( Click the arrow in the buttons below for pronunciation. )
Donora
is
a borough that was incorporated in 1901, in
Washington County, Pennsylvania, about 34
miles (55 km) south of Pittsburgh on the
Monongahela River.
Sources:
landsat.com
Wikipedia
worldmapsonline.com
~ History ~
The
history of the area dates back to 1814 when
Charles DeHaas established a settlement by
the name of "Pittsborough". This name later
changed to "Columbia", and then to "West
Columbia". In the summer of 1815, twenty
houses were built, but that seems to have
been the limit of the town. A post office
was established in June, 1819, after which
the prosperity of the place seems to have
waned, and the dreams of Charles DeHaas of
establishing a county seat for a river
county were dissipated. In 1794, 1 mile (1.6
km) east of Donora, the Whiskey
Insurrectionists held several meetings at
Fells Church.
For
the next few decades, lots were sold for
very small sums. In May, 1899, the Union
Improvement Company (pictured) purchased 152
acres from Bert W. Castner; seventy from the
Robert Heslep heirs, 130 from Bradford
Allen, and thirty from Alexander &
Company.
The next year, this company laid out Donora,
and when the lot sale was opened on 30
August 1900, there was a rush of people to
the new town sites. On the day of this sale,
there were only four houses on the site of
the town with twelve persons residing
therein. Three years later there were 1,000
buildings and 6,000 people.
The present town of Donora was incorporated
in 1901 and J. N. Mullin was elected the
first burgess. The community name, Donora,
was derived from a combination of two
names—businessman William Donner's
name and Nora , the banker
Andrew Mellon's wife. A trolley line opened
in Donora on 15 December 1901, linking First
and McKean and Fifteenth Street and Meldon.
It was extended in 1911 to Black Diamond to
connect to the Charleroi to Pittsburgh
inter-urban trolley. The line was abandoned
on May 5, 1953. In May, 1903, the village of
West Columbia incorporated as a part of
Donora.
Donora owes
its growth to its industrial development. On
29 May 1900, the Union Steel Company broke
ground, and became one of the largest plants
of the kind in the United States. It
occupied 300 acres along the river front,
next owned by the United States Steel
Corporation as the American Steel & Wire
Company (pictured). By 1910, the population
of Donora was 8,174. When new workers
arrived and purchased properties, property
values advanced to unbelievable heights, for
example, two lots sold in the early 1800s
for $500 were sold on 27 August 1915, to the
Union Steel Company by Mrs. Rebecca Boyd for
$10,000.
Early in Donora's history, agriculture,
coal-mining, steel-making, wire-making, etc.
prevailed and there was a surge of
immigrants to fill available jobs in the
factories. By 1920, the population was
14,131 and by 1940, 13,180.
By 1919, Donora had
exceptional religious and social advantages
with a large church representation and a
synagogue. In addition, it had excellent
public library, three theaters and six
hotels. Its school system was one of the
best with over 2,500 children in the
schools—under the direction of 60 teachers.
Donora had two first class newspapers, three
banks and over 250 merchants supplying the
needs of the buying public. There was over
40 societies to supply the yearning for
social and fraternal interaction. Whenever
one finds that sort of atmosphere, one is
sure to find the right sort of a community
in which to settle down.
In recent years, Donora was in a class of
Western Pennsylvania towns and cities known
collectively as the "Rust Belt," because of
the demise of the once prolific steel
industry. Donora, and other Mon Valley (Mon
short for Monongahela) communities that have
seen an economic re-emergence as a result of
the increased economic activity in the area,
primarily because of the newly emerging
Marcellus Shale natural gas industry. In
2000, the population was 5,653.
The town continues to be a center for
industry and manufacturing. On the site of
the former steel mills now stands a large
industrial park that is managed by MMIDA
(Mid Mon Valley Industrial Development
Authority). Major companies that have
facilities in the Donora Industrial Park
include: A-1 Babbit company, Apex N.A., Area
Agency on Aging, Bergen Power Pipe Supports,
BMA of Donora, HYTEC Inc., Dyno-Nobel Inc,
Eastern Alloy, Eastern Hydraulic &
Machine, Elizabeth Milling Corporation,
Elliott Support Services, Glosser MFG,
Industrial Nonferrous Casting Company, K-Z
Tool Company, LaRoche Industries, McGrew
Welding Fabrication, Metalife Resources,
MIDA Inc., Mon Valley Child Care, Mon Valley
Sewage Authority, Monessen Ambulance
Service, Nitrous Oxide Corporation, Power
& Industrial Supply, Nichols Miniatures,
Pittsburgh Post Gazette Distribution Center,
RAS Industries Inc., Regal Industries
Inc.and Spartech Polycom.
Local government leaders hope that the
natural gas boom will renew the prosperity
that was once a trademark of the Mon Valley
region. The Chamber of Commerce and a
Renaissance organization are active studying
ways to improve the town and environs. One
constant has always been the resilience
Donora's citizens.
~ 1948 Donora Smog ~
The
famous October 1948 Donora smog was a
historic air inversion of killer smog,
comprised of sulfuric acid, nitrogen
dioxide, hydrogen fluoride and other
poisonous emissions from U.S. Steel's Donora
Zinc Works and its American Steel & Wire
plant.
The fog started building up in Donora on 26
October 1948 and by the following day, it
was causing coughing and other signs of
respiratory distress for many residents of
the community in the Monongahela River
valley. Many of the illnesses and deaths
were initially attributed to asthma.
The smog continued until it rained on 31
October, by which time 20 residents of
Donora had died, they were: Ivan CEH - Age:
70; Mrs. Barbara CHINCHAR - Age: 58; Taylor
G. CIRCLE - Age: 82; John CUNNINGHAM - Age:
63; Bernardo DI SANZI - Age: 67; Michael
DORONE - Age: 70; William GARDNER - Age: 63;
Mrs. Susan GNORA - Age: 62; Neilson HILL -
Age: 52; Emma HOBBS - Age: 55; Ignatz
HOLLOWITI - Age: 64; Jeannie KIRKWOOD - Age:
70; Marcel KRASKA - Age: 67; Andrew ODELGA -
Age: 69; Mrs. Ida ORR - Age: 55; Gustine
POLCHAK - Age: 60; Peter STARKOVICH - Age:
67; Perry STEVENS - Age: 55, and Sowka
TRUBALIS - Age: 66?.
Approximately a third to
one half of the town's population of 14,000
residents had been sickened. Another 50
residents died of respiratory causes within
a month after the incident. Even ten years
after the incident, mortality rates in
Donora were significantly higher than those
in other communities nearby. Sixty years
later, the incident was described by The New
York Times as "one of the worst air
pollution disasters in the nation's
history".
The
event is often credited for helping to
trigger the clean-air movement in the United
States, whose crowning achievement was the
Clean Air Act of 1970, which required the
United States Environmental Protection
Agency to develop and enforce regulations to
protect the general public from exposure to
hazardous airborne contaminants.
Furthermore, the incident started the slow
death of Donora that continues to this day.
Donora's business district is empty, and
full of crumbling and decayed buildings.
U.S. Steel closed both plants by 1966.
Today, Donora has about 5,653 inhabitants
(2000) and is currently trying to revitalize
itself. It is home to the Donora Smog Museum
which tells the impact of the Donora Smog on
the air quality standards enacted by the
federal government in subsequent years. The
Chamber of Commerce are active and a
Renaissance organization is studying ways to
improve the town and environs.
Donora
is also listed on the National Register of
Historic Places for its famous neighborhood
known as "Cement City," built using a
technique championed by Thomas Edison.
The Edison home building technique was to
build a house completely out of pre-formed
and poured concrete. This method was used
elsewhere throughout the United States. The
homes were built as employee housing for
employees of the Wire and Steel Mill in the
early 1900s.
In two years—1916 and
1917—to meet the housing famine faced by the
influx of mill workers, 100 Prairie style
units (a total of 80 buildings) were
constructed almost entirely of
poured-in-place concrete.
"Cement City" is significant for industry,
and community planning and development as an
intact example of large scale, early
twentieth-century, western Pennsylvania
company housing. It is also significant for
architecture as an example of innovative
design to mass produce affordable, sturdy,
sanitary, fireproof housing. The name
"Cement City" is actually a misnomer—neither
cement or a city—the houses are actually
built of concrete.
Concrete as a building material has been in
existence for centuries, however, it was the
invention of Portland cement that made it a
desirable building material with superior
strength and durability.
This cohesive and compact group of two-story
houses is located on a sloping 8.8 acre
parcel one-half mile southwest of, and
overlooking, the central business district
of Donora.
~ Thomas Edison's
Building Concept ~
3:10
[minutes:seconds].
Source:
YouTube - Heinz History Center HCAP Videos
Above Sources (portions):
A History of Washington County, PA
By: E. R. Forrest (1926)
advrider.com
archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com
calu.edu
citytowninfo.com
diopitt.org
Donora Historical Society & Smog
Museum
donorasmog.com
hmdb.org
Heinz History Center HCAP Videos
history.rays-place.com
landsat.com
livingplaces.com
NOAA Oceanservice Education
pabook.libraries.psu.edu
Wikimedia Commons
Wikipedia
YouTube - British Pathé
YouTube - corinneSINCEsoli
YouTube - Heinz History Center HCAP
Videos
~ Early Jewish
Settlers ~
From all
of the records available, a man by the name
of ALTMAN came to Donora in 1901 and he was
the first Jewish person to make his home
here. It did not take long before a few
others followed and as the community
increased in size, a movement was undertaken
to organize a congregation and in 1904, the
Congregation Ohav Sholom came into
existence.
It is noteworthy that a handful of Jewish
people made quite a contribution to the
community, even though they were in the
minority. They were able to make their power
felt through the mind and education, which
has always been their forte, but also this
combination made other groups successful in
Donora society at large. In every phase of
activity in which our coreligionists have
engaged, whether Jewish or non-Jewish,
whether in business or civic life, that
direction was more than a credible one to
our brethren in the Mon Valley region.
People and their faith, maintain the
excellent records as citizens of the United
States of America.
By 1919, there were 300 Jews living in
Donora. Only a few Jews live in Donora today
(2015).
Following are a few
notable citizens born in Donora:
Dr.
Dorval Carter (b. Donora, 1935), was a
compassionate and dedicated physician, he
never stopped thinking about the patients in
his care. He attended Howard University in
Washington, D.C., to continue to pursue
music, but early on understood life as a
musician would be difficult, so he switched
his major to chemistry. In 1956, after
graduating Phi Beta Kappa in chemistry from
Howard, he was sent to Fort Sam Houston as
part of the Army Medical Service Corps. Upon
completing military service, he returned to
Howard and received his medical degree in
1962. He moved to Chicago where he started
residency at Cook County Hospital—his
practice and his reputation, being a skilled
and caring physician grew—dedicated to
improving quality of care for women. He
worked at Cabrini Hospital as chairman of
the obstetrics and gynecology department
from 1976 - 1996, then joined St. Anthony
Hospital in a similar capacity. He also
taught at Northwestern University's College
of Medicine. In 1990, he was appointed by
Mayor Richard M. Daley to serve as the
commissioner and officer of the Illinois
Medical District. As a tribute to the
doctor's work, St. Anthony's maternity
center was renamed the Dr. Dorval and Vivian
Carter Family Birthing Center. He also
became the first recipient of the lifetime
achievement award at St. Anthony's. Dr.
Dorval Carter died in 24 February 2007 at
age 72.
Devra
Davis, Ph.D., M.P.H. (b. Donora, 7
June 1946), is internationally known for
work on disease prevention and environmental
health factors, a President Clinton
appointee to the Chemical Safety and Hazard
Investigation Board from 1994-1999. She was
Founding Director of the Center for
Environmental Oncology, the first of its
kind in the world, and presently acts as
President of Environmental Health Trust,
focusing on man-made health threats. She
lectures at American and European
universities and her research has been
covered in major scientific publications as
well as on major media outlets like CNN,
CSPAN, CBC, BBC, and public radio. Her
attention is focused on the health hazards
of exposures to man-made sources of
electromagnetic radiation, especially those
from wireless devices such as cell phones,
iPads and antennas and cell towers powering
these devices—all emitting
radio-frequency/microwave radiation. Her
career has spanned all areas of academia,
public policy, and scientific research. As
Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary
for Health in the Department of Health and
Human Services, she counseled leading
officials of the USA, United Nations,
European Environment Agency, Pan American
Health Organization, World Health
Organization, and World Bank.
Florence
"Flo" E. Dunyak (Gwyer-Gantt) (b.
Donora, 1940), was Special Assistant to the
President for National Security Affairs in
the NSC—for 30 years—under seven Presidents:
Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter,
Ronald Reagan and Bush. In 1963, she
accepted a position with the National
Security Council (NSC) at the White House as
advisor, reporting to President—John F.
Kennedy, then later, to Lyndon B. Johnson.
By 1968, she was working in the White House
Situation Room. Next, she reported to
Richard M. Nixon as secretary to Henry
Kissinger. She travelled many times on Air
Force One, to 58 countries, 25 states, two
U.S. territories and worked at the
Presidential retreats. She personally met
many Heads of State, Presidents, Prime
Ministers, Princes and a King—to name a few:
Mikhail Gorbachev, Margaret Thatcher, King
Fahd, HRH Prince Bandar and Premier Deng
Xiaoping. With President Bush, she had an
audience with Pope John Paul II and also met
Mother Theresa. After 30 years of service,
she retired from in 1993 and was presented
with a medal for "Special Award for
Exceptional Service" by President Bush.
Josephine Antoinette
Estill (b. Donora, 25 April 1921),
known as "Jo Estill", was a singer, singing
voice specialist and voice researcher.
Estill is best known for her research and
the development of Estill Voice Training, a
program for developing vocal skills based on
deconstructing the process of vocal
production into control of specific
structures in the vocal mechanism. She sang
professionally on the radio in Pittsburgh
from 1939-1940, and 1940-1947 in Hollywood.
After marrying, she toured Europe in 1953.
In 1969, she received a BA in Liberal Arts
from Colorado College, and in 1971, she
received an MA in Music Education from Case
Western Reserve University. From 1972-1979,
she was appointed Instructor in Voice in the
Department of Otolaryngology, at the Upstate
NY Medical Center. Between 1980 and 1984, Jo
enrolled in the City University of New York
PhD graduate in Speech and Hearing. She
completed all of her PhD course work, but
did not submit her dissertation. In 1991,
she founded the "Estill Voice Training
Systems." On 10 September 2004, Estill was
awarded an Honorary Doctorate, Doctor of
Letters (LittD), from the University of East
Anglia. She died on 9 December 2010.
Arnold
A. Galiffa (b. Donora, 29 January
1927), was a quarterback for the National
Football League and Canadian Football
League.
He won 11 varsity letters at West Point and
served with distinction as an officer in the
Korean War.
He was a former Army All-America quarterback
and one of the most celebrated athletes in
West Point history.
He was drafted into the National Football
League (NFL) in 1950, Round 18 and Pick 225.
He played in the NFL for the New York Giants
(1953) and the San Francisco 49ers (1954).
He then played in the Canadian Football
League for the BC Lions (1955), then for the
Toronto Argonauts (1956). He died on 5
September 1978.
George
Kenneth "Ken" Griffey, Jr. (b. 21
November 1969), nicknamed "Junior" and "The
Kid", is a former professional baseball
outfielder who played 22 years in Major
League Baseball (MLB) for three teams
(1989-2010). He is the son of former MLB
player Ken Griffey, Sr. He spent most of his
career with the Seattle Mariners and
Cincinnati Reds and a short stint with the
Chicago White Sox. A 13-time All-Star, he
was one of the most prolific home run
hitters in baseball history. His 630 home
runs rank as the sixth-most in MLB history.
Griffey was also an exceptional defender and
won 10 Gold Glove Awards in center field. He
is tied with the record for most consecutive
games with a home run (8 games).
Griffey is one of only 29 players in
baseball history to date to have appeared in
Major League games in four different
calendar decades. In 2013, he became the
seventh person inducted into the Mariners'
Hall of Fame.
Kenneth
"Ken" Griffey Sr. (b. Donora; 10 April
1950), is a former professional baseball
outfielder who was a member of the famed Big
Red Machine. He is the father of former
professional outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr.
Griffey joined the Cincinnati Reds 25 August
1973, playing in only 25 games, but batted
.384, with three homers. The next season, 88
games. In 1975, he had a .305 batting
average, four home runs and 46 RBIs. In
1976, he came just short of winning the
batting title. He finished with a career
high .336 and was a member of the Reds
wining their second World Series title, in
1976. He also played for the New York
Yankees, Atlanta Braves and the Seattle
Mariners. He didn't play in the 1990 World
Series, but he got a ring anyway. When he
retired after 19 seasons (1,997 games), he
compiled a lifetime batting average of .296,
with 152 home runs and 859 RBI. He was also
the Most Valuable Player of the 1980
All-Star Game. In 2004, Griffey was inducted
into the Cincinnati Reds Hall of Fame.
Manuel
L. Ibanez, Ph.D. (b. Donora), was a
teacher of biology and biochemistry at
universities such as Bucknell, UCLA, LSU and
University of New Orleans. In 1989, Dr.
Ibanez became President at Texas A&M
University and served in that capacity until
1998, when he retired. Through the United
Nations, Dr. Ibanez taught the use of
radioisotopes in agriculture throughout
Central and South America. He also
participated in a National Science
Foundation expedition on the Amazon River
discovering a new type of beetle that was
named in his honor. In 1994, Dr. Ibanez was
appointed by President Bill Clinton as a
regent at the Smithsonian Institute (in the
photo, Dr. Ibanez holds an antique
phonograph). Dr. Ibanez is also a member of
the Texas-Israel Exchange Board, the U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Joint Council on
Food and Agricultural Sciences and the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Dr.
Ibanez still teaches at the local community
college where he lives in Corpus Christi,
Texas.
Stanley
Frank "Stan" Musial (b. Donora, 21
November 1920 as Stanisław Franciszek
Musiał), was a professional baseball player
and Navy veteran of World War II. "Stan"
Musial was a Major League Baseball (MLB)
outfielder and first baseman on the St.
Louis Cardinals for 22 seasons, from 1941
through 1963. Nicknamed "Stan the Man", he
is widely considered to be one of the
greatest hitters in baseball history. He
compiled 3,630 career hits, ranking fourth
all-time and first in a career spent with
only one team. With 1,815 hits at home and
1,815 on the road, he also is considered to
be the most consistent hitter of his era. He
hit 475 home runs during his career, was
named the National League's Most Valuable
Player (MVP) three times, and won three
World Series championship titles.
He shares the MLB record for the most
All-Star Games played (24) with Hank Aaron
and Willie Mays. Musial was a first-ballot
inductee into the Baseball Hall of Fame in
1969 and also selected to the St. Louis
Cardinals Hall of Fame—in the inaugural
class of 2015. He died on 19 January 2013.
Brig.
Gen. William C. Jones, USAF (b.
Donora), was appointed to the U. S. Air
Force Academy in 1960 and received his
commission as a second lieutenant in 1964.
While at the academy, he continued in track
and lettered four years and was the team
captain his senior year. He trained as a
fighter pilot 1964 - 1967 and was promoted
to 1st Lt. After F-105 training, he was
assigned to the 333rd Tactical Fighter
Squadron, Takhli, Thailand, where he flew
189 combat missions, 123 over North Vietnam.
After Vietnam, Lt. Jones returned stateside
to various bases and rose through the ranks:
Captain (1971), Major (1976), Lt. Colonel
(1982), Colonel (1992) and Brigadier General
(1998). He retired in 2001 as the Assistant
Adjutant General for Air at the Virginia Air
National Guard Headquarters. He is a command
pilot with over 6,000 flying hours in the
T-33, T-37, T-38, F-102, F-105, F-106, A-7,
C-26 and F-16 aircraft, including over 562
combat hours. He numerous major awards and
decorations including the Distinguished
Flying Dross, Bronze Star and Vietnam
Service Medal. After retirement, he was a
corporate pilot, a high school track coach,
participates in a community band and
returned to Donora in 2011 to serve as the
Grand Marshal of the Monongahela Valley
Veteran's Day parade.
"Deacon"
Dan Towler (b. Donora, 6 March
1928), was a National Football League (NFL)
running back for the Los Angeles Rams 1950 -
1955 and was the NFL leading rusher in 1952.
He graduated from Washington & Jefferson
College. The football statistics website
Cold, Hard Football Facts calls Towler "the
greatest running back you don't know," and
"a bright, shining star who lit up the NFL
for an oh-so-brief, but spectacular,
three-year period unlike any before or
since. For a three-year period in the early
1950s, Towler was the closest thing the NFL
has ever produced to an unstoppable ball
carrier. Over the three seasons 1951 - 1953,
he had 434 attempts for 2,627 yards, 6.05
YPA, and 23 touchdowns...incredible
statistics, especially back in the
12-game-season era."
After retiring from football, Towler was
named pastor of the Lincoln Avenue Methodist
Church in Pasadena, California; he was also
a chaplain at California State University at
Los Angeles and president of the Los Angeles
County Board of Education. He died on 1
August 2001 at age 73.
Judge
Reggie Barnett Walton (b. Donora, 8
February 1949), is a federal judge appointed
by George H. W. Bush on the United States
District Court for the District of Columbia.
He was the presiding judge of the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Court until 20 May
2015. With a football scholarship, he
received his Bachelor of Arts degree from
West Virginia State University in 1971, then
a law degree from The American University,
Washington College of Law, in 1974. Judge
Walton is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha
fraternity.
Walton was an Associate Judge of the
Superior Court of the District of Columbia
1981-1989 and 1991-2001. He was associate
director of the Office of National Drug
Control Policy. In 2001, he was nominated to
the federal bench by President George W.
Bush and confirmed. In 2004, President Bush
appointed him to chair the National Prison
Rape Elimination Commission. In May 2007,
Chief Justice of the United States John G.
Roberts Jr. appointed him to a seat on the
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court—his
term ended May 18, 2015.
Sources
(portions):
Dr. Dorval Carter - Donora
Historical Society
Devra Davis - heartmdinstitute.com
Florence "Flo" E. Dunyak - Donora
Historical Society
Josephine Antoinette Estill -
Wikipedia
Arnold Galiffa - Wikipedia
Ken Griffey - thebaseballpage.com
Ken Griffey Jr. - Wikipedia
Manuel L. Ibanez, Ph.D. - Donora
Historical Society
Brig. Gen. William C. Jones, USAF -
Donora Historical Society
Stan Musial - post-gazette.com
"Deacon" Dan Towler - Donora
Historical Society
Judge Reggie B. Walton - Washington
Post/Wikipedia
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