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Archiver > PAALLEGH > 2007-07 > 1184473617


From:
Subject: Re: [ALL] Lower St. Clair Twp.
Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 00:26:57 -0400
References: <d2c.10eb917b.33c92c36@aol.com> <4697D488.1090301@epix.net><200707132105.l6DL5Ofj020435@mail.rootsweb.com><003501c7c657$b4f0c1c0$6400a8c0@laptop01>
In-Reply-To: <003501c7c657$b4f0c1c0$6400a8c0@laptop01>


Jeanine,

There was a farm house at the top of Lowenhill on the left side. I
delivered newspapers to the guy 50 years ago but I'll be damned if I
can remember his name. On the right side, up and over the top of
Lowenhill, was a city cop, Given, last name Bob, IIRC. He's the
brother of Joey Diven who was kind of famous and notorious in his own
right. He was Bing Crosby's body guard when the Pirates played the
World Series in 1960. He pushed for Pete Flaherty for mayor but
Flaherty gave him the shaft.

The most logical house that you might be talking about was the old
Perri farm/ranch house. Back in the 50s and 60s, they had quite a
stable of horses on their property and had most of the property to
the right of Lowenhill but behind the houses on that side of the
street. This was probably the biggest house that could be called a farm house.

There were also two farm houses which were destroyed to build
Brashear. Their driveway was the Brashear driveway and they sat on
top of the southern side of Seldom Seen. They were about 1/4 mile off Crane.

Al


At 04:43 PM 7/14/2007, you wrote:
>I grew up in Beechview- we went to take a "tour" of Seldom Seen back in the
>80's (entering by Tropical Park back in Shadycrest) and couldn't get very
>far back then. I remember a rusted out car and my dad scaring the heck out
>of us by saying he had seen a bear... There is/was a massive farm house back
>kind of between Brashear and Shadycrest. Was that part of this group of
>houses? Thanks for the interesting info on Beechview! I've been wanting to
>get a copy of the history they put out over the past couple of years.
>
>Jeannine
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Al Lenkner" <>
>To: <>
>Sent: Friday, July 13, 2007 5:05 PM
>Subject: Re: [ALL] Lower St. Clair Twp.
>
>
> > Larry and Jacky,
> >
> > St Clair Twp was one of the original seven when Allegheny County was
> > formed in 1788. Sometime during the 1830s (every community has come
> > up with a different date), St Clair Twp was split into Upper St Clair
> > (which still exists but not as big) and Lower St Clair Twp. Union
> > Twp was split from Lower St Clair Twp about 1861 but not under that
> > name. A year or two later, the decision was made that the name was
> > too big for such a small twp. Union Twp comprised a small section of
> > upper Beechview (2200 and 2300 blocks of streets parallel with
> > Broadway Ave, Banksville, Green Tree and Westwood.
> >
> > Seldom Seen was indeed part of Lower St Clair Twp because nobody
> > wanted it and it was too remote. I think the city absorbed it when
> > Saw Mill Run Blvd was constructed and the Wabash RR constructed two
> > bridges or overpasses allowing access to Seldom Seen. Seldom Seen
> > was never part of Union Twp. And, as Helen says, there are still
> > Geyers around. I worked with Pete Geyer 30 years ago and he told me
> > during a conversation that he had grown up in Seldom Seen.
> >
> > Seldom Seen is even more Seldom Seen. Some years ago (early 80s, I
> > think) a developer bought up the 11 or 12 houses that comprised
> > Seldom Seen and tore them down with the thought of building a hi-rise
> > condominium project. Kathy Murphy of Shadcrest who lived 200 feet
> > above Seldom Seen led a group of mostly Beechview residents in
> > opposing the plan, wanting to leave it as part of the wooded areas
> > set aside for non-development centering on Crane Ave. They won. 5-6
> > years ago I took a couple of listers who were interested on a "tour"
> > of Seldom Seen. It was really overgrown then. Today, you need a
> > machete to fight your way back to were the houses were.
> >
> > Al
> >
> >
> >
> > At 03:37 PM 7/13/2007, you wrote:
> >>Jacky:
> >>Check out my maps page below and look at the Allegheny Co. map. It shows
> >>Lower St Clair just across the river from Pittsburgh.
> >>
> >>Larry
> >>
> >> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Did we ever decide where Lower St. Clair Twp. was?
> >> >
> >> > RE: SELDOM SEEN -Just off Saw Mill Run Blvd., below Beechview and Mt.
> >> > Washington, adjacent to Shalerville and the West End.
> >> >
> >> > I was reading an article that was printed in the Trib. Review, and it
> >> > states, "That's what it must have been like when the Staabs and
> >> the Geyers decided
> >> > it would be a fine place to settle and bring up their
> >> children. According to
> >> > a 1961 article by the historian George Swetnam in the Pgh., Press,
> >> > Conrad
> >> > Staab and his son-in-law, John Geyer, bought 22 acres in 1868
> >> from ???and Mary
> >> > Erbe for $4,050, in what was then called Union Twp, and later
> >> Lower St. Clair
> >> > Twp. Next they bought land from Moses and Elizabeth Crane for whom
> >> > Crane
> >> > Ave. was named. They gradually added more land up the hi...
> >> >
> >> > jacky
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > ************************************** Get a sneak peak of the
> >> all-new AOL at
> >> > http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour
> >> >
> >> > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >> >
> >> > Visit our Allegheny County, PA Website:
> >> > http://www.rootsweb.com/~paallegh/
> >> > -------------------------------
> >> > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
> >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without
> >> the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
> >> >
> >>
> >>--
> >>Larry Thompson
> >>My genealogy page
> >>http://www.twothompsongenealogies.com/index.html
> >>My Allegheny Co. maps page
> >>http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~lt0168/maps/
> >>
> >>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >>
> >>Visit our Allegheny County, PA Website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~paallegh/
> >>-------------------------------
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> >> with the word 'unsubscribe' without
> >>the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
> >>
> >>
> >>--
> >>No virus found in this incoming message.
> >>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
> >>Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.4/898 - Release Date:
> >>7/12/2007 4:08 PM
> >
> >
> > ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> >
> > Visit our Allegheny County, PA Website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~paallegh/
> > -------------------------------
> > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
> > with the word 'unsubscribe' without the
> > quotes in the subject and the body of the message
> >
>
>
>++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>Visit our Allegheny County, PA Website: http://www.rootsweb.com/~paallegh/
>-------------------------------
>To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to
> with the word 'unsubscribe' without
>the quotes in the subject and the body of the message
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG Free Edition.
>Version: 7.5.476 / Virus Database: 269.10.5/899 - Release Date:
>7/13/2007 3:41 PM

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