Ray Rieser stories

The Burrell School Board voted unanimously in October to close Stewart Elementary School, a local landmark that served the community for more than 90 years, at the conclusion of the school year. In 1930, a 6.4-acre tract of vacant farmland in Lower Burrell was acquired for the school from the...

In the early hours of June 23, 1910, John Mitchell died in an unimaginable way at the West Penn Steel plant in Brackenridge. Working as a tongsman at the mill, his job was to oversee the handling of the hot steel ingots coming from the furnace. For the steel to...

One of the major problems facing the early settlers of the Alle-Kiski Valley was crossing the rivers. Before 1900, for the residents of communities near Tarentum, the closest bridge crossing was Garvers Ferry Bridge, which was built in 1886 near Freeport. The problem was alleviated, somewhat, in 1900 with the...

There are many sites in the Alle-Kiski Valley that bear the names of prominent figures from colonial history. The hill opposite New Kensington that runs between Springdale and Creighton is known as Bouquet Hill. The first bridge constructed in 1900 over the Allegheny River at New Kensington was known as...

When learning about the 1901 assassination of President William McKinley, one of the things that might have been lost in the details is that his assassin was a former resident of Natrona. McKinley, the 25th U.S. president, was shot on Sept. 6, 1901. He died eight days later of an...

One of the most disastrous fires in Tarentum’s history occurred on Dec. 21, 1885, and led to the organization of the borough’s first fire department. The fire originated in the office of Patterson and Travis, an insurance agency in a wood-frame building where the present Tarentum Post Office stands. A...

There are a number of places in the Alle-Kiski Valley named after people who fought in the Revolutionary War. Dutchman’s Run near the community of Kinlock in Lower Burrell is one such area. It was named after an incident that took place there involving Capt. Samuel Brady, a famous Revolutionary...

On Nov. 16, 1920, a Curtiss biplane crash-landed in the Allegheny River near the Brackenridge intake plant at River Avenue and Morgan Street. This was the first airplane crash to occur in the Alle-Kiski Valley. The plane was piloted by Lt. J.P. Morris, 24, a former Army aviator from Pittsburgh....

In the winter of 1936, the Alle-Kiski Valley saw 63 inches of snowfall through February. Then March came in like a lion. During the first weeks of March, warm weather coupled with melting snow and two days of torrential rain resulted in one of the region’s worst natural disasters: the...

The old Chapman’s Drug Store was one of the more interesting buildings to greet guests visiting Tarentum in the early 1900s. On the lower side of the railroad tracks at Fifth Avenue and Lock Street stands a historic structure with a turret that was the longtime home of the former...

One of the many videos the Oakmont Historical Society has produced over the years is devoted to the history of the Allegheny Valley Railroad in the Oakmont area. In the video, the narrator mentions that during the Civil War, cannons were transported through Oakmont by train to be field-tested above...

The Allegheny Valley Railroad, which ran along the Lower Burrell side of the Allegheny River, was the first major rail line to open in the Alle-Kiski Valley. When completed in January 1856, the rail line extended from Pittsburgh to Kittanning. There were numerous train stations, or depots as they were...

Anyone who uses the Tarentum Bridge has seen the large, red brick building at East Seventh Avenue and Ross Street. It’s hard to miss the black panther sign, Gatto Cycle Shop’s logo, painted on its side. But before the Gatto family acquired the building in the late 1980s, it was...

The clamor of trains chugging through Tarentum — and perhaps the inconvenience of getting stuck at one of its crossings — is a daily reminder of the role locomotives play in the borough. While the route is no longer used for passengers, that wasn’t the case in the early days....

Throughout American history, private ships have been used in times of conflict. This first use occurred on June 12, 1775, at Machias, Maine, when a group of American colonists captured the British ship HMS Margaretta after hearing of the uprisings at Lexington and Concord. When informed of this event, the...

Younger readers might not know that the City of New Kensington originally was named Kensington. But when the residents living there applied to the federal government for permission to open a post office, they were informed there already was a town in Eastern Pennsylvania named Kensington. The residents of that...

Halloween is just a couple of days away, which makes it the perfect time to scour the local history centers and newspaper archives, searching for stories of hauntings, paranormal activities and strange happenings that have occurred over the years across the Alle-Kiski Valley. Here are some of the stories that...

For those who love history, one of the great treasures in the Alle-Kiski Valley is an antique shop on Market Street in Leechburg named Ruman & Kraft. This summer, the shop acquired a framed photograph of the steamboat Elizabeth Smith. The Elizabeth Smith became famous in 1936, when she sank...

Before the construction of dams, travel on the Allegheny and Kiskiminetas rivers was dependent on seasonal rains. At times, the water in the river channels was not deep enough for boat traffic. The earliest boats used on the rivers had very shallow drafts. They were canoes, rafts, flatboats and keelboats....

In the early 1900s, Hyde Park was a small but important borough across the Kiskiminetas River from Leechburg. It was popular throughout the Kiski Valley because it was the only community in the area where alcoholic beverages could be purchased. Back then, residents of each town could vote on whether...

With the recent release of the hit movie “Oppenheimer,” many older Alle-Kiski Valley residents are reflecting on life in the 1950s and ’60s during the Cold War and the threat of nuclear attack. The term Cold War was invented by English writer George Orwell for an article in the Tribune,...

The concrete locks and dams along the Allegheny River were built in the 1920s and 1930s, but three dams built around 1900 preceded them. Lock and dam No. 1 was located at Herrs Island near the present 31st Street Bridge. Lock and dam No. 2 was built slightly upstream from...

National Wrong Way Corrigan Day is celebrated every year on July 17. Named for Tarentum’s “adopted son,” the day commemorates the 1938 transatlantic journey of stunt pilot Douglas Corrigan, who made an unauthorized flight between Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Ireland. Corrigan has ties to the Alle-Kiski Valley....

In the mid 1800s Craigdell Road in Lower Burrell extended to the Allegheny River, where a railroad station was located. Remains of this old portion of roadway can still be seen behind the Giant Eagle on the Tarentum Bridge Road. The railroad station there was built in 1856 and was...

The first attempt to deliver mail by air in Western Pennsylvania occurred in 1840, about 63 years before the Wright Brothers made their first flight. Richard Clayton, a balloonist, took off from an amphitheater in Allegheny Town, now the North Side area of Pittsburgh, on May 4, 1840, to carry...