Remember When: Sewickley Herald headlines from 1970

In the news this week 54 years ago:

• Mrs. William D. Roberts of Sewickley was part of a Pittsburgh Junior League team working to furnish the Neill Log House, then under restoration in the city’s Schenley Park. The Neill House is recognized by the National Park Service as the oldest extant residential structure in Pittsburgh. (While the Fort Pitt Block House, the oldest building in Pittsburgh, was used as a residence for a time, it was not meant for that purpose alone.)

“A Pennsylvania long rifle, a low poster bed, and a trestle table are just a few of the items needed to furnish the historic log house, which will be opened to the public in the spring,” the Herald reported. “The house will be part of an 18th-century complex that will include a springhouse, privy, and kitchen garden.”

According to Mrs. Robert E. Fulton, then Secretary of the Pittsburgh History Landmarks Foundation and a fellow Junior League member, the restoration had been underway since the summer of 1969 and had been preceded by an archaeological dig that unearthed thousands of items from the late 18th century, including buttons, buckles, clay pipes and fragments of blown glass. The Junior League hoped that area residents would contribute or lend the needed items “so that visitors to the historic complex will be able to see how a pioneer in this area furnished his home.”

• State Senator Robert Fleming announced his candidacy for a State Seate seat for the 40th District, which then included parts of the Sewickley Valley, in the May 1970 primary. While Sen. Fleming had held seats in the State House and Senate since 1938, he had most recently been serving as President Pro Tempore. Fleming, a Sharpsburg native, went on to win the 1970 election, ending his time in the Pennsylvania State Senate in 1974.