Latrobe Main Street 300 block looking west in 1907. A sign on the left promises the coming of the Cole Bros. 3-ring circus and menagerie. On the right is the P.H. Saxman home where the author of this story grew up in the 1890's and early 1900's.
Growing Up On Main Street of Yesteryear
The picture titled LATROBE OF YESTERYEAR on page one of the Latrobe Bulletin of the issue of January 30, 1974, brought many memories to me, since I grew up in the brick house at the right of the picture (348 Main). That house had in it the first built-in bathtub in Latrobe. It was copper lined. Before the installation of central heating, indoor plumbing, electricity, etc., there was no energy crisis in those days. The home was heated by the kitchen stove, an upstairs anthracite coal burning stove, and fireplaces in all other rooms. In front of the grate, was a fender on which apples and chestnuts could be roasted. At the side of the fireplace was a bucket of soft coal, a brass-headed poker and shovel. The shovel was used to remove the ashes from under the grate.
Needed lighting was provided with kerosene oil lamps which could be carried from room to room.
Note: The author of this article was Ethel J. Saxman who grew up in the house at 348 Main Street. Born in 1890 to Peter H. Saxman and Lucetta May Hellings, she is a fifth generation descendant of pioneer Christian Sachsmann who emigrated at the port in Philadelphia from Wurttemberg, Germany in 1764 and settled on a land grant near what is now Saxman Run just north of Latrobe. He built a pioneer cabin and operated a flour mill on Loyalhanna Creek near the mouth of Saxman Run.
Download the full story of the article from the Spring 1998 Gazette here