Brownsville remembered fondly
My sister in Washington, D.C., forwarded me a picture of the recent fire at 1024 Water St. where my family lived from 1937 to 1948.
My father, Karl Pletcher who had lost his New York City brokerage firm had taken a job as receiver for the Brownsville Brewery recently reopened after Prohibition was repealed. Because the house was rented we lived in the Monongahela Hotel. I attended Front Street school for half the fourth grade and all of the fifth grade.
We moved away when the brewery stopped making beer in 1935 but in 1937 the bank asked my father to return to live temporarily rent free in the house as vandals were causing problems with the vacant property. He also found buyers for some of the industrial equipment. Life at 1024 Water St. was very pleasant although we frequently lacked funds to support ourselves.
The bank had refurbished the house which sported some original grand accouterments, including stained glass windows, marble fireplaces and chandeliers equipped with both natural gas and electricity. I attended Front Street Junior High and was graduated from Brownsville High School in 1943.
After a wartime job in the purchasing department of a Baltimore shipyard I entered Penn State University and graduated with a major in journalism in 1948. I was then employed by a Pennsylvania radio station and later a Michigan metropolitan newspaper. After marriage and three children, I was employed as copy director for a national public relations and fund raising firm in New Jersey.
In retirement I authored three books of historical fiction one of which was titled “Wilderness Road,” which includes references to the Watering Trough along Route 40, Uniontown’s White Swan Hotel and Brownville’s Nemacolin Castle.
A fourth book is a memoir titled “Down But Not Out: A Little Rich Girl Grows Up Poor in the Great Depression.” As you might have surmised this chronicles my Brownsville years among others. Included is a picture of Pat Patriello, a long-time employee of the Brownville Telegraph, with me and friends in front of Asa’s, a teen hangout.
I would send you copies, but I no longer have any available. Published by Fireship Press (not self published), the books are available on Amazon.
With a bit of math you can see that I am approaching my 92nd year.
If anyone has additional information on the state of the house (burned down, whatever), you can contact me at anniepaulb@AOL.com
Mary Anne Butler is a resident of Tucsson, Arizona.