A rich history for 1852 home By Harry Funk, staff writer Washington Observer-Reporter | Sunday, March 21, 2004 The three-story house on Monongahela's Main Street suited Juan Rodriguez and Judy Soccio fine when they found it 11 years ago. "We were looking for something big. We wanted an old house," Soccio said. "But we didn't know it was historic." They later learned their home, built in 1852, has some interesting stories attached to it. Perhaps the most intriguing tale comes from the boyhood reminiscences of a Capt. Joseph T. Armstrong that appeared in "Historical Magazine of Monongahela's Old Home Coming Week, Sept. 6-15, 1908."

The pre-Civil War home of Juan Rodriguez and Judy Soccio today doubles as a center for their business ventures.

According to Rodriguez and Soccio, Mrs. J.B. Taylor, Armstrong's aunt, lived in the house in its early years. She was a customer of the Rev. William Ralph, a black man coal delivery business.

In Armstrong's words: "I remember on one occasion I thought my aunt was a long time on the porch settling a coal bill with Ralph. ... I was made acquainted with the subject of that mysterious conversation and promises of eternal death in case I betrayed them.

"Two (black) men were brought to our stable that night by Ralph and secreted in our hay loft. They remained all night and the next day, and the following night I got a skiff and landed them on the other side of the river, where a tall man met and took them in charge ... at the same time telling me to return home. This I did, but the mystery and the quiet of the whole thing impressed me as if something great had been done.

"I am sure that there were many others who helped a (black) man along, and this was called the Underground Railway to Canada and to freedom."

By the time Armstrong jotted down his memories, the old house had an addition, built about 1872. Today, the front of the addition serves as the entrance to the show area for Rodriguez's art glass business.

The building is no stranger to the business world, having served at various times such purposes as a law office and funeral parlor.

When they moved in, Rodriguez and Soccio found the place preserved fairly well. Its six fireplaces, for example, came through all the decades unscathed.

"They needed some cleaning. That was about it," Rodriguez said. "They still have their original mantelpieces."

Other facets of the house were in need of restoration. A pair of attractive pocket doors, long stored in the basement, was put back in their proper location between the front parlor and dining room, which now serve as the workshop for Soccio's custom drapery business.

Another door, to a first-floor closet, has an unusual background. It once was in a South Side bank, and grooves had been cut in it for copper wires leading to an alarm.

"They were cleaning out a basement and I said, "I'll take it,"' Soccio said.
An interesting discovery came during backyard excavation. Inside a pit - once used for the outhouse - were found many vintage glass bottles, bearing such inscriptions as "Dr. Wistar's Balsam of Wild Cherry, Philadelphia" and "Anton Brewing Co., Monongahela, Pa."

"They would use it as a trash pit," Soccio explained. "Some of that glass was so fine, I don't know how we ever managed to recover them. Some were as thin as a piece of paper."

The husband and wife are wrapping up restoring the kitchen and continue to work on other parts of their home.

"It's like a nonending process," Rodriguez said- "That's the curse - and charm - of an old house."