One of the things I find most fascinating about reading old newspapers is their attention to the everyday comings and goings of the community. “Miss Josephina Carmichael paid a call upon the Winchester family Wednesday afternoon.” “Mrs. Effie Carr from Arlington is visiting Mrs. Lillie Lantz in her Broadway home.” It seems as though a private eye scanned each small town, noticing the minutia of everyday life and reporting the details. The town of Broadway had its own set of personal column reporters: spinster sisters, Minnie and Sally Pugh.
Misses Minnie and Sally Pugh were well loved and well respected citizens of Broadway. They ran a boarding house in the second story of their home on Central Street in the late 1930’s to early 1940’s. One of their most well known boarders was Andrew Thomas, a business teacher at Broadway High School.
Miss Minnie wrote the “Broadway Personals,” a column for the Daily News Record and the Shenandoah Valley Herald. She carefully kept track of the activities of the townfolk: who visited whom, who went away to college, which families held celebrations during the week, etc. Miss Minnie also taught school both in Broadway and Edom. She died January 19, 1949
Miss Sally was an assistant at the Broadway Post Office for many years. She started her postal career shortly after her graduation from Broadway High School in 1913. Her obituary in the Daily News Record (April 30, 1964) said “she knew almost everyone in the area and was closely acquainted with three generations of most families.” Many also considered her the “prime source of all local information.”
Phoebe Branner Brennemen remembers the ladies as “refined, dignified, and gracious.” She also remembers watching Miss Minnie writing her newspaper columns at the big, highly polished, oak dining room table.
The Pugh house was torn down some years after the deaths of Miss Minnie and Miss Sally.
Information from Regards to Broadway: The Story of an American Town (Cullers and Lilliendahl)
Misses Minnie and Sally Pugh were well loved and well respected citizens of Broadway. They ran a boarding house in the second story of their home on Central Street in the late 1930’s to early 1940’s. One of their most well known boarders was Andrew Thomas, a business teacher at Broadway High School.
Miss Minnie wrote the “Broadway Personals,” a column for the Daily News Record and the Shenandoah Valley Herald. She carefully kept track of the activities of the townfolk: who visited whom, who went away to college, which families held celebrations during the week, etc. Miss Minnie also taught school both in Broadway and Edom. She died January 19, 1949
Miss Sally was an assistant at the Broadway Post Office for many years. She started her postal career shortly after her graduation from Broadway High School in 1913. Her obituary in the Daily News Record (April 30, 1964) said “she knew almost everyone in the area and was closely acquainted with three generations of most families.” Many also considered her the “prime source of all local information.”
Phoebe Branner Brennemen remembers the ladies as “refined, dignified, and gracious.” She also remembers watching Miss Minnie writing her newspaper columns at the big, highly polished, oak dining room table.
The Pugh house was torn down some years after the deaths of Miss Minnie and Miss Sally.
Information from Regards to Broadway: The Story of an American Town (Cullers and Lilliendahl)
RSS Feed
