Joseph J. Gilbride's Railroad Career

Interior of Collinwood electric locomotive maintenance shops, Cleveland, about 1930.

 

This post grew out of a Denton Public Library workshop entitled "Writing and Telling Your Stories," taught by my friend Emily Richardson. The "homework" for the session included writing based on prompts. I chose, "What was your paternal grandfather's occupation?" As serendipity would have it, I had just recently received Grandpa's railroad pension documents, which gave me more info to work with.

 

Joseph John Gilbride was my paternal grandfather, born in Scranton, Lackawanna, Pennsylvania, on 9 April 1910. His family moved to Cleveland about 1920, spurred by the hopes his father, John Joseph Gilbride, had to leave the anthracite coal mines his family had worked for generations behind, and find a better occupation.¹

All my life I heard that Grandpa Gilbride “worked on the railroad,” but I didn’t really know what that meant. I suppose I thought he was a train conductor, not realizing that there was a plethora of other occupations that kept the railroads running.

In 1920, Grandpa’s father John worked in Cleveland as a laborer in a roundhouse, while his older brother Donald was a switchman, two railroad occupations. John later held positions as a "fireman," or "stationary fireman," the person who feeds fuel to the fire to run the boiler. Perhaps his father and brother provided Grandpa a "foot in the door" to the industry.²

When they first moved to Cleveland, Grandpa's family lived at 916 E. 147th Street in the Collinwood neighborhood, just down the road from the Collinwood Railroad Yards, where Grandpa later worked. As a kid I recall riding in the car down E. 152nd Street in Cleveland, crossing over a large, arching bridge that overlooked the railyard. I knew that Grandpa worked “down there” somewhere, but that’s as close as I remember ever getting to it.³

The Collinwood Railroad Yards date back to 1874 when the New York Central Railroad subsidiary Lake Shore & Michigan Southern RR built a rail center in the then village of Collinwood. At the time, the complex included a brick roundhouse, a machine shop which housed an engine room, blacksmith shop, and an office, as well as housing for workers. The yards were expanded in 1903 and 1929, eventually handling 2,000 cars daily and including 120 miles of track.⁴

Aerial view of the Collinwood Railroad Yards in 1949.5

Grandpa’s railroad occupations revolved around metalworking. In 1934, when Grandpa and Grandma Mary Josephine Baker got married, his occupation was a "metalworker." In 1937 when their son, my dad was born, Grandpa’s occupation was listed as a “sheet metal worker.” By 1940, he was a “metal machinist” or a “sheet metal worker” for the New York Central Rail Road. In 1950, he worked as a “metal pipefitter” for a “bicycle manufacturer,” which seems to be a momentary departure from the railroad.⁶

When Grandpa retired, he got his pension from the Railroad Board rather than Social Security. His pension record noted his various occupations from the time he started at the railroad until his retirement.

• In 1928, at age 18, he began work as a mail boy in the Collinwood storerooms.
• He alternated the mail boy role with work as a laborer through December 1931, for the New York Central RR. 
• In April 1932, he worked as a sheet metal worker helper in the locomotive department of the Collinwood locomotive shop.
• In Oct. 1935, he moved into a sheet metal worker apprentice role in the same shop. It appears from his record that he continued this job for the rest of his work life.⁷

This page in Grandpa's pension file showed his various work roles.

Grandpa’s first paycheck in October 1928 was for $15.75; later that month he earned a check for $31.09 – a total of $46.84 for the month—about $800 in 2024 dollars. It’s not clear how many hours his workweek included, but the workday was probably long and certainly dirty.⁸

Grandpa worked until May 1975, just after his 65th birthday. His highest wage year was 1974, when he earned $11,906.33—or about $75,000 in 2024 dollars.⁹

Here’s a few other things I learned from Grandpa’s Railroad Board file:

• Another address where Grandpa and Grandma lived that I hadn’t known of before: 14627 St. Clair Avenue in Cleveland. The lot is empty now, but it was very close to the railyards, shown just to the north of the red pin on this map.
  

 

• Dad’s name was something listed at John Joseph Gilbride, not Joseph John Gilbride, Jr.. This could have been done in the Irish naming tradition of naming the firstborn son after the father’s father—in this case after his grandfather John Joseph Gilbride (1876-1937). Dad's name appears this way in a beneficiary designation document dated 23 November 1938, after Dad’s grandfather John died in July 1937. Ironically, though John had sought a safer job in Cleveland, he died from burns sustained in a boiler explosion.¹⁰ 

 

Dad's name was listed as John Joseph, not Joseph John, on this beneficiary form.

I wish I had talked to Grandpa more about his career on the railroad. I always just considered it part of who he was and was never curious beyond that. I didn't realize that he spent pretty much his entire life working for the railroad, and was surprised to learn about his various roles there, especially being a mail  boy—I don't associate that occupation with a railroad. It's kind of fun to think Grandpa was one of those fellas who "worked their way up from the mail room" in a company.

I've always had a great deal of respect for my grandfather, who I saw as a steady, hardworking man and a good provider—who also had a wicked sense of humor and loved a good joke. Learning more about how hard he worked brings me a new level of respect for him.

Until next time...

Follow my blog with Bloglovin 

© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2024. All rights reserved.

IMAGE: Unknown protographer, Interior of Collinwood electric locomotive maintenance shops, Cleveland, Ohio, 12 February 1930; Cleveland Memory (https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/general/id/4637/rec/3 : accessed 12 July 2024); citing Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections, Cleveland State University.

NOTES

¹ Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Affidavit of Birth (1942) for Joseph John Gilbride, born 10 April 1910; private collection of R. Firestone [address for private use], 2024.  Also, The Official Cleveland Directory for the year Ending 1921 (np: no date), John Gilbride; imaged in "U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/4165193 : accessed 9 July 2024). Also, 1920 U.S. census, Cuyahoga, Ohio, population schedule, Ward 26, Cleveland City, ED 492, Sheet 12B, 916 E. 147th Street, John Gilbride and Donald Gilbride; database and images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6061/images/4384964_00593 : accessed 12 July 2024).

² 1920 U.S. census, Cuyahoga, Ohio, population schedule, Ward 26, Cleveland City, ED 492, Sheet 12B, 916 E. 147th Street, John Gilbride household. Also, The Official Cleveland Directory for the year Ending 1921 (np: no date), John Gilbride. Also, Cleveland City Directory 1931 (Cleveland, Ohio: The Cleveland Directory Co., 1932), p. 717, John Gilbride; imaged in "U.S., City Directories, 1822-1995," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2469/images/4139524 : accessed 9 July 2024). Also, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fireman_(steam_engine) : accessed 12 July 2024), "Fireman (steam engine)," last updated 7 July 2024, at 05:04 (UTC).

³ 1920 U.S. census, Cuyahoga, Ohio, population schedule, Ward 26, Cleveland City, ED 492, Sheet 12B, 916 E. 147th Street, John Gilbride household.

⁴  Encyclopedia of Cleveland History (https://case.edu/ech/articles/c/collinwood-railroad-yards : accessed 12 July 2024), "Collinwood Railroad Yards"; citing Case Western Reserve University Department of History.

⁵ Walter Kneal, Aerial view of the Collinwood yards of the New York Central Railroad, 1949; image, Cleveland Memory (https://clevelandmemory.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/press/id/9217/rec/1 : accessed 9 July 2024); citing Michael Schwartz Library, Special Collections, Cleveland State University.

⁶ Cuyahoga County, Oh., Marriage Records 1934 Jan. - 1934 Oct., p. 416, license 20080 issued 7 Sept. 1934, marriage of Joseph J. Gilbride and Mary J. Baker; digital image, "Cuyahoga County, Ohio, U.S., Marriage Records and Indexes, 1810-1973," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1876/images/32365_225762-01037 : accessed 5 Jan. 2021); citing Cuyahoga County Archives, Cleveland. Also, Ohio, Department of Health, Certificate of Birth 5979, Joseph John Gilbride, 17 May 1937; citing Vital Statistics, Columbus. Also, 1940 U.S. census, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cleveland, Ward 32, enumeration district (ED) 92-846, sheet 5B, household 105, Joseph J. Gilbride; imaged, "1940 United States Federal Census," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2442/images/m-t0627-03237-00209 : accessed 12 July 2024). Also, 1950 U.S. census, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cleveland, enumeration district (ED) 92-1002, sheet 12, household 115, Joseph J. Gilbride; imaged, "1950 United States Federal Census," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62308/images/43290879-Ohio-126999-0013 : accessed 12 July 2024).

⁷  Joseph J. Gilbride pension file, claim no. A713163865, SS no. 713-16-3865; Inactive Claim Folders; Record Group 184: Records of the Retirement Board 1934–1987; National Archives–Atlanta.

⁸ Ibid.

⁹ Ibid.

¹⁰ Ibid. Also, Ireland xo Reaching Out (https://www.irelandxo.com/ireland-xo/news/irish-naming-conventions-and-baptism-traditions : accessed 14 July 2024), "Irish Naming Conventions and Baptism Traditions." Dad's first name was listed as John on his grade school graduation certificate, as well as on the 1950 census. Also, Ohio, Department of Health, Certificate of Death 43485, John J. Gilbride, 23 July 1937; citing Vital Statistics, Columbus. Also, 1950 U.S. census, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cleveland, enumeration district (ED) 92-1002, sheet 12, household 115, John J. Gilbride, (age 12), son, in the Joseph J. Gilbride household; imaged, "1950 United States Federal Census," Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/62308/images/43290879-Ohio-126999-0013 : accessed 12 July 2024).