Captain Homer Smith Announces All-Day Ride to RSP

Wednesday, June 6, 1928

The Sun Telegraph announced that Captain Homer Smith planned an all-day ride of 100 miles to Rock Springs Park, Chester, W.Va., on July 4, aboard his steamship The Homer Smith. See it at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2010/08/beautiful-steamboats.html.

River Excursions Past and Present

For our Oak Glen High School Prom in 1981, we were taken by bus to Pittsburgh to spend the evening dining and dancing aboard the Liberty Belle, part of the Gateway Clipper Fleet. Typical of an evening dinner/dance cruise of this type our diesel boat, resembling an old rear-wheel steam paddleboat complete with faux tall stacks, plied the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers cruising slowly back and forth always in sight of the beautiful evening skyline of the brightly lit city. I remember wishing at the time that our cruise to nowhere actually went somewhere, to a destination of some kind. A classmate suggested it would have been fun to return to Chester by boat, which led me to wish, as I often did, that Rock Springs Park was still around. We could have cruised home and spent the after prom at our own “Panhandle Playground” had the park not been sold and removed the previous decade.

Picnic dance excursions to Rock Springs Park aboard steam paddleboats were scheduled daily in the first half of the park’s existence. Many would come by train from Pennsylvania and Ohio to Rochester, PA and cruise to the park aboard the steamers Washington and St. Paul.

This ad from the Greensburg Daily Tribune features a train and boat excursion to Rock Springs Park in 1929.

My favorite images in the book are of the steamer Homer Smith docked along Pittsburgh’s Mon Wharf and subsequent departure in 1928. A large banner hanging from the middle deck reads, “ALL-DAY EXCURSION TO ROCK SPRINGS PARK." For many years company picnic cruises, like those from the Heinz Plant, to the park were annual events. (See Images of America: Rock Springs Park, pp. 56-57.)

It is interesting to note in the news brief (left) from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 6, 1915, that the Steamer St. James took passengers from Wellsville, Ohio, south and away from Chester and Rock Springs Park, normally just a short trolley ride, and cruised to Steubenville before heading north again to the park. This cruise for cruising sake reminded me of our prom night 66 years later.

Although, most of the Gateway Clipper Fleet trips today are evening cruises up and down the Three Rivers of Pittsburgh but never venturing far from the confluence, they do offer longer excursions, including a nine hour round trip to Steubenville. The next one is a fall foliage cruise in October.

PITTSBURGH to STEUBENVILLE CRUISE - Monday, Oct 10, 2011

Board: 9:30 AM
Depart: 10:00 AM
Return: 7 :00 PM

SAILING FROM PITTSBURGH TO STEUBENVILLE, THIS NINE HOUR TRIP ON THE OHIO RIVER FEATURES THE BEAUTIFUL COLORS OF FALL ALONG WITH FABULOUS LUNCH AND DINNER BUFFETS, GAMES, MUSIC, AND THE "VIVA LAS VEGAS REVUE".

Adult fare is $83.50 a slight increase in the $2.10 charged in 1929.

"How long have kids been tipping their chairs?"

The upper deck of the stern-wheel steamboat the Homer Smith leaving Pittsburgh to deliver excursionists to Rock Springs Park in 1928. (Courtesy of Richard Bowker)

I love to talk about Rock Springs Park and can steer any conversation in that direction. For instance, this past school year a first grade teacher was upset about the fact that one of her students was always tipping his chair back in class. She couldn't get him to stop and was worried he might injure himself or a fellow classmate. Exasperated she asked me, "How long have kids been tipping their chairs, anyway?"

I immediately thought of my book project and the little boy in the picture above. (Zoom in)

"I know for a fact that kids have been tipping their chairs since at least as far back as 1928," I responded.

I'm not sure my observation was appreciated.

Beautiful Steamboats

(Courtesy of Richard Bowker)

I think it was western film director John Ford who said that a moving train was the most visually interesting thing to watch on motion picture film. In my research for Images of America: Rock Springs Park, I came to believe that steam paddleboats have the same effect in still pictures.

It may be somewhat ironic, in a book about an amusement park, that my favorite images are of the stern-wheel steamers which carried pleasure-seekers from Pittsburgh and Wheeling to the park.

In the photograph above, the Homer Smith awaits passengers along the Mon Wharf in Pittsburgh in 1928.

A series of these photographs are shown in the book. One with the skyline of Pittsburgh under construction and one with the Homer Smith adorned with a banner reading, "All Day Excursion to Rock Springs Park."

The smokestacks on the upper deck could be tipped backwards to allow passage beneath certain bridges.