Location recognized from Avella to Florida
A large crowd gathered in the Tylerdale section of Washington for this patriotic celebration about a century ago.
Two houses on the north side of Jefferson Avenue (Route 844) and the Brownson House are still in use today.
Tyler Tube and Pipe Co.in 1910 erected this building known to several Tylerdale generations as the Brownson House.
Although our readers could not help us determine the exact date or the cause for celebration in this week’s Mystery Photo, they were able to identify the location.
“The large building sure looks like the Brownson House on Jefferson Avenue,” wrote Jim Ashmore of Avella in an email. “Spent a lot of time as a young man going to the Brownson House,” the longtime youth sports organization.
Ashmore was right, as were nearly a dozen other readers who recognized the building still standing and in use in Tylerdale, even though the huge clock tower is no longer there.
Dan Petrola, executive director of the Brownson House, and his wife, Joan, and son, Matthew, all were quick to recognize the structure, built in 1910 as an administration building for Tyler Tube and Pipe Co. Dan believes the tower was removed in the 1960s, and Dave Blose believes it ended up somewhere in Ohio.
The image was reversed when it was printed last Monday. It is shown correctly today, with the buttons on the men’s clothing on the right side and their campaign ribbons on their left lapels. With the large building on the south side of Jefferson Avenue, the crowd was assembled on the north side on land now occupied by Tarr’s supply yard. Two of the houses on the left are still standing.
One of our readers in Satellite Beach, Fla., pointed out the flags in the photo have 48 stars, which means that the picture could not have been taken before Arizona entered the union on Feb. 14, 1912.
Matthew Petrola suggested that the celebration could have marked the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. But the size of the crowd and number of American flags is more indicative of Memorial Day or July 4. The Saturday, July 5, 1919, edition of the Washington Observer, however, reported an unusually quiet obsevance of the holiday that year; no public events in Washington, but large ones in Waynesburg and Canonsburg. Independence Day parades were held in Washington in 1918 and 1919, but in the downtown area, not Tylerdale, which is named for William Perking Tyler, who founded Tyler Tube and died in 1902.
It’s most likely that this event happened between 1912 and 1917. Further research may yield an answer, which we will be sure to pass along to you.
Look for another Mystery Photo in next Monday’s Observer-Reporter.