monroevillehistorical.org

Nedrow House in 2006

Nedrow House, 1934
1360 Abers Creek Road

 This modest 1 ½ story cottage-style house was originally built as a summer cottage in the 1930s in what was then rural Patton Township. 

     For many years the land, at the eastern part of Abers Creek, was farmed by the Richards family, whose farm was eventually to provide the site for the Valley Tower.  But in the mid-1930s John and Tillie Richards sold a plot of their land for one hundred dollars to J. Elmer Nedrow, who had worked for the Richards on the farm as a young boy while living with them in their farmhouse.  Mr. Nedrow cleared the land and built this cottage along the creek, mostly of wood taken from the packing crates he saw being discarded at the Westinghouse plant where he worked at the time. 

     Throughout the 30s it served as a popular country retreat while the Nedrows kept their main residence in Pitcairn.  A sign hung on a tree by the bridge christened the place as “Brookside,” where on summer weekends family and friends gathered for horseshoes, badminton, and cookouts on the outdoor fireplace.  By 1943, Elmer and Peg Nedrow could no longer afford to keep up two residences, and so they decided to move with their two small boys (Joe and Jack) to their place in the country; the cottage becoming the full-time family residence.

       Over time improvements were made as the Nedrow family lived in the house until 1976. It was re-furbished by the current owners, George and Carolyn Jean Farkas.  The insulbrick siding was stripped away and replaced with a faux-stone façade, more in keeping with its character.  The house retains the charm of a rural cottage nestled comfortably in the valley beside Abers Creek; an isolated oasis in today’s suburban Monroeville.