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Canonsburg Town Park celebrates 100th birthday

7 min read
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Courtesy of Jefferson College Historical Society

Two men survey Crosbey property in Canonsburg. The property was purchased by Canonsburg borough in 1919 for $6,000 and today is part of Town Park.

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Courtesy of Jefferson Historical Society

In the pool’s heyday, motorboats sped along the water advertised as, “Swim in water you can drink ... tested every day.” A water skier holds on to the back of the boat while the crowd looks on.

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Courtesy of Jefferson Historical Society

The Lee Barrett Orchestra fills the park with the sweet sounds of music on a warm summer’s day. Live music is still one of the big draws to Canonsburg Town Park in the summertime.

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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

Louga Falls, named after former Four Townsmen and Canonsburg park board member Lou Gadani, is now flowing in Town Park. Visitors strolling along a newly paved trail can soak in the soothing sounds of natural rushing waters.

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Canonsburg’s Town Park pool as it appeared in 1952.

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Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter

“During COVID, we were one of the few pools that did stay open, with restrictions,” said Tina Bails. “We had people even from Pittsburgh come and enjoy our pool.” Lifeguards’ temperatures were checked before each shift, and they sanitized all surfaces throughout the day.

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Courtesy of Jefferson College Historical Society

Despite several letters to and editorials in the Daily Notes, which blasted Canonsburg borough for not making park improvements, in 1927, residents voted against borrowing money for Town Park. The results: 1,137 opposed, 427 in favor.

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Courtesy of Jefferson College Historical Society

A photograph of Town Park in Canonsburg appears in the Daily Notes in 1927.

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In an effort to garner support for Canonsburg borough’s Town Park, the Daily Notes featured a series of photographs of the park in fall 1927.

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Canonsburg Town Park

For generations, Canonsburg residents and Canon-McMillan students have been making memories at a 52-acre park nestled in the heart of America’s Small Town Musical Capitol.

This summer, Town Park celebrates its 100th birthday. Yes, there will be ice cream. And pool parties. And live music and competition and a myriad of other special events commemorating the park that almost wasn’t, on more than one occasion.

In April 1919, the Daily Notes, a former Canonsburg-based paper, published a piece on a proposed park in Canonsburg. The article explained that a tract of land known as “Crosbey property” was being considered for purchase by the borough to be transformed into a public green space.

The 30-acre property boasted a small stream that, the article said, might feed into a lake.

“Several years ago the matter of buying it was submitted to a vote of the people, but was defeated,” the story stated. “The war came on and the matter was not taken up again.”

The idea of a public park wasn’t entirely forgotten, though, and the article speculated, “when conditions return to normal the project of a park will again be considered.”

Considered, it was. That very year, Canonsburg Borough purchased Crosbey property for $6,000.

A decade later, a disgruntled citizen wrote the Daily Notes, complaining, “Little did those who voted for the purchase think that ten years later the land … would by lying unimproved, just as it was when purchased in 1919.”

Indeed, the property had been leased and was used as a cow pasture. For years after, similar complaints appeared in the Daily Notes. After small improvements in previous years, 1931 saw 2,000 seedling pines planted and a see-saw, swings and a slide installed at Town Park.

By the end of 1933, three kids’ wading pools, tables and benches and two tennis courts were added to the park. Things really picked up over the next few years; thanks to funding through President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Federal Emergency Relief Administration, Canonsburg was awarded money to construct a public pool. Years later, the Works Progress Administration awarded the borough $10,000 to complete the pool’s bathhouse and an additional $20,000 for general park improvements, including a new walkway and entrance landscaping.

Work on the Olympic-sized pool – which, at 100×200 meters, is the second-largest in the state – began in 1934. One year and more than 100,000 working hours later, the pool opened to borough residents with much fanfare on July 4, 1935.

Before World War II, only men served as lifeguards.

“When the war was going on … the guys were fighting the war, they had all female lifeguards,” said Tina Bails, a former Town Park lifeguard, a park advocate, and councilwoman who serves on the Parks and Recreation Board. “We’ve had diving shows, we’ve had speedboat races in the pool, we’ve had swim races. Kids … sled ride in the winter, snowboard in the winter on our hills, and it continues all spring. We have the summer events. In the fall, we have a bonfire. It’s continuous.”

In its early years, Town Park Pool regularly welcomed upwards of 1,000 visitors daily, according to historical records. The local Gibson’s Men’s Store set up shop in the park, selling and renting bathing suits, swim caps and beach balls.

Through the decades, the pool served as both leisure and spectacle. Those aforementioned boat races drew throngs of people, as did diving competitions. One summer, a horse dove from the high dive, and within the last two decades, a skydiver landed on the water.

While folks cooled off with pool entertainment, others enjoyed picnics in the park, which also hosted live performances by local musical talent. Kids monkeyed around on playgrounds while teens strolled the trails, two amusements that are even grander today, given all the park improvements made in the last ten years.

“Over the last 100 years, the Canonsburg Town Park has been a favorite for so many people. There’s not one area you can really highlight except those people who, over the last 100 years, stood out with a shovel in the ground. There are just so many people involved in it that make the park what it is today: different groups, baseball, softball, Friends of the Park, the park board,” said Mayor Dave Rhome, who, like so many others, fondly recalls spending his youth at the park (and enjoys it to this day).

Today, the park boasts lighted ballfields, fitness clusters donated by Canonsburg native and Olympian Bill Schmidt and his twin brother Bob Schmidt and Louga Falls, a beautiful waterfall set along a newly-paved pathway.

Pickleball is a popular pastime (the park’s got two courts), new pavilions dot the scenic landscape and restrooms have been added. Town Park Pool’s bathhouse is undergoing renovations to return it to the bustling entrance it was in the early days.

“We have 52 acres of land up there that has been used for so many different people of so many different ages. If you just want to take a stroll in the park, it’s yours for the enjoyment. There are just so many amenities in the park that if you can’t find something to relax and enjoy the day, the evening, shame on you,” said Rhome.

Though Town Park has been the source of year-round fun for decades, the fun hasn’t continued uninterrupted for 100 years. In the 1970s, a plot of land in Canonsburg was tested for radiation remains (Strabane was the site of uranium mining in the early 1900s). The radiation had spread to Town Park, said Bails, and the greenspace was shut down while the government cleaned up.

“When it was cleared, a group of men tried to buy the property and turn it into condominiums,” Bails said. “Dr. James Herron, from Canonsburg, who was head of the historical society, helped me find documentation to prove that … there was a proclamation that stated that this pool was started … for the betterment of the community of Canonsburg. It is to go on indefinitely, and it never has to show a profit. I brought that document to the Canonsburg council in ’84 with the help of a couple of people. We reopened it in 1985.”

That year, the borough celebrated Town Park’s 50th anniversary. This year, the celebration is even bigger to commemorate the park’s centennial.

The fun began with the 10th annual National Alliance on Mental Health walk on Memorial Day weekend. Events continue throughout the summer, including a fire department vs. police department softball tournament in June and a rib cookout in August.

Sarris Candies will serve up cool treats from an ice cream truck on certain days, and live music will fill the park with sweet sounds. Movies in the Park returns this summer, and former lifeguards and park employees will celebrate with an invite-only BBQ in July.

On June 24, Town Park will be filled with good-lookin’ classic cars during the Car Cruise, which runs from noon to 4 p.m. at the VFW Post 191 Pavilion, and on Aug. 6, it’s a “paw-ty,” as Canonsburg celebrates Pets in the Park at 10 a.m.

“Saturday, July 22, this is the big blowout weekend,” said Bails, who spearheaded the summer-long celebration. “We have a kids triathlon. There will be half-price swimming from noon to 6, with a Sarris ice cream truck down in the middle of the park. There’s going to be the jazz band from the high school on the 22nd, and the 23rd is going to be the steel band. We are also going to be highlighting, on both days, the musical talent of Canonsburg, past and present. It’ll be playing through the park.”

Mayor Dave Rhome and Senator Camera Bartolotta will read an official proclamation on July 23. Town Park’s historical marker will be revealed at 12:30 p.m., following the proclamation and non-denominational service.

“It’s our diamond in the rough,” said Rhome. “Our forefathers had the insight to put people back to work and make something fun for the community. It’s just amazing where the conversation started and some 100 years later, where we’re at.”

For the full schedule of 100th-year anniversary events or the latest park happenings, visit https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063473174008.

Thanks to Bob SeCaur of the Jefferson College Historical Society for providing research information for this piece. Any errors belong to the reporter.

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