Dog Days of Summer Spurred Soap Opera

Postcard messages like this one with the note, “I knew you would miss me when I was gone,” remind me that even our great-grandparents were once young and in love and felt all the things that go along with both.

I always assumed soap operas started in the 1950s with the introduction of television, but that was before I read the drama below between two former lovers that began at a dance in Rock Springs Park in 1900.

Youngstown Vindicator - August 29, 1900

Novel Street Scene

Peculiar Occurrence in Public Between Former Lovers

Quite a novel scene occurred on Fifth Street, Monday morning about 9 o'clock, says the East Liverpool Crisis. A young woman arrived in the city from Youngstown on Saturday and attended the dance at Rock Springs Park on that evening. At the dance she saw her old lover, who has lately taken to himself a wife. She followed the couple home, but did not make any advance to make herself known. On Sunday morning, she was out bright and early, and waited patiently for her old lover to leave the house, which he did shortly after 8 o'clock. The young woman followed him to Fifth Street, where she sought to win back the affection which had been estranged from her. She fell on her knees and exclaimed: "Dear - do you not love me?" But he only replied, "I am married now, and have no further use for you." Still the young woman pleaded, but in vain. When she dropped her hands from her tearful eyes, the man had made good his escape, and was making his way to his home to seek comfort from his lawful wife.

About 200 people witnessed the scene on Fifth Street, and said that the man ran home like a deer.

At first I found this story to be quite humorous, especially the ending, but overall, I was left feeling sorry for the jilted young woman. It must have been embarrassing to raise herself back on her feet and wipe her eyes only to see 200 witnesses staring back or, worse yet, laughing at her. Plus, the guy seems like a “jerk.” Doesn't he? Especially his comment, before running away like a deer, of "I have no further use for you!" That's cold!

Apparently, the modern translation of "She followed the couple home, but did not make any advance to make herself known" is “STALKER!”

Never let it be said that our great-grandparents didn’t do anything crazy in their day. They may have walked twenty miles in the snow to get to school, but in the dog days of summer they were just as nuts as you and I.

"Dog Days" - The name comes from the ancient belief that Sirius, also called the Dog Star, in close proximity to the sun was responsible for the hot weather.

Lake Safety Feature Never Installed

While resarching for my book, Images of America: Rock Springs Park, I became obsessed with finding out what was written on the big white sign on the island (pictured above). At the last minute, my friend, Dick Bowker, found a postcard picture at the Three Rivers Postcard Club and let me scan it. The scan was clear enough that I could zoom in and read the sign. See what it says in my book on page 38.

In the Winter 1985 Edition of West Virginia’s Goldenseal Magazine, Susan Weaver wrote in her wonderful article “Rock Springs Park: A Panhandle Playground” that originally the lake in the park, constructed under the ownership of C.A. Smith at a cost of $50,000 in 1900, was to be no deeper than three feet at any point. “The plans required a lattice work to be installed in any deeper spot.” Weaver goes on to conclude, “Nonetheless, there were several drownings, suggesting that the lattice was never constructed.”

I provided an account of a drowning in the pool at Rock Springs Park in a blog post dated March 26, 2011. In it, I retold the drowning of Fred Schoen, “Schoen, aged 20 years, was drowned while swimming in the pool at Rock Springs Park. Schoen ventured into the deep section of the pool and when last seen was sitting on the sidewalk. Apparently his body had been submerged at least 15 minutes before he was discovered missing.” But I had not come across any drowning stories that took place in the lake.

However, this story from The Pittsburgh Press - August 6, 1908 entitled, “Oakdale Couple Nearly Drowned,” dramatically illustrates Weaver’s assumption that Smith’s 3-foot safety barrier was never installed as planned.

The Pittsburgh Press - August 6, 1908

Oakdale Couple Nearly Drowned

Mr. and Mrs. J.E. Fox, of Oakdale, had a narrow escape from drowning, yesterday, in the lake at Rock Springs Park, W.Va. He is a well-known real estate agent at Oakdale and, along with his wife, was participating in the Union picnic from Oakdale.

In the afternoon the couple was bathing in the lake, when Mrs. Fox was seized with cramps and called for assistance. Her husband responded, but when he reached her she caught hold of him and he was powerless to swim and both sank. As they were going down for the second time, they were noticed by Frank Lillo, lumber dealer, Oakdale, who went to their assistance and brought both to shore.

On touching land again, Mrs. Fox fainted. After some time, however, she was revived and both returned to their home last evening.

Although he doesn’t give a full accounting, another of my favorite sources, Roy C. Cashdollar, stated in his book, The History of Chester: The Gateway to the West, that there was a record of six deaths during the existence of Rock Springs Park. “There were four in the old mill, one on the swings, and one on the Cyclone.” He also mentioned “two drownings (in the lake) and several near drownings in the park pool.”

Basketball in the Park

Most people, who are familiar with Rock Springs Park, will know that part of the upper park grounds included a baseball field and large grandstand for baseball games and other outdoor events during the C.A. Smith Years, 1900 – 1925. (See Images of America: Rock Springs Park, pp. 42-43.)

The ball field was located where the old Chester High School would later be built, next to Smith's World's Greatest Scenic Railway.

But few may realize that basketball games were also a regular feature at the park and more surprisingly that for a time some games were played inside the carousel pavilion. These games would have been held in the off season, of course.

Author and Chester historian Roy C. Cashdollar wrote in his History of Chester: The Gateway to the West, "C.A. Smith sponsored a professional team at one time and not only were games played here (in the carousel pavilion pictured below) but also on the third floor of the Bank Building (in Chester)."

Carousel Pavilion being razed in 1974

In a feature found in The Pittsburgh Press dated April 2, 1905, the hoped-for upcoming baseball season is referenced in the first paragraph with “Prospects are more encouraging than ever for the formation of a first-class baseball team in this city”, but the last paragraph references the end of the1905 basketball season and an East Liverpool team backed by Smith who played their home games in Rock Springs Park.

The Pittsburgh Press - April 2, 1905 – The basketball game to be played at Rock Springs Park on next Tuesday evening by the East Liverpool and South Side teams promises to be the most interesting event of the year in basketball circles. East Liverpool appreciates the fact that South Side is the strongest team that it has ever played with, but after a patched-up team, local people are expecting a victory on Tuesday.

I know that in later years, and during WWII when the park was closed for a time, portable rides were stored inside the boarded up carousel pavilion. I always assumed that the Dentzel Carousel, installed in 1927 under the ownership of C.C. Macdonald, was left intact and the portable rides were placed around it on the deck of the waiting platform, but Cashdollar’s statement indicating that basketball games were played inside the carousel pavilion, suggests that, at least at one point during the Smith years, his carousel was completely removed and stored in another building and the games played under the octagonal roof of the carousel pavilion. This is conceivable considering the crowd could have watched the game sitting in-the-round on the loading platform, but I still have a hard time picturing it.

Rock Spring's Own Green Lantern

As the latest summer superhero movie hits theaters, I am reminded that Rock Springs Park had its own “Green Lantern” starting in 1927.

I first read about the Green Lantern Restaurant in Rock Springs Park in Roy C. Cashdollar's History of Chester: The Gateway to the West, Part 2. Roy wrote, "The street cars ran around the loop and discharged passengers in front of the main gate and the Green Lantern Restaurant." Then, while researching the book, I was reminded of its existence by R.Z. Macdonald. His father, C.C. Macdonald, owned and operated the park starting in 1926, following the successful C.A. Smith years. According to Cashdollar, “In 1926, C.C. McDonald [sic], owner of the Summit Park in Akron, bought the grounds and proceeded to eliminate some of the antique equipment and introduced other rides.”

Although, I have examined and scanned hundreds of photographs and postcards of Rock Springs Park, I have never seen a picture of the Green Lantern. When I mention the restaurant to those who knew the park today, they don’t seem to recall that it was ever there.

A close-up view of the aerial photograph (above) which was taken during the Macdonald Years, shows what I believe to be the Green Lantern (green arrow points to the building). Notice all the Model Ts lining the trolley loop and a trolley making a turn into the park off of Carolina Avenue.
In his first History of Chester book, Cashdollar notes on page 113, "A fine restaurant called the 'Lantern Inn' was operated in the loop at the park entrance for many years. This was in the building originally constructed as a refreshment stand and waiting room for the street cars." That waiting station is shown on the postcard images above and below.

I enjoyed comic books as a kid but was never a collector. I know little of the superhero called "The Green Lantern" as he was featured in D.C. Comics and I read mostly Marvel, but I do know he had some sort of ring of power that gave him super abilities. I wonder if it could render him invisible or hard to see like the Green Lantern in Rock Springs Park.

If anyone reading this blog has a photograph of the restaurant, I would love to see it.

Which Came First? Rock Springs Park’s Green Lantern was constructed inside the old trolley loop waiting station in 1927, while the Green Lantern (Alan Scott) made his first appearance in All-American Comics #16 thirteen years later in July 1940.

Miss West Virginia at Rock Springs Park

I feel I would be remiss in my recent posting of the Lincoln Highway ribbon cutting ceremony at Imperial, PA, if I did not mention little "Miss West Virginia".

(Pictured left to right, back row, are Henry Tranter, chairman of the Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce and Bridge Committee, whose neice, Mary Eleanor Hershberger, is wielding the scissors; Governor Conley, West Virginia; Governor Fisher, Pennsylvania, and Governor Cooper, Ohio; Front row, left to right, are "Miss Ohio," Frances Jacobs, 11, of Steubenville, "Miss Pennsylvania," Mary Eleanor Hershberger of Pittsburgh and "Miss West Virginia" Annette Wehner, 6, of Chester.)

Prior to the ceremony celebrating the completion of the Lincoln Highway (Route 30) and the William Penn Highway (Route 22) at Imperial Junction, PA, a luncheon was served in the Green Lantern Restaurant in Rock Springs Park to then Governor of West Virginia, Governor William G. Conley, of Charleston. At that lunch was also a little girl wearing a “Miss West Virginia” ribbon.

Route 30 Under Construction in 1918, just outside the city of Chester, WV.

Each of the three states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia chose a young girl for the ribbon cutting event. Two girls held the ribbon and one child "snipped the slender ribbon stretched across the concrete road, where the Lincoln and William Penn highways join, and the roads were officially opened,” reported the Pittsburgh Post Gazette on October 18, 1930.

The three Governors spoke in turn to the crowd of 5,000 people gathered on a cold and drizzling fall day. Immediately following the speeches, Annette Wehner 6, of Chester, representing West Virginia, and Francis Jacobs, 11, of Steubenville, representing Ohio, held a ribbon across the point where the two highways met, while Little Mary Hershberger, 5, of Pittsburgh, wielded the scissors and snipped the ribbon "as the trio of governors and other notables looked on." Thus, the roads were declared officially opened.

Annette Wehner’s family owned one of several mom and pop groceries in Chester. Wehner’s Grocery was just a few doors down from Rock Springs Park on Carolina Avenue, adjacent to Buckeye Firearms today.

According to her obituary, Annette Wehner, 80, of Coraopolis, PA passed away on September 23, 2004. She was interred at Grandview Cemetery in Salem, Ohio.

Miss Wehner was born March 15, 1924, in Chester, W.V., to the late Elmer Vincent and Elma (Votaw) Wehner.

She was the beloved sister of Charles Vincent Wehner of Kingwood, W.V.

She was preceded in death by sisters, Mary Katherine Wehner, Edith Newman, Lillian Ingram; and brother, George Elmer Wehner.

Miss Wehner was a retired associate professor at Robert Morris University in the administrative management and business education department, retiring in 1985 after 20 years of service.

She was a former secretary at T-K Roofing in Chester, W.V., and teacher at Chester High School.

She was a member of the Delta Phi Epsilon, Tri-State Business Education Association, Third Order of St. Francis, Metropolitan Fraternity, Faculty Federation Local 3412 AFL-CIO.

She was a graduate of Chester High School, where she was a member of the Honor Society and 4H Club, and a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University with a Bachelor of Science degree and a master's degree in education from the University of Pittsburgh.

The obituary does not include the fact that Miss Wehner was also Miss West Virginia 74 years earlier. A fact I feel it is important to mention today.

Note: Brian Butko, author of Greetings From The Lincoln Highway: America's First Coast-to Coast Road and the blog News Along the Lincoln Highway, has a great article and photo about the ribbon cutting ceremony in the latest edition of Heinz History Center's quarterly Western Pennsylvania History magazine, which Brian also edits.

Historical Note: In Roy C. Cashdollar's History of Chester: The Gateway to the West, Roy gives the history of the building that contained Wehner Grocery. "The second building (from Dunn to Sixth Street on the right side heading east) was the original "Butcher" Bill Allison Meat Market. This building was built by his father William Allison. The meat market was on the left side and James Ewing opened a grocery store on the right side. It was next the E.V. Wehner Grocery. Mr. Wehner was one of the leaders of the community and the fire department until his death. The business is now operated by his son, George Wehner. It is reported that the store will close in 1976."

A Perfect Ending!

I was in Chester, WV on Friday, July 1, 2011 for the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony honoring four prominent citizens of the city, including my grandfather, Clifford Otto Comm (pictured left). My father, Clifford Lee Comm, spoke eloquently of his father in the sanctuary of the First Christian Church on the hill. Grandpa was described as the "Doc on the Corner" serving Chester as a pharmacist for over 60 years.

My family was with me on the trip and my 5-year old daughter instead of calling out “Are we there, yet?” from the back of the family truckster began asking, “How far to the Teapot?” She was referring, of course, to Chester’s roadside giant The World’s Largest Teapot.

As we took the Route 30 off ramp to Chester, I noticed some vehicles parked near the Teapot and workers restoring the old icon with a fresh coat of paint. I learned at the induction reception that a student from Oak Glen High School in New Cumberland is responsible for this latest fix up effort, part of an Eagle Scout project. Good for him!

As we turned the corner onto Carolina Avenue I took my eyes off the road and craned my neck to see if the back door of the Teapot was open. It was! It took all the strength an old Chester Kid could muster to continue to my parents’ house and not pull over for a look inside, but we were 20 minutes late already.


The World’s Largest Teapot sits on a cement pad below Marks Run very near to where the lower trolley loop entrance to Rock Springs Park was located. In fact, yellow bricks from the trolley turn around are still scattered near the site. I know, because I have one.

When I attended a Lincoln Highway teacher workshop in Pittsburgh their guest speaker was none other than Lincoln Highway aficionado, Brian Butko. Brian is the expert on the national road and has written many books on the topic. On the cover of his Greetings From The Lincoln Highway: America's First Coast-to Coast Road in the top right corner is a picture of Chester’s World’s Largest Teapot. Excited, I raised my hand during his lecture and blurted out; “I grew up next to the teapot!” My seemingly odd statement received an unintended laugh from the attendees and a smile from Brian.

Brian has worked on projects with PBS Pittsburgh documentarian Rick Sebak in the past and in 2008 Rick took on Brian’s favorite topic in a one-hour special called A Ride Along the Lincoln Highway. I heard about the project before it was scheduled to air and followed Rick on his blog about show.

Knowing I was a little late to the table, I left the following message on his blog site:

Joe Comm // Aug 22, 2008 at 2:45 pm
My son and I are really looking forward to the new Lincoln Highway documentary. I grew up in Chester, WV, a late addition to the highway route. There are still three intact concrete markers in my old neighborhood, not to mention the iconic “World’s Largest Teapot.” Will Rick visit Chester in his new road show? It’s only a stone’s throw from Pittsburgh, and has a rich history including the now defunct Rock Springs Park.

Rick responded:

2 Rick // Aug 23, 2008 at 6:15 pm
JOE: Bob the cameraman and I spent some time in Chester earlier this year, shot all three of the concrete markers, but the day was miserable, so we didn’t get any shots of the Teapot. We’re editing now, but your note may force me to send Bob back for a shot or two of that landmark. There’s just too much cool stuff all along the Lincoln.

Did you catch that? “Your note may force me to send Bob back for a shot or two of that landmark.”

Rick and his crew did return to Chester and their footage of the Teapot can be viewed in the documentary at 53:26 minutes. It shows a young-at-heart couple, Esther Oyster (Great name!) and Bernie Queneau, who met because of the Lincoln Highway Association and married when Bernie was 91-years old. Bernie was one of those boyscouts who planted concrete markers along the Lincoln Highway in 1928. How fitting that a local student is fixing up Chester's best-known landmark for an Eagle Scout project. In nearly the final scene of Rick's special, Esther and Bernie are shown approaching the big red and white Teapot holding hands. What a perfect ending!

My grandfather passed away in March 1993. He was everything a kid would want in a grandfather and more. I love him and miss him and my grandmother, Beatrice, dearly. Congratulations on your award Grandpa!

Fact 1: a large creamer once sat next to the teapot. It is now on display in the city building - the old Chester High School.

Fact 2: I nearly ran into Rick Sebak while on a Pittsburgh field trip with my students several years back. Rick was entering the gift shop building on the grounds of the Frick mansion and I was leaving. I wanted to say hello, but he was escorting his mother and looked busy.

Fact 3: The woman who showed Rick, Bernie, and Esther the inside of the teapot was none other than Susan Badgely who was also inducted in the Chester Hall of Fame along with my grandfather on July 1.

Governor of WV Attends Celebratory Lunch at Park

On October 17, 1930, the three governors of Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania met at the junction of the William Penn Highway (U.S. Route 22) and the Lincoln Highway (U.S. Route 30) in Imperial, PA, for a ribbon cutting ceremony celebrating the completion of both roads during the Depression. This included the recently completed 3-mile stretch through Chester.

"The gathering of more than 5,000 persons," reported the Pittsburgh Post Gazette on October 18, 1930, “came in automobile caravans from Ohio and West Virginia, met the Pennsylvanians there and weathered the discomfort of a chilling drizzle."

Heading north in Chester the Lincoln Highway turns west at the intersection of Taylor Road and Carolina Avenue (Photograph by Clarence O. Durbin taken atop the Cyclone Roller Coaster; Courtesy of Rich Brooks)

Prior to the ribbon cutting, each governor gave a speech in his home state and then traveled by motorcade to Imperial for the afternoon dedication. Governor Myers Y. Cooper, of Columbus, held a noon meeting in Steubenville, Governor John S. Fisher, of Harrisburg, was entertained at a luncheon in Pittsburgh, Governor William G. Conley, of Charleston, W.Va., was the speaker at a ceremony celebrating the completion of the Lincoln Highway between East Liverpool and Pittsburgh, which was to have been held outdoors at Rock Springs Park, but was moved to City Hall most likely due to the poor weather which dampened overcoats but not spirits that day.

"This event," Governor Fisher declared, "is remarkable as a tri-state celebration forming a closer and more intimate union between three states already closely linked through many respects."

According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, dated October 18, 1930, “Governor Conley and his party were guests at a luncheon at Rock Springs Park, Chester, where the exercises where originally scheduled to be held.”

It is believed that the Governor and his guests dined at the Green Lantern Restaurant constructed in 1927 by then park owner C.C. Macdonald near the lower trolley loop entrance to Rock Springs Park. Arrangements for the Chester celebration were made by a committee representing the East Liverpool chamber of commerce, the Chester board of trade, and Hookstown, Georgetown and Lisbon.

One of the original owners of Rock Springs Park, C.A. Smith (center), was said to have used his political influence to lobby for West Virginia alignment of the Lincoln Highway. (See Images of America: Rock Springs Park p. 65.)

The Lincoln Highway was officially marked and dedicated on September 1, 1928. On that day, at 1:00 p.m., groups of Boy Scouts placed 3,000 concrete markers at sites along the route. They were placed on the outer edge of the right-of-way at each important crossroad and at minor crossings, to assure each motorist that he was on the right road. The signs carried the Lincoln Highway insignia, a bronze medallion, and a directional arrow.

In my youth it was a rite of passage to be tall enough to leapfrog this concrete LH marker with a blue arrow pointing west toward Virginia Avenue. It along with two others remain in a three block stretch in my old neighborhood.