Parkesburg Yesterday

By Kerry Glenn

In my humble opinion this building, directly across the street from Belle's Delight ice cream stand, should have a Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission marker placed in front of it.

Inside the Beale building looking southeast toward Route 10

It is the last unaltered structure remaining from the Parkesburg Iron Company (PICO) (1872-1926). The hexagonal shaped part was built by Horace A. Beale, Jr. right before WWI. If you look inside it, you will see the floor is solid concrete and the walls are easily two feet thick. 

Mr. Beale built it to store ammunition in for the P.I.C.O. Police force and the machine guns he had installed on the roof of the P.I.C.O. office building, to shoot down potential enemy aircraft during WWI (just think - he was ready in case the "Red Baron" came to Parkesburg to attack this iron works). 

This building, like all the other P.I.C.O. facilities, became orphaned when the company failed on October 14, 1926. 

Supposedly one of Beale's machine guns is the same one that is in front of the Mt. Zion A.M.E. Church in Atglen, but I can't confirm that.

More pictures:

East window.  The wall's thickness Kerry described is clearly evident.

West facing doorway

View of the ceiling from inside the building.

West facing door from the outside looking southeast.

Rusting hardware once held the building's door in place