Acrobats and the Auto Club

Wednesday, August 17, 1910

On this date, "Great Thriller" Arthur C. Holden, the compact athletic acrobat, performed his sensational "Loop the Loop" act at Rock Springs Park. Read more at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/08/daredevil-holden-appeared-at-rock.html.

Friday, August 17, 1928

The first free basket picnic of the Syria Temple Automible Club was held at Rock Springs Park. Read more at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/08/directional-arrows.html.

A caravan left Pittsburgh and proceed through Coraopolis, Carnot Sheffield, Monaca, Rochester, Beaver to East Liverpool and then to Rock Springs Park. Syria auto arrow signs were posted along the route.

Park Electric Line Part of 1906 Merger

One of the things I miss about home is hearing the sound of a train sending out its lonesome whistle cry along the Ohio River. As a boy, I could lie still, listen, and know the world had not stopped. The mighty Ohio River flowed beyond our community garden like blood in a giant vein. Across the river, trains moved back and forth like impulses through nerves. It must be the sensation one feels falling asleep on a boat or a train. I was not moving, but the world outside was.

Every so often I can hear a train whistle at night in my current hometown of Greensburg, PA, while it reminds me of home, it doesn’t have the same rolling echo I remember. The Ohio River Valley has a unique effect on sounds, creating a reverberation that plays with train horns, thunder, and fireworks, like no other.

It was interesting, then, to read the article below and discover that the first trains traveling up and down the Ohio would have been silent. They were noiseless electric railway cars powered by overhead lines running 66 miles between Beaver and Steubenville and included the branch line to Rock Springs Park.


The Daily Tribune - June 8, 1906

TRACTION COMPANIES WILL HAVE 66 MILES OF RIVER FRONT RAILWAY

The big traction merger which has recently been effected whereby Steubenville, O., will be one terminus and Beaver the other will afford excellent facilities for traction travel in this vicinity.

The companies which are interested in the deal control and will operate 66 miles of river front electric railway with easy curves and low grades, the maximum being not over 1 1/2 per cent[sic]. The lines will serve a population of about 225,000 people.

When completed $7,500,000 will have been invested in the property, and it will consist of a continuous, high-speed, double track electric railway between Steubenville and Beaver, with crushed limestone ballast, heavy ties and 85 pound rails in 60 foot lengths. Twenty-five large interurban cars will be used in the through service, in addition to the ones used on the lines for local traffic, within the limits of the different municipalities through which the lines run. The entire power problem has not been definitely settled for the extensions, but in the cities where the lines are at present in operation the direct current is in use.

The companies own their own coal mine on the Little Beaver creek, thus insuring fuel at minimum cost.

The capital interested has purchased the East Liverpool Traction & Light Company, owning the street railway lines in East Liverpool and Wellsville and Chester, with the bridge over the Ohio River and the summer resort of Rock Springs Park, the entire system being about 12 miles in length. Those lines will connect at the state lines of the Ohio River Passenger Railway, now being built, a distance of 11.17 miles passing through the new town site of Midland to Beaver, where connection will be made with the lines of the Beaver Valley Traction Company.

It is expected that all these connections and improvements will be completed by next year, when continuous trolley service will be inaugurated between Wheeling and Beaver.

Say Hello to Summer Fun!

One of the fondest childhood memories shared by dozens of fans of Rock Springs Park at book signings and on the Web is of finding park tickets in their final report card envelopes. It’s a part of growing up in Chester and the surrounding area that I and my generation missed out on and one, I have to admit, of which I was a little jealous, until I realized that I have experienced a similar thrill in my adult life.


For twelve years I have been employed as a teacher with the Greater Latrobe School District and for each of those years I have found a small white envelope containing reduced price tickets to Idlewild Park in nearby Ligonier in my teacher mailbox. It’s one of many exciting signs that the school year is winding down and summer fun is just around the corner. School and community picnics like the one to be held at Idlewild on June 9 were also a huge part of Rock Springs Park’s success.


One-time Rock Springs Park booking manager, John Hickey told the Pittsburgh Press on May 16, 1954, “Over half of the picnics arranged at the park were for school children,” adding, “Youngsters of today behave exactly as they did when I began 33 years ago.”

In June of 1909, The Daily Times, Beaver, PA, reported that students were charged a uniform rate of 50 cents “in order that they may enjoy a more exclusive evening” on the night of their school picnic. At that time the main source of transportation to community days were trolley lines provided by the Ohio Valley Scenic Railway. Specials ran straight through to the park while regular cars required a transfer in East Liverpool. Tickets were sold at half price to all school children. These special trolley cars continued to carry picnickers to and from the park until 1934 when bus lines were then used.

Manager C.C. Macdonald in a “gesture of friendliness toward the community” in 1932 provided transportation to Rock Springs Park via special cars at “no charge” and gave each child five free amusement tickets. He also created “Bargain Day” the day before the community picnic in which all ride tickets were half price. The Daily Times stated, “Macdonald has always had a fine reputation for handling of large groups and the park employees are men who have been in this type of work for years and are noted for the way they handle children.”

In 1935, school students from Beaver, PA enjoyed a boat ride aboard the steamer, Washington, for their annual school outing. The steamer, capacity 2,000, had been carrying picnickers to the park since 1928. At that time there was an eight-piece orchestra, free dancing, and free ice cream onboard. Boat tickets in the twenties were priced at 15 cents for students and each child received four amusement tickets on the boat in addition to the number bought at school. “Price of amusement tickets at school or on the boat is two for five cents,” said the Daily Times. The Washington was eventually replaced by the new steamer, St. Paul, in 1937.


In June, when school is out for me, I will be thinking of those youngsters from a hundred years ago racing out of school with report card envelopes in their back pockets and strips of park tickets in the fists. It’s hard for me to imagine what it must have been like to have whole towns close down for a day of fun at Rock Springs Park as the article below from June 25, 1927 suggests, but is not difficult to imagine the thrill of school ending and summer fun beginning with the thoughts of all the smells, thrills, and excitement of a day at the park.