Difference between revisions of "Concord Elementary School"

Revision as of 17:13, 21 August 2008

Photo of the second location of Concord Elementary School located at the corner of current Brownsville Road and West Agnew Avenue.

After the Carrick school board built the fourth location of the Concord Elementary School the land that the third school was located was divided into lots. Here is the plan of lots on what is Dowling Street between Hornaday Road and Agnew Avenue.

Photo of the fourth location of Concord Elementary School and a short history written in 1949 of the history of Concord Elementary School from 1840 to 1949.

Newspaper article about Concord students who were swindled.

Concord Students crossing the street - note no traffic signals, just a crossing policeman.

A description of the children in the photo by Emily Prichard Cary along with a description of childrens' lives at that time -

The photo of the five children shows Dorothy Windeknect, the sister of my classmate Harriet Windeknect. Somewhere I have photos of my 6th birthday party with all the little girls (except me) lined up in the front row holding the skirts of their party dresses out so far they looked like an array of fans. I believe it was a Shirley Temple style. My outfit was not so elaborate. Mother always bought me the brand of Shirley Temple dresses (a pumpkin on the tag) sold for $1.00 in Kaufmann's basement. She made friends with one of the clerks (she made friends with everyone she met) who each fall or spring would send us all the new Shirley Temple dresses on approval. Mother chose the one or two to do me for the season, and returned the rest in the Kaufmann's truck. That's a service you don't find today.

Harriet Windeknecht was one of the girls attending that party, along with Bernice Heinz (she and Harriet lived near each other on Church Street), Nancy Oliver (lived in an apartment on Brownsville Road near Concord School and not far from a store that sold penny candy), Betty Sturm (lived on Hornaday Road), Donna Stroud (next door), Valerie Haas, Audrey Mendlinger and Ruth Lowe (all behind us on Scout Street) and Dorothy and Herbie Loether (spelling later changed to Lowther) from the larger yellow brick house across the street. Dorothy and Herbie were true survivors. There were nine Lowther children. The oldest girl was very beautiful and sang with a band evenings at the William Penn Hotel. Herbie was the youngest. Since I was between Herbie and Dorothy in age, I played with them both. Dorothy was assigned the job of caring for Herbie, which she did admirably, buttoning his coat, wiping his nose, putting on his galoshes, etc. They had had no mother for several years because their first mother left, so each child was responsible for another. Grandmother observed the departure of the original mother soon after we moved to Madeline Street and often reminisced about it. Even though she was deaf, she understood what was happening from the woman's facial expression and gestures. After hitting her husband over the head for several minutes, she jumped into a taxi. That's the last time anyone on the street saw her. Grandmother's sharp eyes had detected trouble some time earlier. She just shook her head and said, "No wonder the poor woman lost her mind with all those children to care for." Several years later, Mr. Lowther was remarried to a lovely woman who took the children to her heart and made certain that Herbie was always clean and neat without a runny nose. Mr. Lowther was a builder. Before we left Pittsburgh, his business had revived, enabling them to build a lovely home near the South Hills County Club. Soon after it was completed, they invited us to see it. Mother never stopped raving about it. The interior was beautiful, but I fell in love with the yard. The centerpiece was a magnificent Japanese garden with bridges crossing a pond filled with goldfish. I've often wondered if they retained the Japanese theme after Pearl Harbor.

Concord Elementary School Library 1950

Concord Music 1960