Northwest PA

Out with the old; make way for the new. That was the theme for many years here in Erie County, Pennsylvania, as time-honored buildings were torn down and replaced with contemporary structures.  The 12-story, 1913 Lawrence Hotel, in front of which John F. Kennedy once spoke, fell in 1968 for a stark, angular structure that has…

What was it like in Erie, Pennsylvania, during the 1918 pandemic (Spanish Flu, H1N1 virus, influenza)? Well, now that we can browse the Erie Daily Times online from the late 1800s to present, we can get a pretty good idea. Accessed through NewsBank and the Erie County Public Library, nearly 40 newspaper articles referencing influenza from late…

It was a sight my dad never forgot, but he didn’t share the experience with me until a few months before he died. It was a memory of a sultry September day in 1955, when he was the first person on the scene of a plane crash in southwest Millcreek, a suburb of Erie, PA.…

Last weekend, out-of-town relatives were visiting and wanted to go to the beach while they were here. It’s always interesting for us to see our Presque Isle State Park in northwestern Pennsylvania through fresh eyes. We grew up with the lake and beaches and often take them for granted. The older we get, though, the…

Recently, I visited the Heritage Room at Blasco Library and came across some interesting information that had nothing at all to do with why I was there. But such is the way of research. You often find treasures you weren’t looking for, and as long as you don’t get carried away with your detours, it’s just fine to…

Although William Edward Dimorier was born in New York, he lived for more than 40 years in Erie, Pennsylvania. In August 1906, William, a graduate of Colgate University, was hired as head of the English Department at Erie High, also known as Central. He served in many capacities during his career, such as athletics advisor,…

In 1914, William Dimorier, a high school teacher from Erie, PA, received national recognition for a project he had initiated at Erie High called “Newspaper Week.” While Dimorier was not the originator of such a concept, his project was the seed for Erie’s long-running NIE (Newspapers in Education) program. The Monroe News-Star, in Monroe, Louisiana, ran the following story…

Presque Isle State Park, in northwestern Pennsylvania, provides quiet refuge for clearing one’s head and connecting with nature. The trails that wind throughout this Lake Erie peninsula offer many opportunities for such soothing sojourns. William E. Dimorier (1871-1951) educator and servant leader, spent many idle hours at Presque Isle. In April of 1941, retired from the…

Can you imagine a 21st century school district and community raising $176,000 for a single musical instrument? Can you fathom that the equivalent of that figure was raised in Erie, PA, for a pipe organ in the midst of the Great Depression? In these days of STEM obsession, it’s important to remember that the arts were…

Yesterday, after dinner with out-of-town guests, we visited the popular Presque Isle bayfront in downtown Erie, PA. Our guests hadn’t been here since Christmas, so we decided to show them the new Courtyard Erie Bayfront hotel, which is opening this week. When we parked in the convention-center lot next-door, we noticed people walking in and out of the…