The McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Sixth Annual Living History Tour on Sunday, September 13, gave us a wonderful insight into the lives of those from the past and how McKeesport became known for being a great historical city.
Attendees listen to actor Tony Belobrajdich recreate the life of LCpl. Thomas “Jitters” Sweeney during The 6th Annual Living History Tour at McKeesport and Versailles Cemetery.
Teresa Trich, community outreach director of the McKeesport Regional History & Heritage Center, organizes of the Living History Tour, which is the center’s biggest event of the year. Teresa finds all the actors, plans rehearsal and attracts sponsors, which raises money for center. This year they hoped to raise $4,000. This is their biggest event of the year. “If you don't know history, you're doomed to repeat it.” said Trich.
The City of McKeesport was founded in 1795. One its founders was John McKee, who died in 1807, but it is not known where he is buried. The McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery was originally on a plot of land located between Ninth Street and School Alley. As the population grew, the cemetery eventually needed more burial space for its deceased population.
In 1855, the farmland which belonged to the Huey family became McKeesport & Versailles Cemetery. Twenty five acres of land was purchased for $100 per acre. The first person to be buried there was Jordan Blair in 1856.
Soon after, remains from the from the former burial site were dug up to be placed in the new cemetery. However, an amazing discovery was made. Among the 700 bodies that were moved, some had beads, ornaments, spears and tomahawks, which meant that the site was originally once a Native American burial ground.
In 1889, a residence and office was built on the grounds to be used by the Keeper of the Cemetery. It is a lovely structure that reminds me of a small castle. Also, that year the cemetery was used to bury Union Army soldiers during the Civil War. A monument featuring a Union soldier was erected and dedicated on July 4, 1892.
The McKeesport and Versailles Cemetery is now home to both the known and the unknown, and even national figures. We have come here today to learn about and hear of the stories of those who have lived before us:
Philanthropist Laura Painter portrayed by Sidne Laine Shipman.
Photograph by Ashley McCalla
Laura Painter was the wife of the former People's Bank President Robert Painter. She was born in 1875 and was a wealthy and independent housewife who enjoyed being at home. The Painters were philanthropists known for giving donations to many charitable causes such as the Red Cross sewing group and local hospitals.
She was born in McKeesport in 1875 and it is where she met her husband Robert Painter, to whom she was married for 45 years. The couple had no children.
After her husbands death in 1899, she learned that he had an affair with another woman - his secretary - to whom he left $20,000 in his will. A stranger named Owen Hollerin came to her home and showed her a picture of her husband with his mistress. Hollerin blackmailed her into giving him a check for $750, so he would not share with the photographs and ruin their family name. She was later contacted by Detective Kenny, who asked her to be part of a sting operation to catch the blackmailer. She agreed and was able to assist in his capture.
Laura Painter later moved to Florida. She died at age 75 in 1950.
The role of Laura Painter was played by Sidne Laine Shipman, a 20-year-old actress from Pittsburgh. She was beautifully dressed in a long black skirt with a matching Bolero jacket, a white silk blouse and a pearl necklace with matching pearl earrings, shoes that shimmered and a black velvet hat topped with a bow.
Jacob Toms (1832 -1892) was a family man and steel mill worker at the National Tube Works (NTW) in McKeesport. The mills helped launched the Industrial Revolution. They were not always safe places to work. However, Mr. Tom's worked there for 19 years. NTW was a hub in the 1890s for producing iron and steel and created jobs for people for a century.
The iron and steel industry, which was built on strong unions ran the world. NTW built gas, water and steam mains and produced tubular goods. The men of those days went to work seven days a week. After their shifts, they would enter their homes through the basement door, so as not to get dirt on the carpet.
Toms moved to McKeesport after the Civil War. He also worked as a mate on the river barges in Pittsburgh. He and his wife Kaziak raised seven children. He earned enough to keep a house, pay the bills and take care of his family. He lived the American dream. On November 6, 1892, he was hit in the head by a falling pipe and left unconscious. He died at the age of 60. His daughter Harriet Gilcross later moved his grave out of the cemetery.
Jacob Toms was portrayed by actor John Patalano.
Photographer ands inventor Percy Garland portrayed by Bolivar Campusano.
Photograph by Maria Palmer
Percy Garland was born in North Versailles. He was a photographer and musician who played the trombone.
Percy was a 1930 McKeesport High School graduate who worked at the Penn McKee Hotel. Although he could not afford to go to medical school, he became an inventor and a pioneer in the field of industrial photography. He met his wife Hazel at church and they had one child named Phyllis. They were married for 50 years. He also a musician and played trombone.
Garland was the first in this country to develop a process that printed photographs on lampshades known as Shade-O-Graphs in 1949. He also invented photographic and data recording equipment that was used in construction of a nuclear submarine, a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and on Apollo 12. He moved his studio from Pittsburgh to McKeesport in 1949.
Percy Garland also invented a tamper proof alarm system that deter shoplifting. He founded the Tri-Cities Opportunities Industrialization Corporation which trained disadvantaged workers in the trades. He also served on the boards of the Boy Scouts, Salvation Army and Zoning and Redevelopment boards, as well as the Penn State Greater Allegheny Advisory Board
On January 5, 1997, Percy Garland died at McKeesport Hospital from a stroke at the age 85. Percy Garland was played by a Bolivar Campusano, McKeesport Area High School senior who began acting in seventh grade by performing in the school musical Guys and Dolls.
Frank “Uncle Sam” Gilchrist portrayed by Tony Smithyman.
Photograph by Vickie Babyak
Frank Gilchrist was known for playing Uncle Sam for many years in McKeesport parades until the day he died in 1947.
It was because of his height. He was six feet and seven inches tall, which he determined would be perfect for the role of Uncle Sam. Gilchrist was born in Irwin in 1922 and his wife's name was Anna. Their stepson was named James.
Gilchrist was also a police officer in McKeesport and worked as a guard at the McKeesport Tin Plate Company. When he quit smoking after 15 years, The McKeesport Daily News wrote a story about it.
Playing the role of Gilchrist, Tony Smithyman said his work as an actor feeds his soul while his work as a marketer paid his bills.
Socialite LaRoux Lynch Soles portrayed by Gina T. Rosso.
Photograph by Ashley McCalla
LaRoux Lynch Soles was a social butterfly. She lived on Jenny Lind Street where she hosted many parties. She married Robert Soles in 1920 and they had two sons, both of whom died in an early age.
Although her life was filled with much gaiety, there was still sadness. Her husband drank and he had an affair with a woman named Rose Henry. LaRoux also had an affair during a trip to Florida. Her death in June 1933, which was caused by a bullet wound to her abdomen, made national headlines. Was she murdered? The mystery surrounding her tragic death led to much speculation. Some believed she shot herself with a .45 caliber handgun, which was hidden under her bed. Others claimed it was her husband Robert who committed the murder. A suicide note left behind also generated a lot of chatter because suicide was considered a sin at that time. Her jewelry was given to Rose, who Robert married his mistress within a year of LaRoux’s death. Robert was acquitted, so they never did find out who killed LaRoux. She was originally buried in the Soles family mausoleum at the cemetery, but her father Harry Lynch later exhumed her grave and had her reburied in Indiana, PA.
LaRoux was portrayed by Gina T. Rosso. This was the first time Gina is performed in the living history tour. She has lived in McKeesport her entire life and loves theater. Rosso is currently a first-year law student at the University of Pittsburgh. Gina wore a black chiffon dress with pleated ruffles, and a beautiful pearl necklace, accompanied with a black velvet hat.
Professor and journalist Phyllis Garland portrayed by Tayler Cleveland.
Photograph by Jennifer McCalla
Phyllis Garland was born on October 27, 1935 in McKeesport. She was the daughter of Percy and Hazel Garland. She was known as “Phyl” to her friends. She graduated from McKeesport High School in 1953. Her mother Hazel Garland who was editor of the Pittsburgh Courier and a television columnist was her inspiration.
Garland attended Northwestern University and graduated in 1957. She covered the Civil Rights Movement for Ebony Magazine. She interviewed Martin Luther King and Aretha Franklin and covered The March on Washington. Garland authored two books, Michael: In Concert with Friends and The Sound of Soul.
She lived in Greenwich Village where she hosted many parties and shared her love of jazz music. In 1973, she became the first tenured African American journalism professor at Columbia University. She taught a class on cultural affairs reporting and inspired students for three decades. She later founded National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia. She was also a member of Bethlehem Baptist Church in McKeesport. She passed away in New York City in 2006.
The characterization of Phyllis Garland was played by McKeesport Area High School senior Tayler Cleveland. She wore a black silk dress with a matching hat and bow, rhinestone studded shoes. Like Garland, Cleveland wants to be a journalist and has performed in several plays and musicals at the high school.