Louise Treadwell Tracy: Deaf Community Advocate
By Betty Hoover DiRisio, LCHS Board Member & Volunteer Lawrence County has had a hand in helping probably hundreds of thousands of deaf children worldwide, through the efforts of one…
The Electric Vehicle. New Technology?
By Betty Hoover DiRisio, LCHS Board Member & Volunteer Shortly after the invention of electricity, Edison and others turned their attentions toward the invention of an electric vehicle. By 1898,…
Another New Castle First – Penn Radio
By Betty Hoover DiRisio, LCHS Board Member & Volunteer In 1909 and 1910, Rex Patch was in the telegraph business and became interested in wireless telegraphy. After building numerous wireless…
First Woman to Own a Movie Theater (Grace Phillips Johnson)
By Betty Hoover DiRisio, LCHS Board Member & Volunteer The Theatorium is believed to be the first dedicated movie theater in New Castle. It was opened in December 1905 by…
Advise Against Establishment of Business in North Hill Historic District
By Edward X. Petrus, Board President, LCHS. Originally posted on our front page April 26, 2021. “The Lawrence County Historical Society strongly advises against the establishment of a Dollar General…
Lawrence County’s Black Orphanage
By Betty Hoover DiRisio (LCHS Board Member & Volunteer) – originally posted on our Facebook page February 13, 2021 Established and Supported by Black Women In 1896, the National Federation…
George Chauncey Stanton
By Betty Hoover DiRisio (LCHS Board Member & Volunteer)After the U.S. entered World War I, Black selectees from the Pittsburgh area, nearly all educated, many of them having college training,…
“Harry the Hermit”
By Betty Hoover DiRisio (LCHS Board Member & Volunteer)Harry Stein was born in May 12, 1903 to Isaac and Harriet Stein in Wampum. He made his home in the Turkey…
Sound Familiar? Influenza Epidemic 1918
By Betty Hoover DiRisio (LCHS Board Member & Volunteer) The Spanish flu or the grippe as it was also called, came in two waves. The first wave lasted three months.…
First Female Funeral Director in PA (McGonigle)
By Betty Hoover DiRisio (LCHS Board Member & Volunteer) Elizabeth May Mangan, daughter of Daniel and Elizabeth Mangan of Allegheny was born in August 1876. She worked as a confidential…
Suffrage Pioneer Pamphilia Hardman Phillips
By Betty Hoover DiRisio (LCHS volunteer) Pamphilia Hardman Phillips was a Lawrence County Suffrage Pioneer. She was born on October 31, 1844 in Petersburg, Ohio to Mr. and Mrs. David…
Nurse Harriet J Eckels
Women Also Served in the Great War
By Betty Hoover DiRisio (LCHS volunteer) Nurse Harriet J. Eckels was born on April 2, 1888 in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania. She and 100 fellow Red Cross nurses and 30 physicians…