Borough celebrating 150 years this weekend

Block party, carnival among the festivities

When Margaret Sweeney is sworn in Saturday as honorary mayor of Bellevue, she won’t be the borough’s first female mayor, but she will be the youngest.

Margaret will be a fifth-grader at Assumption School in Bellevue in the fall. Her name was drawn in a raffle to fill the honorary role in celebration of Bellevue’s sesquicentennial — its 150th birthday — and her first duty will be to read a proclamation designating this weekend as Bellevue Borough Weekend.

The borough on Pittsburgh’s northwest border was incorporated on Sept. 7, 1867. Today, it is home to about 8,000 residents and 120 businesses.

As part of the celebration, a carnival will be held tonight and Saturday night at Northgate Alumni Stadium on Sheridan Avenue, and an exhibit of historic photographs will be on display at PJR Photography and Studio at 31 Balph Ave., a building that in past decades has housed a pharmacy and a dance studio.

“I was so surprised to be going through photos and seeing the pharmacy, and realizing, ‘Hey! That’s my building,’ ” gallery owner Pamela Russell said. “Anyone with stories — or old photos — is invited to come this weekend and share.”

Activities will be held all day and into the evening Saturday on Lincoln Avenue, including a community block party with performances, craft shows and food. Honorary Mayor Sweeney will present a plaque to William Dugan, 89, to honor him as the Bellevue resident who has lived in the borough the longest — for 81 years. He was 7 when his family bought a home on Sheridan Avenue in 1935.

Mr. Dugan and his wife, Claire, looked through some of the vintage photos that have been enlarged for display in the “Bellevue Then and Now” exhibit at PJR Photography and Studio.

“Bellevue has one of the best little business sections,” Mr. Dugan said as he looked through the photos. He recalled that when he was a