Bill Oleksak’s Ford City Postcards

Bill Oleksak was born and raised in Ford City and currently resides here. A noted teacher at Lenape Elementary, Bill has been active in civic affairs for many years. He is one of the organizers of the annual Heritage Days 5K Race, a member of our active Lions Club and sits on the Board of Governors for the Ford City Area Hall of Fame. He and his wife, the former Kathy Varholla, reside on Sixth Avenue and are the parents of two grown children, Julie and Bill. Bill’s postcard collection has been over twenty years in the making. Over one hundred fifty in number, these postcards offer a look at Ford City’s past from many interesting perspectives. First and foremost, they offer a unique look at our town’s history-what we were and what scenes have remained with us defying the rigors of time. Second, they give us a chance to view many genres of art such as watercolor, black and white photography, color photography and ink sketch. Finally, the postcards give us the opportunity to view from the vantage points of others; those who created these wonderful cards. This web site regrets that all of Bill’s cards are not posted, but this is due to the limitations of our own scanning ability. As hard as we tried to get all of the post cards included, we simply could not. Also, our scans of the actual cards do not do justice to the pristine condition with which Bill has cared for them. Within this section of our web site, you will find sections of Bill’s postcards. Rather than try to caption each individual postcard, we will lead you to the sections and let you draw your own observations. To get a full size image of the thumbnailed postcard, simply click on the thumbnailed picture and another window will open for you containing the larger image.

Bird's Eye Views	Ford City High School	Eljer
The Bridges of Ford City	The Great Flood	Ford Park
Our Churches	Ford Street	Fourth Avenue
Sports	The Park Hotel	Misc
	PPG