Sewickley Herald

              A Tradition Since 1903
Sewickley Herald Star
Serving Aleppo, Bell Acres, Edgeworth, Glenfield, Haysville, Leet, Leetsdale, Osborne, Sewickley, Sewickley Heights, Sewickley Hills
• l&erfwesdayy July 10, 2002
Volume 99, issue 28
AROUND TOWN
Almost 200 alumni from Sewickley High School enjoyed the big porty this weekend hosted by Mike Macaluso. See Page 25,26.
TEMPO
The July 4th holiday was olive with old-fashioned family fun as the Leetsdale Community Activities Association orchestrated the celebration. See Page 13.
SPORTS
Libby Powers is determined to succeed in athletics and in life. Her story is one of spirit and triumph. Seepage 29 for more.
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News....................2
Opinion...,................6
Tempo....................13
People & Events........24
Obits...................28
Sports...................29
School................22,23
ON THE HEIGHTS
THE OLD B.F. Jones’ estate sprawled across the acres of Sewickley Heights. This view of the home was captured from the observation deck of the old water tower.	Photos courtesy of The Carsons
Fire on the 4th
Tower turns into torch
By Dona S. Dreeland________________
Editor________________________
No one’s quick enough to measure a lightning bolt, but Judy Carson’s dad is certain that the one he saw on July 4th is the longest of his 80 years’ experience.
As he heard the crash and saw the silver zig-zag in the sky, he was heading toward his daughter and son-in-Jaw’s home for some holiday celebrating.
The lightning beat him there.
Within minutes, the old water tower on the B.F. Jones’ estate was transformed into a 130-foot torch. The wooden cap of the structure burst into flames, ignited by the heat and power of the charge sent straight through its copper finial,
“I’ve looked at it a million times a day,” said Judy, “and in an instant, it
was gone.”
The tower was visible everyday from the Carsons’ kitchen window. Its stone, wood and steel were a reminder of the days when the estate and its companion houses graced the landscape
Now, the 125-room mansion, one of many built in the 1890s, is gone, a victim of the decades and more shallow pockets than those of Pittsburgh’s great industrialists who once made Sewickley Heights their home.
Judy and Tferry Carson have lived in what was “The Party House" of the old mansion for nine years. The couple’s now “empty-nest” space was constructed in 1926 for music, games and conversation.
Some yards beyond the curve of their driveway, the tower held cypress ----------------------- Joe Page 2