were fortunate that a partner in crime was obviously very tired after a night of thievery. On a Saturday morning at 4 a.m., the officers approached Emory Kehler, of Avoca, who was acting suspiciously near a car on North Main Street. Kehler ran off, but the officers continued to stake out the Main Street location. Kehler returned and the officers trapped him. Kehler revealed he had a buddy posted as lookout in a car parked a short distance away. The officers approached the suspect car and found Kehler’s accomplice Louis Bostock, also of Avoca, fast asleep. The apprehension of the two ended a spree of thefts throughout the area.
1962 – 57 YEARS AGO
Four Marine Corps reservists began their six months of active duty as they left for Parris Island. SC. Pvt Jerrold T. Roote, West Wyoming, Pvt. Gerald G. Herron, of Duryea, Pvt. Michael V. Earlly and Vincent Zerblas, both of Pittston, would return to Camp LeJeune after infantry training.
The No. 4 shaft of the Pennsylvania Coal Company, located at the Southern end of Pittston City east of Sebastopol, was in the process of being razed. It was the last of the many mine shafts located in Pittston City. The shaft opening was covered with iron rails and a safety fence was erected around it. The opening was left to provide ventilation for a nearby mine slope work area.
1973 – 46 YEARS AGO
Esther Tinsley, administrator of Pittston Hospital, submitted the hospital’s 80th annual report to the board of directors, listing 2,874 patients admitted, a daily average of 76 patients at a total cost of $1,644,503.99. The average per capita cost per patient per day was listed at $59.20. According to the US Inflation Calculator, that amount would equate to $341.52 today. The hospital employed 110 full-time and 90 part-time employees; the payroll for the year reached $906,382. Tinsley gave credit to the medical and nursing staff, hospital auxiliary, Pink Lady Service, surgical dressing committee, hospitality shop and candy strippers.
1975 – 44 YEARS AGO
With 96 girls forming seven teams, the newly formed Exeter Girls Softball league enjoyed a successful year. First year players of three of the teams were Gloria Castellani, Beverly Chonka, Dottie Stusavage, Allison Ferrara, Julie Fumanti, Judy Smith, Kim Martini, Sally Ann Lukesh, Sandy Farrell, Lisa Yucknis, Lisa Castellani, Marion Yudicki Ann Holland, of the Exeter Lions; Carol Charney, Denise, Martini, Judy Yorio, Karen Serino, Sherry Howe, Marie Cruise, Anita Ninassi, Michelle Ondushko, Ann Grochal, Barbara Maryovich, Camille Gadello and Kathy Urban, of Gene’s BP; Patty Kuloszewski, Lisa Kovalcin, Lisa Shannon, Rose Gavigan, Joni Janoski, Debbie Jamrowski, Beth DeNardi, Louise Medvec, Debbie Forsey, Lisa DeOrio, Ann Marie Koluszewski and Melissa Geib, of Exeter Packing.
1983 – 36 YEARS AGO
After eight years of providing fans in Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania with country rock favorites, the Pittston-based band Abilene announced it would stop performing in 1983. Jimmy Musto, Joe Pacuska, Lee Calabro, Joe Wascavage and new members Bob Bartoli and Joe Andes decided to announce their decision in the Sunday Dispatch, as Musto commented, “was one of the only newspapers that gave us good ink.” The band planned a final show and invited former members Mike Garzella, John Abent and Leo Mancini, among others, to take the stage at the Station in Wilkes-Barre. Musto credited Bozo Connors, the band’s sound tech with helping to make the band one of the area’s favorites. Among the many highlights, the band opened for Billy Joel and Lacy J. Dalton, appeared on local television shows and played in many large venues.
1985 – 34 YEARS AGO
A $4.74 million mine flushing project in the Butler and Mill Hill sections of Pittston was nearing completion. Working double shifts, employees of GE Ray, a West Virginia based company, “pumped refuse” from the Number Nine Breaker culm bank in Hughestown through a network of pipes to a 115-acre section of central Pittston. The intention of the project was to stabilize the surface and prevent mine subsidence in the region. Grants from the Office of Surface Mining, Appalachian Regional Commission and Pennsylvania Scarlift Act Grant subsidized the cost of the project.
Answer:
In 1957, members of The West Pittston Centennial Committee were compiling a booklet of the history of the borough for its upcoming celebration. In searching for the oldest home in West Pittston, the committee requested the help of local historian Charles A. McCarthy, of Pittston, to research the issue. McCarthy’s belief was the oldest home would be that of Peter Polen at 234 Wyoming Ave McCarthy’s historical records produced the fact that the house was standing in 1851, but he believed that, since it was sold to the West Pittston Land Association in that year, the home had to be built some years before; he estimated around 1840.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY
1863 — Confederate John Mosby begins a series of attacks against General George Meade’s Army of the Potomac.
1868 — The 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which guarantees citizenship to all those born or naturalized in the United States, is adopted.
1898 — Spain, through the offices of the French embassy in Washington, D.C., requests peace terms in its war with the United States.
1914 — Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia, beginning World War I.
1932 — The Bonus Army of impoverished World War I veterans is violently pushed out of Washington, D.C.
1945 — A B-25 bomber crashes into the Empire State Building in New York City, killing 13 people.
1965 — President Lyndon Johnson sends an additional 50,000 troops to South Vietnam.
1996 — Discovery of remains of a prehistoric man near Kennewick, Washington, casts doubt on accepted beliefs of when, how and where the Americas were populated.
BORN ON THIS DAY
1907 — Earl Silas Tupper, founder of Tupperware
1927 — John Ashbery, Pulitzer prize-winning poet (“Self-Portrait in a Convict’s Mirror”).
1929 — Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, wife of President John F. Kennedy
1943 — Bill Bradley, basketball player, U.S. senator
