[PRCo] Re: Allegheny

[Dennis F. Cramer]

I have many fond memories of the North Side from the late 50's and the 60's. 
My grandmother lived in the Widow's Home on Taylor Avenue until she passed 
away in 1972.  There was no indoor plumbing (other than cold running water) 
for quite a while.  I remember vividly going out back to the toilet house 
that had pit toilets for the women.  They had to heat water on a coal stove 
to get hot water and were limited to sponge baths.

She was quite the lady, having lived through the Johnstown Flood of 1889. 
My brother and I used to walk down to West Park and play with no adult 
supervision.  It was a different world.  Unfortunately, she was mugged a few 
times in her early 90's, but that did not deter her from walking to church 
and the corner market.

I drove over to Taylor Avenue for the first time in many years last summer 
and found they are gutting and remodeling the Widow's Home into apartments. 
Anna Nicholson Cramer and all of those other women, including the matron, 
would be amazed at the change.

It was never a fancy place, but it was her home and all she could afford as 
a widow who not only buried her husband, but more than half of her adult 
children.

Living in Allegheny County for 9 years and visiting through the 60's gave me 
many fond memories of Pittsburgh and her railways.


Dennis Fred Cramer
     Trombone