As college and university classes began for the fall semester, the scenes weren't changed much from a century or more ago -- but student lifestyle, discipline and even frivolity has. Drugs and alcohol are among the problems, but booze was a problem in the past as well.
On one occasion at Waynesburg College in the late 1800s, 11 male students went to Masontown and indulged in "drinking beer and other liquors." When brought before the college faculty for it, they acknowledged their offenses and were allowed to remain students on condition that they sign a pledge of total abstinence.
Faculty records at Penn State at that time showed such offenses as "being drunk in Bellefonte." But other offenses included leaving the campus without permission, stomping feet and keeping time in chapel, hazing freshmen, smearing stairway bannisters at public meetings with molasses, throwing water from windows on persons walking below, fighting and carousing.
Poker playing was a concern for the Presbyterian minister who was president of West Virginia University in the 1890s. When he ventured into a room unannounced and such activity was taking place, five suspensions resulted.
Regulations at Waynesburg required that a young man who wanted to date one of the college's female students had to apply in detail to the president. If permission was granted, their visit was chaperoned.
A Penn State freshman fearing the usual hazing and "molasses and sawdust treatment" from upperclassmen fled the campus and barricaded himself in a town lodging house. The sophomores wheeled out a Civil War cannon on campus, filled it with vegetables from nearby gardens, and fired it.
Nearly all the houses and windows were broken before authorities arrived and lifted the "siege."
A state legislative appropriations committee arrived at Penn Sate one day in a well-stocked private car. While its inspection was taking place, an element of the student body raided the car.
Overpowering the cook and porter aboard, they raided the icebox and made off with what they could not eat or drink on the spot.
Of course, events such as these also took place at Pitt, California University of Pennsylvania, Washington & Jefferson, and other schools as well.
Sod was fired from a cannon through the president's office window. ... Students were cited for visiting billiard and pool rooms. ... Pranksters threw odorous concoctions into classrooms ... upper classes wouldn't let freshmen take a photograph. ... Male students weren't allowed to walk or ride with students of the opposite sex ... all kinds of activities went on despite strict faculty regulations at schools a century or so in the past.
Times have changed.
Indiana opened in 1875
Student life wasn't the only thing that changed, as Indiana Normal's first catalog set forth in 1875.
"Each room is furnished with a closet, table, chairs, dressing bureau, bedstead, bed, bedding and all necessary crockery. Students furnish their own brooms, towels and napkins. Regular charges -- tuition and boarding, including light, heat and washing -- for the spring term, $70."
This worked out to a total of $5 a week, or less for those preparing to teach.
One of the school's famous early graduates was author Agnes Sligh Turnbull, of New Alexandria, valedictorian of the class of 1910. She wrote in a recollection:
"Oh, the dear old Indiana Normal days! I roomed on the third floor of John Sutton Hall. Our furnishings consisted of a large double bed, a wash stand with pitcher, bowl, etc., each weighing a ton. One odd thing was that the room was always so warm that we kept the lower half of the great tall windows raised through the winter days."
This date in history
Ohiopyle was incorporated as a borough, Sept. 7, 1891, at its prime as a resort community along the railroad.
Another borough that celebrates its anniversary today is Liberty, in Allegheny County, which dates to 1912.
Liberty was created from Port Vue Township, and Ohiopyle from Stewart Township. A second date, in 1892, has been cited in some sources for Ohiopyle's incorporation.
Greensburg took a major step in park and recreation development in 1931, when city council voted to accept the Mt. Odin property.
The Civic Arena (now Mellon Arena) in Pittsburgh, now labeled as "old" and "obsolete," has been in the news since 1961, when it opened to the public on this date.
There were significant events noted the rest of the week, as well. On Sept. 9, for example, the 1905 Fairchance powder mill explosion, described in last week's column, occurred. Another explosion on that date took place in 1947, when the excursion steamer Island Queen blew up and killed 19 people along the Monongahela River while docked in Downtown Pittsburgh.
On Sept. 10, a major highway improvement was highlighted in 1932 with the Route 30 dedication of the Westinghouse Bridge over Turtle Creek, a huge improvement in traveling that way.
Gimbel's department store closed Sept. 11, 1986, after 61 years on Smithfield Street in Pittsburgh.
First public school
Five students were enrolled in the first public school in Pittsburgh when classes were started in a rented room on Sept. 11, 1835. While various other scholarly efforts began with James Kenny's efforts at Fort Pitt in 1761, the thrust in public education came after 1834, when public school laws were initially passed.
George F. Gilmore is credited with opening that first school at Seventh Street (then Irwin Street) and Duquesne Way.
In their first 20 years, the public schools in Pittsburgh expanded to 109 teachers and 6,724 pupils. As late as 1841, a directory named "33 select private schools and seminaries" in the vicinity of the city, and many individuals were engaged in tutoring.
Decline of sauerkraut
One of the fall chores prominent years ago was the annual fall harvest for sauerkraut, and the process of making it in the home.
Once quite popular as a staple of the menu, particularly in an area with an agricultural economy, it began a change with the conversion to commercial brands such as Heinz, which had a plant in Avonmore, northern Westmoreland County, for its production.
Once served at many special dinners and events, it is used today as a garnish for hot dogs, a real comedown from its days as a major food entree.
Apparently introduced in Southwestern Pennsylvania by German pioneers, sauerkraut was made by fermenting and preserving shredded cabbage in a brine compound of its own juice and salt, and aged for a couple of months.
Large crops of cabbage were raised locally and shipped to commercial processors such as Heinz.
The status of sauerkraut on the domestic scene is illustrated by an ad that appeared in a local newspaper in 1902 by a Youngwood woman for a public sale. The ad stated that she "will sell all her home furnishings, including furniture, carpets, dishes, cooking outfit, pictures, sauerkraut, and everything about the premises."
An old Somerset County resident related in bygone years that sauerkraut was "delicious not only cooked with pork or sausage but also as a cold or winter salad."
An old recipe for home making of that food item, in case you have some left over from this fall's harvest:
"Wash and scald crock. Remove outer leaves and cores of cabbage, and cut fine on a cabbage cutter. Put down in a keg or crock. Put a very little sprinkle of salt between each layer, and pound each layer with a wooden masher or mallet.
"When your vessel is full, place some large cabbage leaves on top, and a double cloth wrung out of cold water. Then a cover with a very heavy weight on it -- a large stone is best. Let it set for six weeks before using, being careful to remove the scum that rises each day by washing out the cloth, the cover, and the weight in cold water. After six weeks, pour off the liquid and fill over it with clear, cold water. This makes it very nice and white."
No wonder commercial production was popular!
Mini-vignettes
