A Fool And His Money

I was walking down Fifth Avenue in Oakland when I spotted a display of paperback books in the window of Jay's Bookstall. Smack in the middle was one called Homestead and Mifflin Township by Jim Hartman.

"No wonder I never have any money," I said to Jay Dantry as I wrote the check a few moments later.

"But here you are in Oakland, and you have your charm," he replied.

"Yeah, but I won't get very far on that," I said.

Printed in cooperation with the Homestead and Mifflin Township Historical Society, Homestead is the latest in a series of paperback picture books from a company called Arcadia Publishing. Most of them deal with small-town life and consist of public-domain or archive images; past volumes have covered Greensburg, Beaver Falls, Monessen, Duquesne, Jeannette and Wilmerding.

The company seems to hook up with a historical society, and in return for printing these books (which are admittedly of limited interest), asks for local cooperation in reprinting the old photos and postcards.

If I have a quibble with these books, it's that they're obviously done on a very limited budget, and the photo reproduction suffers. The usual format is to break the books up into chapters dealingwith themes or specific groups of buildings --- the Homestead book, for instance, has one chapter devoted to stores, another to the mills, another to churches and schools. Each chapter of an Arcadia book usually has a paragraph or two on the opening page; each of the following pages then has two photos with long explanatory captions.

But there's no real writing, per se --- the only historical information comes from the captions. And the photos lean heavily toward static photos of buildings or landscapes; there aren't many of people. So, while they're fun and somewhat educational to look at, they're hardly a substitute for a real, in-depth history of a community.

On the other hand, without Arcadia, it's unlikely that anyone would put out a reasonably priced book of old photos of Jeannette or Duquesne, so as the man says, you takes what you can gets. (An aside: Model train buffs, artists, community and high school drama clubs, and others who need reference books about life in "the good old days" should snap these things up. They are an invaluable source of great pictures of how things looked in the early 20th century.)

I guess what I'm saying is that these Arcadia books could be more, but they're nice for what they are.

All this being said, how's the Homestead book? Pretty good. Actually, as the title implies, the scope is pretty broad, covering all of the communities that made up Mifflin Township when Allegheny County was first erected in the late 18th century. That includes Homestead, Munhall, West Homestead, West Mifflin, Whitaker, Duquesne, Dravosburg and Clairton, so it's a pretty good swath of the Mon-Yough area. Most of the photos are from roughly 1900 to 1940, and the lion's share are of public buildings and shopping areas, though there are a few of residential neighborhoods.

And though the format of these Arcadia books restricts the writer to mainly long photo captions, Hartman packs as much detail and information into them as he can. You didn't know that Homestead had a department store called "Hutson's," did you? Or that Levine Brothers Hardware in that same borough was once an F.W. Woolworth 5-and-10? Or that the old bridge between Reynoldton (now Our Fair City's 10th Ward) and Dravosburg was once considered the highest trolley viaduct in the world?

I found a few boo-boos. One photo of a saloon is labeled as having been taken "in the 1920s," but since Prohibition was on, it's unlikely that any operating taverns were having their photos taken. I suspect the photo is actually from the 'teens. These are minor, and few, and don't detract from the overall value of the project.

And I could nitpick some of the photo choices, though I understand the tight budget and schedule under which these books are produced.

All in all, Homestead and Mifflin Township is a worthy little addition to your history library. Act now, while Jay has a bunch left, and he's liable to show you the one about Oakland, and the one about the Pitt Panthers basketball team, and the one about the Negro League baseball teams in Pittsburgh, and you're liable to walk out with a lighter checkbook.

(Or, if you prefer to shop from home, perhaps because you're anti-social, click here to get the book from Amazon. A portion of the sale --- a tiny fraction --- benefits li'l ol' me.)
...

To Do This Weekend: It's championship basketball weekend, and the Mon-Yough area is right in the thick of things! Tonight at 5, the Serra Catholic High School girls' basketball team (23-3) takes on the Monessen Greyhounds (17-10) at the Palumbo Center for the WPIAL Class A title. Then, at 7, it's a Route 837 showdown for the WPIAL Class-A boys' basketball championship when the Clairton Bears (19-4) take on the Duquesne Dukes (17-10). (There is no truth to the rumor that the winner of this matchup will replace the 3-and-23 Duquesne University team next year.) ... Meanwhile, the McKeesport Tigers' boys basketball team (20-9) plays Caketown High (22-5) for the WPIAL Quad-A championship at the Petersen Events Center in Oakland tomorrow. Tipoff is at 9 p.m. ... Don't like hooprock? Franklin Regional High School in Murrysville presents "Seussical: The Musical" tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 and Sunday at 2 p.m. Call (724) 327-5456. ... McKeesport Little Theater, 1614 Coursin St. near Manor Avenue, presents "I Hate Hamlet," a comedy by Paul Rudnick, tonight and tomorrow night at 8 and Sunday at 2 p.m. Call (412) 673-1100.