Dear Jim and Port's: Route 48 was changed from dirt to what was called a Pinchot Road circa 1924. (called a Pinchot Rd.) because Gov. Pinchot (R) had campaigned on the promise to get the Pa. farmer out of the mud. It was widened again in the late 1960's when they put in the sewer lines on route 48 (in White Oak's and PDot's intelligence factor) they put it on the wrong side of the road. Half of Jack's Run (Rt. 48) resulting in half the homes not being able to tap into the system - can't make the stuff flow up hill. DUH!. Rainbow closed when PenDot had dreams of making a fast north-south route between Rt. 51 and the PA. Turnpike at his time they bought the land on the east side of Rt. 48 from Walnut St. Ext. to Rainbow. Among their acquisitions were Hunter's Summer Retreat which sat on the west side of Rt. 48; Ripple's Farm, an extensive tract running from Ripple Road to Lincoln Way; and all of Rainbow - this was when the 4 lane highway was built in anticipation of the full major highway. When Penn Dot abandoned that idea - they resold the land to White Oak and that's when the present strip mall and other junk like car dealers went in, bought the land and made it a small shopping area. ( I'm revealing my prejudice ) I would have liked to have seen it remain the same. Progress can't be held back. It was also at this time that Allegheny County bought the large tracts of land belonging to the last farmers of the area for the White Oak Regional Park - these lands belonged to the Weddles, Jones, Staderman, Borland families and included Beeches Hollow which had a road (farm lane through it ) that went to the Lincoln Highway and emerged what is now just opposite the cemetery next to Blue Dell. There were 2 good springs in Beeches Hollow - that NEVER went dry. It's good that the area was preserved in that in a very hidden location in the hollow were (are ) an area that is exclusively covered in Spring by ALL RED trilliums; and a small deposit of very fine colored clay - red, blue, and yellow that had been used by the Seneca Native American village that was at the top of the hill. It sat exactly in Westmoreland County exactly at the county line. Of interest also geologically and historically was that this was also part of the big gas and oil boom of the early 20th century. At the mouth of Beeches Hollow my father showed me where they had attempted to cap an old well that yielded to little gas but just enough for it to be lit for a small flame. On McClintock Road on the left about 100-150 yards down the hill toward Jack's Run you could see when I was young - mid 1950's - where the drillers hit a salt well (commonly found with gas deposits) and before they got it capped the water had run over the hill and killed some of the last native Chestnuts in White Oak. It was in this period that the last bear in Allegheny Co. was shot by the Beech Family on Heckman Road. It had come through the Ludwig's, Taylor's, and then was shot by the Beech Family when it attacked one of their pigs. This story was from my father who remembers the curiosity he had because all of the hounds around started sounding as the bear came into range (scent) as it traveled across the area. Hope this isn't to much of an answer. With me - you got me going on one topic and I end up sharing everything of interest to me or that I remember from parents and relatives. I'm lucky that I had parents and Great-Aunts, and Great-Great Aunts who were in their 90's in the 1950's and had keen minds that shared these stories. I half to write a book about all of this before I get to old to deal with all the pictures and/or forget the info. Folklore has its place in an area history as much as the documented. Sometime I will deal with the stories I heard from the Robbin's Family about where they hid run away slaves as a station on the underground Railroad. I saw the spot in the old, old homestead circa 1956. They didn't talk about it much except with other old families who already knew. It was a relatively short distance to the Virginia State Line in those days - if you remember WV was part of VA until 1863; and Maryland was also a slave state. This was the so called central route to Freedom. Marc M. G. Stauffer