Tuesday, November 2, 2010

A Piece of Our History -- Pop Gruver's Writing Desk



As you enter the Historical Society’s repository and museum, you’ll notice a sign-in desk that really is a piece of Shickshinny’s history. A special thanks to member Frank Evina of Mocanaqua who donated it for preservation.

The desk belonged to ‘Pop Gruver’ who ran a blacksmith shop out of a row of garages once located on West Vine Street in Shickshinny. The garages were located directly behind the old Reider Bus Station building on Route 11. Many of the buildings literally hung over Shickshinny Creek and were unfortunate casualties of the 1972 flood.

Gruver used it to write out his bills and keep his receipts and bookkeeping records for the shop in the storage compartment, according to his housekeeper whom Evina got the desk. He was quite good and creative with his hands and took a lot of scrap metal and made things with it; Evina said he regrets an electric lamp made out of scrap iron taken from the Shickshinny-Mocanaqua Covered Bridge that burned in 1918.

‘Pop Gruver’ died as a result of his work. A horse stepped on his foot and it became infected with gangrene and he refused to have his leg amputated, despite the advice of his doctor and soon died. Both Gruver and his wife are buried in the cemetery on the hill off Butler Street. Pop’s son Pete operated the G&W Lunch Room on Union Street. His other son Russell was tragically killed by a train as a young boy.

The desk itself is likely made of a manufacture piece of wood, but it does contain a lot of dovetailing on the corners and has wooden pegs in the lid (there are no nails). Desks like these were very common in shops and commonly referred to in the antique world as ‘portable slant-top writing desks’ since they could be picked up and moved around.

Thanks for Frank for saving this local piece of history!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Upcoming Meeting Announcement

The Historical and Preservation Society of the Greater Shickshinny Area invite the public to attend its upcoming meeting on October 10, 2010 at its museum and repository at the FLT Building in on North Main Street, Shickshinny. The general membership meeting will be held at 1 PM.



The Historical Society will welcome Georgetta Potoski, President of the Plymouth Historical Society as the speaker who will talk about ethnic struggles in the Plymouth area at the turn of the century. Her presentation will follow the meeting.



In addition, members will also discuss upcoming fundraising events as well as the latest progress in the renovation of the FLT Building.



Meetings are also scheduled for November 12 where the Society will welcome Shickshinny’s Don Hargraves who will narrate a video from the 1960 Centennial Parade. On December 12, local historian Roger Gilbert will conduct a presentation on the Powder Hole.

Friday, September 17, 2010

This Day in History - September 17

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: On September 17, 1900, The New York Times continued its series of articles about what they dubbed one of the greatest labor outages in the country’s history; the miners’ strike stemmed from a labor dispute with coal operators throughout Wyoming Valley.

However, at Mocanaqua’s West End Colliery, things were different.

When everyone else refused to work, miners in Mocanaqua went to work.

“When the whistles blew this morning for the commencement of work there were very few men in sight. The pumpmen and runners were on hand to go to their posts, but miners and laborers were conspicuous by their absence. Some distance from the collieries, watchers were stationed. They were there to see if any of the miners intended to go to work. When they found that the men remained away, they returned to the United Mine Workers’ headquarters and reported. By 9 o’clock Present Nicholls had reports from every mine in the district. They were very encouraging, showing that all had closed down, with the exception of the one at Mocanaqua.”

Through the Valley, more than 22,000 miners were off the job.

Union bosses were expected to make the rounds again on the following day to encourage miners to not go back to work – evening Mocanaqua where workers said they were ‘satisfied with the conditions of things.’

From the New York Times, September 18, 1900

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

September 15, 1900

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: On September 15, 1900 Mocanaqua’s West End Colliery was one of a number of coal operations up and down the Wyoming Valley where its workers were getting ready for a strike. The New York Times reported ‘the West End Coal Company men at Mocanaqua reported nearly all employees at work’ and that ‘many of the foreign element were noticed about the mines’ (meaning a large number of its workers were not native born). The Times was anticipating ‘what may prove the greatest strike in the history of the labor world’ and that it would be one of the ‘darkest days of anthracite.’

Workers were fighting for higher wages and better working conditions.

The NYT article also gives insight into the management of the West End Coal Company in Mocanaqua. The writer (who wasn’t named in the archived report) said the mine operators were waiting for developments and that ‘many are of the opinion that the novelty of the thing will wear off in a few days’ meaning there would be a rush for work once again. It also said the mine employed about 5,000 people – mostly of Hungarian and Slavic descent.

John Conyngham, West End’s president, was quoted as saying that only five percent of the miners working in Mocanaqua belonged to the union and that even after the mine shut down for the day notices were posted that the union would strike.