Seeking names of jacket-wearing women; bridge location verified
This group of six women posed for a photograph about 30 years ago, the best we can figure. The hair and clothing styles (and those white sneakers) are remindful of the mid-1980s.
The women in this week’s Mystery Photo are wearing identical jackets … and smiles. There must be a reason for that, and we hope Observer-Reporter readers might know what that was and who the women are.
The black-and-white print was found in a box of unidentified photos in the newspaper’s Waynesburg office. The only writing on the back of the print is a number that indicates it may have been published, but when is a mystery.
If you think you know who the people are or where, when or why they were photographed, email Park Burroughs, retired executive editor, at pburroughs@observer-reporter.com, or call and leave a message for him along with your telephone number at 724-222-2200, extension 2400. With a little help from our readers, we may be able to solve this puzzle and publish our findings next Monday.
We couldn’t be certain if the bridge in last week’s Mystery Photo crossed railroad tracks at Johnson Road in Mount Pleasant Township or at Hahn Road in North Strabane Township. As it turns out, neither location was correct.
We heard from railroad historian Gene Schaeffer that the bridge was actually along Church Hill Road in Peters Township, near the Bethel Park line and about a mile from Route 88. The wooden bridge was replaced with a concrete one around 1970, according to Schaeffer, and now crosses over the Montour Trail. Proof is positive: the same photo appeared in Schaeffer’s 2008 pictorial book, “The Montour Railroad.”
Apparently, the version published in the newspaper was from a negative that was reversed. Flip it horizontally and the topography matches the Peters Township location exactly. We verified this with a cruise down Church Hill Road on Google Earth’s Street View.