A Ghostly Image

At the top of page 111 in the book, under a photograph of the old arcade building, I wrote, “The arcade, in need of a good paint job during the final years of Rock Springs Park, looks spooky in this photograph taken in 1974. Many amusement parks today extend their season by offering Halloween-related activities during the fall. Based on these photographs, Rock Springs Park would have made for a terrific fright night.” But I did not discover until this week that there actually was a ghost in the photograph given to me courtesy of Mike West, or a ghostly image at least.

In my previous blog post, I wrote about the arcade building and how it was used as a beer garden in the 1940s and originally constructed as a Fun House. Last summer Sayre Graham shared the image below with me from his father’s collection. The photograph is not a postcard, but one of a series from The Finley Brothers Construction Company demonstrating various projects they built in the park and the Chester Area.

This is the only image I have ever seen showing the arcade with murals freshly painted on the façade. If one compares this picture with ones of the arcade in later years, including Mike’s photo (see previous blog post), it becomes clear that certain changes were made over the years. For one, the second floor center balcony window was boarded up and below on either side of the front door two small diamond windows were added. In addition, it seems that between the original mural painting in the late 1920s and the rustic look in 1970, the arcade most likely did not get repainted, or if it did, one ghostly image, that of the sun on the left tower remained visible, even if just barely so. See it?

The Beer Garden

Apparently, I am not alone in my frenzy to look up information in the 1940 U.S. Census. According to Google.com, the census was the most searched item when it was released on Monday, April 2, 2012 receiving some 22.5 million hits in three hours and crashing the system. Once it was back online, I looked up my family, as many others did, to see how much money they made and what they were doing when the nation was still trying to recover from the Great Depression. But I was also interested in finding out more about Rock Springs Park.

One new thing I learned involves the old park building pictured above.

The image is of The Arcade. It was taken along the midway in 1974, four years after the park closed, and sent to me by Dr. Mike West. Mike grew up on Louisiana Avenue in Chester, on a side street which ended at the Cyclone's chain lift hill. He fondly recalls playing the "5-cent pinball and baseball games" in The Arcade and listening to the screams of park patrons plunging down the first hill of the roller coaster.

Originally, The Arcade that Mike knew was built as a fun house during the C.C. Macdonald Years. It featured a giant two-story slide and a confusing hall of mirrors. There were actually two mirrors still outside the entrance in Mike's day (See below).

I have also seen a one of a kind 1920's photograph showing the facade of The Fun House completely covered with painted murals featuring bow-legged characters strolling about under the name “Honey Moon Trail” in all caps. The tower on the left in the photograph had a wide-eyed sun smiling down and the opposite tower a winking moon. Above the door was painted “Fun-Fun & More Fun.” Unfortunately by the time Mike took his photograph, the decorations were gone and the building was weather-beaten and bare.

According, to author and Chester historian, Roy C. Cashdollar, The Arcade or Fun House had a third use as well, which brings me back to my original purpose in writing this post. “Right across from the lunch stand was the horse race game, then the fun house, which in later years became a beer garden.” At the end of his description Roy added, “I purchased two chairs from the beer garden at the park auction and they are still being used – one as I write these notes.”

The Beer Garden Days of The Fun House and the park itself also get a mention in the 1940 Census. One listing shows 50-year old George Zagula as unmarried and living with his sister, Agnus Stabryla. Zagula was born in Poland and “ran the Beer Garden (Part of 39).” I am assuming “39” has something to do with Rock Springs Park as George’s brother, Jacob Zagula, age 53, married with nine children, was also identified on the Chester census with his job description being “labor - amusement park.”

So, Chester’s German Beer Garden was run by two Polish immigrant brothers. This seems to be fitting considering the strained relations of these two European countries throughout history.

A beer garden (a loan translation from the German "Biergarten") is most often an outdoor area in which beer, other drinks, and local food are served. Rock Springs Beer Garden was originally a Fun House walk through attraction. The painting is Im Biergarten or At the Beer Garden by Adolph Friedrich Erdmann von Menzel, 1883.

Where is it today? The Arcade along with most of the other buildings in Rock Springs Park were razed by 1975 when the land was sold to make way for a cloverleaf exchange to the new Chester Bridge.

J.E. McDonald Buys East Liverpool Review

Tuesday, April 26, 1892

On this date in Rock Springs Park History, The East Liverpool Review is purchased by attorney, J. E. McDonald. McDonald would go on to build the Chester Bridge, develop the town of Chester, then known as "The South Side", and create Rock Springs Park at the end of the new streetcar lines of rising entrepreneur C. A. Smith. Read more about our area’s early newspapers and their heated rivalries at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/07/sandwich-stein-and-stogy.html.

Sunday, April 26, 1908

And on this date, a 1908 baseball game ends in a tie so the players could catch the train home. "Leaving the field in the ninth inning with the score 1 to 1 in order to get their last train home, the Beaver Falls Independent put up a good game at Rock Springs Park this afternoon." Read the account and find out what a "bingle" is at http://rockspringspark.blogspot.com/2011/02/1908-baseball-game-ends-in-tie-so.html.

A Persian Prince in Chester

In reviewing the recently released 1940 U.S. Census records for any information which could be gleaned on the topic of Rock Springs Park, I came across a name which gave me pause. A man by the name of Raphael Emmanuel was shown to be living in a tourist home on Carolina Avenue in Chester, WV, when the census taker was completing his now 72-year old document. It was not so much Emmanuel’s name but a combination of several other factors which thoroughly engaged my curiosity. He was born in Turkey, had lived in Pasadena, CA at the time of the previous census, and gave his occupation as lecturer and writer.

Chester, at this time, was a stop on the coast-to-coast Lincoln Highway, so it would be reasonable to assume that perhaps he just happened to be staying at the tourist home on his way through town when the census was taken, but this explanation seemed unlikely. There had to be more to it.

Who was this guy and what was he doing in Chester?

My first search for Emmanuel led to some children’s books he authored in the 1940s. The books, labeled as “juvenile fiction” and with such titles as The Pasha of the Dessert and The Prince of Istanbul, tell of the Middle East, Persian Princes and camel caravans across the ancient lands of the Bible – Mesopotamia of old and Iran and Iraq of today.

Inside book cover of The Pasha of the Desert by Raphael Emmanuel.

It did not take long to discover that prior to his children’s book writing career, Raphael Emmanuel was most famous for speeches he gave across the country to Christian churches and public schools. He would appear dressed in the costume of his native land and recite his own original poems, sing traditional songs and share the many legends of his people.

Area newspapers record that he spoke at the Zion Evangelical Church in Rochester, PA on Sunday morning, August 11, 1940 and earlier at an evening event held in Youngstown’s Grace Lutheran Church on July 14 on the subject of “Bible Lands Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.”


"Sheik Emmanuel traces his ancestry back to King Nebuchadnezzar and comes from the land of the Patriarch Abraham." Berleley, CA Daily Gazette, Oct. 21, 1933.




The tourist home in Chester where Emmanuel was a lodger was known as The Timothy House run by Carrie Timothy and located on the land now occupied by the Hancock County Savings and Loan.

The Reading Eagle on May 15, 1929 gives a good description of Emmanuel’s lecturing style. “Although of the real "sheik" type, Raphael did not rely solely upon his ‘good looks’ to sway his audience. This he accomplished with his native high-pitched voice in both speaking and singing. His native songs and legends of tribal life in Mesopotamia were outstanding features."

It seems then that the man who caught my eye on the 1940 census was also attracting the attention of thousands of others back in his day. He must have been quite a celebrity in a small town like Chester, comprised mostly of shop keepers and mill workers. One can almost picture the scene in which a beaming Miss Timothy tells the census taker, “Oh, the lodger in Number 3? Why he is none other than Sheik Emmanuel, the Persian Prince!”

The Reading Eagle of Nov. 24, 1939 states that Emmanuel "is a resident of Virginia and has been appearing in many churches of all denominations."

The Oxnard, CA Daily Courier July 15, 1921, explains that Emmanuel was indeed in California prior to his stay at The Timothy House in Chester, WV.

Ride the Cyclone Again

Saturday, April 23, 2011

One year ago, fans of Rock Springs Park were offered the chance to take a virtual ride on the Cyclone on my blog here. The last real ride on the Cyclone was taken on Labor Day 1970 as the lights of the park were being turned off forever.

Also on this date one year ago, Betty Reynolds, known as “Granny” to her grand and great-grandchildren, passed away. Betty worked at Rock Springs Park following graduation from high school, and later at Allison's Restaurant in Chester. See Betty and read more about her life and family here.

Rock Springs Park Linked to East Liverpool Historical Society Website

The East Liverpool Historical Society Website placed a link to my Rock Springs Park blog this week on their “Links Useful to Enjoyable" page” at http://www.eastliverpoolhistoricalsociety.org/. Their site is a terrific resource for researching our local history on-line and I am proud to have my blog associated with it. A search of Rock Springs Park provides ten links ranging in topics from the early 1900's trolley rides to 1950's dance contest photos to articles on the parks final days in 1974. The ELHS also has a Facebook page under the title “Historical Memories of East Liverpool” which contains hundreds of images and discussions of all things Potter.


I took a few photos of East Liverpool landmarks on one final stop before sending off my manuscript to Arcadia Publishing in December 2009.

 Bottle Kiln at the Corner of East Second and Market

Beginning Point of the U.S. Public Land Survey that led to the opening of the Northwest Territory. On September 30, 1785, Thomas Hutchins began surveying the Seven Ranges at the point of beginning.



The Broadway Wharf was the launching point for the ferry boat Ollie Neville which carried excursionists to Rock Springs Park.



1940 Census, Part II: The Finley Brothers and C.A. Smith

In the first part of this series of blog posts, I told of Clarence Durbin and Alvin and Hazel Babb who worked at Rock Springs Park and lived in my neighborhood in Chester, according to the recently released 1940 U.S. Census Records. Being a big fan of the park’s history and an author of a book on the subject it was interesting to discover that many influential park workers and performers lived just a few doors down from my old stomping grounds.

Just around the bend on 3rd Street from my house growing up in Chester were The Finleys. The friendly couple lived in one of only two ranch-style homes in the neighborhood made up of mostly two-story clapboards. I passed the Finleys' house daily on my way to school or the family drugstore in town. Their home was bordered on one side by a concrete Lincoln Highway marker and on the other by a house near the old bridge over the railroad tracks which had a small monkey tied to a tree in the backyard in summer. The concrete marker was something to leap frog and the monkey was vastly entertaining to kids in the neighborhood.

The Finleys would often sit on their small front porch and greet me on my way to and from town. What I didn’t realize at the time was Mr. Finley was a member of The Finley Family in town. The Finley Brothers Construction Company built nearly every iconic building in Rock Springs Park, including the octagonal carousel pavilion, and just about every other building in Chester as well. According to Sayre Graham, Jr., whose father worked for the company, they built the Chester High School, the City Hall, and C.A. Smith’s huge cattle barn at Hillcrest (seen above) among others.

The 1940 Census tells us that the Mr. Finley I knew was not one of the original Finley Brothers, but most likely a son or nephew. Listed was Joseph Finley who owned an older home across the alley from where the ranch house would later sit. Today 315 Third Street has a pool in its side yard. In 1940, the house and property are listed at a value of $6,000 and Joseph is identified as being 75-years old and head of the household he shared with his wife Ella and two daughters. His occupation is “contractor – lumber and building” and even at 75, he was not retired with number of hours worked during the week of March 24-30 listed as forty-four.

I am assuming at this time, until confirmed, that the Robert Finley residing at nearby 253 Virginia Avenue, my old street, was another Finley Brother. At age 69 Robert with his wife “Ollie” and son Robert, Jr. age 29. (Could Robert, Jr. be the Mr. Finley I knew?) Robert, Sr. was a carpenter at the lumber company, so I am sure he was a Finley Brother of the construction trade.

If only my interest in the Rock Springs Park had been as great back in the 1970s as it is today, I’m sure all of my Finley neighbors would have had some interesting stories to tell of the park and their buildings which I so admire. I did, however, have the occasion to visit the home of the other subject of this post that of C.A. Smith.

In 1978 I was asked to meet a fellow thespian to run lines for a high school production of the musical “Oliver!” at the old Smith residence. The cast member was playing the Artful Dodger and was a cousin of the William A. Watson Family who owned the big house on the terraced hillside at the time. She was one of two female Artful Dodges to play opposite my part in the show. My interest in the house at that time was not so much the fact that it had once been owned by former Rock Springs Park owner C.A. Smith but that it had an elevator inside. When we finished practicing our parts in the living room of the largest house in town, Jack Dawkins and Oliver Twist, of course, rode the elevator to the second floor. “Consider yourself at home!”

1978 Oak Glen High School Little Theatre Production of "Oliver!" I was too old for the part of Oliver Twist (red vest right).

By the time the census was taken in 1940, C.A. Smith was no longer the lessee or manager of Rock Springs Park. Since 1926, the park had been leased to C.C. Macdonald and by 1935 managed by his daughter Virginia and her husband Bob Hand.

On the census, the 73 year-old Smith is listed as “Corporate Exec” and “Pottery Mag.” (I wonder if “mag” is magnate.) It is interesting to note that Smith is listed at the top of the census chart (see image 1, above), most likely because his was the first home, geographically speaking, along Pyramus Avenue. But it is not too difficult to picture him making it a point with the census taker to be listed above everyone else. He had that kind of influence. His home was valued at $25,000 or 1 million in today's dollars.

The Smith residence is only one of two Chester homes I have come across in the 1940 census so far to have servants. The other, listed directly below C.A. Smith on the document is brother, William Smith, pottery salesman. The C.A. Smith household lists as its permanent residents: C.A., wife Mary E., and servants Ada Mobley and William DeVaugin. Mobley, age 46, was the cook and Devaugin, age 77 Mr. Smith’s butler. Mobley lists her birthplace as Jacksonville, Florida, while Devaugin’s is Camden, New Jersey.