For the Schneider girls of Glen Lowrie Road up Decker Hollow, the Tyrone Athletic Park has left a lasting impression. As kids, it never occurred to them that one day, the park would exist only in the form of memories.
Once located in the area of the Chicago Rivet, Gardner’s Candies, Dixon Tool and Die, Albemarle Corporation, and Grace Baptist Church, the park was developed in 1910 by the Pennsylvania Railroad. It consisted of a swimming pool, golf course, baseball diamond with a grandstand, and a running track which encircled the baseball diamond.
The Schneider Girls and the Pool
It was the swimming pool that captivated the Schneiders. For Jeanne, Martha, Corinne, Frances, Julia, and Virginia, the swimming pool was where they could be found every summer.
“We would work for Mrs. Speece taking tickets at the pool and cleaning the changing rooms to earn our ticket,” Virginia (Schneider) Frantz said, adding, “the water for the swimming pool came from the creek. It was a big pool, up to eight feet deep with diving boards. Every day was a beautiful day.”
Along with the swimming pool, there was a beautiful bath house. “There was a pool house where you could change and lockers you could rent. There was also a clubhouse where you could buy candy and pop,” Virginia said.
F. W. L. Schneider, Course Designer
The Athletic Park — particularly its wonderful golf course — attracted visitors from all over the state. Although the Schneider girls were more interested in swimming, their father, Francis W. L. Schneider, was an avid golfer.
Mr. Schneider, a civil engineer for the old Tyrone Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, designed the 18-hole golf course. He was an expert on drainage and co-inventor of an anti-creeping device on railroad tracks. It was his expertise in design that led to his involvement with the Athletic Park. He was also an expert in horticulture and used his knowledge to add to the park’s beautification by planting thousands of trees throughout the park and golf course area.
Athletes, Trains, and the Coming End
Over the years, the park was utilized for all of its wonderful attributes. Many athletes participated in competitive foot races around the track, while many golfers and their families were transported to the park on special passenger trains. Baseball was also of considerable interest as the PRR had its own team and competed with other industrial organizations.
As changes in the economy began to affect the railroad business, along with the advent of World War II, efforts to maintain the park were abandoned. Eventually, the physical existence of the Tyrone Athletic Park was erased from the East Tyrone landscape. Now, the only evidence of its existence can be found in the pages of history and in the memories of those who loved it so much.
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