Old Butler ~ Excavation ~ Preserving ~

They tore down the old Army-Navy Store to make a parking lot for Young's Funeral Home across the street and this is what we see now on the side of the building.

Photo: Dick Vernon

Preserving and beautifying. September 2010

Photo: Bob Orsborn

Elm Court ~ The House We Never Saw

The fountain at the Polk Street entrance . . .

. . . we felt regal when we sat here and wondered.

The Lowrie/Shaw House ~ Behind the Court House

This house was built by Walter Lowrie, Butler's United States senator, in 1828. The house and its furnishings were bequeathed to the Butler Historical Society in 1986, by Isabelle Shaw, a descendent of the Sullivan family, owners of the house since 1839.

Car Show 2010 ~

Photo: DeWayne Johnston

Car Show 2010
Butler is a car town: Home of the Jeep 

Center Avenue ~

Back in the streetcar days. 

Thanks: Don Eury

High School Classroom ~

Thanks: Barbara Bloom

The Swinging Bridge ~

Photo: Barbara Bloom

At the end of Diamond Street taking you to Pullman Park ballfield.

Butler Architecture ~

Court House, view from the back.

Photo: Barbara Bloom

Pullman Park ~

Pullman Park, built in 1934, was used for minor league baseball for twenty years until the Pittsburgh Pirates farm team left in 1951. The ballpark saw many famous faces during its professional baseball days, including Lou Gehrig, Whitey Ford, and Joe DiMaggio who played for a farm team of the New York Yankees.
As of 2009 Pullman Park is the home of the Butler Blue Sox.

Penn Theater Lineup ~ 1941

Thanks: Beau Olsen

35th Annual Butler Road Race ~ 2010

Keeping up, getting ahead . . .

Photographer Don Carlson ~ BHS '38

The Piper Cub crash near Butler is only to show you what can happen when something goes wrong - the pilot did not survive.
- Don Carlson

Photographer Don Carlson ~ BHS '38

RAY ANDRE GENERAL TIRE - A picture I took for advertising purposes with Ray (standing) showing the new snow tires to a potential customer (actually my close friend Vin Cooper who I persuaded to pose for the pix).
- Don Carlson

Ernie's Esquire ~ Rt. 8 South

Was once a select, elegant restaurant for Butlerites.

Photographer Don Carlson ~ BHS '38

REFRESHMENT STAND - located at the Butler County Fair in 1940. (Don worte: "I can provide more info. if you are interested in it.")
- Don Carlson

Photographer Don Carlson ~ BHS '38

TROUTMAN'S DEPARTMENT STORE -  a picture of the newly remodeled young women's department c.1940 taken for an advertisement in the local newspaper. The manager was Floyd Allen and my dad, Carl W. Carlson, was the credit manager. The 3 story and basement building is still standing on the corner of N. Main St. and W. Cunningham St.
- Don Carlson

Photographer Don Carlson ~ BHS '38

BUTLER AIRPORT - small planes lined up at the old Butler Airport which was located along New Castle Road just across from Deshon Hospital and is now the location for a shopping center. Bob Headland was one of the early promoters of aviation in the Butler area. (I flew in and out of this airport and Pgh/Butler airport in the early 40s before enlisting in the Air Corps.)
- Don Carlson

Hot Dog Shop ~

Hot dogs on the grill.

Thanks: Dave Zaccari

The Old Terrace Drive-In ~

This is all that is left of the Old Terrace Drive-in, 5 miles north of Butler on Route 8.
Photo: Dewayne Johnson

William J. Perry ~ BHS '45

William Perry, former Secretary of Defense, in Butler's Bicentenial parade.

March 12, 2000

[Photo: Paul Johnson]

Miller's Florsheim ~

Brian Minto ~ Onward, Upward

Titles Held
WBO NABO Heavyweight Title (2009)
Pennsylvania Heavyweight Title (2008)
WBA Fedecentro Heavyweight Title (2007-2009)West Virginia Heavyweight Title (2004)

Latest Update

View from the Top ~

. . . from the top of South Main Street.

Pullman Standard Car Manufacturing ~

We sent railroad cars out across the nation.

Our War Dead ~

For us to remember . . .

Rube Waddell ~ Famous Butler Pitcher

Rube Waddell: Butler’s Outrageous Southpaw
By Eric D. Duchess

A biographical sketch of the eccentric left-handed pitcher from Prospect who is the only Butler County baseball player in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

This book received the Freedom Foundation Award in 1997.

Athletic Butler ~

In 1979 nearly 1,000 runners competed in the annual 10,000 meter Road Race.
Click picture to enlarge.

Williard Hotel ~

For a long time our esteemed hotel on South Main Street.

A True Butlerite of 78 Years ~

Gene Zarnick

has written

Recollections of a Childhood in Butler

Read

Morgan's at Bon Aire ~

Back in the '60s before the big shopping centers opened.

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Richard Strange ~ Butler County Symphony Conductor

†December 2009

Richard Strange was conductor for the Butler symphony from 1965 to 1974. He was our third permanent conductor.

Near the Court House ~

They had live colored chicks in the window at Easter time.

Cooper Cabin ~

Built by the Cooper family around 1810, the cabin was an original county homestead. It was enlarged after the Civil War and family descendants remained in the cabin until 1963.
It is located 9 miles south of Butler on Cooper Road near Cabot off Route 356.

Auto Club of Butler County ~

Stoughton's Beach ~ Slippery Rock

How we pestered our parents to take us to Stoughton's Beach for a day at the pool.

WISR ~ Radio Butler

WISR
 In 1941 David Rosenblum founded and named it after his father,

[W] [I]saac [S]amuel [R]osenblum.

The Diehl Baking Co ~

The Diehl Baking Co in Butler, Pa. started on May 20, 1910 and built the present building at the corner of Monroe and Center Ave in 1914. The business was sold to Mr. Chantler in 1940. The bakery continued in business till 1949. [Isaly's next door]

Photo: Dave Craig

Richard Fudoli ~ Musician ~ BHS '54

Mitch playing at our cemetery.

"It's purely about the art. I'm not looking for recognition. It just seemed to me a nice place to play and close to my home," Fudoli said. "People know I'm up there for a reason. They hear it in the air. It's a gift, and I'm trying to give it back."

from: The Butler Eagle

From the Pittsburgh Post Gazette

St. Paul's Steeple ~

Climbing Butler's Summit

St. Paul's Church

Photo: Robert Emigh

The Day They Moved a House ~

A house on Main Street.

Photo: Robert Emigh

Butler Literature ~ Stewart O'Nan

Stewart O'Nan's prizewinning novel Snow Angels is set in Butler.

New Monroe Street Bridge ~

They call it Lookout Point Bridge.

Photo: Robert Emigh

Butler High School Band ~

Veteran's Day Parade
Photo: Robert Emigh

BHS Football Results ~ 2009

BHS 14 [L] - New Castle 20
BHS 21 [L] - Norwin 24
BHS 21 [L] - Penn Hills 31
BHS 00 [L] - Canon-McMillan 31
BHS 14 [L] - Shaler 29
BHS 06 [L] - Pine-Richland 28
BHS 06 [L] - North Hills 37
BHS 00 [L] - North Allegheny 44
BHS 17 [L] - Seneca Valley 35

Silent Heroes Among Us ~

 by

the Senior English Students of Butler High School

Edited by James Clements

1996

From the Butler Eagle: James Clements was an English teacher who assigned students to write stories of Butler and its heroes Sunday, August 28, 2005 By Alisha Hipwell After nearly 30 years as an English teacher, James C. Clements grew bored with the traditional term paper assignment. So the Butler Area High School teacher devised a more meaningful way to challenge students in his advanced placement English class: He had them write a book. "He decided to have the students research stories he had heard about the Butler area," said his wife, Charlotte Clements. Under his direction, Mr. Clements' students researched, wrote and published "Builders Dreamers Scandals Schemers" and "Favorite Sons and Sons of Guns," two books about historical incidents in Butler County. Mr. Clements also initiated and edited a third book written by his senior students at Butler Area High School, "Silent Heroes Among Us," which won a National Freedom Foundation Award in 1997. Mr. Clements, of Slippery Rock Township, died of a heart attack Aug. 19 in Butler Memorial Hospital. He was 61. The inspiration for the third book came from Mr. Clements' neighbor, World War II veteran Ralph "Hap" Nicholas. Nicholas recalled that as he and Mr. Clements sat and chatted one afternoon, the conversation turned to Nicholas' experiences as a B-24 navigator. Nicholas flew 20 missions over Germany. "When I finished, Jim said, 'Well, there you have it. You became 20 years old again while you talked. My students can write your story,'" Nicholas said. And they did. Mr. Clements dispatched his students to interview local veterans of the Eighth Air Force and record their exploits. "The veterans told the students things they hadn't told their wives and children," Mr. Clements' wife recalled. The stories became the book, "Silent Heroes Among Us." "I think it's an extraordinary series of dissertations on what we did during World War II," Nicholas said. Mr. Clements received a grant from the Golden Tornado Foundation to fund his students' book projects. Proceeds from the sale of the books went back into the foundation. Mr. Clements retired from teaching shortly after "Silent Heroes Among Us" was published, but he promptly took on another book project with his father-in-law, the late William Robert Brandberg. Using Brandberg's collection of vintage postcards, Mr. Clements wrote "Lost Butler," a book that told the story of the area's vanishing past. Mr. Clements was a graduate of Butler Area High School and received a bachelor's degree in English from Thiel College and a master's degree from the University of Pittsburgh. He taught briefly at Brentwood High School, then taught English for 32 years at Butler Area High School. Mr. Clements was a movie buff who worked for 10 years as a projectionist and manager at the now defunct Plaza Theatre in Butler. "If anyone wanted to know a piece of movie trivia, Jim was the one to ask," his wife said. He also was a talented speaker and storyteller who had engagements with a number of community organizations. He particularly enjoyed telling ghost stories and was scheduled to tell Halloween tales for the city of Butler this year. In recent years, Mr. Clements was active in Sigma Phi Epsilon Alumni Association at Thiel College. He served in numerous positions in the organization and had recently received its Outstanding Alumni Award.

Karl Probst ~ Designer of the Jeep

Karl Probst [center] was rightly called the "Father of the Jeep" and thanks to him Butler was duly given the celebrated nickname "Home of the Jeep". Probst designed the vehicle in just 18 hours in 1940, and it took our Bantam company 49 days to make the original, which was cloned for use by the U.S. Army     

Thanks: Barbara Bloom

                                                                        

Joan Chandler ~ Actress ~ BHS '40

† 1979
The actress Joan [Cheeseman] Chandler was born 24 August 1923 in Butler, Pennsylvania. Lived on McKean Street across from the library. She starred in such movies as Alfred Hitchcock's Rope (1948) and Humoresque (1946).

Proud Sign ~

 

Stoughton's Beach ~ At the Pool