A village about to lose its identity

Former Webster, Pa., Postmaster Bee Hodgson poses outside the old post office under a zip code facing extinction. (photographer unknown)


By Scott Beveridge

WEBSTER, Pa. – The news Tuesday about the U.S. Postal Service’s proposal to close the tiny post office in my hometown will likely lead to a new dateline on stories I write about the village.

The demise of the 15087 zip code as early as December has the potential of wiping the small Southwestern Pennsylvania town off the map. In all likelihood the few hundred people who call Webster their home will receive mail at their street addresses, with Webster being replaced on the envelopes by Belle Vernon.

It really doesn’t make sense for the federal government to keep open the 3,700 small post offices on the list for review if they are losing money. It especially makes sense to close them when the government is so heavily in debt and facing public demands for cutbacks in spending.

What doesn’t make sense, though, is the rational Congress has used in the past to establish zip codes.

For example, people who live in parts of Centerville in Washington County, Pa., have mailing addresses in Brownsville, Fayette County. Some of my neighbors in Forward Township, Allegheny County, receive their mail under addresses of Monongahela, a small city in Washington County.

It would make better sense to give people addresses in the municipalities where they reside. Sometimes I wonder if the people who made these decisions about postal logistics were using LSD during brainstorming sessions.

And if things proceed as they appear, the Westmoreland County village of Webster in Rostraver Township would next year be given an address associated with a small borough that doesn't even have a post office 10 miles away in Fayette County.

If you are having trouble following along it's understandable because this system of addressing is insane. It's no wonder Comcast and the electric and gas companies have trouble finding my house when those utilities black out. 


The post office needs to catch up with the times. The privately owned FedeX and ups figured out this nightmare a long time ago, before global positioning satellites added better layers to finding destinations. And those companies do a great of finding my house to deliver things when I order products on the Internet.

What's even sadder for Webster is the post office is the last public door in town where residents can enter and mingle, exchange greetings and feel connected to a community, except for a fire hall and smokey bar.

And if the state Department of Transportation ends up demolishing the old, closed Donora-Webster Bridge over the Monongahela River, Websterians won't even be able to walk to a store to purchase a newspaper, quart of milk or loaf of bread.

CNN iReport from the Donora-Webster Bridge

Donora makes inaugural visit to Donora

Casey Hanner and her brother, Jake, of the Pittsburgh band oddly named Donora, shown above, stopped by the Borough of Donora Saturday to play a few songs to mark the 100th birthday of the Donora-Webster Bridge. So did Bob Menzler of the new Donora duo, Rhyme and Reason, to sing a few cover tunes. (He's in the video clip, below)

Unfortunately, bitter cold weather forced part of the celebration from the bridge to a fire truck house at Rostraver Volunteer Fire Department No. 1 in Webster. But these are talented, dedication musicians who proved to be troopers for a worthy occasion.

In previous years, folks in Donora and Webster dressed up in frumpy period clothing to celebrate milestones on the bridge.

“Let’s start our own traditions,” said DeAnne Pavelko, an organizer of the birthday party, reacting to the notion to celebrate the bridge anniversary with music that appeals to today’s generation.

Here’s an excerpt from a story about the bridge program in today’s Observer-Reporter:

The rusting Donora-Webster Bridge was built a century ago within seven months at a cost $200,000, connecting a borough with hulking steel mills and a village rich with coal.

"That wouldn't be enough to paint the bridge right now," said Charles Stacey of Donora during a ceremony Saturday to mark the span's 100th birthday.

Yet this bridge remains special to residents of these two towns, so much so that two couples stood in a light snowstorm to renew their wedding vows at the rededication service.

"It was exciting, something everybody else doesn't get a chance to do," said Kathie Chadwick of Donora after exchanging vows with her husband of 41 years, Ron.

The Chadwicks and the other couple, Thomas and Carol Stoffel of Monongahela, arrived at the bridge in a horse-drawn wagon to exchange vows before Donora Mayor John Lignelli.

"We were really happy to be here," Carol Stoffel said. "I'm a Donora girl."

Weddings have become a tradition on the bridge, dating to its opening Dec. 5, 1908, when Webster resident John Witherspoon married Harriet Binley before an overflowing crowd. Two other local couples were married on the span Dec. 5, 1986, when it reopened after extensive restorations.

Saturday was the first time the Hanners made a trip to Donora, and they drove around town after singing with plans to shoot some promotional photos there.

“We’re Donora and so are you,” Casey Hanner said before leaving.

Expect big things from her band.

Donora is set to release its first album, one that is self-titled and produced by Rostrum Records, at a party about 8:30 p.m. Dec. 19 at Rex Theater in Pittsburgh’s South Side District.



Last, but certainly not least, the Observer-Reporter's online editor, Harry Funk, braved the light snow storm to introduce the program on the bridge. I'm sorry that I didn't get the chance to run a clip of the entire song.

Couples to renew vows on Donora-Webster Bridge

Two couples will renew their wedding vows on the Donora-Webster Bridge Saturday during ceremonies to mark the span’s 100th birthday.

Ron and Kathie Dickie Chadwick of Donora and Thomas and Carol Giuffrida Stoffel of Monongahela will exchange their vows after the bridge party begins at 3 p.m.

“Oh, I think it’s going to be nice,” said Carol Stoffel, a native of Donora.

Marriages are nothing new to the gray, steel camel-back span that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

John Witherspoon, a mine boss for Pittsburgh Coal Co., and Harriet Binley, both of Webster, were married on the bridge when it opened Dec. 5, 1908. An overflow crowd turned out that day to celebrate the first toll-free bridge across the Monongahela River.

A double wedding was performed when the bridge reopened Dec. 4, 1986, after it had been closed for repairs. That day, Thomas Giuffrida and Janine Conroy were married along with Marvin Sechrist and Audra Sadler.

“It goes back to the opening and it’s just a tradition that has been carried on since that time,” said Charles Stacey of Donora, a retired Ringgold School District superintendent.

“I think it’s a good idea, calls attention to this important artifact we have linking this town with Webster,” said Stacey, who will serve as master of ceremonies for the bridge rededication.

The Chadwicks were married Nov. 18, 1967, in Emanuel Baptist Church in Donora, and are the parents of two sons. The Stoffels were married Dec. 3, 1960, at the Eighth Street Presbyterian Church in Donora, and went on to have three sons.

“I give Donora a lot of credit,” Carol Stoffel said. “Of all the little towns, they work the hardest to keep themselves going.”

The Stoffels and Chadwicks will arrive on the bridge on a horse-drawn wagon. Donora Mayor John Lignelli will perform the ceremony.

The event also will include an appearance by Santa Claus, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and performances by Harry Funk, Rhyme & Reason and Donora.

The bridge will be closed to traffic from 2 to 7 p.m., with a detour to the Donora-Monessen Bridge.

Observer-Reporter

Care to get married on this old span?

A Party to mark the 100th birthday of the Donora-Webster Bridge

WEBSTER, Pa. - This grainy scan of photograph of the Donora-Webster Bridge under construction in 1908 comes to us today from a reader in Aurora, NY. It’s posted because it’s a rare photo and a timely one because a celebration is being planned to mark the 100th birthday of this span in southwestern Pennsylvania in two weeks.

There will be politicians, speeches, live music, food and souvenirs – just like there were when the bridge opened Dec. 5, 1908. So far, what is missing from the Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008, party is a wedding.

Harriet S. Binley of Webster married John Charles Witherspoon on the span when it opened. She was a daughter of a family with old money in the small farming and light manufacturing town that had become overshadowed by its neighbor, Donora, and its then-new, prosperous steel mill. Witherspoon was a newcomer who was dispatched to Webster by Pittsburgh Coal Co. to oversee its developing coal mines.

The wedding attracted a stupendous crowd. The nuptials were delayed, though, because another main attraction at the accompanying parade, the Monongahela Ku Klux Klan, had missed the train to Donora. That tidbit was proudly noted in the local newspaper.

Webster folks hosted that banquet, but they didn’t prepare anywhere near enough food for the guests, many of whom went away from the ox roast gnawing on bones. Another large crowd turned out in the 1980s to witness two weddings on the bridge when it opened again after undergoing renovations. Once again, there wasn’t enough food.

It’s not too late for a couple to volunteer to exchange their wedding vows on this aging bridge for the upcoming party. The day’s events begin at 3 p.m. and will feature a performance by the popular Pittsburgh band, Donora. Drop me an e-mail to get in touch with the appropriate party planners to arrange a quick wedding on this bridge. It might be wise to pack a lunch before you turn out for this excitement.

Old bridge having a birthday

The folks who are immediately joined by the Donora-Webster Bridge in Pennsylvania are going to come up with something to celebrate its 100th birthday next month. Stay tuned. In the meantime, here is a story about its inspection this year reported by the Observer-Reporter in Washington, Pa.:

DONORA, Pa. – James Hibbs and his crew of four suspend themselves under the old steel bridge on a plank for an eight-hour shift, hooked to ropes and cables high above the Monongahela River.

They are inspecting the century-old Donora-Webster Bridge in Pennsylvania, using hammers to pick away rust and chipping gray paint to look for fractures in the metal.

"We take a picture of every little defect we find," said Hibbs, a subcontractor carrying out the work for the state Department of Transportation.

And these men are facing many challenges while going over this historic span, inch by inch, to help determine how much longer it'll be strong enough to bear the weight of cars.

Inspectors typically haul a supercrane onto bridges to carry out an inspection while safely standing in a moveable bucket at the end of the crane's arms.

But the tight, criss-crossing of steel that makes up the arches above the Donora-Webster's deck would get in the way of a supercrane. Worse yet, the bridge has a three-ton weight limit that makes it impossible to drive such a vehicle onto its deck.

"Anytime that you inspect a bridge that is this large and this complex, the size of the bridge itself makes it a time- consuming project," said Don Herbert, PennDOT's district bridge engineer.

The arches that span the river channel are the tallest, rising seven stories above the deck. Workers with good balance and nerves as strong as steel have to climb to their highest peaks during the inspection, with nothing more than a rope to hold onto.

In case of a fall, the company has to post a rescuer in a boat to circle the river under the bridge, 67 feet below the deck.

This bridge connecting Washington and Westmoreland counties must be inspected annually because of its age and lower deficiency rating. Regardless, it's been placed on the National Registry of Historic Places because of its age and style, but that distinction isn't enough to protect it from being demolished.

PennDOT wanted to demolish the span in the 1980s, but the plan changed after residents demanded that it be saved.

The place has a special significance to local residents, partly because it's been the site of three weddings, and another may be arranged this summer to mark its 100th birthday. Children also have been known to lull themselves to sleep at night by counting the hums each time a vehicle's tires roll across the open grating.

"Number one, it cuts down the travel time to Pittsburgh," said Dr. Charles Stacey of Donora, a retired school superintendent.

"The people from Webster who don't have all the ... facilities that Donora has can get over here," Stacey said, adding that people in his town use the bridge as a shortcut to Pittsburgh.

The day the bridge opened proved just how much these two towns wanted to replace the wooden ferryboat they were using to cross the river.

At least 15,000 people converged in the two communities on Dec. 5, 1908, to welcome the toll-free bridge across the Monongahela. They also came to attend the wedding of John Charles and Harriet S. Binley Whitherspoon of Webster.

The businesses of the tiny village catered the affair, preparing an ox roast and 4,000 buns for sandwiches. However, more than twice that many people were turned away when the food ran out.

"Those who were unable to get a sandwich, begged a bone and many went away gnawing at a hunk or rib," the Donora American newspaper reported at the time.

Donora was a boomtown because of a new U.S. Steel mill that opened here in 1901. By contrast, Webster was an aging farming and steamboat-building center that was quickly becoming overshadowed by its industrial neighbor.

But the bridge offered Donora quick and easy access to Webster's coalfieds, which supplied the fuel to heat the many new homes in the area.

As a tribute to both towns, the bridge was painted gray for the smoke created in Donora and black to symbolize Webster's coal.

PennDOT no longer uses black paint for bridges because the steel would fade into the night and increase the chances of vehicle accidents, Herbert said.

He declined to predict the life span of the bridge, and will await the findings of the week-long inspection before making any recommendations.

It could prove too costly to rehabilitate the bridge, and tearing it down and not building anew is always an option, Herbert said.

"I think that would be terrible," Stacey said, when confronted with the possibility of the bridge being eliminated from the landscape. "It would be a great mistake."

No decision, Herbert said, will be made without PennDOT first holding public hearings.

Under the Donora-Webster Bridge