Villa Maria Academy Circa 1903

The old Villa Maria Elementary School was built around 1892 on the southwest corner of 8th and Liberty in Erie, PA. The photo above was taken around 1903, before the houses were constructed on the north side of West 8th St. When Villa opened it had 85 students. Villa Maria Academy moved to a different location on West 8th in 1953. Villa Maria Elementary followed, moving to 2551 West 8th St. in 1993. The institutions are run by the Sisters of St. Joseph.

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Who Dumped Raw Sewage Into the Bay?

Old Time Erie City Sewer Outlets.

I did a double take when I saw this page in the 1902 Erie city directory. Take a close look at the highlighted area and you'll see why. This chart shows the length of the sewers emptying into the bay. Raw sewage was dumped into creeks which flowed directly into the bay, polluting Lake Erie. Yuck! Forget about the Good Old Days. These were the Not So Good Old Days.

Fifty-six miles of streams and creeks carried raw sewage and storm runoff into the bay. The outlets included Little Cascade Run; the Canal sewer; Peach, French and Holland Streets; Mill Creek, Garrison Run and Light House Run. After reading this, I don't think I'll complain about paying my sewer bill anymore. In fact, I'd like to take a moment to thank the workers at the City of Erie Bureau of Sewers and the Erie Wastewater Treatment Plant for a job well done.

In the early 1900s, creeks and streams ran wild throughout the city. Now, most of them run through concrete tubes under the streets and sidewalks, marked only by blue rectangular signs marked with their names. Cascade Creek, one of the exceptions, runs freely through Frontier Park on Erie's westside. Mill Creek is visible near the Erie Zoo and along Glenwood Park Avenue south of Norman Way. To learn more about positive ways to interact with the environment, check out GreenERie.

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Dahlkemper's Christmas Wish List

Dear Santa,
I have been a good girl this year. Well, most of the year. Please bring me these items from the Dahlkemper's Christmas catalog. I will leave cookies for you if my sister does not eat them all.
Thank you,
Debbi

1) Yamaha keyboard (I hope this is the one that makes the lion noise)
2) Yamaha drum machine so I can bang on the drum all day
3) Uniden Bearcat Scanner. I can listen to the police calls
4) Cobra 40 channel mobile CB radio to call the truckers on I-90 and I-79
5) JVC 4 head VCR. I can record my favorite music videos on MTV
6) JVC 31" remote color TV. So I don't have to get up and change the channels
7) Sony color watchman. I wonder what TV channels I will be able to watch
8) Symphonic 13" color TV/VCR combo. I bet this will last forever!

P.S. I found all these items in the Dahlkemper's Christmas 1991 catalog!
P.S.S. I would also like a few rolls of Kodak Gold 35mm color film

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Pennsylvania's $1 Minimum Wage Law

Ahhh....the good old days. Remember when gas was 19 cents a gallon? Or when the minimum wage was raised to $1?

On January 1, 1962, Pennsylvania raised the minimum wage for men, women and minors to $1 per hour. There were a few exceptions:

Learners made 85 cents an hour.
Employers could deduct 35 cents per hour if the employee got tips at least 75% of the working day which totaled at least 35 cents per hour. There was no such thing as a free meal; if the boss fed you on the job, he could deduct 50 cents per meal. If you received lodging from your employer, he could deduct $5 a week from your pay.

The new law replaced the 1937 Minimum Wage Law, which was on the books for 25 years.

How much did you make per hour at your first job? Click here to leave a comment. 

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