Local News
Related Photos
-
Gary Diday/For The Herald
-
David E. Dale/Herald
Discussion
Wendell August destroyed by blaze
Official vows to rebuild landmark forge
GROVE CITY — A Saturday afternoon blaze turned a Grove City landmark and Mercer County tourist attraction into a blackened shell despite efforts from numerous fire departments.
Heavy smoke could be seen from miles away after a fire started in the Madison Avenue workshop of historic Wendell August Forge, which makes handcrafted metal gifts.
The call came in at 1:35 p.m., according to a Mercer County 911 dispatcher, and dozens of firefighters were still on the scene hours after the fire, while smoke continued to pour out of the building. No injuries were reported.
North Madison Avenue was completely closed off on Saturday, as were several adjacent roads. The forge parking lot was filled with people who lived nearby, and many expressed their dismay.
Robert McCandless and his son Cody said they were driving home on state Route 173 Saturday afternoon, and could see smoke from the fire nearly seven miles away.
“We were out about halfway to Sandy Lake,” Cody said.
“We could see this gray/beige smoke, and maybe seven or eight minutes after that, when we got onto Princeton Road (just a few blocks away from the forge) we started to see billows of black smoke,” McCandless said.
The two said once they got a little closer, about 2 p.m., they saw the roof of the forge, was engulfed in flames.
Will Knecht, president of the company that owns the forge -- established in 1923 in Brockway, Pa., and moved to Grove City in 1932 -- said they plan to rebuild.
Knecht was upbeat as he talked to reporters in the parking lot while firefighters worked on keeping the fire under control.
“It was a landmark,” he said, “and it will be a landmark once again.”
Knecht, describing himself as a man of faith, said he doesn’t always understand the Lord’s plan, but “He knows what He’s doing, and we will rebuild.”
He said Wendell August’s other stores will remain open.
Knecht and firefighters said something caught fire in the workshop, and flames spread through the rest of the building. Customers and employees had to be evacuated.
Grove City Fire Chief Jeff Badger was not available for comment Saturday.
“All of the equipment is pretty much gone,” said Ed Hodge of Grove City, a forge craftsman for 25 years.
Hodge said he was at his home working on his car when he heard about the fire and came to help.
“I hope we rebuild,” he said.
That sentiment was echoed by many people standing on the sidewalks around the forge, watching firefighters battle the blaze.
“It’s something you think is going to be there forever and you want your kids to see it,” said Jessica Pienkoski, who lives in Pittsburgh and was visiting the area with her husband, Craig.
Mrs. Pienkoski said she grew up in the area, and toured the forge many times.
“We came up here in the summer, and we wanted (Craig’s) parents to see it,” she said.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the forge is the only remaining company of its kind in the U.S. The Grove City forge made customized pieces made for some of the most well-known companies in the world, such as Walt Disney, Hershey and Coca-Cola, as well as ashtrays for the German airship Hindenburg.
- Local News
-
-
Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
Hermitage commissioners introduced an ordinance Wednesday to increase sanitary user fees.
Residents tapped into the Hermitage Municipal Authority lines now pay $95 a quarter. That rate will bump up to $105 a quarter on Jan. 1, under the proposed rate hike.
Two more hikes on Jan. 1, 2012, and Jan. 1, 2013, will result in the rates increasing 50 percent from the current fee. -
Water is on at Forrest Brooke
Water service has been restored at Forrest Brooke Manufactured Home Community after well problems left the 165-unit complex dry Tuesday.
A boil and conserve water advisory has been issued by the DEP and will remain in place until tests confirm the water is safe to drink, Forrest Brooke’s manager Pete Havens said.
-
Storm damages trees, wires
Thunderstorms ripped through parts of Mercer and neighboring counties Wednesday night, downing trees and wires and keeping rescue workers on their toes.
A Mercer County 911 dispatcher shortly after 8 p.m. said they were busy with calls across the northern part of the county. He said there had been a few reports of trees falling on homes.
-
City leaders open to talks
Sharon officials aren’t opposed to sitting down with their counterparts in Farrell to revisit the idea of combining the two struggling cities.
“It never costs a penny to talk and there’s no (idea) that’s not worth looking at,” Sharon councilman Ed Palanski said. “I think it would be foolish to oppose looking at the idea.”
-
Murphy’s Law doesn’t faze regional planners
A complicated, two-day public meeting blitz in 32 counties ran headlong into Murphy’s Law in Mercer County on Tuesday.
The group Power of 32 are looking to re-write the regional map and create a grand, 15-year strategic economic plan for the 32 counties in four states that make up the Ohio River basin and greater Pittsburgh area.
-
Forrest Brooke copes with water outage
Residents of Forrest Brooke Mobile Home Community in Jefferson and Lackawannock Townships woke up Tuesday morning to find they didn’t have any water.
Managers of the park could not be reached for comment, but residents said they were told they won’t get water service back for at least another month.
-
City facing bleak financial reality
LaVon Saternow has been Farrell’s city manager since 1992. Shortly after she took the job, Sharon Steel, the city’s economic engine, officially closed down.
Since, the city has struggled to remain solvent and Mrs. Saternow said it is facing its worst financial crisis in her tenure.
-
Near-complete addition to let man come home
Although the weather delayed the start of Penny and Paul Strechansky’s construction project by about three weeks, the end of the sawing, hammering and stapling is in sight.
“It should be done by the middle of next week,” Strechansky said of the 15-by-20 foot addition being built onto the back of his garage in Hermitage, which will be the new home of his grandson, David Johnson.
Johnson was critically injured in a car crash June 19, 2009, on what is now Interstate 376 in Lawrence County. The crash rendered Johnson, who just turned 21, blind and brain damaged. He is unable to care for himself.
-
Man prison-bound for role in drug buy shooting
It may never be known for certain who fired the two fatal shots that killed a Sharon teen on Nov. 6 on Wallis Avenue during a botched drug deal, prosecutors have said.
But Christopher Swogger, 24, Sharon, was fingered by at least one other suspect as the one whose bullets killed John B. Hosey III, 18, of 422 Meek St. Swogger was sentenced Monday.
Swogger was sent to prison for 1 1/2 to 3 years for having a firearm without a license, ending his role in the criminal prosecutions of the drug deal turned shooting.
-
Farrell, Sharon to revisit merger
Times are tough.
In Farrell Monday night, city council heard a grim financial report from City Manager LaVon Saternow.
“It’s not a pretty picture,” Mrs. Saternow said. “We could conceivably run out of cash by the end of the year. I don’t know how to put it more bluntly.”
- More Local News Headlines
-
Commissioners formally move to raise sewer fees
