Reagan Fowler wanted to dig deep into his hometown’s history.
Growing up on Washington Street in Leetsdale, about a block or so away from Kohlmeyer Community Park, the Quaker Valley junior spent the past few months researching what his part of the borough was in the early 1900s.
His efforts resulted in a permanent marker honoring the community’s lost victory gardens.
“I’m really happy to have it here,” Reagan said. “It’s good to see it has a physical place to be. It represents the ingenuity and the integrity of the people of Leetsdale. That we can triumph over any problems that we face including food scarcity.”
Victory gardens, also called war gardens, were created at private residences and public parks during World War I and World War II.
They were formed to help feed an expanded military and population during the international conflicts.
According to the National Park Service, the garden program was to “increase the production and consumption of fresh vegetables and fruits by more and better home, school and community gardens, to the end that we become a stronger and healthier nation.”
It also encouraged “proper storage and preservation of the surplus foods for distribution and use by families producing it, local school lunches, welfare agencies and for local emergency food needs.”
Victory gardens were the World War II rebranding of the war gardens.
In 1904, Riter-Conley Manufacturing Co. opened a steel and galvanizing plant just south of the park while also providing garden spaces for its employees and their families, Reagan’s research found. Those spaces were later turned into victory gardens. The garden spaces were believed to have been repurposed in the 1950s.
The plant area later became a Bethlehem Steel mill that closed in the 1970s. The mill site was later developed into an industrial park.
A more thorough report from Reagan is being prepared for the borough website.
“This is the closest we could find in this public land,” said council president Maria Napolitano about the garden marker. “I would love to have more of these to help commemorate the history of Leetsdale.”
Napolitano and Reagan were joined by other civic leaders and residents at a May 9 ceremony at the park.
“I’m very enthusiastic about this and I am grateful to Reagan to have done this project,” Napolitano said. “There is a very strong interest in the community in local history. It has always been my goal as a member of council to support that interest. It was a perfect match for this. He researched information. I assisted him in ordering the design (of the marker). Many community members have in their possession documents, images, pictures and living memories having grown up here in Leetsdale.”
