Name/Title
Young people at the Log CabinEntry/Object ID
2026.10.01Scope and Content
Photograph from a family scrapbook of donor Karen Keene.Context
Young people photographed at the Log Cabin, located near the subway on Route 20. No date. "The Schauble Studios, 2101 Peach St., Erie, Penna., Commercial and Portrait Photography, PHONE 22-413" stamped on the back of the photograph.
The following was taken from the Winter 2023 issue of the society's newsletter:
Demolished in 2022, the Log Cabin was located east of the subway on Route 20 and was the original home of the Harborcreek Athletic Association. The first mention of the HAA in the Erie paper was a February 26, 1931 notice which announced that the Association was sponsoring a dance at town hall. The planning committee consisted of James Hill, Lawrence Adams, and Kenneth Neff with music by the Jack Norris Rhythm Kings. At that point the group held its meetings at the Harborcreek Fire Hall. In October of that year, they hosted their first annual coon and hound trials. At some point before 1937 the group built the familiar log cabin which they called their “clubhouse.” Two years later Eliza “Rusty” Keene was elected president of the auxiliary. A nurse by training, she was one of the many cooks who helped put on the specialty dinners over the years featuring fish, steak, or ham. Their dinners and dances benefited many organizations such as the March of Dimes and the Harborcreek Fire Department which bought gas masks with the proceeds in 1943.
Meanwhile, Rusty’s husband, Emmett, a crane operator who worked at “the GE” and was known to most as Pete, took care of several aspects of the venue. Besides stamping hands at the door, he managed the books and took on many maintenance tasks including caring for the floors using oiled sawdust and working with a broom until they gleamed. His daughter Karen remembers roller skating there with her friends. She recalls that the “square dances were very jolly and there was always some sort of countrified gentleman who would call the dances. They had live music and the bandleader was Hugh Harrity.” She also remembers dancing the polka with a young man they called “JoeJoe” or “JoJo,” but his last name is now forgotten.
The Keenes’ elder daughter, Loralee, was privileged to have as a best friend, Diane Grenz Baumgardner, who recalls the good times they had at the dances. “I recall when the trains went by, we just had to stop talking because it was so loud. Their house was very close to traffic and of course there was no air conditioning then and we had the windows open.”
The clubhouse was the site of many banquets including some for Harbor Creek alumni and Our Lady of Mercy Altar Society. In his memoir Growing Up In Harborcreek, PA, George Pierce, Jr., whose parents were recalled that he and his bride Doris Witherow Pierce held their wedding reception there in January 1950. On our Facebook page, Renee Newberry noted that she attended her niece’s bridal shower at the facility.
Other Facebook commenters included Linda DeAngelo who told us that her husband Bob attended Scout meetings there. Pam Yates, Carol Langdon, and Wendy Roman Cabrera enjoyed auctions there run by local fireman Garth May in the 1970’s. A 1972 notice in the classifieds for an auction there advertised clothing, food, and toys and listed Tom Sterrett of Fairview as that night’s auctioneer. Finally, A.J. Learn used to race remote-controlled cars at the property.
On August 9, 1968 a classified notice announced the dissolution of the Harborcreek Athletic Association and, as noted in our last issue, the Gem City Gun Club and the Institute of Tae Kwon Do later owned the property.Collection
General Collection: Organizations