Horner Street School

Horner Street School

Duquesne Sales - 1945

Duquesne Sales - 147 Horner Street - Tony Bagnato - Distributor

Trolley Time

Messenger Street

7th Ward Fire Company - 1885

This photo of the 7th Ward Fire Company was taken along Horner Street in Hornerstown in 1885. Some of the old firefighters in this picture include: Dan Ott. Pete Coyle, Dave Miller, John Grafe, George Rose and Jake Grafe. 

The horses were later sold to a nearby farmer who said that everytime the big dinner bell would ring the horses would pull the plow all over the place as though they were racing to a fire.

John Grafe - one of the younger ones in this photo was later a captain in the City Fire Department and was killed when the roof collapsed during a fire in a brick plant in Coopersdale.

Horner Street Bridge

Horner Street Bridge

View from Above

Don and Darlene Costlow sent in this view of parts of Hornerstown and Moxham. Cochran is on the upper right hand side. 

DeFrehn and Sons - Hornerstown

We were talking about DeFrehn & Sons over at the Vintage Johnstown Facebook Page - so I wrote up this brief look at the history of the chair factory in Hornerstown - 600 to 700 chairs are made daily at this plant. Frank Medvesek of 547 Russell Avenue finishes sanding a chair before it is sent to the paint-spraying room - seen in the background. The chairs are made on a production line basis and move through the plant on an overhead conveyor. The gentleman on the right is George DeFrehn - superintendent of the factory.

Since their beginnings in 1898 - it is estimated that more than 3 million chairs have been made at their Hornerstown plant.

The chair factory no longer markets its own products directly as it did for many years. In the 1940's it began making chairs exclusively for the National Store Fixture Company out of Baltimore, Maryland which marketed them in all parts of the country.

Actually, the chair-making process at DeFehn's was a three-fold operation. They made the wooden framework, F.T. Shank did the upholstering in his Geistown shop along with a leased space in the chair factory and the finishing work was done by the National Store Fixture Company with its own force of employees at the Johnstown plant.

The chairs made at the factory are of a modern design for kitchen, restaurant, school and other uses. With the exception of certain parts, they are made up of 14-ply laminated wood. Under the process, veneers in large sheets are glued and pressed into forms of the required shape. After the sheets are dried quickly by high frequency electric heat, the laminated wood is ready to be cut just like solid wood. 

Chair manufacturing by the DeFehns dates back to 1858, when William DeFrehn opened a shop in Schuylkill County.

William had six sons - Robert, William, Charles,Frank, Augustus and George when he established their Johnstown factory in 1898 at its location at Horner and Poplar Streets.

Berkey Service Station

 

Berkey Service Station - 830 Horner Street

Hornerstown - 1977

 

Hornerstown - 1977 Flood

Grand Invite - Seventh Ward Ball

 

Grand Dedication and Ball of the Seventh Ward Fire Cos. New Hall and Fire-Engine House.
331 & 333 Horner Street - Monday Eve, November 16, 1896 - Tickets - One Dollar. This ticket is just one of the many things my grandfather saved.

Sandyvale with Stones

 

A rare look at Sandyvale Cemetery in the lower part of the picture with some of its tombstones intact. Off in the distant you can see Cochran, Central Avenue Bridge and M. Glossers.

Sinclair Gas - Hornerstown

 

The old Sinclair Gas Station along Horner Street in Hornerstown.

Here is a little better view of things...just click on it to enlarge. I see over on the right hand side at Leitenbergers - you can get your REO Speedwagon serviced....now tell me if you're not like me and as soon as I said REO Speedwagon - you don't have one of their songs rattling around in your head now.  

Dale - Hornerstown

 

A very nice view of Dale and parts of Hornerstown

H.E. Wagner Motor Sales

H.E. Wagner Motor Sales - Horner Street 

 

Daniel Ott - Johnstown Contractor

Reader Donald Costlow sent in these pictures of his Great-Grandfather Daniel Ott standing by his home near Windber by Camp Hamilton. The camp was the football training site for Windber High School. He says there are two stone cottages Daniel built in the early 1900's and both are still standing to this day - look on the right just before you hit the camp area - they are easy to pick out.

Daniel Ott was a Johnstown contractor. During the late 1800's and the early 1900's he built many houses and churches in the Hornerstown section of Johnstown. One of them was the Trinity Lutheran Church at the corner of Pine and Hickory.

Before it was demolished a few years ago, it was known as St. James Baptist Church.

 

Fire Department - Johnstown - 1900

This is a picture of one of the Fire Companies in Johnstown. This one was located along Horner Street around 1900 or so.

1977 Flood

Messenger Street - Hornerstown - 1977 Flood

Ash Street - Hornerstown

Reader Jake Trexel sent in this picture of his grandparents Ardell and Margaret Trexel in front of their home at 303 Ash Street.

Ash Street - Hornerstown

Reader Jake Trexel sent in this photograph. This is members of his McCabe family at 304 Ash Street in Hornerstown - before the great Depression.