The Chronicle

Charles “Chuck” Austin, a Pittsburgh-born, African American trumpet player, has played in almost every type of venue in the eastern United States and Canada, from tent shows in the dusty farm fields of Tennessee and Arkansas to The Ed Sullivan Show in New York. During a career spanning more than six decades, Austin has played every type of music from the blues in Pittsburgh’s Hill District’s nightclubs to sophisticated arrangements played by a 20-piece band for Johnny Mathis at Heinz Hall. Austin rarely stood in the spotlight or gained public acclaim, but among those in the profession he earned respect, admiration, and a reputation as a solid and reliable musician. Austin’s status among his peers was recently formalized with his induction into the Pittsburgh Jazz Society’s Hall of Fame.

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While we explore grant opportunities, please help us reach our initial goal of $50,000 towards renovation costs for our future office space at 7119 Church Avenue in Ben Avon. We already met the requirements for a matching $1,000 donation made in honor of Thomas Maier’s past efforts for the historical society, including Tom’s fascinating newsletter articles based on having grown up in Ben Avon. Thank you to the contributors who made that matching donation possible! Your generosity makes a difference in our ability to preserve, promote and disseminate local history! Please donate now and help our thermometer rise!

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Eugene “Mercury” Morris: Two-time Super Bowl champion; Named to three Pro Bowl teams; Starting Running Back for the Miami Dolphins 1972 (only undefeated season in the NFL); First Team All-American 1968; and…Avonworth High School, Class of 1965.

No other graduate of Avonworth has achieved such heights of greatness in athletics. His NFL career spanned 8 seasons; all but one with the Miami Dolphins. Along with being a running back, he excelled at kickoff and punt returns. In the undefeated Miami Dolphins’ 1972 season, Morris led the league with rushing touchdowns, with a remarkable 12 scores. In 1973, he led with the longest average for touchdown rushing, 6.6 yards.

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The Cinderella House: the title conjures up the image of a magical transformation from a downtrodden home into a lovely showplace. That was precisely the plan in 1940 when the house at 128 Laurel Avenue in Ben Avon was selected for a complete makeover, top to bottom, inside and out! Once the makeover was completed, this Cinderella made her sweeping debut in a grand fashion, a lengthy Open House for public review.The Cinderella House: the title conjures up the image of a magical transformation from a downtrodden home into a lovely showplace. That was precisely the plan in 1940 when the house at 128 Laurel Avenue in Ben Avon was selected for a complete makeover, top to bottom, inside and out! Once the makeover was completed, this Cinderella made her sweeping debut in a grand fashion, a lengthy Open House for public review.

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Dr. J. L. McBride, R.H. Houston and J. H. Roelofs conceived the plans for Shannopin Country Club in 1919. The J. T. Jackman farm and parts of the South Penn Oil Company’s property totaling nearly 200 acres were purchased to build the golf course and club house. The property consisted of “ploughed fields, uncleared land, rough banks, old buildings, oil derricks and pipelines,” according to an article in the September of 1928 Ben Avon Forum. “The century-old Jackman homestead was renovated, furnished and renamed “The Lodge” and served as the club house for two years until the new one was completed.”

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The Courtney school was the first school of any kind in the area. The first public school was the Oak Grove School built in 1874 at the northeast corner of the intersection of Dickson Avenue and Perrysville Road. Interestingly, also in 1874, the Directors of Killbuck (the preferred spelling of the name until the second “l” was dropped in 1900) Township purchased the land at the present Locust Street location from William H. Graff for $2500 with the intent of building a public school to serve those families located west of Lowries Run, i.e. what was to become Emsworth.

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Everyone who grew up in or around Ben Avon is familiar with the red and black, art deco façade of the former Maier Barbershop (now called “Jimmy V’s”), but not many know the remarkable history of the building itself. My grandfather, Fred W. Maier, known to the grandkids as “Papa,” opened his first barbershop in about 1907 in Glenfield. This photo (circa 1955) of his first shop was taken looking east up the Ohio River Boulevard towards Ben Avon. To help pinpoint the location of this now long-missing building, the entrance to Kilbuck Street, the main street into Glenfield, is slightly out of frame to the left. The rightmost end of the building is believed to have been occupied by the Glenfield Post Office and Papa’s barbershop was next to it.

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Raised from the tender age of two by her grandmother, Jane McDowell Foster, it was the stories of her famous composer-poet grandfather, Stephen Collins Foster (1826–1864) that Jessie Welsh Rose fondly retold countless times throughout her life. She never met her grandfather, because he died at age 37 before she was born, however, Jessie knew much about him from listening to her grandmother and mother, Marion Foster Welch, Stephen’s only child.Emsworth came late to the development of suburban neighborhoods for Allegheny City and Pittsburgh. The development followed the rail line from Pittsburgh to the west starting with Brighton Heights, Bellevue, West Bellevue (Avalon), and Ben Avon. By 1900, Emsworth began to catch up, farm land was subdivided into residential lots for commuters into the Pittsburgh.

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