Hits and Misses
Katherine Mansfield/Observer-Reporter
Today, folks simply pull out their phone, search a business and press “call” on the screen, but in the phone book’s heyday, individuals flipped through a local directory in search of businesses and their contact information.
Courtesy of the Young Preservationists Association of Pittsburgh
The historic Union Station has been part of Brownsville’s downtown for decades.
Brownsville was once a pretty vibrant place – so vibrant, in fact, that legend has it that Ray Charles worked up the R&B classic “What’d I Say” at a club there during a late-night jam session. But, for years now, large parts of the Fayette County borough have been an eerie, boarded-up ghost town, its glory days an increasingly distant memory. However, a grassroots organization is seeking to inject new life into the community. Forming out of a Facebook discussion group, about 30 people showed up for an in-person meeting in November, and it’s drawn the attention of Fayette County’s commissioners and state Rep. Ryan Warner. Revitalizing a community like Brownsville is not an easy process, but community involvement is an essential part of that endeavor. Those interested in the group can contact Northsidecommunitydiscussion@gmail.com.
A story by Karen Mansfield that appeared in last weekend’s Observer-Reporter and Herald-Standard pointed out that the telephone book’s days are numbered. Once a necessity in any household, the White Pages and the Yellow Pages have been replaced by iPhones, where you can look up numbers for businesses and residences anywhere in the world in seconds. Brian Jeffers of the Hickory Telephone Co., told Mansfield that requests for White Pages phone books has dwindled to fewer than 10 every year. “People have other options to look up numbers. Requests for physical phone books have shrunk to almost nothing,” he said. The demise of the phone book may be inevitable, but it doesn’t mean something won’t be lost along the way. The Library of Congress has digitized thousands upon thousands of pages from phone books from around the country, and decades-old phone books are also part of other library collections in both physical or digital forms. They provide a fascinating glimpse of how we once lived. What will replace that once the last phone book has been printed?
In a hectic life packed with accomplishment, Joe Hardy fulfilled one final goal before he died last Saturday – he made it to 100. In a statement released by his family following his death on his 100th birthday, they said, “Joe proved that nothing is impossible by willing himself to his 100th birthday.” In a life that began in Upper St. Clair in 1923, Hardy became one of the country’s wealthiest people following the success of 84 Lumber. He also founded Nemacolin Woodlands Resort, was active in philanthropy and served on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners. Given the reach of 84 Lumber, Hardy had a hand in building thousands of homes in this region and across the country. That, by itself, is quite a legacy to leave behind.