{"id":8421,"date":"2018-02-14T23:00:21","date_gmt":"2018-02-15T04:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/?p=8421"},"modified":"2018-02-14T14:55:25","modified_gmt":"2018-02-14T19:55:25","slug":"porcelain-door-sleds-uncle-zeus-and-other-stories-of-mine-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2018\/02\/14\/porcelain-door-sleds-uncle-zeus-and-other-stories-of-mine-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Porcelain door sleds, uncle Zeus and other stories of Mine 3"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beverly Rowan remembers the winter <\/span>day when<\/span> she was a little girl and her father arrived home with a heavy porcelain door salvaged from a refrigerator we\u2019d consider an antique today but at the time was simply considered old. The door had a smooth, curved outer surface. Perfect. Beverly and her friends in the neighborhood known as Mine 3 dragged the door to the top of snow-covered Third Street, then they all piled on. Someone gave a push, and the door began moving forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

It quickly picked up speed. Third Street is steep and narrow and within moments, the makeshift sled was careening downhill, occasionally bouncing off telephone poles and other obstacles lining the street. Kids bounced out, skidded to a stop and watched as the door sped downhill without them. Finally the sled and its laughing survivors came to a halt near a set of trolley tracks at the bottom of the hill. Boys dragged the door back up Third Street. The kids of Mine 3 were ready for another run.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Beverly Rowan, left, with David Wasko and a snowman with a fondness for Iron City Beer in the winter of 1960.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mine 3 today is a patch of duplexes and wood-frame houses with mostly light-colored siding. If you\u2019re southbound on Route 88, it\u2019s on the right, just past Washington Junction. The community looked a bit different when it was built more than a century ago by the Pittsburgh Terminal Coal Co. for workers toiling in a mine (also called \u201cMine 3\u201d) located just across Route 88. Old pictures show rows of nearly identical two-story \u201ccompany\u201d houses.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mine closed in the late 1930s, but the neighborhood remained. Beverly, who grew up there in the 1950s and 60s, describes Mine 3 as a close-knit community. Everyone in the neighborhood had a nickname: Smokey, Chitty, Secka, Raggs, Punkin, Bootsie. Beverly\u2019s uncle John was Zeus.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mine 3 was populated by Slovaks, Hungarians, Poles, Italians and African Americans, Beverly recalls. Squeezed among the houses were a beauty shop and a grocery store. At the top of the hill was a social club. Old newspaper stories indicate the community at one time had a skating rink, two beer gardens and a school.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neighbors gathered for Saturday night bonfires. They roasted marshmallows and played tag. Mine 3 kids celebrated Halloween by donning costumes, going door to door and disguising their voices to trick adults. Children would not leave a house until they were properly identified by the residents.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Marla Dawson and Penny Dawson Jeans with an easter bunny on the hillside above Mine 3.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On a few occasions one of the old wood houses would catch fire. Sirens screamed out at night and flames lighted the darkness. Beverly remembers jumping out of bed and, with her parents, rushing to the scene.<\/span><\/p>\n

A massive snowstorm struck Pittsburgh in November 1950. Beverly\u2019s mother Helen Mosko was stuck on Third Street, ready to give birth to a baby girl. Men in the neighborhood placed Helen in a sled and carefully walked her down Third Street so her husband Joe could could get her to hospital. That\u2019s how Beverly\u2019s sister Susan entered the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Beverly\u2019s parents lived in Mine 3 for nearly 40 years — Joe died in 1982 and Helen moved to Castle Shannon two years later. Third Street remains, steep as ever. If you climb to its highest point, you can look down and imagine the mix of excitement and fear felt by kids prepared for a thrilling ride into the unknown nearly 60 years ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

— Steve Mellon<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Third Street in Mine 3 as it looks today. (Steve Mellon\/Post-Gazette)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For those living in a cluster of “company” houses along Route 88, life was colorful and sometimes thrilling.<\/p>\n

Look at the picturesPorcelain door sleds, uncle Zeus and other stories of Mine 3<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[1368],"tags":[960,962,1398,1052],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/Digs.Mine3Guys-1.jpg?fit=2000%2C1509&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2435,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2012\/10\/09\/sept-7-1937-here-a-coupe-owned-by-patrick\/","url_meta":{"origin":8421,"position":0},"title":"Fishing a car from the Mon","date":"October 9, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"It was a bad day for McDonough.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/10\/tumblr_mbl5agjJUt1rr5swxo1_1280.jpg?fit=1200%2C760&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7088,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2016\/12\/22\/the-day-bank-robbers-invaded-tiny-new-middlesex\/","url_meta":{"origin":8421,"position":1},"title":"The day bank inept robbers invaded tiny West Middlesex","date":"December 22, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Bandits trapped employees and customers in a vault, then disappeared.","rel":"","context":"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/20161222_WestMiddlesexBankRobbery006-1-of-1-1.jpg?fit=1200%2C952&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5529,"url":"https:\/\/newsinteractive.post-gazette.com\/thedigs\/2015\/07\/08\/stories-from-a-jane-street-slaughterhouse\/","url_meta":{"origin":8421,"position":2},"title":"Stories from a Jane Street slaughterhouse","date":"July 8, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Today, 2712 Jane St. is a parking lot. 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